logs

Day 93: Thursday, October 8, 2026

First day fishing with Shin. A bit of a later start (9 am) than I expected, compounded with me being a little late due to my Airbnb host wanting to do a bunch of stuff as I checked out. Chatting a bit was one thing, but then it evolved into taking pictures together and wanting me to complete a survey. I was running a little too late at this point so I had to decline said feedback survey. I felt a little bad about it tbh.

It was a rather quick drive to the next location I’m staying at (Hotel BOTH), where I met Shin. He had an outdoorsy fit on, but I was rather surprised at how stylish it looked. Later I found out he worked in fashion in Harajuku Tokyo until he was 28, so that lined up. Maybe I can figure out how to copy the fit sometime.

It was a really sunny and calm day, so we ended up driving to Lake Kussharo to try for some himemasu (Kokanee Salmon). The fishing was honestly quite difficult, but it was really cool seeing tons of salmon right at our feet. And the fish also looked super cool, they had these hooked jaws and bright red colors and crazy humps.

Fishing for these is quite tricky, as it’s spawning season and they don’t eat during this time. Instead, you’re trying to trigger their aggression response by flashing a large streamer by their face. I only managed to catch 3 today, despite throwing a fly through literally hundreds of fish today.

Some learnings to jot down for myself:

• I can probably afford to tighten my fly rod sections a little bit more now that I have the wax on each joint.
• When getting snagged, letting out a bunch of extra line, raising the rod, and casting sharply at the snap helps whip out the hook from whatever snag. Note to self, if it’s not actually snagged, whipping it out might send a hook flying at one’s face.
• Indicator does help with depth adjustment, but it does spook the fish somewhat. But retrieval speed is pretty essential for maintaining depth–essentially you want the streamer to be eye level with fish but also going fast enough to elicit an aggression strike.

We got dinner at Teshikaga Ramen, which was honestly the best ramen I’ve ever had in my life. I thought I was a miso ramen hater, but this spicy miso ramen might’ve changed my mind. Grabbed a lemon sour at a konbini on the way back, and also got a few drinks at the restaurant attached to the hotel. I was a bit apprehensive at the prospect of a shared shower, but honestly the facilities are really clean and looked quite new. I guess at the end of the day, it’s not too much different from using a hotel shower if they clean it super often.

The room itself is quite nice. Not the largest place in the world, but it’s made out of this stylish wood and gives a nice homey cabin feel. Shin did mess up a bit by telling me he booked me for 3 nights but only booking 2, so I do have to leave on the 10th which is a bit of a bummer now that I’ve seen how nice and convenient the facilities are.

Day 94: Friday, October 9, 2026

We went to a river with rainbows and amemasu today, presumably because Shin realized I had caught plenty of rainbows already. We caught a number of pretty decently sized iwana/amemasu, but I did end up losing the biggest one of the day. Also caught a number of nice rainbows!

This river felt pretty amazing due to the number of both rainbows and amemasu. But, it was extremely slippery as well. At some point, I slipped and fell twice in quick succession. The rocks are just these large smooth surfaces, with tons of dirt/dead organic matter over the top since it’s fall.

In the afternoon, we went back for himemasu with a photographer. But I only managed to catch one male Kokanee, they’re everywhere but it’s quite hard to actually get them to strike unfortunately.

Day 95: Saturday, October 10, 2026

We had an earlier start today since we needed to go to Akan (7am), but when we got there, it was absolutely packed. I think it was some combination of the national 3 day weekend combined with an Akan festival. So we ended up fishing some streams near there for big amemasu and rainbows, but we didn’t manage to catch anything that big or substantial. Tons of yamame though, I honestly like catching those still even though they’re small! Hopefully one day I’ll build a small 3 weight and come back to catch some.

In the afternoon, we went fishing for some wild rainbows. It’s crazy how much my standards have gone up after Akan a week ago, I caught some pretty big trout this time around but they were nowhere as massive as Akan. But, it was still a ton of fun and the colors on these wild rainbows were amazing.

The day of needing a new airbnb came today, and there was literally only one place I could find nearby, this cottage farm place with no running water in the cabin itself. Also no internet which kinda sucked since I also am out of data for the past week and 2 weeks more. Anywho, their dinner was this self grill thing from produce that they grew themselves. I had the foresight of grabbing a beer from a konbini on the way back, so it was honestly quite a nice vibe. Shared showers and bathroom were also super clean, which I was nervous about after college bathroom experiences but since this is Japan I guess there was no need for such a worry haha.

Overnight, I got woken up by persistent thuds on my window. I got up to check and saw the largest moths of my life. These are kususan! When I was at lucky lodge, one of the guests told me about how on the river they watched a giant trout eat one of these, and pulled out a bug book from the shelf to show me a picture. It was cool to see these in person finally. In the morning when I woke up there were 4 on the front of my cabin.

Day 96: Sunday, October 11, 2026

Last day with Shin, I had to drive to Abashiri in the morning. I’ve resorted to lots of ChatGPT to communicate now as that’s what he uses as he doesn’t speak much English. I think that’s also why the plan logistics have been such a mess too. ChatGPT just reads my message and responds to it, but it doesn’t actually have either Shin or my context. The plans never made sense to me, and when Shin was eventually confused by my housing situation I finally understood he also had no idea what was going on either. Part of me wanted to explain the reason why things ended up like this was because over WhatsApp he explicitly told me to do so, I even asked repeated follow ups since I wasn’t sure it made sense either. But alas, I don’t think there’s a point in being “right.” I am a bit annoyed that it feels like I’m the one who messed up though. A lot of this extends to guiding/fishing too, where he’ll just say random stuff incorrectly in English and I’ll do what he says only to find out he meant something very different from what he said. I can’t be too mad though, after all my Japanese isn’t much better.

Fishing today made me realize how much better I’ve gotten. I caught maybe 20 rainbows today, 8 of which were pretty big. Shin had very little reaction, to which I asked if this was a normal day. Apparently not a normal day, most of the time people catch only 1 big one, which made me think that maybe Shin is also tired of guiding. I would’ve expected some more comments. He’s probably just tired, but the lack of energy really killed my vibe too as I am also quite tired haha.

Cover was extremely heavy, so casting was difficult. Tons of leaves in the water too, so we were exclusively using large hopper flies to get fish to notice through the fallen leaves. Roll casting is still definitely a weakness of mine, and most of the casting today required long backhand casts. I think main takeaway from today is that my line is probably a touch too heavy for my rod.

These rainbows were exceptionally beautiful, being wild rainbows deep upstream in the mountains. From what my guide said, these rainbows are only catchable for a week or two in autumn before the leaves turn and it gets too cold again (in a week they’ll be gone). In the summer, it’s too hot in this stretch of river for the fish to be this active.

There were a few runs I was particularly proud of. One such spot was a series of riffles coming into a long deep channel. My guide didn’t think there were any fish, but I wanted to take a few casts regardless! If I learned anything from Kevin, Oku, and Araki, this seemed like it had multiple seams where nice fish could sit. All in all I think I caught like 4 giant rainbows from that spot. It was a nice moment where I felt that my knowledge had grown to a point where I could have my own independent opinions outside my guide, and it still result in tons of nice fish.

Checked into my Airbnb, my host also apparently owns an izakaya that was doing a collab with a cafe that evening. I showed up, it was empty besides me (I actually have no clue how people are supposed to know it was open), and chatted with them for a while in my broken Japanese. The owner of the cafe was wearing a bunch of studio d’artisan, I commented on it which he was super stoked about. He talked about his jeans/the fading for a while, and showed me his SDA aprons and whatnot too. I think he felt good about someone finally recognizing how cool his denim/that brand was.

Day 97: Monday, October 12, 2026

Today was my rest day in the middle of fishing. At this point I’m super spent, not even super hyped to go fishing anymore.

Lot of logistics stuff today, I didn’t actually do all the things I wanted to do, but at least got to rest mentally and get my ducks in a row!

Called my friends which I’d been struggling to find time for, moved some footage into my ssd and made a vlog or two, and built an idle fishing game which I’m hoping to combine with my productivity app to gamify it a bit more. Maybe it’ll be a cool project to put it onto a handheld device at some point too.

The game was inspired by a reel I saw of a guy who had a retro style koi pond. Pressing buttons would interact with the fish and make them swim to specific places. So I built a virtual stream with various currents, different Hokkaido species, and structures in the river for the fish to hang out. Added all the various bugs and flies in Hokkaido too, and then it became an idle game where you watched trout hang out and rise for passing insects. Fly fishing game aspect entered with getting casts awarded for completing things on my todo, with a bunch of different factors impacting if a fish would take the fly or not! Anywho, I think it’s pretty realistic to how fly fishing actually works, and I hope that it’ll actually work in making me more productive.

At night, I explored the izakaya owned by the Airbnb host. The menu wasn’t the most extensive in the world, but the beer was as good as I remembered from the cafe. I’m not sure how she does it, but I think it’s something about the carbonation that tastes especially extraordinary. Afterwards, I roamed for a bit before walking into a random bar. The other guests there were quite friendly (including the bartender), and I ended up chatting with the locals there for quite some time. I’m not sure if it’s a side effect of being slightly drunk, but my Japanese for some reason gets much better. Maybe it’s like lower inhibition, so I just guess and say stuff. But somehow, my comprehension gets really good and I’m able to guess what people are saying/asking just from context. And talking back, I’m sure I’m just saying words, but I think the general vibes/enthusiasm helps carry my broken Japanese to make for an entertaining conversation. One of the guests there was a mama at a local snack bar–made a mental note to try to visit before the end of my week in Abashiri.

The night was fun enough that I decided I wanted to stay in Abashiri for longer, so I extended my Airbnb and cancelled my other one in Teshikaga. I think that one would have a cooler cabin feel to it, but honestly I’ve had my fill of random remote cabins by this point. I’m starting to learn that I really like small local towns with surprisingly top tier food! I can tell that the food here is significantly better than in Sapporo for example (and cheaper)! Abashiri and Ashoro are both good examples of this. In contrast, Niseko wasn’t the greatest for food (at least in Hirafu), with everything being super elevated tourist premiums, low selection, and generally worse off foods. From my understanding, I think in those areas, restaurants get business regardless so the bar is lower for restaurants to thrive there. Also, it’s a bit too expensive for most locals to live there, so the general population ends up being tourists. I much prefer the smaller towns, just feels genuinely authentic.

Day 98: Tuesday, October 13, 2026

First day fishing with Genya, Shin’s (I guess that’s also Genya’s name) younger brother, around the same age as me. We went nymphing for rainbows, which has been somewhat of the staple target species this trip. Nymphing however, has been a bit more rare of a technique, as most of the other Japanese guys prefer dries.

I was less excited than normal this day, and it took me a bit to try to piece together exactly why. I think for starters, my hand was actually really sore from all the casting and fishing I’d been doing. It was already sore when fishing with Oku, and that was nearly a month ago. Specifically, I noticed when gripping (e.g. opening a water bottle), my pinky would get stuck? I looked it up, and apparently it’s just the irritated tendon getting caught, with the irritation coming from excessive overuse, which makes sense.

Anywho, the day ended up being quite productive, where I caught tons of rainbows including a few really large ones. However, another factor that started bothering me a bit was the fact that the guide was also fishing alongside me. Specifically, he was fishing ahead of me, so most of the holes that I was fishing, he had already fished it by the time I reached it. And the craziest part was that he was also catching fish. I was honestly a bit confused, and I also was trying to figure out if I had just been spoiled by other guides. He also spoke essentially zero english (including super basic words), so we operated in silence. I would’ve appreciated at least some attempt at communication, as I had previously expressed that I could understand some basic Japanese. It really did feel like we were just two people fishing together independently (except for the fact that he was driving/brought me to the spot). I think if I had not already fished with other guides before and learned from them, this would’ve been a much rougher experience. Thankfully I had picked up enough knowledge from before to find spots in each run that the guide hadn’t already fished. I was proud that I was able to find the best spots in each section and catch fish in parts that the guide himself wasn’t able to catch! But it was indeed a bit annoying, since spooking fish is another big component of fishing–in these waters, the fish can see you. So if there’s another person further ahead of you, then the fish that you’re trying to catch in your area can see that person and therefore won’t really bite.

Overall, I was a bit torn on how to feel since I had a productive day. But I wasn’t quite happy since of the aforementioned fishing competition. And my hand really hurt, so catching big fish was quite the physical pain tolerance ordeal.

At night, I went to the izakaya that one of the locals at the bar had recommended. I already had really high standards from the host’s izakaya, but this one honestly blew me away. The sashimi platter was super fresh, the beer was equally as good, and the interior was really cool and vibey (like an old fishing vessel).

