Just after fishing with our first Japanese group of the year, we received a second group to fish with. Morizo has a GT fishing charter in Japan. Like the previous Japanese group there was a lot of beautiful tackle on display. Even Yamada who has fished with us at Kirinda and Bolgoda, had a very nice Hammer Head Cherry Boy KOZ Special color…
First morning: the weather was very nice: sunny with a slight chop, perfect conditions for GT on topwater. I decide to head to a spot where we had a lot of action with the previous group. After 1h30 driving we arrived and saw lot of bait, but unfortunately the GTs were not active like the last time. They still managed to catch some fish and make a little action on board.
I tried another spot I hadn’t fished in a long time, the area looked calm, but on the second drift a small GT gang attacked Satoko’s pencil popper, she missed one, but her husband Ryuji, who had cast just behind the action caught one. Next drift: Morizo has a serious bite on his CB One Zorro and lands a very nice GT. The next two drifts yield nothing so we have a break for lunch. Generally, at lunch time I place the boat out of the spot but drifting toward the next spot I plan to fish. On this day I did the same. When the boat started to approach the reef I told everyone it was fishing time but I was told they want to take a small rest and invited me to fish if I wanted. I asked Yamada san, who I know well, if I could use his Ripple Fisher rod with his nice Hammer Head Cherry Boy KOZ Special color, a big gun I haven’t tried yet. Yamada san like a gentleman agreed. I stepped up to the anchor hatch at the bow, which is my favourite fish with stickbaits. Before I cast I took time to look for any activity on the flat sea and saw some ballyhoo jumping, not like they were being chased by a fish but more for fun. I cast in their direction. On the first retrieve the ballyhoo was playing jumping around my line. Second cast again in the direction of the ballyhoo and after two twitches BOOM!! a monster GT came from nowhere and smashed the stickbait. I struck like hell to set the hook properly, the Stella started to scream and wake up everybody on board. Achala the deckie who saw everything and understood what needed to happen for the next minutes, started engines and waited for my instructions. Like I do for the clients when they are with a big fish, I asked Achala to put the boat between the reef and the fish, to make sure he will not have the bad idea to reach the coral. It’s a fact with most of the fish if you pull in a certain direction, the fish will go in opposite direction, then if you put the boat between the reef and the fish, he will go in opposite direction i.e out of the reef in the deep water. Everything worked well – the fish was pulling out of the reef and I could start to pump the fish. But honestly, with the Ripple Fisher Ultimo 86 that was not so hard and after few minutes I landed the fish. It’s was only when the fish arrived on the deck, I really realized the size of this GT. Quick measurement (133 cm), pictures and I released the monster GT. The Japanese group congratulated me and I gave my thanks to Yamada San. Now everybody was wide awake and ready to fish again.
Just in case, I made a couple of drifts on the reef but there was nothing, then I changed to another area. I followed the reef to search for schools of bait, I spotted some on the surface and on the first drift Satoko has a bite on her Gamma Nemo and landed a decent GT. On the next spots and till the end of the day, they caught a couple of small GT.
Second day: the sea was flat and I decided to start on one of our jigging spots. The sonar showed great bait marks on the spot and some very nice marks of big fish around. Everything looked promising but unfortunately the fish didn’t want to bite. Only Morizo got on the board with a nice Emperor. Then I decided to change for a deeper spot close to the 100m drop off, where we caught Amberjack in the past. First drift: Akihiro landed an amberjack and Morizo a nice Rusty Jobfish. The next couple of drifts, no bite and the wind starts to blow, it’s time to go popping. First spot: not so much activity, just few bites of small fish. Second spot was full of bait in surface, who looked afraid. First cast, Ryuji misses a fish and finally Akihiro lands a small GT. On the next drift, Yamada san, who was fishing with his Hammer Head Cherry Boy has a serious bite and landed a very nice GT estimated at 30kg +. Next drift: a monster GT comes up on Morizo Pencil Popper but misses the lure. They caught some small GT and Morizo landed a nice Bluefin Trevally on stickbait.
Next day: I decide to fish again the area of the first day, but we start at a deep jigging spot and Yamada san lands a decent GT. Activity was poor, we left to try popping and on the second drift Morizo misses a big GT on his pencil popper, unlucky. We try some other spots but there’s no activity, then after lunch we go to try some shallow spots. We found some bait schools and caught some small GTs. Again Morizo has a serious bite of a monster GT, and this time the fish doesn’t miss his lure, he set the hook properly, I put the boat between the fish and the reef, everything was fine, Morizo has great pressure on the fish but for some reason the hooks come loose, really unlucky. We finish the day with some small GT caught on popper.
Last day: we try to target a big one at our deep water spots. It’s tough work because you need to use big lures and cast all day long to have one or two opportunities to land one of resident monsters of Kirinda. But the guys are keen to try. We find bait schools of fusilier and flying fish in very clear water early on in the morning. Morizo misses his third opportunity to catch a big one, but at the time his concentration was elsewhere and he was not looking his lure. It’s a point I always tell clients onboard « Keep watching your lure, it’s half of the fishing ». On that spot 3 fish come and they miss all. I think the fishermen were burnt out on the last day. GT fishing is a hard fishing technique that tires you mentally and physically. To beat this the Japanese Group mix the day between popping and light jigging on the reef. On light jigging it was nonstop action with Groupers, Blue Trevally, Jobfish & Rainbow Runner like the one Morizo caught.
After lunch we move to a different area. On the first drift Satoko has a serious bite on her Gamma, she set the hook well, the fish takes a lot of line & I try to move the boat for her, but she couldn’t put too much pressure on her PE 4-6 rod and finally the line broke on the reef. She had her revenge on the next drift with nice size GT. Later, Yamada, again on his big stickbait, has a big bite, when he set the hook the braided line broke for no reason. Bye bye Hammer Head Cherry Boy! The wind started to blow and we decide to head back early.
This was another great trip with our Japanese fishermen, lots of fun and action. A special thank you to Yamada for his rod. I hope to see Morizo again, like he promised me. He’s a really nice guy and fishes very well. He was unlucky on this trip with the big fish but I’m sure he will have his revenge next time.
Nico
Species Caught:
GT, Rusty Jobfish, Amberjack, Long Nose Emperor, Grouper, Rainbow Runner, Blue Trevally
Tackle Used:
Rods: Ripple Fisher, Cb One, Carpenter
Reels: Shimano Stella, SOM jigging reel
Lures: Hammer Head Cherry Boy, Carpenter Gamma and Zeus, Shell Shaping, Craft Bait, CB One Zorro
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