On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I went fishing.  Sunday I went with Chi, Shiba, Taihei, and Pamela.  That fishing was alright, but I hope that we were doing it for Taihei rather than me!  We bought about 30 rainbow trout (nijimasu) and put them in the river in a spot marked for us and inescapable for the fish.  Then we caught 'em and ate 'em.  Not very sporting.  Fun BBQ at the Shibaharas afterwards, though!

While we were waiting for lunch to cook, Chi took me upstream to fish for iwana and amago, which are both Japanese native trout.  I learned how to flyfish Japanese-style.  Much different and much easier than the American way of doing it.  The trout were too small to bite our fly, though.  We got several strikes, but the fish couldn't fit the hook in their mouth.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the fishing was much better.  None of that hatchery fishing stuff.  Chi and I went ayu fishing on Monday.  "Very very VERY difficult," Chi was constantly telling me.  And it is.  You use one ayu as bait with a treble hook attached to the caudal fin.  Ayus fight each other.  When your bait ayu finds a wild ayu, they fight and the idea is for the wild ayu to snag itself.  Easier said than done.  We only got one each all afternoon.  The funniest part of the day was on the drive to the fishing spot.  Chi busted out his dashboard television and my in-flight movie was a tutorial on ayu fishing - in Japanese, of course.  I credit my one fish to that movie!

Tuesday and Wednesday we went spinfishing and flyfishing (both American AND Japanese styles!) to several spots around Takayama.  I had a blast!  We caught some iwana and amago - both native Japanese trout.  Small, but very beautiful fish.  I just proud to hold up my end of the bargain - so far Chi and I have caught exactly the same number of fish!

Below are Chi and I before fishing, celebrating at a barbecue restaurant afterwards, and a video of flyfishing.