Kinda Like a Family
Trip Than a Fishing Trip
I was born in Western part of Japan, so the Lake Ashinoko
is definitely one of the holy places I have always dreamt
to visit. Those who are not familiar with Ashinoko, it's
the first lake Black bass was introduced from the U.S. to
Japan 78 years ago. There should be the first generation's
offspring swimming under water. And this lake is located
in Eastern side of Japan, 1.5 hours from Tokyo. Thus, it's
not strange for Kansai anglers to dream of fishing on this
lake (Kansai means an area name for Midwestern area of Japan,
like Southeastern for FL/GA).
Now, due to the fact that plastic worms are overused and
left on the bottom a lot, locals started arguing about it.
As a result, now there is law that anglers can't use plastic
worms on this particular lake now. Only hardbaits.
I moved to Saitama prefecture 3 years because of my work
(Saitama is a neighboring city of Tokyo). I have lure-fished
for 17 years, but I have never fished on Ashinoko. Well,
I am married... you know, you can't really go fish when
married because you got her things to support, such as shopping.
However, my wife loves fishing and comes along with me in
90% of my fishing trip unless I skip my work to go fish.
But currently, I was real busy and had to go to work on
weekends as well. She started arguing. So, we decided to
have a small trip to Hakone where Lake Ashinoko is located.
I said "trip", but it's a 2 day trip. We go,
stay over a night, fish a little, and come home. Not a big
trip, yet it was a big event for my wife and myself because
Hakone is one of the most beautiful places in Japan. Lots
of stuff to see.
I received a phone call from Jun Nomoto, the guideservice
who works on Lake Yamanaka, in a few days after we decided
to go. I told him of our trip. Then, he said,
"As a matter of fact, I wanted to go fishing out
there, too. Why don't we fish together!?"
He said it's been for 10 years since the last time he's
fished this lake, but he promised us to guide the lake for
us.
Sightseeing is Extreme Work
I heard some people love sightseeing, and my wife loves
it, too. To me, it's like "just walking a lot!"
But I said,
"Well, I guess sightseeing is sometimes good"
in order not to hurt her feeling (otherwise, she would bitch
of my plans...). Yet, it was the beginning of the nightmare.
Just a 2 day trip. We had limited time schedules. In that
limited time, we gotta do lots of things.
Our drive only took 1.5 hours to get there. Hakone was
somewhat really close.
"Restaurants are not opened yet. Wanna sightseeing?
Why don't we start from Sekisho?", said my wife, and
I reluctantly agreed without showing my feeling on my face.
We went up the stairs, and when I got really tired and
couldn't move, we got the top of the hill. Geez, it wasn't
the Sekisho, it was just an observatory on the hill! "What
a waste..." I whispered, and I regretted the lack of
exercise.
(border gates: for more sekisho info,
check this out). http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/1787/hakone.html
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