An idea on punishment

The last Saturday was the Earth Hour Day, so we turned off our lights for one hour as our small effort to reduce our ecological footprint.







Being a teacher, I get opportunities to talk to all kinds of people from young to old, and I often come across with people who regard doing something for the environment as a some sort of punishment on themselves. These people some how think that by helping to protect the environment, they will miss out or loose something.

However, anyone who enjoys life in the nature, surfing on the wave, climbing up on the hill, or fly fishing on the river, understands that we gain something by looking after the environment. It is not a punishment. It is our contribution to the planet, and we all do it because we can.

This fish had a beautiful blue line on its head.

Gamakatsu B10S

I went to see my friend, Chris on Saturday to talk about an idea of selling flies to raise money for the Japanese earthquake relief effort. We exchanged our ideas, and I told him that I am going to tie some sample estuary patterns by the next weekend.

After having lunch with Chris, I stopped at East Perth to meet up with Mike to fish for a couple of hours. I got a few fish including one nice bream (with Mike's fishing rod measure, it was 38cm).

土曜日は、友達のクリスの店へ遊びに行きました。今回の地震で被害にあわれた人たちの為に何かできないかと話し合い、フライを巻いて、それを売って寄付金を集めようというアイデアで行こうと決めました。

帰りにちょっと釣りをしましたが、３８cmの良い型を始めて、クロダイ数匹が釣れてまずまずの結果でした。

At Chris's shop, I picked up packets of Gamakatsu B10S hooks which I am going to use for tying those estuary flies. I normally use TMC hooks for tying streamers for estuary fishing, but they got run out. I can still order those, but I don't want to wait a couple of weeks before starting our fly tying project, so I have decided to try Gamakatsu B10S instead. I looked at them at the shop, and I was impressed with how sharp the hook point was.

Gamakatsu has saltwater hooks called SC15 (or perhaps called SS15 in Australia). Alternatively I can go for Mustad C47SD. These hooks have a protective coating, so they last bit longer in saltwater than uncoated carbon steel hooks. However, it feels to me that the hook point of these saltwater hooks doesn't feel as sharp as normal freshwater hooks. Perhaps, those soft coating has compromised the sharpness.

地元の釣り場という面から考えると、やはり需要があるのはソルト用のパターンになります。という事で、クロダイ用の毛針を中心に考えていく事になりましたが、そこで問題になるのがフックの選択です。

僕がクロダイ用に巻いている毛針は、フックのサイズで＃１０か＃１２と小さめです。これは自分が釣っている場所に入ってくるベイトのサイズに合わせているからですが、ソルト用のフックには、このサイズの針がありませんので鱒用の針を使います。普段は、TMCフックを使っていますが、あいにく使い果たして手元にあるのは数個。日本から送ってもらう手もありますが、それまで待っていられないので、今回はクリスの店で売っているGamakatsuのB10Sを選びました。

To be honest, even a hook only lasts one session, I would rather use it if it is sharper and can hold fish better. The sharpness is far more important than durability in my opinion. Hooks might last 10 sessions, but if they are not sharp, I don't get a hook up. It is a simple principle.

I have heard that some people use B10S for seabass fishing in Japan, so I guess they are tough enough, and perhaps they will last long enough (I am happy if they last 2, 3 sessions) in salt too.

Anyway, I tied a few flies with the hooks I got yesterday, and I went out this morning as a field test. I picked up a half dozen fish at the end, and it seems that the hook was doing a good job.

TMCの鱒用のフックは、良いサイズと形の物があるのですが、一度海水で使うと直ぐにサビて毛針が変色してしまいます。個人的には、毛針は淡水でもソルトでも一回の釣りで使えれば良いと思っているので平気ですが、やっぱり２、３回は使えると巻く方にとっては楽です。

B１０Sも、コーティングが無いためサビが出るのが早いと思います。ただ、前に使った事のあるSC１５よりも柔ななコーティングをしていないためか、若干フックポイントが鋭い感じです。

試しに幾つか巻いて、日曜の朝にフィールドテストに行って来ました。クロダイを６匹程釣りましたが、針は良い具合にフッキングしていましたので、フックに関しては、この選択で良かった様です。

Peaceful Sunday morning

I needed to go out to get mind off from the news about the earthquake.

