The train ride was pretty quick, about 30 minutes and only one transfer. I don't remember the river's name, but I'll post it when I find out. On my arrival, I took a quick look from the bridge and there were about a dozen carp rising. I set up under the bridge and tossed a bread crust fly at them. It got immediate attention, but few actual attempts at a real take. It took about 15 minutes of floating my fly just right to get a fish on....and about 5 seconds for it to get off again. Undaunted, I kept at it and was rewarded 5 minutes later with a solid take.
Catching carp on the surface isn't as easy as it looks. They are very finnicky and will taste the fly without really putting the bite on it. You really have to keep at it because eventually, one takes the fly.
Back to the fish-on......this thing was not overly big, but it fought extremely hard aided by the current. I got 6 or 7 runs out of it before I had it tired enough to reel in. I don't use a net, instead relying on a tailing glove - it's just easier to store and transport. I managed to land the fish and here's the photo evidence:
Not a bad specimen, about 6 pounds (I really should get a scale). The forceps in the picture are exactly 5 and a half inches long, so you can figure out approximately how long this guy is (I need a measure, too). What you can't really see in this photo is how wide these fish are. This one was almost as wide as the foreceps are long. Also, these fish are fat!
That was the one and only fish of the day. For the next 3 hours, they developed lock-jaw. I remember Dennis writing somethig about carp sending a chemical distress signal to the rest of the school. I think that might have played a role in this particular spot shutting down, however, the rest of the areas I tried within 500 meters up and down stream were equally unproductive.
Here are some shots of the water:
I caught the fish under the bridge on the left-hand side of this photo.
This is one of many man-made obstacles designed to oxygenate the water and reduce erosion.
The view down stream....
This river flows from the central mountains in Japan through farmland and urban areas. The river bed is mostly coarse sand and gravel brought down by the water. It's a shame it is so polluted because it could be very good trout water. Something I saw absolutely no evidence of was minnows and bait fish. I'm not sure why that was.
On a clear day, Mount Fuji is very visible from the bridge. Today you could see it above the other mountains. It was quite a sight with its snow cap. I wish my camera could do it justice....
