In late July, the heat continued to be extremely hot, and it was difficult to fish in trout area in the nearly 40 degree Celsius heat, so Tetsuya Ikeya, a Field Staff member, and I went to the Tone River system to target native trout in search of a cooler climate.
This was Tetsuya Ikeya’s first attempt to fish native trout in the real mountain stream. He had never fished for Char in their native habitat, so we chose a valley that was easy to explore, easy to get up to the path, and mainly dominated by Char.
The valley was refreshingly cool in the morning unlike the extreme heat in daytime.
Water level was decreasing due to lack of rainfall, but it was still quite comfortable to fish.
In addition to being spread with fallen trees and dead branches typical of the headwaters, the stream at this time of year is a spider’s web heaven so that technical casting is required.
Tetsuya Ikeya seemed to be struggling at first because the field was different from that of trout area. He could not get the lure to pass the desired position in the beginning, but gradually he was able to place it a good position.
Since the fishing day was Sunday, there were a few traces of people who were ahead of us. The drought also made the fish seem very finicky.
Although the fish was chasing the lure often, the distance between the lure and the fish did not shorten. If we let the fish chase the lure, we could not get a bite that would make the lure catch the fish, and could not hooked up or got off even they hit.
When we placed it near sinking stone at the side of the drop-off, we got a long-awaited hit.
A beautiful Char with orange fins all the way to the tips.
After that, we got a series of hit of Char despite the size were small.
The key to success was not to let the fish chase the lure as far as possible, but to move the lure properly at the point to expect to turn the fish on to get them to bite at one shot. The fine wire treble DT-25F, which is currently under development, was a big success in the difficult conditions with many finicky fish!
The hook remained in place even after a kissing bite, and we were able to catch the fish.
Another major advantage of using a fine wire treble is that it is less likely to spread wounds than a fine wire treble, so even when a small fish is hooked, the fish can be released with only minor damage.
DT-25F under development, with thinner wire than the DT-35F
Tetsuya Ikeya also got a long-awaited hit!
A beautiful char popped up on the shoulder of a drop-off with a lot of water.
After fishing until noon, we finished as the temperature had risen considerably!
Not only the drought but also there were people ahead of us, they made it for some difficult in fishing conditions, but we had a great time to fish in the valley.
