Even more species hunting adventures in Japan: Kyoto.

Arriving at Osaka's Itami airport in the afternoon, Ryan's girlfriend Xin Yun's flight arrived at about the same time, so we met up with her at baggage reclaim and headed into the city. After checking into our accommodation, the four of us headed out to spend the evening wandering around Dotonbori, soaking up the atmosphere, snacking throughout the night on Kobe beef skewers, molten hot takoyaki, tasty gyoza, incredibly crispy, yet tender chicken karaage and some super sweet strawberry mochi and ice cream.

You can't visit Osaka and not spend an evening strolling around Dotonbori.

Ryan and Xin Yun splash some cash on some premium Kobe beef skewers.

The restaurants all try to outdo each other with huge 3D signage.

Before calling it a night, the four of us rode the unusually shaped Don Quijote Ferris "Wheel".

The next day, we headed south to explore the vibrant area of Shinsekai. After walking through Tennoji Park, we had some tasty yakisoba for lunch and then went up Tsutenkaku Tower, also known as Hitachi Tower.

Tsutenkaku Tower from the pond in Tennoji Park.

Tennoji Park from the top of Tsutenkaku Tower.

Don’t look down! Ryan and Xin Yun stand out on a glass floored platform at the end of a walkway that juts out near the top of the tower. 

Exiting Tsutenkaku Tower, we wandered south down Shinsekai's main shopping street, where we passed some dog owners who had dressed up their pets for some reason and were pushing them around in prams. One was wearing a clown costume that I’d later discover was that of Kuidaore Tarō, an iconic clown and the unofficial mascot of Osaka's vibrant Dotonbori district.

You see some strange things in Japan! The dog didn't seem to mind.

Next, we visited the Shinsekai Magic Café & Bar, where we enjoyed a few drinks and an hour of close up magic performed by three different magicians. Tricks involving playing cards, coins, rope and Rubik's Cubes had us all scratching our heads and if you're ever in Osaka I'd highly recommend the experience. By this point, we were quite hungry, and a restaurant where you can fish for your dinner was too good an opportunity to miss!

In this restaurant you can try to catch various different types of fish and then have them prepared in several different ways. 

There were plenty of fish swimming around in the water surrounding the boat shaped dining areas.

Most of the other diners seemed to be struggling to catch their dinner. Being experienced anglers, Ryan and I both caught a red bream almost straight away! Good bait presentation gave us an edge I think! We decided we wouldn't add the species to our trip's tally! 

Handing our catch to the restaurant staff, we were soon enjoying the two fish we caught four different ways. My favourite was the sashimi. 

After our delicious meal, we spent the remainder of the evening wandering around, admiring all the colourful signs around Shinsekai before heading back to the apartment via Nipponbashi Denden Town, where we checked out some of its interesting shops, including one that sold Pokémon cards.

This illuminated lantern style display above a kushikatsu restaurant in Shinsekai was very impressive.

The next day, we caught a train north to spend the day in Kyoto. Ryan and I took minimal fishing tackle with us, just in case an opportunity to do some fishing could be slotted into our busy schedule. With way more places to see than we could possibly have done in one day, we had to choose which places we visited and which we did not. The first place on our itinerary was Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple located up in the hills to the east of the city. From Kyoto Station we decided to walk there as taking public transport wasn't going to save us that much time, and it was a lovely day.

With the leaves turning red, the views of the temple and Kyoto beyond were stunning

Heading back down the hill, we walked down the picturesque narrow streets of Sannenzaka, passing the Hōkan-ji Temple and its impressive Yasaka Pagoda, before wandering through the grounds of the much quieter Kenninji Temple.

The imposing Yasaka Pagoda of Hōkan-ji Temple.

In stark contrast to the rest of our morning walk, Kenninji Temple had hardly any tourists visiting it, which was nice.

We did intend to visit Nishiki Market to get some street food style snacks for lunch, but when we reached the eastern bank of the Kamo River, we stopped underneath a bridge crossing it to get out of the sun and a plan was formulated for how we would spend the afternoon. We'd already eaten some onigiri in the morning, so in order to fit what we wanted to do in, we opted to skip lunch in favour of a short fishing session instead. In no time at all, Ryan and I were freelining bread flake to see if we could tempt the resident fish.

What a beautiful place to fish!

The Kamo River contains a good head of common carp, but I was hoping to locate and catch my first ever Japanese barbel if I'm being honest. All we saw as we moved up and down the concrete blocks at the water's edge were groups of common carp moving around the pool. With no sign of any Japanese barbel, when a large common carp slowly swam up and took my bait from just below the surface, I was glad it did. The battle that ensued on my Nebula Rock Rover was something else! Being patient, and letting the fish take line when it made surging runs, it was at least ten minutes before I had the fish's head on the surface and beaten. Lillian was by my side, ready with my net, and a cracking fish was carefully drawn into it.

