Fishing in mid-summer in Japan...

Am enjoying the second last day of a week's holiday from work...

Had planned to work in the potager...

But the weather was simply too much to bear...

After working for an hour or so under the summer heat, I'd be all drenched up in sweat...

My body then tells me...

'Go to the sea!!' 

I was too feeble to fight this 'order'...

So, for the past few days, I was sea-bound...

I snorkled, I swam, I fished...

And can you believe that yours truly pulled out this colorful fish from the Japan Inland Sea?

The fish is called 'kyusen' in Japanese, and 'multicolorfin rainbowfish' in English...

I think the above specimen is the female version of the colorful male in the previous picture...

Near to the rocks I poked the fishing rod...

And woah... rockfish ('kasago' in Japanese) came a-biting...

Their big mouths mean that they normally swallow the hook wholesale...

And the rockfish turned into boiled fish during dinnertime...

Absolutely lovely with home-made loquat liqueur...

While not snorkeling or fishing, yours truly went hunting for shellfish...

Harvested twenty one mussels on one of those days...

I regretted taking too much as our self-imposed 'quota' is five mussels per person...

My partner casts her magic wand onto the shells, turning them into exquisite pasta...

We 'lengthened' the eating pleasure by spreading the meal out into two dinners...

Why... as we did not want to 'hurry' by over-consuming all the mussels in just one meal... 

Our quota: five mussels per person per meal...

Fishing, one May afternoon...

(Actually put up this post on 12th, but Blogger bunked me out for some unknown reasons...)

We moved to this hamlet almost 6 years ago...

Had always wanted to go fishing but there is just so much stuff to do in the house and garden... stuff with rather 'high' priority...

 There is a really good fishing spot less than 10 minutes walk away from our house...
The day was beautiful... the air cool and nice...
Used some earthworms from my potager as bait, but no bite...
Changed to a 'wharf roach' which I could catch from the rocks...
And whoallaa... a greenling fish!
It measured about 20 centimeters...
Took it home and had my missus cooked it for me...
Urmmm, super fresh and super delicious...

Then, I noticed the low tide on the way home from work...
I'd never seen the tide going so low, so I thought to myself...
What a good opportunity to go hunting for mussels?
Did just that... and came home with 11 of those morsels...
My sweeto haato cooked spaghetti with them, on top of some seaweed and kelp that I harvested from the sea...
Woooh, lovely... 

While waiting for the fish to bite, I took pictures of boats passing my view...
This fishing boat was in business right in front of my eyes...

Each day on my way to work, I pass by this dockyard...

Always find myself enjoying, looking at the bottom of the boats coming in for repairs...

While we are at it, two kilometers from our house, on the way to work, lies a pond...

And for the first time, a Common Moorhen family with six chicks...
I was glued... and I knew I'd returned with my camera... 




And one for the road...
Muffins with vinegered prunes...
Home-made... oooh

FISHING...

Received an inquiry from Applegal about the identity of a fish she photographed...

Her fishing trip reminds me of a similar one I had at Swan River, Perth...

Was with my good buddy, and his 'gang'...

There were probably about fifteen of us...

Deep in the chilly night, we were about to give up when I felt a pull...

And what a pull it turned out to be...

Strangely, I was the only person with a catch that night...

Which in turn reminds me of yet another fishing trip, this time at Tasik Kenyir...

Nice place... extremely quiet... floating but rickety accommodation... and pretty decent food...

On a hike to a waterfall, saw some elephant dung... eagles and hornbills flying... otters frolicking at the riverside...

But due to illegal net fishing and the inherent poor law enforcement (as usual), sport fishing which is promoted as an attraction, has apparently lost its 'bite'...

One family gave up midway, and checked out a few days early... clearly disappointed...

We were four... and strangely again I was the only 'sanabab' with a catch... a 4-kilo toman...

A bit shy to announce lah... ahem... as I was probably just a little luckier than my pals...

STARGAZER

Flathead is its other name...

White meat... pretty delicious...

Sometimes on sale here in Japan too...

Caught this guy at Swan River, Perth, in the deep of one windy night some time ago...

Size was about 40 to 50 centimeters...

My friend's relative immediately guillotined off its head...

Will cook curry with it... he murmured...

I was like... 'Hey braddaa, the head tastes the most delicious...'

See related story here...

FISH FOR DINNER

Went fishing the other day at our secret hideout
No need to buy bait as I could get them from the rocky outcrops...
Ended up with three kelpfish...
Twenty-five, twenty, and fifteen centimeters...
Cooked them with salted plum, sake, ginger and shoyu
Somewhat boney, but fresh and so delicious...