Paradise Lodge With Mogi and the Grouper Boys

i have the pleasure to fish and be surrounded by great fisherman and friends,

Mogi-san and Aramaki-san along Beerman Okubo-san joined me on trip to Paradise lodge in Panama,
i choose Chad's lodge as i fished with him last year and i had a great time not to mention his customer service,
the guys flew from Japan and landed for 5 hours in New York and then off to the promising land (Panama),
after the 4 hours drive we made it to the lodge at 3:00AM took 3 hours sleep and off to the chase,
the presents of the birds and the porpoises was insane at a certain time during the day but all what we are getting is the 20lb 30lb fish,
Mogi-san finally had a nice fish on a carpenter Gamma lure estimated in the 120lb range, it took him 15 minute to land the fish,
right after that our Captain Chicho receive a call on the radio of big fish 10 miles away, he said that big tuna might pop up later but the guys are getting them on bait,
so we end up giving a shot to try the bait, and boy did we miss anythings.
first guy that jumped in to the rod was Aramaki-san, fought the fish on the black magic belt and had it to the gaff in less then 20 minute, estimated at 170lb,
10 minutes pass by and 2 rods off they sound, Mogi-san picked up one and i picked up the other rod,
from the fight i thought that the fish is small but later it turned in to be a good class fish that every fisherman dream to catch.
i have to admit that this is my first fish caught on bait, i took the rod as no other fellow fisherman wanted to fight it,
Mogi-san and I fought both fish on regular fighting belt with no harness,
i landed my fish in 11 minutes and we had all the fight on video, the fish estimated at 250lb,
Mogi-san landed his fish after me and end up breaking the rod, it took him 13 minutes and his fish estimated at 220lb,
i hope tomorrow will be another day and the bite will be wide open as i really want to catch them on popping gear,
i will keep on updating you guys from the lodge and as soon i load more picture from Mogi's camera i will post them.
Tight lines
Sami

Day 3

Jicaron was the ticket today,
as always we score in this particular spot, i had the feeling today that Jicaron will be the place,
and Jicaron it was,
we saw birds on our arrival and start to work our lures, had a couple of follow up and blow out on our lures no score on the little one,
all of a sudden birds start to work and Beerman Okubo-san and myself made a cast,
Okubo-san came in tight right away but mine was a show off,
the fish blew 3 times on my Moutoukenmaru prototype and Mogi-san had some nice shot of the fish in the air, i set the hook and here we go again my main line break
on the other hand Beerman Okubo-san is fighting his fish,
he hooked up on the Carpenter Blue Lagoon 80-20 and the lure was a carpenter as well,
the dominate rods on the boat are the Carpenter,
it took Beerman Okubo-san close to 50 minutes to have his fish at the gaff,
tomorrow another day, enjoy the picture guys
Tight lines
Sami

Epic

Despite all the rain that is been falling down in the past 2 days we end up doing OK,

today i encounter one of the best fight that i ever seen,
Berman Okuba-san showed us his talent,
you guys should admire to see what i saw today,
Epic is not even the right words, i need a historian to write down what i saw today,
a 2:15 minutes fight on Carpenter Black Current 66M with PE3 Sunline and a 60g Shout jigs and hook,
UNBELIEVABLE achievement,
i am so happy to be around and register these moment,
we barley saw Tuna today and decided to start jigging and popping at the bank,
all of a sudden Beerman Okubo-san get hooked up and the fight is on,
for 1:15 minutes he fought the fish with no harness and then decided to put it on,
i had never seen a rod like that before and trust me i saw lot of rods and i used countless amount of them.
i am very surprised to see how the rods took the abuse without breaking,
no wonder why Carpenter is the leader in Japan,
do i have to mention the size of the fish, i guess not
enjoy the picture.
Sami

Cape Cod 6/8/2010

After seeing Sami catch a nice Tuna on Monday, I decided it was my turn!

I headed up to the Cape with my buddies Evan and Igor. We met with Captain Eric and Jason early in the morning as usual.

Very nice calm conditions. Alot of birds right from the get go but initially there only seemed to be stripers. Then Eric started yelling that there were bluefins in the mix and we all casted. First I hooked up using a Garyukobo Black Force lure and my trusty Smith Tokara rod. Within a second or two, Igor was also hooked into a fish, also using a Tokara. For the next 50 or so minutes... Igor and I circled around the boat, dancing around each other like a carousel. It was tough but fun and at the end of the fight Jason harpooned my 69.5 inch BFT which, according to its dimensions, was about180 lb.

Igor's fish surfaced a few times (it appeared to be over 200lb) and seemed like it was nearing the end of the fight about 5-10 minutes after the first tuna was on board, but then it made one final mad dash straight beneath the boat and in a flash the line was chaffed against the boat and fish was free. It was frustrating but in the end everyone was happy with our teamwork.

After fighting the tuna we were all tuckered out and as luck would have it we came upon an AMAZING site, birds and bluefish and stripers everywhere not far from the beach. They were so thick you could have jumped out of the boat and walked on them without getting wet. So for the next hour or two before heading back we had an amazing time tossing our lures out there and watching batches of bluefish and stripers chase and bust on the lures. We caught countless stripers and had a blast until it was time to pack it and enjoy some traditional New England Chowder.

