Okinawa-rama

I went fishing this weekend on a charter boat with some fellow fish-a-holics and boy was it a blast! This is my second time going out with Captain Keobata, he doesn't speak much English and we don't speak much Japanese, but we all speak the language of fishing. Not to be mistaken with the language of love, but there surely is a lot of love when fishin'.

He's a commercial fisherman and when he's not running charters, he's out fishing himself. He fishes almost every single day and this guy is amazing. The reason this guy in amazing is that he runs his own boat, catches thousands of pounds of fish, and does it ALL BY HIMSELF. He let us try out his commercial fishing gear and it took 4 of us to get things under control. His method consists of using a big buoy which is pulled behind the boat. A line is connected to the buoy and 4 top water fishing lures are attached. He also pulls 1 underwater fishing lure and uses a remote to control the boat. And this guy is no spring chicken and he's strong as an ox.

The Underwater Fishing line (Manned by a fellow fish-a-holic)

FISHING REPORT:

We left the Marina at 4 a.m. and headed out to East China Sea. The first line hit the water about 5:45 and we boated a 25lb Wahoo (or 'hoo for short), we fought that for about 15 minutes. We set the lines out again and our next fish was a 20lb Mahi-Mahi (Dorado or Dolphin), another 20 minute fight and we boated that bad boy. We drift fished for a while, caught a buttload of football sized Tuna and went back to trolling. Well that's when all HE Double Hockey sticks broke out! The reel on the pole started SCREEEEAAMMMMMIIINNNNNGGGG!!! We looked out behind the boat and saw a HUGE splash. An echo of "Holy Shit!" can be heard across the boat. I rush to the pole and start setting the hook and line is just screaming off the reel. I let it run for a little bit and it starts to finally slow down. I start making a little progress and the fish takes off again. The reel screaming. I gain an inch, the fish takes ten. Back and forth we fight, I'm trying to at least see the fish and the fish is trying to get away. I finally start gaining some line and we're looking over the side of the boat to see what it is. Then we finally catch a glimpse. HUGE Yellowfin Tuna. Cpt K. says something in Japanese (probably something like "holy shit batman!") and runs to the side of the boat. He grabs this harpoon and starts scrambling to the back of the boat. Everyone who was looking over the side of the boat is now getting the hell out of Cpt K's way. The Yellowfin starts making it's way closer to the surface and at the perfect moment Cpt K jams the harpoon into the fishes head. It freaks out and takes off. Cpt K has the harpoon tip attached to the huge rope and starts dragging this fish in by hand. Well we finally get that monster on board and high fives are going around. An hour later I land a second one and it's time to head back home.

Cpt K driving the Harpoon Home

Dragging the 1st of 2 Tuna Aboard

#1 Tuna

Big daddy #2