Today I went for fishing for the very first time in my life! The location was one of the Fuji Five Lakes, Lake Yamanaka. The target was wakasagi, which were beginner-friendly fishes anyone could catch. Boy, what a fun time I had.

The day started very early at 5 am. My colleague picked me up at my place and drove me to the lake. The drive towards the lake had spectacular views of Mt. Fuji as the sky was totally clear.

There were many dome boat services around the lake, and we chose Shusuiya.I rented a fishing rod and we boarded the boat. It departed at 7 am.

Here’s some photos of Mt. Fuji from the deck of the boat.

I must mention that it was really, really cold in the morning. At -10 degree Celsius, it was one of the coldest temperature I had experienced. The inside of the dome boat was heated and warm though. Great environment for fishing in winter.

The insides of the dome boat. There were openings in the floor for you to fish from. It was basically fishing with shelter and heating. Perfect for a first-timer like me.

First thing to do was to attach the worm baits to the hooks. I had absolutely no problems doing this, but I suppose this might be tough for some people, especially girls.

And that was all. Ready to fish! The rod was a lot smaller than what you would normally expect, but they were easy to handle and served the purpose of catching small fishes like wakasagi.

Within minutes I caught the first fish of my life.

The catches started piling up. Around 2.5 hours in, I got a miraculous four wakasagi reel. This was amazing because even getting two in one reel was hard enough. Definitely beginner’s luck.

The final haul was 27… not very good, for the amount of time spent. I was happy enough with the miracle reel though.

A separate, smaller boat took us back to the pier. The boat drove directly in the direction of Mt. Fuji, so I went snapping with the camera.

After that my colleague drove me around the lake to look for a great photo spot for Mt. Fuji. We stopped on the northern side of the lake, where there was a nice long walk and less buildings around compared to the southern side. I imagine a stroll here must be quite enjoyable if it wasn’t so cold. Those who intend to stay around the lake could consider a taking a morning/evening walk here if the sky is clear.

All in all, my first fishing experience was a great one. I must emphasise that wakasagi was really easy to catch, and a first-timer like me caught one within 3 minutes after I dropped the line. Fishing with the sacred Mt. Fuji as a backdrop in a warm indoor environment was really comfortable. First-timers, give it a shot!

By Desheng.

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* This article was written by a trainee from overseas. Please note that there might be spelling and grammar mistakes.