日曜は久しぶりの釣りへ。
千葉に引っ越してから早4ヶ月、管理釣り場(ジョイバレー)でのトラウトしか釣れておらず、釣り場探しのため、こんな本まで購入してしまいました。
この本を見て、まずは自宅から一番近いところで、記事の中に駐車場の情報までハッキリ載っているところを選んで、いつもならアジング、サーフ、ロックフィッシュと竿を何本も持っていくのですが、今回はサーフ用1本に絞っていきました。ちなみに持っていった竿は、マグナムクラフトのAK1040。作ってから1年半近く経っていますが、まだ鱗付けが済んでいない竿です。
ルアーはフラッシュブースト。
On Sunday, I went fishing. It's been a while.
It has been four months since I moved to Chiba, and I've only caught trout at the managed fishing pond (Joy Valley).
In search of new fishing spots, I ended up buying a book called "Aerial Guide to Fishing Spots in the Boso Peninsula: Chiba's Outer Boso, 99 Miles, and Choshi" from Amazon.
After going through the book, I chose a spot closest to my home with clear information about parking lots in the articles.
Usually, I bring multiple fishing rods for example, rods for aging , surf fishing, and rock fishing, but this time I decided to focus on using just one surf fishing rod. The rod I brought was the AK1040 by Magnum Craft, which I've had for about a year and a half but it still looks brand new.
Since I hadn't used it in a while, I hadn't set up my line system. As I was preparing various things late into the night, it ended up being 11 PM, and I realized it was too late to aim for the pre-dawn bite at 3 AM. So, I woke up at 4:30 AM, had a proper breakfast, and left at 5 AM. I arrived a little after 6 AM.
When I arrived, there were many surfers around. There were about 10 anglers on the small breakwater, but I didn't see anyone fishing in the surf.
Even though it was summer, I always wear waders when I fish in the surf. Since I only come occasionally to surf, I want to use the waders to get the investment for the wader worth.Also, I don't like getting my clothes wet, so even though I only let the water go up to my knees, still I put on my waders. Wearing wader and life-jacket, fully equipped, and headed out. My lure of choice was the Flash Boost.
The wind was strong again today. The strong wind was blowing from the right side the whole time, and the tide was also flowing from right to left. Even when I cast towards the right, the lure would come back almost horizontally from the left side.
It was quite challenging to fish under these conditions.
While casting and slowly moving around, I noticed areas where the current was particularly strong. I wondered if it was the offshore current of the Kujukuri-Coast. I focused my efforts in those areas. By the way, I can't visually identify offshore currents; I have no clue about them....
Later, I noticed red flags indicating the spots where offshore currents occur on the sandy beach. So, I think I was probably in the right area.
As I was reeling the line with feeling the strong current pulling my rod, I had a solid hit. "Alright!" I quickly set the hook, but in an instant, the fish lost its strength and I was just being dragged in one direction without any resistance.
I caught a flatfish of about 30 cm. The lure that worked was the Flash Boost. I've caught only a few fish in the surf so far, but all of them were caught using this lure.
It had been about 15 minutes since I started fishing. It was already 6:30 AM, and the sun was fully up. But since the tide was about to turn and the current would become stronger, I thought there might be more action today. So, I kept casting with determination. However, in the end, this was the only catch I had.
After that, around 8 AM, lifeguards started appearing (one of them was a beautiful woman who talked to me, so I felt happy from the morning...LOL). They informed me that the beach would be open for swimming from 9 AM, so I should refrain from fishing in this area.
This was the first time I caught a wild fish since coming to Chiba, and I hadn't caught anything for two and a half hours. So, I decided to pack up and call it a day. I was satisfied with my first surf fishing experience in the Kujukuri Coast. Next time, I hope to catch even bigger fish.
After surf fishing, I was covered in sand as usual. To get rid of the sand, I recommend using a gardening spray from Daiso that my friend gave me.
By the way, I noticed a sign that said "No illegal clam digging!" and thought to myself, "I guess many people still engage in illegal clam digging since Kujukuri is famous for it." I saw people everywhere collecting clams.
One guy was sitting on the sandy beach, playing with sand with their feet and hands, finding clams, and putting them in their pockets. The most unpleasant sight was a person who was fishing barefoot in the surf, not paying attention to fishing and using his feet to dig in the sand, picking up clams and tossing them into their bag. Don't camouflage your clam digging activities with fishing!! I personally think it's better (although it's still wrong) when people clearly use bags and shovels to collect them, as it's more honest and straightforward.