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In the Lake MOTOSU  --Vol.27--

Chase

One day in mid-November, 1978 I was swinging the rod from the daybreak in Lake Motosu. As it had been too quiet at Nagasaki Bay since my last catch, I was fishing around the lava area near the entrance of the lake. There were some rises near the bank in the morning but no bite yet. 2 hours later I drove to the heart of the lake. At Nagasaki Bay my friend was fishing. He taught me he had seen a lot of fish in the centre of the lake in the morning. I drove ahead and checked several spots. But there was no sign of fish anywhere.

I decided to return and passed by Nagasaki Bay again. Now no angler was there. As it was my lucky spot, I made it my rule to cast there at least once as far as circumstances permit. It was 11 a.m. The sky was very clear and it was warm and mild for November. There were only ripples on the lake. A good chance! I connected the joints of rod and remembered my friend's words that a lot of fish had been jumping in the centre of the lake in the morning. Where are they now? I wondered.
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Koansoh at the daybreak. A moment of calmness surrounded the place.

Running-Away of White Minnows

I started casting the fly from the left corner of the bay as usual. When I walked to the middle of the bay I found a white minnow running away to the right bank 15m apart from me. The fish dashed to the bank, jumping for 10m. I had sometimes seen the same scene and it attracted me. I cast the fly. As I used sinking line I could not leave it alone for a long time. After a while I retrieved the line as I was walking near to the fish. To my surprise, the white minnow of 10cm struggled violently with its upper body on the waterside. Its belly was on the sand. Even if it were the young of brown trout that chased it, the young would not be able to follow it to such a shallow point. The hunter must deeply regret. Then I noticed one thing.

When large mouth basses chase white minnows the latter run away in all directions. But white minnows in Lake Motosu always rush straight to the bank. Why? I thought there was no other place for white minnows to escape from the hunter. Otherwise, they are caught in spite of their high speed. What a fast swimmer their hunter is! The young of either brown trout or rainbow trout can not swim at such high speed.

Well, what kind of fish on the earth chased white minnows? I wanted to know by all means. I shortened my line, stood at the middle of the bay and watched around carefully. Within 5 minutes a white minnow appeared from left ahead of me. It came running straight to the left bank 20m apart from me. Its speed was very high for its size. I ran several metres along the sandy bank together and cast the fly. My line crossed the runaway course of the white minnow. I pulled the fly to the same direction as the runaway course. I pulled it, even if unconsciously, in the way of making my fly easier to catch than the white minnow. Only a few seconds later the white minnow escaped from its hunter by jumping almost onto the bank. My fly drew no attention. I got no bite yet. But I enjoyed casting the fly at very limited timing. I prepared for the next casting and waited.
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I watched down Koansoh at low water through trees.

Blue Silhouette

10 minutes passed. It was about noon. I was standing a little behind the waterfront to wait for a fish. A white minnow appeared in front of me. It was about 30m apart from me. It came running straight towards me. It's a golden opportunity! I can fish without moving here. I picked up the line and waited for good timing as I made false casts. In the next moment it dashed to my feet. Immediately I cast the fly there. I fixed my eyes on the fly floating only 3m apart from the waterfront. Then I found a big silhouette just behind the fly. It came quietly near to my fly and stopped 1m behind the fly. I stood stiff speechless. A giant brown trout was just in front of me. It stared at my fly. I felt every second passed very slowly. A bluish giant body, whose blue colour was the same as a shoal of big brown trout I had first met at the tip of Nagasaki Peninsula (Vol.22), met my gaze and turned away slowly. It headed quietly for the centre of the lake and disappeared.

In the evening one and a half years before I just stood here in utter amazement. Now I stood stiff here again but I came to myself quite soon now. At that time it was "the end" but now it was "the beginning". I had to shake off my sentimental memory. I went to my car to fetch floating line and put it to the rod. Then I dashed to the sandy bank. My fly crossed the white minnow several times but I could not catch good timing. Anyway I was lucky to see a brown trout again. The wind became stronger after 3p.m. Then running-away white minnows were nowhere to be seen.
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A brown trout ran to the centre of the lake and I pulled it up to the bank.

Hunting

The next week the sky was very clear from the morning. I drove around the lake twice and checked the water surface eagerly. When it becomes warm in the daytime white minnows come up to the surface to eat midges. Then brown trout come to hunt white minnows. Brown trout chase white minnows towards the bank just as cheetahs run down impalas. Well, where should I wait for them? Lake Motosu is large. Depending on a random guess is nearly as inefficient as waiting for collision with rushing-out fish. I examined the last week's fishing and tried to make a prediction.
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I was landing the fish in a beautiful scene like a picture card.

During my driving I had found a good number of rises at the inner part of the boat racing practice area, off Nagasaki Peninsula, off Koansoh and off Ohkubo. I chose the spot off Koansoh as my daytime point because it was the largest among 4 points. Then I moved around to kill time for a while.

At 11a.m. I headed for a large sandy bank of Koansoh. In the morning there were anglers here and there but no angler now. They usually give up fishing and go back home or take lunch. I stood at the sandy bank alone. Under the clear sky Mt. Fuji was breathtakingly beautiful. The lake was calm with only occasional ripples. It was the tranquil scenery.

I came here with several fishing companions. But I planned to stay near the bank during lunchtime. The lake remained quiet nearly at noon and I walked up the sandy bank to look around the whole area. A rise was found 50m away from the bank and another rise. The bank around there was a bit steep and a field of withered pampas grass spread behind it. Without delay I walked 200m to reach there. The bank was steeper than it looked from far away and dotted with bushy grass and rocks. There was only narrow backspace. I thought I had to move quickly on the bank to wait for and catch brown trout that come and go most unexpectedly. So the rod had to be an easily and quickly handled one. I traced my footsteps back and changed #12 rod of 14ft into #10 rod of 12ft. I dashed to the bank. It was just at noon. More than 15 minutes had passed since the last rises. I drew out 15m of the line, extended it on the surface and waited.
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I cast the fly several times as I checked how it drifted. Then I saw a white minnow jump in the air to 40m right of me. Brown trout started hunting. I knew it was too late to catch good timing now although I had put on the suitable shoes to walk quickly on the sandy bank. So I walked to right slowly. The white minnow came jumping to the bank. Then it disappeared only 3m in front of the bank with large ripples. It was sure a brown trout caught it. A strain ran down my body. Soon another white minnow jumped. It jumped farther away. I gave up chasing it. I knew from my experiences that chasing too far often resulted in failure.
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I could hunt a hunting brown trout although it was smaller than the black silhouette I had failed to catch before.

I kept my eyes on the water very closely like an eagle or a hawk aims at the game. I felt the fish would come back to the first place soon. So I walked there slowly. A white minnow jumped in the centre of the lake in front. But it disappeared when I was about to swing the rod. A brown trout must stay near here! I checked the fly and recast the line to the front. Quite soon a white minnow jumped in the left centre again. It came straight to the bank. I ran 10m on the waterfront with my rod in the right hand. The rod tip was pointed to the water. I will catch good timing here!

I changed my grip and immediately swung the rod. As the dragged line extended on the water surface behind me, the line was now extended beautifully ahead of me. The running-away white minnow disappeared with ripples in front of the extended line. Now I was confident about catching good timing. After calming myself, I swung the rod again. The fly settled on the ripples 2m apart from the bank. For the next several seconds I felt as if the time had stopped. Then the water surface split and a brown trout showed its whole body. It attacked my fly like it pressed down it. All happened at midday under the shining sun. I cannot mistake the fish but somehow I felt as if it were the black silhouette I had failed to catch before.

-- To be continued --
2001/10/21  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake