Monday Public Holiday

Yesterday was a public holiday, and my friend and I went fishing to catch some whitings in the Peel Estuary.

We didn't see any whiting unfortunately, but I hooked a good size bream in a boat harbour. I was dropping a shrimp pattern from a jetty, and the fish came up to grab it as the fly was falling down to the bottom.

The angry bream was trying to go around the jetty pylons, and I thought I was going to loose it knowing the 4x tippet won't have any chance against those sharp barnacles clinging onto the jetty.

In the end, I managed to steer the fish away from pillars and rocks to bring it to my landing net. It was fun.

A simple logic

I don't know how much cognitive ability fish possesses, nor I have a definitive understanding of what makes fish to attack their prey, but If my flies look and move like those real creatures that I find in the water, fish surely won't mind eating them.  This is a simple logic that I use when it comes to fly patterns. 

I often sit on the river bank and watch how bait fish moves with the current or hides under a rock. I sometime wade in the river at night with a torch in my hand to find out what kinds of shrimps and crabs are there.I then apply my findings to my fly design.

I believe that this approach leads me to much better understanding of those little creatures that fish eat and gives a better chance of creating something works well.  It is far better than spending money on fly tying books and DVDs or trying to steal someone else's fly box.

If you are new to fly fishing and got stuck with which flies to use, I recommend you to go to a local river and estuary and catch some bait. Put them in a little clear plastic container and watch how they really look like in the water. Pay attention to their size, colour, and movement.

This will reveal some nature's secrets, and all you have to do is to tie something looks like them.  If they look real, fish will be happy to eat it.

以前、川で捕まえて来たカディスの幼虫などを水槽に入れて、毛針を巻く為の観察をしていた事があります。気付いたら蛹になっていて、ハッチする瞬間を期待して待っていましたが、寝ている間に羽化していてがっかりしました。

ところで、鱒釣りの世界では、Match the Hatch という言葉が古くからありますが、海のフライフィッシングは、それに比べて随分と適当な感じがします。地元のフライショップのフライコーナーには、キラキラした光り物を沢山巻き込んだピンクやオレンジや紫などのド派手な海用のフライが沢山売っています。

そんな大阪のおばちゃん仕様のフライでも釣れる時は釣れるのですが、クロダイは警戒心が高い魚で、コンスタントに釣るとなるとやっぱり本物の小魚やエビやカニなどに似ている毛針の方が釣れます。西オーストラリアでは、４０cm位がクロダイのトロフィーサイズとなりますが、そんなやつらは、怪しいフライには、なかなか食いつきません。

もうとっくに空っぽになってしまいましたが、かつて部屋のコーナーに設置してあったカディスの水槽から得た発見は大きかったです。それと同じ様に、実際に川や海で小魚やエビなどを捕まえてみると、自分が思っていた以上にサイズが小さかったり、動きが速かったり、体が透き通っていたりと、眼から鱗的な事が色々とあります。タイイングの本やDVDなどから得られる情報よりも何十倍もの価値があると僕は思います。
 

Fishing was great on the last weekend. It seems that the tides had been on the good phase.

This was the best fish of the last weekend.

Mantis Shrimp

Really fascinating creatures, mantis shrimps are.

Their eyes are more sophisticated and light sensitive than human eyes. They apparently live long, and have the same partner for years in some cases.

They move very fast, and hunt their pray with a pair of deadly weapons. Mantis shrimps, as the name suggests, have pincers which can zip out as fast as a bullet shot out from a pistol. 

Even heavily armoured crabs won't stand a chance against these sea monsters. Mantis shrimps can smash those crabs in half as the blow of a mantis shrimp is said to be strong enough to break a fish tank.

A google search shows you so many colourful mantis shrimps which look like aliens from other planets. The ocean if full of mysterious creatures, I think.

I don't know if fish like black bream eats mantis shrimps. They might be scared of getting a lethal punch. I know I would, but then, bream has its muscle crushing jaws too. Anyway, here are pictures of my mantis shrimp imitation I tied yesterday.

