How-To Gyotaku Fish Prints

A few months ago I started a new hobby called gyotaku, which means fish print in Japanese. It all started when I was just looking at a fishing blog that had some interesting pictures I never seen before. I researched and learned the process, then realized I could probably do this. It's a really cool hobby and a fun way to remember a catch! So far I've done flounder, sheepshead, black drum, and a 12" large pinfish.









Here's a tutorial with photos on how I create the fish print. But first, you have put one in the cooler! :)

SUPPLIES:

sumi ink (AP certified non-toxic)

foam brush or wide paint brush

oriental rice paper

paper towel

newspaper

Pretty simple ingredients here. Most people don't have sumi ink and oriental rice paper laying around the house, so you can order both at Amazon.com. Below are pictures of the products I ordered for my artwork. A small startup cost of about $20-25 will last you several months of fish printing.





Get a small area prepped for a work station. Lay down the newspaper in several layers so that it will soak any accidental drips of ink. Spread out the newspaper so that you have enough room to work with a fish. Keep in mind you want things away from the fish so that they don't interfere with the printing process. When your done, cleanup should be as simple as folding up your newspaper and throwing away. Before handling the fish, you will want to precut some sections of the rice paper you purchased. If your fish is 12" long, then you will want to cut out pieces of 16" leaving 2" on each side of the fish. Go ahead and cut 3 sections at 16", giving you three chances to get a fish print right. Sometimes the first print doesn't always come out right so I always do three. Of course the size of paper is personal preference, just leave enough room to center the fish.



Now that your station is ready, go ahead and pull that fish out of the cooler and start washing it off really good. Use your hands to rub the slime coating off the fish as much as possible. Remember to go with the scales, started from head and going towards the tail. Try not to dislodge any scales during this process. Any missing scales or cuts on the fish will show on the print. Spread out the fins and rub them off too. Lift the pectoral fins and wash underneath where slime likes to hide.

Next you want to use paper towel and dry the fish off thoroughly. Again, start from head and work towards the tail so that you don't dislodge any scales. Spread out the fins again, and dry them off as well. You may have to repeat the drying process right before applying ink since some areas tend to leak fluids. These areas are the gills, anus or vent, and sometimes mouth depending on how it was hooked. Try not to rush, any damage to the fish will show on the print. Once dry, lay your fish on the newspaper. For this project I'm using a flounder. Being a flatfish, this is the perfect specimen to try gyotaku since the fish will hold it's form without much force. For more rounded fish like trout and drum, you may need to use styrofoam and pushpins to hold the fins in place. Don't forget the pelvic fin! Here I show using foam and pushpins to support the pelvic fin of this flounder.



Pour some of the sumi ink in a bowl and water it down a little. There is no exact science to this, but for teaching purposes I would say 2 parts ink to 1 part water is a safe start. Dip your foam brush and start painting the fish. A little bit goes a long way here. Don't overdo it because the trick is to avoid blotches or puddles of ink. Once the fish is covered with ink, go over the fins very gently but thoroughly. Now take some paper towel and press the foam brush on it, removing some of the ink from the brush. Now go over the fish again, this will soak up any puddles or excess ink that you don't want. Your fish should be ready to print.

Take a section of rice paper you cutout earlier and hold it over the fish to be printed. Center it and then lay it down. When pressing the rice paper on the fish, I like to start from the middle of the fish and then work my hands out. So my right hand would go right and my left hand goes left rubbing the fish as I'm doing this. The good thing about rice paper is that you can see the ink print from the other side too, so you can tell if you missed a spot. Just rub the body thoroughly and then work the fins.



See those ink blotches? Probably too much ink in one spot.. Don't worry the print may still look okay. Try not to leave the paper on the fish for several minutes, you want to be quick but thorough. When pulling the paper, I always pull from the head first to prevent any snags from the fins or scales. Don't want to ruin a perfectly good fish print before you see it! :)

So here it is, a raw fish print. Repeat the painting process to do another print of the same fish. You can then add the eyes and detail the print with colored pencil or paintbrush if you'd like. I think they look cool as is, straight off the fish.



