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In the River TAKAHARA  --Vol.88--
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Dark-coloured rocks soared, which made us feel slightly uneasy.

A Cave

After coming back from the valley, I still thought of my fishing experience in that tiny pool. Not only because the happening was beyond my expectation but also because I wondered whether there were many other tiny pools at the lower reaches of the sluice gate. I even imagined that there were more desirable deep pools and much bigger char were staying in shoals.

I almost daydreamt. I should go there to make sure! Without any talk Mr. Shohei Katoh and I reached the same conclusion.

A week passed. We made early start, heading for the valley, soon after breakfast because we worried that too much catch would cost us so much time to go upstream. Don’t laugh. Our experiences in that pool gave us a lot of confidence of success.

Passing by the descending spot to the sluice gate, we walked downstream along the woodland path. As the valley made a deeper V-shaped form than upstream, we could not peep into the valley bottom from the woodland path.

When we walked 1km downstream, we found a river below the steep slope. Fortunately it was not too steep. We climbed down to the valley bottom. On the way to the bank I looked around carefully but found no footprints. No angler or animal seemed to descend to the valley on this route.
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Big rocks barred our way. There was no sign of fish.

The valley bottom was narrow and only faint light reached there. The water level became a little bit higher, as I had expected. Probably some creek water flowed into there.

The valley opened out into the lower reaches but the rock wall soared at the upper reaches, our destination. We could not see the scenery farther upstream. Putting our flies to the leader tip, we started going upstream. We were a little nervous.

The Entrance to the Cave

We walked to the rock wall in front of us. The valley made an almost right-angled turn there. The rock wall soared on both banks. The sky overhead was as narrow as the valley bottom. When we turned there, we felt uneasy because the valley became narrower and big rocks blocked the bottom. Farther upstream big rocks rather slanted to the bottom on both banks, instead of soaring vertically. We could see the belt-like sky slantingly overhead, too.

We crawled up the big rock which blocked the valley bottom. There was a deep pool upstream. It was not so deep but another giant rock blocked the upper reaches again. The water flowed down on the rock surface, forming a 5m-high waterfall.

We jumped down from the rock into the deep pool. No problem! The footing conditions told us that we could have come back if we had reached a dead end. Both banks of the waterfall were only 2m apart. We could manage to walk up along the blink of the waterfall. Finally we reached the top of the waterfall just to find that the valley made another right-angled turn to the right. We could see nothing beyond there.
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We jumped down from the big rock into the tiny pool at the upper reaches.

We looked up nervously at the turning. There was a 3m-high waterfall just ahead. Looking at the rock surface for a while, I thought that we would be able to climb the waterfall. Considering that we might have to return, one of us walked up first and the other followed at intervals of a terrace of the waterfall. It will be an effective way that one stays below the other if we reach the dead end in the middle of the cliff.
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The valley was deeply cut into the rocks. It was not called a river any more.

In spite of the terrible place we had firm footing and could climb some small waterfalls. While walking up, we cast the fly at the small water-basins. Unfortunately there was no sign of fish. Once the water level rises, the valley surely turns into a channel from where no fish escapes.

If we reach a dead end here we will have terrible difficulty coming back. We really worried. But suddenly the scenery opened out and the valley bottom became flat again. Thank God, finally we’ve passed raging torrents!

Fortunately char appeared at tiny points. The fish number was not so large but the size was big, all were 30cm. When we turned the curve there was a 2m-high sliding waterfall upstream. There was the biggest deep-pool below it we had ever seen. There must be big fish! I cast the fly carefully beside its falling part.
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Whenever I looked back, I thought that early backtracking would be wiser.

Only several seconds later the fly disappeared, leaving a big ripple behind. The heavy pull I felt from the rod taught me that it was a bigger fish than before. The fish could not run away from this deep pool now changed into a tiny pond. The fish was swimming around for a while and came to my feet, making a ripple on the surface. It was a big-headed male char of 36cm.

A Sheer Cliff

Our long troublesome journey was rewarded. Soon we will reach a fishing paradise! We believed so and climbed a sliding waterfall. There was another sliding waterfall just upstream, a 5m-high one. Then another one farther upstream. But the rock walls on the both banks were low and the sky looked light, unlike the lower reaches.

A char was staying below the sliding waterfall whose basin was very tiny. We crawled up the waterfall. There was another cone-shaped basin of a waterfall totally covered with bedrocks. A char over 30cm was staying there, too. We crawled up the waterfall again. There was no more rock wall on the right side. We could see a low ridge ahead.
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A char of 36cm with beautiful white hemming of its fins.

There was another sliding waterfall in front of us but clear view encouraged us. We continued to crawl up two sliding waterfall which were as high as 5m. Then another giant rock blocked the valley. The water oozed out below it. We could see nothing ahead.

We watched the rock surface around there very carefully. The slant of both banks and the bright sky seemed to tell us that there was no steep path beyond the giant rock. We worried that we might not climb down the other side of the rock after climbing it. But who can know in advance?

I thought; we will have to cling to the giant rock, standing at the highest point of the falling part of the waterfall. Then we will have to crawl up one and a half metres to the foothold. It will be a tough job. The tougher thing is that we will have to come back if we do not climb down the other side of the rock. It will be a virtually impossible task as far as we have no eyes on our back.

I watched the lower reaches of the valley. There were 2 sliding waterfalls below my eyes which we had just climbed. If I slip and fall into the waterfall, will I be all right? I had better make sure first.


-- To be continued --
2004/11/02  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake