Back to the east coast for a two-day trip, fishing offshore Rompin. We were fishing on Captain Heng’s boat skippered by Ah Pei with Shafiq as the deckhand. The anglers were me, Wong and Kieran (for Day #1 only). The trip was split into two parts –we were going to primarily target bottom fish on Day 1 and switch to hunting pelagic species on Day 2. We were particularly keen to try for wahoo, as there had been a number of reports of wahoo being caught on the east coast in previous weeks.
Day #1 (06.04.24)
There’s not much to say about Day 1. The weather was good and we headed out eastwards in the general vicinity of Tioman Island, and we were full of optimism:
Tioman Island (06.04.24)
The crew worked hard, methodologically working through their tried and trusted marks where we tried both fast jigging and bottom fishing with live prawns. But it was a very slow day. We suffered the occasional bite-offs when fast jigging at some locations, but had nothing to show for our efforts. Bait fishing was a bit more productive and we slowly started to build a mixed bag of demersal species, including emperor fish, groupers and snappers; although most were on the small side:
Emperor fish
We did manage to get sporadic action with larger Russell’s snapper, with fish up to about the 3lb mark:
Russell’s Snapper [1.5kg]
Day #1 catch (06.04.24)
We did have enough for a decent dinner, though. And I have to say that the Russell’s snapper were absolutely delicious, either fried or steamed, at our favoured Rompin Baru restaurant:
Steamed & fried Russell’s Snapper
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Day #2 (06.04.24)
Another day with good fishing conditions. But, in contrast to the previous day, we set off in a subdued mood almost devoid of optimism! This time we headed in a more north-easterly direction. We could still see Tioman in the distance but were offshore of the northern tip of the island.
After a couple of stops looking for fish, we arrived at mark #3 of the morning, an unjam (FAD). Unfortunately, there was a commercial fishing boat (the owner of the unjam) tied up there, waiting for the evening squid fishing. Undeterred, the captain anchored about 30m off the unjam.
I had a glance at the fish finder – there was nothing showing on the scope, but I commenced fast jigging anyway. On about the third or fourth drop I noticed the line suddenly start peeling from the reel, faster than the usual jig fall speed. After I couple of seconds, I flipped the bail arm and my rod loaded up:
Fish on!
The fish made a power dive down to the sea bed, and then held deep in a slow, ponderous fight. Shafiq reckoned it was a cobia, and given the nature of the resistance, I was inclined to agree. I carefully worked the fish to the boat, as it made a number of short runs, until we finally got colour, and then a good sized tenggiri (narrow barred mackerel) came into view, foul-hooked in the side. Shafiq swung the gaff and we had fish #1 of the day safely landed, at 7 kg close to my personal best for this species:
Tenggiri #1 [7kg] (07.04.24)
After landing this fish, Shafiq immediately deployed a live-bait, with a short length of 30lb wire bite trace, on Wong’s Shimano Grappler BB PE1.5 rod / Spheros SW4000XG set-up. The live-bate was hit immediately, and Wong stepped up to fight fish #2, which took off on a screaming run around the stern before thrashing at the surface off the starboard side. Shafiq saw that it was a wahoo, one of our target species. Wong kept calm, and worked the fish to the gaff, a nice wahoo of 6 kg:
Wong – Wahoo [6kg] (07.04.24)
It was the first wahoo that I’d ever seen in the flesh. A very impressive looking predator. We immediately reset a live-bait in an attempt for another. Within ten minutes, we hooked-up again. I took action stations and fought another good fish on Wong’s PE1.5 set, the little Spheros reel fizzing as the fish sped off. Unfortunately, not another wahoo, but a very respectable and welcome tenggiri of 6 kg:
Tenggiri #2 [6kg]
After a short hiatus, Wong caught tenggiri #3 on a jig, a small fish of 2 kg that he declined to photograph. I took the next fish, tenggiri #4, that fell to a live-bait:
Tenggiri #4 [3.5kg]
As the session progressed, the tenggiri bite started to slow. The skipper added a nice, plate sized red snapper that he retained to give to his mum:
Ah Pei – Ikan Merah
Then, Wong hooked up to a good fish on his new Zen Zagan Tai Chi/Saragosa SW6000 PE2.5 set. It initially came in quietly, and I thought it was small or that Wong had his drag too tight, but as it approached the boat it came alive and set of on a powerful run. It was obviously a good fish, and Wong soon had it landed, tenggiri #5, another 6 kg fish and a good catch to christen his new rod and reel:
Wong – Tenggiri #5 [6kg]
We’d now landed 5 tenggiri and a wahoo in a crazy couple of hours from c.11.30 am to 1.30 pm. It was time to move of and search for dorado.
As we headed northwards towards the next unjam marks, we spotted a school of good-sized dorado porpoising purposefully along. We approached the nearest unjam and set out some live-baits. As we drifted past the marker floats, the baits become twitchy, but nothing was enticed to strike. We reset, but still no action. We moved off and tied up at the next unjam – Shafiq could see dorado holding under the floats, but again, they weren’t in the mood to eat. So, we moved again to the next unjam.
As we tied up, Shafiq could see dorado one again. I commenced fast jigging and, after a couple of drops, got a strike and hooked-up. As I worked the fish to the surface, we could see that it was a dorado, and it was being shadowed by a couple of other dorado. The captain tossed out a live-bait as I kept the fish near the boat. Boom, the live-bait was immediately taken by one of the trailing dorado. I brought my fish to gaff and was passed another rod with a live-bait already deployed and with a dorado on …! Crazy, three fish in five minutes. And success at our third stop, for the second time today!
In a hectic hour’s fishing, between c.2.30 – 3.30pm, we hooked up and landed 9 hard fighting dorado, ranging from c.6 to 9lb in weight, both bulls and cows:
Dorado (07.04.24)
Bull & Cow Dorado
Wong had now caught 3 different, and good sized, pelagic gamefish which qualifies him for a pelagic slam. Now, in the midst of the dorado bite, Wong’s PE1.5 rod slammed over in the rod rest as a good fish took his bait. Wong picked up as a sailfish breached and then screamed off. Wong was shocked and shook his head in disbelief, thinking that he had no chance of landing the fish on the light gear. I told him to stay calm, work the fish slowly, and that the short wire bite trace might protect his 30lb fluorocarbon leader from being chaffed and that he had a chance to land this fish.
After the initial long run, the fish settled down and Wong was able to gradually work it to the boat, for an excellent catch and release on light jigging gear, a sailfish of c.15 kg:
Wong – Grand Slam Sailfish (07.04.24)
Now Wong had achieved a Peninsular Malaysia east coast sailfish grand slam (sailfish + 3 other pelagic species), a memorable day’s fishing. And his light PE1.5 set-up had accounted for each of the different species! Excellent angling.
The sailfish marked the last fish of the session. It was already 3.15 pm and we were a good 1.5 hours from shore. We were also loaded up with fish, and very satisfied with the day’s fishing. We arrived back at the jetty by 5.00 pm, in good time to sort the catch, take some photos and head back to the homestay for a shower and then out for dinner:
Day #2 catch
Day #2’s tally was:
5 tenggiri to 7 kg
9 dorado to 4 kg
1 wahoo (6 kg)
1 sailfish (c.15 kg)
Unfortunately, Kieran had chosen the wrong day to fish, but we earmarked a couple of dorado and a tenggiri to take back to KL for him, as compensation for Day #1’s poor fishing.
We plan to return in late September, to do a Rompin-Tioman trip. Wahoo will be one of our target species. Stay tuned.
Port Dickson 2024 season series trip #2. In a moment of obsession (or is that madness …), I signed up for this Saturday trip which was the day immediately following my Pekan trip. This meant that I arrived back from Pekan late Friday evening, had to unpack my car, sort-out my dirty fishing clothes, sort out my fishing tackle for the PD trip and try to fit in a little sleep. I arrived at PD understandably tired after only 4 hours sleep, but was met with reasonable weather conditions, albeit a little breezy and choppy first thing as we headed out offshore. The breeze soon dropped though for near perfect fishing conditions.
The fishing group on this trip included the PD newbies, Wong and Kieran, together with Arif and Azam. Unfortunately for the new anglers, the fishing was uncharacteristically slow. We tried various marks for talang queenfish, but only found sporadic activity. Arif scored two on jigs, but everyone else was struggling lure fishing. The deckie, AJ, tried soaking a prawn dead-bait, and was delighted to hook and land a plump golden trevally, a fish on his wish-list. Given the slow bite, I decided to try my luck with bait too, and was soon rewarded with good take and hook-up to a strong fish that fought deep, a second, slightly smaller golden trevally of 3.5 kg:
Golden Trevally
Wong was still trying fast jigging, and got a strike, only for his line to go slack. When he reeled in, the pigtail curl of leader was proof of a knot failure on his leader to lure connection … tut tut, a lesson to learn! He then switched to prawn bait and missed a decent bite, a probable golden trevally chance.
Kieran was the next in action, a reasonable talang falling victim to his prawn bait:
Kieran – Talang Queenfish
Now, the talang had taken over the area. I followed up with a second hook-up on prawn, but this fish immediately headed up and fought at the surface, in complete contrast to the earlier golden trevally fight, another talang queenfish. Kieran and the deckie added one more each before me moved off in search of other quarry.
Despite marking large schools of sagai, we only picked off for our five – they didn’t seem to be in the mood for feeding. We ended up in the shallower water close to the coast, targeting torpedo scad (cencaru), with everyone catching in our haul of c.20 fish.
Talang, Trevally and Torpedo scad bag (16.03.24)
It was a slow day, but still enjoyable. And Wong has yet to catch a talang to add to his list of species!
The season starter for the east coast, first session of the year at Pekan. This trip was organised by Willi, and consisted of Willi, Azam, Justin an me. Due to it being the fasting month of Ramadhan, Azam joined for the first day only.
The team (14.03.24)
Day #1 (15.03.24)
Despite an unfavourable weather forecast, with stiff north-westerly winds at the tail end of the monsoon, weather conditions were actually near perfect. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of the fishing. It started off well enough, with the skipper getting a nice ebek (diamond trevally), of on the first drop (Captain Angah, who else …!?), even before I’d had time to tie on a jig. About 15 minutes later Willi hooked a small ebek bulat (threadfin trevally):
Threadfin trevally [Ebek bulat]
I followed up with a small barracuda, and missed two probable ebek nibbles on jig and live prawn. But it was slow going.
We switched to tipping our jigs with live prawn and started getting some plate sized emperor fish and occasional small snappers, but still nothing to get excited about. Azam added a small diamond trevally, a new species for him, on prawn-tipped jig in the late morning. A comparison with the threadfin trevally shows the differences between these two species, often both referred to as ebek (albeit these are juveniles, so both have threads on their dorsal and anal fins), the threadfin has a rounded head versus the angular head and protruding snout of the diamond trevally:
Diamond trevally [Ebek]
The deckie added a couple more ebek bulat, with a decent 3.5kg fish, to the catch. And that pretty much describes the catch for the day. It started off slow and then tailed off …! Oh, except for the captain, who caught a big tenggiri of 6.5 kg whilst trying out Willi’s pintail casting outfit. Me and Willi both blanked on pintails, despite the odd knock from probable small ‘cudas. At least we had something for the evening dinner, we enjoyed fried tenggiri, steamed ebek Nyonya and emperor fish in fermented bean sauce at Restoran Sri Pekan:
We left Azam to head back to KL and we departed for Day #2’s fishing with muted expectation and enthusiasm. The captain went further offshore and we started off casting pintails for tenggiri (narrow barred mackerel). It took only a handful of casts before Willi hooked-up and brought in the first fish of the day. 9.40am and we are already off the mark:
Willi – Tenggiri #1
Justin then got bitten off, losing a new original silver red-head pintail. Half an hour later, I got a good strike on a pink/silver original pintail (the colour was the captain’s suggestion), and swung aboard the second tenggiri of the day, a decent 10lb fish, and a first fish on a new Temple Reef stealth spinning rod:
AG – Tenggiri
Not to be outdone, Willi landed his second tenggiri barely 5 minutes later:
Willi – Tenggiri #2
I then pulled the hook on a fish, and then got my pink pintail bitten off at the surface during the next hour or so of fishing. We moved off just before noon, and the loose plan was to fish live-bait for coral trout. I think the plan changed when the captain found a boat anchored-up nearby and catching trevally. We joined the party and the deckie hooked-up first on my Grappler BB slow-pitch outfit and I took over the rod to bring in a yellow spotted trevally of 3kg.
AG – Yellow spotted trevally (3 kg)
We all now switched to trotting live-baits, with an egg sinker slid just above the hook, down current from the boat. We followed up this initial trevally with further fish in an action-packed couple of hours, including a number of double hook-ups:
Bludger & Yellow spotted trevally
And we build up a decent catch:
I got 4 yellow spotted trevally plus a bludger trevally (jemuduk)
Willi got 4 yellow spotted trevally (to 3.5kg)
Justin landed 2 yellow spotted trevally and a bludger
Willi – Yellow spotted trevally (3.5 kg)
Justin – Yellow spotted trevally (c.3.5 kg)
Of course, we couldn’t compete with Captain Angah, who landed a succession of trevally, seemingly with every new live-bait drop, and topped it of with a large, hard fighting threadfin trevally aka (ikan bulat, African pompano) of just under 5kg.