Another common tradition is to stamp it with a hanko. In Japan, they do not sign, they use stamps. It's called a hanko and it's commonly in red ink. The hanko is your family last name in kanji characters. I ordered one on eBay from a woman in Japan recently so I'm still awaiting arrival, but I plan on using it on all of my gyotaku prints.

My last name is VanDevender, which is from Deventer, in the Netherlands. Deventer was a thriving little city on the east bank of the IJssel river. It had always been an important trade crossing, even back in the Viking times. Later a harbor, then later yet an industrial town. Therefore, my hanko will reflect a town of industry on the east side of the river.

Flat Bridge Wednesday Night 10/28/2015

Hit the bridge after 10pm Wednesday night and saw the last 1.5 hours of incoming tide. I was in complete flounder-mode the entire time. The jig was Mission Fishin 1/2oz red and the bait was Gulp swimming mullet pearl white. Worked a few favorite light poles and pulled in 5 flounder. Biggest was about 14" long. Lost a flounder on the surface when it actually jumped out like a ladyfish or snook! Thought that was pretty cool until it spit my hook LOL. I kept the 14" flattie to do a fish print tutorial, which is now posted in the Hobbies section. Go check it out.

Catch Tally: 5 flatties

14" flounder
12.75" flounder
12.5" flounder
11" flounder
10.5" flounder











Flattie fishing is slow and tedious, so I had time to look around and found some tackle treasure along the way :)

Fiddling Inlet Harbor 20" Black Drum 10/17

Another morning fiddling some sheepshead at the Inlet Harbor with my son, Cody. Loaded up 2-3 dozen live fiddlers from my home stock. Also brought a bag of frozen dead crabs to be used as chum. Just crush them inside the bag, add some water and dump in the spot your fishing. If you keep fiddlers at home, just freeze the dead ones when you spot them. The fresher the better.

We get there shortly before 8am and the tide is low. Cody gets the first two fish which were 2 short sheepshead - all released. Then I get into a small mess of snappers and catch 3 on fiddler crab - all released. No sheeps for me today, can't say I didn't try. Kept at it with the fiddlers anyway and my time paid off when I caught a 20" black drum. It was a prison outbreak today with all the stripes!









Here's a print of 20" black drum :)

Fiddling Inlet Harbor Sheepshead 10/3

About 3 bait shops in New Smyrna were out of fiddler crabs today, had to hitup old Donalds Bait & Tackle on dunlawton to grab some more for winter sheepshead baitstock. Again keeping your own fiddlers seems to be very easy for longterm. I just keep my fiddlers in a bucket of saltwater about an inch high. I also add things in the bucket that the fiddler crabs can climb out of the water such as plastic mesh racks. Right now I'm feeding them leftover crab pellets and algae tablets, and changing the water about every 3-4 days. I check them daily and haven't seen a single dead one in the last 4-5 days.

Headed to the Inlet Harbor this morning and decided to walk the beach first with Cody. After a 20 minute walk and collecting some broken sand dollar pieces, we headed to the dock. It was about an hour until slack tide so we started with shrimp. First I noticed a stringer of fish in the water that belonged to the only other guy that was there. Lets see, the stringer had a ladyfish...umm okay...and also a couple snapper that looked clearly short from my perspective. Ignored it and went on with my business. Caught a nice size pigfish on shrimp. After a round with me it went back into the water with a busted lip.



Tide finally slacked enough to work the fiddler crabs. First caught a keeper Mangrove Snapper that I released back. And the Sheepshead were chewing today too. Caught 3 short ones 10-11" that all got a release. Took a photo of the inside of the mouth so you guys who don't know can see what we're dealing with.

Dunlawton Fishing Pier 9/27

Another day of good weather called for another day of fishing. I had sheepshead on the menu today, and I brought my own fiddlers for the offering. Keeping fiddlers alive is easy. All you need is a bucket a saltwater and a rack so they can climb out of water. Change water every few days and toss dead ones out immediately. I feed the fiddlers mini algae pellets.

First stop this morning was to see if my favorite sheepshead dock was available near the ponce but no go with the crowd. So plan B back to the Dunlawton fishing pier, where I know a few sheepshead are holding up. My son was with me again today and he caught a small 9" mangrove snapper on dead shrimp. He tried hard to catch more but it was another tough day. Only saw a couple 8" or 9" mangroves caught from the surrounding fishermen.

As for me, I also caught a small mangrove on shrimp. Then the current slowed and I switched to fiddler crabs. Caught a small pufferfish on a fiddlercrab! Working the same spot, my fiddlers were getting crushed again by something. Kept at it and finially got a 12" sheepshead for the cooler! No pics of the snappers and pufferfish, I hate touching my phone with stinky fingers. But here's the sheepshead on the table getting ready for a fish print. The styrofoam keeps the fins in place as so.



and fish print of the above sheepshead :)

Dunlawton Fishing Pier 9/26

Me and my son Cody took another morning trip to Port Orange after stopping by NSB Bait & Tackle for 50 shrimp for $8. Start fishing about 8:30am and it was slowwww. No hits on live shrimp...what! Where are all the fish? Should've went to the flat bridge down the road but my son doesn't like the noise from all the traffic. I don't blame him.

We see a little bobber floating around unattached to anything, so he is intrigued by the idea that he can get it by casting close and reeling in. He still has a live shrimp on his hook while he casts a couple times to catch the bobber. All of a sudden he says he has a fish! So he reels in a 13" flounder just messing around! I can't believe it, I'm actually trying to catch fish and coming up with nothing LOL

I did catch a few small fish before we left, a baby snapper and a small sea robin. Oh well can't get them all. I'd say my son outfished me today coming up with the keeper flounder though. Caught on live shrimp with a 1 oz egg sinker to maintain depth.

Dunlawton Fishing Pier 9/20

Started at Sleepy Hollow this morning but we got there around 8am so the spot I wanted was taken, and had to settle for another spot. No fish caught at the hollow. Since the tide was super low we were able to see the fiddler crabs out and about from their burrows. And when I see fiddlers I immediately think of sheepshead. Recently I found a good sheepshead spot near the inlet so I gathered about 2 dozen fiddler crabs for another day of sheepie fishing.

Left the holler at 9:30am and headed down to the Dunlawton fishing pier, just down the road from flat bridge. At this hour the pier was nicely shaded by the main highway above. Makes a nice place to take my son when it's hot outside. Not much being caught there though. Alot of people fishing and only saw one baby mangrove snapper caught. I fished anyway and caught a small 6" snapper and then a short 11" sheepshead on shrimp! I tried a few of those fiddlers I saved earlier in the morning. They stole my bait a few times and then the bite suddenly died. Still surprised I've caught 6 sheepshead so far this month of September, all of them have been around 11"

Flat Bridge Slam! Night Fishing 9/17

Scooped up my friend Zack on the way to New Smyrna where we castnet the finger mullet for bait on boating docks. Some nice schools of mullet were hanging around and we were able to get about 2 dozen in about 30 minutes or less. Nothing like free bait!

Ran down to the flat bridge and found my favorite hole was open. The current was near slack when we got there, and upon walking to the spot I noticed a flounder just kinda floating on topwater. Curious if it was even still alive, I dropped a finger mullet next to him which spooked it as it dove to the bottom. Oh well. So I rigged our poles to fish the live mullet on the bottom. Hooked two small trout that got a release, biggest was 13" long. Also caught some ladyfish for shark fishing, counted 3 in the cooler when we were done. I felt like I missed a few flounder as I was fishing, but finially brought over a fat 13" flounder! Zack also got a 13" fat flounder! Ended the night catching a barely legal mangrove snapper that got a release. Four different species caught tonight and we used every single one of the live mullet in our bucket. One of our better nights for sure with a lot of action.







The next day I did my first fish print which is called Gyotaku. Gyotaku is a traditional Japanese method of printing fish, a practice which dates back to the mid-1800s. The process sounds simple: cleaning and drying the fish, painting with sumi ink and then pressing rice paper to create a print. Think of it as a thumbprint, pretty much the exact same thing. Sounds easy but it actually involves some skill believe it or not. There are some YouTube videos online, but I recommend the videos created by Rob Choi. He's actually the person that inspired me to do this through his own fishing blog. Here's a fish print from the 13" flounder above.

