Nikengoya, Oi-gawa

On September 16 the fly fishing class went to the Oi-gawa head waters area for our first overnight fishing trip. We stayed at the Nikengoya lodge located in a remote area of the Japanese Alps.
The first day I fished with Dr. Kawano, an English speaking instructor and veteran fly fisherman. Dr. Kawano caught a nice 27cm Iwana. I had never caught a wild Japanese trout and I was hoping this would be the day. After about an hour of fishing I switched to a CDC Caddis and immediately had a splash rise but was late setting the hook. Encouraged, I continued using the CDC. Dr. Kawano spotted a fish but could not get it to rise to his fly. He said, "David, why don't you see if he will take your fly?" I slowly approached the eddy being careful to stay concealed behind a large boulder. My first cast landed in the middle of the eddy. I could see the Iwana looking at the fly, rising slowly at first. Then, a lightening quick strike. "Fish On!" I had my first wild Japanese trout.He was only 19cm long but I was elated. I was glad Dr. Kawano could be my witness. We took pictures and released him back into the Oi-gawa.


The second day, we walked upstream for about 45 minutes to the less fished area of the river.I managed to catch another Iwana (20cm).
The trip was awesome and I could not think of a better setting for "my first trout".