Do you know that Lake Ashi of Hakone is a popular fishing spot among locals? Many foreign tourists visit Lake Ashi to look at the torii that stands on Lake Ashi, or to ride the sightseeing cruises, but not many visit it for fishing. In spring, trouts are abundant and in summer wakasagi joins the fray, making it a good fishing spot.

We rented a motorboat and bought baits from “Okamoto”. They provided us with life jackets as well. Other than fishing tools rental service, they also have a restaurant.

At the pier, ready to go! The person on my right was my colleague who had a motor boat license and many years of fishing experience.

There were row boats available for those without a motor boat license.

Even though I had a fishing experience with wasakagi, it wasn’t helpful at all today. Float fishing was completely different in many aspects. My kind colleague patiently guided me and my friend. After a long while, I started to get a hang of it.

My first catch! Even though it was a really small trout, it was still many times bigger than a wakasagi. One of this was already enough for a meal.

My friend, a first-timer, also only caught one fish. He let a big one escape after this first catch, unfortunately. The one he caught was a fair bit bigger than mine though, as could be seen in the photo above. Must be beginner’s luck!

It started snowing quite heavily at one point of time, and we decided to call it a day as it became unbearably cold for me.

It wasn’t a very rewarding trip, as the final catch count was … two. One for me and one for my friend. My colleague was too busy helping us that he had no time for himself at all.

When we got back, Okamoto provided the ice and airtight bags to put the fishes in. They also offered us a free cup of coffee to warm ourselves up. All in all, great service!

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.