The end of June

It is the last day of June today. I went fishing again just during early in the morning. Thanks to the much rainfall this month, most ponds near here stock up much more water than May. 

I visited a pond where I saw some huge bass before. Flowers of mimosa were blooming by the pond, and the combination of their reflection and green floating weeds was beautiful on the water surface.
 

The fishing was very slow, much slower than I expected. I got several bites, and caught two very small bass with a Heddon Wounded Spook (BF). 

  
I wanted to catch fish with this Pico Pop (RH), but I had no luck. Pico Pop Derby (a fishing photo contest) will soon be over, and unfortunately I could not go up for it. July starts from tomorrow, and I have some tough tasks to tackle during the month. However, I hopefully would like to find chances to go out for fishing as often as possible.
 

 

Today's tackle: ABU 5000 CDL (86, high-speed), Fenwick 2054, Stren 14lb (clear blue), Heddon Zara Spook, Wounded Spook, Chugger Spook, Lucky 13, Pico Pop, etc. 

  BF=4/14

Side-B

I've just made a side-B weblog in Japanese. Here it is. I'm in a sea of words in Japanese, it may be very difficult to choose Japanese words, but I'd like to give it a try. 

Weather forecasts, off the mark

Today, I visited Lake Biwa as I planned. I checked almost all the weather forecasts and totally expected calm, cloudy weather through the day, but they were all off the mark. When I got to the point I wanted to fish from, strong eastern wind blew and I felt it very difficult to fish from my canoe there. Then, I drove about half an hour to a small cove in the northern part of the lake. 

There as well, wind was strong, but I was barely able to fish there. My fishing style in Lake Biwa during this time of the year depends on how effectively I can find good weeds with schools of bait, but it was also very difficult to find them because of the wind. I almost felt I had to accept getting skunked, but how lucky I was today, I found a small weedy area in a corner of the cove. 

When I cast a Chugger Spook (NBL, Nickel with black back, one of my favorite colors) close to floating weeds and gave it a dog-walk action a few times, the water surface exploded. I set a hook firmly, and I had a good response to find the fish was not so small. The fight was very good, and I could finally land it, a nice moss back in Lake Biwa. Its body was greenish, and nice-looking bass that I seldom see around ponds near my place.

Over time, the wind got stronger and stronger, and the sky got clearer and clearer. Then I gave up fishing from my canoe, took a nap in my car, and started home.

Today's tackle: ABU 5500CA, Fenwick HMG HFC-555, Stren 14lb (Low-Vis Green); ABU 5000CDL (High Speed), Fenwick Boron-X X-953M (rebuilt), Stren 14lb (Clear Blue); ABU 5000 (palming), Fenwick HMG GTC-724J, Daiwa Astron ISO (red, #4); Heddon Chugger Spook, Zara Spook, Wounded Spook, Cordell Boy Howdy, Pico Pop, etc. 

  BF=3/13

Homework

 I picked up reels with high-speed gears, stronger rods (Fenwick 4- or 5-power rods), and replaced fishing line (Stren 14lb) onto the reels. I also changed almost all the lures in my tackle box, and gathered lures in silver, nickel, and fluorescent colors. Yes, I'm now planning to go on a fishing trip to Lake Biwa this week. Please wish me good luck.

Am I sane?

Have you ever run longer than a full-marathon at a time?

It is in the middle of good fishing season now, but at the same time I have something else that I should do every weekend. I've signed up for an ultra-marathon (100km) held in September, and keep training for such a long distance under blazing hot condition. I'm making it a rule to slowly run road/trail course in mountainous areas around my place at least 3-4 hours every Saturday or Sunday. How about today? Of course, I ran 39 km, sparing more than 5 hours.

When I run, I often visit some ponds which I found on my maps and have never been to, and check if I can fish there. It is another fun when I run. 

Heddon Zara II XRO (called an Ultraman color)

Wounded Spook SD

I spared a couple of early-morning hours for fishing before I left my place to work today. I visited three ponds, and got skunked in the first two. In the last pond, I finally got a bite on a Heddon Wounded Spook I cast under a tree, but it was when I was looking aside from my lure. I reflexively set a hook, but it was not so strong that the fish went away when it jumped out of the water. I retrieved the lure hooking nothing, and was very disappointed to miss the fish. 

I almost gave up catching a fish, but when I cast the same lure to another point (about 10m away from the first point) under tree covers and gave actions a few times, I got another hit. This time, I strongly set a hook to be sure to catch it. I first thought the fish was small, but the fight was good and I had a hard time to land it. When it came just around me, I saw only one part of the tail treble hook catch the mouth of the fish, so I decided to take time to carefully land it. It was not so fat and big, but a good fighter with a big tail fin. It was very lucky for me to get a second chance today.

Today's tackle: ABU 5000 DeLuxe, Fenwick 2053, Stren 14lb (Hi-Vis Gold), Heddon Zara Spook, Wounded Spook, Pico Pop, etc. 

  BF=2/11

Heddon #200

I recently got a Heddon #200 in mouse color. Its condition is so-so and the whiskers are gone, but I like it very much as well as other three ones. All these are made of wood, and they're more difficult to find than #210's. I don't think I will use them for fishing, but I'd like to keep them for my collection. Wooden lures need the best of care when handling, but their antique quality is great, greater than plastic ones.

Offshore fishing

Yesterday, I went for a fishing trip and enjoyed offshore fishing in the Sea of Japan. My main target was red sea bream, but I could not catch any of this species this time. The two in the picture were not what I caught, but what were given to me. 
I'll sharpen my kitchen knives from now, and clean all the fish to cook for lunch and dinner. Most fish species are common among offshore fishers except for the striped fish in the picture. It is Spottedtail Black-barred morwong, Goniistius zonatus quadricornis, which is called Takanoha-dai Yuudachi-takanoha in Japanese. This fish is not supposed to be delicious, so I was wondering if I should release it to the sea, but it was almost dead when I caught it. Then, I decided to take it home to cook and try.