Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite

This is a mat that I used during the last New Zealand trip. I slept on this every night over 14 days. My friends told me that it was too hard to sleep on, but I sleep on a futon bed at home which is much harder than normal beds anyway, so Z-Lite was comfortable enough for me to have a good sleep especially on the lawn at the caravan park.

今回のNZ旅行での僕の寝床は、このサーマレストのZ-Liteでした。試しに横になった友達は、「こんなんで寝られるか！」と言っていましたが、畳の上で布団というミニマリストな日本人には十分快適だと思います。

I was thinking to buy a posh self inflatable mat to replace my old flat foam pad before the trip, but I gave up the idea at the end because it is heavier and has a potential of getting punctured or leaked along the seam much like my old pair of waders did.

Come to choosing field gears, I like simplicity and reliability. I don't want to go back to a major city to get things fixed or replaced every time they go wrong especially on a holiday trip when the time is limited. This mat is so simple, nothing can fail.

I must admit Z-Lite doesn't offer the same level of comfort as a self inflatable mat does, however, a self inflatable costs twice more than Z-Lite, and I don't think it is twice more comfortable. Compared to old closed cell flat foam mat, which I have used for years, Z-Lite costs a lot more, but I feel it is still worth money as it is noticeably comfortable. Not to mention, it is much easier to pack away too.

快適性を求めてインフレターブルマットを買う事も考えて色々とアウトドア・ショップを見てまわったのですが、結局、重いのとパンクやシームからの空気漏れなどのトラブルを考え、軽くて破損や故障の心配の無いZ-Liteに決めました。やっぱりフィールドで使う道具は、シンプルで信頼性の高い物が一番です。

正直インフレターブルマットと同じ快適性は得られませんが、実際に横になって比べると、値段が２倍もするインフレターブルマットが２倍以上快適かと言うと、そんな事はない気がしました。逆に今まで使っていた、ボーイスカウトで使う様な安い平なフォームマットと比べると、Z-Liteの方が値段は２倍します。ただ実際に使ってみると、Z-Liteの方がずっと寝るのに快適で、しかも簡単にパタパタと広げられたり仕舞えたりできて通常のマットよりも数段使い安かったので、２倍のお金を出してもZ-Liteにするメリットはあったと思いました。

Christchurch earth quake

I can not imagine how hard the life is now in Christchurch and amount of pain on people who have lost loved one because of the earthquake.

Being Japanese and working as a teacher, the tragedy at a language school in the CTV building was something I felt sad especially.

May peace come to the heart of people who have to go through the hardship.

Reunion

A year or so ago, I met a young Japanese boy at one of our fly fishing club's meeting. He told me that he wanted to learn fly fishing, so I took him out to a river and showed him how to catch fish on flies.

It didn't take long for him to learn skills, and he started to explore his new water on his push bike which, as I remembered, was literally being pushed around because his tires were often being punctured.

Like other boys interested in new toys, he was always talking about his wish to own a top quality rod and reel, but despite of his cheap second hand gear, he caught more and bigger bream than anyone else in the club before leaving to Japan at the end of the school term in that year.

一年程前にフライフィッシングに興味のある日本人の少年に会いました。日本からの留学生で、たまたま地元のフライフィッシングのミーティングに来ていたので、声をかけたところ、フライフィシングを教えて欲しいと言うので、一緒にクロダイやトラウトを釣りに行きました。

釣りのセンスが良く、しばらくすると川へ自転車に乗って行き、クロダイのポイントを新しく開発して行きました。もっと良い竿やリールが欲しいなんて事をよく言っていましたが、その年の暮れに日本に帰るまでの間、安いお下がりのロッドとリールで、他のクラブのメンバーの誰よりも多くそして大きなクロダイを釣っていました。


It looked like his casting got better

Last week he returned to WA to have some time off before him moving to North East of Japan to start his university course. It sounded like the uni is closer to some of Japan' top trout rivers, so I am sure he is going to enjoy his new life over there.

We went out together on the weekend to chase some bream. We caught some fish, and talked about our hope for next year's NZ trip.

It was good to catch up with you, Itaru, and I wish you the best luck.


この度、晴れて大学入試に合格した彼は、四月から東北の大学に通うそうです。渓流王国東北に行けるなんて羨ましい限りです。

この週末は、日本から遊びに来たそんな彼とクロダイ釣りに出かけました。イタル君、久々に会えて良かったです。春からの新生活がんばってください。来年は、NZで会いましょう。








See you again, my friend!


It was a beautiful sky in this evening.

Canon D10 & EF 50mm Macro

At low tide and high tide

It looked like bream were on their hunting mission again during the first phase of incoming tide much like the last weekend. I picked up a few yesterday and this morning including a couple of nice fish.

先週末に続けて、クロダイの反応は、干潮から上げ潮に変わってからの２時間位が良く、釣れた魚も平均して良いサイズでした。その後、ある程度潮が入って来て水位が上がるとアタリはパッタリと無くなりました。


This one pulled a line hard. Two more turns would put me into the bucking.







I then joined my friend for the afternoon fishing today. We got there around 4:30, and the tide was much higher than I expected, and it was still coming in.

There were a lot of fish in the area, and we were getting many hits until the tide started to slow down eventually around 6:00. Compared to my morning session, most of fish were small though. My friend picked up a couple of OK size, but others were just over 20cm or so.

It was interesting that, my green coloured streamer, which has been working very well in the morning for the past 3 weekends, did not produce much this afternoon. My friend was getting fish constantly, but I was struggling to get connection. I took the fly off, and changed to dark brown one. It then took me only two cast to hook up fish in the same area where I was casting before. This reminds me again that the colour of flies is important for bream.

午後は釣りに行く気は無かったのですが、友達が行くと言うので、４時過ぎからちょっと出かけました。満潮辺りの水位は稀に見る量で、岸から十歩程度で腰まで浸かる深さ。釣れる気はまったくしなかったのですが、魚の反応は意外にも多く、六時頃になって潮の流れが遅くなるまでコンスタントにアタリがありました。ただ釣れて来る魚は、朝の釣りよりもずっと小さく、アベレージで２０cm位。

おもしろいと思った事は、朝はあれだけ高反応だった薄緑色のフライは駄目で、茶色の毛針に変えた途端にアタリの連続。この釣りでは、やっぱりフライの色は重要だと再認識させられる午後でした。

Water was high. Only 10 steps got us into waist deep


A small fish caught in the afternoon

Predictability

Fished for herrings after work today.

I haven't fished for them for while, so it was fun to catch them at start, but after hooking up 5 or 6 fish, it became too easy and predictable, so I packed up and went home.

I was fishing at the outlet of a boat habour a half hour so after the top of the tide, and it looked like a big school was just passing through there as the tide was turning around.

Herring do move a lot with tide, and having some ideas on where they will be at different tidal stages can be vital. Other than that, catching them is usually quite easy.

Once a school is located, it will be just matter of casting out to any general direction, and pulling a fly back at a slow to medium monotonous pace. Fish don't care much about how flies look like. As long as they are moving, fish will hit them.

I am guessing, when they are chasing a fly like they were doing today, I could probably catch them even with a bare hook.

Christchurch photo

Here is a few photos of a lovely city, Christchurch.

The early bird catches fish

While my friends are gone to the club's field day in Walpole this weekend, I have decided to stay at home to do some preparations for my new classes.

I was meant to do that in the school holiday, but I was being naughty and left it until the last minute. I guess it is my karma and I am paying the price now.

Anyway, because I didn't have freedom of going out whole day chasing some fish, I decided to fish for a couple hours in the early morning. Fishing was good in the morning last week, and I was hoping to repeat my success this week.

今週は、クラブのフィールドデイで、去年の様にWalpoleでクロダイ三昧と行きたかったのですが、新学期の準備が忙しいため残念ながら家で仕事です。まあ夏休みに何もせずに遊びほうけていた自分が悪いんですけどね。

それでも、「まったく釣りをしないと、仕事に身が入らない」という言い訳から、朝早くに２時間位、家の近くのポイントへ行って来ました。

Fishing was bit slow first, but it soon improved as the tide was getting faster. I was getting hits and dropping fish here and there for about 40 minutes. Fish then disappeared after I released third fish. It made a few runs, so it probably spooked other fish in the area.

That was pattern yesterday, and it was pretty much the same today, except fish broke me off three times to start. I then changed the tippet size from 4x to 3x, and I soon got my first fish of the day.

The next fish I hooked up was a good fish, or at least I think it was as I couldn't land it. It was one of the best fighting breams I ever hooked up though. It didn't make a long run, but made 5 or 6 strong short runs, then I lost him.

I checked my fly and realized that the fish had straighten the hook to free itself. I must admit it was a fine trout hook, but I like it because it is very sharp and I have landed many good size bream on that so far. It looks like I need to find hooks with a heavier gauge now.

I wonder how big the fish was.


先週は、干潮から上げ潮に変わった辺りが良かったので、今週も同じ潮目を狙いました。やっぱりこの前と同じ様に、潮の流れが速くなりだした辺りからヒットがあって、その後３０分位するとパッタリ。

昨日も今日も同じ様なパターンでしたが、今日は、始めからラインブレイクの連続。三回目の合わせ切れの後にティペットを４xから３xに変え、その後今日初の一匹。

次にフックアップしたのは、今まで釣ったクロダイの中でもトップクラスのファイトを見せました。５、６回リールを逆回転させて走った後、リーダーのちょっと手前までラインを回収したところでフックアウト。

フライをチェックしたら針が伸びていました。これなら４xを切られる筈です。刺さりが良いのでトラウト用の細い針を使っていましたが、今までは大きい魚でも今回の様に針を伸ばされた事はありませんでした。いったいどんなサイズの魚だったのかは分かりませんが、もっと頑丈な針に変えた方が良いみたいです。

No wonder 4x tippets got broken off.