Dropped into Casting today to take a look, haven't been here in a long while.  This caught my eye. Meiho/Versus came out with a new size of Liquid Pack this year.  Perfect size for Gulp baby sardines, power isome etc ...

Here it is next to the medium sized one ...

Golden Week Adventure

Over Golden Week went out for a day of fishing. I dropped my wife off at work and headed to my first mark. I had planned my adventure the night before (thanks google maps!) 

Got to the first mark at about 7.00, rigged up my gekkabijin/caldia kit with a 2g Ecogear shirasu JH, opened the trusty Gulp container looking for some baby sardine 2" okiami glow but found a Tict gyopin 1.7" and figured I'd go with that. Saw some rocks and weeds in the water out ahead of me and figured it was a good spot, threw out and I was right! Bites right on the first cast but no hook ups. Anyway, kept trying and after a few misses I hooked into this little bugger here 

after him I was getting one after another for a good while. 

I had about 20 of them by the end in various sizes, but not much more 15cm. It was fun and time to move onto the next mark. 

Here, last year I had caught a nice sized grouper. Wanting the same I got out the Bluecurrent and Twinpower. Rigged up with a Texas rig, 5.3 bullet sinker, glass bead and Tick DF offset hook, M size with an Ecogear Rockmax 3". No luck, so after a while I figured I'd head onto the the next mark.

This was the same place from my previous report but at a higher tide. This produced a few snags and subsequent reties and frustration but eventually I got another scorpion (no pics, sorry). After a lull period figured I'd head to the next place, decided to skip point C and headed for point D as it was high tide and I had luck there before.

On the way stopped by a tackle shop and got myself some goodies (I had to, no other choice!)

These are photos from before, but either way this is where I ended up

No luck here again. After some time, I headed to the harbour near there, but again no luck. It was very windy and difficult to cast out a few grams of anything. Also, this is where I lost my brand new Tick mini caro in the damn rocks! Old folks here were fishing sabiki with floats on bait, catching aji one after another, so I changed styles wanting the same. But with what I had on hand I could only rig up a shoddy set up which produced no results. So after some time I headed home. 

It was a good overall. But I was ready to crack a cold one and crash!

Finally a bit of fun for me too, misty mountains and it's that time of year again!

So after a much too long hiatus, today I figured I'd get out and throw some lures.  Decided on a mark I have been to before but had no luck last time.  Arrived at about 10.00, got the gear out and set up.  As I have, of late, been neglecting my Gekka I felt I should give her a go.  Matched her up with a Caldia 2004.  The line, whatever has been on it since I bought the rod and reel from my friend, he doesn't remember, nor do I 😆.  To start, went with a 2g AquaWave Lock Head and a brown (tea coloured) Power Isome.  

Started right by the car at a sea wall, chucked out and reeled in slowly, lightly twitching,  nothing but weeds for a while.  After some time started to get some hits but no hook-ups.  At one point the JG came out of the water bare as bones, the Isome stripped right off, so at least I knew I was doing something right 😆.  Reloaded with Gulp! Baby Sardine glow oki-ami colour and threw it out again, this time, after some casts, I was on!  Nice little bend in the rod, nothing too much, but I was excited nonetheless as this was my first in ages.  My heart sank as it got close enough to see in the water and realise its a dreaded fugu.  Oh well, a fish is a fish I told myself, unhooked the little bugger and threw him back.  Onto the next point.

Walked along the water away from the car and out toward a rocky shore in a little corner of greenery and a beautiful rock formation jutting out of the sea near the shore, chucking here and there on the way, nothing doing of course.  Got to the rocks and walked out onto them to get closer to the water.  Here, it was shallow and weedy.  I hadn't much hope but decided to try anyway so out went the lure.  Here, there, one side of the rock formation, the other, in front, again nothing.  Next mark I thought, broke down the rod but leaving the lure on, I strapped it up together with rod belts and head back for the car.

At the car I noticed the tide had dropped below the top of a concrete grid-work (similar to adjacent tetrapods) just along the sea wall.  Something just didn't allow me to go just yet.  There was a ladder further down allowing access to the grid-work, I climbed down and stopped just shy of a long group of rocks in the sea ... 

Set the Gekka up again and threw off to the side of the rocks, close as I could get, hoping for a scorpion.  Could have been the first cast, maybe the second, felt a sporty little tug on the line, flicked back on the rod and I was on.  The drag started cracking and I was excited.  A nice short fight and it was mine ... 

Nothing huge, but a beautiful scorpion and one of my favourites.  After a few casts more, I snagged on the rocks and in an effort to pull free the line snapped but luckily on the JG end of business so I didn't have to retie a leader.  As scorpions are tricky little buggers and use the rocks to their advantage I decided I'll use a snag-less rig to mine.  Quickly brought out my caro case, first onto the leader went a 3g bullet sinker, then a clear glass bead, lastly an M size Tict offset hook, onto the hook another Gulp! glow oki-ami baby sardine 😁.  This yielded me another and bigger reward ... 

After a few more casts there wasn't much action so I took up the tactic of alternating between one end of the rock group and the other.  After some time, I had 4 notches on my rod, all scorpions, each one bigger than the last.  I was well chuffed!

The last one had destroyed the Gulp! so knowing that it was good game I went with a white Ecogear bug ant.  On my next pass to the other end I noticed a decent sized recess in the rocks ... 

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PICTURE

Now I had heard about whats called tetra-hole fishing, where one would find a "hole" amongst some tetrapods in the water and just drop the lure straight down and twitch it around hoping to, and often yielding results, get a scorpion.  Nothing to lose I thought!  The gap was just a bit further than rod's length (why didn't I bring out the BlueCurrent I thought 😄) so I put a little swing motion to the lure and dropped it right on target. Twitched it a bit and out came a big grouper, almost made me jump 😆, I wasn't expecting anything.  It looked at my lure a little unsure, so I twitched it again, a little more interested, another twitch, he grabs it, I strike, it's on!  Quick as lightning he darts back into the dark of the gap and I put all my efforts into reeling, adjusting drag and manoeuvring him back out.  A short fight ensues and he's out, some more fight and he's in front of me, me pulling out my tong grip getting him by the mouth because the body was too big for the mini grip, finally had him on the grid-work!  Definitely a PB for a grouper so I didn't want to lose him amongst the holes in the grid-work, frantically trying to get a photo, keep my footing, and keep him from getting away ...

BLURRY PHOTO AS A RESULT 😆

HERE'S ANOTHER I TOOK LATER ON SAFE GROUND 😆

After this one, the tide had receded quite a bit and I managed one more little tiddler before my stomach told me it was time to go.

---------INTERLUDE---------

After a short rest and an instant-noodle in-car meal, I took a time out to visit a historic site in the area to enjoy Spring's gift to Japan ...  

After this, I wanted to hit one more spot before heading home, a spot I have had some luck in the past.  Got to the mark and as the grouper had eaten the bug ant whole, I had on another Gulp! this time pinkish and speckled.  Walking along the water, here and there, casting out produced no results.  I was about ready to give up when pretty much just dead sticking I had something on.  At first sight again I thought it was a fugu but it turned out to be a very nice wrasse ... 

Well, I had had a great day and a very productive light game adventure, I was tired and it was time to head home.  Damn, I missed this!  Now that the weather is better and after today my hopes and spirits are high.  Cheers!

A couple of tiddlers and a couple personal bests

Haven't been out in a while as this damned weather has me wanting to just sit at home with the A/C blasting. Pretty much like a sauna outside, some 35+ C and 80% humidity. Anyway, had a day off so figured I'd head to the beach and get some fishing in at the same time. On the way to the beach, I had scouted out a little harbour nearby on google maps so made a stop there first ...

that dock to the left is where I set up. Got out my Bluecurrent and Twin Power, rigged it with a 1.5g Tict Ajista jig head (these ones http://tict-net.com/product/azisuta.html) and a Berkley Gulp 2" baby sardine in glow okiami colour. Started nearer the shore on the opposite side of the boats along the rocks in the water. Straight away I had bites and pulls but no hookups. Also saw a few bigger predators chasing my lure but no takes, think they must have been sea bass, but I don't know. After a few casts I managed to hook into a wee little scorpion and another shortly after, no pictures as they were'nt worth the trouble.

After some time there were no results and no takes so I figured I'd move along the dock further out into deeper water. Changed to a heavier jighead: 2.5g Aquawave Lockhead and stuck with the Gulp. Threw out and after a few casts I was into something, rod got a nice bend in it and the drag went screaming. Quickly readjusted the drag and started to reel the bugger in, put up a nice fight, I knew I had something decent. When it surfaced I wasn't immediately sure what it was but then realised it was a kibirechinu, black bream and a good size. Hadn't expected anything that size so I had left the landing net in the car. No way I was going to lift this one out with the rod, so I played it to the shore and onto dry ground, jumped down to get it and had to use my hands to grip it by the mouth as I don't have a lipgrip and the tong-type grips I have are much too small. Anyway, got him up onto the dock for a picture ...

the photo doesn't do it much justice but it came in at about 42cm. My best ever on light game gear! So I was well pleased! 

After this there wasn't much action anymore and it was midday with the sun right over my head, hot as all hell, so I figured I'd make my way to the beach and get in the water myself to cool down 

While at the beach saw a few people fishing for whiting (I think) off the breakwaters and later one guy with a pole waded into the swimming area (you can see it in the photo where all the people are) by the barrier, just with a simple two hook rig on ragworm, caught a small whiting. Another guy later, set up an interesting rig, it was a two hook rig tied around an empty Cola bottle, don't know if he caught anything though, didn't see.

