Ice fishing on the Barato River in Hokkaido offers a classic winter experience where visitors can drill through frozen river ice to catch smelt (wakasagi). Ice fishing is one of local winter activities in Hokkaido, and you can also enjoy it. There are many places in Hokkaido that are waiting to be explored, do not forget, If you need help arranging private tour in Hokkaido, you can use our trip planner!

Salmon Factory

Sato Suisan is a well-known Hokkaido seafood specialty shop famous for its high-quality salmon products and local delicacies. Popular items include fresh and grilled salmon, salmon roe (ikura), seafood bento, and their signature “Salmon Onigiri” rice balls. With multiple branches in Sapporo — including locations near Sapporo Station and the airport — it’s a convenient stop for souvenirs or ready-to-eat seafood, offering visitors an authentic taste of Hokkaido’s renowned marine produce. Barato river is located right behind the shop, but you can park your car in the shop parking lot.

We arrived at around 9:30am, the parking lot was so crowded but fortunately we were able to find one remaining parking spot.

We proceeded directly to the mighty Barato River that was frozen solid. When we arrived in the river area, we could see so many tents already. I was a bit worried that the ice might break under my heavy weight, but last year I was also fishing on this river and survived, so this year might also be safe also. It was a bit hard to cross the fence around the river, but it was still manageable.

Here are some tools that we prepared in order to join this ice-fishing event. Not only the small fishing rods and baits, but also hand-drill, folding chairs, and of course, tent.

These are the type of bait that we used, akasashi, a type of live fishing bait commonly used in Japan, especially for smelt (wakasagi) ice fishing. It is the red-colored larva of midges (chironomid larvae), valued for its bright color and strong scent, which effectively attracts fish in cold water conditions. It costed only 150 yen (1US$) for one small pouch full of live Akasashi!

Finally we got one already!

It got a bit chilly so I decided to take shelter inside our tent while the ladies continued fishing. Here are some pictures from inside my tent and other groups’ tents.

After catching enough fish, we proceeded to deep-fry the fish directly inside the tent. Catch and cook directly on the top of frozen lake is definitely one of winter activity in Hokkaido.

Here is the video of this ice-fishing trip from 2025 if you are interested to see.