More species hunting fun in Japan : Fukuoka.

In November 2018 I had an amazing trip to Japan and enjoyed it so much that I went back again last month for another three week trip. This time Lillian and I spend the majority of our trip exploring the southwestern island of Kyushu, only visiting Japan's main island of Honshu for a couple of days. Well we had amazing time again and I did a reasonable amount of fishing too. Our adventure began in Fukuoka where we arrived late after dark. Despite being pretty tired from almost twenty four hours of travelling we were also quite hungry so we dumped our bags at our apartment and headed out for a wander along the Naka River to find somewhere to get a big bowl of tasty ramen.

The banks of the Naka River after dark.

Yatai food stalls like this one pop up at night by the river and are very popular with locals.

The next day, feeling refreshed and ready to go, we headed along the coast to Fukuoka Tower to get a feel for the city by taking in some amazing views of it from the tower's observation decks. Of course my fishing tackle went along too just in case an opportunity to fish presented itself. Spotting some man made golden sandy beaches below that were flanked by breakwaters I did a bit of grovelling and got permission to get my species hunting underway when we made it back to ground level 123m below us.

A few of these large man made beaches form part of the city's coastline.

After purchasing a small padlock as a sign of my undying love for Lillian...

...locking it onto these railings, posing for this photo and doing a bit of sweet talking, I eventually got permission to fish.

Fukuoka Tower from one the breakwaters that flank the beach directly in front of it.

I'd love to say that my fishing in the sea got off to an amazing start but like the fishing I did in Tokyo at the start of my trip the year before it was pretty hard going, although I did at least get a few bites and caught something! Just two fish were hooked and landed, both species I'd caught last year and if I'm honest I'm not a fan of the first one due to it's incredibly slimy nature!

My first fish of the trip was this spotnape ponyfish. These are incredibly slimy and the stuff gets everywhere.

The second fish of my first session was this small darkbanded rockfish. Mebaru in Japanese, they are a very popular target species with Japanese anglers who have tackle ranges and techniques dedicated to catching them. I caught mine on my trusted HTO Rock Rover rod fishing a piece of good old angleworm on a drop shot rig.

In the afternoon after lunch we headed to Ohori Park after purchasing a small loaf of bread. The park is a beautiful open space in the middle of the city which contains lovely gardens, the ruins of Fukuoka Castle and a large lake. I knew from doing some research before we flew out that whilst fishing was permitted in the lake it was limited to four small areas in its southern half. When we arrived at the northern end and began to stroll around to the first fishing area there were dozens of large colourful koi carp swimming around but I had a suspicion that the lake would be somehow partitioned so that all the koi carp were excluded form the fishing areas. At first this did indeed appear to be the case as we soon walked passed what looked like a net that was run across the water from the eastern to western shore trapping the koi in the northern half of the lake. Arriving at the first fishing area there had been no sign of any carp so I amused myself for short time catching dozens of bluegill.

These signs mark the limits of the four small fishing areas.

After another short stroll we arrived at the second fishing area where I decided to throw in a few pieces of bread into the water in the hope that some carp might actually be resident. Much to my surprise two or three common carp soon arrived so I quickly changed my set up and freelined bread flake. The carp weren't shy, I soon had one hooked and after a short scrap where I successfully turned the fish away from a some weed beds a few times a nice fish was landed, photographed and returned. Fairly pleased I packed up and we went for a stroll through the park before heading back to our apartment. On the way we passed a photo opportunity I couldn't resist.

A lovely fish and great fun on my ultra light rod!

A very happy samurai.

On the day two we got up early an went for a wander around a local fish market before heading to Hakata Station to catch a local train to Nanzoin. This small town thirty minutes to the east of Fukuoka is the location of several shrines including a rather impressive statue of Buddha in a reclining pose. On the way up the hill to see this we passed several other temples and statues including this one that provided another amusing photo opportunity.

Bellies out! I made a mental note to start another diet when I got home.

Looking very chilled this is said to be the the largest bronze statue in the world.

After we returned to Fukuoka, in the evening after dinner Lillian wanted a nap so I grabbed my gear and went for a walk along the Naka River again. On the way to the fish market that morning I'd spotted a few gobies sitting on rocks at the river's edge so I headed back to where I'd seen them. Small pieces of dried ragworm on a split shot rig provided a simple and effective approach and dropping it near them quickly saw me catch two different species.

I'd later discover that my first new species of the trip doesn't have an English name. It is called urohaze (ウロハゼ) in Japanese.

