July 24, 2011

Rainbow Trout Catching/ニジマスつかみどり

My children and I went to Shakunage Ko Matsuri (Shakunage Lake Festival) today, where an event "fish catching" was held at 13:00 and 15:00.
今日は、子供たちと「しゃくなげ湖まつり」に行ってきました。13:00と15:00に「魚つかみ」というイベントが行われました。

My children caught a total of nine large rainbow trouts and four small ones.
子供たちは全部で大きなニジマスを九尾と小さなのを四尾つかまえました。
I usually clean rainbow trouts using a deba, but today, I searched for a good way, and found this one. Scroll down and view the video. Very clever! You don't need a knife to clean a rainbow trout.
普段は、出刃を使ってニジマスをさばくのですが、今日はいい方法を探して、こんな方法を見つけました。スクロールダウンして、ビデオを見て下さい。ニジマスをさばくのに包丁は要りません。
I grilled all the big ones in my reliable toaster oven, three at at time, for twenty minutes each time. To prevent the fins from scorching, place some salt on the fins. Such salt is called kazari (decorative) jio (< shio) or kesho (cosmetic) jio. I didn't bother to apply kazari jio. 大きいのは、オーブントースターで、一回に三尾づつ、それぞれ20分かけて焼きました。ヒレが焦げるのを防ぐには、塩をヒレにつけて下さい。このような塩は飾り塩とか化粧塩と呼ばれます。私はわざわざ化粧塩はつけませんでした。

Edited to add: I sprinkled a total of 2 tsp salt on both sides of the trouts, rubbed each trout with my hands, let them stand for a few minutes, and wiped off water with paper towels before grilling.
追記: ニジマスの両面に塩を合計小さじ2杯かけて、手でニジマスをひとつづつもんで、数分おいて、水分をキッチンペーパーで拭いてから焼きました。


The rest:
残り:
I think I'll deep-fry the small ones.
小さいのは揚げようと思います。

Edited to add these photos:
下記写真を追加:

These photos were taken at the last year's Shakunage Ko Matsuri.
去年のしゃくなげ湖まつりで撮った写真です。

The pond where the fish catching event was held, before the event started:
魚つかみが行われた池。始まる前。
After the event started:
始まった後:
Later, we went to the main site of the festival.
その後、お祭りのメイン会場に行きました。
A taiko (Japanese drum) performance was being held.
太鼓のパフォーマンスが行われていました。
Woodworking workshop was offered free of charge.
木工教室が無料で開かれていました。


Flyer for this year's Shakunage Ko Matsuri:
今年のしゃくなげ湖まつりのちらし:

12 comments:

Sissi said...

You are so lucky! I wish I could go fishing at least for one day... It's been ages...
Thank you for the link. This is one more magic Japanese method to clean the fish. And at least I don't need to produce my own tool here, like in the case of the sardine filleting tool.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Here is another technique, tsubo-nuki, which is also described in the Tsuji book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe87RfuGAgQ

Considering the fact that the participants had to catch fish with their bare hands only, both my children did a very good job. Rainbow trouts cost around 150-250 yen each in supermarkets!!

Sissi said...

Bare hands??? But aren't trouts considered as very quick fish variety? You have really done a great job then!
Thank you for the link, I think I should re-read Tsuji's book; you remind me things I have completely forgotten.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: My children caught more fish in another event:
http://hiro-shio.blogspot.com/2010/04/fish-catching-at-hana-matsuri-flower.html

Bare hands only. No cotton work gloves allowed.

fred said...

Sounds really fun to go fishing at weekend!
It reminds me of squid fishing is at the season now, here!! sadly, I'm not a good angler...orz

eh, what? catch fish with bare hands!!? I can't imagine how to do!(笑)

Hiroyuki said...

fred: I added some photos.

It's not so difficult as you might think. Just put your hands near the edge of the pond where you think the fish may run and hide, and wait. When a fish comes, grab it. Many small children just run after the fish, and can't catch any.

muskratbyte said...

Looks delicious! Your children are experts at catching trout! In Texas, they stock public ponds with rainbow trout during the winter, for fishing. I love fishing for trout.

Hiroyuki said...

muskrat: Public ponds?! You should be able to catch much larger ones, right? I'm not very fond of catching fish, but I love eating them!!

Kiki said...

Thank you for sharing your nice trip. In September we will have a little "fish" event in our community too, hosted as every year by the trout farm (I live in a rural area): Music, food, local products, small carnival for the kids and (no wonder) trout catching for the kids. Therefor the farmer will drain some of the water from one trout pond and the kids have to get the trouts and carps with scoops: http://www.rtf-hannover.de/Pic_Wedemark/Wede_08.jpg
Lots of fun in the mud. Catching trouts by hand is much more challenging for sure.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Thanks for the link to the photo. Much bigger pond and fewer people!
I also live in a rural area (laugh)!

muskratbyte said...

ひろゆきさん、most of the public ponds are a decent size, but the trout are very small - the largest one I caught was 12 inches. But they're very delicous grilled!

fred said...

wow, very nice view there!!!