By Diogo Yamada
Outdoor activities, nature, beach, sun, wonderful restaurants, happy people and good energy are what you find when on the Gulf of Mexico, FL. Which has more quantity and variety of fish than in many other places where I have fished and there have been few, I have fished in Japan, Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Europe. In my first year living in the area, I had the honor of meeting Capt. Pablo Koch-Schick, from Reel Coquina who took me to visit this fishermen’s paradise. We would have a half a day of fishing where he would show me and my family all the beauty of the area, fishing spots, and I would give him all the tips he needed to improve the technique of Slow Pitch Jigging. We met up at 6:00 am one morning where we embarked with a calm sea and calm navigation towards the first point about 40 miles out. My first impression was already very good. Calm sea, calm navigation and huge schools of fish surrounding the vessel. They were kingfish, amberjacks, bonito, sharks and others. With the favorable conditions and low current, we started dropping lighter slow pitch jig jigs, between 60g and 150g and my wife, Gigi, already hitched a beautiful kingfish.
My 10 years old daughter had a lot of success fishing on the bottom and captured a beautiful rainbow-runner.
I preferred to go on speedy jigging, exploring all water column, using the Hilla Jiggla Saurus 170g and had a lot of action with the ferocious amberjacks.
It was an incredible day with the family and I was able to see all the wonders of fishing in the area. My tip for those who want to improve the techniques of vertical jigging in the region is to find a good guide, with good evaluations and knowledge of the technique and the region and take the equipment compatible with the depth to be explored. If you want more information about Slow Pitch Jigging, Vertical Jigging and other Japanese fishing Techniques come to visit The Fisherman`s Hut in Bradenton, FL or online at www.thefishermanshut.com
