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| Japanese fish drying rack |
The Japanese civilization has existed on an island for
thousands of years. They don’t have a large land mass so they look to the sea
for food. Still today one of their main food sources is fish. The culture has adapted to eating just about
anything edible that can be caught or harvested from the sea. I would expect
that after all these years of fishing and harvesting around the island that
there wouldn’t be any aquatic life left. The Japanese know they have seriously
damaged the surrounding reefs and polluted the water. Over time they have found
ways to protect the environment and keep themselves fed at the same time. The
government is practicing sustainable fish and seaweed farming and is allowing
selective harvesting of fish by individuals. The fishing techniques and gear used
by the individual fisherman is what caught my interest.
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| Umbrella hooks |
During a visit to Japan I wanted to do some surf casting. I
needed some gear so I went to a basic bait and tackle store and then to a
saltwater inlet. The store was like any store you would see in the U.S. but had
some unexpected differences in the tackle they are selling. In the U.S. we use
barbless and circle hooks for catch and release fishing. The Japanese use a
hook that looks like two upside down umbrellas stacked on top of each other. It
has a main shaft with several straight barbless prongs coming off it at about a
45 degree angle. My first impression was that it wouldn’t hook up very solid
and come out easy, then like a fool, I touched it. Turns out that I was wrong,
they work great! The prongs are not designed to work independently but as a
unit. It was like grabbing a hold of one of those burdock seed pods that get
stuck to your clothes in the fall. The dried out ones with the spikes all
around it. If you try to shake it off or roll the hook out the next prong will
get you. The only way to release the hook was to push it straight back, cussing
doesn’t work. It is really a well-engineered hook. It is quick and easy to
remove, once you know how, plus does minimal damage to the fish.
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| Jerk baits |
At the bait and tackle store I noticed that a good 90% of
the fishing rods were the collapsible type. They were the 3 to 5 section kind. The
store stocked several different manufacturers, lengths and weights. I bought a
medium weight, 5 piece. I thought that it would be easy to get in a suitcase
but would probably go flying apart every time I made a cast. At the inlet I saw
that everyone was using them and was wondering why. In the U.S. we essentially
only use 1 or 2 piece rods. Why would an entire culture use a collapsible rod? My
experience with their choice was positive, the rod didn’t go flying apart plus
had a great backbone and a sensitive tip. The rods are high quality and very
well engineered. I think the reason is compactness and portability. The
Japanese have smaller living spaces relative to the U.S. and tend to live
vertically not horizontally as most of us do. Also the Japanese prefer to walk
or ride bike to destinations. A 10’ rod will breakdown into a 40” kit and can
be easily stored and carried.
I’m going to try to find some advertisements for the lures
and fishing poles I used and attach them to this blog. Take a look at them,
they’re a little different than what we’re accustomed to using. Some of the
gear was made in the U.S. but isn’t advertised here, we might be missing out on
a good thing.
