For the last few years, I have been lucky to have had some great Japanese clients and made a couple of trips to Japan. It has been a great experience to learn new techniques, see new products, understand why products have been developed and generally get a better understanding of where and how Giant Trevally (GT) fishing has developed. This has also greatly changed the way that I fish and how I run our charter operation in Oman.
Over the years there has always been one place in Japan that has been talked about with a mystical tone and somewhere that I have always wanted to visit and fish, and that is The Tokara Islands! It is a place of legend and there are endless stories of monster fish, bad weather and of course, the boat Big Dipper and Capt. Fukui-san! This is the home of fishing for Giant Trevally.
When Konishi-san, the President of Carpenter Fishing Rods, and Mogi-san, the owner of Pro Shop Mogi, invited and arranged a trip for me to Tokara, I had no hesitation in saying yes!
We arrived in Osaka Japan and met up with the team and then took another domestic flight to The Amami Islands. The excitement was palpable. As we flew south and could see the sea, everything looked perfect, though Konishi-san had warned us that the weather could be bad due to a typhoon off the coast. However, fingers crossed, so far, so good. As we started to descend, one of the guys nudged me to look out the window… heartbreak – the sea was upside down, wind pumping and dark clouds! The sea was very, very angry! Yet this is a part of fishing; when the weather and conditions can’t be perfect all the time, although we always wish it could be!
After the initial disappointment, we soon cheered up as we were arriving in Amami and for me, a new place to visit and experience!
We were greeted by Capt. Fukui-san’s wife and quickly learned that we would not be heading out for The Tokara Islands due to the weather. We arrived at Fukui-san’s house, which sits on a point right above the beach. Amami is a beautiful tropical island with sugarcane, palms and an island-style, laid back vibe. We unpacked and started to rig up the gear.
Fishing Amami and Tokara is slightly different from anywhere else I have fished; you wake up around 7:00 a.m. and then have breakfast and head out around 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. It is very leisurely for normal fishing, but you soon come to realize this is done because you fish almost until dark and also, the body cannot handle much more fishing due to extreme conditions, casting heavy lures and fighting big fish! After breakfast on the second day, we packed up the two minibuses and headed for the Marina and the legendary boat Big Dipper. At first glance, she is an amazing boat; purpose-built for GT fishing. We loaded a small tackle store onto the boat and headed out into the still very angry sea! I looked at the sea and thought it was going to be a very long hard day and trip, but after the first 30 minutes of running into the sea at 22 knots, I realized that the Big Dipper was not a boat, but a high performance GT weapon!
We got to the first GT point off Amami where the current was huge, with big waves and lots of wind. I started fishing off the stern of the boat to get the feeling of the boat and to try and calibrate my sea legs! Not easy initially with a huge swell and rough conditions, but slowly we got used to the conditions and started enjoying ourselves and being out on the water and fishing in a new place! The water was crystal clear and the place just felt fishy!
After a couple of drifts, we moved to the next and last point off Amami before heading for the famous Tokara Islands.
The last point was a couple of small islands sticking out of the sea in no man’s land and just had GT written all over it! By now, we had forgotten the weather and were just excited to try and hook a fish, but we were reminded every now and then when the boat rocked at right angles to the sea and we were almost flung off the fore deck though we soon got used to grabbing for the railings and holding on. I must say, it is in these conditions that we would not be able to fish in Southern Oman on Centre Console boats!
By this time, I was on the bow of the boat casting into the shallow areas and working big hand-made Gamma stickbait lures, then one of the guys let out the all familiar GT cry and I looked up and saw a good fish swirl under his lure which had not hit it; the fish came back again and missed, and then disappeared. By now, our GT adrenalin was pumping and this was what we had come for! Now the night before we had been talking, and the guys had said that around Amami the GTs were smaller, around the 25kg to 30kg mark, so this was the size of fish we were expecting.
I put out a long cast with the wind with the new Carpenter Monster Hunter 80H custom rod Mogi-san had given me and started working the 160 Gamma (amazing lure) back towards the boat with long strokes, when from the side, a massive black shape came up, rolled on the lure and almost pulled me off the bow of the boat. I struck the fish several times making sure the hook was set properly and the game was on! Now on the fore deck of the Big Dipper, you stand about 2m above the water line so I opted to get to the stern of the boat to fight the fish so I didn’t end up overboard. I slowly got a bit of line back and used the fish as leverage to walk the fish to the back of the boat. Finally in position, I started to work the line back. Another strong burst and with line peeling off the reel, I thought that these Japanese GTs were very strong for 30kgs! After getting some more line back, I could see the fishes’ number plate way down in the water, the fish must have been 40m away which you could clearly see as the water was so clean. I got the fish up to the boat and it was clear that the fish was way over 30kgs. An amazing fish for Amami and I was very happy with my first Japanese GT! The fish weighed in at 47kgs!
I was over the moon to have caught such a great fish so early on the trip, so I took a few minutes while we did another drift to enjoy the moment, and also to sit back, take-in the environment and enjoy a great feeling of a long-standing mission accomplished!
This was the start of an amazing trip that took us out to the Tokara Islands. We stayed in a different small guest lodges out on the Tokara Islands every night and ate some of the best food I have had the privilege of eating, everything from young bamboo shoots to squid ink noodles. The reason I love fishing is not for the actual physical part of catching a fish, but rather for the experiences, the places I get to see and the people I get the meet. Truly, catching a fish is a bonus!
After three hard days of fishing, we ended up with a total of 10 big GTs and a host of smaller fish. But finally, our time in Tokara came to an end and we headed back to The Amami Islands.
The following day, we packed up amidst driving winds and a big storm that we had just managed to miss. It was sad to be leaving Amami and Tokara but we will be back again. This trip was really amazing and something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I have said it before and I’ll say it again; when I found GTs in Oman and started GT charters, I thought I knew everything about fishing and now, 8 years later, I realize how little I know and how much I still have to learn. It is not all about power and high drag settings; there is a whole culture of how GT fishing evolved and a great history and it is great to be able to spend time with people like Konishi-san and Fukui-san, and continue to learn.
Finally, as we drove away from Fukui-san’s house, I turned around and in true Japanese hospitality, Fukui-san was standing in the pouring rain, waving goodbye to us till we were out of sight about 1.5km down the road.
For more information on fishing trips or fishing products, come in and visit us at our Fishing Shop in the Dubai Garden Centre or follow our trips and reports on www.facebook.com/oceanactive. Tight lines!
Published in September 2012
