I went out for my last fishing trip of the year on Saturday. It’s getting pretty cold here in Okinawa as well.

I bought a SOM L120Hi recently. And I had one of my Jigger LD 2000 in repair. So I decided to put L120Hi on Slow Jerker 603-6 today and see if it’s too heavy to do slow pitch all day with it.

On the first drop of the morning, I got something right at the bottom. It was just heavy, no sign of life on the line. Probably a rock. “Oh boy…” That was not a good sign for the day.

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Then I saw a red color in the water.

Oh my god! It’s a coral trout!!!

It WAS a good sign for the day.


I wondered why it didn’t fight back. It was a small coral trout, but coral trouts are fighters. Then I looked at the hooking.

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It was odd. It was hooked both from outside, and from opposite sides.

My goodness, his mouth was pinched!

Poor thing. He must have been so surprised to speechless. Never been humiliated like that before, probably. He didn’t have a chance to fight back for his dear life. I felt sorry for the guy.

Slow Jerker 603-6
SOM L120Hi
Super Fireline Colored #2.0
230g Rector Secret Model
120m deep


The day started out with high winds and choppy waves. But the current underneath was not running much.

My fellow angler was looking for a help. He was about to land a fish. He was far end of the boat, but there was no one around him to help, so I reeled up maybe 20m and left my rod to help him.

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He’s got a grouper.
When I came back to my rod, I felt funny noise and heavy on the line. But again, no sign of life. Just heavy.
What could it be? I was off the bottom at least 20m. But maybe there was an upslope and it hooked a rock…

I’ll be damned…

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Slow Jerker 603-4
Ocea Jigger 2000NR-HG
Fireline Tracer Braid #2.0
260g Gawky
100m deep

I just helped the guy to catch this fish, and the ocean just gave me two of them!
Wow, you better do something good to your neighbors sometimes. What do they say? You get what you give? What goes around comes around? This is a lesson of life.

We just started 30 minutes ago and I already got 3 fish! It’s great! But I really didn’t feel like I have fished anything. They have been just presented to me.


I gotta gear up. I want to strike something.
It was the bumpy bottom on the underwater ridge, from 110m gradually up to 90m. The current has turned really slow now.
I touched the bottom and hooked something again. I lifted my rod to look for any kind of sign of life. I saw none. Hmmm. It must be a rock. Or maybe I got tangled up.

Here’s the video.

Slow Jerker 603-6
SOM L120Hi
Super Fireline Colored #2.0
230g Rector Secret Model
120m deep

My godness. It was a tomato rockcod.

It’s such a day? I don’t have to do anything? The fish just are presented to me?
Rector 230g on 603-6 did the job all by itself.

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It’s such a delicious fish. I’m really glad that I caught it. I’m happy with my 4 groupers. Straight to a Nabe party.

But I DID NOT feel that I accomplished anything today.

The captain announced that we will stop by some deep places, about 150m deep. This group is not going to deep. This is probably the only chance to do in 150m deep.

OK. Now is the time to change my luck for the day. I got enough fish to bring back home. What I need is ACCOMPLISHMENT.

I brought out my high pitch jerker 501 with 300g Messiah. I’m giving my shot to a big one.

Here’s the video.

I got a hit! But I had my line cut! Jeeez!!!


High Pitch Jerker 501
Marfix N4
Super Fireline Colored #3.0
260g Messiah
150m deep


What happened was that I lost my balance on the rocking boat. I stepped back as I kicked it up. Because I stepped back, I gave out line slack involuntarily and I saw all this line suspending on the surface. Then I knew my jig was taken. I reeled up and stroke. With a flip of a shock, my line went blank.
Messiah slides and swims to the side for so long at the pitch. It means the jig can be swimming almost parallel with the leader. That is why you are not supposed to give so much line slack when you high pitch Messiah. But I did. Only that time when I lost my balance. But I did give out line slack and that was when the fish hit it. Probably the fish got the jig and the leader.

Cause and effect.

It was such a day…

To be continued.