Saturday, August 17 — National Mountain-Stream Fishing Tournament 🎣🔥 Here’s another fishing tournament story 💪 Today the National Mountain-Stream Fishing Tournament took place on the Mikasokawa tributary of the Gokase River 🤩 This was the second time, following last year 👏 About 70 children and around 100 adults gathered at Mikasokawa — a great turnout 😚 Like at the Kuraoka fishing tournament, I was reminded that fishing is an activity for all ages and genders. So many people were enjoying themselves — it was wonderful 😳✨ This time the children also had a fish-catching event where they grabbed fish by hand 😆 Surprisingly, eels were mixed in, so both kids and the adults watching were fired up 🔥🔥🔥 The vibe was “Bring one back for sure!” 🤣 haha After the excitement there was weighing and an awards ceremony 🏆✨ There were awards for highest total catch from 1st to 3rd place, plus a separate big-fish prize 🙌 The 1st-place total-catch winner landed 4.16 kg of fish 🎉👏 That’s a bit more than two 2-liter PET bottles worth of fish 😲‼ Amazing 👏 Congratulations to the champion 😆💕 The big-fish prize went to a second-year junior high student who caught a hefty 34 cm fish and placed admirably 🤩 Where could such a big fish have been hiding?! Congratulations 🥳👏 The raffle afterward featured a row of luxurious prizes 🫢 With kids and adults smiling, the fishing tournament wrapped up 🙌 Now that Obon and the fishing tournament are over, the weather is slowly starting to cool… When it’s hot you want summer to end quickly, but once you sense its end you feel a bit wistful 😌 Let’s stay well and keep going strong despite Obon fatigue and the heat 🕺✨