Wilderness survival?

Yesterday, I went fishing for ayu (sweetfish) with some of my coworkers for the second time ever (my first being last summer).

Ayu are river fish, and are said to only live in extremely clean waters. We went fishing in Kamogawa's Futama River, which is the only river in Chiba Prefecture that ayu can be found in - and even then, the number of rivers in Japan ayu can be found in are extremely limited.

I wish I had pictures to SHOW what the fishing process is actually like, but since it involves wading up and down the river (stream?)...which at many times had us in waist-deep water, not to mention while you are "stalking" the ayu you are crouched down in the river, I didn't think it was the smartest thing to bring my camera with me. I did managed to take a few photos with my cell phone afterwards though, which I'll post below.


Basically, we trudged through the Futama River for three straight hours, stalking spots where the ayu were gathered! Once we find such a spot, someone throws out the net to trap the ayu in a limited space.

Even after you technically trap them in the net, ayu are crafty little buggers, so they zoom around the water below the net and hide under rocks, leaves, etc. at the bottom of the river. They wait for that perfect moment when we move the net leaving the smallest opening...so that they can zoom right out to safety! It's almost amazing how well they are waiting and watching for that opportunity!


So since the ayu are usually too smart to get caught in the net when it is cast, the net only serves as a barrier to limit the places where they can run. You have to stare into the water really hard for the lightning fast movements, and pounce on them the milli-second you spot them (hence why you are continuously hunched down on fours in the river)! It's also difficult because there are a few other fish around too, so you have to try to differentiate between them so you don't waste your energy on the others.

Anyway, if/when you finally manage to catch one, you have to quickly deal the finishing blow by pinching the area between their eyes and gills. If you are too nice on them when you knock them out, they will run away the second they feel you relax, so you have to keep pinching until you feel something...pop? They squirm a ton and feel really slimy, so it's a slightly terrifying experience.

Our haul for the day!

Last year, we caught over 100 fish. This year, there were considerable less ayu around, not to mention they were much smaller, so we only caught about 30. Effects of the earthquake???

But the fish we caught were still about the size of a person's hand! Not bad at all~.

Divvying up the catch!

There were 8 of us that day, so each person got to take home about 4 fish. I only took home 2 since lately I haven't even been home to cook/eat, but today I used them to make 鮎の塩焼き (grilled sweetfish seasoned with salt)~.

Such a simple activity, yet so extraordinary! This is what I love about living out in the countryside~.