For an enjoyable night life

This miniature light (Tag Light by ABITAX ) has been a light source for my night fishing for some years.

I got two of these on each side of my fly vest around chest pockets. The light is nicely designed and only weighs 4g which I like as my fly vest is already heavy enough.

It doesn't give me enough light to walk on a unfamiliar trail or to wade across a river safely in total darkness, but it is bright enough for me to move around a camp site and to change flies at night around bridges, habours, etc.

To spice up my night life though, I bought this, Petzl e+Light on the last weekend. It weighs 28g and comes with a case. The body can rotate 360 degree, and I can either wear it as a head light or attach it on my fly vest with a clip.

I can set it to give me a normal light (on low or high setting) and a red light. The light is waterproof to 1m as well.

According to a product info, e+Light is designed for emergency, so it is not as powerful as other bigger head lights in the market, but those lights weigh 3 times more than e+Lite, so for its compact size, it is highly functional. Besides, compared to my Tag Light, this light is still as bright as a full moon, I think.

Hopefully, the weather gets better on this weekend, so that I can test the light in on the river at night.

Passing a fishy test

I had a question mark about hooking ability of my new shrimp pattern last week, but those fish I got this week were securely hooked on the corner of the jaw, and there was no way for the hook to come loose.

It is too early to say how effective the fly is, but so far it looks like the new shrimp pattern is passing the test.

先週に続き、今週もこの前巻いたエビのパターンをテストしに川へ行ってきました。先週の様にフッキングした魚がバレる様な事は無く、今回は、ガッチリと口の蝶番にかかっていました。

さらにテストが必要だと思いますが、新しいエビの毛鉤、今の所は合格点な印象です。

Testing my new shrimp pattern

I went out to test my new shrimp pattern on Sunday.

I hooked up two fish but I dropped both of them unfortunately.

I thought one of them was a decent size guessing from the way it was pulling away my fly line. I brought the fish to the end of the fly line, then the hook came off. After that, I didn't get any hit. The tide went slack, so it was time to go home.

Knowing I struggle to get even a single take from black bream with some other fly patterns on the market, I guess I am happy with my out come on Sunday.

新型シュリンプパターンを巻いてフィールドテストへ。

先週と違いエビの姿は一匹も見えず。そこでまず、ベイトパターンを結んで探りを入れます。最初の一匹を釣って、クロダイがいる事が分かったので、さっそくエビのパターンに変更。

ドロップオフに沿って毛鉤を引いてくると「ゴツン」とアタリが。引きからすると良さそうな魚だったと思いますが、ネットを出した所で、フックアウトの残念賞。その後も小さいのを一匹かけましたが、これもフックアウト。毛鉤のデザインに問題があるのか、そうでないのか、テストを続けてみないと分かりません。

It looks realistic enough especially when it gets wet.


This was one I got before switching to the shrimp pattern.

Shrimp gathering

I found lots and lots of these shrimps floating along the bank edge today. I also saw them jumping out of water being chased by fish.

With one scoop with my landing net, I ended up with a big handful of them. Unlike bait fish, they don't move much, so it was very easy to scoop them up, and I am sure fish find them easier to capture too.

I was still catching fish (I got 8 today) on minnow patterns, but I will try a shrimp pattern next weekend to see if I get a better result.


今日釣りへ行くと、岸には小さいエビが群れていました。

自分が魚なら、素早く逃げ回る小魚を狙わず、フラフラとみんなして水面付近を漂っている小エビを狙うのですが、エビのパターンは、どういうわけか、ミノーに比べるとあまり活躍しないんですよね。ベイトパターンで釣れた魚が１０匹だとすると、エビは２匹程度です。

そうは言っても、魚に追われて水面を飛び跳ねるエビたちを見ると、やっぱりエビのパターンを試したくなるのが毛鉤人魂というもの。そういう事で、来週に向けて新たにエビの毛鉤を巻く事にします。

To enjoy winter fishing

It has been too cold to fish with my ever leaking waders, so I renewed my wader the other day.

I also bought a new merino mid layer to keep me warm as well. The new pull over is lighter and warmer than my old merino jersey, and I really like its colour and design too.

With these, I should be able to go out and enjoy fishing in the winter weather again.

冬の天気に代わり、もはや水漏れのするウェーダーではどうしようもないので、ウェーダーを新調しました。それと、新しいメリノウールのミッドレイヤーも購入。これで寒さに震える事無くまた釣りが楽しめます。








This is our mere result from our Mandurah outing last week




By the look of it, plenty of these guys in the river now.


A cute little fish I got this morning


It looks like better ones come out later once water gets warmed up


It was cold and windy yesterday evening but the colour was interesting