寿司ネタで有名なシャコですが、フライフィッシングでは、珊瑚礁のフラットで釣れるボーンフィッシュやトリガーフィッシュなどの魚を釣るのに使われているそうです。

パース近郊の釣りの場合だとエビやカニのパターンと比べると影が薄く、僕は、今まで意識していませんでした。でも最近、イカやゴカイなど、フライボックスの中の脇役を増やして行く流れで、シャコの事をちょっと調べてみると、とても興味深い生き物だという事が分かりました。

魚を釣る事だけで考えれば実績のある定番の毛針が数種類あれば事が足りるのですが、そんな結果重視のアプローチでは遊び心がありません。

フライフィッシングの面白さは、色々と試行錯誤して作り出したフライで魚を釣る、そのプロセスにあると思います。そういう意味では、むしろフライボックスの中のマイナーなフライ、もしかしたら的なフライや最終兵器的なフライの存在は、釣りを面白くするという意味では大切かと思います。

色々とマテリアルをゴミ箱行きにしましたが、まあまあの形のシャコの毛針が出来たと思います。

night river combing

I was on the river last night, and I found these shrimps / river prawns swimming around a shallow water.

There were lots of bait fish ranging from 2cm to 8cm.  I was looking for crabs too, but didn't see any.

What is on the menu?

I was watching a few breams swimming around a jetty yesterday, and they all appeared to be locked onto something on the bottom. 

There were many bait fish in the same area, but those tiny fish are happily swimming around breams without being chased by their predators.

I caught fish on a shrimp pattern later, but interestingly I didn't get a single touch on minnow patterns. It could just have been a coincidence, but it may be possible that bait fish aren't on beam's menu at the moment.  I wonder why.

Pink wiggly things

I was watching video clips of palolo worm hatch a few days ago. It is hard to believe a big tarpon will chase such a small creature. 

Speaking of the worm hatch, many years ago, I saw a similar hatch of worms on a rive in my home town in Japan. I was surprised not only to see so many of worms swimming in the water, but to see anything alive in the river which looked to be too dirty to sustain any life form (I was a young boy back then, and I honestly thought, those were mutated worms because of pollution in the river). 

Apparently, those hatching worms brings a big number of large sea bass even in the middle of Tokyo. It says they hatch in early spring on the night of full moon (a big tide, a big water movement to carry worms and their eggs to the sea, I guess).

Although I haven't seen such a massive worm hatch in Perth, I have seen a worm swimming at the surface. I am sure that our local worms have to go on their spawning run at some point of time, and fish like bream wouldn't miss a chance to get an easy meal like a worm skating at surface.

So, I decided to tie worm patterns, and keep a couple of them in my fly box just in case I might need them in future.

To tie those pink wiggle things, I needed some pink materials.  Instead of driving down to shops to buy something, I decided to dye some materials I already got. I find dying tying materials is hit and miss, but this time the colour came out alright.

Here is what I tied.

I got an idea from a worm fly that I saw on the Internet.  In stead of using a piece of foam for creating its head as the original, I tied it with deer hair, bit like tying Royal Humpy for showing my trout fishing heritage.

A pink worm designed to swim just under the surface of the water

It is pink underneath

In terms of pink materials, I have also dyed some saddle feathers as an experiment, and I used these to tie a couple of squid patterns as a prototype.  

I put one of them in our kitchen sink to have a tank test. The saddle feathers move just like squid's tentacles, but I have found that the body is not so durable. So it looks like I need to go back to a drawing board.

May be I will modify my old squid fly by adding more feathers instead of using rubber legs.

Squid pattern

Add caption

How can they disappear so suddenly?

There were millions of shrimps in the river last Saturday.  They were so thick that the water had turned into a creamy shrimpy colour.

This week?  We were only able to spot a couple of them hiding among weed beds.  How can they all disappear like that?

We went to the same place, hit a similar tidal stage, and wind direction was pretty much identical too.  All variables seemed to be as they were last week, yet those shrimps weren't there anymore.

Well, the world on the river is really amazing after all, and we can only grasp a small part of the whole mystery, I guess.

Fish were still hitting on a shrimp pattern even though the shrimp fest was over, but all fish were quite small.  I also caught a flathead on my prototype clam worm / sand worm pattern which was good for a change.

A small grunter caught on a shrimp pattern

Experimental worm pattern tied with goat hair and an emu feather

For bottom dwelling creatures

I went out today to test my new shrimp imitation for catching bream. It is a generic crustacean pattern to suggest various shrimpy bottom dwelling creatures like a mud shrimp which hides in the sand by digging a hole with its big pincer (only one of its arms is big) and types of shrimps and prawns with a set of long skinny arms found on estuaries and rivers.