After a few hours I figured it was time for me to get back to it again. Grabbed my gear from the car and setup on the right breakwater, pretty much at the end there (if you zoom in should be able to see it) used the same setup as before (Aquawave Lockhead 2.5g and Gulp baby sardine 2"). Started chucking out towards the little island here and there. Nothing doing for quite some time, figured I'll pack up and head elsewhere, just then something took. Started reeling in, nice bend in the rod, and got stuck. Not again I thought, a snag! Tried pulling one way, nothing, another way, nothing, stuck. Put some slack on the line and left it (sometimes this does the trick to get a snag loose with the current), couple seconds, feel some vibrations on the line. Put tension on the line again, reel in, stuck again, what the blood! Slack again, vibrations again. I figure when he got hooked he tried to hide among the rocks then when he felt the slack tried to run. Anyway, I fought him like this for a few minutes and finally got him to the surface. At first I thought it was a scorpion but this is what showed up ...

A hong kong grouper, or is it a redspotted grouper? Kijihata in Japanese. Another personal best for this species so I was chuffed!

Figured I'd stay on at the spot and try for some more. But after a while nothing doing. It was getting time for heading home so took another dip in the sea and called it a day. 

Good day all around!

This was July 30th. A bit late on the post due to laziness.

A bit of Sunday light game

Day off on the previous Sunday, so figured I'd head out for some light game fun and hopefully get the bluecurrent/twin power christened.  Had been out a couple times before but nothing doing.

So dropped the wife off at work and headed to a mark I had wanted to hit for quite some time just had never gotten around to it.  Got there about 7.00 in the morn, and got out on the rocks, open headland, set up my tackle:

Yamaga Blanks BlueCurrent 83/TZ

Shimano Twin Power 2500HGS

Sunline small-game PE-HG 0.4

Varivas light game leader 6lb

Chucked out, various spots.  Few seconds countdown, three/four upward twitches, rod tip at ~45°, hold it for a bit, for a curve fall.  Point the tip down parallel with the water and repeat.  Changed lures many times, different JG's with different SP's, 3/5/7g metals; threw em straight out, out around the rocks, the weeds, etc ... a bunch of very soft taps, try to strike but many times a-no-go.  Eventually got a damned pufferfish フグ/fugu (very first fish on the BlueCurrent, which just doesn't count cos them pufferfish, a bunch of assholes :D:D:D).  After, got a few mackies サバ/saba (not aji) about 10/12cm, just babies, so those don't count either :D. Other people got a nice sized scorpion アラカブ/arakabu, a greenling アイナメ/ainame, and a wrasse ベラ/bera.  Granted they were float fishing on bait, but figured I could still entice some on my light game lures, wanted to move over to the point they were fishing, but it was family day out, so didn't want to step on their ground. And then a bunch of shit ... got snagged 3, 4, 5 times in a couple hours, on the rocks, on the weeds, lost a brand new Jigpara 7g (got it a few hours before) on the first cast, finished off my Varivas leader.  Got fed up, moved down the road to a few other points.  Again, nothing doing, few taps but no hookups.

Few photos ...

Got hungry, so headed out to town and got myself some pork-bone ramen, very delicious.  After, stopped by a small tackle shop I had seen on the way to the ramen shop, asked for light game mark recommendations, and headed out to the closest spot the guy mentioned.  Again, bunch of people float/bait fishing, a few guys eging (squid).  Threw out a 3g iwashi coloured Arukazik metal (can see it in the picture), threw it out into the sea with a slow, low retrieve, right about the submerged rocks just in front of the breakwater hooked onto a scorpion アラカブ/arakabu ...

After this one, a few taps again on the line but again no hookups.  Right about now it was getting to low tide so figured I'd take a break and take a scout mission to a few of the other marks the guy at the tackle shop mentioned.  Eventually got to a very nice place (seen in the pictures) out by an abandoned hotel on the beach, rocky coast line.  Walked out a few hundred metres over very rocky ground, had to steady myself, trying to not slip and fall, got to a promising spot, set up and threw out my line.  It was very rocky and very weedy, also the current was quite strong, so I set up a texas rig with a 3g bullet sinker, red glass bead, offset hook 6#, and various SP's (Gulp, Breaden, Ecogear, Arukazik ...) these buggers they just shredded my SP's, every retrieve I had to change out the SP's.  Again got a puffer and eventually landed a decent, beautiful wrasse ...

After a bunch of taps but no hookups (got to get better on the reaction time :D:D:D), figured I'd call it a day, sun was going down and still had that walk/climb back to the car and didn't want to risk it in the dark, so headed out.  Snapped a few photos on the way back ...

All in all, was a good day out, even with all the frustration over losing a bunch of gear (over all lost three metals, almost an entire spool of leader, and a bunch of snaps, SP's, hooks and JG's).

Hope to get out to those marks again next time.

-147