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Cherry Salmon • The First Stage  --Vol.42--
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Do cherry salmon stay here? If so, what spot of this large pool?

Cherry Salmon

My fishing method in the Kuzuryu River was what I named power wet fly fishing. It meant to put a shooting head to a running line named Flat Beam and to cast the line as far as possible. The length of the shooting head was different at each fishing spot. As the Kuzuryu River was wide, I used a double-handed rod to make long casting. That system was the same as I had fished Steelhead in a wide Canadian river. Fortunately it caused no problem here.

Steelhead fishing had been my regular tour for the previous 4 years. I had always got some catch. I could say I got more catch than more powerful Canadian local anglers.

Now I came to the Kuzuryu River with power wet fly fishing, which had proved to be very effective. I challenged cherry salmon fishing in order to test my exciting method in Japan. But I could not catch yet.
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The fast current, a large pool, deep spots and big stones. Where should I fish around?

Checking my fishing

With a cool head I checked my fishing so far. Cherry salmon was new to me. Now I was trying to catch them by my fishing system with a shooting head, which had been very successful to Steelhead fishing. If it were Steelhead fishing I would never miss one by this system as far as they stayed here.

But I could not catch. The only plausible reason was difference of fish. Cherry salmon are not Steelheads. Both fish come from the sea. What is the difference?

The question occupied my brain for several days before the next fishing. Steelheads, also called Steelhead trout are trout although they come upstream from the sea. Cherry salmon are salmon. What is the difference between trout and salmon? Trout live in the river. So once Steelheads come to the river they behave mostly in the same way as the trout that were born and brought there. Both hide and take bait while they are moving around the pool.
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The end of Hatayaura pool spread like a lake. If Steelheads were staying here I would definitely catch one at this spot.

On the other hand, salmon keep going upstream. The pool is a place for rest but not for living. Even when they stay long in a pool for some reason, they never settle down to take bait.

Fishing method should be changed between Steelheads and cherry salmon. But how? I noticed that my method so far was suitable for the fish living in the pool. In the evening I fished the end of the pool full of snow melting water because fish came to the tail of the pool to take bait. In daytime I cast the fly into the edge of the head of the pool where fish seemed to hide. That was a method for trout fishing.

In those days I had no experience of fishing Atlantic salmon but got some information from various books. Boldly enough, I felt that cherry salmon must be worthy of salmon fishing in Japan.
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A Steelhead. They lead a trout life but not a salmon life after they come from the sea.

A New Fly

I changed my fishing from the possible part. At first the fly. As you know, I had used GP most often. General Practitioner was originally introduced for Atlantic salmon fishing by Colonel Esmond Drury in 1953. Then it proved to be very effective to Steelhead. It was even called cocaine for Steelhead. I jumped at it. Mr. Mori, my fishing comrade, also used it. But now I decided to give it up and to separate me from happy memories for Steelhead fishing.

Cherry salmon are salmon. They come from the sea. So they must keep some characters of sea fish. Now they started coming upstream from the sea. Why don’t I use the method for sea fish?

I picked up a fly that had performed very well in sea fishing of trevally, dolphin and bonitos in Japan and also coho and king salmon in Canada. It was green Deceiver. Then I made 2 new flies on the basis of Deceiver.

I put a hook upside down, tied mylar tube around it as a body and put polar bear hair and flash as wings. Then I add buck tail and peacock to them as decoration. It was made in the image of the young of sweet fish, which came upstream in the same period as cherry salmon.
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Aquamarine in early days. 2/0 single hook was used and materials were tied in the reverse direction to make the hook point up.

I made 2 kinds of Aquamarine. One is dark and light green. The other is pink and blue. Next I changed the fly line into type II sinking. Usually the line is chosen at the riverside in power wet fly fishing. But I decided in advance to use type II as far as the water was not muddy. I used to think that big fish stayed in the deepest bottom of the deep and large pool. But now I planned to fish just under the surface. I chose type II in advance because the river filled with snow melting water often drove me to use a heavier and faster sinking line although I had seldom did it actually.

Cherry salmon easily swim in the dark depth of 100m in the sea. Probably they recognize the depth of 3m as the surface in the river. If they want to eat the fly they will come up to the surface. The distance from the bottom to the surface is only several times as far as their body size.

But I had a worry, too. Cherry salmon are not so big in the sea but big and noticeable in the river. They must be very nervous in the river. They must prefer safe spots when they move upstream or stay long. I should also try to find those spots and to catch them.
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High water of the pool down the power transmission line.

April 4, 1988

The Kuzuryu River filled with snow melting water crossed my mind every day. I often imagined how I was casting the fly in the large pool there. I knew that it was impossible to cast the fly from the head to the tail of the large pool in one day. There were only a few fish. I told myself not to fish at empty area.

In the 1st week of April I headed for the Kuzuryu River, thinking in that way. I parked beside the field under the power transmission line as usual and waited for dawn. Then I went up the embankment. The river was filled with snow melting water. I started fishing alone from the pool at the upper reaches of the power transmission line.

I had repeatedly imagined how to fish in the previous some days but could not practise in the real river. I could not find any good fishing points because of high water. I fished down at the lower reaches of the power transmission line and also at the junction in vain. Some hours passed without any responses. There spread fast current downstream from the junction to the motorway. I gave up fishing farther down but headed upstream.
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The Junction Pool spread at the lower reaches of the power transmission line.
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The pool of the front of kindergarten seen from the right bank. Cherry salmon must be staying somewhere in this rich water.

I drove back to Gomatsu Bridge. I thought Mr. Mori was fishing at the front of kindergarten but he was not there. Probably he moved upstream, too. I ran under the embankment along the right bank to the opposite bank of Hatayaura. As I had expected, Mr. Mori and Mr. Ichimura parked their cars at the end of the road.

When I went up the embankment with my rod, I met Mr. Ichimura. He started fishing Hatayaura pool from dawn and spent 4 hours in vain. Mr. Mori came fishing 2 hours before. Now he gave up and returned to his car.

After getting some information from him I walked upstream. The pool of the front of kindergarten spread at the right side of the road. This side of the bank looked better from the opposite bank but the opposite bank looked better from this side of bank. Ah, people may well say that the neighbour’s lawn looks bluer.

After walking throughout the copse, I saw a panoramic view of Hatayaura pool. It looked especially large due to high water. Mr. Mori, who was swinging the rod a little downstream, came to me quickly. He said that nothing happened after Mr. Ichimura left there.

-- To be continued --
2002/03/03  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake