Manzanar: "From Barbed Wire to Barbed Hooks"...fishing stories from Manzanar
Those who took risks for freedom.
Manzanar
Those who took risks for freedom.
Internees Who Fished
Location Map
Bairs Creek
Shepherd Creek
George Creek
Reservoir
Golden Trout Fisherman
Fishing Gear & Bait

Archie Miyatake
archie_miyatake.jpg
Archie Miyatake, son of famous still photographer Toyo Miyatake

Archie at 17 years old was introduced to trout fishing at Manzanar by his cousin's husband, Mike Nishida. Mike was already an avid trout fisherman and was quite familiar with the Eastern Sierra from the prewar days. They would sneak out at night; Mike spreading the second and third strands of barbed wire for Archie to squeeze through. Archie would then spread the wires for Mike. They would Bairs creek in the dark to the foot of the Mt. Williamson and then fish the creek back towards the camp until sunrise. On his first trip, Archie recalls catching about six trout to the more experienced Mike's 20. Archie remembers bringing fish back and having his mother cook his trout on a hot plate his family had ordered through the Sears & Roebuck mail order catalog. Archie smiles when he speaks of how good it felt sneaking out of the barbed wire to go trout fishing ... the air somehow "smelled better" when he was outside. It made him feel "free".


Another interesting story concerns Archie's father, Toyo, the famous photographer who documented life at Manzanar with a camera he smuggled in. Toyo Miyatake's award-winning work has been much praised for its historical value, but as a small footnote to this story is that he also took the only known photographs of a Manzanar fisherman. It is through sheer good luck that the Miyatakes lived in the same block as Heihachi Ishikawa, the lone fisherman who used to sneak out for several weeks at a time in pursuit of Golden trout in the alpine lakes beyond Mt. Williamson. Toyo recorded for all time in both black-and-white and color the magnificent stringer of trophy size Goldens that Ishikawa brought down from the mountains.


Toyo and his family, including Archie, were actually photographed in their Manzanar "apartment" by the famed Ansel Adams.

matsuyama.jpg
Jiro Matsuyama

Jiro was a 21-year-old airplane mechanic with a bright future when the war broke out. Rounded up with the rest of the Japanese-Americans in Los Angeles, he volunteered to go up early to help prepare the camp for the internees to follow. His sophisticated mechanic’s tool kit earned him a job offer to supervise the camp's reservoir, even though he lacked knowledge of such facilities. Jiro was hesitant at first, then he saw his first trout in one of the streams feeding the reservoir. Though he had never fished before, he accepted the job ... Jiro had accidentally discovered that desolate Manzanar was part of California's bountiful Eastern Sierra fishing grounds.


As supervisor of the reservoir, Jiro had a 24-hour pass and a vehicle at his disposal -- he was pretty much free to go fishing any time he wanted. Working on his 25-man crew became a prime job (many fished as they "inspected" or "maintained" the surrounding streams), and Jiro was bombarded by requests from other internees to sneak them out to go fishing. At first he flatly denied any knowledge of trout fishing, even when offered bribes up to $10, which was a lot of money in the camp when doctors were getting a top salary of $19 per month. Jiro eventually felt comfortable enough to begin smuggling internees out to go fishing, no charge. He estimates that he helped dozens of people fish during his time at the camp. But there were real things to be careful of. Jiro does recall that he was shot at by guards twice while he was out checking the water sources.


Jiro was featured on a Huell Howser episode of "California's Gold" about Manzanar and his signature that was inscribed in wet cement at the reservoir site while an aqueduct was under construction. His autograph can be seen today at that very site just a few yards away from the reservoir.

chomori.jpg
Ray Chomori

Ray lived in Block 17 Barrack 19 Apartment 2 when he was at Manzanar and would sneak in and out of the camp right under the noses of armed military guards at the southwest corner of the camp where Bairs creek enter and ran through Manzanar. He recalls once he and his buddies came back and must of kick up a lot of dust while trying to sneak back in and the guards thought it was smoke and called the fire department. Ray and his buddies non-chalantly snuck back in pretending as though there was nothing unusual. Ray was just a kid during his time at Manzanar and made his own pole out of a willow branch and because of his first hand knowledge about trout in the Eastern Sierra having already fished at Lake George in the Mammoth Lakes basin, he had notion to bring hooks and leader material with him before he arrived . He used worms that he dug up around the pear ochard.  He had fished at Shepherd creek, Bairs creek and George.  He remembers that he only caught brown trout at George creek and recalls on the occasions that he brought trout back to the barracks his mother would cook them up on a hotplate they had inside their apartment.  Ray said that he fished mostly alone but would leave early in the morning and finish by noon. 

After getting out of Manzanar, Ray continued to fished in the Eastern Sierra. His fond memory of escaping from the barbed wire and the freedom that he felt while fishing carried on long after he was release from Manzanar. He shared his passion for trout fishing by passing it down to his children.

kenmiya.jpg
Ken Miyamoto

Ken was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and when he had to leave for Manzanar he was about 21 years old. Ken had many jobs while he was at Manzanar. He was a farm laborer, mess hall cook, tractor mechanic, worked on the "guayule" (synthetic rubber) project and even in his early camp days was a member of the Manzanar civilian police department. Because of all these different jobs, Ken had quite a "hustle" going on where he knew all the "in's & out's" of the camp. He had no problem sneaking out and because of his connections was never caught.

Ken told me that he used to go surf fishing and off the pier with his father but it wasn't until he came to Manzanar did he find his real passion. Ken told me that he had heard that Manzanar was in the Owens Valley seated in the world famous fishing area of the Eastern Sierra and so he had prepared himself before being evacuated by buying leader material made out of silk worm gut, split shots and size 6 Eagle Claw hooks before he came. Ken said he loved fishing so much that he went almost everyday and if he didn't catch 30 trout a day, then it was a bad day. He first started off fishing using a willow branch and tied the gut leader and used his split shots and size 6 Eagle Claw hooks using worms, grasshoppers or hellgramites for bait. While working in the mess halls, he spotted some bamboo rakes in the broom closet and took them back to his barrack and stripped it down to make split bamboo fishing poles. For guides he used bent paper clips while he joined the sections of bamboo by using spent bullet shells as "ferrules" that he found around the camp. Ken also mentioned that many a bamboo rake would mysteriously disappear from the various mess halls.

In the early days of Manzanar when security was very high, Ken found various ways to sneak out. He would sneak out with labor crews when they had a garbage detail or had to work the farms that were outside the camp. He would use his excuse of having to repair the tractors, or he would just flat plain tell the head cook that he was going fishing. Also during the early periods when the guard towers were being manned with armed guards, Ken explained how he would go fishing at night and actually had to time his escape through the barbed wire by waiting till the search lights passed. After awhile, it was no secret that Ken went fishing all the time, especially after he was frequently giving trout to the camp director Ralph Merritt's wife.

During an occasion when security was relaxed, a group from the water crew was going on a fishing outing and there was an artist that wanted to tag along. As this group of anglers headed up towards the moutain, the artist wanted to be dropped off and told the rest of the party he would be waiting for them when they came down the mountain. Well, when this group was finished fishing and came down the mountain, this artist guy was nowhere in sight. The group just assumed that he went back to camp on his own. When they return, the found out that the artist guys did not come back and was presumed M.I.A. Because Ken was known for leaving the camp daily, he was recruited by the camp director to be a part of a search party. They searched for several days and still the artist never turned up. It wasn't until two months later a couple from Independence while hiking found the decayed body of the artist high in the mountains.

Ken would fish Symmes creek and Independence creek to the north, Shepherd creek, Bairs creek, George creek, and Lone Pine creek to the south in the Alabama Hills. One of his favorite spots to fish was a section of Shepherd creek that flowed under Hwy 395 to an area known as the "sand pit". It is still a popular spot where anglers fish today. Ken told me that he did not fish too much at Lone Pine creek because one time while following the creek he saw a split bamboo pole sticking out of the brush and a Caucasian man was fishing, so he hurriedly left the scene. He split his time fishing with a few other guys but he also frequently fished alone. One of Ken's friends was much older, his name was James Numa. James was 43 years old and one of the first arrivials at Manzanar and came as a "volunteer" and drove up in an old model "T" on March 21, 1942. As it was written in the LA Times, Numa while driving could not keep up with the convoy because his car was so loaded down with his personal belongings which included a massive amounts of fishing equipment, that the army escort became so frustrated that he was holding up the convoy that he just told Numa to show up when ever he could. So Numa with all his his fishing equipment eventually got to Manzanar but it was much later after the convoy had arrived. One day Numa invited Ken to his barrack and as Ken enter Numa's room, he noticed that among all that fishing equipment that Numa brought, there was a Johnson outboard motor sitting in the corner. Ken also recalls that Numa was one of the few who used to fished the lakes beyond Mt. Williamson and go after "golden trout" and actually took Ken on one of his trips.

frank.jpg
Frank Kageyama

Ken often fished with Frank Kageyama, a friend he made while working on the "Guayule" project. On one occasion, Ken went fishing with Frank and another friend who was visiting from back east and they took him to Symmes creek. For most of the day, the fishing was bad and none of them had caught any trout. As it started getting closer to dusk, Ken noticed that he hadn't seen Frank in quite awhile. About this time, Ken and his friend see Frank coming towards them with a huge stringer of trout. In their amazement, they ask Frank, "How in the hell did you manage to get all those trout?" Frank told them that he found a fork in the creek and dammed up one side landlocking a bunch of trout and just started harvesting the stranded trout. When they returned back to camp, it raised a lot of excitement about Symmes creek and a bunch of people then headed up there the next day to see if they can have the same luck but they never revealed that Frank dammed up the creek to get the fish and it remained a secret.

Ken told me that because he was in camp, he felt that it took about 10 years off his life as far as growth but he managed to succeed in having a good life and met his wife Alice in camp and is still married to the same woman today. He also said that if it wasn't for the trout fishing, he didn't think he could have made it through.

After leaving camp, Ken shares, not only was fishing his salvation while incarcerated but it something that he continued on for decades afterwards and passed on the pleasures to his kids.

fredsakuda.jpg
Fred Sakuda

Fred was 12 years old when he first went to Manzanar but his dad went ahead of him and his mother as an advanced party because he was a phamacist to help set up the hospital. They spent the first night in Block 8 then, moved to Block-19-Barrack-11-Apartment-1 or simply known as Block 9-11-1.

Fred first learned about trout fishing at camp by hearing stories from some of the older guys who went. So one day he and his buddies decided to try it , first by getting sewing thread and bending some safety pins for hooks and then digging up some worms around camp then using a tree branch for a pole. They used to sneak out from under the barbed wire undetected and make their way to Bairs creek where he caught his first brook trout. Fred recalls that it was the prettiest thing he had ever seen and explains from that very first time catching that trout he was literally "hooked' on trout fishing. The days following, Fred created better equipment and made a pole out of split bamboo by cannibalizing his "kendo" stick. He later ordered braided line, leader and hooks from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. He also recalls digging for worms near Shepherd's ranch because the soil was always very moist and he could find large earthworms there. His dad actually showed Fred how to fish but his dad had the luxury of being able to buy his equipment and didn't have to make it like young Fred. Although Fred's dad had taught him a little about trout fishing, he only fished with his buddies. In the wintertime, Fred recalls that he and his buddies would go to the creeks that were frozen over and catch trout that were trapped in the pools by cracking the ice above and then scooping them up by hand. On the days that he would catch trout, he brought them back to the barracks and his mom would cook them in a skillet first on a oil burning stove and then later on a hotplate and eat it with rice that he got from the mess hall.

Fred's good buddies that he would fish with were, Kiyomi Mizutani and Tadami Ushijima. One time he went fishing with Tadami who was 14 and another younger kid, George Hikiji who was 10 and all three of them went to Independence creek. During this fishing outing they notice a Caucasian man fishing downstream and he started making his way upstream where Tadami, Fred and George were fishing. Fred turned to Tadami in panic and said, "What shall we do? Should we run or what?" Tadami said, "No, just keep fishing." So as the man approached these three boys, he asked them how the fishing was while at the same time he noticed how dark the boys were, (basically because they spent so much time in the hot sun) and man then asked them, "what reservation were they from?" Apparently, he thought they were Native Americans but Fred explains later in the conversation fessing up and tells the man that they are actually from Manzanar but apparently this didn't disturb the man in the least and he just continued fishing.

As dusk was approaching, the three boys found themselves having to cross a stream with the water going above their waist. George didn't want to get his shoes wet so he carried them above his shoulders as he attempted to cross the stream. Suddenly something happened and George drops both of his shoes in the water and they drift rapidly downstream. A feeble attempt was made by Fred and Tadami to retrieve them but to no avail and they were then forced to take turns giving George a "piggy back" ride all the way back to camp.