Thank you Captain Eric and Jason buddy for putting us on the fish!

See you guys soon !

Enjoy the pics!

Cheers,

Paul.

Cape cod 06/07

With a broken rib and good spirit I made it to the Cape to tangle up with one of the meanest fighter of the Ocean,
We started our day a bit late as most of the action has been happening after coffee hours,
Met with Captain Eric, Jason and Justin in Green harbor,
The weather man was calling for 3 to 5 feet with some nasty condition but we made the call to go ahead, I personally like these conditions.
We start seeing birds and a lot of birds with the occasional Tuna between the bass,
Things start to look better after the tide start moving and all of a sudden a school of tuna interrupted right in front of the boat,
Jason and I casted on them with no taker until I made another cast and saw the fish boiled on my Moutoukenmaru lure 10 feet away from the boat,
I set the hook and saw the fish disappear to the abyss,
Finally after 3 trips I am on, I had problem cranking the reel as the pain from my Rib start to get worse and worse but made a commitment to myself to finish the job,
I took my time, after 44 minutes the fish made it to the gaff and it measured 69’ x 45 ½’ estimated at 180lb,
Right after that Justin hooked up another fish right at the boat side, it was his first tuna ever, unfortunately the fish shaved the line after 55 minute and gained it is freedom.
It was a great fight and I give Justin a lot of credit for the way he handled the fight,
From my observation I notice that some of the anglers are not aware at when the fish hits the lure,
I suggest all anglers to focus on the lure during the whole time while retrieving, this allow you to react faster and set the hook on the side when the tuna turns,
Most of the lost fish are due to swallowed lure and line shaving; I strongly suggest a fluorocarbon leader not less then 150lb as a shot leader for popping set up.
Tackle used:
Rods: Tokara 60, Sevenseas Big Pop 78 Powerful
Reels: Shimano 10000FA with 20000 spool and 16000 spool
Line: YGK Ultra Castman PE8, Jerry Brown 130lb Hollow,
Lure of choice: Moutoukenmaru 23F-MG, Souls Hibiki , Kanade and Matic, Daiwa Dorado Slider.
I thank Capt Eric, Jason and Justin for the wonderfull time i had.
Enjoy the pictures,
Sami
Tight lines

The Giants are here!!

Sami and myself jumped on a 2 day trip to Cape Cod for some tuna action at Cape Cod Massachusetts with Captain Dom of Coastal Sportfishing Charters and Captain Eric of Livewell Charters.

Day 1, 5-30-2010, Sami, Adrian, Dianna and myself met Captain Dom of Coastal Sportfishing charters at 4:30am in Green Harbor.

We left the dock and headed straight for the tuna grounds, somewhere between Peaked Hill and Race point.

When we saw birds and a couple of tunas feeding on the surface, Dom immediately steered his boat towards

the feeding pod and gunned the throttle.

We cast right at the feeding tunas but they weren’t interested in the lures presented to them.

This happened a couple of times until Sami switched to his favorite Moutoukenmaru lure, he cast towards the tuna as soon as they surface and after 2 twitches, a huge tuna with its dorsal and pectoral fin sticking out jumped and inhaled the lure.

He was the only one that hooked up out of the 5 or 6 boat that were casting at the tunas. After 10 minutes, Sami brought the fish to the surface and we realized that it was tail wrapped.

The fish flapped frantically to free itself and dove straight back down. After another grueling 15 minutes and almost 25ft from the surface, the line popped and the fish won its freedom.
We “guesstimate” the fish to be over 75inch as we saw it on the surface 6-8 ft from us.
Adrian had his shot too when he was jigging and a tuna robbed him off his jig, it was peeling line for a good 30secs before his line went popped.

Day 2, 5-31-2010, Jason, Sami and myself met Captain Eric of Livewell charters.
It was dead quiet when we reached where we were yesterday, no signs of life or birds or fishes on the surface.
We decided to head south towards Chatham. It was a good call.
Fishes were busting all over the place and birds were gorging on scraps left by the fishes.
We started casting and were bringing in bass after bass until we saw a tuna jumped from a distant.
Eric immediately head towards that direction.
Tunas were jumping and feeding everywhere, I had 2 hookups, one spat the hook and the other totally swallowed a 10inch Moutoukenmaru lure and sheared the 150lb FC leader.
Jason had a nice fish for 25mins with the Dorado Slider only to lose it when it too spat the hook, as a consolation a stripe bass went straight for the lure and was released.
Another battle from Jason with the Goliath Tunas came shortly when the same slider was thrown at them. After a good 22mins the fish was gaffed and brought in through the transom.
It measure 71 inch and fed on herrings, butterfish and sand eels when we popped the stomach.
It was a good 2 days of absolute mayhem, both Captains showed professionalism and went out of their way to put us on the fish.

Tackle used.
Saltywater Tackle Race Point Special prototype rods, OR Black Devil 100, OR 10000 and Hot’s Gipang
Shimano Stella Reels .
Varivas SMP, YGK and Jerry brown hollow lines.
Moutoukenmaru lures, Daiwa Dorado Slider and Souls lures.
FCL Labo jigs, Deep Liner Jigs.
Black Magic and Sevenseas Belt.

Enjoy the pics! P.S Those of you heading for some tuna action please get ready for some pain. They are big this year!

Cheers,
Paul.