More species hunting fun in Japan : Karatsu and Yobuko.

On the third day of our trip we took the train west to Karatsu where I had arranged to meet up with a fellow angler called Mindaugas, a Lithuanian who was brought up in Canada and after a few more moves had ended up in Japan working as an English teacher. We knew each other through an online fishing forum and I was really looking forward to our day out together visiting some of his fishing spots. After picking Lillian and I up at the train station he drove us around Karatsu, giving us a mini sightseeing tour before taking us up to the top of Mount Kagami for some great views over Karatsu.

Karatsu from the observation platform at the summit of Mount Kagami.

On the way to our first fishing spot we stopped for breakfast which was a very tasty Karatsu special burger. It's hard work being a Buddha lookalike and this certainly was a filling choice to kick start the day! The first spot we visited was a small harbour and after setting up my rod I quickly spotted some puffers, rigged up a small hook on a split shot rig and started catching a few. Sadly apart from the puffers, the odd multicolour rainbowfish and a single Bleeker's wrasse, the mark wasn't very productive.

My first fugu of the trip. There are several puffer species around the coast of Japan. This one is a grass puffer. I caught a lot of these and like their European cousins the novelty wears off almost as quickly as they can bite through your line.

Bleeker's wrasse has a fairly drab looking brown and green colouration. Pretty plain especially for a wrasse.

We persisted probably longer than we should have, trying different areas in the hope we'd catch something else. After a couple of hours we jumped back in the car and headed to a harbour in Yobuko. There were lots of people fishing, mainly catching Japanese horse mackerel using sabiki rigs jigged above a small plastic cage groundbait feeder filled with shrimp paste. I decided to fish a two hook paternoster rig with small hooks baited up with small sections of dried ragworm and was soon catching lots of fish, all small but I didn't really care as I was racking up lots of new species.

There were lots of cardinalfish around in the deeper areas. This one is a half-lined cardinal.

I caught a second species, this one is a spot nape cardinalfish.

This cheeky little chap is a sevenband grouper....

...and this is a threadfin emperor.

This is a mottled spinefoot. Despite knowing that spinefoot/rabbitfish have some venomous spines I usually handle them. I'll probably learn the hard way that it's probably not a great idea!

Mindaugas soon caught a cool fish that had a funky turquoise mouth that I was quite jealous of. I spent a bit of time trying to catch one myself by dropping a split shot rig down into the gaps between the submerged boulders on the outside of the harbour wall but sadly didn't emulate his colourful capture.

According to fishbase the funky turquoise mouthed fish is called a sunrise in English. I'm not sure why. In Japanese it is called an anahaze (アナハゼ ). I'm still gutted I never caught one.

The day was going fairly well and Lillian seemed to be enjoying herself too, getting involved where she could and helping take photos of the fish. By this point though a break was required so we went to a tiny restaurant in Yobuko serving bowls of something I'd never heard of before called champon.

Champon is simple dish of fried vegetables and pork with noodles in a rich broth. It was delicious!

Afterwards we fished at a couple of different spots around Yobuko. Things were slower here but Mindaugas eventually caught a Japanese horse mackerel and a really nice marbled rockfish. I was struggling a bit until we tried near a slipway where I finally caught a couple of small marbled rockfish and a really funky looking fish that I suspected was a wrasse. I'd later find out that it was indeed a wrasse but was another species that doesn't have an English name.

Mindaugas and I fishing away in Yobuko, a town that is famous for fresh squid. We really should have eaten some!

This cool looking fish is called an ohagurobera (オハグロベラ) in Japanese. Bera is Japanese for wrasse.

Mindaugas then suggested that we make a short drive to try one final spot before the sun set. It was a fairly shallow rocky area underneath the Yobuko Big Bridge. This mark produced lots and lots of wrasse. I was hoping to catch some small groupers but my weedless creature bait fished on a Cheburashka lead didn't even hit the bottom most casts before being aggressively assaulted.

Shallow and rocky. A nice spot for catching lots of wrasse!

I soon lost count of the number of star bambooleaf wrasse that I caught.

After a while the light went and the action died off with it so we headed back to the car and visited a tackle shop back in Karatsu. After a quick look around we picked up some worms so we could do a spot of ledgering for gobies at one final spot. A short drive later we arrived at a tidal stretch of a small river close to Karatsu station where we were able to park the car and fish right next to it. The gobies proved elusive but after catching a few spotnape ponyfish I hooked something a little bit more fiesty that turned out to be my first seabream of the trip.

My first ever yellowfin seabream.

By this time we were quite tired and I thought catching the new seabream species was a great way to end a fantastic day's fishing so we packed up and Mindaugas drove us to the station where we said goodbye. It had been great to meet up with him and we really enjoyed our day in Karatsu and Yobuko. I really couldn't thank him enough for meeting up with us, driving us around as well as introducing us to some delicious local food. The fishing was great with lots of variety and I caught several new species taking my tally for the trip to almost twenty. I'd caught more species in the first three days of the trip than I had over the entire duration of the trip the previous year! The following day we had another little day trip planned and whilst fishing wasn't high on the agenda I did have one strange little fish on my mind. One that normally lives out of water!

