Big Switch from Black Bass to Ocean Fishing

The first fish I caught were black bass. Not having to use bait was what amazed me about going after largemouth, or black bass. Knowing when and how to use which jigs, lures or rubbery worms did the trick. Hardy tugs on the hook followed before landing them.

Being from Hawaii and loving the ocean did not lead to a fishing pole finding its place in my hands. I somehow imagined it to be a boring sport. What finally got me interested was a suggestion from my wife to try it and relax the stress and tension she felt flowing out of me. Trying it was a great decision. I truly enjoyed the excitement of bass fishing. This activity also had a very relaxing effect on my state of mind.

A couple of years after becoming avid bass casters we moved from Tokyo to NumazuCity, which is in Shizuoka Prefecture, and near the center of Japan. In Tokyo heading for the ocean usually lead to several hours in heavy traffic, so we chose bass fishing at a nearby lake. In Numazu City, Suruga Gulf of the Pacific Ocean is a 10 minute drive away. The ocean was now right in front of us but neither my wife nor I had ever tried salt water fishing.

We headed for a local fishing supply store and stocked up on essential rods, reels, line, which left only the bait selection left to do some fishing that day. My wife said shrimp was the best choice, but I quickly noticed that they came in large frozen blocks. I couldn't imagine using all the shrimp in one outing, and being frugal by nature, I opted for a small packet of lugworms.

Numazu is famous for its seafood, as the dried fish and fresh sashimi are said to be the best in Japan, and many consider the city as a mecca for horse mackerel fishing. The Area we selected to fish was near the entrance to Numazu Port. Horse mackerel was without a doubt what I expected to catch. The thought that my bait would not allow them to be my target fish never crossed my mind.

It was an exceptional day to be outdoors. The air was fresh and sweet with warm and soothing sunlight. The ocean flowed smoothly in rich, deep blue. But even after an hour had passed, there was not a nibble on the bait. I remember that day clearly after well over 20 years have passed, along with my wife reminding me again that we should have bought shrimp as bait.

A moment later everything changed. I felt what I thought was a wire hanger banging against my rod. Luckily, I did not let my fishing pole go. I did not know how to cast bait on my first ocean fishing attempt, so what I was doing was simply holding my rod with the lugworm bait below it. Feeling the bang shocked and disoriented me for an instant, but after a heartbeat later, I realized in a flash that it was a fish. Oh my, I had one on the line!

My first fish out of the ocean turned out to be a sillago; not a horse mackerel. When I saw it my eyes widened to golf balls because this was the largest sillago I had ever seen. The largest before this was at a restaurant and it was about eight and a-half inches long. This beauty was well over 12 inches. Catching a few more would give me a deep fried sillago tempura dinner for two. But as it turned out, none of its friends came by for the tempura party. I lett the big fish swim in a bucket full of seawater and decided to release it at the end of the day. The sillago got its freedom back, while I ended up being hooked.

This was a valuable learning experience for me. My biggest mistake was not choosing shrimp for bait. I did not know that lugworms are not good bait for horse mackerel, but they are quite a delicacy for sillago. Another mistake was using a large hook. Black bass fishing left me with the habit of using large hooks. A smaller hook should have led to catching a number of sillago, instead of a single monstrous one.

There were many more mistakes, along with things learnt on each ocean fishing quest. But that's all part of the excitement and adventure of fishing by the ocean. Eventually, I was able to master long distance bait cast fishing. This form of fishing does not require a boat as bait is cast from shore to using long telescopic rods, baitcast or spinning reels, bait baskets, fishing floaters, and a specialized setup. Anyone can enjoy this fun filled activity and learn to target and catch the desired fish. It's a healthy outdoor sport which can be enjoyed for a lifetime! 

Bait Cast Fishing From Land To Sea!

Fishing Is a Healthy Outdoor Sport

There was a time when I did not know how to relax and just let go of my tensions. My mind was wired and tightly knotted with anxiety and stress. I had to find a way to get this negative, twisted ball of energy out of me, or face the threat of passing on and away from this life as my avenue of escape. Luckily, I found a hobby which turned out to be a blessing as it was a healthy outdoor activity and sport which changed my life for good.

It's ironic that I hadn't done this until living in Japan. I'm originally from the State of Hawaii, but I never did experience fishing, although all the islands are surrounded by the big blue Pacific Ocean. I have an uncle and two cousins who have their own boats for tuna fishing. They even passed by my house when they headed out to the ocean, but I never had the urge to join them.

Happy to be outdoors for fishing!

One fine day my wife suggested that we try fishing. As a little girl she went along with her father on river fishing excursions. He was an avid fisherman who taught her well and even made fishing poles that were just the right size and weight for her. The prospect of spending hours trying to catch some fish did not immediately excite me, But spending time together seemed like a good idea, so I decided to give it a try.

We lived quite a distance away from the ocean in Tokyo, so we did not start with salt water fishing. A couple of days after talking about fishing, my wife surprised me with fishing gear, complete with rod, reel, line, and accessories to include a fishing cap, which I did not use at the onset. I had no real idea what they were, but she told me that we were going to catch some black bass using rubber worms, jigs, and lures. The good thing about this was that there was a popular bass fishing area which was only a 30 minute drive from our home.

