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 ...
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| 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 ...
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| BLURRY PHOTO AS A RESULT 😆 |
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| 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!