To make fly crawl and bounce off the bottom, I put a dumbbell eye as weight. The fly is tied reverse, so that a hook point facing up to avoid snagging up on the bottom.

Anyway, I fished a few hours in the afternoon today, and I got bream, flathead, and grunter. The fish were all small, but I was happy with the new fly manging to get a hat trick.

クロダイ用に巻いた毛鉤のテストに行って来ました。テナガエビやボケジャコなど、色々なエビの仲間に似せてフライです。

底を歩かせたり、びょんびょんとジャンプさせたりする様に、ダンベルアイのウェイトを付けてあります。それから、根掛かりを少なくするために、フックポイントが上に来る様に巻いてあります。

テストの結果は、小さい魚でしたが、bream、flathead、glounterとハットトリックを達成。まずまずの結果でした。
 
Mud Shrimp
pincers: hackle tips (light ginger) trimmed into a claw like shape.
body: goat hair and mohair (tan colour).
eyes: nylon mono painted black.
legs: rubber legs
flashy stuff: a couple of strands of crystal flash on each side

Bream will move at any water column to intercept their prey but there are times when they prefer to feed off the bottom, and when they are like that, the fly needs to go down and stay that way.

I was once standing on a jetty and watching a school of bream working in a shallow water. They were standing on their nose, and trying to dig something out of the sand. I then saw one fish grabbed something off the bottom and took off as other fish started chasing them. When the fish came pass in front of me, I could see that the fish was holding something with a big claw in its mouth. It looked me that the fish had manged to dig up a mud shrimp or something.

It was interesting to see the way other fish were chasing the fish with a meal. The fish were going zigzag like a pack of dogs chasing one with a piece of bone in its mouth. Perhaps the shrimp tasted so nice and it drove fish into a frenzy.

クロダイは、餌を捕るのに底から水面まで動きますが、ハゼやカニや底を這って生活しているエビの仲間などを選んで捕食している時は、底にべったりと張り付いて上を通過する毛鉤には反応が悪いです。

一度、アナジャコか何かを探して底を夢中で突いているクロダイの群れを観察した事がありますが、餌を捕まえた魚を他の数匹が追いかけ回していました。餌を口にくわえた魚は、右や左と泳いで追手を振り切り、他の魚が居なくなったのを確認してから、モグモグと餌を食べ始めました。その時に口から大きなハサミの様な爪がはみ出ていたのを覚えています。

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。

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。

A game of finesse

Fishing for trout on a small stream is a type of fishing that I love most. It is a game of finesse that I like. Casting needs to be precise, and wading and approach have to be quiet and slow.

To me, a big trout river has an element of conquering like a climbing up a big tall mountain. It is big and fast, and it feels like I am there to stand against a river and a big fish swimming in it.

A small stream on the other hand feels much closer. It is more intimate, personal, and peaceful.

Here are some pictures that I took on those lovely streams in New Zealand.


世の中には、色々な釣りのスタイルやターゲットがありますが、やっぱり僕にとって一番好きなのは、小さな川でドライフライでマスを狙う釣りです。

大きな本流で大きな魚を狙うのもエキサイティングで良いのですが、一発大物の釣りは、どうも肩に力が入ってしまい、釣りの善し悪しも結果重視になってしまいます。

それと比べると、ストリームフィッシングと言われる小さい川での釣りの方が、ゆったりとしていて遊びがあり、釣りのプロセス自体を大事にできる様に感じます。今回のニュージーランドへの旅行では、そういった小さな川で釣りを楽しめました。

This is probably the most beautiful brown I have ever caught.












These small mayflies were everywhere on the Matuara system.


A dun of Leptophlebidae. It should have three tails but one got lost.


A beautiful mayfly spinner. The body size was about #18 or #20 hook.




Spinners normaly came out just before the sun set.


Fish became selective during the fall, and a fly had to match closely.


Trying different flies to find a right answer during the spinner fall.




CDC spent spinner & CDC dun. Worked well during the hatch and fall.


CDC spinner with upright wings. It worked when a spent pattern failed.










Keep dreaming


Canon D10