On that same day as they were returning back to camp there was a big commotion going on back at the camp. They learned that another group of fisherman went out fishing and took an artist (Giichi Matsumura) with them and dropped him off at a spot on the way up Shepherd creek. When they returned down the mountain, this artist wasn't there and had apparently gotten lost. A search party went out looking for him for several days and never found him. One of the members of the search party was Ken Miyamoto who was in his early twenties and was very familiar with all the areas near camp to fish because he used to go fishing everyday. It wasn't until about one month later that a couple named Paul and Mary DeDecker from Independence discovered the decayed body. Apparently during a storm, Matsumura got disoriented and went the wrong direction some 6 hours further into the snowline instead of towards the camp and got lost, then perished from the elements.

When the three of them returned to camp, George's father was in panic thinking that it was his young son who got lost while fishing. He was so relieved to find out that his 10 year old son was alright only to have lost a couple of shoes.

During the later days of the camp in September, 1945 security was very lax and leaving the camp to go fishing was permited without a problem. Fred remembers trying to go to the lakes on the other side of Mt. Williamson where they heard stories of a few internees that actually succeeded in getting "golden" trout. He hooked up with a couple of older guys named Seiichi Tori, Hebo Tori who lived in the same block and Thomas Amano who lived in block 13. They would hike until they reached the foothill of Mt. Williamson, then came to where the creek split. Since they never came this direction before they decided to flip a coin to decided which fork in the stream they would take. As fate would have it they took the fork of the stream that dead ended into the mountain. After a two day hike and being so exhausted and disappointed they decided not to double back and take the other fork but just head back to the the camp. Even though this trip in seach for the "golden" trout was unsuccessful, they vowed that would come back and try it again in the future.

Well, they kept their word and after Manzanar was closed in November, 1945, Fred and a few of friends indeed went back up that trail and took the other fork and succeeded in finding the lakes and caught his "golden" trout.

kayoko.jpg
Kayoko Wakita

Kayoko Wakita was just a teenager when she came to Manzanar. But remembers the early days while being there were perhaps the most miserable conditons imaginable. The quarters they lived in were flimsy with no insultation, large knotholes in the floor boards where the dust came in, and virtually no way to keep cool during the 100 plus temperatures during the summers and poor heating during the winter. It was dusty all the time and basically it was the harshest environment that she and her family ever had to endure for over 3 1/2 years. Her parents were both musicians, with her mother who taught the koto while in Manzanar and her father who was an exceptional "shakuhachi" (bamboo flute) player.

Kayoko explains that the spirit of both her musical parents helped her sustain a mental attitude allowing her to cope with the situation. In addition, her father, Giichi was also member of the reservoir crew as a night watchmen. His job along with his co-worker Mr. Koro was to check the integrity of the water in the reservoir, making sure that there was no debris or blockage of Shepherds creek which was the main water source for the camp. They were also the watchdogs to stay vigilant for possible sabotage. Giichi while working with Mr. Koro would teach him the shakuhachi while they were on and off duty. His position also allowed him to have a vehicle and gave him chances to explore the surrounding creeks and streams and he found many opportunities to go trout fishing with Mr. Koro. On many occasions he would take Kayoko along with him to go trout fishing and she remembers how much fun it was to be able to leave the confines of the barbed wire and feel the joy of fishing and more importantly...feel the "freedom" from the drudgery of being cooped up behind the barbed wire. Giichi was fortunate enough to have enough money to purchase fishing equipment from the Sears and Roebuck catalogs just like his supervisor Jiro Matsuyama. It's ironic but Kayoko never actually met Jiro while her father worked at the reservoir. She does recall however, that her father felt very spiritual when he played his shakuhachi that created a "zen" like feeling that elevated him to another mental plane which help him cope of the troubles of the his personal loses and displacement from society. Through this spiritual uplifting and "zen" like enlightenment, Giichi was able to catch the trout by sensing when the trout was near the hook and would snag the fish without looking. Kayoko says he rarely caught the fish hooking them in the mouth. It was though he was "one with the fish"...she explains.

One the most pleasant of moments for her was during the days just before the closing of Manzanar when her father wanted to allow other people in their neighboring blocks to have chance to have fresh trout. Giichi with some help, dammed up one of the creeks and manage to capture a mass quantity of trout enough to fill several 55 gallon barrels and brought them back to the mess hall to share with the neighboring internees.

Kayoko maintains that trout fishing and the influence of her parents involvement in music helped her endure the injustice of the relocation at Manzanar.

As of March 2008, 25 interviews have been recorded and more are schedule. You can imagine finding surviving internees who have fishing experiences is one of the biggest challlenges I face as time advances. If you know of anyone who may have a story related to this topic, please contact me below.

Contact Me