The fishing crew of the American Angler trip in May, to seek tuna out of San Diego.
Tokichi Ouchi’s 90th birthday is a fishing party at sea.
By DANNY TANAKA
Rafu Contributor
First, this is a true story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this Danny T & Friends charter are not fictitious. All identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products are intended and should be inferred.
No person or entity associated with this charter received payment or anything of value, or entered into any agreement in connection with the depiction of fishing products. Many fish were extremely hostile, harvested and after processing happily shared with many in the making and partaking of this adventure.
Thank you to the American Angler: Brian, Lori, Captain Ray, Chef, Javier, Brad, Griffen, Kirk, Chase and Jack, for providing us two days of awe where time stood still on the water.
A few years ago, I met a graying angler that had the eyes and curiosity of a playful puppy. His name is Tokichi “Toki” Ouchi. We instantly became friends and in short order my dad’s ohana-aloha genes kicked in. So I took him under my wing and adopted him as a fellow fisherman and father.
I haven’t seen Toki-san’s birth certificate or his CDL, but I trust implicitly that he is 90 chronologically — yet looks, acts and I believe he’s permanently locked in time at 70 biologically.
I had stealthily and secretly planned for six months with Yumi, his daughter, to have his 90th surprise Bluefin (BFT) Birthday Party on our charter. Everyone was told that this surprise was top-secret and not to be shared with anyone. I imagined the message would automatically self-destruct once they were confirmed and welcomed aboard.
Unfortunately, the message didn’t self-destruct, melt or burn up like it always did in one of my favorite TV shows, “Mission Impossible.” Plus, it’s my bad, I had forgotten that fishermen’s secrets and secret spots rarely remain a secret for long. It’s my bad too, when I’ve forgotten to tell my wife that I’m going fishing and she lets me know that she’s not biting or buying my loss-of-memory tale.
Anyway, I knew someone had spilled the beans when Toki-san over a pre-trip conversation said he’d be ordering and picking up his birthday cake for us! Disappointed but undeterred, we jumped onboard the American Angler on May 10 and set sail out of San Diego. Captain Ray gave us the standard safety and game plan speech, then it was our turn to honor and celebrate Toki-san.
Everyone was given a small shot of fine and rare whiskey to toast our good friend. He spoke a few words humbly, kindly and graciously, which is who he purely is. Then I asked all to raise their drinks and cheer the celebratory “Ten Thousand Years” toast of “Banzai, Banzai, Banzai!” Pretty sure even our bait swimming in the bait tanks had heard us.
“Banzai” is also a war cry that Toki-san may have uttered and echoed when he hooked his first BFT of the season. It was on a secret jig (again, this is top-secret: 250g Shout Shotel Iwashi Squid with bottom Suteki Maboroshi 4/0 twin assists) he purchased with me just a month before our trip. Toki-san is well armed so I’m not sure why he chose to use his Cape Cod 450 (good) with an Accurate Boss Valiant 600 (bad), which is a beautiful and solid reel but under-gunned for a night bite.
After hook-setting this beast, Dean took control for much of the battle but was definitely not in command. Three-hundred-plus yards of line was airplaned straight out, at the bow I could see the spool had just a few layers of braid left, one short run it’ll be ping and he’d pop free, the 124’ X 32’ Excel swooped close, too close for comfort and unwarily ran right over our line (luckily it was just deep enough not to be cut) and four of the AA crew were taking turns fighting it as well.
So Captain Ray made an unprecedented, unexpected and executive decision to take command and turn the tide. Everyone onboard was ordered to quit fishing and wind in their lines with a solid school on the chew still below. At the wheel of the 90’ x 26’ American Angler he chased our pelagic predator until we got Toki-san’s horizontal line to be vertically up and down and the beast’s head to finally turn.
For much of the battle we thought it was foul-hooked or tail-wrapped but to our surprise it was hook-set perfectly in the jaw, goliath, and weighed out a beauty and beast 224-pound Cow.
Happy birthday, Toki-san! Everyone onboard had contributed and chipped in to a priceless present. A team, tribe, group of friends stood together as witnesses to a memory of a lifetime. Everyone is unique, uniquely connected and all matter. My friend Kenny would say, “True dat.”
They say timing is everything for us and I surmise it’s the same for the bluefin. May 8 was the new Moon (NM) and we try to time our charters pre- or post-NM. The gravitational pull is at its greatest so tide swings are at their maximum high to low and form bell-like curves that function like tidal dinner bells. A new Moon is also the invisible phase of the Moon, where the illuminated side faces the Sun and the night side faces Earth.
There is zero percent illumination during the NM, whereas in a full Moon there’s 100 percent illumination. Less illumination translates to better odds they’ll be on the chew. The BFT had been MIA and anti-social for three-plus weeks. During their disappearance many friends went on two-three-day-long, grueling, fruitless boat rides.
Fortuitously for us, the BFT bells were ringing loud and clear, and the bite was finally turning back on. Our first stop five BFT thumped the deck, second stop we added seven more and by the last stop at 2 a.m. we had eight to add, so 20 BFT for the night with 80 percent of them from 110-224 pounds. Quality over quantity*, note the asterisk.
Some of our anglers were not focused at the beginning, so heartbreakingly we lost as many or more to tangles compared to what we put in the fish hold. But after my li hing mui sweet-sour-salty barbed pep talk, tangles became minimal and we were all relieved to remove the “T” tape off AMERICAN (T)ANGLER.
From 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. we crossed mile after mile of a watery desert with no sign of life. We didn’t even see any other boats most times, but luckily one of the other captains in our code group had found some life and called us in.
As we approached the new area, it looked like we were in an oceanic bubble bath. By-the-wind sailors, blue carnivorous creatures that look like jellyfish but aren’t, were up bubbly-like and floating everywhere. These can be a strong trace indicator of bluefin because they feed on the plankton like much of the bluefin prey, and driven by wind seem to be massed and settle along invisible water-temperature breakwalls or thermoclines. Kinda like the Great Wall of China but formed by merging and upwelling water, sunlight, wind and the Earth’s rotation.
Within minutes of being in this predator-prey wall a 40-pounder then a 110-pounder slam the deck. From 2 p.m. to sunset we scraped and scratched up ten more beautiful-grade BFT. And for icing on the cake, May 11 birthday boy Alex Yu put the muscle masterfully to a 173-pounder that Rex Umbay BFF’ly had handed off.
After a special prime rib dinner, birthday song, sang, sung and cake for Toki-san and Alex, we were all pumped and ready to go. Outside, we astonishingly found ourselves surrounded by 20-plus of San Diego’s finest fleet in our secret spot! That pressure had pushed the BFT into a hide-and-seek mode, skittish and scattered.
We went back to searching again and every school we found frustratingly jetted and didn’t want to play. Then with the alarm “head back to the barn” clock tick-tocking louder, Captain Ray got us on a good one. He was marking and tracking a big school and exuberantly let us know on the loudspeaker.
What ensued was a well-mannered and well-orchestrated bloody deck chaos, and when the school decided to scoot, we had 14 more to add to our count. Forty-four BFT, with 30 well over 100 pounds. Many of my trips over the years have been fortunately limits of BFT for the boat but maybe just five to six 100-pounders might be in the mix.
This is the first time in my life where we’ve landed 30 beasts binomially named Thunnus orientalis! We are blessed to be at the epicenter of one of the finest fisheries in the world.
High and Hot Stick Award for two years in a row goes to Kenny Arima with four BFT. Three were over 100 pounds. Kenny’s secret is twofold: one. he is relentless and doesn’t waste a swing or shot at the rail because he’s always armed with the right stuff; second. he buttoned down his drag a few pounds above his normal settings but not to the point where he’d be nailed to the rail or risk the hook would pull. This allowed him to fight at his max comfort drag, avoid most of the tangles and not waste time or energy.
He likes to say it’s all about the “Bite and the Fight” that gets his heart going. “No matter what happens, just keep fishing.” Plus, like all of us, he doesn’t look forward to the pain in the butt and out-of-pocket fish processing bill.
Best Angler Award goes to Javier Tillit, our AA cook and fishy deckhand. He hooked and handed off four 100-pounders that were all gratefully accepted, fought and landed by our able anglers. The best anglers aren’t driven by numbers nor the size of a fish, they are fishers of men.
If you haven’t fallen asleep yet reading this, I’d like to remind you that the above and below are fact-checked by Snopes.com: True. Our two days is 45 hours on the water. The ride back to the landing from our fishing zone is a seven- to eight-hour run. That means if you still remember how to subtract that there’s a total of 37 to 38 hours to look for and catch fish.
The Comeback Award goes to eight anglers who waited until hours 37 to 38, bottom of the ninth and two outs, to catch their first BFT. Nao, Norman, Wendell, Kaz, Dean (2), Xiao, Marc and Tony. Patience, persistence and perseverance have its reward. Good job and congratulations, brothers!
Honorable Mention goes to Randy Mikuriya and Sohei Hashimoto. Randy put two good ones on the deck on the last stop to make his total three for our first trip together this year. Sohei’s son should actually get this award because he prayed with the lure that his dad would do well. Three 100-pound home runs on the HD I would say is a prayer come true.
“Thank you” to Mike and James Kikkawa of West Coast Jiggerz for providing the KBs and HDs that were on fire. 29/44 were KB or HD.
“The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne has sold 30 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 50 languages, according to Wikipedia. She’s not a fisherman so here’s the secret she failed to put on the deck.
First, Toki-san would’ve caught that 224-pound beast with anything, with even a hook welded to a spoon. What’re the odds of a 90-year-old fisherman catching a 224-pound bluefin on the day we celebrate his birthday competing against 28 friends in a school of 100-pounders 70 miles out at sea? If you don’t know, the odds of getting struck by lightning are a much better bet. Statistically and scientifically, the jig didn’t matter.
Fishing is a humble and humbling act of faith. In early Christianity the fish was the secret symbol of faith. It’s your faith, family, friends and friendships that matter. Second, for those of you who didn’t catch it the first time. The way he speaks humble, kind and gracious is who he is. His two fish together weighed more than 350 pounds. He keeps a small amount for himself and his family. Sometimes none … it’s the sharing with others that matters.
Lastly, awe rises from deep, a depth we cannot fathom. It is powerful and profound; like creativity, it is unearned and unwilled. Netted with respect and reverence, awe is a moment of wonder that makes time stand still. If you’ve been listening, you know that awe begins in the humility of the human voice, the way we speak matters.
He is good.