-English version follows Japanese-

―冬でも帰省中でも釣り―

 

39日、前日までの悪天候も厳しい寒さもだいぶ緩んだ小春日和、少年時代よく父に連れられ兄弟で釣りをした場所をたずねました。


林道は雪に埋まっているかと思いきや、暖冬のこととて車の走行に支障はなく、思い出の沢のすぐそばまで乗り入れることが出来ました。路肩で石ころ集め?をしていた老夫婦に挨拶し、立ち話となりました。おじいさん曰く、沢はそのまま残っているが、近年ブルーギルが増えてしまったため、在来の魚種がほとんどいなくなってしまったとのこと。本当ならばショックですが、まずは自分の目で見、釣ってみないことには始まりません。


沢の中を歩いて懐かしの淵に到着…幸い水面は凍っていません。さっそくサシ(蛆虫)とブドウ虫を餌に釣り始めましたが、しばらくは魚影もアタリもありません。まだ魚は「冬眠」状態かなぁ、釣りは無理かなぁ、と思い始めたとき...淵の中央、最深部に魚群を発見!餌をミミズに換え真上に狙いを定めて一投...瞬く間にウキがぐぐっと下がり、紫がかった金属色が美しい追河(オイカワ)が掛かりました^^その後2時間ほどの釣果は134匹。うちアブラハヤが2匹、後は全てオイカワでした。


こどものころ、ここではアブラハヤばかりが釣れていたような気がするのですが、記憶違いでしょうか?もっとも当時は魚種の知識もなく、なんでも「雑魚」「小魚」と一緒くたに考えていたので、実際はハヤもオイカワも漁れていたのかもしれません。ともかくも、認識できる限りにおいては「人生初の」オイカワを釣ることが出来ました。

ちなみにオイカワの学名は「Zacco platypus」というらしいです❕  「ザッコ」…雑魚?…これは単なる偶然なのでしょうか?(追記:wikipediaによれば古くは「オイカワ属」に含まれ姿かたちもオイカワによく似ていて共に「雑魚」と括られがちであった魚「カワムツ」をヨーロッパに紹介したのはかのシーボルト。2008年にカワムツとヌマムツがこのオイカワ属 (Zacco) から新属のカワムツ属「Nipponocypris」 に分離されましたが、このオイカワの属名「Zacco」は日本語の「雑魚」(ザコ、東北・北関東ではザッコと呼ぶ)に由来する。とのことです!(*_*) )


沢筋に初物のバッケ(フキノトウ)が顔を出していたので少々採取、オイカワ数匹とともに持ち帰りました。夕食に母がそれを天婦羅にしてくれ、美味しくいただきました。

 

物があふれる現代でさえ、自然の中で、自分で捕って(採って)食べる…そのなんとも形容しがたい充足感、生命の躍動。これは一体何なのでしょうか?

我々の生活がいかに都市化されようと自然から隔絶されようと、脳に深く刻み込まれた狩猟採集民の本能には抗えないのかもしれません。


訂正:

後から調べてみると、どうもこの日釣った魚の大半は「カワムツ」(川鯥)である可能性が大です。

東北には本来いない種ですが近年分布域を広げているらしく、この水系にも進出してきているのかもしれません。

近縁種であるヌマムツ、オイカワ(本種ももともとは東北地方以北では国内外来種)とも交雑するらしく、ますますもって紛らわしいです💦

どなたか詳しい方、ご指導下さい(^-^;


9/March/2019


It’s been forecasted that we are going to have a lovely, warm, sunny weekend here in my hometown in Tohoku, Japan. Needless to say, missing the opportunity to enjoy fishing in a beautiful setting which holds a very special place in my heart - the stream where my dad used to take my brother and me when we were kids - was not an option for me.


Contrary to my expectation, the unpaved road which leads to the spot was mostly clear of snow so I could drive right by the swim. I saw an old local mum and pop by the side of the road, whom I asked whether they knew if the spot I was going to remained the same as the old days. Pop told me that the stream was unchanged, but because of the recent rampage of invasive species(namely the Bluegill), native fishes have been severely marginalized. Feeling doomed, I got myself walking towards the swim.


Luckily, the familiar spot with a deep pool under a waterfall was not frozen. I started with some maggots then with caterpillars, but the offer was not reciprocated… After a while, I started to suspect that they could still have been "hibernating" under layers of dead leaves. Then I happened to spot a school of fish floating at the bottom of the deepest pit in the middle of the pool. I changed my bait to an earthworm and dropped it right above it. The float sunk immediately and the next moment I got Oikawa or the Pale Chub at the end of my line. The fish had a shiny silver body with a trace of metallic purple or blue, an absolute stunner. In the next 2 hours or so, I could get more than ten of them and two Minnow.


The swim back then as I remembered was only inhabited by the Minnow and Dace, but not the Pale Chub. However, looking back, I have very limited knowledge about fish species nor did I care then, so Oikawa could very well be there. If that’s not the case I would like to call those fish I caught today “My first ever Pale Chub”.


I took some of them with Bakke, one of my favourite sansei(edible wild plants) to my parents' for dinner. My mum cooked tempura with them.


When we catch, pick, cook and eat from Mother Nature... we feel so satisfied, so alive like no other. I guess no matter how much urbanised our lifestyle would be, the hunter-gatherer instinct would still remain some irresistible force in our brain.


P.S.


After learning more about Zacco and its related genus, I have come to suspect that most of the fish I caught on that day could well have been Kawamutsu or the Dark Chub, rather than the Pale Chub. It is in a genus that is closely related to Zacco, to which the Pale Chub belongs.

To make it more confusing, it is common that those species cross-breed with each other.

The natural habitat of the Dark Chub was originally confined to western Japan, but they have inadvertently expanded their territory when their fry(juvenile fish) accidentally got mixed in when authorities were stocking other fish. Now they can be found throughout the nation.

By the way, the Pale Chub themselves, also originally from western Japan, are invading species in Tohoku.



KIMG1227
Under the bridge, wading through the stream, we would go to the 'secret' swim.

KIMG1236
"The Holy Pool"

KIMG1233
Is this Chub "Dark" or "Pale"?

KIMG1241
And then one,

KIMG1250
After,

KIMG1248
Another.

KIMG1246
With some occasional Minnow.

KIMG1253
Bakke, Nature's gift for us in the early spring.

KIMG1256
Bakke and Kawamutsu (and/or Oikawa?) Tempura