Taiwan Fishing

[DaveIrving]

Thought it was about time I posted some reports on the catches we get on this side of the world.

Just got back from a trip out of Taiwan which was meant to be a purely jigging trip.

We left Friday night from Keelung on the North Coast of Taiwan. Onboard were 12 anglers, myself, Randy the Boss of Pro Gear, Mr Liu the Boss of AG and 9 other very experienced Taiwanese Jiggers.

Tackle used was Jigging Master rods teamed with either Accurates, Pro Gear or Shimano reels. 80lb Berkley Whiplash braided line with 100lb fluoro shock leader.

The weather was extremely rough as it generally is over here as there is no land mass to provide shelter. It takes 11 hours to reach the first mark so the aim is to try and get some sleep which is not so easy in 4 metre swells.

We started fishing at 6:30am on Saturday morning and started catching amberjacks on jigs straight away in about 180 metres of water. Not huge fish but the biggest went about 30lb+ and got a bit mangled by sharks on the way up.

We fished this area until about midday and landed only about 20 fish so we decided to try fishing around an island known locally as Redtail Island.

I hooked the first fish around the island which felt very much like a big GT, but it shook the hook after about 10 seconds. I also bumped another couple of good fish on the jig before the real action started.

One of the local Taiwanese anglers managed to catch a small skipjack tuna on the jig. He immediately clipped this to a livebait rig and drift lined it away from the boat. Within 30 seconds he was attached to a dogtooth tuna. About 10 minutes later a 60lb+ dogtooth tuna was onboard and we now knew how to catch them.

Immediately everyone started trying to catch livebait, and those that were successful were generally instantly rewarded with a hook-up to a dogtooth tuna. This type of tuna fight totally differently to other types of tuna in that they head straight for structure upon being hooked....the angler's job is to stop them getting there!!!

For livebait we were finding small yellow spotted trevally were around in good numbers so for each drift the aim was to catch a livebait then switch gear immediately.

One angler got a shock when within a few seconds of dropping his live bait in, he was attached to a 80lb sailfish, which was soon landed.

I managed to land one dogtooth of about 90lb and another angler landed one about the same weight.

A 100lb sailfish was then landed followed by more dogtooth and a few cobia on the jig.

As darkness fell we dropped anchor and settled back for the night fishing. Cobia were feeding well that night and we caught plenty of fish over 20lb before giving up and getting some sleep.

We left the island during the night and started fishing at daybreak for the amberjacks, which again did not show up in great numbers but we landed maybe another 50 before calling it a day at midday - ready for the 12 hour trip back to port!

Other species landed included Flutemouth, Barracoutta, Batfish, Trigger fish, Coral Trout, Skipjack Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna, Bonito and many other strange fish species.

Overall a pretty good trip and I managed by personal best's for both Dogtooth and Cobia - so I was happy.

We have another trip in a few weeks - so will post more of our catch reports in future!

Cheers

Dave

[PanamaJack]

Great report Dave. Certainly sounded great fun with those Dog tooths! I have to say I was intrigued with the last of those thumbnail images. Is that a Trumpet fish?
Dave

[DaveIrving]

Hi Dave

Yep they call them trumpet fish here but I think the correct name (consulting my book) is actually "Rough Flutemouth".

These fish actually take jigs that will only just fit inside their mouths. I believe they are not trying to eat the jig but perhaps just protecting their territory?

I remember reading the IGFA record is actually much smaller than the one in the pic, however the guy who caught this one says it is only small as he has had them 2 metres long!!!

Supposedly these fish taste really good in soup....but I have my doubts!

Cheers

Dave

[samfish]

That is some serious fishing you got yourself there matey! I can only imagine how much fun it must be to have a 90lb tuna nail your livebait - nice work!

Have you got any photos of the 80lb sailfish?

Good work!

Sam

[DaveIrving]

Hi Samfish

Actually the 80lb sailfish was the smaller of the two - the bigger one was by my reckoning closer to 100lb. Unfortunately in Taiwan almost everything gets killed and eaten so the only pics I have of these fish are not so nice to post!

The tuna are great fun - we fish for them with jigging gear rather than the heavy duty boat rods - a huge difference, and I will probably never switch back!

When these fish nail a livebait you are in free spool and just watch your line emptying from the reel. The trick is to click the reel into gear when you believe there is enough line to land the fish and the fish has had enough time to swallow the bait.....an art I am still trying to master. Last weekend I actually hooked 4 dogtooth and landed only one - and that is about normal for this species.

Unlike other tuna these fish head straight for structure and must be stopped before they reach it...the fun is in trying to stop them!

Dave - I was thinking about posting info on fishing in each Asian country (have not tried India yet - but Samfish seems to have it well covered!) as a reference for people wanting to fish over here - what do you think?

Cheers

Dave

[samfish]

All sounds pretty exciting! The concept of letting the tuna run and run till it's swallowed the bait must be a tricky one to grasp! I imagine your heart must be in your mouth all the time that spool is smoking away - normally I guess you would wait till you were sure the fish was running and then set the hooks home. I suppose the Taiwanese mentallity of '' everything we catch we eat '' means a whole different way of fishing! Interesting stuff!

The concept of jigging as in your fishing is something I'm not entirely familiar with either. I have used the technique of jigging in freshwater reservoirs in the U.K. to catch Pike and Perch. This entailed using a short (6ft) rod from a boat and fishing heavy jig type lures in an up and down fashion through the lower levels (or any depth I suppose is possible) of water directly, vertically below the boat.

Is this similar to what you are doing out to sea?

Thanks,

Sam.

[PanamaJack]

Dave Irving, in that last post but one, suggested developing threads showing an overview of a region- perhaps country by country. That was something I'd also toyed with and perhaps, at least initially, I can lock them in as 'stickies'?

Mike jnr has also very kindly set us up a 'General' sub forum which I'd planned to use to identify, for instance, IGFA initiatives, etc. For example, their current initiative, out to consultation, regarding introducing World records for a limited number of species based on length, not weight.

But I'd also planned perhaps developing a thread that looked at Marlin venues, but from a global perspective. So someone may be desperately keen to catch a Marlin, but wants advice on where to go. That's rather than what often happens - 'I'm planning to go to X, what can I expect to catch?'.

So, you've convinced me Dave. Over to you - and of course all the others - to kick it all off! Just PM me if you feel we should be 'sticking' a particular thread.
Many Thanks
Dave