This is Keito here. I
went to Jeju island in Korea for fishing mainly amberjack.
The member this time was
Yoshi, Yuko and me from team Momoi, and Minami from HOTS, member of JGFA
together.
The target was
amberjack weight over 30kgs by casting.
The ocean around Jeju Island
is rich place that the average of the amberjack is about 20kgs and smaller than
10kgs are only called “mackerel”.
After meeting up at
the Jeju airport, we headed to hotel immediately.
As you can see from
photo, the exodus of tackle by a number of people was quite significant
After we arrived to
the hotel and prepared the fishing tomorrow, we went to have Korean dishes to
the market.
Jeju is famous for
orange and there were lots of orange in the market.
We wanted to have enough
sleep earlier soon after Jeju sake and dishes but it did not come true as we
had to make all the line system and prepare everything for fishing tomorrow.
On next morning at
almost the same time as the sunrise, we prepared for departure at 6:30am and
headed to the point.
My favorite time on the
boat is being attracted by my big fishing result and feel like I am really good
angler thinking “Wow how nice my fantastic fishing skills are… ” lol, the
second loving thing is to enjoy the time of being on the boat with sunrise.
This was actually my
first fishing trip abroad.
I felt the sunrise was
different from the one in Seto inland Sea or Wajima, which were both in Japan
and where I went for fishing mostly.
My tackle for this
time is the reel borrowed from my senior colleague (named: doomed reel, never
caught any fish) and the never-win belt with “being released” curved letter on,
borrowed from Ken who is my superior.
Everyone speaks about
this reel never going to catch any in the future as well.
I am also responsible
at releasing doom from the reel during fishing trip this time.
And this Harada’s never-win
“released” belt is almost new fighting belt as you can imagine from this name.
For the line for
jigging, I used Momoi Jigline MX8 Japanese No. 6 which is the PE line of our
company and knotted with Momoi Shock Leader 80lb.
This shock leader
has the same abrasion resistance as Fluorocarbon but much softer so that it is
so much easier to tightening the knots and line system and important elements even
for the people who are not good at making good knots like me.
After running the boat
for some time, Yuko got amberjack right after we arrived at the point.
For the jig was of
course HOTS’s Otoko Jig 280gr which is just suitable for amberjack in Jeju.
The character for jigging
in this area is that the sea depth is not so deep but there too many rocky
places under there. The key is how soon you can end one fight.
Otherwise, the line
break immediately as amberjacks got run into the bottom.
On that day, the
captain recommended us to do jigging instead of casting as there were calm tide
and fish did not come up on the surface of ocean.
As I sensed today
which has less activities for the fish, so I tried to jerk the jig rather slowly.
In my mind actually, I
was really so inpatient and was like “I want to catch soonest I can! Come on massive
amberjack!!! During the morning!!!” loosing and loosing my head as if my body
and mind would fell into apart, and next the thinking like “it is not going to
be very cool if I never catch anything after coming all the way from Japan” is
coming up and started to blame on this reel like “Oh yes, the reason why I am
not catching any is because of this doomed reel”.
When I almost fell
into the dark side completely like this, I got !! HIT !!!!!!
And at the next
moment, I got the amberjack perfectly on my line!!
I start going “Oh YES,
see, my super fantastic fishing skills” lol but not allowing me to think like
that, the amberjack pulled out my line strongly all the way.
I felt a great fear by
the strong power of amberjack that might break the line by scratching on the
rocks but I encouraged myself “I could say that one was surely over 30kgs if
the line breaks and ran out” to keep going.
And finally I landed
the amberjack.
Most of the time on
the 1st day, I was shooting with one camera and 2 video recorders
for people, so there is no photo of this moment.
The below photo was
taken by Minami of HOTS for us when I got fish together with Yuko when double
hit.
About half year has passed
since my fishing trip when I got the amberjack first time in my life, I finally
got the amberjack again in Korean sea.
It was quite
impressive moment and touching just like I felt when JAXA staff caught signs of
artificial satellite, Hayabusa, many times, so I feel like in nearest future
this scene may be made in to a movie, titled “Welcome back, Amberjack!”
Such exiting moments
and hits were continued but after noon past, gradually the result got decreased.
And finally we went back to the port around 17:00.
On that day, we enjoyed
the time very much although we could not really catch the one with 10kgs over.
After arrival back at the
port, we went to Japanese style restaurant and had a great diner with the
amberjack and yellowtail which we caught on that day.
We enjoyed special chain
of tastes, Jeju sake and amberjack and then more sake and yellowtail and one
more sake.
