Full Day Boat Game Part 1 – Ito Bay, Shizuoka
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)
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 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.
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)
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