Day 99: Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Same guide, different species. Today, we went for amemasu, which is both a species native to Hokkaido and also been the species that’s been hardest for me to catch! The first time I caught an amemasu was in Lake Akan, although I have caught plenty of iwana elsewhere (amemasu is the sea run version of iwana).

Today, I tried lure fishing. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but typically fly fishermen are against lure fishing. In general, I think lure fishermen have a worse rep in terms of respecting fish and there’s less art in it. Fly fishermen are a bit elitist in this regard haha, but I feel the same way. In any case, lure fishing is extremely popular in Japan and a big part of fishing culture here! So I thought it’d be cool to learn it when the opportunity was presented to me.

Fishing today was in marsh rivers, as opposed to the stone rivers I’d previously been fishing in. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I guess the most defining difference was that the riverbeds were made of sand/gravel in the marsh rivers, whereas the stone rivers were all stones (lol). Streams were tight and narrow, with fallen trees all over the river and heavy tree cover around. I presume that’s also why lure fishing is necessary here, there’s genuinely very little space to cast.

Amemasu are spawning around this time of year, so they’re not really looking to eat anything. The strategy here, similar to the himemasu, is to get a lure or fly in front of their face and move it in a way to trigger an aggressive reaction bite. Since they’re not really looking to eat, the bites are somewhat difficult to translate into a hook set, as they’re more so hitting the “fish” with their mouth rather than trying to consume it. Lures here are also much more effective since it’s easier to impart more action into it, and they’re also much heavier so it is easier to get it to sink and stay at eye level with the amemasu. If the lure isn’t right in front of their face, they typically won’t bite.

The fish were everywhere, and a lot of the fish were tucked in little pockets around big fallen logs. I think the fallen trees causes the current to hit it and deflect around it, including downwards. This causes divots in the soft sand, creating this nice little cave almost for the fish to sit in. The water is also super clear and relatively slow however, so the fish spook very easily. Even casting a lure a little too close causes the fish to spook. That being said, I got really frustrated today with my guide, because he was doing the same thing again where he was just fishing by himself and getting really close to all the fish. Since the water was really clear, my suspicions were confirmed and I could see all the fish spook and run off in either direction. That was really frustrating, since by the time I got to the spots, the fish were all gone. I was still able to catch some fish however, but I noticed my best chances to catch fish were when he was taking a smoke break, or if I casted ahead of where he was going to walk/cast. I didn’t want to be rude however and cast in front of him though, which is somewhat ironic since that’s what he was doing repeatedly.

I was super spent by the end of this. I think the guide could tell, as I slept for pretty much the entire ride both directions of the trip (~2.5 hours each day). The next day will be a later start as a result (8am instead of 7am).

I was craving yakiniku but since Abashiri is a fishing town, I decided to try robata instead (basically bbq grilled seafood). The first couple spots I tried were all closed. I hate how the hours online are never actually accurate with reality, particularly in smaller towns. Towns like Akan were especially bad, I could literally never find a restaurant there since the hours were all random, and many get reserved? So when I walk into the restaurant, there’s no indication that it’s not actually available for walk-ins, and then I get turned away once I’m inside. Oh well, can’t complain too much, Abashiri has great food. The seafood restaurant I ultimately ended up at, I was a little bit suspicious since there were tons of reviews that were all high, which is a bit unusual for Japan. Typically, Japanese people are super critical when it comes to reviews, as 3-4 stars are actually meant for your average restaurant, and 5 stars is exceptional. Also, Japanese people might find one negative thing and just tank the review down to a 1 star (you’ll see service as a common one). A good restaurant in Japan is probably in that 3.6-3.8 range, although google maps typically ends up inflated due to the number of tourists (me included) adding 5 stars to the review pool. When I see the large number of reviews, typically this indicates that there’s some special promo/request for a Google review, where people add a better score. Also, restaurants that are more tourist traps also end up in this sphere, with fewer locals giving genuine ratings. All this to say that I wasn’t the most impressed with the food, although I’m sure a month ago I would’ve thought it was amazing. Food here has been a true hedonic treadmill, with standards increasing from Tokyo to Sapporo to now the local seafood towns in rural Hokkaido.