On the 2nd day,
we departed with the forecast that it would be rain in the afternoon.
As I got amberjack and
yellowtail yesterday, my safety nettings was created in my mind which makes me
feel much easier today.
I felt like I could catch
the amberjack even with the “doomed reel” which I did not use yesterday. And
then I dropped the jig from the doomed reel without any complicated thoughts, I
felt a hit on my line! And sparingly, I got the amberjack by that 1st
drop!!
Oops, I was about to
scream “How spectacular my greatest fishing skill is!! lol” but be patient not
to until I get, because if I loose this hook up, no doubts it is going to be
most uncool result. But I couldn’t hide my foppish smile
The hit jig was HOTS’ Keitan
jig.
Oops, I was about to
scream “How spectacular my greatest fishing skill is!! lol” but be patient not
to until I get, because if I loose this hook up, no doubts it is going to be
most uncool result. But I couldn’t hide my foppish smile
The hit jig was HOTS’ Keitan
jig.
Everyone thought that it
showed the good feelings ahead as I got the amberjack for the first cast so
easily with doomed reel but unexpectedly the situation was not good than
yesterday.
Different from the first
day, the tide was big and Yuko as usual started to throw up, jerking while
throwing up and got amberjacks but during moving to the points she completely
shut down and got up after reaching at the points.
Repeating this routine activity
all the way through.
Any smile vanished from
her face, I was just aside jerking but looking at her made me so unmotivated.
I was trying not to drop
myself to the dark side and encouraged myself and piled the results up.
Sometimes the line had
stuck on the bottom of the ocean but it is Momoi line!
It recovered from such
situation. That made also captain surprised by the strength of the line.
Let’s see if I collect
the questioners from anglers all over the world, I guess that “make up line system
on the boat during fishing” would be ranked within top 3 of what is the most of
the anglers dislike? column.
So this recovery happened
would mean a lot.
I ended up without making
up line system on the boat during this fishing session.
At the time when we already
went back to the port if yesterday, the weather got worse when we changed the
point.
The boat was jolted
strongly and the ocean looked very different from yesterday.
At that moment, everyone
on the boat started to get many hits.
Yoshi got the good size
of yellowtail by casting and also everyone who was doing jigging on one side of
the boat got the hit one after another.
Everyone got pleased to
the situation and it was hubbub, “Catpain, please hurry up here”, “Wowww this
is massive!!”, “Give the nets to that side”, “Help me Minami san (that is my
word)”.
During this hit, I got
Spanish mackerel by casting for the first time.
Actually, I had carefully
checked the casting line very carefully whether there was any scratch on the
line which I used little on the first day.
The casting tackle was
STELLA 18000HG, Momoi Ryujin No. 8 and Momoi Shock leader 100lb + 150lb.
As Ryujin is for the line
mainly for casting, it was quite easy to cast for like me as beginner.
Also, it has the
reputation from the market that it is easy to use and very strong. For plug, I
equipped HOTS’ Keiko Ocean 26cm Japanese Abalone.
It might be efficient for
Spanish mackerel.
At the time I got Spanish
mackerel, the captain adjusted the position of my fighting belt by the pre
information that the big targets were on the top area.
But I was almost ending
to wind up when Captain attached the fighting belt on me….
Any way this happened during
hit fever, I did not have any photos but only like below lol
For this time’s fishing
trip in Korea, I could not get the amberjack with over 30kgs but the total
result was really good and I satisfied.
I feel like I experienced
the atmosphere that good one will be there that professional anglers says
firsthand.
As I have never got the
fish more than 30kgs, I definitely want to catch the one for next fishing
trip.
<Main Tackle>
For Casting
Reel：Shimano STELLA 18000HG
Rod：HOTS Wei World 76XH
Plug：HOTS KEIKO OCEAN 260 Japanese Abalone / Aluminium model
Hook：Owner STINGER TREBLE ST-66 5/0
Line ：Momoi PE Ryujin Japanese No. 8 + Momoi Shock Leader 100lb, 150lb
For Jigging
Reel：Shimano SCORPION OCEA 3000P / PENN BATTLE 8000 / OCEA JIGGER 2000
Rod：HOTS SLOW STYLE (3G) 64M / One Pitch Slider SOS-56H
Jig：HOTS OTOKO JIG 280gr/ DEBUTAN 150gr / KEITAN 200gr
SeaFalcon Long Slider 210gr
Hook：VANFOOK JIGEN 5/0
Line：Momoi PE MX8 Japanese No. 6, No. 5, No. 4.5 + Momoi Shock Leader 80lb
Thank you!
