FISHING IN JAPAN - SALTWATER

Our Southern Japan angling sample wouldn't be complete without a little salty sojourn, first up was a short half day charter with the most renown skipper in the bay area. Target - Sea Bass!

Skipper and friend were waiting as we arrived to board...

The office...

Getting rigged...

Serious stuff...

First blood! A joyous celebration ensues...

Suzuki aren't hard to catch at all, with the right captain!

Evergreen Marvie 70 worked best...

Most were juveniles but were fun and obliging...

Mized in with those were some better fish...

We fished offshore and in the river system as well...

The skipper showed great skill in getting the 30+ footer into tight confines...

Next we were back at base to pack and leave for our next adventure...

300+km roadtrip down south to Kagoshima...

To board a 6 hour ferry ride to Tokara...

Purpose built Japanese sport fisher...

Getting rigged and ready...

Time for some action!

It was a wet and wild ride once we left the safety of

the harbour. The weather was not to be and it

eventually forced us to cut our fishing down

to only a single day...

Fully rigged, with FCL Labo jigs and poppers of course...

Some jigged while others cast...

Wahoo on popper about to be landed...

A good start!

A big Trumpetfish from the deep...

Monster outfit getting a workout...

Prototype Poseidon Jig rod is as stout and stiff as it gets...

Tail hooked Thresher was the culprit...

Rare Blue-eyed Trevalla from the depths...

Toothy Gemfish - a terror from the deep...

Many small Amberjacks to keep us entertained...

Good fish giving the Poseidon Spin Jerker PE-4 rod a workout...

Colour after a long fight...

Happy but exhausted...

Horse of an Amberjack, over 30kgs. On FCL VM jig...

Another prized catch from the deep...

We got amongst hungry packs of tuna. Some like this pushing 20kgs...

FCL CSP Stickbait did the trick...

Another monster hooked on jig, long battle ensues...

The Poseidon has unparalleled lifting power for any rod in its class...

More excercise than he signed up for in a day...

A 40kg Tokara GT...

On the same FCL VM jig...

This 20+kg Doggie got unlucky...

More hook ups, more pumping...

Poseidon Spin Jerker, a rod for all demons of the deep...

This GT was in the twenties...

Looks like a prototype Javeline jig...

Tsurusaki-san got blown away by a big tuna which took his 50gm Ebipop...

Small Amberjacks worked themselves into a frenzy, it was a fish a drop...

The occasional bigger ones put smiles on tired faces, this one at dusk to end the day...

FISHING IN JAPAN - FRESHWATER

Last month we were invited to sample a variety of fishing Southern Japan has to offer. Our host was none other than the acclaimed Yoshitaka Tsurusaki and his mates from the FCL LABO and Evergreen Fishing stables. No time was wasted as we soon found ourselves setting up our tackles in the airport carpark!

Rigging in the carpark, so much for jetlag...

Our fishing hole - drains behind people's houses...

Our quarry - the Japanese Snakehead - Raigyo...

Our trusty local guide and master at the game...

The drains were clean and teaming with life such as carp...

They weren't hard to catch once you found them...

Snakehead often inhaled our weedless lures - like this

Evergreen Kicker Frog

Beautifully marked specimen on Kicker Frog...

One of the many drains and canal we covered...

Another vistim to a well-placed frog...

They came in all sizes, but were much bigger than the local

cousins we were used to catching...

Gear was simple - stout rods with thick lines and locked drags...

Hunter and hunted...

Small but beautiful specimen...

The master fooled some big ones...

It was surprising to find big fish in such tight waterways...

There were many different snakes which shared homes with snakehead...

Roadside warrior with captive...

Some weedbeds were too close to the tracks for comfort...

But they all held fish...

Another big one about to be released...

At some open areas we could target them with hardbodies,

this one an Evergreen Escarda...

Excercising the finer points of lure fishing...

Small Hera - a local Carp species...

Trying for Carp with a grass-wrapped concoction...

Change of scenery and new target species called for a change of plan...

Largemouth Bass!

First Largemouth, on dressed jig...

Bigger specimen on Megabass X-80...

Wrapping up the session with another victim of the whacky worm rig...