How about this? Easily my favourite fish of the trip. Perhaps the mother of all Butterfish! Species is still unknown to me. There appears to be a huge number of different fish like this up in Hokkaido – it’s a wild place.
Open to suggestions. It’s got a really strange head shape and turquoise spots along the dorsal.
It was a colossal thing. I reckon it was 3 to 4lb. Fought like an eel with a reverse gear!
I watched a few of these periodically appear through the kelp to graze on goodies above the weed line, along a concrete breakwater. After a few failed attempts in crystal clear conditions, I scaled down to a Shirasu and finally got a take.
Very happy. Can imagine this fish not being valued by local anglers, but to me it’s priceless. A super cool creature.