Day One in Hokkaido: Deer on the Road, Green Soup in the River
[CAST] 淡水

Day One in Hokkaido: Deer on the Road, Green Soup in the River

First day in Hokkaido — deer standing in the middle of mountain roads, a fox by a vegetable patch, then a 3:30 dawn into a fog-bound Furano river running the colour of pea soup. The wildlife was loud. The water wasn't.

· 富良野，北海道 ·
#北海道#富良野#溪流#野生動物#日本
Day One in Hokkaido: Deer on the Road, Green Soup in the River
Day One in Hokkaido: Deer on the Road, Green Soup in the River
Day One in Hokkaido: Deer on the Road, Green Soup in the River
Day One in Hokkaido: Deer on the Road, Green Soup in the River

A road full of deer

We landed in Hokkaido and didn’t pick up the rental car until four in the afternoon. Furano was still two hours of driving away, but at this latitude the light holds — dark doesn’t come until well past 7:30 — so there was no reason to rush.

The warning signs started on the expressway: watch for deer crossing. I didn’t expect them to be this easy to find. My daughter spotted the first one, standing on the embankment across the opposite carriageway.

Coming off the expressway toward Furano, the road climbs through a short mountain stretch. It was past five, a rain shower had just moved through, the asphalt was wet and fog was drifting through the trees. A deer was simply standing in the middle of the road — no fear at all. I slowed and eased closer and it gave me a look like why are you here? By the time we reached Furano we’d passed more than a dozen of them. That night, on a convenience-store run, a fox sat by the edge of a vegetable patch at the mouth of a residential alley, unbothered.

With wildlife this thick, I figured the fishing had to follow. That’s the angler’s logic, anyway.

3:30, fog, and a river the colour of pea soup

It was fully light by 3:30. I pulled the curtain back to a wall of fog — visibility maybe 30 to 50 metres. Bear bell on, I followed the route I’d scouted beforehand, entering the river from the big bridge at the edge of town.

And there was the problem. Yesterday’s heavy rain was still in the system. The main channel was running stained — that thick, opaque green that tells you the river is carrying too much. A few casts confirmed it: pea-soup water doesn’t fish well anywhere in the world. Suspended sediment kills visibility, and a fish that can’t see the lure won’t commit to it.

This is the part of a trip you can’t plan around. You scout the access, you check the route, you set the alarm for 3am — and then a rain event upstream the day before decides the river isn’t ready. Nothing to do but note it and let the water drop.

The wildlife was the real catch of the first 24 hours. The river will come good when it clears — and when it does, you fish it hard, because a window like that won’t wait for you to be ready.