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Mountain Streams  --Vol.5--

Low Water in Shimosadani

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The Takahara River in the middle of summer.
Extreme low water in midsummer always reminds me of the creek of Shimosadani. In the end of 1970's, I often fished this tributary, which flowed down into the right bank of the Takahara River. Like other creeks I mentioned earlier, it was a sunny and hot creek. But I would dare to fish in midsummer simply because the creek was crowded with bait fishermen in spring. When summer comes, the mainstream of the Takahara River has got low water and there are only a few catches during daytime. Then I felt it was my turn to spend daytime there. I often fished there under the burning sun without seeing any other angler.

It was in the middle of August, if I remember correctly. I went to the creek after lunch. I walked down to the bank just from the upper reaches of the power station at the entrance of the creek. The glaring sunlight and the hot wind made me feel as if I came down into the heated pan. The creek had a very small flow through recent lack of rain. I fished upstream with Killer Bee, which had already been my regular pattern of that season. When I cast the fly into the well-flowed current of my choice, Japanese yamame trout swallowed it, whose whitish fins were swaying like those of goldfish. All the fish that appeared in these hours usually bit the fly in no time.

When the creek began to slope upwards steeply, I came near to the spot where I had never missed seeing fish. I clung to the large rock in front in order to see the remotest part of the current. There was a shadow of the fish that was swinging along the line of the flow. Judging from the way of its body wiggling, it was likely to be a larger fish than an ordinary one in this spot. I cast the fly carefully near the head of the pool. The fly was drifted along the line of the flow towards the shadow. I did not have time to worry that the fish would come up to the fly but the shadow swam up directly to the fly and swallowed it in one gulp. As there was little space for fish to run around, unlike the mainstream, so it came to my feet soon. It was a slightly pinkish trophy size yamame trout of considerable height. I could catch another trophy size one just upstream. The fish appeared perfectly on that day.
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Japanese Amago trout has beautiful red spots in thebody.

As the both banks get nearer upstream, char appear in twos and threes. Some of the creek water begins to flow underground and the low water becomes still lower. Near to the first waterfall, the pool looks like a pond without flow. When I reached the pool covered with a giant rock, I looked around carefully. Although most part of the large pool was below the rock, the sunny part could be completely seen through. I could see even the sand of the bottom.

Before long I found something strange under the bedrock at the opposite bank. It looked as if a piece of wood were sunk in the water but one edge of it formed a complete triangle like a tail of yamame trout. I watched more carefully and found something like a dorsal fin at a slightly distant place. But the outline of the head was not clear. I wondered if it might be a fish. It stayed still in the bottom with no sign of moving. But it bore a too close resemblance to a fish to call it a strange coincidence. I looked around here and there in the pool to find nothing else. Then I took another glance at that piece of wood. Its tip seemed more likely to be a fish tail than before.--- But if it were really a fish, it would be much larger than 16 inches. Such a large fish cannot stay in this low water of the creek. But if it were really a fish,----- Suddenly my heart was pounding with excitement.
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There is a power station on the lower Shimosadani. We fish upstream from this.

Well, I try. I retrieved the line and examined Killer Bee closely, which was put to the leader tip. Then I cast the fly carefully and gently towards the edge of the opposite bank, 10m far away, so that it did not hit the bank. ----It cannot be a fish. It just has got the similar shape by accident. It must be my optical illusion. But if it should be a real fish, --- I still had a little expectation. Actually, I had a mixed feeling. Then the piece of wood moved! It came up to Killer Bee on the surface slowly as if we were watching a slow motion video. It was a fish without doubt. My eyes were riveted on the moving piece of wood and the tiny fly on the surface. The distance between them became shorter immediately and I saw the wood piece open its large mouth and swallow the fly! It was this moment that I had been waiting for, holding my breadth. I set the hook to the fish very carefully. But for some reason, the fly returned to me with no catch.

What happened?

I had watched to make sure that the fish had opened its mouth and shut it. Killer Bee, which was supposed to catch the fish, came to my feet, whereas the wood piece went down to the bottom as quietly as when it had come up to the surface and finally disappeared behind the bedrock.

What a disappointed expectation! It must have been a record size of yamame trout. How unlucky I am that the hook has come off at the very moment!
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The trophy size Yamame Trout in the mountain creek.

I was in a state of shock. After a while I noticed a small yamame trout swimming around although I had been too absent-minded to notice when it had come up. It was just more than 8 inches long, but there was no other shadow of the fish around. Pulling myself together, I cast the fly quietly behind the yamame trout. Probably because the fly reached near the bank, it did not notice the fly and was still swimming. But after swimming almost one lap around the pool, it came to me. I was waiting for the very moment without moving a muscle.

When it approached about 1m before the fly, it was likely to notice it. Suddenly it turned around and dashed to the fly. When I lifted the rod, it did not run but only struggled on the water surface. Then it was dragged on the dry rock and came to my feet. I was surprised to see it. The yamame trout that was still struggling under my feet was certainly more than 11 inches and a half long. I had estimated it at most 10 inches, so my eye measurement proved utterly wrong. If that's the case, how many inches on the earth was that wood piece? I felt dizzy again.
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Another Yamame Trout was also trophy size, but it appeared in the shadow of a rock.

At first I felt how unlucky I was. I could remember clearly how that giant yamame trout came to bite the fly. It opened its large mouth just in front of the fly, swallowed it and shut its mouth quietly. I could say even its mouth colour. I set the hook to the fish after making sure these things but the fly came off quite easily. I had the same experience several times when I used size 18 hook. But this time I used size 14 hook, which was impossible to come off.

It turned out later that accident should not be called unlucky. If I had caught the fish, I would have been lucky. But it was no wonder I could not catch it. If the fish were large, size 14 fly would be equivalent to a midge. If the large fish did not turn over after biting the fly, it would be more likely to say so. Now I understood that plain fact for the first time.

Since then I have had extraordinary concern about "the sure way of hooking".

-- To be continued --
2001/04/15  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake