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Cherry Salmon • The First Stage  --Vol.49--

Fish in the Current

It was near the end of May. The sunshine on sunny days was as strong as summer, so it seemed that there was no chance of fishing cherry salmon in the daytime. I tried to fish them only in the early morning and the evening, whereas I went upstream or to tributaries to fish yamame trout and char.

On that day a light rain was falling now and then and it was cold and dark. I walked around to fish the end of the large pool and the current in the head of the pool. In the afternoon when I fished down the long fast current at the upper reaches of the motorway, the soft sunbeam started shining from the clouds.
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This Amago sea trout had some scars by a gill net. The fly was size 4 Great Sedge dressed in a salmon fly fashion.

Somehow I got a feeling that I was going to catch one. Actually I got a bite in the middle of the current and hooked a fish. It jumped from the surface and ran around the current. It was a powerful fish.

Judging from its silvery body, I thought that it was a cherry salmon. But it did not look heavy or big enough. Anyway, I was catching a fish after some weeks. I landed it very carefully.
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I fished the current at the upper reaches of the motorway. As the water temperature becomes high the fish prefer the fast current.

In the net there was a strange fish. It was 45cm long. When I touched its body several scales peeled away. Probably it came upstream from the sea recently. There were some fresh scars near the dorsal fin made by a gill net.

At first I thought it was a small cherry salmon. Its size told so but somehow its face denied that.

When I looked into the camera finder to take photos, I found some pale-orange spots on its side body. I watched closely. The same coloured spots lay in a line. It was not a cherry salmon but an Amago sea trout.

I remembered the fish I had seen in low water in the channel of Hatayaura pool in the previous May. It might have been this Amago sea trout because both fish appeared in the same season and they were the same size.
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Some scales peeled from the body of the Amago sea trout. Probably it came upstream from the sea recently.

Low Water Fly

I was very impressed with an unexpected fish of Amago sea trout but I should not forget about my new fly. That fish was not caught with Aquamarine. Following the method of Atlantic salmon fishing, I changed it into a smaller fly and tried to make the fly drift just under the surface. The new fly was the salmon version of Great Sedge dressed on size 4 hook.

I did not mean that wrong fly choice explained all 5 cases that I had missed cherry salmon but their taste and behaviour were no doubt different from before.

I had also tied wet flies and salmon flies on from size 2 to size 6 hooks. Salmon flies were usually much smaller than Aquamarine even when both were tied on size 2 hook. The following flies I happened to use performed very well; Silver Doctor and Red Sunday of two salmon flies: Bustard & Orange of a wet fly.
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In the high season fat silvery Fresh Run increased.

Anyway we should use smaller fries when the water temperature rises. We should try to fish the current in the morning and the end of the pool in the late evening. We should not make the fly sink too deeply. We should stop the fish from breaking the surface during the fight. If the fish break the surface, we should loose the line to avoid their rolling.

After I strictly observed those rules I did not repeat my failure but caught fish successively again. I still missed some fish but was not in a hopeless mess any more.
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In June there was no angler around. Both the weather and the river condition were unsuitable for cherry salmon fishing. But I wanted to know how long cherry salmon fishing was possible, so I continued to fish, avoiding the bright daytime.

In addition I was happy to fish in the river with enough water in June, unlike the previous 2 years. I could not miss such a good chance.

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Summer scene of the pool behind the school.

Summer Scenery

Shadows of cherry salmon seemed to be thinner every day. Ironically as their number decreased their figures were seen more often.

In the beginning of the season when the rich snow melting water was flowing I felt no sign of cherry salmon. Needless to say, I could see none of them. As the water temperature became high, I sometimes saw them break the surface like they ripped it.

Later when the water temperature became further higher and the water level lower, I saw the fish jump higher from the surface, like carps. I saw this kind of jump most often but ironically the fish responded least. I got no bite while I saw their high jump.

Then I got no bite of cherry salmon but suffered from fierce attacks from Japanese dace. Immediately after the fly drifted only a little away from the strong flow of the heart of the stream, they bit the fly. When I used large flies I got only a few bites and seldom hooked up their jaws. But after I used smaller flies I got bites all too often and hooked up their jaws in most cases.
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Especially in the evening when I fished the end of the pool, I looked for cherry salmon that came to eat flying sedges. I was concentrating not to overlook any sign. However, I caught only some Japanese dace at my target spots, whereas my fly could not drift to cherry salmon as I had planned.

To make matters worse, several anglers were in front of me in the river even at dark dawn. Then I realized it was the opening day of fishing sweet fish in the Kuzuryu River. How blind I was to anything but cherry salmon!
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A spawning-coloured Japanese dace. They attacked the fly fiercely until I hooked up their jaws.

A Task

1988, my third year in the Kuzuryu River was over. Although I missed a lot of cherry salmon I could say it was a very successful year.

I knew a lot about their eating habit and its change. I also learned their way to respond to the fly and their fighting method.

My greatest joy was that I had confidence of power wet fly fishing (salmon fishing with shooting head) as the most suitable method to fish the most attractive fish in Japan. I enjoyed both my favourite power wet fly fishing and aiming at my highest target fish. It was the greatest pleasure.

On the other hand, as I was so absorbed in my fishing from March to the beginning of June, I felt much more exhausted and listless than I had imagined. The high season of fly fishing of other target fish just started but I felt as if my fishing year had been over.

Nevertheless, when I recovered from my fatigue my mind was filled with cherry salmon fishing in the next spring.

-- To be continued --
2002/04/21  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake