A couple weeks ago I partook in some early season fly fishing on the never freezing, but always chilly waters of Lake Shikotsu, about an hour and a half from Sapporo. This being my second time fishing on this caldera created lake, once again me and my friend found ourselves skunked after more than six hours of hypothermia inducing wading.

Not without putting in a stern effort. This time I made a conscious decision to keep my fly in the water as much as possible, with ultra slow retrieves and enormous patience. Of course, casting the distance necessary to get my nymphs to the drop of forty feet from shore can be tough, especially if the wind picked up. I became more jealous of the spey casters nearby, as my arm nearly fell off heaving my single-handed five weight.  But nothing was biting, and the same opinion was felt by the half dozen other anglers stalking the water near the Bifue River inlet.

Despite the lack of fish, the weather was fine, clear and sunny. The view of the mountains across the lake was like something out of a postcard.

Funny story – after only seeing maybe one rise throughout the day, changing flies maybe 10 times, and zero strikes…I saw four decent sized trout pass right under my rod maybe six feet away.