I know that those people in the middle of the disaster do not have such luxury, but it was getting too frustrating for me to sit in front of a computer and keep clicking a mouse to reload the same pages of the internet news sites over and over.

I decided that there is nothing I can do about at this stage, so I went to a river to fresh up my thought.

The river looked so peaceful on Sunday morning.

Walk in the light

学校が終わった金曜の午後、帰りの車のラジオから「next news from Tokyo」と言い、東北の大地震のニュースが流れ始めました。そして家に帰ってテレビをつけると、大きな津波に呑み込まれた町や炎に包まれたガスタンクの映像。一瞬これが現実の事なのか分かりませんでした。横にいた妻は、目に涙を浮かべて画面を見ていました。

一人でも多くの方の命が救われますように。そして一日でも早く安心して暮らせるようになりますように。心からそう願っています。

ニュージーランドの地震と今回の東北太平洋沖地震、一日無事に生きていられる事の幸せを考えさせられました。それと当時に、今、自分が出来る事を一生懸命しようと思いました。一寸先が闇ならば、光あるうちに力一杯歩くのみです。

It was a terrible day for Japan. It is just awful and we are just sad. We could not believe what we were watching on TV. I saw tears in my wife's eyes as we were watching horrifying images on news. I have spent hours sitting in front of my computer for the last two days checking updates on the earthquake and the accident at the nuclear reactors in Fukushima.

Our heart goes to our fellow countrymen and women in Japan, and we hope, from bottom of our heart, for peace for those people have to stand against this disaster.

It made me think that how fragile our life is and how lucky I am just being alive today. We have no idea about future really. Anything can happen to anyone. All I can do is to do my best for the time which has been given to me. While there is light, keep walking with a high spirit.

Right place & right tide

When I started fly fishing for black bream, the tide was the most difficult thing to understand.

For trout fishing, finding fish is a matter of knowing good fishing spots or where to cast at on a river. On an estuary, however, finding fish is not only to know where to go but also to know when to go.

The difference between being there at a right tide and at a wrong tide is huge in bream fishing. When we hit a prime time, we can hook up fish after fish. While if we were there on the wrong tidal phase, which is often to be the case, we will even struggle get a single strike.

それまで鱒ばかりを釣っていた自分にとって、「潮の回り」というのは一番理解に苦しみました。

鱒釣りの場合は、毛針や、それの流し方も重要だけど、それ以前に魚のいる川やポイントを知っているかどうかで釣果の善し悪しが決まります。

しかし海での釣りでは、どの場所で釣れば良いかという位置情報だけでは不十分。魚の行動は、潮の流れに左右されているので、ポイントの場所だけでなく、どの潮目で釣れば良いのかという事がさらに重要な知識です。鱒釣りで言うところの水棲昆虫のハッチに似ていますが、やっぱり餌になるベイトが潮に乗ってフラットなどに入って来ると、それを食べるクロダイも動き出します。

クロダイの釣りで難しいと感じるのは、良い潮回りは、ポイントによってそれぞれ違う事と、季節や風の方向などで時合いが変化して来る事です。パターンを理論的に引き出そうとする人もいますが、結局の所、実際に川に行って得た経験に勝る物は無いと僕は思っています。

A fish caught on Saturday just before the bottom of the tide.


This was caught yesterday when incoming tide started moving faster.

I think we were at a right place and at a right tide this morning. Fish were hitting flies as if there is no tomorrow for one hour or so, and I even felt hooking them was being too easy at some stage. Then, the tide sifted its pace and fish were gone.

ここ数日の潮回りは、早朝が干潮、午後が満潮。日によっては夕方に再び干潮が来て、夜中に満潮になるダブル・タイド。この所、朝の時間帯が良いので、この週末も、朝早くから釣りに行きましたが（といっても７時位ですが）、それぞれ良い結果となりました。

bamboo rod + nice size bream = fun!




Catching blowy was harder than hooking up bream this morning.