Inlet Harbor (Ponce Inlet) Saturday Morning 9/12

Headed out to the Inlet Harbor with a bucket full of live finger mullet and some frozen shrimp. Stopped by 38 Live Bait to buy some live fiddler crabs. Arrived at the fishing spot around 8am, paid my dues ($3) and went down to setup. Two other gentlemen were already there and they were nice company throughout the entire time. I started with some shrimp and landed a sailors choice and then a cool looking pufferfish. Each time my bait dropped it didn't take long to get a bite and they were quick to steal the bait. The other guys were catching some keeper mangroves but they were just barely legal.

After I was tired of messing with the bait stealers, I setup one rod to fish live finger mullet on the bottom. First hit came and it was a small snapper. The next hit on finger mullet had a nice drag screaming run. I fought a 17" crevalle jack on the deck and decided to keep this one for chunk bait.

By now the current had slowed down and I was ready to try the fiddler crabs for sheepshead. Managed to get two 11" sheepshead! It felt good to finally catch them on fiddlers after many failed attempts in the past. I used to always buy a few dozen crabs and never caught a thing on them.

Overall it was a great fishing trip. Two straight times I've had success catching some variety there. It seems to be a good sheepshead hole but a lot of them are short. Although it's not even sheepshead season yet so perhaps the bigger ones will come in when it cools off. I'm still learning the spot and the hidden structures underwater. I've been broken off at least twice today just getting snagged on something.

Inlet Harbor (Ponce Inlet) Saturday Morning 9/5

It's Labor Day weekend so I took the opportunity Saturday morning to take my son, Cody, out for some fishing. Left the house around 6:30am and arrived to the baitshop around 7:30am. Loaded up with 3 dozen shrimp and 5 finger mullet that I netted the night before. Arrived at Inlet Harbor at 8am and noticed we had the fishing dock to ourselves. The dock is only open 6am to noon on Saturday/Sunday, plus there's a fee to fish the dock. But it's usually never busy and it's shaded which is great for hot summer mornings!
First cast I hook a 9.5" sheepshead! Same spot I get a 11.5" sheepshead and another one at 11". Then the mangrove snappers come marching in, caught a couple 11" keepers and 6 short throwbacks. Also hooked a small toadfish and a big sailors choice. Just about everything caught on fresh dead shrimp. Had a couple good runs on the finger mullet, missed the first run but the second one I landed the 11" mangrove snapper. Good morning on the water!

Personal Best Snook @ Flat Bridge 9/1

Brought my friend Zack along for some night fishing in New Smyrna/Port Orange Tuesday night. We get in the area about 10pm and it's incoming tide woo hoo. In need of live bait, we headed to some boat ramps and tossed the castnet around for about 45 minutes. When we had enough mullet the first stop was a secret spot I fell in love with last year. Around this time last year we caught juvenile tarpon, snook, reds, and my personal best 25" trout.....this year nothing. Not even a splash in the water from what I saw. Quickly realized we were wasting our time and decided to move spots to the famous flat bridge.

So by now it's midnight already. Noticed my favorite spot was open and got a little excited. We moved quickly so we could get there before someone sniped the lightpole. We don't fish the same lightpole as others, it's just courtesy. After a few minutes I hooked a sweet ladyfish. Then I get a nice hit and it's my personal best 21" snook! By now my friend Zack is trying to figure out what I'm doing differently, but he's used to that LOL. I'm not done yet, I also get a 16" trout that found his way into my bucket and then another trout that's 14.5" which got a release. All within about 45 minutes. Zack still hasn't caught anything but wait, he finially gets a little 10" trout before we call it a night.

Saturday Morning Swoope Ramp 8/29

It's been awhile since I've reported anything so here's todays adventure...

Went fishing this morning at Swoope ramp in NSB. Both my son and I arrived at the ramp about 7:30am after picking up some live shrimp and live mud minnows. It was quiet for a Saturday morning, only two boats launched the entire time I was there. The fish were biting our offerings all morning but since we were using shrimp it could be pins and small snappers. Most times the hook came back bare but we did manage to stick a few in the lips. My son caught 2 pinfish and I got a small crevalle jack and a small snapper. All fish released and all were caught on shrimp. Mud minnows got a few bites from the snappers but no hookups on the minnows. It was getting hot very quickly! At 9am we were sweating out of our necks so decided to head out.