We finished off the session by resuming our quest for tenggiri from mid-afternoon. But it was very slow, as we moved from mark to mark. Justin did land a nice talang queenfish to complete his session, part of a double strike (Willi pulling the hooks on his fish). I had one further tenggiri strike that I failed to hook before it was time to head back to the dock on Pekan River.
We’d rescued our trip on Day #2 with a decent haul of fish, a mixed trevally and tenggiri bag:
Port Dickson 2024 series season starter! The usual core crew – Captain Apek + a new trainee deckie, Arif, Husni, Shekman and me plus Razif and one other angler (whose name I forget).
This was my first trip since my recent Indonesian Sulawesi fantasy fishing adventure, and I was suffering a bit of a fishing hangover. We started out with our usual routine, targeting talang queenfish and other pelagics at various seabed structure marks. Initially, the fast jigging was productive, with talang being caught at regular intervals. I started out using my new PE3 set-up (as used in Indonesia) to try to test it out on a talang or two. I was also using a largish (100g), White Rabbit silver/red-head jig. I got a missed strike and a couple of follows early on in the session, but then it went quiet for me. The other anglers were still catching though, and I’m surmising that my jig was probably larger than the forage species that the fish were feeding on.
We then switched to bottom fishing, trying to find snapper. One decent sized ikan merah was caught together with some smaller brown line snappers. I managed a small emperor fish and snapper, but it was pretty slow fishing.
However, in the afternoon we started to see activity as schools of talang crashed bait at the surface. I’d brought a light spinning rod for just this scenario, and had a new idea to try out – I’d bought some spinner blade accessories on my recent trip to Japan:
Casting jigs with spinner blade spoons
I set-up a couple of jigs with blades, clipped on a 30g blue/silver jig and cast into the frenzy. After letting the jig sink for about 15 seconds, I started a steady retrieve …. boom, I was hooked up! I worked the fish to the boat, but it fought hard on the light set-up and managed to pull the hook during a power dive at boat-side. When I checked my jig, the hook had opened up enough to let the fish escape. I was surprised as the hooks seemed strong and I was only using light drag. I attached a new spinner blade and as soon as we got within casting distance of surface activity I hooked-up again, only for the same thing to happen, in addition, the oval split rings, that had come with the spinner blade, had also deformed. I re-rigged with my usual split rings and a trusted small hook, and also changed the jig to a heavier ping/silver model to counteract the increasing breeze and improve my casting distance. The next cast and I was hooked-up again, and this time landed the talang.
We spent the next hour or so chasing the birds and surface activity. Anglers were picking off talang on casted jigs, or mid-water beneath the boat with standard fast jigging. A good-sized mackerel tuna (aka tonkgol) was also caught in the mix.
After the surface action petered out, we returned to bottom fishing, with only slow returns, until it was time to return to the dock. The final catch tally was:
21 talang c.6-9 lb range
1 red snapper (ikan merah), c.3 lb
1 mackerel tuna, c.4 lb
1 emperor fish
5 brown line snapper
The catch (27.01.24)
My personal queenfish tally was 4 from 6 hook-ups, all taken on casting jigs with spinner blades. I released 3 of my talang to fight again. It was satisfying to successfully test the spinner blades, they proved to be very effective, a useful addition to the arsenal. It also felt good to release some fish – I like catching talang, they are great sport fish, but don’t feel the need to kill every one, particularly as they are not the first choice of table fare.
Finally, the long awaited, and long planned-for trip date had finally arrived. I put my name down for this trip way back in March 2023 and was to join this 3-day fishing expedition on the KM (motor ship) Salayar Borneo, organised by Alwin Assegaff, with Arif. Arif had fished this trip twice before, including the previous year and had highly recommended it.
The primary target species were dogtooth tuna (aka “doggie”) and ruby snappers using heavy fast jigging and deep slow pitch jigging techniques. In addition, there was also going to be the opportunity to visit nearby islands on a smaller sports fishing boat to pop for GT’s and jig for demersal species. My personal objectives were to catch a dogtooth tuna, ideally a large one (10kg+), and a large ruby snapper.
The problem was that I didn’t have the correct range of tackle for this type of fishing. In the run up to the trip I did extensive research and visited multiple tackle shops, both in KL and Tokyo, in addition to researching tackle online. I acquired the following additional gear in the months and weeks before the trip:
Shimano Grappler Type J S60-5 PE5 Jig Max. 250g fast jig rod (to pair with a Stella SW10000PG reel)
Shimano Game Type J S60-3 PE3 Jig Max. 180g fast jig rod (to pair with my trusty Stella SW6000HG reel). This set was also going to be used for casting pintail and spoon lures.
Shimano Game Type Slow J B66-6 PE4 Jig Max. 500g slow pitch rod
Shimano Ocea Jigger 2001NRHG reel (to pair with the Game Type Slow J rod)
In addition, I picked up a spare Stella spool, size SW14000, to go with my SW10000PG reel and increase the versatility of my gear. I bought this whilst on holiday in Tokyo, and it was a relatively cheap price, particularly given the current yen weakness. I also brought my Shimano Grappler BB Type Slow J B66-6 PE3 Jig Max. 330g slow pitch rod & Tranx 401 as a back-up set.
I partly (🤔🙄) offset the cost of this new gear by using my retirement leaving gift money and by selling a Saltist 40A overhead reel and a lighter, under-utilised GT Popping rod, part of my ongoing tackle rationalisation effort. I justified the new gear as a requirement for the trip, but I would also be using it on future planned trips to Sarawak, Sabah (Semporna) and Tioman. I also had to buy new line, back-up line, and a range of heavier fast and slow pitch jigs, poppers and various accessories (assist hooks, trebles, leader, swivels, etc, etc …..!!). The tackle actually cost more than the trip itself 😬, but what to do? Investment for the future!
As we were going to mainly be fishing at night, it was important that the lures contained luminous strips and patterns (I’d bought a UV torch to excite the luminous paint). I got an assortment of Zeepro, Dr. Braid, White Rabbit, HR Sitenkiba and various Jigman lures for the task:
Sulawesi trip – Jig Selection
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Travel Days (12, 13th January)
Finally, the day of the commencement of the trip arrived. It was a bit of a convoluted journey:
Fly from KLIA to Makassar on the west coast of Sulawesi (12.01.24)
Overnight stay at a hotel at the airport
Fly from Makassar to Luwuk, Central Sulawesi (13.01.24)
Join the boat for the steam out to the fishing grounds
Makassar from the air
We met up with the rest of the angling group in Makassar and re-grouped at Luwuk. Besides me and Arif, the rest of the anglers were all Indonesians:
The Anglers – Luwuk Airport
Pictured (left to right): Yanto, Ameng, Hendra, Ateng, Akin Yasir, Muk Sen, Alwin (Opa, trip organiser), AG, Arif and Winarto (picture photographer).
After brunch at a local restaurant, we made our way to the vessel, the Motor Ship Selayar Borneo, a large and impressive looking ship, equipped with air-conditioned berths, a galley and dining area, and ample deck space for fishing. A very good first impression:
Motor Ship Selayar Borneo
Port of Luwuk
After another, delicious pre-departure meal rustled up by the Malaysian chef (and I do mean chef, not cook), we set sail for the long steam out to the fishing grounds, in the general vicinity of Taliabu Island:
KM Selayar Borneo galley & pre-departure dinner
Departing Luwuk
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Fishing Day #1 (14.01.24)
Session #1 12am – 7am
We finally arrived at our first location after midnight, and, after the boat was positioned and anchored, we commenced fishing at c.1am on the 14th. I started off with my PE3 fast jigging set and was soon in action – I took a good hit on a Dr. Braid silver/luminous green stripe metal sardine jig. The fish made an initial powerful run, diving deep, and then settled in to holding deep with short power dives. Alwin was convinced it was a doggie, but, after working the fish down the port side of the ship, I was able to bring it to the surface to gasps of surprise as a plump amberjack appeared out of the darkness. This was a nice fish of c.12kg (despite 11 anglers in total plus being on a fishing boat, there was not a single Boga grip, spring balance or electronic scales amongst us …. so, all weights from the trip are estimates!), a new species for me and a good start to the trip. I’d also christened my new Shimano Game Type J PE3 rod, excellent!
Amberjack #1 [c.12 kg]
Fortunately, Hendra was capturing the battle on video, a nice record of the start of the trip:
After such an auspicious start, things went down-hill. I struggled to get strikes as we fished through until dawn at c.7am, and didn’t land another pelagic fish. I tried a spot of bottom fishing but only managed a type of spurdog dogfish (another new species), but then snagged a large manta ray which swirled around the port side, tangling a bunch of lines before breaking me off in the tangle, along with a length of my newly spooled line on my OJ 2001NRHG …🙄.
Arif was also struggling, a quiet session for the KL team. Other anglers fared better – Winarto landed a nice red bass, and both Yasir and Ateng landed chunky GT’s:
Winarto – Red Bass (Ikan Merah)
Ateng – Giant Trevally #1 [c.15kg]
Ateng also added another amberjack to the bag, and Yasir (I think) landed a doggie, the first one of the trip. The final catch of the session also included bigeye trevally and a flame snapper:
Mixed bag catch
Session #2 12pm – 12am (14.01.24)
After about 4 hours sleep it was time for brunch – we feasted on amberjack curry, fried amberjack and prawns with veggies, rice and sambal:
Dinner with Amberjack goreng & curry
We were already on the moving, steaming to our next fishing location in the Taliabu Island area. I managed to get a couple of hours of additional sleep before it was time to fish again. The session started off slowly at first as dusk approached. People started picking off various smallish bottom fish. Me and Arif started off casting pintails, and managed to get a brace of rainbow runner just before dark:
Rainbow Runner
As darkness descended, the sea started to come to life – the lights on the boat attracted small squid, which in-turn brought predators. Despite the raging current, the dogtooth tuna bite had started, and I started getting strikes on a blue/silver Zeepro 120g jig, and was soon hooked up to my very first dogtooth tuna (new species no.3 for the trip). Not a big fish but gratefully received none-the-less:
Dogtooth Tuna #1
After a couple more misses, I was into doggie number two an hour or so later, and a second fish on the new Shimano Grappler Type J PE5 rod – another piece of kit blooded!
Dogtooth Tuna #2
Arif, who’d had a slow start to the fast-jigging session, persevered and finally hooked-up just before 9.30pm, into what was obviously a good fish. After getting pulled from the port side and onto the stern platform at the starboard corner, he calmly worked the big fish to gaff, a very nice doggie of c.15kg:
Arif – Dogtooth Tuna #1
As the session developed, the doggie count started to rise, but the current also picked up and the jigging bite slowed. Ateng started fishing fish strips (cut from bigeye trevally) on a long trace from his jig and started getting repeated strikes from doggies, and putting a fair few on the deck.
Dogtooth Tuna bag – Session #2 (14.01.24)
I started tipping my assist hook with fish strips and, although I didn’t have anywhere near the success as Ateng, I did get some bites and got a bigeye trevally, a fourth new species of me on this trip:
Bigeye Trevally
The lack of sleep, disrupted sleep pattern, increasing current and slowing bite made me call it a day at around midnight. I had a shower and crashed-out by 1am.
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Fishing Day #2 (15.01.24)
Session #1 12am – 6am
Arif woke me up at 3am to inform me that the current had slowed and the bite was on. He’d had bigeye trevally on three consecutive drops. Semi-conscious, I told him that I’d pass on the bigeye trevally. In my mind, I was imagining the bite to be like the previous evening, and valued sleep over bigeye trevally! He came in again, two more times as the bite hotted-up. I remember declining the second time but have no memory of his third attempt to entice me to fish, I was exhausted and out for the count. I finally woke up at 6am, aroused by excited cheering from outside my cabin. I stumbled to the toilet and stopped to look outside. Ateng was standing for photographs with a large doggie on the gaff. I decided it was time to get outside and join the action. After a quick wash and change into my fishing togs, I went excitedly outside as dawn broke, only to be met by the anglers returning to their cabin …. the bite had switched-off with the daylight ….!!
I found out that it had been a good doggie bite with c.30 fish landed, together with a bucket of bigeye trevally and occasional other pelagic species:
Hendra & Akin – Dogtooth Tuna
Arif, Alwin, Winarto – Dogtooth Tuna
Winarto, Arif – Dogtooth Tuna
Arif – Great Barracuda
Session #2 – Morning Popping
Disillusioned, I fished in vain for 20 minutes or so before having a light breakfast. Winarto was one of the few anglers still up, and was discussing a popping trip in the centre console sportfishing boat (to target Giant Trevally) at a nearby island (we were in the Banggai Islands archipelago, and I’m guestimating that we were anchored off Timpaus Island and we headed to fish at Salue Besar?). I was interested and keen to try out my new popping outfit and SW14000 spool. After hurriedly collecting my gear, me, Winarto, the Captain and a deckie set off for the island. I was interested to see the varied sea-bed on the sonar, as we crossed shallow pinnacles and deep trenches as we approached the island. And what a spectacular place, a sparsely inhabited tropical island, with a rugged, rocky coastline:
Banggai Islands [Salue Besar]
We started popping and tried out a number of headlands and bays without success. I switched to a hybrid popper/pencil lure and suddenly I had a follow. A couple of casts later and I hooked-up, to a comically small bluefin trevally, barely larger than the 100g lure, at around c.1.5 kg or so in weight. Still, it was a fish on another virgin set-up and new species number 5:
Bluefin Trevally
After this fish we trolled along the coastline for a while as we searched for potential fishing spots:
Banggai Islands [Salue Besar]
But the captain noticed an approaching storm so decided to head back to the mother ship. I took some departing pictures of the island and then settled down on the deck just behind the centre console.
Banggai Islands [Salue Besar]
I was relaxing with a beer when the seas turned noticeably rougher. Suddenly, a large wave broke over the bow setting the deck awash. Winarto, wide-eyed and shaken, came down from the bow area to join me in the shelter of the console. I was standing up now, watching the captain guide the boat through sets of towering waves c.3m high. The captain was concentrating hard and looked visibly relieved as we reached deeper, calmer waters and we returned to the ship with no further incident (except for some nasty scratches on my new rod from the lure’s treble hooks).
Once back at the ship, I dried off before retiring for a couple of hours more sleep. I awoke just-in-time for lunch, a delicious offering of spiny lobster:
Spiny lobster lunch
Session #3 – Deep Slow Pitch Jigging
After a post-lunch rest and recuperation, I noticed a buzz of anticipation and activity (I was the only non-Bahasa speaker on the boat, and often missed the information being passed between the anglers and crew). But I soon gathered that there was going to be a second trip in the centre console, this time to try some deep slow pitch jigging. I was initially reticent to join due to the fact that I had to sort and gather my slow pitch gear in quick time (the trip was about to leave). But I was also kicking myself for missing the previous nights’ hot doggie bite, so decided not to let this opportunity pass.
We headed westwards (?) until we reached a series of reef pinnacles in deepwater. The first drop was in very deep water, around 170m. I clipped a 400g blue/silver Zeepro jig onto my Shimano Game Type Slow J PE4 rod/Ocea Jigger 2001NRHG reel combo and dropped it into the abyss. I soon realised that I’d lost more line than I thought to the manta ray the previous day – I’d started off with about 420m of 40lb line on the reel, but with the water depth and drift, I was looking at 250m+ of line out and, judging by the threadbare spool spindle, I reckon that I’d lost at least 50m of the original line. The first drop resulted in a snagged lure, which I managed to free; unlike Akin who had to break-off his lure.
We reset our drift and I dropped again. My jig hit the bottom, I immediately engaged the reel and made a first jig to get the lure off the snaggy bottom. Boom, the jig was struck immediately and I was fast to a good fish as my rod loaded-up. I began the laborious task of pumping the fish up from the depths. It made a number of short dives but came up relatively easily, without any real drama. I was expecting a big ruby snapper but, considering it stayed lively all the way up through the water column, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when a nice amberjack came into view, my second of the trip. A nice fish of c.10kg, another very satisfying catch, my best fish so far slow-pitch jigging and the final new fishing set-up tested out:
Amberjack #2 [c.10kg]
We made 3 more drops – I lost my jig on the next drop and had two further drops without incident. The AJ was the only fish caught amongst the 5 anglers on board. It had taken the best part of 3 hours by the time we’d travel to the location and back, look for suitable structures and the time taken to drop and retrieve jigs in such deep water.
Once back at the mother ship we were treated to amberjack sashimi (from the first day’s fish):
Amberjack sashimi
Delicious!
Session #4 6pm – 12am
This was the third major night session of the trip, and my third session of the day! We started off in the late afternoon, and it was fairly slow going until nightfall. Arif picked up a couple of bottom fish in the early part of the session, before the doggie bite started:
Arif – Flame Snapper & Red Bream
As soon as it was dark, squid and bats (that appeared to be taking prey off the sea’s surface), started surrounding the ship. And, despite the strong current, the doggie bite commenced.
I was fishing off the starboard side, using 100g silver-red head and 120g luminous green White Rabbit jigs, and got a succession of strikes. I started off using my PE3 set-up with 100g jigs, and put a number of good fish on the deck, landing 4 doggies from the first 6 hook-ups in a frenetic couple of hours:
Dogtooth Tuna [c.15kg]
Dogtooth Tuna (15.01.24)
I lost a good fish on the PE3 set-up that went deep, and then moved off on a slow, ponderous run with the current. I struggled to regain line, and the handle on my Stella SW6000HG temporarily seized as the reel heated-up. Eventually I broke off the leader under heavy drag – I suspect that this was a foul hooked fish (in-fact, a similar scenario played out with another angler later, and it was a medium sized doggie foul-hooked in the side). After this, I switched to the PE5 set and lost a successive fish after the line broke at the leader knot.
Now on the PE5 set-up I pulled the hooks on fish no.5, a good-sized fish (in the 10kg+ class), with the leader on the rod, for an IGFA legal catch and release 😂.
Meanwhile, Arif was also having a good session and adding doggies to his tally:
Arif – Dogtooth Tuna
Everyone else was also joining the party and adding their own doggies to the evening’s catch:
Hendra – Dogtooth Tuna
Session #4 – Dogtooth Tuna catch (10.36pm)
Somewhere in the mix Arif added a decent sized green jobfish:
Arif – Green Jobfish
And Yasir landed a feisty, schoolie sized yellow fin tuna (unfortunately no picture available) at some point during this session.
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Fishing Day #3 (16.01.24)
Session #1 12am – 2am
Session one of Fishing Day #3 was a continuation of the night session from the previous day. Angler numbers had thinned-out as the bite had slowed. A few of us persevered and were rewarded with more doggies. I got my personal best shortly after midnight, with a nicely conditioned fish that was in the 15kg+ class:
Dogtooth Tuna [c.15kg+]
Satisfied after this trophy, I succumbed to the rigours of the previous day and called it at 1am, retiring to my bunk for a well earnt sleep.
The tuna catch (for the combined Session #4 (the evening of the 15th) and this Session #1 (early hours of the 16th), was c.24 fish when I retired at 12.45am. My personal tally was 6 tuna from 8 hook-ups:
Arif fished on and caught 4 more plus another angler added and additionally doggie to the tally, for a total catch from the combined sessions of 29 doggies. After a bumpy night, we awoke to calm seas and the boat started out on the long journey back towards Luwuk. Of course, there was the usual culinary delights rustled up in the galley by our hard-working Malaysian chef. This time it was a chance to sample the dogtooth tuna, which was very similar to tenggiri in taste and texture (and Malaysian cooking style!):
Lunch
Lunch – Dogtooth Tuna goreng
Session #2 8pm (16.01.24) – 1am (17.01.24)
After travelling throughout the day, north along the eastern side of the Banggai Islands, we reached our final fishing destination around 7pm. The captain and a few of the anglers had gone ashore in the center console to procure some durian, and had returned with a good haul:
Durian haul
After a feed of fresh durian, attention turned to fishing, for the final session of the trip. Most of the anglers didn’t give much effort to this session – the location was less favourable, and people were tired. Me, Arif and Yasir persevered though. Yasir continued his good form, and put the first doggie on the deck:
Yasir – Dogtooth Tuna
I had a frustrating session; I endured a bite-off followed by a hook-up which broke my leader. I finally hooked a fish only for it to tangle in another line as it came to the stern of the boat. This fish then got foul hooked in the other angler’s jig, a typically sized mackerel tuna.
Arif was up next, with one of the biggest fish of the trip, a good doggie in the 15-20kg class, which put up a good scrap before succumbing to the gaff:
Arif – Dogtooth Tuna [c.15kg+]
With a blank session looming, I continued to work hard. I finally got a solid hook-up and put my 9th doggie of the trip on the deck, another decent fish of c.10kg. This fish marked the end of the session and last fish of the trip. It was time to weigh anchor and return to port to catch our afternoon flight to Makassar:
Dogtooth Tuna (17.01.24)
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Day #4 – Return to Luwuk (17.01.24)
We arrived back in Luwuk around 7am. After packing all our gear, it was time for some final group and catch pictures:
Members of the Crew
Anglers & trip catch selection (17.01.24)
Trip catch (17.01.24)
Me & Arif – Selayar Borneo, Luwuk (17.01.24)
The trip catch tally was approximately (some fish were consumed and selected fish are absent from the deck catch display) as follows:
≥ 53 dog Tooth Tuna (to c.20 kg)
1 Yellowfin Tuna
5 Mackerel Tuna (aka tongkol)
3 Amberjack (to c.12 kg)
2 Giant Trevally (to c.15 kg)
22 Bigeye Trevally
1 Bluefin Trevally
2 Rainbow Runner
1 Great Barracuda
1 Red Bass (aka ikan merah)
1 Flame Snapper
1 Red Bream species
I’m not sure of the exact destination of the catch, but it was not going to be wasted. It was either going to help local kampongs (villages) or possibly to the fish market. Either way, this prime catch was going to be put to good use.
My personal tally included 9 dogtooth tuna, 2 amberjacks, 1 rainbow runner, 1 bigeye trevally, 1 bluefin trevally, 1 mackerel tuna and a small spurdog 😁.
It had been a great trip, fantasy fishing. The ship and crew had been excellent, and a big thank you to Alwin for the impeccable trip planning and organisation. I would love to make a return visit to fish these waters.
My second jaunt into Tokyo Bay in search of sea bass. A place on a trip became available on Bay Works fishing charter with Captain Endo. This was my first-time fishing with the captain since December 2019, and he has upgraded to a much larger (10.6m) and nicer boat (with cabin and toilet) since my previous visit. I also had a new pick-up spot, as my previous pick-up point near Tsukiji market on the Sumida River had ongoing civil engineering works to the river bank structure. I met the boat further upriver, in Sumida, near to the Tokyo Skytree:
Sumida – Tokyo Skytree view
On this trip I was fishing with Harukie-san, Matsuoka-san and Watanabe-san, and they all seemed to be experienced bass anglers. I was interesting to see them rigging-up with fast jigs – on previous trips I’d only used casting plugs and soft plastics, and I’d only fished shallow water dock areas with Captain Endo on previous trips. So, I was more than a little intrigued to see how the fishing would go on the trip (in addition, I only had only brought spinning casting rods, no actual jigging sticks). I also had a new rod to break-in, an Abu Garcia Oceanfield 76ML spinning rod rated for 7-35g lures, and was keen to see how it would perform.
We headed out deep into Tokyo Bay. The first stop was at the Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line Expressway Kazenotou (Kawasaki artificial island) ventilation structure. We had fish marking on the sonar, but it was slow, with only one brief hook-up to fast jig, with pulled hooks. We then moved deeper into the bay and pulled up alongside a large, anchored ship, at around 12.30pm. We immediately marked bait and predators on the fish finder:
Fish finder loaded with bait and bass
We commenced slow drifts close to the ship, using 80g jigs in c.30m of water. We started getting strikes almost immediately, although it was a steady bite, rather than a frenzy. Harukie, who was using a tackle set hired from the boat, was the first to hook-up and land a bass:
Harukie-san – sea bass
He was followed, barely 10 minutes later by Matsuoka, fishing at the stern:
Matsuoka-san – sea bass
On some of the drifts, the action was hotter, with double and triple hook-ups:
Harukie & Watanabe – hooked up
I was slow off the mark, struggling a little to jig with a spinning casting rod. Eventually, though, I got my first fish as part of a triple strike after about 45 minutes fishing:
Harukie, Watanabe & AG – sea bass triple
Slowly, as the session wore on, we started to build a decent catch, although I was having a slow day. Harukie, in particular was putting a lot of fish on the deck. I was pleased to see that we were all releasing fish except for the first one retained by Harukie for dinner. Wantanabe-san was also having a good day and made a succession of decent catches during the most productive period of the session:
Watanabe-san – successive sea bass
Harukie was also frequently in action, adding to a growing personal catch tally:
Harukie-san – sea bass
Despite the chill in air, it was perfect winter weather for fishing, with clear skies and winter sunshine. It was warm enough in the sun to shed my jacket for a while, at least while we were drifting and jigging.
During a lull in the bite the captain switched to the other side of the anchored ship to see if the bass had moved. I had a try casting 27g pintails on my new Abu Garcia rod and was rewarded with a nice bass to christen the new stick, a very satisfying catch, and only my second of the day so far:
AG – sea bass #2
With a very slow bite we returned to the western side of the ship, although the bite continued to be slow. I did manage to add another fish on our first drift back, a spirited fish that took my jig on the drop:
AG – sea bass #3
Although the bite had slowed during the later part of the session, everyone persevered and added more fish. I managed to pick up one last small bass on jig plus two missed takes on soft plastics, as I experimented with jigs, plugs and soft plastic lures. Meanwhile, Mr Matsuoka, who’d also been quietly building his catch at the bow, caught the final fish of the session:
Matsuoka-san – final sea bass
It was now time to head back to port as the weak, wintry daylight started to fade. We’d had a good session and caught close to 30 sea-bass. Everyone had enjoyed a good day’s fishing, with Harukie topping the catch with at least 10 fish, Matsuoka and Wantanabe had caught 7 and 6 respectively, and I propped up the list with 4.
We finished the day back at the Sumida River pick-up point, adjacent to the Asahi Head Office and famous ‘golden flame’ structure:
Sumida River – Asahi Super Dry ad & Asahi Head Office golden flame sculpture
Unfortunately, I had no time to join Harukie-san for a beer (hopefully next time) as I had to rush back to join my wife for dinner at Midori, Ginza, a perfect way to complete the day:
Finally, I was back in Japan during the winter sea bass season (albeit the tail end of the season), for the first time since 2019. This was also my first real (northern) winter since 2019 and my first chance to fish for sea bass since December of that year. Then, I had only just discovered the fishing potential of Tokyo Bay, and was looking forward to targeting sea bass, sawara (Japanese Spanish mackerel) and buri (Japanese amberjack or yellowtail) in the coming year. But December 2019 was the eve of the covid pandemic, and as we all know, the whole world went to shit in early 2020. Still, I was back and the unseasonably warm temperatures (another brewing global crisis …) had resulted in an extended bass fishing season. Yay … every cloud has a silver lining!
This trip was me and my eldest son, Siôn, on his first ever foray into Tokyo Bay angling. On this trip we were trying out a new company and the fishing boat “Seakuro”, based in Yokohama, a short trip on the JR Keihin Tohoku Line to Higashi Kanagawa station from our base in Shiodome. It was a short walk from the station to the dock. We had time to get some drinks and snacks before meeting up with our friendly Captain for the day, Ito-San.
The weather had turned from the previous week. It was a cold, sullen, overcast and grey day with bouts of drizzle (not unlike a winter’s day in Wales!) as we set out from the dock:
Departing the dock on Seakuro
We passed under the Yokohama Bay Bridge as we headed out to the fishing marks in Tokyo Bay:
Yokohama Bay Bridge
After reaching the main bay area, we started fishing hard alongside large, anchored ships and the captain instructed us to start off with soft plastic lures (jig heads with plastic paddle tails). We both opted for a blue colour to start off. It was initially slow going at the first couple of ships targeted. Siôn got a couple of knocks, but I drew a blank.
We moved on to a third ship target. The captain marked fish on the sounder and he instructed us to drop the lures for only c.5 seconds. Siôn got a hit immediately, but pulled the hook as the fish neared the surface. Almost instantaneously, I also hooked-up, only to pull the hook. We both re-cast our lures and immediately hooked-up again. Boom, there we were, double hook-up landed. Siôn’s first ever sea bass and my first on a soft plastic lure. These were nicely conditioned fish and stronger than I remembered from my previous encounters with this species (maybe due to the warmer water compared to the last time?):
Japanese sea bass #1 & 2
But as we prepared to re-set our drift, calamity struck. The ship started to weigh anchor in preparation to move off. Our hot mark was ruined and we had to move on in search of a new mark:
AG & Siôn
We reached a large vessel that showed promise – there were birds working the starboard side. But despite trying soft plastics and a range of plugs, on both sides of the ship, we drew a blank. After a good hour or so we moved off but the fish were proving elusive to relocate. Finally, the skipper suggested moving into the docks area and trying live bait to close-out the session. If we could catch some aji (scad), he said it was a 90% chance to catch a bass. So, that’s what we did. The skipper caught 4 baits and I put one out off the stern. After about 5 minutes, whilst reeling in to re-set my bait I got a take, bass #3 of the trip:
Japanese sea bass #3
I reset my bait and got a second fish on live-bait:
Japanese sea bass #4
And quickly followed up with sea bass #5, the last of the trip:
Siôn was having less luck, but finally got a strike. Unfortunately, calamity struck again …. the fish managed to get the line wrapped around the propellor, pulling the rod dip into the engine skeg and snapping the tip. A lost fish and another excuse to buy a new rod 😂!
And that was the end of our 4hr+ session (the skipper had given us an extra 30 minutes or so). We headed back to port satisfied with our afternoon. Sion had caught his first ever sea bass, and I’d added 4 to my tally and learnt more about Tokyo Bay sea bass angling. We’d also found a decent skipper, who I will definitely use again in the future.
Back to Japan for the second time this year. This was an extended winter visit to see the kids and do some travelling in Japan. The highlights of the trip are summarised in the following pictures. The Tokyo Bay fishing trips that I also did whilst here are posted as separate blog entries.
In-fact, this was my first experience of a northern wintertime since before covid, in 2019:
Mt.Fuji & Tokyo winter skyline (17.12.23)
Ueno Park walk (10.12.23)
A pleasant afternoon’s stroll around Ueno Park, seeking out new nooks and crannies and hidden artifacts:
Ningyō kuyō-hi Memorial
Gotojen Shrine Torii gates
Daibutsu face & Prince Komatsu Akihito statue
Birthdays (Dec.2023)
During the month, it was time to celebrate my son, Siôn’s birthday as well as my 60th …. (not sure if you are supposed to celebrate this one!):
Siôn’s Birthday – with Kazuko & daughter
Siôn’s Birthday – Uokin Izakaya, Gotanda – saba & sashimi
AG & Siôn_Birthday karaoke – “Shelter from the Storm”
Uokin Izakaya, Gotanda – 60th Birthday dinner
Gifu (25-26.12.23)
The first big trip was a Christmas bus tour to Gifu Prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu, and includes part of the Japanese Alps. We were treated to a stunning view of a wintry Mount Fuji as we headed south-west from Tokyo:
En-route view of Mt. Fuji (25.12.23)
Day #1 (Xmas Day) – Hida Folk Village [飛騨の里] (25.12.23)
Hida Folk Village, Gifu Prefecture
We rounded off a long day with our Xmas Day Dinner, together with Japanese beer, at the Hida Hotel Plaza:
Xmas Day Dinner, Hida Hotel Plaza
Day #2 – Shirakawa-go [白川村] (26.12.23)
For day two we had an hour spare after breakfast to see some of the other sights in Hida Town before travelling to Shirakawa-go, and managed to find this Buddhist temple just around the corner from the hotel:
Hida Kokubunji three-storied pagoda & 1,200 year old ginko tree
Hida Kokubunji Temple bell tower gate (from Takayama Castle)
Then it was time to board the bus for the trip south to Shirakawa-go as we wound our way through the mountains in the general direction back to home:
Ogimachi suspension bridge
Gasshō-zukuri thatched house
Hachiman Shrine Torii
Shirakawa – Haku Mountain range view
Shirakawa-go Three Houses
Kyoto (30.12.23-03.01.24)
The second big trip of my Japanese visit. This time via Shinkansen to Kyoto to visit Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples, and see in the New Year.
Day #1 (30.12.23)
Kennin-ji Temple
Kennin-ji Zen Garden
Kennin-ji Hatto [Dharma Hall]
Kennin-ji Hatto – Twin Dragons ceiling artwork
The streets surrounding the temple were quaint and traditional:
After a pot-noodle for New Year’s Dinner (I kid you not) and a lesson in making Japanese green tea, the tour operator for the evening brought us first to the Yasaka Shrine for a bit of traditional New Year’s rope burning (Okera-sai celebration):
Yasaka Shrine Buden
Yasaka Shrine Okera-sai
Day #3 – New-Year’s Day (01.01.24)
Hōkō-ji Temple
After a whirlwind visit to the Yasaka Shrine, we were then brought relatively early to the Hōkō-ji Temple Bell Tower to queue for hours in the damp and cold evening. It was well worth it though, we were number 25 in a line of people able to participate in the traditional 108 bell tolls, starting just before midnight on New Year’s Eve and finishing in the early hours of January 1:
Hōkō-ji Temple Bell Tower (01.01.24)
Hōkōji Bronze Bell
And Team #25 gave the bell a good ring for toll 25 of the 108 …!
Hōkōji Bronze Bell – Bell ringers no.25 (01.01.24)
The previous day had been busy and tiring. We had to stop at a Lawson’s combi store in the early hours of New Year’s Day to top up our calories after surviving on only a instant pot noodle for the previous evening’s dinner. It was a late start for New Year’s Day, but we did manage to pack some interesting visits into our schedule:
Higashi Hongan-ji Temple
Higashi Hongan-ji Temple pano
Higashi Hongan-ji dragon statue & giant lantern
Gion District
Gion is Kyoto’s geisha district, it’s a traditional area, with many old streets and buildings to see. We crossed the Shijo-ohashi Bridge in the late afternoon and proceeded to explore the lanes and streets:
South view from Shijo-ohashi Bridge
Gion – Shirakawa Lane
Gion – Shinbashi-dori
Day #4 (02.01.24)
Heian-jingu Shrine
Heian-jingu Shrine complex
Heian-jingu Heianjin [Guest House]
Heian-jingu Taiheikaku Pavilion
Heian-jingu Soryuro Tower
Nanzen-ji Temple
Nanzen-ji – Hojo Garden
Nanzen-ji – Suirokaku [Waterway Bridge]
Nanzen-ji Sammon Gate
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
After a long day of bus tour temple visits, I have to admit that me (and my younger son, Ceri), opted out of a suggestion to make a sunset visit to Kiyomizu-dera Temple (I’d visited many years ago on my first ever holiday in Japan). I was tired, and time was tight (to arrive at the location in time for sunset). But Mako & Siôn went and were rewarded with a spectacular sunset view of the temple:
Kiyomizu-dera Temple sunset
We closed the day out with a late dinner and beers at Molly’s The Craft Kitchen izakaya. Interestingly, the pub toiled was located in the adjoining hotel lobby. The Henn na Hotel (“Strange” Hotel) has animatronic dinosaur receptionists. It’s the weird side of modern Japan, and very uncanny valley-esque, and a stark contrast to the old Temples that we’d visited, representing traditional Japanese culture:
Henn na Hotel Kyoto
Day #5 – Osaka (03.01.24)
After the ancient and traditional wonders of spiritual Japan in Kyoto, Day #5 marked a change in tone. The kids wanted to show us a different side to modern Japan, so we took the short train ride to the nearby city of Osaka, the third most populous city in Japan. It was a first visit for both my wife and I.
We started off in Tobita Shinchi, the largest of the brothel districts in Osaka, also the largest in western Japan in the notorious run-down district of Nishiari-ku. It was hard to believe that you were in Japan – mountains of rubbish lined some of the main streets – mattresses, electrical appliances and abandoned vehicles competed for space with bags of miscellaneous rubbish. Homeless people were wandering around aimlessly, and the drink vending machines gave a flavour of the area – small bottles of saki were selling at rock-bottom prices.
We made our way through the old and delapidated covered Shinkai-suji Chuo Shopping Street, an old indoor shopping area, a precursor to the modern shopping mall. There were information signs admonishing public urination and warnings against drug dealing. However, we then reached the entrance to a block of tidily kept shop-lots, the red-light area, marked by an entrance barrier:
Tobita Shinchi Five Dragon Gods Barrier
From here we walked to the gaudy and glitzy Shin Sekai “New World” district, taking in some interesting street art, a nod to Japan’s samuri past:
Osaka street art near Oyo Hotel Reborn
The area is a stark contrast to Kyoto’s serene temples and shrines. This was the trashy side of modern Japan, exemplified by a catch and eat restaurant, and many other shop signs and advertising billboards:
Jumbo Fishing Boat Restaurant
Tsūtenkaku Tower & Glico Running Man
We finished up at the Dotonbori Glico Running Man sign on the banks of the Dotonbori River in the Chuo ward. After the wife and kids enjoyed takoyaki street food, we wandered around the area before it was time to return to Kyoto and catch our Shinkansen back to Tokyo, to complete our final trip of this visit to Japan.
The final trip of the year in our series of Porst Dickson trips, at least the last trip for me. For this trip it was fishing with Arif, Azam, Husni, Ameer and Willi. Although weather conditions were near perfect, tides were not favourable, so this was going to be an exploratory trip. The plan was to start off looking for pelagics and then switch to bottom fishing marks. I had a new outfit to try out – a heavy slow set (Shimano Game Type Slow J B66-6 rod and Ocea Jigger 2001 reel), purchased for an upcoming trip to Indonesia in the new year.
As expected, despite being the best phase of the tide, we couldn’t find pelagics at the usual marks (not even talang queenfish ….!). After a fruitless search we switched to bottom fishing marks. I hooked up early on, with my new set-up. What initially felt like a good fish turned out to be a small barracuda foul hooked in the body! Willi did get a legal hook-up though, and had a good fight on light tackle from a reasonable ‘cuda:
Willi – Barracuda
With ‘cudas spoiling the structure, me moved to a new mark. Azam added a decent orange-spotted grouper to the bag:
Azam – Orange-Spotted Grouper
As we continued to move around trying various marks, I spotted a weed-line in the distance. We motored over and found smallish tripletail were at home. We all started flicking out squid strips on our jig assist hooks (without a jig attached), letting the bait flutter slowly down at the edges of the weed patches. Although the fish were small, it was fun, and we realised that the weed line was an extensive series of weed-patches. As we checked each one out, we found a few larger fish, and I was able to pick off a couple of decent fish up to about 4lb:
Tripletail c.4lbs
We spent the best part of 3 hours catching triple tail. I lost count of my tally, but I started releasing fish after my first 5, retaining only larger specimens or fish that we deep hooked. Others started releasing smaller fish too. I estimate that I caught around 25 fish myself, and most of the other anglers also had good bags. In addition, Arif managed to land a good talang on light tackle that also fell for squid strip bait.
We finally tired of tripletail and resumed bottom jigging. But jigging continued to be slow going, with only the occasional small snapper and one grouper caught:
Orange-Spotted Grouper
Back at the dock we divided the catch, packed-up, showered and went to Sri Pantai Ria for our customary post fishing seafood dinner. The bag was predominantly tripletail, as was the dinner 😂:
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