I met up with the group in Colombo and we travelled together to Kirinda talking fishing during most of the journey there. To guide Japanese anglers is always a pleasure, they fish very hard and generally very well (especially for GT) and always come with high end rods, reels, lures and accessories not available on the western market. The leader of the group was Morizo San who runs a charter boat for GT fishing off Okinawa Japan, the four others guys were clients who had mostly started fishing for GT with him.
Morning of the first day: the Japanese arrived with 15 popping rods and dozens of pouches packed with lures. Each guy had 3 dedicated rods, one to fish popper, one for stickbait and the last one with a Carpenter Pandora or Zeus. Tackle Porn!!! We don’t see this kind of arsenal onboard of No Limit very often. All the lures where rigged with the new Japanese system of twin short assist hooks, which according to the group increase the hook up compared to the classic treble hook. I have seen these kinds of hook with previous groups earlier in the season and my conclusion after their trips was 50/50, I believe this system has merit but with bigger hooks especially for big fish.
We start at one of our deep water spots. The water was very clear and we found some schools of bait. On the first drift Ryosuke caught the first GT of the trip with a Pandora. At the same spot they caught some GTs, missed a big Spanish Mackerel and a Sailfish followed Tomohiro San’s stick bait right up to the boat. Just before lunch we changed areas and like the previous spot we found lots of bait schools. The guys caught and missed dozens of fish but nothing big. A slow start for the trip, but I had a good feeling for the next 3 days.
Second day: Choppy Seas, but in Kirinda that rings the bell for a big one. The morning was slow with the guys managing some small fish with their Carpenter Zeus and Pandora in deep water. In the afternoon we found plenty of bait schools with one that was clearly being harassed by GTs. The bait were swimming packed tight on the surface. Immediately the guys changed their lures and most chose floating stickbaits like Carpenter Gamma. Ryosuke was the first to cast right on the border of the bait. First twitch and he caught a fish, same story for Nagashima and the other guys. It was very good action, every drift the guys caught or missed a fish, not big GTs but great action . Achala the decky was kept very busy with the landing net. From past experience I knew a big one would come soon, I advised Kazu to change his stickbait for a Hammer Head E-cup popper and on the next drift he caught a decent GT. Tomohiro changed his Gamma for a bigger stickbait. On the next drift, I saw a small school of bait separated from the main school, I pointed it out to and ask Tomohiro to cast. Two twitches and a big GT smashed the lure. Tomohiro struck well, twice, the reel screaming like hell. I started the engines and moved the boat right on the fish to put Tomohiro on top because here it’s shallow, only 6 m. Giving instructions to Tomohiro about the depth, he put two cranks on his drag, his rod was fully bent and few second later… no more tension…. the lure came back with two hooks broken !!! As usual in these circumstances, the Japanese took pictures analysed the hooks and tried to find a reason for the hooks breaking. The technical fishing meeting stopped, when I told the guys GTs were about and they were active and they shouldn’t miss this opportunity. There was non stop action with small GTs till the end of the day, but no big ones came to the party. Towards the end of the day Ryosuke caught a nice Spanish Mackerel which provided us with sashimi for dinner that night.
The following day the weather was nice with a slight chop. I decide to change area and check for activity on our shallow water spots. On arrival at the first spot, we found bait schools and on the first drift we had a double hook up for Ryosuke and Tomohiro on stickbait. The GTs looked hungry this morning!!! Luckily that was the case each drift at we had up to 3 hits. Ryosuke has a very big swirl behind his Gamma, finally the fish took a shot at the lure but he missed it. At that time Tomohiro had a crazy bite with a nice GT that went airborne with the lure. Tomohiro struck hard and put big pressure on the fish due to the shallow depth (only 3m) and finally landed a nice 20/25 kg dark GT. On the next drifts Ryosuke had his revenge with a fish in the same range on his Gamma and Morizo also got in on the action with another nice fish on pencil popper. Slowly the crazy activity slowed and we decide to do some jigging just before lunch. On the first drop Morizo landed an Amberjack, at the same time Kazu went tight with a nice GT on his PE 3 jigging rod. After lunch, the wind started to blow. It’s time to go popping again on the reef. Like the morning, the fish were very active. The guys caught and missed some small GTs. But like the day before I had a feeling a big fish was lurking nearby so I told to the guys to be ready. Kazu was the first one to have the big fish hit his Hammer Head E-cup. The fish took a lot of line and didn’t give me time to move the boat to assist Kazu finally breaking the line on the reef. GT: 1 – Fisherman: 0. The next fisherman to connect to a big fish was Nagashima on his Gamma 140. A huge GT’s back has split the water surface, rushing on the lure and finally smashing it in a big swirl. Nagashima struck well and put a lot of pressure on the fish but again the line touched the reef and sadly he lost the fish. GT: 2 / Fisherman: 0. We finished the day with a total of 27 fish landed for 50 bites. What a day!!!
The last day, the Japanese were very keen to go fishing, but the fish weren’t hungry compared to the previous days. They still managed some GTs. Morizo had a big fish on his pencil popper but the fish missed the lure, unlucky. The last fish was caught by Kazu, a nice Bluefin Trevally to finish the trip.
This was a great trip with good action, the big GT are back on the reef and look hungry. As I said at the start of this report, guiding Japanese fisherman is really a pleasure and I hope to see these guys again soon for new adventures.
I will finish this report with my final opinion about using the twin hooks on lures. For me it’s not a miracle solution to increase hook up ratios, but this system does give a lure better action especially for stickbaits and does far less hook rash damage to your lure. Morizo kindly gave me some Studio Ocean Mark Twin Hook to try and I’ll report back on my findings soon.
Tight Lines
Nico
Species Caught: GT, Spanish Mackerel, Bluefin Trevally, Amberjack, Grouper
Tackle Used:
Rods: Ripple Fisher/ CB One/ Daiwa/ Shimano/ G-Craft
Reels: Shimano Stella 10000 & 18000, Shimano TwinPower and Daiwa Saltiga
Lures: Poppers – Hammer Head/ Shell Shaping/ Craft Bait | Stickbaits – Carpenter Gamma, Bluefish, Pandora, Zeus | Jigs – CB One
Hooks & Line: SOM Twin Hook
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