www.kensawada.com
In the Lake MOTOSU  --Vol.24--

Preparation

Every time I closed my eyes I remembered that black silhouette of the brown trout. I made return matches several times but the fish never appeared again. In 1977 Lake Motosu had low water and the water temperature went up from the early season. In early May the lake already looked like a summer day. I gave up fishing. Instead, I started preparing for autumn when the water temperature became low.

One day I put the fly to my new thick taper leader. The leader was 0X that was newly imported to Japan in those days. But it was broken quite easily when I put the fly to it again and pulled it only slightly. It was my fault for expecting a lot of the new taper leader because it was thick. Then I remodelled it. I just cut off the leader tip and put 12lb test nylon line to the remaining leader. 12lb test nylon line is nearly as thick as 0X, so the remodelled line had nearly the same shape. But surely it was twice or more times as strong as before. Thus my bitter experience of the black silhouette was going to drive me to produce the highest quality taper leader in the world.
ff-24-1
Sunrise seen from Koansoh. The weather is very changeable.

My next concern was the fly line. I chose a shooting line, which was a newborn in those days, and put it to sinking line. That method was quite successful. Long casting became unbelievably easy. But it was difficult to put shooting line to sinking fly line. I scraped the outer layer off shooting line with cutter and unlace the inner braided lines into loose fibres. Then I spread epoxy glue around the braided lines and put them through sinking line. I had to wait for a day until the glue dried. Then I pulled it. If the braided lines come loose, I have to do those works again from the first. Even if they are all right, they will come loose, sooner or later. Shooting line itself was also easily cut off when it was rubbed against the rock edge. In short, I had to handle those lines very carefully but I was happy my fishing area became larger.
ff-24-2
I dashed to try my brand-new shooting line. Casting distance became remarkably longer but I had to pay the closest attention not to cut it off.

After repeated trial and error during summer I prepared two types of lines for Lake Motosu. One was remodelled sinking line with "shooting head" made by putting shooting line to sinking line. The other was weight-forward floating line for casting at rises near the bank. I kept weight-forward line that was suitable for quick re-casting.

Fiesta

I got double handed rod and the most advanced lines. The remaining task was the fly, the most important one. In my previous fishing in April I cast the fly to my brown trout many times. I believe my fly sometimes settled very near to the trout in good timing. But I had to repeat so many times before the fish came to my fly. That was why I decided to invent a new fly. I thought my new fly had to have some essential factors.

My fly has to have the similar size and atmosphere to the bait of brown trout like sweet fish, pond smelt and white minnow.
It has to float on the surface as many seconds as possible.
It has to keep the same posture as long as possible in either case of pulling it or doing nothing to it.
I completed a new fly to satisfy 3 requests above.
ff-24-3
Fiesta tied on #2 hook. I made wide coloured variations of marabou, side hackle and buck tail and so on.

I chose #2 long shank hook and made fly body of mylar tube. As for main wings two pieces of marabou, the most buoyant feather, were tied together to get both buoyancy and volume. But marabou tends to spread on the water like a dandelion seed. To avoid that I put buck tail on the top and tied wide hackles on the both sides. Furthermore, to make the fly keep good shape and look like a small fish, I tied peacock sword on the top and also shoulder feathers and eye feathers of jungle cock on the both sides.

My new fly had a fascinating shape. When I first tested it I believed all fish would jump at it. I examined carefully how many seconds it could float with good posture after it completely settled down on the water. I sometimes floated the fly at my feet to check that.

That fly was a streamer. Usually streamer had a very simple shape, so my new pattern with side and topping was quite new. Remodelling a marabou streamer into what I wanted resulted in putting festival decorations on it. That was why I named it Fiesta.
ff-24-4
In November 1977 I sat gazing at my first monster.

Golden Brightness

In September and October I came back to Marunuma, a small lake in Nikkoh. I started fishing under hanging branches near the bank in the morning and moved to the centre of the lake to hit the rise like hitting pop-up moles' head in the daytime. Because low water temperature drove carps from the surface, I had nothing to worry about. I enjoyed floating Love Hunter on the surface. In the beginning of November I planned to go there for the season's last fishing but the weather seemed to change as a low pressure was approaching. Marunuma, high above the sea, has a wild weather once it is getting worse. In late autumn they have snow. I changed my plan and headed for Lake Motosu.

At daybreak black clouds and patches of pale blue sky were complicatedly mixed over the lake. The place looked ominous. Then the clouds moved and the wind whirled on the lake. Probably the pressure trough passed by. After 8 o'clock the weather became fine and a blue sky rapidly came back. I began to prepare for fishing and walked to Nagasaki Bay. My boots were suitable for running after fish but I had no feeling that something was going to happen. The sun was shining brightly. It was completely different from my unforgettable evening when I cast the fly to the black silhouette with a pounding heart.

I started fishing from the left edge of the bay, where a giant pine tree fell down in the water. I thought brown trout stayed there. Although a strong wind blew under the clear sky I chose floating line because of troubled water so far. I put new Fiesta to it and began to swing 12ft double handed rod. I thought; if I cast the line 30m ahead, my fly will settle on the fallen tree. Probably it is 15m deep. As the water is very transparent, greedy fish would not care whether the fly is drifting on the surface or 2m below it. That was why I did not put the fly under water. Just after casting I retrieved the line to straighten it. I retrieved it three times or so and the fly started drifting. That was all I could do with my skill and tackle in those days even when I tried to cast the line as straight as possible.
ff-24-5
Rich bait hastens fish growth. This fish is 3 years old, an example of the quickest growth.

Probably at my third casting I settled the fly on the water and immediately retrieved the line. As soon as the line straightened large ripples were found at the spot where the fly was floating. Then I felt strong pull of bite. I raised the rod. The line stretched straight into the water. The leader tip was struck into those large ripples.

I continued to wind the reel hard. The fish ran several times but came to me without violent struggle that I had imagined. I could not wait to see that figure, my unforgettable black silhouette. When I pulled it to 5m away from my feet it suddenly came up to the surface. In the bright morning sun I saw it clearly. A big face, a tail like a round fan came up with golden brightness spotted with black spots.

I was gazing at that giant fish lying on the sand at my feet. It was nearly 9lb, 70cm, much bigger than any other brown trout I had ever caught. I did not aim at it. It had no crooked jaw. So it was not my black silhouette. Anyway, I caught a brown trout at the same spot. I felt my drama was over.

-- To be continued --
2001/09/30  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake