Micro-fishing

After reading the recent journal posts by @cosmiccat on micro-fishing, my first reaction was one of consternation with myself; How could I not have thought to pursue fishlings and minnows in this manner!? As a child turning stones, I marveled at the stitlings found hiding beneath some of the stones. During my teen years I pursued game fish using ultralight tackle. More recently, over the last several years, I've enjoyed some random encounters with native minnows and stream lampreys, usually while searching for dragonfly nymphs. How did I not think to try fishing for them?

The idea is even embedded, in a way, in the opening stanza of one of my favorite poems, 'The Song of Wandering Aengus' by William Butler Yeats.
I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

It made perfect sense when I read that the sport of micro-fishing is big in Japan, the culture that has given us origami, haiku, and bonsai trees.

Emblazoned with the notion of micro-fishing, I decided to give it a try. I sought out the smallest hook in the tackle box and crimped the barb to make it easier to release any small fish caught on it. And using a short length of low test monofilament I tied a quick snelled hook. Then headed for the local stream.

While not being able to follow up on the Yeats poem by using a berry for bait, I did however have some success with several unusual micro-baits. A Touch-me-not flower bud, resembling a small kernel of corn, caught a Bluegill. An Eastern Forktail damselfly landed a minnow-sized largemouth bass. A single Swamp Milkweed floweret enticed a Green Sunfish to the hook. I enjoyed catching these tiny game fish, but found myself wondering How can I catch something smaller? No doubt the mantra of many a micro-fisher.

Posted on August 4, 2017 04:51 AM by scottking