Three day jigging/popping with Korean TV fishing crew.

ksong

New member
They left for Korea last night and I finally can find time to relax. :) But it doesn't last long as two Korean jigging/popping fishermen are coming tonight to fish bluefin in Cape Cod with me.

We fished bluefin for three days on Oct 11, 12 and 15.  I feel they were extremely lucky to fish bluefin three days in a week at this time of the year in Cape Cod.

Oct.11

I picked Shin and cameraman, Lee up at JFK airport, NY at 10:00 pm and drove directly to Green Harbor, MA.
We had a double header on poppers around Peaked Hill Bar area early in the morning. Shin fought his first ever bluefin on a popper and I let Korean fisherman from Argentina a blueifn I hooked up with Dorado Slider floating. Both were in 120 - 130 lbs range and were landed within 10 minutes.
I was using new Jigging Master 8'6" Moster popping rod. I watched closely while the guy from Argentina fought the fish. The rod remined me of long 8'6" original Gloomis rods before Shinamo purchsed the company.  thin and stiff, strong,  sensitivity and crispy feeling.
 Capt. Dom watched the rod action, he was impressed and asked me what kind of rod it is, not realizing it is new JM popping rod.
I think JM did pretty job to develop the popping rod.

In the afternoon, Yong hooked up a nice bluefin and Shin fought the fish for 30 minutes. We saw the fish twice on the surface and it was about 300 lbs big tuna. Though shin fought over 30 minutes, the fish was not ready to settle down for death circles. 8* But unfortunately the fish pulled the hook.

My camera was malfunctioning during the trip. I used Capt Dom's camera and I'll post pictures when I can upload pictures from his camera.

Oct 12

It was calm which is rare in Oct, but we rarely saw any surface action all day.  We saw a few tuna jumping and they disappeared as we approached.  As soon as we left the area, I saw Capt Chip's boat ran toward the spot we left and Chip radiod us that Adrian hooked a nice  bluefin on a popper(I found later he used a Heru lure.

We came back and decided to film their fight.

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Oct 15

After fishing bluefin on Oct 11 and 12, I decided to guide them in Panama as weather didn't look good for a while in Cape Cod and NC.
But I found a small window in Cape Cod on Thursday (10-15) before leaving for Panama on Friday. But I couldn't find a boat on Thursday. Fortunately Roger was willing to take us out on his 22'  Boston Whaler out of Pamet Harbor, just south of Provincetown, Cape Cod. 
Pamet Harbor is a cozy, beautiful harbor and it is short run to the fishing ground.

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When we got there, tuna were jumping all over the places.
Shin got a bluefin with Tailwalk Gunz first. 
Shin used a prototype Korean popping rod.  It looked the rod is rated to 30 - 40 lbs, but Shin said it has dead lifting power of 100 lbs. 8@  he said new carbon developed by new technologies was used for the rod.  After I watched him fighting a 53 - 55 inches bluefin with the rod, I asked whether they could add more backbone on the rod and he said any action and any backbone rod are possible by adding other material over carbon.

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After we caught and released the fish, the surface action became quiet.  We went to the fleet in NE corner. Lots of whales were there, but we didn't have many tuna marks there. We came back to Peaked Hill Bar area and decided to jig while drifting.  I didn't take long until I got a hit on my Sevenseas Hooker jig.  I normally use glow color daytime, but I used simple grey color of Hooker jig for experimentation and it worked.
I let Shin fight the fish and he was in awe how strong a bluefin is.
He caught 200 lbs dogtooth tuna in Northern Mariana off Saipan and 52 kg (116 lbs)GT in Komodo Island, Indonesia and he didn't have any problem to land them in short time, but he had hard time to fight with 170 - 180 lbs bluefin.
The rod he fought was heaviest jigging prototype rod which they made for me for big tuna. The rod lifted over 400 lbs object !!! 
I can sense the new types of carbon will revolutionize rod making processes soon.
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I put OTI 10/0 assist hook at the tail of the Hooker jig for experimentation. I feel assist hook at the tail of a jig can give better presentation than hook on top of a jig when using short jigs. Jigging Master PE5 filled with Vairvas Avani Big One PE6 was used.
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Thanks Roger for the arrangement of your boat for the trip. Shin was so fascinated with bluefin fishing that he vowed to come  back again next year. :)

I have no doubt the fishing shows will be a big hit in Korea.
I don't think anyone fought a nice bluefin on jig/popper in Cape Cod, a marlin in Panama and a big AJ on jigs in NC in a week like Shin did. :)
 

royboy

Sealiner
Hi Kil - EXCELLENT trip! Wow!

I am fishing in CR (out of Playa Zancudo)from 5th-12th Feb 2010 (30 miles north of Panama border) and hope to get into some monsters like you guys have.........

Wow!!!! Great Stuff!!!
 

fedu

Sealiner
Kil,

Great Photos, insane action.

Please post some of the photos of the fishing in Panama Fishing Lodge, I think everyone here will love to see them also.

Keep up the good work, unfortunatly your photos have on me a "bad" side effect:
I immeadiatly want to get out of work and go fishing, it's not very good for my work productivity :)
 

ksong

New member
fedu wrote:
Kil,

Great Photos, insane action.

Please post some of the photos of the fishing in Panama Fishing Lodge, I think everyone here will love to see them also.

Keep up the good work, unfortunatly your photos have on me a "bad" side effect:
I immeadiatly want to get out of work and go fishing, it's not very good for my work productivity :)
I had to close my shop for 10 days for them. :)  It is critical for me to complete my shop's website, especially when Anglers Proshop closed their business for a while.I have some products to list on my website now as an exclusive dealer of Jigging Master, Hots, Carpenter, Ripple Fisher as well as Korean rods in the US, but I just don't have enough time to work with it as fishing is so good now and fishing always comes first no matter what. :)

Here are Panama and NC reports.

------------------------------------

We had a great trip in Cape Cod. Shin could fight two bluefin, one on Tailwalk Gunz and one on Sevenseas Hooker jig on Thursday.
We left  Boston for Panama next day and had a blast in Panama.
On the first day(Sat), we had a 350 lbs black marlin within 30 minutes after trolling and Shin fought the marlin all the way by using his prototype jigging rod.  The rod is amazing. I plan to introduce them in the US with my specs.
The rods can revolutionize concepts of rods as it can lift over 300 lbs and as soft as glass rod and as light as graphite rod.

We had a few shots at marlin, but we missed. One big black marlin estimated at 600 - 700 lbs was chasing baits on surface just 30 yards away from the boat, but I couldn't believe I couldn't cast a popper though my popping rods was ready just beside me.  Instead, I was looking for a camera.

We decided to go inshore for a half day on the second day as we planned to fish peacock bass in Panama Canal on third day instead of chasing marlin/tuna.  We will be the only group who choose  peacock bass fishing instead of marlin/tuna. :)  but we didn't regret it.

We fished roosterfish/cubera snapper only three hours. Shin could fight a few jacks which we jokingly said they are Panamanian GT.
Shin caught his biggest GT of 52 kg in Komodo.

While Shin was reeling in a small jack caught on a popper, a big cubera snapper attacked it, but the fight didn't last long as his 50 lbs leader line got broken.  I had a huge hit on my Dorado Slider and I foung a huge scale like tarpo's on a hook.  Capt Macho said it was a monster cubera snapper.
We had a nice 30 - 35 lbs roosterfish on live bait which was trolled while we were popping. It seems roosterfish were there, but they just ignored our poppers on that particular day.

On the third day, we fished peacock bass in Panama Canal on John's trailered Boston Whalers with a hired guide.  I never dreamed I would fish Panama Canal and I never thought there are pristine waters in the Canal. 
It's been long time since I enjoyed bass fishing. Shin was also avid bass fishermen. Both of us enjoyed tremendouly fishing around rain forest.
We even had a few monkey on our boat as they look for food.

They visited many different parts of world for filming, but they said this trip can be topped. Shin already said you would be back to NY/Panama with other group from Korea for bluefin and marlin/yft.

We are leaving for NJ today. If my work schedule allow me, I'd like to guide them for one more trip. It will be bluefin jigging/popping  in Cape Cod again or AJ jigging in NC.

 Because of my computer problem, I can not upload pictures. I post a few pictures which John posted on bloodydeck.

Thanks John of the Panama Sportfishing Lodge for accomodating us and spent his time with us.  I have no doubt the TV show filmed  in Cape Cod  and Panama will be a big hit in Korea.

 

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After one day rest after coming back to Panama, we drove down to NC for AJ jigging.  My friend, David arranged a boat and he ran the boat himself.  As we could leave NJ after 8:00 pm due to my work, we had to drove 10 hours without any rest to get there scheduled 6:00 am on Thursday. It was amile run from the dock. Capt Rick was there already. Rick gave some information to David where to fish.
Thanks Rick. :)
Shin had been very lucky for the whole trips so far. This trip was not an exception. On his first drop, he hooked up a nice 70 plus lbs AJ on his Korean jig and whole fight from hoopup to release was filmed.

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On the second drift, Yong got a monster on 350g JM rod/Blue Heaven reel.  Yong is pretty experienced jig fisherman and I knew it could be a 100 plus AJ judging from the fight. In deed it was over 100 plus lbs with over 60" fork length.

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Shin and myself played with light rods. while Shin used Korean NS light rod, I used a JM 100g rods and I enjoyed trememsously fighing a nice AJ with the super light rod. :)

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It was a long journey from Cape Cod, Panama to NC, but I feel they are extremely lucky to fish 7 days ( three days in Cape Cod, three days in Panama and one day in NC) out of 10 day stays in the US considering terrible weather in Oct.
I have no doubt the fishing shows filmed on these trips will be a big hit in Korea and I am glad I could help them.

 

 

 

 


 

 
 

Nepptune

Sealiner
Absoklutely superb Kil!!! Fantastic to see that Shin and Yong and the crew had such an incredible and successful trip with you, must have been a great couple weeks, and busy I'm sure!!!

Great pictures throughout, and that AJ on the JM 100 of yours is incredible!!!
Great to see the pics of ADRIAN fighting that BFT from Chips boat... that kid is the biggest fish magnet I've ever seen!!!

Congrats on another great couple trips Kil, and a huge thank you for sharing the pictures and words with us!

Looking forward to seeing and heasring more!

Regards from Cape Town
Nepps
 

marine69

Senior Member
This is making me feel sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY!!!!!!!!

Man i want one of those bluefin!!!!!!!
 

ksong

New member
Nepps,
They caught 200 lbs yellowfin tuna on poppers in Panama two days later after we left Panama, but I don't regret my decision to fish in Panama Canal as the trip itself was a special. I fished Panama three times this year and I have many opportunities to fish yellowfin in Panama in the future.
I had 21 trips to Cape Cod for bluefin jigging and popping from mid June this year driving 350 miles one way. It tells how much I love fishing big bluefin.


Shin fished Perth, Australia for samson fish and said AJ jigging in NC is much better with bigger fish. He had to jig with 500 g jig in 150 meter in Perth and he didn't need any heavier than 250g jig in 60 -70 meter water in NC.
I fished Three Kings Islands, NZ twice and AJ jigging in NC seems better in terms of quality and quantity except Three Kings Island offer first class bass/hapuka jigging also.
 

fedu

Sealiner
Those JM overhead jigging reels look amazing, by the look of the photos it seems Shin loves longer rods.

Nice looking jig, is it Korean design also ?

P.S. - Great looking photos, clear strong colors, nice angles, congratulations.
 

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ksong

New member
Bluefin popping last Sunday and Monday was fantastic in Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank early in th morning though smaller tuna dominated.

I went with Capt Jimmy of the No Time with two fishermen from Korea and Yong yesterday(10-27).
Jimmy loves to use live baits, but I insisted to go without baits as popping was great on Sun and Monday and I didn't want to lose fishing time to catch baits as they bite only 2 hours until 9:00 am on Monday.
Jimmy said we could catch whiting only one mile from fishing spot in SW corner and I had no reason to object it as I missed whiting fishing since 1991 in NY area. :)

We we got the SW Corner, we didn't see much bird action. When I saw Jimmy put down lines with live whiting, I knew I had to change my plan from popping to jigging. :)

While drifing with other fleet, we didn't get any bites. Jimmy went to the spot he liked and we immediately marked some tuna.
He used Park's Daiwa Mura Mura Expedition rod/Ocear Jigger 5000P for live bait and put the rod in the rod holer. Soon after, we heard big breaking sound, when we turned the rod got broken in half just below the ree
l seat and the rod/reel were gone !!!
As soon as I had a hit on my Grey Hooker jig another rod with live whiting went off. I let Park fight the fish and Yong fought other tuna.

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The tuna I hooked up on my jig was a nice one as it almost dumped over 200 yards of line on 22 - 23 lbs drag. Park fought the fish about 30 minutes, but the main line of Varivas Avani BIgone PE6 lines got broken. :confused:
The other fish was fought by Yong and Jin alternately and we finally landed after long fight. Korean prototype rods were used for both fish.
The jigging rod has 400 lbs dead lifting power an the light popping rod with Stella 2000 has over 100 lbs dead lifting power.
As you see in the pictures, the popping rod was bent most 180 degree, but it didn't break. :eek: The fish was not small in 180 lbs range with 67 inches.
Shin,Korean TV host said to me that those rod can not be broken while fishing and I start to believe it. They are making prototype rods for me accoring to my specs. All I have to do is to give them info what kind of action I like.

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As expected, fishing slowed down after 9:30 am. fishing slowed down and we jigged for an hour for nothing as we didn't have any live bait.
We went for more whiting for bait. When we came back to SW Corner, there were only few boats there.  Jimmy decided to use flat line without sinker as dogfish attacked any live whiting when fished deep and it worked like magic. :) It was strange that  we didn't mark many tuna on the screen, but as soon as we put live bait on the line, we heard screaming sound.
While fighting a nice bluefin, Jimmy sent another live whiting and we had an instant hookup. While they were fighting, I tried to jig for nothing.
The first tuna which was caught on a Korean prototype popping rod was released. It looked bigger than the tuna we kept.  Park fought the second tuna on Korean prototype jigging rod we lost very close to the boat as tuna pulled the cirvcle hook.  As weather got deteriorated and we felt enough, we headed for the dock around 1:30 pm.

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Nepptune

Sealiner
Absolutely fantastic Kil!!!

Looks like its been a great couple weeks for you and the guys from Korea...

I love those Bent rod shots, the bend in that prototype is just CRAZY!!!

Fantastic, keep them coming!
 

ksong

New member
ChrisW wrote:
Nice Report Kil. Have you tried the Jig Star rods yet?
Chris
 

Chris, I have a good news for you.

My friend, Travis landed a 71" (210 -220 lb) bluefin with Jig Star rod and JM PE5 reel today. He said it took only 18 minutes to land.

I'll post picutures when I get them from him.
 
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