Fishing Log 058 [The Road to the Catfish Grand Slam]
・Table of contents or fishing log
・General table of contents
Hello everyone. This is the 58th installment of my fishing log. This trip marks the first step in a challenge to pursue and master something.
Catfish and I
Didn't you have to make newspapers when you were in elementary school? That was the worst, wasn't it? Back then, the only things I was interested in were Famicom games and what was under girls' skirts. So, I had nothing to write about. I forced myself to write about local traditions, and when I was told to come up with a title for the newspaper, I desperately chose "Catfish." My homeroom teacher had a puzzled look on his face, or rather, a "Huh?" kind of expression.
Didn't you go fishing when you were in college? That was the best, wasn't it? One summer at Lake Kawaguchi, I was casting a Lucky Craft Sammy 85 from the pier over and over when I got a hit. My first lure-caught fish. When I reeled it in, it was a "catfish." For some reason, the friend I was fishing with was ecstatic.
My association with catfish has been going on for about 35 years now. However, I think I've only caught one twice. I feel like I want to target them, but I also feel like it's a hassle... In the midst of this, I was invited on a trip to target Biwako giant catfish, so I went.
About Japanese catfish
The Biwako giant catfish is apparently one of the three great monster fish of Japan. Since the Japanese huchen and the Japanese lates migrate to the sea, the Biwako giant catfish is the only one that lives in pure freshwater. Including the lake trout in Lake Chuzenji, they are all objects of my admiration. After all, they are huge.
It doesn't seem like the punchline is that Mr. Nomura is abnormally small, like 80cm tall. They grow up to 120cm and 20kg at their largest.
Personally, I don't believe that bigger is better, so the size doesn't really matter to me; rather, I'm attracted to their humor and rarity. The Biwako giant catfish has both in abundance, and I have an irresistible urge to catch one, so I was looking forward to it.
I did some preliminary research, and it seems that in addition to the Biwako giant catfish, there are three other types of catfish in Japan, making a total of five including invasive species.
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・Amur catfish: Already caught
・Biwako giant catfish: Will do my best
・Iwatoko catfish: Will do my very best
・Tanigawa catfish: Will do my best eventually
・Channel catfish: Might do my best eventually
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In tennis terms,
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・Amur catfish: Flushing Meadows
・Biwako giant catfish: Wimbledon
・Iwatoko catfish: Roland Garros
・Tanigawa catfish: Melbourne
・Channel catfish: Toray Pan Pacific Open
--
I suppose that's about right? Although I just plotted them randomly!
Isn't it a great deal to be able to conquer the country completely just by catching these five types? Plus, one of them is a great monster fish, and size doesn't even matter. If you catch an infinite number of horse mackerel or mackerel, people just say "Oh, I see," but isn't being a complete champion of domestic catfish something amazing? Wait? Am I saying something strange?
Well, whatever. That's why I'm going to do my best. Once I win Wimbledon, I'm prepared to do my best in Melbourne too. Actually, for some reason, I'm most attracted to the Iwatoko catfish.
Preparation
When I ask around, people say things like PE line size 3-5 and an 80lb leader, which makes me think, "You've got to be kidding..." It's like GT fishing. It's as if I'm trying to capture a legendary creature like a Takitaro. I felt like I could hear voices saying, "If you use thin line and it breaks, leaving the lure in the fish, I will never forgive you," so I prepared while trembling.
As for the tackle,
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・Main bait rod: Fishman BC4-8.3XXXXH
・Main casting rod: TULALA Portamento 73
・Sub rod for searching: Morethan Branzino 7.7ML
・Bait rod for searching: Fishman Beams Riplout
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Preparing for the surroundings. It seems tough to keep using the main setup, so it will likely be mostly for searching... But if I get a hit on the search setup and the line breaks, execution is mandatory; it's that kind of chicken race. It's scary. For reels, I'll go with the Calcutta Conquest 301, 16 Stella SW 6000/18 Stella 5000, Exsence LB 3000, and Calcutta Conquest DC 201 from the top. It's scary.
Besides that, I'm also bringing two bass tackle sets: the Megabass Elise & Lauda 72 I bought recently, and my usual Grandage & Vanquish 1000SSSPG. It's scary.
And for lures, vibration baits and minnows are good, apparently. Is this basically sea bass fishing now? That's why I have the sea bass tackle mentioned above. That means sinking pencils might be effective too. Just a hunch. It's scary.
For the past two years, I've mainly been doing saltwater fishing, but perhaps because I've done quite a variety of fishing, I feel like my drawer of ideas has grown. I haven't been able to master anything yet, but it seems I've acquired the ability to adjust to unforeseen situations. However, I would like to master something in the future. I think I want to master river fishing now. The Tama River, that is.
For now, it's go west.
Practical Fishing Edition
I'll join the advance team and head to the lake. I only have memories of fishing a little bit when I visited Lake Biwa on a trip once. I bought a bottle of Kurokirishima at a small convenience store nearby and fished while drinking straight from the bottle.
A case where I could hold a bass with my hand if it were 5cm. After this, I fell into the water. The tackle was a World Shaula with an Abu Revo or something. The rig was a sabiki.
I thought at the time that the left bank was relatively developed, perhaps because it's close to Kyoto, and there aren't many places to get close to the lake. I was told it's better to have one car, and since I remembered that, I agreed. My car is huge. We decided to transfer the luggage to my friend's car and head out. But this was the beginning of a tragedy and a miracle.
On the way, after having a meal, I realized something. I forgot to load two bass rods, bass lures, small item worms, sinkers, hooks, fish grips, knotters, leaders, etc., and all the small tackle... It brings back flashbacks of the forgotten items at Lake Chuzenji before.
What I have on hand are big baits for catfish, sea bass lures, and some vibration baits I picked up that day... Well, it can't be helped, I have to do it with what I have.
Since there is quite a distance and time until the Biwa catfish point and the best time to fish, I'll play around with bass first.
It's a bluegill, though!! Surprisingly, I broke in the Portament 73 with a sabiki bluegill. Did I put the wrong soul into it? It feels like it might leave a scar on my heart and body.
After playing around a bit, I'll start searching in earnest. Initially, the theory was to commit to wading, but it seems search & run & gun is better than that, so I'll proceed by looking at the shallows, searching, and if there's nothing there, moving on to the next spot.
However, this is difficult in this case, as the priority for a spot to fish thoroughly should ideally be where the fish are. But the spots you enter often end up being a product of compromise when you take into account weather, including wind, and convenience. It's frustrating. This time, the north wind was strong, and it's a shame that the spots were narrowed down. And I'll focus on a few locations and fish them thoroughly.
First location
For Kanto catfish, or rather Japanese catfish, the Jitterbug is the one. I'll try it for a while, but there's no reaction. Occasionally, something boils. I'll go around once and move.
This place was the best. It's a cape, but you go through a forest or a small woods to get down to the water's edge. It's a rare situation to be able to fish in the scent of fresh green leaves. There were freshwater shrimp and long-arm shrimp. It's a happy life to be able to live in a place like this, until you get eaten.
Everything glowing is the eyes of a shrimp.
Second spot
Megabass i-wing
Daiwa Sly Strong
I keep making long casts around here. It's a rocky area that's a snag heaven if you fish the bottom. Topwater is probably heaven.
After a while, I get a subtle reaction on the i-wing that feels like a moving snag, and a reaction on the Sly that feels like a push, but I don't catch anything. There was a deer.
Third spot
A pro from the Kansai region joined me, and we re-fished the first spot. I changed to a sea bass tackle setup and worked it slowly with a Gary 6-inch grub. Just like before, something would occasionally boil or rise. Then, a bite. It didn't hook up. After that, I snagged my worm on a tree and lost the leader on my Exsence LB. With my knot-tying skills declining and no thinner leader material on hand, this was a major loss of combat power... so, we moved.
Fourth spot
First, we checked out two spots: one with good footing, and one with average footing but a very difficult approach. In the former, carp were swimming around. In the latter, there seemed to be catfish, but they looked like Amur catfish. Deciding it would be better to go light, we chose the former and started.
Since I lost my Exsence at the previous spot, I started with an unbalanced setup: a Morethan rod, and a Vanquish 1000 reel that I had with me for some reason—like wearing running shorts with a tuxedo jacket. A mismatched setup, to say the least.
Moreover, the lure is my usual Gary 4-inch, so it's like wearing 'tabi' socks with that outfit—a real 'use what you have' situation. It's like stir-frying all the leftovers in the fridge and finding it's actually edible. The line is Pitbull 4-strand PE 0.4 with a 6lb fluorocarbon leader. Please, no catfish. Or if there are, please don't let me hook a big one...
First, I carefully search the bottom. The depth is almost constant. It's not even 1 meter deep. The bottom structure and obstacles are just occasional small stones. The wind blows from time to time, so the moment it does, I cast downwind, letting the lure ride the wind.
Around the 4th cast, I felt something like a snag. It was softer than a rock, and it twitched at that moment.
I've been fishing the bottom for a long time, but it still takes me about a second to distinguish between a snag that feels like a bite and a bite that feels like a snag. This time, I judged it to be the former, and as I went to lift the rod to free it, the thing I had hooked started moving slowly, then dashed violently to the right. The Vanquish drag was working at full capacity. It must be a carp; I saw them swimming earlier.
Since this is a mysterious East-meets-West tackle setup, forced fighting is forbidden. I don't have to worry about the rod since it's a Morethan, but the reel is a Vanquish 1000. It's the best reel for catching freshwater prawns in the Tama River. I caught a catfish that looked like it was about 2kg the other day, but it was too weak. But this carp has a torque that feels like 3kg. I'm worried.
My usual tactic is to let it run and then attack when it stops. However, it wouldn't stop more than usual. The torque-filled dash was long. 'Is this the true power of a Lake Biwa carp?' As I was thinking that, it stripped a massive amount of line. Not only does it have a good run, but for some reason, this carp also jumps. What is this? Why? Do carp jump when they get hooked?
It stripped a lot of line, but showed no signs of stopping. Since I only had about 70m of line spooled, I was reaching the danger zone. So, like a trainer shouting at a running boxer while riding a bicycle, I moved while reeling in, trying to keep pace with the direction it was running. Then, it jumped again. Don't try to imitate a bass, do you think you look cool? I cursed at it, telling it to just die already, while continuing the fight. But it seems that was its death throes jump, and then it moved slowly to my left, ending the battle. Good work. But man, this is crazy—carp. They have too much power, don't they?
It was a stepped breakwater, so if I could bring it to the water's edge, I would win. When I looked at the fish that had been brought in from a few steps up, it was a fish that looked like a magnificent carp with a diamond-shaped, high body. I was a little relieved. But its belly was white, which was strange. Huh? A carp? Is it really a carp? The overall coloring is too pale for a carp. It's night, so I can't tell, especially with my presbyopia.
A friend who was fishing nearby came over to help me land it, and when we got closer to the fish, it turned out to be a bass, not a carp. A miracle, in the truest sense of the word, had occurred.
A picture-perfect giant bass.
At 58.5cm, it's a massive new personal best. It's huge. I can't believe something like this is actually in here... I wonder what would have happened if I were using the Grandage... Would I have managed to handle it somehow?
I had actually bought a new fish grip just in case something like this happened, but I left it in the car, and when I asked my friend if he had one, he said no. Feeling dejected and a bit intimidated by how huge it was, I had my friend land it for me.
I think it must have weighed at least 3kg. I mean, 3kg is 6.61lb, you know. That's the same as my leader. I'm surprised my line didn't snap. That was a close call.
After this, I tried a few more spots, but nothing happened, so I called it a day. We finished up around 5:30. Since I had been fishing across the day, I guess you could call it the same day, but it had been about 18 hours since I left Tokyo, and I hadn't slept at all, but I'm heading home without sleeping. Even in my mid-40s, I managed a miraculous 0-night, 2-day fishing trip. I'm seriously exhausted.
Summary
Animals seen
Bluegill, freshwater shrimp, oriental river prawn, deer, largemouth bass, Japanese macaque
Food eaten
Ramen at Surugawan Numazu SA. Not very good.
Ramen Nikko (Hikone City). Pretty tasty. I'd like to stop by again next time I go to Lake Biwa.
(No image) Hamburger steak, shrimp cutlet sandwich.
Soba at Ebina SA. It feels like a knock-off of Minatoya and isn't very good.
About Tackle
Since they aren't fish that appear in large numbers, if you're aiming for a one-shot kill, I think your tackle configuration will inevitably become quite specialized. I haven't caught one yet, so take that for what it's worth lol
I didn't even bother setting up the main baitcasting tackle I brought, which was an 8.3-footer. If you hook one and it's over 10kg, I suppose you'd need something like that, though. I haven't caught one yet, so take that for what it's worth lol
In that case, well, the places where you can catch them are usually shallow, so I think it's fine to use heavy bass tackle and just get into the water to catch them if it comes down to it. Like, tackle them to secure the catch. I haven't caught one yet, so take that for what it's worth lol
I suspect that if you're using TULALA, a 7-foot class Monstruo or El Horizonte model, or if you're using Fishman, a 5.10 MXH or 6.10 would be fun even if you hook something else. If you're using spinning tackle, maybe something like the TULALA Portamento. I don't think you'd have any worries with PE 1.5-3 line and a 30-50lb leader. I haven't caught one yet, so take that for what it's worth lol. Plus, the only thing I caught with the Portamento was a bluegill www
In Conclusion
In the end, I didn't catch a catfish. Like Michael Chang or Pat Cash, it was over in one tournament.
I mean, if you're going to fish for Biwa catfish and you really want to catch one, it seems like you should start by fishing in the river. I'd like to try again. Also, apparently, you can catch decent numbers of small Akame around 60cm if you target structures. I don't know about Taimen.
So, I guess I'll start with Akame.