Martyn White | Thursday, 18 January 2024
It's been a quiet week for me, the weather has been horrible with snow, sleet some days and sub zero temperatures every night. I've been OK althought I haven't bothered any carp. It's poor Raslan who just arrived from Malaysia on Monday, it seems to have been a bit of a shock to his system!
I took Ras to a few fishing shops around Tokyo. He's mainly into popping & jigging so it was quite intersting for me too because I rarely go into the shops that don't carry fly gear. Even though I do fish with conventional gear, I don't do it that often and already have boxes full of jigs, poppers and other lures and no need to buy more when I could be buying fly tying materials instead. I must say though, while the flyshops in japan leave something to be desired, the conventional gear places really are a paradise and aren't to be missed on a visit. I just wish the flyshops were half as well stocked.
Even before he came, Raslan was trying to avoid going fishing - when I messaged him on Sunday morning to tell him the seabass were coming back and to bring a light spinning rod or 8wt fly rod he was inexplicably already on the way to the airport. (Un)fortunately for him, I've plenty of gear to lend him and he has a jacket. I do have to admit a certain level of selfishness too, Hawaiian Dave is currently creeping about Thailand bothering Mahseer so I'm down a boat partner and I want to get out on the bay now the fish are turning up. It took a bit of cajoling and I had to show him several pictures of nice bass. I even got Capt. Masuda to send the picture report from this week along with fish numbers. But eventually Ras came round and I booked us a boat for Monday night. It's going to be cold and potentially wet so he's off shopping today to get some cold weather clothing. That's bound to come in handy back in tropical Malaysia. I'm sure he'll grumble and find the weather uncomfortable, but I think he'll enjoy it even if it's only enjoyment in retrospect when he's back inside somewhere warm and looking at the pictures. I'm looking forward to it anyway.