Fishing Amami and Tokara is slightly different to anywhere else I have fished, you wake up around 07.00am and then have breakfast and head out around 08.00/30am. It is very leasurily but you soon come to realize this is done as you fish till almost dark and also the body cannot handle much more fishing due to extreme conditions, casting heavy lures and fighting big fish! After breakfast we packed up the two minibusses and headed for the Marina and the legendary Big Dipper. At first glance she is an amazing boat, purpose built for GT fishing. We loaded a small tackle store onto the boat and headed out into the still very angry sea! Sami said to me don't worry this was normal weather and same as his last tip. I looked at it and thought it was going to be a long hard day and trip, but after the first 30 minutes of running into the sea at 22knots I realized that the Big Dipper was not a boat but a high performance GT Weapon!!
Loading up all the rods, for 5 people!!
Big Dipper!
Excellent rod storage along the side of the boat.
Loading up the gear
Heading out to sea
Tanaka-san giving the thumbs up with Taniy-san and Fukui-san at the helm
Sami and Ajiti-san in high spirits and always playing jokes.
We got to the first GT point and there was huge current, big waves and lots of wind. The water was crystal clear and the place just felt fishy! After a couple of drifts we moved to the next and last point off Amami before heading for the famous Tokara Islands. The last point was a couple of small islands sticking out of the sea in no mans land and just had GT written all over it! By now we had forgotten the weather and were just excited to try and hook up a fish, but we were reminded every now and then when the boat rocked at right angles to the sea and we almost got flung off the fore deck, but you soon got used to grabbing for the railings and holding on. Must say it is conditions that we would not be able to fish in Southern Oman on Center Console boats!!
Small islands
More islands
Sami casting with Tanaka-san in the background
Loving every moment, MH80H in action!
Fighting
47kg GT
Picture with Fukui-san! A lot of congratulations going around!
Now the interesting part came and something I have been wanting to see for a long time. Fukui-san while I was fighting the fish pulled a large long fish box from the stern of the boat and connected a pipe and used a saltwater pump to fill up the fish box and to create a current inside, he then with Taniy-sans help netted the GT and landed the fish, removed the barbless hooks and quickly put the fish into the fish box so the fish was in an upright position as if swimming, the current in the face of the GT to revive the fish. The fish was left in this postion for a good few minutes to revive. The fish was then tagged and removed from the box to measure and then onto a flat scale to weigh, I watched this with much interest and was very impressed how easy and accurate this method was. My fish topped the scale at 47kg!! A fantastic fish!
GT in the fish box reviving.
GT loaded onto the scale to get the weight. The good part of this system is that the scale is low on the ground and an accurate reading is possible.
The fish was then returned to the fish box. Now the seat was positioned for the picture and I was put in position for the picture and then after a couple more minutes the fish was removed form the fish box water and straight onto my lap for a picture and then released straight back into the water! This method was quick, relaxed and expertly done and causing the fish minimal trauma! This method is about the best I have seen and something we will adapt for our boats in Northern and Southern Oman.
Another picture of the fish. Very happy with with this fish and it will go in my top 5 caught!
I was over the moon to have caught such a great fish so early on the trip. So I took a few minutes while we did another drift to enjoy the moment and also to sit back and take in the environment and a great feeling of a long standing mission that has been accomplished! We set up for another drift and were starting the drift in 80ms of water, so Ajiti-san and Tanaka-san both changed to Pandora 155 lures and it was very interesting to watch them work the lures, on the 60m mark Tanaka-san had a hit and set the hook. With the Pandora being a sinking lure we could not see what the fish was but from the tell tail head shakes we were sure it was a GT, then from the back of the boat we heard a shout and Ajiti-san had also gone tight on a fish. A double hook up on Pandoras!! The guys fought the fish and got them up to the boat and the same procedure was followed. Two great fish of 33 and 30kgs landed and returned safely!!
Ajiti-san bending
Tanaka-san bending on the bow of the boat
Fukui-san getting ready to land Tanaka-sans fish
Double trouble!
Weighing one of the fish
Ajiti-san GT
Tanaka-sans GT
We finished a few more drifts with not much luck and then packed away the rods and were told it was going to be a long hard 2 hour run out to Tokara Islands! The Big Dipper turned and headed out into the huge swell cruising at 22 knots. This trip is definitely not for the faint hearted and must be how a UFC fighter must feel after 3 rounds, beaten up! You are bashed around and there is no reprive! When you are fishing you are trying to balance and hitting the railing, when you are casting or working the lures you are leaning and trying to brace yourself against the railing and then when you are in the cabin traveling you are trying to hold on and not fly off your seat!! And to put it all in one word! Awesome! After about 1.5 hours I was watching the radar and could see something big coming up about 10 miles away, I stood up and caught my first glance of the Tokara Islands. A few more minutes and Fukui-san started to throttle back and said ready?? A quick scramble to get kitted up and we were back up on the fore deck of the boat ready to cast! The sea was still angry but the water was clean and we could see shallow sea mounts dropping off into indigo water and it just looked like a big flashing billboard saying here are GTs!!
Tokara Islands
Konishi-san had given me a prototype Carpenter 80/40 rod to use with PE10. Extremely nice rod and very exciting to use a new rod that is not in production and I have not used before. I put on a Gamma 200 with 10/0 Decoy hooks and was ready to try hook the beast of the east! I was fishing off the stern on the boat and casting with the wind behind me, which was great and the rod had plenty of backbone to cast the heavy lure but a soft enough tip to work the Gamma very well. We had drifted about 250m when I saw a little green patch of shallower water coming up, I put a few casts at the area but fell short and then finally the green water came into range and I put a good cast over shallow reef. One and two pulls and a monster black GT came up behind the lure and smashed the lure but the hook did not set, the fish came in again and missed the lure and then from the side a smaller fish came flying in and took the lure right in front and the bigger fish, by now my heart was in my mouth and heart beat at about 300! I hit the fish and the fight was on, I lent on the rod and thought I would see what the rod had under the hood and I was not disappointed, the rod handled very well and I got the fish to the net in a short time. A very nice 28kg GT! A few pictures and the fish was released. Incredible day!
Fish in the reviving box
Happy with another good fish
We carried on our drift and ended up next to Kodakarajima island (small treasure island). Which had amazing shallow water, big current and crashing waves but we did not raise any more GTs. We headed towards Takarajima Island 9Treasure Island, apparently were Capt Cook burried treasure)where we were going to stay at a guesthouse for the night. We did some long drifts starting in about 80m of water towards the islands. And this was a new way of fishing, the guys were using pandoras and letting it sink down towards the bottom and pulling the lures up through bait balls which were marked on the depth finder. From the GPS I could see that this method worked very well as there were loads of points saved of fish caught but unfortunately for us we did not hook any GTs but Sami started to wrack up some species with a big bluefin trevally a good jobfish and a grouper on jig.
Sami with a good bluefin taken on the Gamma
Sami with a jobfish taken on Gamma.
With the sun setting we headed into Takarajima Port and to stay the night at a small guesthouse. All the equipment was left on the boat and there is no safety worry which was amazing. We took what we needed for the night and drove in 2 cars left for us by the guesthouse owners. We showered and had another great dinner and as we were relaxing we were asked if we wanted to go and try night casting for GTs as the flyfish were being pushed into the port!! Now this is something that Sami and I had talked about for many years and hoped we could try! Both of us were up and changed back into our fishing clothes and were ready! We headed back down to the marina and went out on Big Dipper to the port entrance. Very strange casting into the dark and you cannot see what is happening or what is coming, felt a bit like Russian rollette!! Just waiting for the bullet or hit!! When the lights were turned on we could see hundreds of flyfishing but unfortunately we did not get any hits and finally after a few hours the our bodies started screaming for some rest and sleep!
Dinner before night fishing
We got back to the guesthouse unrolled our bed rolls and fell into a deep sleep very quickly! Waking up the next morning a lot of aches and pains from the day before! Really new we were on a good fishing trip!! Now I really appreciated the late start in the morning, had time to wake up, have coffee, shower, have breakfast and get ready. After packing up we headed back down to the boat and headed out to start fishing. The islands of Tokara are really green and tropical with big mountains and beautiful to see.
Loading the gear for the night into the truck
Sami a very tired man!
Bed rolls on the floor, great for the back!
View from the toilet, got to love it!!
Catching a ride on the truck