We caught many bass but kept only a few pictures

As it turned out, the bass were not so difficult to catch. There were even days when too many bass ended up on our hooks. I quickly noticed that I forgot all about my worries and frustrations while fishing. The only things on my mind were getting a bite and hooking up after a hit. I also realized that I was enjoying my work a lot more because of my new interest, as I used fishing as a reward for being diligent on the job.

We eventually moved out of Tokyo to an area called Shizuoka Prefecture. This brought us very near the ocean. Although that meant no more black bass fishing, this was not a problem at all. Our true fishing adventures were really about to begin with bait cast fishing at the ocean! 

You can find out about this fishing style at:  baitcastfishing.com ;

Bait Cast Fishing From Land To Sea! and share its pleasures and secrets with your friends.

I have immensely enjoyed this activity from the onset. I truly believe that with fishing, I have found a healthy, outdoor sport which I can enjoy for a lifetime. I hope that this will be the case with you, too!

Single Hook Bait Cast Fishing by the Ocean

Sillago was my first salt fish

After switching from bass to salt water fishing, due to moving near to the ocean in Japan, every fishing outing proved to be a new adventure. The first fish to grace my hook was a sillago, which was quite a lucky catch with a rather large hook at the end of my line. The only reason I caught the fish was because I used the right bait for it, which was a lugworm. The fish was quite large, measuring over a foot in length, so the hook was able to lodge itself into its mouth. Sadly, my target fish was horse mackerel which go after tiny shrimp bait. 

I continued fishing at the same spot, which was Numazu Port, and following my wife's advice, switched to proper bait and hooks. This allowed us to catch a bounty of horse mackerel, sardines and large gizzard shad, which somehow seemed to prefer my hook. No one else had the gizzard shad coming for a bite regularly. 

Near entrance to Numazu Port

A couple of pleasant months of weekend fishing passed by quickly. Then late one afternoon a young fellow asked my wife how I was able to hook the shad fish so often. If he asked me, I would have told him that I put some rhythm and action into releasing the bait, which led to a reaction on the hook setup, much in the same way as when I used rubbery worms when luring black bass. They kept talking for nearly an hour, and my wife told me that the young man talked a lot about a great fishing spot where anglers were casting bait from bait baskets and using a single shrimp baited hook to catch flounder, sea bass, striped beak perch, and red snapper. I wasn't sure what these fishes looked like, but curiosity was starting to rumble through my mind.

We were using fairly short fishing rods to toss out or short cast tiny shrimp bait which flowed out of nylon or loosely knit metal mesh fabric bait holders. They were about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, two inches long, and resembled a cone at the bottom end. Below this and separated by a swivel were a series of six to ten hooks resembling branches tied off the trunk of the main hook line with a small sinker at the bottom. Bait was not put on the hooks, which had shiny vinyl slivers attached to them resembling bait or fish skin. When the targeted fish mistakenly bit them while going after the shrimp bait, they were ours for the taking. It was not often that only one fish would get hooked with this setup. It was difficult for me to imagine using only one hook with shrimp bait on it to catch fish. I imagined that only a very few fish, if any, could be caught this way in a day of fishing.

We did not see the young fellow at Numazu Port again, and decided to take a look at the area he talked out, which was about three miles away along the coast line. When we saw the fishing site for the first time a week later, the view was breathtaking. The area is called Shizuura Port, and it has smaller facilities for commercial fishing boats unloading their catch than Numazu Port. What made this place outstanding is that fronting the port and facing Suruga Gulf of the Pacific Ocean is a high and wide seawall which is well over half a mile long and about 13 feet wide. A drop of 18 feet was startling when looking down into the ocean, compared to about five feet at Numazu Port. On the back end of the seawall surrounding the port is a marina for yachts and fishing boats.

Marina behind seawall

There were a few people catching horse mackerel with a bait holder and a multi-hook setup similar to what we were using. They were fishing at the marina where the water as only two or three feet below the surface. They also had dandy looking fishing floaters which shot into the water when the fish were on the line. That looked like the kind of action which could keep my interest.

But the main attraction was facing the ocean up above on the seawall. It was an hour before sunset, and since we had our fishing gear and bait handy, we put them to use. Before the sun started setting, we had a portable ice chest half-filled with horse mackerel, plus a half-dozen striped beak perch which were about eight inches long, and a couple of blue-green girella about the same size. What unbelievable action in such a short time! This was definitely to be our fishing zone from this moment on.

Seawall facing Suruga Gulf, Shizuura Port

We were overcome with quite a shock when we returned the next morning. The place was packed from end to the other. Almost everyone had fishing rods which were much longer than ours, fishing floaters congested the ocean, single hooks were cast with sturdy bait carrying baskets, and long telescopic nets were being used to scoop up and land the fish. I also got a glimpse of a beautiful red fish with a radiant blue trim around its eyes as it was pulled out of the water with a baitcast reel and gathered that it was a red snapper.

We spent quite a bit of time watching and taking note of the make and models of fishing rods and reels being used, as well as the fishing setup, which was nothing like our own. It was time to regroup, re-equip, and learn how to make Shizuura our fishing zone.

Bait Cast Fishing From Land To Sea!  baitcastfishing.com