First Fish on Fly Rod – Lake Ippekiko – Ito, Shizuoka
Andy and I arrived at Ito a night before to try “Aji-ing" or soft lure fishing for Japanese jacks. We didn’t have much luck other than catching small gnome fish, so we decided to head for sure place for fishing: Lake Ippekiko only 10 minutes ride away.
Lake Ippekiko is the first lake to be stocked with bluegills from North America, and it was introduced by his majesty the emperor. Regardless of public notion on bluegilss, this specie is majestically alien.
Andy vs. Bluegill
We tried fly fishing from the boat, but strong wind didn’t allow Andy to properly set the boat in sure spot. So we took off and do a practice on foot for a while.
He didn’t have a luck of catching one, but this practice paid off and he got….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiLQdt9gqeM&hl=ja_JP&fs=1&]
His first fish on his own fly rod, and first bluegill in life!
Me vs. Carp
While Andy was struggling agasint the gills, I have been trying hard to catch some large mouth bass. There are several small bass who chased after the fly, but they all turned back for some reason. Later on, I changed the fly to surf candy and began sight fishing. I came across 2 bass who took the fly into their mouths, but no luck in setting hook.
On the third trial, a bass chased my fly hard once again, but he wasn’t fast enough to take my fly. Instead, large creature torpedoed towards surf candy and took a big bite. You may have known carp for being peaceful creature, but I prove to you that carp is vicious predatory fish who would eat anything.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QfqPNSkgHk&hl=ja_JP&fs=1&]
So, my first carp on fly rod turned out to be this 70cm common carp.