This one is a dusky tripletooth goby. As well as faint pale grey spots on its cheeks it also has a yellow band on the base of its pelvic fins...

...and several free elongated fin rays on its first dorsal fin too.

As light faded I decided to try small metals and soft plastics on jigheads a bit further out from the bank past the rocks. By this point the tide was going out and the current was fairy strong so I cast upstream and retrieved very slowly giving the lures the odd twitch. After missing a few bites I eventually hooked a small fish that turned out to be my first ever Japanese seabass.

It might have only been about 20cm long but it was another new species so heading back to the apartment I was happy enough!

So, the start to our trip had been very enjoyable. I'd also managed to catch seven species and as I had arranged to meet up with a fellow angler the following day I was confident that I'd add quite a few more. In 2018 I caught fifteen species over the three weeks spent in Japan and given the positive start to this year's trip I was sure that I'd improve upon that tally this time.

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting fun in Japan : Okunoshima.

Two days before we left Osaka we decided to have a day trip and one where I could do a fair amount of fishing. After three hours plus spent riding the shinkansen, local trains and a bus, we arrived in the small town of Tadanoumi where we waited to take a short ferry crossing to the small island of Okunoshima, also known as Rabbit Island. While we waited for the ferry to make the last leg of the journey I had a quick fish in Tadanoumi's harbour. There were some shoals of damselfish swimming around and I quickly caught a few on tiny sections from the tail of a Gulp fish fry. Tying on a larger hook, putting on piece of angleworm and trying my luck further out into the harbour rewarded me with a couple of small red seabream.

I'd later identify this damselfish as a pearl spot chromis. In the water they have white spot on their back at the back end of their dorsal fin that appears dull brown when they are out of the water. 

Red seabream are very similar to their European cousin the Couch's seabream. 

The ferry soon arrived so I packed up and we got onboard. The sailing only took about fifteen minutes and we were soon on Rabbit Island. Okunoshima is known as Rabbit Island because, as you've perhaps already guessed, it's home to lots of rabbits. They're tame rabbits so expecting a friendly furry welcome upon our arrival we had bought a few bags of rabbit food at the ferry ticket centre in anticipation.

Rustling this bag was like ringing a dinner bell. Any rabbits within earshot would run towards you.

Before fishing I couldn't resist feeding a few treats to the adorable little swines. 

I soon got down to business while Lillian was mobbed by ever increasing numbers of her new friends. She managed to escape from the bunnies briefly to take a photo of me though. 

This first spot was a fairly shallow rocky area and I caught lots of wrasse on angleworm fishing it on a dropshot rig. Some research was required when we got home to identify the colourful fish.

My first wrasse of the trip was this Bleeker's wrasse. 

This one is a multicolorfin rainbowfish. Like the Bleeker's wrasse it was very similar in shape to the Mediterranean rainbow wrasse.

This is also a multicolorfin rainbowfish. The first one is a female and this larger specimen is a male.

We spent the afternoon walking around the island admiring the scenery and stopping to rustle our bag of pellets and feed the rabbits as we went. Not everything on the island is cute and fluffy however. The island also has a dark past. In the years before and during World War II a poison gas production and storage facility was secretly in operation on Okunoshima. After the war ended, when the Allied forces discovered the operation, the manufacturing equipment and stockpiled gas were all destroyed. Many of the buildings remain however, no in ruins they serve as a reminder of what the island had been used for. 

One of several derelict buildings on the island. 

Poison gas production relics aside, the island was quite a beautiful place and as we worked our way around its coastline I found a spot where the water was a lot deeper within casting distance. This sea bed in this area was also rocky and as well as lots more wrasse it also produced a couple of rockfish one of which was my third rockfish species of the trip, a marbled rockfish.

A beautiful spot with lots of other islands in the distance and the sun bursting through the clouds from time to time. 

This is a marbled rockfish or kasago in Japanese. 

The other was my second darkbanded rockfish of the trip. 

Whilst multicolorfin rainbowfish made up the bulk of the wrasse I caught I also caught a solitary star bambooleaf wrasse. What a great name I thought when I identified it back in our Osaka apartment.

The star bambooleaf wrasse was bit more chunky and put a good bend in my Rock Rover.

Before we knew it we had walked almost all the way around the island and were getting close to the ferry pier so I briefly fished at one final spot. The bottom there was clean sand and this produced a few Japanese whiting and a couple of red seabream. With the fairly long return journey to make I packed up and we headed off to the pier so we could head back to Osaka. Okunoshima might be known as rabbit island but as I had discovered it's quite a fishy island too. 

Tight lines, Scott.

Species hunting fun in Japan : Osaka.

The train journey from Kyoto to Osaka took less than an hour and as I was keen to do some fishing we dumped our bags at our apartment and jumped back onto the metro to visit a fishing spot nearby. It was pretty windy when we arrived and the sea was a little rough but despite this there were a few anglers out fishing which was encouraging. I didn't see anyone catching anything however and sadly I didn't catch anything either. Being the third occasion I'd fished in the sea in Japan and the third time I'd failed to catch anything I was beginning to feel a little bit frustrated. Before we went back to the apartment we went for a wander and accidentally stumbled upon a strange saltwater canal and decided to see if there were any fish in it. Almost straight away we could see some seabass and seabream patrolling but they swam off quickly when they spotted us as the water wasn't very deep and was very clear.

Some fish had made there way into this saltwater canal from the open sea via a pipe at one end.

As well as the larger fish there were the odd shoal of smaller fish swimming around but again they were very skittish and swam off when I got close or cast near them. Eventually I found one species that was a little less shy and showed some interest in my lures. They kept pecking away at my piece of angleworm and after dropping down to #18 hooks and smaller pieces of Gulp I eventually managed to catch my first Japanese saltwater species of the trip! I caught a few of them and before we left I doubled my saltwater species tally for the trip with a small Japanese whiting.

A rather weird looking little fish it had hard bony structures similar to a triggerfish or a file fish. It had three of these though, one at the front of its first dorsal fin and two underneath! Very useful for handling them! After a bit of research when we got back to our apartment I discovered it was a short snout tripodfish.

I recognised this species from the front of Isome packets. 

The next day we visited the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, the biggest aquarium in the world. It didn't disappoint with several incredibly massive tanks full of all sorts of fish from around the world. The whale sharks and sunfish were pretty amazing but oddly enough my favourite exhibit was a very small tank that had a few fringed blenny in it. Also known as the Japanese Warbonnet they were quite big as far as blennies go and have lots of frilly appendages all over their head and fins.

A bit like our Yarrell's blenny on steroids. Maybe I'd get lucky and catch one?

Whilst having lunch in the aquarium's cafe we spotted a few people fishing near the aquarium in a few different harbour areas so we headed back later in the afternoon with my fishing gear. Armed with some bait this time to increase my chances I caught loads of these slimy little fish with an insanely protrusile mouth on tiny little strips of squid.

I'd later discover this is a spot nape ponyfish. The amount of slime on them was quite incredible but not unpleasant.

As light began to fade I started fishing closer in to the harbour walls and much slower too. After a few more spot nape ponyfish I caught a couple of rockfish. I was very excited about catching these as they are a popular target species amongst Japanese anglers and I they were one of the species I was hoping to catch during the trip. I recognised the first one as a darkbanded rockfish, Mebaru in Japanese. I wasn't sure about the second one.

I was over the moon about catching this little darkbanded rockfish.

The second mystery rockfish.

To celebrate catching my first couple of rockfish we headed out after dark to Dotonbori for a wander around its busy neon lit streets, to try a local speciality, octopus balls and enjoy a few cold Asahi Super Dry.

Dotonbori is Osaka's busy nightlife area. It has lots of bright neon signs, tasty street food and lots of restaurants, shops and bars.

It also has lots of massive signs too. This onewas  for the freshly made octopus balls we were after. They're called Takoyaki in Japanese.

Takoyaki is octopus chunks cooked with some other ingredients in batter which is shaped into balls. Barbecue sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes usually finish them off although other toppings are available too. It's a good idea to let them cool before eating as the inside is gooey and can be like molten lava.

Back at the apartment that night I did a bit of research to try and identify my mystery rockfish but didn't have much luck so I text Adam Kirby back in the UK to see if he or one of his Japanese friends could help. It didn't take long for Adam to introduce me to Masa, an angler based in Osaka, who quickly identified my mystery catch as an oblong rockfish.

We carried on chatting for a while and he very kindly gave my a few places I could try for Japanese horse mackerel which funnily enough weren't too far away from the spot I'd caught the rockfish at. Fishing for these would have to wait though because the following day we were making use of our Japan rail pass by taking a trip west to visit Rabbit Island. I was quite exited about finding out if there were any fish there as well and had been given permission to do a fair amount of fishing while we were there.

Tight lines, Scott.