Week of August 18th: Summer is Drawing Down

Week of August 18th - Summer is drawing down

After a three week hiatus, the South Branch Outfitter River Report is back.  I can only attest to about the last week of local waters and the remnants of the high water that came through when I was out of town.

Ethical trout fishing “rules” are still in effect for a bit longer, though night time temps are trending low and cool.  The panfish and bass are settled in below High Bridge and down through Flemington and our park system ponds and lakes are holding tough despite quite a bit of pressure.  Before I pulled stumps for Japan in July I had been meeting many folks from out of the state here to vacation and camp in New Jersey and Hunterdon County!   Upon returning this week I met a grandpa and his kids looking to catch their dinner at a local park with camping privileges.  

The “big” D, or main stem of the Delaware, is also still up, so be careful if you are wading or paddling out for some smallmouth.  The limestone creeks of PA and the tailwaters of the upper Delaware are both seeing summer pressure this year - which is great.  I enjoy feeling that I am part of keeping our parks and natural spaces going and doing my best to keep them clean and pristine. Hurricane Debbie wreaked havoc on Hales Eddy and the system in the Catskills near Hancock and its environs.  A few more days should allow things to get to a comfortable wadable level early this week. 

We can start making plans for fall trips and tying up some flies for fall fishing!  Swing by to get your hooks and hackle or those final summer patterns - hoppers, poppers, and terrestrials are still in stock.  Our guide service will be up soon, so plan ahead to get that weekend trip in the books for October now!  

Hiring a guide is an invaluable resource (see our in store flier or website for pricing) to improve your skill and chance of catching or at least hooking up.  There are a million questions that come up before and during a fishing trip - what’s hatching? What weight line do I need in the summer? Where can I actually access the water and not get towed (or worse) for trespassing? Having a knowledgeable and experienced individual can make a mystery into magic.

Other times it is fun to wing it, too.

So when I started planning fishing days into my trip to Japan, I began on the internet and Google maps.  I read blogs and dropped pins, marking places to park or stay, and focused on fishy looking water to find later when in the country and a borrowed car.  I have been to Hokkaido before and in fact lived there for three years - seventeen years ago.  I did not fish nearly as much as I should have.  The internet and Google were relatively new and of no help at that point.  Word of mouth where I worked wasn’t much help and I did not find out about the Thames Fly Shop until a few weeks ago.  But there is no point in regret and I was thankful for what memories I have of the place remaining.

Another tremendous advantage I would enjoy is having places to stay.  My wife is native to Noboribetstu, Hokkaido and we stayed with her father and with her sister at different points in the trip.  Otherwise, a three week long visit - with hotels and food would have been well out of the budget.  My father–in-law was also kind enough to part with his car so I could drive up into the mountains on my own. 

The first place I found produced one trout and several other small fish, akin to chub and minnows.  The river is the Osarugawa, or Osaru River, near Date.  My first stop was to pay respect to a riverside shrine.

The river bank has some thermal vents foretelling of the Onsen resort hotels further upstream and the lightly sulphuric smell made me wonder if the whole river would be too warm to fish.  The other angler who showed up a moment later put these fears to rest.  I have not used much Japanese since leaving years back, but I learned I was in a good place to fish and,  yes, I could sort of follow the guy upstream.  Most river fishing for trout in Japan is done with lures.  Infact, the shop I found in Sapporo is the only fly shop I could find anywhere on the island!  After several nymphs and streamers, a trusty mop fly brought the first trout of the trip to hand.

After the Osarugawa, I spent a few days in the city where I lived and worked - Sapporo.  Of Hokkdaido’s five million people, two million live in Sapporo.  The rest of Hokkaido is pristine nature dotted with parks and farm land.  There is only a bit of industry, but most of the prefecture is rural and wild.  In fact, there are no stocked fish anywhere in Hokkaido.  

The Toyahiragawa runs through the center of Sapporo and the banks are used for parks, park golf, bike paths, and yes – fishing!  I did not have any luck aside from a few bites.  I wondered that I could lose myself in the moment, fishing, even in the midst of a major city.  The sun rises early in Hokkaido - it is daylight before four am and I was far from the only person out and about along the banks. As nice as it is, I prefer a more remote setting and the next few rivers gave me confidence in the promise of more trout.

First, though, I hit a suburban river, much smaller than the Toyhira. The Izarigawa meanders through Eniwa and I spotted some oji-san tenkara anglers, which gave me hope again after the ‘ol skunk along the Toyahira.  I did not find the Yamame trout I hoped for, but had fun with dry flies and little river fish - again, like a chub or minnow we find around New Jersey.

The Chitosegawa proved more mountainous and included warnings about bears - a real threat in Hokkddaio.  The trout in the Chitose proved elusive but I did encounter another lure angler who had more luck than I did.  The water was fast and cold, the biting bugs were thick, and being alone with the bear warning didn’t keep me out that late in the evening.  The Yamame remained out of grasp.

The towns of Kutchan and Niskeko are synonymous with powder snowboarding and skiing, a result of geothermal and weather related phenomena that creates a perfect situation for tons of snow.  In the summer, the Shiribetsugawa funnels all that snow, now water, down to the sea and creates my best hope for a fish large like the ones on Instagram!   Spoiler alert - I didn’t get one.  What I did do, was call a guide – and thank goodness I did!

If you are lucky enough to fly fish - you are lucky enough, or so I believe.  If you are lucky enough to fish in Hokkaido, hire my guide-friend, Mr. Nick Hill (seaandsummitmedia.com/hokkaido-fly-fishing) who I spoke with to learn about where to go and how to get there.  

The river is big and I didn’t see more than I could scramble around in about a day.  I did find more trout and some stunning views near Niseko and the famous Yellow Bridge.

On the drive back to my in-law’s I stopped at a section of the Shiribetsu further upstream and in the countryside.  The flow is a little more like the South Branch of the Raritan in size.  It was the last time I’d fish this trip and the sun was setting.  The pool I settled on immediately showed signs of top water feeding and I went with a hopper I purchased at Thames.  The Yamame acted more like wild brook trout, eager to eat in the waning light of the evening.  The hour and a half I had there yielded more takes than I had in the previous two weeks.  The sun set on the mountains and the cool, bug-less night, ended a great trip back to a country and countryside I love almost as much as New Jersey.

It is good to be back.

See you out there. 

Roy B