Day 100: Thursday, October 15, 2026

Day 3 with Genya is back to nymphing for rainbow trout. I think Genya picked up on my frustration yesterday and took it for not liking fishing for amemasu. In reality, it was more a combination of intense fatigue and also being annoyed with him fishing in front of me. I finally caved and vented to Kevin (earlier guide) about what was going on just to sanity check what I was feeling. I wasn’t sure if I was just being entitled, but Kevin (along with his friend who fly fishes with guides a ton) confirmed that this never happens and is highly unusual. It was to the point where he wanted me to talk to Shin to ensure this doesn’t happen for future guests, but honestly I don’t think Shin cares enough to where I feel comfortable talking to him. Idk what the right thing to do here, I can see a moral argument to let them know about behavior that could negatively affect business.

This was my first day where I woke up and I was somewhat dreading fishing and looking forward for the fishing bender to be over finally (just two more days).

It was extremely windy today, which made casting quite difficult. I just ended up roll casting primarily, which worked somewhat. But I think due to the colder water (and my guide fishing ahead of me), there were just not many active fish. After fishing the first stretch for a while, we decided to change spots as that part was wide open and the wind was quite brutal.

We returned to the original spot from day 1, but the fishing didn’t necessarily improve much there. At the final spot, I read the water and casted again to a seam that I thought had a chance at holding a fish and lo and behold! At first, I didn’t think the fish was particularly big, but then the fish woke up to the fact that it was indeed hooked. What ensued was a long battle with a giant rainbow! Landing that fish was extra satisfying due to how tough of a day it had been, and it reminded me that fishing was fun due to the challenge of catching fish. When it starts feeling guaranteed, a lot of the fun starts to go away, and I needed that day of challenge to get the spark back. Before that point, I had made my peace with not catching many big fish today, and I was just really enjoying the cold water running past my legs and beautiful autumn scenery.

I concluded with an old-school yakiniku spot (I actually much prefer old-school style bbq restaurants vs the more modern qr-code based ones) as I’d been craving yakiniku for some time. I ended up getting an AYCE and AYCD deal. It wasn’t the best bbq of all time, but it really hit the spot and was definitely better than most bbq in the US. I got to try a bunch of new meats, including one that translates to “white cartilage.” Admittedly when it came out, it looked a bit unappetizing, even for me, but actually ended up being right up my alley! Pork cartilage with a bit of meat around it, reminded me a lot of pig ear actually, and I’m a big fan of crunchy textures.

Day 101: Friday, October 16, 2026

Final day with Genya. The knowledge that fishing was going to be over and I could finally take a break made today a lot more bearable than yesterday. Decided to go for amemasu today, which meant round 2 of lure fishing! Today went a lot better than the last time, but there were noticeably way fewer fish mostly due to the weather conditions. The sun was out and the water was extremely clear, so I presume all the fish were hiding rather than stacked waiting for food.

We started at one river and returned to the original river from two days ago. Lure casting accuracy was much better this time around, and I found that although I wasn’t able to catch more fish, from an EV perspective I was much better this time around.

When the day ended, we exited into a huge wide open field, where the sun was setting over the treeline. It was honestly a beautiful sight and quite the fitting end to my fly fishing adventures in Hokkaido.

For my post-fishing segment, I decided on going to an izakaya where there seemed to be a lot of reviews/ChatGPT answers pointing said direction. I’m pretty sure it’s one of those restaurants that gets shilled by various restaurants/travel agencies, but after showing up, I thought the food was honestly pretty solid! Definitely on the tourist-premium side of prices, but I got to try kujira sashimi for the first time. Meat was a lot tougher than expected, almost like horse sashimi is probably the closest comparison I can come up with.

Afterwards, I explored their fancy sister bar, where I got to try more Akkeshi whiskey and some other cocktails which were quite good. I feel like the average skill level of cocktail bartenders is quite high in Japan, and prices are much more reasonable than their equivalents in the US.

I ended the night visiting the snack bar of the woman that was at the bar earlier in the week, sorta hoping that she would be working there since I wasn’t actually coming on the exact day I had promised. Luckily enough, she was in fact there, but as a customer! I got their nomihoudai deal, but honestly was probably a bit more than I initially anticipated. It is interesting however, I do feel like at this point I’m okay at conversing with locals/bartenders despite my limited Japanese–I feel like everyone had a really good time! They even busted out some karaoke. This was definitely a segment of my trip where I basically was unable to speak any English with anyone for an extended period of time (even my fishing guide), so my listening comprehension/ability to communicate in Japanese was at all-time highs here. Definitely a significant moment in the overall trip arc.