www.kensawada.com
In the River OSHINO  --Vol.54--

Evening Rise

I never forgot the first brown trout I had seen in Oshino in the end of March. Then I saw a much bigger monster that followed my fly twice in early April. Finally I caught a rainbow trout on that day although it was tiny. All those things said to me that there was no need to wait until May.

I always thought how to fish that monster. I named him Mr. Taro Oshino. As he followed my streamer twice, the streamer might be effective. However, the opposite idea was also plausible. As he just followed but never bit the streamer, it might be useless to cast it again.

I caught the rainbow trout with size 12 dry fly when it made rise in the shadows. Does Taro sometimes make rise, too? I had never seen fish making rise under light sun, which meant they make rise only in the dark spot. Taro stayed at the light place under the sun all day long. If he never leaves there, the fishing chance will be only after sunset. Yes, evening rise must be a good chance.
ff-54-1
Size 6 dry fly with fan wings. I cast White Miller of the same size at Taro, the monster brown trout.

In those days I understood only a little about evening rise. I had some experiences in Yohzawa and Tanzawa that I suddenly caught fish after the fly was not seen in the evening. I had given up fishing just after dark because I could not see the fly. But regular visitors stayed there for another an hour. Then I followed them and caught some fish after I could not see the fly. Imagining where the fly settled on the water, I watched the dark surface. Then there was a loud white splash. I set the hook to the fish and caught it. It was a rainbow trout. That happened at the unattractive spot where no fish was seen in the daytime.

There is no other way to fish Taro. So I thought. But there were some problems. Oshino was much larger than Yohzawa. Can I see the dry fly from far away? Does that monster fish eat my regular dry fly of size 12? My streamer looked effective but it did not float. I might sound ridiculous now but in those days I had a firm belief that only dry fly was suitable to evening rise. I had never thought of other types.
ff-54-2
This yamame trout would have been described beautiful if it had been caught in the mountain stream during the day, but it looked only a young in Oshino.

A Giant Dry Fly

I decided to make a giant fly for Taro. I tied White Miller with white fan wings on size 6 hook. It looked like a white butterfly. It must be clearly seen from far away in the dark. It will not be sunk easily because I employed 5 hackles to make thick hackle of the fly. By the way, 4 years later an improved product of this fly performed so brilliantly in char fishing in Hokkaido that it revived as Silver Fairy.

Only one problem remained. I wondered whether size 2X leader was not broken by Taro's weight. I had never caught such a monster trout or hooked it. How strong is he? He looked as heavy as 5 kg. Hmm, it's no use worrying! I can follow him into water if I have to. Fortunately, the river is not so wide.

Very early in May I came to Oshino with 3 fishing companions. We wanted to come earlier but unseasonable storms had repeatedly spoiled our start. We wanted to fish Oshino in the evening. Therefore we planned to fish yamame trout first in a tributary of the Fuji River running from the South Japan Alps and head for Oshino in the afternoon.

Oshino's scenery was very different from a month before. Both banks had been covered with bare branches and withered leaves but now was filled with the smell of fresh leaves.

In the early afternoon I walked with 3 men to show them around the whole area of Oshino. I caught a rainbow trout at the shallow fast current upstream. Then we returned to the Self-Defense Force Bridge and watched downstream. Some yellow things were flowing on the surface. What are they? They looked like miniature yachts. Then one of them started flying up. It was a mayfly, a very big one. The season of newly-emerged mayflies has started now!
ff-54-3
Countless duns, spinners and cast-off skins of mayflies were flowing on the surface. But trout in Oshino had no interest in those kinds of bait.

Standing on the bridge, we saw a huge number of mayflies flowing on the surface. We thought that many big trout were going to jump at them all together. We watched with great expectation but there was no rise. All mayflies were flowing downstream without being eaten. Why? They looked big, soft and delicious. Why do the trout miss such a good chance of eating countless mayflies?

We watched for more than half an hour but a tiny young trout jumped at a mayfly only once. We were completely discouraged. It looked as if there were no trout in the river.

As I had seen several giant brown trout I never doubted that the river had trout. To be honest, however, I was a little worried. If trout here never eat delicious food of living mayflies that come flowing in shoals, will they eat my poor fly?

After the red sun set between the clouds it got suddenly dark. Sometimes cool breeze blew. Only a few mayflies were seen now, contrasting with a large number before dark. I felt as if fishing day had been over.

We walked down to the riverside, facing a beautiful sunset and headed for the pool farthest downstream. It was my destination on that day.
ff-54-4
The scenery of Oshino in green in May. The river was so calm at low water that I could hardly tell which was upstream.

Loud Splashes at Evening Rise

I traced my footsteps across reed field and stood at the waterfront. To make casting safe, I had broken some tall withered reeds. As you know, there were the rose stocks at the opposite bank. My friends moved 30m downstream respectively.

It was awfully quiet. Brown thrushes were singing in the woods at the opposite bank. A bush warbler passed singing through nearby bushes. When they stopped singing it was completely quiet. I worried that our fishing was going to be over when it got dark.

It was completely quiet but I had no other place to go to. I stayed still for over half an hour. It got dark and dark. Only water surface that reflected the sunshine was bright in lead-grey.

Suddenly something flew from downstream. It passed in front of me and flew away upstream. It looked like a moth. Then another one. I watched carefully and found some others flying at the opposite bank. They were giant sedges. I remembered that large sedges often flew around when I finished fishing sweet fish and headed for the hotel in the evening. I wondered why so many of them were flying in early May in such a high place near the mountain.

When I stared at the mysterious scene I heard a loud splash. The sound came from near the rose at the opposite bank. I held my breath and watched carefully. A little later there were another two splashes. Evening rise has started now!

I looked at my fly and pulled the line. The rattle of the reel sounded surprisingly loudly, different from the daytime. I felt as if it were a fanfare to tell the start of fight.

-- To be continued --
2002/09/01  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake