ブログの更新もほぼ１ヶ月に一回という間隔が、感覚になってきました。八月を振り返るようにブログを書いて思い出します。
I've started to feel like I'm updating my blog about once a month. I write this blog to look back on August and reminisce.
今年の8月は、暑さは7月がピークだったように8月になったら涼しくなりました。涼しいといっても、日中の気温は28度くらいで、例年よりも湿度が高い八月でした。それでも夜になると涼しくなるのが十勝の夏で、寝苦しいというのは、数回だけだったような感覚です。8月の楽しみといえば、いろいろありますが、まずは、真面目に釣りのガイドの仕事。
This August, the heat peaked in July, but things started to cool down in August. Even though it was cool, the daytime temperature was around 28 degrees, and the humidity was higher than usual in August. Even so, it gets cooler at night, which is typical of summer in Tokachi, and I only felt uncomfortable sleeping a few times. There are many things to enjoy in August, but first and foremost is my honest work as a fishing guide.
八月の釣りのガイドは、気温と水温の様子を見ながら、その時一番よいと思える場所に行きました。ご夫婦のゲストだったので、奥様向けの川でまずは、奥様を満足させて、満足した様子を見計らってロッジに奥様を残して、ご主人と2人で、本命の川へ行く。という感じ、、、
The fishing guide for August took a look at the air and water temperatures and went to the spot he thought was best at that time. As the guests were a married couple, he first satisfied the wife at a river reserved for the wife, and when she seemed satisfied, he left her at the lodge and the husband and I went to the main river. That's how it went...
8月は、とても良かったです。いつもは虫の少なさにライズが少なく苦戦するのが8月ですが、今年は羽アリが多く、蝶々、蛾、バッタが多く、魚の意識は水面で、大きなフライでも反応が良かったです。夏でも水温が低く、虫が多いという条件がキーポイントだった感じです。お客さんが私の釣りを見たいと言ってくれたので、私も1匹釣らせてもらいました。何度かライズをしてたブラウントラウトでした。
August was a very good month. Usually, August is a tough month with few insects and few rises, but this year there were a lot of winged ants, butterflies, moths, and grasshoppers, and the fish were focused on the surface, so they were responding well to even large flies. The key conditions seemed to be the low water temperature, even in summer, and the abundance of insects. A customer wanted to watch me fish, so I caught one too. It was a brown trout that had risen several times.
「ちょっと、やってみて！」って言われたら、サクッと釣るから、すごいでしょ！笑
そして、毎年恒例の私の夏休みです。北海道のアユ釣りです。もう4年ほど恒例になりましたが、暑い夏、川に浸かって、鮎を釣って、食べる。こんな遊びが北海道でもできるのです。友釣りは、一通り道具が必要になりますが、北海道の魅力がまたグッと上がります。この釣りもまた、フライと違う繊細で、奥深い釣りです。繊細な鮎釣りを覚えると、フライフィッシングの釣りをもう少し注意深く考えることもでき、日本人が考えた、日本古来の釣りは、なるほど、がたくさんある。
And then there's my annual summer vacation: Ayufish fishing in Hokkaido. It's been a tradition for about four years now, but in the hot summer, I dip into the river, catch Ayu fish, and eat them. This kind of pastime is possible in Hokkaido, too. Ayu fish fishing requires a variety of equipment, but it really adds to the appeal of Hokkaido. This type of fishing is also delicate and profound, different from fly fishing. Learning the delicate art of Ayu fish fishing allows me to think a little more carefully about fly fishing, and there are many things to appreciate about this ancient Japanese fishing style, which was developed by the Japanese.
私のアユ釣りの師匠でもある。荏原さんのブログにも面白く、書いてくれいた。荏原さんはバンブーロッドビルダーで、五角の竹竿を作る、エバーロッドのブログがこちら。
He is also my Ayu fishing mentor. He also wrote some interesting articles on his blog. He is a bamboo rod builder who makes pentagonal bamboo rods. Here is his blog about Everrod.
荏原さんも面白い人で、50歳で今までの現職を退いて、今ではHPもしっかりと作ったバンブーロッドビルダーに仲間入り、そして、フットワーク軽く、南の海まで行くほど。年とって新しいことを始める人は、尊敬します。そして、私も常に新しいことを追求しようと、心に唱える。
Ebara-san is an interesting guy, too. He retired from his current job at the age of 50 and is now a bamboo rod builder with a well-established website. He's so mobile that he even ventures to the southern seas. I admire people who start new things at an older age. I also tell myself to always pursue new things.
川を、夏を、満喫するのは、鮎は抜群。（撮影 荏原さん）
Ayu are the perfect way to enjoy the river and summer. (Photo by Ebara)
そして、夏は、、、本領発揮する。
And in the summer... they really come into their own.
川にいれば、なんとかなる！
If you're in the river, you can do anything!
子供だろうが、男でも、女でも、釣りだって、手づかみだろうが、石拾いだって、スイカ食べようが、、、川に入ればそれでいいのだ！
Whether you're a child, a man, or a woman, whether you're fishing, raking in the water with your hands, picking up stones, or eating watermelon...as long as you get in the river, that's fine!
水を得た魚、夏休みを得た子供（大人も）、だから、こんなチャンスなかなかない。遊び方は無限。好きなように、好きなだけ遊んで、びしょびしょになればいいのだ。「子供に自然体験」とか、じゃなくて、「親の遊びに子供を付き合わせる」のだ！（そうやって、私の子供らはあまり川に興味がなくなっていく、、、）（やりすぎたか、、、）。
Like a fish in water, children (and adults) have summer vacation, so opportunities like this don't come often. There are endless ways to play. Play however you like, as much as you like, and get soaked. It's not about "experiencing nature with your kids," it's about "getting your kids to join in on your play"! (That's how my kids started to lose interest in the river...) (I went too far...)
夏は、親子で魚を釣りたいというオファーが少しあるので、私も本気になって原点に戻る。水の流れ、冷たさ、底石の複雑さ、川虫の多さ、魚の豊富さ（うぐい、ヤマメ、フクドジョウ、トミヨ）、十人十色、川、観察力や興味心がある。川が柔らかく感じるのが夏の子供とよく似合う。当たり前の贅沢がなかなかできない。
In the summer, I get a few requests to go fishing with my kids, so I get serious about it and go back to basics. The flow of the water, the cold, the complexity of the bottom stones, the abundance of river insects, the abundance of fish (ugui, yamame, Fukui loach, Tomiyo), everyone is different, and there are different rivers, observation skills, and interests. The softness of the river suits children in the summer.
夏の遊びは、まだまだ続き。これも恒例になりつつある化石（アンモナイト）探し。これもまた私が学生時代に夢中になった遊びで、大学時代は化石ハンマーを持って、白亜紀時代の地層を流れる川を歩き回ったもの。子供が成長したら、恐竜や絶滅生物に興味を持つようになったので、久しぶりに化石を探しに行ってみた。
Our summer fun continues. Another tradition is fossil (ammonite) hunting. This is also something I was crazy about when I was a student, and in college I would walk around rivers flowing through Cretaceous strata with a fossil hammer. As my children grew older, they became interested in dinosaurs and extinct creatures, so we went fossil hunting for the first time in a while.
北海道は世界的にも、アンモナイトなどの白亜紀の時代（６５００万年前）の化石の保存状態がよく、アンモナイトなどの貝の化石を、ある程度観察力と経験があると見つけれるようになる。白亜紀の地層や、のジュールの見分け、石の割り方などを理解すれば、アンモナイトの化石は誰でも見つけることができる。これもまた、北海道の大地の魅力。
Hokkaido boasts some of the best preserved fossils from the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), such as ammonites, and with a certain level of observational ability and experience, you will be able to find shell fossils such as ammonites. Anyone can find ammonite fossils if they understand the Cretaceous strata, how to distinguish between moulds, and how to split stones. This is another charm of the Hokkaido land.
化石を探して、ノジュールを探して、川を歩いて、石を割っては、割った石の中から姿を見せたアンモナイトとの出会いは、６５００万年の月日の流れ。人類が出現した１万年程度の時間なんて、アンモナイトが生きた時間から見ると、微塵もない。温暖化や異常気象、６５００万年という時間のなかで、どれだけ多くのことが起こってきたことか、、、
Searching for fossils, searching for nodules, walking through rivers, cracking rocks, and then encountering ammonites that appeared from within, took place over the course of 65 million years. The 10,000 years or so since the emergence of humankind is nothing compared to the time that ammonites lived. How many things have happened in those 65 million years, from global warming to abnormal weather?
この化石探しが、久しぶりに新規開拓しようと、友達と2人で新しい沢に入った。ちょうど林業作業中の林道で、木を切るための作業道に重機が道を作っていた。そこは白亜紀の地層の中で、掘った土のなかに、化石が入っている可能性のあるノジュールが落ちていた。６０センチほどの巨大なまん丸のノジュールで注意深く観察すると、アンモナイトの縫合線が表面に現れていて、そのノジュールが、そのものまさに、アンモナイトなのでは？と目を疑った。恐る恐る割り、慎重に、ハンマーではつっていく。
It had been a while since I last searched for fossils, so I decided to explore a new area with a friend and headed into a new stream. We happened to be on a forest road where forestry work was taking place, with heavy machinery building a road for cutting trees. We were in a Cretaceous stratum, and in the excavated soil we found a nodule that may have contained a fossil. Upon careful examination of the huge, perfectly round nodule, about 60cm in size, we could see the sutures of an ammonite visible on the surface, and we couldn't believe our eyes: Could this nodule really be an ammonite? We cautiously split it open and carefully hammered it down.
外側の殻を外すように、少しづつハンマーではつっていくと、まんまるのアンモナイトの全景が見えてきた。これで６０センチ以上の超大物アンモナイトだった。
As I slowly removed the outer shell with a hammer, the round ammonite came into view. It was a huge ammonite measuring over 60cm.
これでは、運び出すこともできないし、外側の風化も酷いので、もう少し割り進めて、アンモナイトの中の状況をみてみようと、さらに割り進めていく。
At this point, it is impossible to remove it, and the outside is badly weathered, so we decide to split it apart a little more to see what is inside the ammonite.
殻を剥がすように、慎重にハンマーで叩いたら、パカっと川が剥けるように、なかからアンモナイトが顔を出した。これがj過去との遭遇。６５００万年以上の時の流れ（どうやって６５００万年と人間は見出したのかは謎だけど）、地球は長く生きてきたのだ！
I carefully hit it with a hammer, as if peeling off a shell, and the ammonite popped out, like a river breaking apart. This was an encounter with the past. Over 65 million years have passed (how humans figured out that number is a mystery), and the Earth has lived a long time!
ひとりでなんとか持てる重さになったので、ここで割るのはやめておく。さらにこの沢を上に進んでみると、ノジュールがあれば必ずといっていいほど、アンモナイトが出てきた。こんなに、アンモナイトの大収穫は、私のアンモナイトハンター歴２４年で初めてのことだった。
It was now heavy enough for me to carry by myself, so I decided not to break it open. I continued up the stream, and almost wherever I found nodules, I found ammonites. This was the first time in my 24 years as an ammonite hunter that I had ever come across such a large haul of ammonites.
話変わって、8月のエゾモモンガになんとなく会いに行ってみた。面白いことに、仲間のガイドが巣穴を見つけてくれて、まだ幼いモモンガが3匹出てくるというので、行ってみた。
On a different note, I decided to go see the Siberian flying squirrels in August. Interestingly, a fellow guide found a burrow and told me that three young flying squirrels were coming out, so I decided to go and check it out
太陽が沈み、西の空がオレンジに美しい。モモンガとの出会いはこの夕日に出会えるのもまた楽しい。久しぶりに駒場の牧場で、シラカバ並木や群れで移動するばんばにも出会った。北海道だなぁ、、、なんて思ったりして。夕暮れを待つ。
The sun sets, and the western sky takes on a beautiful orange hue. It's also fun to encounter flying squirrels at this sunset. At Komaba Ranch, I've been there for the first time in a while, and I've also encountered rows of white birch trees and flocks of flying squirrels. I'm in Hokkaido, I thought. I wait for dusk.
夕暮れのモモンガは、ほぼ定刻で１８：４０に出てきた。幼いモモンガが穴から顔をだして、しばらくすると3匹のミニモモンガが気に登っていった。葉は茂り、あっという間に見えなくなったけど、久しぶりに出会ったモモンガは、少し冬よりもダークカラーだったけど、やっぱり可愛かった。冬になるのがまた楽しみだ。
The flying squirrels came out at 18:40, almost on time. A young flying squirrel poked its head out of its hole, and after a while three mini flying squirrels climbed up. The leaves grew thick and they quickly disappeared from sight, but the flying squirrels I hadn't seen in a while were a little darker in color than in winter, but they were still cute.
そして、モモンガの続き。
別の場所のモモンガの生息地、お寺の境内にモモンガが入り込んでしまって、衰弱して動けなくなっていると連絡をいただき、モモンガを回収しに行った。野生動物なので、そのまま森に返すのが判断だと思うのだけど、エゾモモンガはやっぱり人ごとでなく、兄弟のような存在。家に持ち帰って、観察と看病。
I was contacted by a person who told me that a flying squirrel had wandered into the grounds of a temple, another habitat for flying squirrels, and was so weak that it could no longer move, so I went to retrieve it. As it is a wild animal, I thought it would be best to just return it to the forest, but the Siberian flying squirrel was like a brother to me, and it was no longer just a matter for me. I took it home and observed and cared for it.
保温と水分補給を試みたのだけど、３時間後には、死んでしまった。生きているモモンガを手の中で観察できたのはとても貴重な経験になったけど、元気になって森に帰してやりたかった。気持ちはとても残念だった。可哀想だけど、住んでた森にそっと戻してあげた。
I tried to keep it warm and hydrated, but it died after three hours. It was a very valuable experience to be able to observe a living flying squirrel in my hand, but I wanted it to recover and be released back into the forest. I felt very sad. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to imagine how it would look like if it grew into a palm-sized flying squirrel and became fluffy in winter, and then I could put it on the snow everywhere and take lots of pictures! It's sad, but it's fine this way.
8月は、いろいろなことがあった。いろいろなことができた。北海道というフィールド、自然を相手に何ができるか、何をして過ごすか、ロッジの庭も畑も、追われるように草取りや収穫作業にも追われる。毎日が青虫のような草食動物にように暮らす日々。
A lot happened in August. I was able to do a lot of things. In the field of Hokkaido, what could I do in nature? What could I do? What could I do to spend my time? I was busy weeding and harvesting in the lodge garden and fields. Every day I lived like a caterpillar, a herbivore.
勝毎花火大会が終われば、十勝の夏は終わる。その通りで、涼しくなって、カエルの合唱から秋の虫の音になった。釣りもだけど、自然とのお付き合いは掘り下げれば掘り下げるほど、次が広がっていく。そうだ、もう一つ十勝の魅力、大発見があったのだけど、それもはまた次回にする。写真だけ。
Once the Kachimai Fireworks Festival is over, summer in Tokachi comes to an end. As expected, it's getting cooler, and the chorus of frogs has been replaced by the sounds of autumn insects. The more you dig into your relationship with nature, including fishing, the more you discover new things. Oh, and I made another great discovery, another charm of Tokachi, but I'll save that for next time. Just a few photos.
十勝の川、まだまだ行ったことない川、行ったことない区間、まだまだあるもので、新しい発見、感動は、まだまだ続くのです。来年の8月、どんなご予定でしょうか？今から準備を始めましょう！！！
There are still many rivers and sections of Tokachi that I have not yet visited, so the new discoveries and excitement continue. What are your plans for next August? Start preparing now!!!
ロッジラッキーフィールドは、北海道の自然を楽しみたい、1人では不安、もっと深く知りたい、深く遊びたいという方を積極的に全力でサポートいたします。小さな質問から、一歩踏み込んだ質問まで、お気軽にお問い合わせください。メールは、info@lodgeluckyfield.com まで、明日の予定、次の休みは、今決めるのです。 長々と、お付き合いありがとうございました。また１ヶ月後かな、、、
Lodge Lucky Field will actively and fully support those who want to enjoy Hokkaido's nature, feel uneasy about going alone, want to know more, and want to have fun. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, from small to more in-depth. Email us at info@lodgeluckyfield.com and decide now your plans for tomorrow and your next day off. Thank you for your continued support. See you in a month...
