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Cherry Salmon • The First Stage  --Vol.40--

Impatience

A cherry salmon, my dream fish was in the stream in front of me. I saw it. I wanted to fish it immediately. However the Kuzuryu River was extremely muddy as far as I could see. It looked like the River Amazon in the film. I found several spots where I thought fish stayed to avoid muddy water. But I could do nothing because those spots are usually in the grass at medium water.

To make the matter worse, it rained in a very wide area in the previous night. I phoned my acquaintance near the Takahara River, my old river, to learn that terribly high water would make fishing impossible for another some days.

I was obliged to go home but that cherry salmon always came back in my memory. I could not wait. I wanted to go fishing immediately but the weather was still changeable. As it rained every three days, all information said that the river remained high and had no sign of retreat.

I waited impatiently until the end of April. But the water was still so high. Then I thought I should put off my departure. Although the previous year's experience made me feel slightly uneasy I decided to wait until the 2nd week of May because I heard snow remained on the mountain.
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I was fishing the pool at the upper reaches of National Route 8. It looked like a pond due to terribly low water.

May is Summer?

The 2nd week of May had a completely different weather from the middle of April. I had thought spring was not over in the mountain area but it was early summer now. I needed cool air in my car, instead of heating 2 weeks before.

I worried about the water condition and looked down at the Asuwa River as usual before leaving the motorway. The river flowed quietly and left no trace of snow melting water.

Finally I came to Fukui and felt uneasy about the river condition. If the river has low water like the previous year, what will I be able to do?

At Gomatsu Bridge I looked down at the Kuzuryu River. The water was even lower than I had expected as the lowest. Furthermore, it was more transparent than I had ever seen. I could see pebbles on the bottom.

How unlucky again I am! I had come to the Kuzuryu River many times and local people taught me a lot about the river condition. They say the river usually has medium water in May because snow melting water pours into the river no longer. In addition, the water is not muddy. The river is the most beautiful in a year.

I believe their words. But the real river was a miserable one. The water was just low enough to fish Japanese dace just as in the previous year. Nevertheless I started watching and fishing pools in wider area than the previous year because having watched various pools at low water in the previous year did me good at fishing high water in this year.

At first I fished the pool of the front of kindergarten. I was really surprised to know the water was low enough to walk across. Probably it was because the bottom was more thickly covered with stones than the previous year. I walked near to the head of the pool and cast the fly as a test. I expected secretly one or two cherry salmon remained but my little hope disappeared with fierce attack by Japanese dace.
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I was fishing a channel at the upper reaches of Hatayaura, standing on a rock named Shohei Rock later. The rock is almost under the water at medium water.

Glitter in the Channel

I walked upstream on the bank to Hatayaura, just as in the previous year. The pool of Hatayaura looked small and too quiet to know which was upstream, whereas it spreads like a lake at high water. I walked on the concrete brocks that appeared on the water to head farther upstream. Finally a channel was formed along the bedrock. The scenery was not changed from the previous year here.

When I decided to return downstream something jumped beside the bedrock. It happened so near the bank that I felt as if a stone had fallen into the water. Within 10 seconds something jumped again. What are they? Clearly they are not small fish!
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I was walking across the fast current called the water department later to head downstream.

I walked on the rock gingerly and stood just beside the spot of jump. Something split the water again. The fish seemed to make U-turn after floating rather than to jump. It was like char come up to bite dry fly.

What fish? With another splash very near to me I saw the fish clearly. Big Japanese dace. Some of them were over 40cm. I thought they were Malta which came upstream from the sea. Their spawning season was about to begin.

For the next few minutes I watched various kinds of splashes. Then one type of jumps attracted my attention. It happened several times at the same point and I noticed the fish colour was different from others. The fish glittered on the surface whereas Japanese dace were all reddish olive colour. I hurried to walk upstream and made the fly drift around the spot of that jump. I tried drifting several times very carefully but nothing happened. Then that jump stopped. Other jumps by Japanese dace still happened after the fly passed there so many times. Only the jump by my target stopped. It made me expect there was something special here.

What kind of fish are they? They are not Japanese dace because their belly was seen silver. To my disappointment, they are not cherry salmon, either, because they were just over 40cm and thin. I thought this way or that but I could do nothing more. I was obliged to leave this spot.
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In June of the same year I fished the Yoneshiro River in Akita Prefecture. The river looked like a farm pond with low water.

Big Sedges with Long Feelers

In the glaring sunlight like summer I was walking downstream along the river, starting under a power transmission line. The whole ground was covered with fresh green leaves, very different from the previous time of dry grass. When I came near to the end of the Junction Pool I found something like husks of beech buds near the waterside. To my surprise, they were all cast-off skins of the big sedges. Then I walked farther downstream to the pool of the front of the motorway and found a large amount of cast-off skins at the hollow of gravel heap at the right bank. I had seen a heap of cast-off skins in the mainstream several times in early summer but never seen such a huge amount. I understood why countless big Japanese dace stayed here. How many sedges will fly around at the peak in the evening? Only guess made my back itchy.

If cherry salmon stay here they will eat those sedges. No wonder they eat them because big yamame trout came up at rise like mad.

Then I decided to stay here until evening. The scenery came up in my mind that cherry salmon eat sedges greedily with splash. I wanted to make sure if it would really happen.
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A large amount of cast-off skins of the big sedges drifted to the hollow at the bank side. The scenery that they spread over scores of metres was a bit creepy.

When I finished watching the river condition downstream to National Route 8, the dusk had completely covered the river. I might come across a surprising scene. I returned upstream again and put Muddler Minnow and Peacock Queen to the floating line. Then I headed for the pool of Hatayaura.

When I arrived at the channel under the bedrock Japanese dace were still jumping. Soon it was getting dark and a large number of big sedges started flying around. But there was no large splash or even jumps by Japanese dace were getting less. As it was getting darker the river became calmer against my expectation.

I failed again. But I said to myself that it was plausible that cherry salmon did not stay here because I could catch none in spite of repeated rise in perfect condition. So I should not jump to conclusions.

"I shall return next year!" So I screamed to the Kuzuryu River in the mist of dusk.

Then I walked up the embankment.

-- To be continued --
2002/02/17  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake