Monday, November 23, 2015

Personal worst record

I ran a marathon race today. I have not worked out hard this year, as I had an operation of my upper jaw. I don't like to excuse, but it was almost off-the-cuff race for me.

My time (net) was awful, 3 hours 49 minutes 51 seconds, which was the personal worst record. I could run from the scratch to 37-38 km more smoothly than I expected, but the rest was hellish. I did have difficulties to keep running due to aching muscles of whole of my legs. I felt happy to be able to finish it, but to tell the truth, I could not fully enjoyed it.

I'll run another race in the end of this year, and I'd like to train a little harder than ever before.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Last fishing?

We have a three-day weekend here, as 23 Nov is a holiday. I almost gave up going, but I could go fishing today for the first time in this month. 

I thought metal-side reels would be too cold to palm under low temperature conditions, so I picked up one with a plastic side (ABU Ultra Mag II) from my reel case last night. I renewed the line on it, and oiled some parts. 

The water was very cold, much colder than last time, and I was afraid fish were slow. I kept fishing with slow and steady method using wood lures such as Heddon Crab Wiggler (this is exactly suitable for this technique). However, I got no reactions from fish at all.


When I fished almost all the shore areas of the pond, I decided to try a Bass Oreno (frog color) for a change before I went home. I cast it, waited for a several seconds, and gave it actions very slowly. Suddenly the water surface blew up, and I saw a big bass punch my lure. I set a hook hard, and started to reel my line. Then, as the fish rushed a few yards, the line stopped. It dived into submerged branches and got stuck. I hoped the fish was still being hooked, but when I started to get close there, I saw the fish swim toward me and yawn openly. It was just like saying 'See you!', and I really felt let down.


All in all, I had second thought that it was good to be able to see a bass during this season of the year. I was thinking today would be my last chance to go bass fishing during this season, but I may not know when to give up.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Reel cover

We were planning to go offshore fishing in the Sea of Japan, but it was canceled  because of bad weather. It is so windy that I can't go out for bass fishing, either. I decided to be an armchair fisherman today, and tried to make reel covers by hand.

At first, I was thinking to pick some up from Bass Pro Shop. They're not so expensive and according to my good friend in the US they're well-made. However, when I was in a store near my place, I found a good case named 'Door Knob Reminder Pocket'. It reminded me of the reel cover. The store is so called 100-yen shop (= one dollar store), where you can buy every item for JPY 100 each. I bought some of them.

I cut the case, sewed some ends and Velcro tapes to make it fit my reel. I made two and sewed a small Garcia patch on one of them to tell which reel is inside the cover. It needs some more needlework, but worth trying during off-season.



Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Rough paint

It's getting colder and colder, but I'd like to have a few more chances to go fishing during this year. I also started off-season routine, listing and organizing my reels, rods, and lures in the boxes and drawers. It is time-consuming, but interesting.
 
I got some wood lures for starters. I like old wood lures. Some among them are painted very beautifully, I'd rather say graciously, such as old Heddon lures. On the other hand, some are painted roughly ( I mean "simply" ) and have rustic appearance that I also like very much.

These are NIB Gilmore wood lures, Super Jumper, Large Jumper, and Hoodler. Their painting scheme is simple, but looks attractive for me.


Fred Arbogast made some wooden rustic lures, too. These (below) are named 'Scudder'. They're big but I believe good for bass as well. Older ones have dent eyes, while newer ones have plain painted eyes. Of course I like older ones much better.