Tokyo Bay Sawara Casting
— Two Hits After Endless Cranking, and the One That Got Away

We met before dawn. Yacht masts lined the marina, and beyond them the lights of Yokohama blurred. The harbor at this hour is a quiet time filled only with anticipation.

Overcast and Swell. No Bird Piles in Sight

Once we were out of the harbor, the sky was completely overcast. On top of that, there was a swell, and the surface was restless. Sawara casting is about finding bird piles and boils and casting at them, so honestly these conditions were tough. However hard I stared, I couldn't tell surface disturbances from waves.

A Shared Charter Turned Private — Just Two of Us

It was a shared charter, but only two of us showed up, so it was effectively private. Having the captain run us around to spots and being able to cast freely on a roomy boat was a real luxury. …A luxury, yes, but it also meant "you have to keep casting."

Endless Fast Cranking: Metal Magic TG 40g/50g and the Type Blade

My main lures were the Aqua Wave Metal Magic TG 40g and 50g — staple tail-spin jigs for the sawara blade game. As a backup I used a DAIWA TG Bait 60g with the rear tuned to a double hook + blade. Rod: SHIMANO Grappler Type Blade S70-0. Reel: Abu Garcia Revo SP Rocket 4000S. This reel is super-high-gear, taking in 124cm per turn, and it's as good a match as you can get for fast retrieves for sawara.

But it's cast, crank as hard as you can, reel in, and cast again — over and over, endlessly, so naturally your arms feel it. Every fast crank piles on more fatigue. This kind of fishing is a much bigger test of stamina than I expected.

First Fish: A Four-Finger Hairtail

Then came the first hit of the day. Up came a "four-finger" hairtail (about four fingers wide). Not the target, but I was honestly happy to see a fish in these conditions. A hairtail hitting a blade lure — you could say that's very Tokyo Bay.

A Sawara Hit, Then It Came Off. The Silver Glow Was Lost

Then the second hit. The target — a sawara — on the Metal Magic TG 50g in silver glow. Mid-crank it clearly took the lure, and I thought "this is it" — but it came off. What's more, that silver glow was lost along with it. Losing your hit color is pretty hard on the nerves. Considering sawara's teeth, it's partly unavoidable, but it still stings.

My Neighbor Got 6 Hits. Was the Difference the Line?

The other angler on board that day got 6 hits. Same boat, same time of day — and this big a gap. He was using a TG Bait 40g tuned with a blade and a single hook.

My main jigs were 40g/50g. The lure size isn't that different. So where was the difference? What comes to mind is the line. I was on PE #1.5. With a sharp-eyed fish like sawara, there's a good chance they were seeing through line that thick. My rod (Grappler Type Blade S70-0) is rated for PE up to #1.5, so with this combination I can't go any thinner. My biggest takeaway this time: going lighter on line means rethinking the rod.