Kayak fishing Japan

I think this may be the farthest report from home so far and was a lot more fun than I ever thought it was ever gonna be. The conditions were tough at the start and then went much better the last few days.

After the all the endless flights, transfers, trains, and walks crashed out after 16 hours of travel. Didn't bring much gear on purpose though, shopping for fishing stuff in Japan is fun . After sorting through the mind numbing amount of gear, picked up a nice Diawa rod and reel, 12# mono and some lures. Most of the fishing I did was for Suzuki (Japanese seabass, looks like a snook relative) but also some halibut too.

The next day we headed out to the beach and were greeted by 30mph winds and white caps. The next few days were predicted to do the same so rounded the area doing some sight seeing.
Old school Japanese splash wear:


Finally the weather cooperated and we got on the water. Not a very hot day fishing wise, just a few small suzuki, but was good to get on the water. The next day just went off. Light winds in the morning that swept baitfish around some offshore rocks and the fish boiled!


Got the first fish within an hour and the first taste of what Japanese seabass could bring. These are some tough buggers. Somewhat like a striper but w/ a lot more juice. Average fight lasted 5 min! Went through a bunch of schoolies to about 20". Good fun but wanted to get into some sizeable fish.  Had an insane hookup that put the new rod in major bendo mode. Bobbed, weaved, and jumped for a good bit until he went on a lightning quick run. I went to loosen my drag but he took off so fast I fumbled and didn't adjust it in time and snapped the line. Bummed! Got a few more until I got my best fish of the trip, 27"er.




Got into more fish that day w/ another heartbreaker halibut. Got 'em all the way to the yak and came unbuttoned right as I went for the net. Super fun day and got some Suzuki sashimi out if it so couldn't be happier!


Two more days of fishing w/ some good fishing but none that topped the day before. With the knowledge I got out of the trip I will be making it back!

Z

Obligatory Tokyo shot:

Okay, if you're going to double post on NCKA and NWKA I'm going to double post my comments as well..

Nice Z. I think you win for longest long distance report.   Next time I'm in New Zealand or Australia I'll have to make a point to break that record.

I believe Ocean Kayak has a pro-team member in Japan. I wonder if Allen could have tried hooking you guys up.

Brian

Z,
thanx for remindng me just how darn BIG Tokyo is.. had almost forgotten it took us 5 hours to cross it by car 8 years ago to get to Gotemba [ dumb ass gaijiin drivers. i drove us back to Sendai, and it didnt take us 5 hours either. ]

i take it you didnt get a chance to drive out to Mt. Fuji? nothing like the sight of that blood red symmetrical cone just as the sun comes up.

heh heh, i'll never look at another american suzuki anything again without thinking of it as a "fish"

i take it you didnt get a chance to drive out to Mt. Fuji? nothing like the sight of that blood red symmetrical cone just as the sun comes up.

Hey Richard you should drive down to Portland, the alpenglow of Mt. Hood is pretty impressive as well.

brian,
granted it might be pretty, but trust me, it's not gonna be the same.. wait, i have driven down that way, thot st. helens was erupting again...

living where i do, i have the god queen boofoo, rainier,  practically staring me in the face too, and it's a nice blue white, but rarely does it have the effect of fuji on a snow covered red sunrise

and darn it, i missed a trip down to denali this weekend too!!

Holy cow!!  Talk about distant trippin'!!!  Great story, thanks for the neat porn..