Full Day Boat Game Part 1 – Ito Bay, Shizuoka

2008/09/272020/11/25

Game season for dolphinfish was nearly over, but I wanted to try out my luck for the one last chance. So, I drove all the way to Ito Bay again in the early morning heading for Ocean Tsurigu boat house. As passing by, I stopped by Tsuri Zamurai bait shop to pick up source and equipment for chumming for I was going to experiement it along with other methods.

I got to the boat house around 6am and loaded the row boat with fly tackle and spinning tackle with lures and bait, so that I can possibly kill time before upcoming shot time for blue runners.

Setting:

Fly tackle with type IV
Lure tackle with popper and jig (teaser and try out)
Bait tackle with balancer rig (to kill time)
Chum mesh bag w/rope (kryll, shrimp powder, minced anchovis, and worm powder)

Getting Sea Sick... Chumming Hell

The ocean didn't look mild in the beginｎing and the wind was blowing around 4-6m/s which was making wave little high for small boat, but I saw several boats already in action, so I decided to move on - bad idea. Row boat was constantly rolling every time big wave hit, anchor wasn't working effectively, and as soon as I got to the first point for jigging, I began to feel sick as I was tying the knots.

I recovered a bit and moved on to the next point for blue runners. I wanted to attract fish to surface as boat moved on, so I set the popper on spinning tackle as teaser and the chum mesh bag with my own recipe of stinky chum. Well... when I opened the chum bucket before filling up the bag, I smelled the first stench, then started to vomit like hell... 15 minutes of pure torture was a ceｒemony to get adjusted to the sea condition. Then I felt completely OK.

Bait Fishing and Experimental Deep Sinking Game

No fish was chasing the popper or chum slick, and the point was already filled with 4 other boats bait fishing with chum. I had no choice, but start bait fishing from the depth at 35-40m from surface which everyone else fishes. My plan was to move the chumming tackle upward as I bait fish, so that school of fish come closer to surface where they will notice my chum slick.

This plan worked a bit and the school of chub (pacific) mackerels were moving up to nearly 15-20m from surface. I changed to my fly tackle with type IV with experimental sinking rig I designed for day like this.

I had to give type IV at least 5 minutes to get to the same depth on my last trip, so I added a downshot sinker at the connection between fly line and leader. This will increase the sink rate without having too much casting or tangline problems.

I tied #12 sweet & sour shrimp pattern with 4/6lb test floro leader. It worked out and I got strikes by mackerels at about 15-20m depth range, and I caught every one of them. This time I brought a landing net!The feeling of blue runner? I loooooooooveeed it! Chub mackerels don't run far or all that fast, but the short strong pull feels great.

After I caught the fourth mackerel, strike stopped and I noticed the boat was drifting. When I was retrieving to move back to the previous point, I felt funny strikes via fly line like zip zip zip. It gave strong downward pull, but didn't feel like mackerel. When I landed, it was 14cm long crimson seabream! I never thought I was able to catch fish that tends to feed below mid range, so this method works (maybe only with chumming).

As I released this fish back to the water, she didn't swim fast enough to escape the hungry seagull. Sorry baby...

(Continues to Part 2)

I got to the boat house around 6am and loaded the row boat with fly tackle and spinning tackle with lures and bait, so that I can possibly kill time before upcoming shot time for blue runners.

Setting:

Fly tackle with type IV
Lure tackle with popper and jig (teaser and try out)
Bait tackle with balancer rig (to kill time)
Chum mesh bag w/rope (kryll, shrimp powder, minced anchovis, and worm powder)

Getting Sea Sick... Chumming Hell

The ocean didn't look mild in the begining and the wind was blowing around 4-6m/s which was making wave little high for small boat, but I saw several boats already in action, so I decided to move on - bad idea. Row boat was constantly rolling every time big wave hit, anchor wasn't working effectively, and as soon as I got to the first point for jigging, I began to feel sick as I was tying the knots.

I recovered a bit and moved on to the next point for blue runners. I wanted to attract fish to surface as boat moved on, so I set the popper on spinning tackle as teaser and the chum mesh bag with my own recipe of stinky chum. Well... when I opened the chum bucket before filling up the bag, I smelled the first stench, then started to vomit like hell... 15 minutes of pure toruture was a celemony to get adjusted to the sea condition. Then I felt completely OK.