Did Canon Timer kill my camera?

Buddhist monk says "everything with a form is destined to break down", and as the Buddhist teaching goes, my Canon D10 failed today.

I have been using the camera for over one year and it served me well in the wind, rain, and under the water. It is pain in the neck though that electric gadgets often get kaputt as soon as their warranties become expired as if they got chipped with a self distracting time bomb.

I saw many SONY walkman got broken soon after their warranty periods finished when I was at school, and like many of my school friends, I used to believe that SONY products had a built in SONY Timer, a kill switch which kicks in as soon as the warranty expires. To be honest, I am still living with my past, and it is the only reason for me to stay away from SONY products even to this date. The irony is that it wasn't SONY Timer this time, it was Canon's.

Anyway, I got a nice size chopper tailor this morning, and I was glad that the camera was able to take a few shots of the fish before started acting funny. I will probably send it to Canon repair mob in Tokyo. I had to get my 50mm macro lens fixed last time, and getting it serviced over there was a lot cheaper than getting the lens repaired locally (I paid about $80 for something which was quoted $300 originally).

It's fun to get this one on my #4 rod. Lucky it didn't bite off 3X tippet.


For tailor of that size being around, no wonder dolphins looked busy.


This was the last shot I took with my Canon D10.


I switched Canon with Pentax Optio another waterproof point & shoot.

Can herring ever feel blue?

I fished Mandurah estuary today to chase some herring.

Although I managed to hook up a few of fish, fish weren't that switched on to chase my flies. I got them on a steamer but I had no success on a popper. There was one fish came up for it. It hit a fly once and it was gone. After that I didn't get anything even switching back to streamers.

Usually it is hard not to hook up herring when they are in their hunting mode. They get so agitated that they hit anything that moves around in front of their nose including a piece of red plastic straw or even bare hook.

It looks like even herring can be in a blue mood from time to time.

Bye bye holiday

The school holiday is over.

So long, and thanks for all the fish, it is time to work.

そろそろテストの採点でも始めようかなあ、なんて思っていたら、いつのまにか春休みも今日で終わり。明日から新学期です。


I got quite few fish this week, but all were small ones.


The view of the moon from the bridge on Thursday.






There were many fish in this size in the river. Still fun though.


We went to chase some herring on poppers yesterday but had no luck.




Canon D10

Climbing walls

My friend, Gus, called me on Thursday, and asked me if I was interested to go climbing some walls.

I wasn't doing much as the weather wasn't that great to go fishing, so it was a timely call.

We went to a place in the City as I can get a discount as a member of the State School Teacher's Union, but by the time we paid an expensive parking ticket on the side of the road, it wasn't much of getting discount.

We were there for an hour and bit, and my arms were already sore. It looks like I need to build #8 9ft bamboo rod, a rock lunching catapult, to strengthen my arms bit.

iPad

I bought iPad on Wednesday.

It is not for me. I bought it for my class. I was told that there are many apps that people can down load to learn Japanese, and I thought our students might be interested in those things.



Speaking of apps though, there are some fishing games for iPad including a fly fishing one. I played their demo ones bit, and what is my verdict?

Throw away your iPad, grab your favourite rod, and go to river, estuary, or surf, whatever you can find down the road.

Go fishing instead of just wishing as Louis Armstrong sings.

Even these little ones are better than 50 lb cyber fish. These are real.

Casting Day 2011

There was the club's annual casting day yesterday.

There were a lot of rods to try, and personally I was interested in different rods around #7 to #8 weight as I am thinking to build #7 bamboo rod next (after finishing another #4 that I am working on now).

I think the event is a good place for people want to start fly fishing or those who want to improve casting technique to get extra distance as there are very good casters in the club.

昨日は、地元のソルトウォーター・フライフィッシングクラブのキャスティング・デイでした。それぞれがロッドを数本持って来て、好きなロッドを試し振りができる良い機会でした。

Canon D10

Bloody blistering barnacles

I went to get a couple of spools of tippet material from Flyworld today, and I fished around East Perth on the way back.

I picked up a few fish casting around sunken limestone rocks. Unfortunately, I also got a hole on my wader from barnacles covering those rocks.

Water is usually silty down there because of the weekend boat traffic, and it is pain in a neck to wade as I can not see what's in the water well. It is easy to bump into a rock or two, and these tiny wader ripping creatures are also happy to slice a fly line and an expensive pair of wading shoes.

ティペットの替えを買いに友達の釣具屋（Flyworld）に行った帰りに、パース市内からちょっとの所で釣ってみました。大きな岩やコンクリートの固まりが沈んでいるポイントで、潮目にもよりますが、魚は、だいたい教科書通りに岩の周りに着いています。

数匹釣ってから、ふと気付くと、ウェーダーの左足から浸水が・・・。どうやら岩に生えているフジツボで穴が空いた様です。

ここは、魚が良く着くポイントなのですが、ボートの引き波でいつも濁りが入っていて足下が分かり難く、うっかりするとゴツンと足を岩にぶつけます。そうなったらウェーダーだけでなく高価なウェーディングシューズもやられます。

Canon EF 24mm f2.8

Lost fish

I fished for a couple of hours on Wednesday, and I wasn't getting anything, then "bang", I hooked up a big fish all of sudden. The fish took off and it almost put me onto backing line.

I could see the fish was trying to head for the sunken timber. I thought about let him take some line. He might turn away from the snag feeling less line pressure, the trick works well for NZ browns.

Come to think of it, I should have done that, but instead, I decided to apply more pressure on the reel to stop the fish from going into the hide out. I managed to stop the fish actually, but it got angry and made a big thrust. With one kick, "snap", the fish was gone.

Well I must say it was disappointing to loos the fish like that, but after having caught some smaller fish for the past few week ends, just hooking up a bigger fish was a good thing, I thought.

My bycatch on Tuesday


Tuesday's bycatch #2.


I fished on Swan River for change today, and got a few fish.


It looked like this little boy was overweight for its size.

Happy school holiday

Yep, it is a school holiday time.

It is time to sleep in, chill out, and fish.

Here are some pictures of fish and things I came across on the first weekend of the holiday.

この週末から、学校は、２週間の期末休み。

テストの採点などが山積みですが、まあ、ここ２、３日は、のんびりとやります（と言っても、いつもギリギリになってからあせって仕事に取り掛かるのですが）。

A fine fish that I got on Saturday. It is a good way to start the holiday


Mike wading in the river


A cute mini bream fell for my mohair minnow.








A tree monster with a big wide open mouth.