Shiraishi Island

Fishing in the sea?! Is that allowed on this blog? My girlfriend and I were staying a few days on Shiraishi Island, which is a 30 min ferry ride from Kasaoka, Japan. There was a small restaurant/shop by the shore that offered all day fishing for $5. They had a shed full of tackle and a freezer with shrimp for bait. No supervision, you just took whatever you wanted and returned it at the end of the day. The owner recommended that we fish out on the end of a floating dock nearby, by I was eyeing some big rocks a 1/4 mile down the coast and took my girlfriend there instead. We were able to hop from rock to rock until we could fish in 4-6 foot deep water. I had my trunks on and eventually just jumped in and waded around to find good spots. Fishing was easy. It only took a few seconds to get bites. The only challenge was hooking the shrimp well enough so they didn't fall off too easy. We lost a lot of bait. We caught a lot of fish too though, especially puffer fish like in the 1st and 3rd pictures. We caught over 20 in the one day. We were also catching fish called "bera" or "bela" in Japanese. They are in the 2nd and 4th pictures. My girlfriend caught the biggest one (2nd pic) of the day, and the shop owner said it would sell for about $5 in a sushi restaurant. I'm not sure what the fish is in the last picture.

Good times... if you're ever in western Japan and looking for a relaxing day, this is it. :)

Asahi River Dam - fishing in Japan

Getting the boat ready in the morning.



The awesome view.



Jun, one of my powerlifting friends from Okayama.



Nagase, pro bass fisherman and super nice guy.



And the trophy fish of the day, a whopping 12.5". :)

Asahi River Dam preview

I don't have my camera cord with me right now, so my pictures will have to wait for a few more days. This is a pic from Nagase's blog.

The kids go fishing in Japan

Yes that's right, I have already dominated the fishing scene in Japan! :) I went out with my girlfriend, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend to do some fishing on a small river in the area a few days ago. We used waxworms and the smallest hooks imaginable. What do you catch on gear like that? The smallest fish imaginable! We caught 3 or 4 different kinds of minnows. The fish in the 2nd and 3rd pictures is a funa (sp?). It looks like it's related to the carp family. After we got bored of the little fish, we drove around till we found a small pond by the side of the road. It had a healthy population of largemouth. I caught 5 or 6 and my girlfriend caught one. She was pretty excited about catching her first bass, but she refused to put her thum in its mouth, lol. Her sister and her boyfriend didn't do as well though, getting skunked on the bass pond.

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The last hoorah before Japan

Walleye! I finally got one! Caught my first walleye last night under the same bridge where I caught the white bass. I was using nightcrawlers on the bottom, and was catching bluegill and drum when this guy finally got on my line. 15" may not be impressive, but I was a happy camper.





I also had some luck with some small blue plastic worms I just bought. Caught a few nice largemouths on them.



Prior to catching the walleye, I also caught a smallmouth, a rock bass, two drums, a hybrid sunfish, and more bluegill than I cared to count.

There's something about that first cast

16.5" smallmouth at Picnic Point

Catching monsters with Terry

My buddy Terry was in town so we went over to Lake Monona for an hour or so. The bluegill were biting fine, but not a whole lot else. Terry caught a handful of bluegill and 1 green sunfish. I caught over a dozen bluegill, 1 rock bass, 1 smallmouth, and 1 largemouth. The smallmouth was definitely a trophy fish. (see the pic below)

And completely unrelated to fishing... I bench pressed 325 lbs today!!!!!!

First time using rubber worm

I left the live bait at home last night to make sure that I could still catch fish with artificial lures. For the first half of the night I used a small crankbait that my brother gave me. I caught one largemouth with it, and then I had this little guy go after it. I suspect that he was attacking it for going through his territory, because there's no way that lure could be food, it wouldn't fit in his mouth! Tim, is this another hybrid sunfish? Pumpkinseed and green sunfish maybe? Sorry I didn't get a shot of his whole body.



I've never used a rubber worm before, because I never knew how to use them. I decided to be a man and give them a try anyway. By the way, I was fishing in Wingra Creek. The spots I was fishing were ideal for trying out the worm because they were too weedy to use any other lures. I tossed the worm over to the other side of the creek and let it fall down without a weight. I felt a few taps and then a good tug. Success on my first cast! I caught 4 largemouths that way, including the guy in the picture below. He was definitely hungry. :) I also had a couple hits where I didn't set the hook. It seems I need a little more practice on that.