What a beauty! Easily the biggest fish I've caught on such light tackle.

Ryan hooked a couple of fish too, but sadly both threw the hook. Before we left, I tied on a tanago hook and caught a tiny dark chub from the small pools of water in amongst the concrete blocks we had been fishing from.

Every species counts, and this tiny fish had added another species to our tally!

Packing up, we caught a train and then a bus to visit the Golden Pavilion in northern Kyoto. For some reason, Lillian and I failed to visit it the last time we were in Kyoto, and we were there for several days back in 2018! Lillian really wanted to make sure we got there this time, and when we walked through the grounds and the Golden Pavilion came into view, it didn't disappoint.

Set in beautiful gardens, next to a pond, the top two levels of the Golden Pavilion are covered in actual gold leaf!

The next stop on our mini tour of Kyoto was the Monkey Park in Arashiyama. Due to the time and the relative locations, we decided to get a taxi to make sure we had ample time to arrive, climb the hill to the park and spend a reasonable amount of time at the top. The hike up into the hills is a bit of a slog, but when you get up there and see all the Japanese macaque there, it's well worth it.

This was about as close as I got to one out in the open. You're not supposed to get within two metres of them or look directly in their eyes.

In the centre of the open area at the top of the hill, you can enter a small building where you can buy some fruit and nuts. These can be fed to the monkeys through a caged opening.

Making our way back down the hill, we headed over the wooden bridge that crosses over the Katsura River and headed through the town of Arashiyama to visit the famous bamboo grove there. By this point the light was beginning to fade, and just as we reached the middle of the incredibly popular attraction, it started raining, so we hastily turned around, headed to the station and caught a train to Gion, Kyoto's geisha district. There we strolled south, enjoying the beautiful traditional architecture, and then headed for something to eat before returning to the station to take a train back to Osaka.

Having skipped lunch, we settled for some filling, and very tasty, Osaka style okonomiyaki.

We'd made quite a hectic start to our stay in Osaka, and our day trip to Kyoto had been pretty full on too. A generous portion of house special okonomiyaki washed down with a few beers was what we all needed I think! The next day, we had a bit more of a relaxing itinerary planned, including a little spot of fishing.

Tight lines, Scott.

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A new nemesis?

I had another session at Drumtassie Coarse Fishery on Wednesday, targeting the small Siberian sturgeon that are in their coarse pond again. Chopped worm was the bait of choice, and this was fished over a bed of 2mm halibut pellets. Fishing with two rods for ten hours, I was fairly optimistic I’d catch what I was after, my first ever sturgeon, and coincidently my 96th fish species in Scotland. Things were pretty lively to begin with, when a few small F1 carp and a common carp picked up my bait and got hooked.  

There were quite a few of these little F1 carp in my swim,…

…and this nice common carp too. 

In the afternoon, things went very quiet for a few hours. There were two other anglers fishing and they both packed up and left. Eventually a few fish started biting again, and I caught a couple of bream and a few more F1 carp. 

Mid-flip. This bream didn’t want to lay still for a photo. 

Happy to pose. Some of the F1 carp I caught had a lovely golden colouration.

Just before I used up the last of my bait, I caught another couple of fish. Both were the same species, but sadly not the one I was after. 

The last two fish of the day were both ide. 

The second ide ate my last section of lob worm about thirty minutes before the fishery closed. So, I didn’t end up catching a Siberian sturgeon, and will just have to keep trying until I do. They have been getting caught recently, so I’m sure eventually I’ll get lucky and get one myself. There’s also a solitary large Siberian sturgeon, called Maisie, up in the fishery’s specimen pond that I might have a go at catching. Either way, I won’t be giving up until I catch one!

Tight lines, Scott.

The Environment Agency are aware.

When I saw a post on Instagram recently of a topmouth gudgeon caught in the UK, I’ll be honest, I was quite excited. They’re a pretty nasty little invasive species that have found their way into several waters in England and Wales since the Eighties. They breed four times a year and eat the eggs of native fish, so they’re not a welcome addition to any body of water. Anyway, I’ve always wanted to catch one, so I quickly made some enquiries. Before too long I’d started a conversation with a fellow species hunter named Donny who told me that the Environment Agency are aware of their presence, that the angling association responsible for the water were still permitted to fish the venue, but were no longer allowed to fish matches or use keepnets. Day tickets were available, so we arranged to meet up last Wednesday to go and catch some. As an added unexpected bonus Donny told me that the pond also contained a population of motherless minnow, also known as sunbleak, another non-native species, but one I have caught previously, many years ago.

After driving south on Tuesday night, we visited a local tackle shop the following morning to buy our permits. A short drive later, we arrived at the pond and set about catching some diminutive invaders. It didn’t take us long to start catching lots of them. 

