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KEN SAWADA'S FLY FISHING TACTICS

Aquamarine Squid

The hair wing model of Aquamarine pink-blue (above)
2 models of Aquamarine Squid, No.1 (left) and No.2 (right)

Reintroducing "Aquamarine"

In the last year of the 20th century a new killer fly was born after a long time. Its name is Aquamarine Squid.

The hair wing model of Aquamarine has been very popular as a killer fly of cherry salmon in Japan. I tried to arrange Rosemary and Stingray for salmon fishing into squid style. Fortunately, they have been recognised as killer flies in the salmon fishing scene in Europe. Now many of you must wonder why Aquamarine is reintroduced as a new fly today.

It is true that the prototype of Aquamarine Squid was completed just after Rosemary was born. When Stingray long-tailed caught my monster salmon I also kept Aquamarine long-tailed in the same fly box. But I did not use it simply because it had not got results yet. It is not unusual that a new fly is tried several times and when it does not get results it is half forgotten in the fly box. Anyway, I always kept an--- just one--- Aquamarine in my fly box for these several years. It was in summer of 1999 that it appealed for its ability for the first time.

A salmon doesn't like thunder?

In windy Renna pool, a bright 14kg caught by Aquamarine Squid
On that day the sky looked threatening from the morning with occasional showers. When I arrived at my beat, dark clouds hung low over me from the mountain and it began to thunder loudly. Soon large drops of rain began to fall on the water surface and a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning formed the terrible scenery all around. Although I did not feel well to fish under thunderbolts, I decided to cast the fly only a few times. Which fly should I choose under such conditions? Thinking over my fly box, I picked up the fly with no achievement and put it on the leader.

I remember that it was my third casting when a salmon quite naturally held the fly in its mouth. The scene was recorded on Video Show No.7. It came as a surprise even to me. At the same time the idea crossed my mind that this fly might be suitable in such rough weather. Because this fly has got basically light pink colour, I tried it exclusively in the clear water in daytime but in vain. I think that it might have been used under the wrong conditions.

Then summer in 2000 came. I had prepared two types of Aquamarine Squid to which I had carried out further improvement in advance. On June 1, the opening day a surprising thing happened. After passing by my Rosemary, a monster salmon snatched Aquamarine Squid from Mary Anne's line! It is a big event. It has never happened for these several years.

Strong Wind in Renna pool

A good fighter caught by Aquamarine Squid, too
A few days later the water was really turbulent. Hail and sleet came down diagonally with strong wind as if we had had a storm from the North Pole. The water temperature fell drastically to 4 or 5 degrees although it had been over 7 degrees before the previous day. I changed my Intermediate line into Type IV. After fastening the hood of my rain jacket tightly, I walked into the icy water in Renna Pool.

Strong wind blew from time to time from the lower bank. I made casting while the wind died down for an instant. It was not easy even to hold the rod. I remembered last year's storm, when it was not cold unlike this time but we had very rough weather with thunderbolt. The weather was too rough for fishing in either time. Taking it into account, I put Aquamarine Squid on the tip of my line.

10 minutes later my reel made a low noise and also gave me some shock of bumping something. Once, twice, three times my reel rattled shortly and became silent. A fish held the fly in its mouth tightly. I turned the rod towards the bank quietly and tightened the line. Nothing moved. I turned around and tightened the line with more strength. My 17feet rod bent in a large arc from its grip. Before long the fish began to move. It swam 10m towards the heart of the stream and stopped there again. My hooking seemed to be perfect. I walked out of the river slowly and tightened the line in the same way again. Soon the fish shook its head several times from side to side and headed downstream. It did not run at awfully high speed but kept the same pace. There was no moment that it loosened its hold before it ran 80m downstream. It was the typical way of large fish to pull the line. I fought with it without stepping downstream at all. About 15minutes later, a nice fish of 111cm, 14kg lay on the bank. In the edge of its large mouth one and half inch Aquamarine Squid was seen. It looked as if the fish put on some rouge.

Under the rough weather...

111cm, 14kg nice spring salmon was caught by Aquamarin Squid.
The news that the first large salmon of this year was caught spread swiftly. When we arrived at Renna again, three anglers had already cast their rod earnestly. They said that there had been no sign of fish. The wind died down quite a bit and the weather began to improve little by little. I started casting my fly near the head of the stream, where there was no angler about. Needless to say, I chose Aquamarine Squid. About 20 minutes later, I felt the sharp bite and at the same time my line was pulled out, whereas there was no bite of any other fly in the pool. The fish ran 100m downstream without stopping and fought energetically for more than 10minutes, making big jumps repeatedly. Then 9.5kg silvery body, which was caught by pink-blue Aquamarine Squid, lay under my feet.

Rough weather, dark water, freezing cold stream --- as one of the most reliable flies under such circumstances, Aquamarine Squid has unconditionally had a reserved seat in my fly box since then.

Translated into English by Miyoko Ohtake.