Tight lines, Scott.

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.

One hundred species from Scottish venues?

A couple of captures on trips a couple of months ago put the idea in my head of trying to catch one hundred species of fish from Scottish venues. It would be a great achievement but is reaching this target even possible? First of all I had to figure out how many I had already caught. Looking back over my records I've compiled the following lists of what I've caught from Scottish venues.

Saltwater species.

Atlantic Horse Mackerel Ballan Wrasse Bass Black Goby Black Mouthed Dogfish Butterfish Coalfish Cod Common Blenny Common Dragonet Common Eel Common Goby Conger Eel Corkwing Wrasse Cuckoo Ray Cuckoo Wrasse Dab European Smelt/Sparling Fifteen Spined Stickleback Five Bearded Rockling Flapper Skate Flounder Golden Grey Mullet Goldsinny Wrasse Greater Sandeel/Launce Greater Spotted Dogfish/Bull Huss Grey Gurnard Haddock Herring Hooknose/Pogge/Armed Bullhead Leopard Spotted Goby Lesser Sandeel

Lesser Spotted Dogfish Lesser Weever Ling Long Spined Sea Scorpion Mackerel Painted Goby Plaice Pollock Poor Cod Pouting/Bib Red Gurnard Rock Cook Wrasse Rock Goby Sand Goby Sand Smelt Shore Rockling Short Spined Sea Scorpion Spotted Ray Spurdog Starry Smoothhound Tadpole Fish Thick Lipped Grey Mullet Thornback Ray Tompot Blenny Tope Tub Gurnard Turbot Two Spotted Goby Viviparous Blenny Whiting Yarrell's Blenny

Saltwater species tallied up I've caught sixty three in total of those. Moving on to freshwater species things get a little bit complicated. The issue lies with the classification of freshwater fish because in some cases we give different strains, variations or even hybrids of species their own common name. Carp strains are perhaps the most obvious example. Technically a common carp is the same species as a mirror carp which is the same species as a leather carp which is the same species as a ghost carp which, believe it or not, is also the same species as a koi carp. A similar issue arises with rainbow, blue and golden trout the last two are simply rainbow trout that carry a genetic mutation that affects their colouration. Tench and golden tench are also technically variations of the same species as are ide, golden orfe and blue orfe. F1 carp and tiger trout fall into a different category both being hybrids.

The question I ask myself is should these strains, variations and hybrids be counted separately? Is the goal achievable if they are not? It would certainly become more difficult. Below I've split the freshwater species into three separate columns based on three ways to count what I've caught. If I count strains/variations separately and include hybrids I am currently on ninety one species and I think the goal is attainable. If I don't count strains/variations separately but still include hybrids then I am currently on eighty six and the challenge become harder. Finally, if I don't count strains/variations separately and also exclude hybrids then I am currently on eighty four and the challenge becomes very difficult indeed. My thoughts at the moment are I'm going to count the variations and hybrids separately, if I reach one hundred I will keep hunting and try to reach one hundred again taking the variations out. Finally I'll try and catch one hundred with no variations and hybrids excluded as well.

Freshwater species.
Variations counted individually and hybrids included.	Variations counted together and hybrids included.	Variations counted together and hybrids excluded.
Arctic Char Atlantic Salmon Blue Orfe Blue Trout Bream Brown Trout Bullhead Chub Common Carp Dace F1 Carp Golden Orfe Golden Tench Gudgeon Grayling Ide Minnow Mirror Carp Perch Pike Powan Rainbow Trout Roach Rudd Ruffe Tench Tiger Trout Three Spined Stickleback	Arctic Char Atlantic Salmon Bream Brown Trout Bullhead Chub Common Carp Mirror Carp Dace F1 Carp Gudgeon Grayling Ide Golden Orfe Blue Orfe Minnow Perch Pike Powan Rainbow Trout Blue Trout Roach Rudd Ruffe Tench Golden Tench Tiger Trout Three Spined Stickleback	Arctic Char Atlantic Salmon Bream Brown Trout Bullhead Chub Common Carp Mirror Carp Dace Gudgeon Grayling Ide Golden Orfe Blue Orfe Minnow Perch Pike Powan Rainbow Trout Blue Trout Roach Rudd Ruffe Tench Golden Tench Three Spined Stickleback
Total = 91.	Total = 86.	Total = 84.

Looking at what I haven't caught and what I can add I think I'll be doing a fair amount of course fishing next year with barbel, crucian carp and sturgeon being the focus of my efforts. In saltwater the three bearded rockling is the only species I haven't already caught that springs to mind that I think can realistically be deliberately targeted although a Porbeagle shark from a boat is another possibility in that respect. Adding new saltwater species to my tally will require a lot of luck although many photos have been taken by underwater photographers around St Abbs Head of several fairly unusual species so I may find myself down there in the summer trying to get lucky. There is also a resident population of Atlantic wolffish around St Abbs Head too and I'd love to catch one of those!

Tight lines, Scott.