A tiny piece of pinkie on a tanago hook was the presentation of choice, fished under a tiny float. Perfect for small fish with small mouths. 

The topmouth gudgeon seemed to prefer hanging out under floating debris. 

Donny focuses on his tiny float, looking for any sign of movement. Sometimes the float didn’t go under but slowly moved sideways, indicating a fish had taken the bait. 

Before too long, I'd caught my first ever topmouth gudgeon! Also known as the stone moroko.

It was soon followed by a few more. They seem to come in two colourations. One, like my first, with green and purple hues with a lovely pearlescent sheen. The second has silver scales with a black edge, like the one above in my little photo tank.

We fished for a few hours before Donny had to head off, and I fished on for another hour before I called it a day. As well as a few dozen topmouth gudgeon, I also caught a few small rudd, perch and about a dozen motherless minnow.

My first rudd of 2024.

The biggest motherless minnow of the session. I last caught one of these about ten years ago!

I caught my largest topmouth gudgeon of my session shortly after Donny left.

I really enjoyed meeting Donny and fishing together, I was very happy with the way the session had gone, and pleased to have met another tanago rod owner too!

Later in the day, I set off across England in preparation for a visit to a coarse fishery in Lincolnshire the following day. Whilst talking with Donny before the trip, he had mentioned to me there were populations of Prussian carp in a few fisheries there. Yet another non-native species, also known as the Gibel carp and a close relative of both the crucian and the goldfish. The Environment Agency are aware of their presence in the venue I was going to fish, and have also studied specimens gathered from it, confirming their identity. The venue in question is a members only water, but when I spoke to their committee they generously agreed to allow me a one-off visit to target their stock of Prussian carp.

When I arrived last Thursday morning, I was welcomed warmly, told a bit about the history of the venue, taken to a peg that regularly produces Prussian carp, and given a few pointers to help me catch them. I started off fishing maggots on the bottom under a waggler. This produced a few roach, rudd, perch and gudgeon. I love catching gudgeon!

The swim in front of peg nine. Up the left was where I was told to fish.

Plain old gudgeon. Still one of my favourite little fish.

After about three hours it started raining, and I was feeling quite hungry, so I had a break, sitting in the car whilst I ate some lunch. Returning to the peg, I decided to switch over to fishing colourful wafters on a method feeder with 2mm pellets. 

Yummy. Who doesn't like banoffee?

Hair rigged on a bait band. Simple but very effective.

There's something satisfying about a nicely loaded feeder.

Any second now...

I was expecting to have to build up a bed of groundbait before I drew some fish into the area, but on only the second cast, my rod tip twitched a couple of times before being pulled round. A short scrap later, I netted the culprit and began carefully examining it. 

Large scales? Check.
29–33 scales along the lateral line? I counted 31. Check.

Stubby nose? Check.
No barbules? Check.
Silver halo around the pupil? Check.

First ray strongly serrated? Check.
Almost straight or slightly concave dorsal fin. Check.

Anal fin has five and a half soft rays. Check.

A deeply forked tail. Check.

I’d caught my first Prussian carp! Over the next few hours, I caught a few more and a solitary common carp that did its best to get into the vegetation to my left, but I managed to turn it away from them a few times before drawing it over my waiting net. 

A golden common carp.

After catching my twelfth Prussian carp, things went very quiet. I persevered for a while but with a third long drive to do in as many days to get back up the road, I packed up, thanked the guys at the fishery for allowing me the opportunity to fish at their lovely venue for the day, and hit the road. I’m on a bit of a roll at the moment. Adding a Siberian sturgeon to my Scottish Species Tally is my next objective. 

Tight lines, Scott.

Winter woes.

Well, the weather over the past couple of months has pretty much brought my species hunting for the year to a shuddering halt. I have made a couple of attempts at catching grayling on the River Clyde, but sadly I blanked on both occasions. Despite trying various stretches of the water, I just couldn't locate a shoal of fish. In addition, I have visited Drumtassie Coarse Fishery for a couple of sessions, hoping to pick up either my first Scottish barbel or my first every sturgeon. The fishing there was also very hard going. One solitary roach was all I caught on my first outing! I did slightly better during my second trip, catching a few small carp and a perch using both float ledger and method feeder tactics.

One of three common carp I caught. Not the fish I was hoping would munch my maggots and dendrobaena worms!

In amongst the common carp I also caught this little mirror carp. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to manage to add any more species to this years tally given yet another storm system is on its way. I might have another go at catching a grayling if the weather allows it, and I did also fancy a trip down south to target zander. I’m not sure if I’ll manage to squeeze that in before the end of 2023 if I'm honest. We shall see.

Tight lines, Scott.