Captain Goofy on Murubushi

I arrange fishing boat charter in Okinawa with my field guide with Captain Goofy.  Murubushi is a very popular fishing boat in Okinawa, off Ginowan Marina.  Captain Goofy is a leading angler himself in various fishing games.  His expertise and passion is what makes Murubushi so popular and trusted by local anglers and visiting anglers.  His experience will take you to the hottest spots for any styles of fishing Okinawa has to offer.  Beginners, families, fishing maniacs, and professionals, come to enjoy or learn fishing in Okinawa.

Find Captain Goofy on Murubushi on facebook.  @murubushiokinawa

Slow Pitch Jigging

I’ll be happy to give you hands-on lectures on slow pitch jigging. There is so much you can’t learn from reading the text.  Amberjack and groupers are the main targets here.  Usually around 80m to 150m.  Of course, hi-speed jigging is also welcome.
The jigging season is from September to June.  April and May are the best seasons.  Max 8 anglers per boat.

For those who are interested in boating in the vertical alignment, it will be very educational to learn directly from the captain how to operate with the spanker sail.

Bottom Fishing

So many kinds of groupers, snappers, emperors are the common catch from Okinawa seafloor. The average size will be 1kg or 2kg, but make sure your line is always tight because there’s always chances you encounter aggressive big games in the shallow reefs like big fat grouper, coral trout, amberjack, and dogtooth tuna.  Typically, anywhere from 40m to 100m deep, but we can be flexible for your requests.
Bottom fishing is good for all year round.  Max 8 anglers per boat.

 

We can do Ruby Snappers in 200m+ of water if you like!  (2-hour range charter)

(Shown in this picture is Pale Snapper, a close relative to Ruby Snapper.  And I caught it with jigging from 400m deep.)

Oyogase Fishing

The name “Oyogase Fishing” literally means “swim bait fishing”.  First we catch little baitfish like goat fish or fusilier in the shallow and keep them alive in the tank.  These fish are strong against water pressure change and we let them swim on the hook as a bait.  Big groupers, amberjack, and other aggressive predators are expected.  We call it Light Oyogase when we use baitfish under 20cm.  Full-size Oyogase uses over 30cm scad and mackerel.  Powerful reel and rod with a soft rod tip are required.

Good for all year.  Max 8 anglers per boat for Light Oyogase, 6 for Full-size Oyogase.

 

See more details on Oyogase Fishing in one of my reports.
Murubushi 2-day Trip

Deep Eging

Okinawa is a center of Deep Eging for bigfin reef squid.  A lot of Japanese anglers come to Okinawa in the hunt for monster squid over 5kg.  The usual depth is about 30m to 100m.  Can be done in a short range from Ginowan.  The season is from December to early June.  Max 8 anglers per boat.

GT Popping

Sub-tropical Okinawa is the most popular field for GT in Japan.  The field will be at the reef edge or at the underwater mountain peak at about 50-meter deep.

Great from April to October.  Avoid Typhoon season (August – September).  Only 3 or 4 people can cast at one time. Others can enjoy Tai-rubber, Tenya, and micro jigging in the back.

Light Reef Casting

Light casting over beautiful coral reef is a blast. Local anglers favorite target is Blue Emperor. We call it Taman. It’s a very powerful and wise, and the field is tricky with coral reefs. It’s an exciting game with sinking minnow, pencil, vibration, spoon, and soft plastic over 5 to 10 meters of water.

Great from April to October. Only 3 or 4 people can cast at one time. Others can enjoy Tai-rubber, Tenya, and micro jigging in the back.

Murubushi Charter

1-Day CHARTER FEE

  • 1-day trip charter within 2-hour range, JPY100,000

*Charter fee is the same no matter how many people in the group.

The standard charter time is 10 hours between 6:00 and 18:00. But we can be flexible to your requests.

OPTIONS

  • Light spinning tackle rental, JPY2500 per person
  • Slow pitch jigging tackle rental, JPY2500 per person
  • Electric reel tackle rental, JPY5000 per person
  • Battery rental, JPY500 per day
  • Bottom fishing bait, JPY1000 per person / day

Bring your own drinks and lunch.

Fishing rigs and sinkers can be arranged. Please consult with Totos beforehand.
Styrofoam boxes and freezer space can be arranged if you want to bring your catch home in ice or frozen.
 

Island Stay Trip

  • 2-day Island Stay Trip charter fee, JPY240,000.
  • 3-day Island Stay Trip charter fee, JPY380,000.
  • 4-day Island Stay Trip charter fee, JPY520,000.
  • 5-day Island Stay Trip charter fee, JPY660,000.
  • Lodging and dinner, JPY8,000 per person / night.

*Charter fee is the same no matter how many people in the group. The lodging and food fees are per person.

We start from Ginowan, travel 2 hours and fish around an island called Ie. And we stay in a lodge on the island.  You can get a hot shower, sleep on the bed, have dinner with your catch, and the next morning we can head out at the sunrise and you are already right there in the good fishing grounds.

Fishing Information

Ie Island is a nice fishing ground for various targets like groupers, amberjacks, snappers, jobfish and doggies. Great for bottom fishing and Oyogase fishing with live baitfish. It’s also famous for light casting game for blue emperors over the reef.
But if the weather allows, we would like to go up further north to Izena and Iheya island, 1 to 1.5 hours away. These are supreme fishing grounds for bottom fishing, Oyogase, and jigging. We will discuss our strategy with you as we go with the latest weather forecast.

Fishing conditions are about the same everywhere.

Jigging is good from 80m to 150m. The deeper the better usually. Prepare 200g to 300g jig weights.
Oyogase is good from 60m to 120m. Coral trout can be targeted around 60m – 80m. Other fish like groupers, amberjacks, jobfish, and doggies can be hit at any depth. The goat fish (the bait) can only survive no deeper than 130m. The sinker should be 300g – 400g.
Bottom fishing is also good at the same depth as Oyogase. But under 70m, there are so many peckers to steal your baits.

Most fishing spots are between 80m to 120m. At this depth, you can do any of your choice of jigging, bait fishing, and Oyogase. If you have joined us for Aguni trip before, fishing conditions are all the same.

Logistics

We book a basic lodge near the port. There are different types of rooms like singles, doubles, and triples and we let the lodge arrange our rooms, according to the vacancy. Please let me know if there’s a couple of ladies in your group so that we can arrange the rooms accordingly.

There’s a resort hotel too if you want to pay extra for better accommodation. There are rooms for double occupancy and also villas for groups.
YYY Ie Resort

We will arrange all our dinners during the trip. We will go to a Izakaya-style restaurant who cook our catch whenever possible.
There are 24-hour convenient stores on the island where you can buy drinks and meals on the boat. You just need to bring your drinks, snacks and lunch for the first day.

Murubushi Facts

  • 50 feet.
  • Holds 8 anglers comfortably.
  • Has cabin with 4 x comfortable car seats with air conditioning, microwave, and hot-water heater.
  • Electrical flush toilet.

Meeting Location

Cordinates:   26.276263411889673, 127.72989992280577

There’s a little roundabout where you can park when you turn at the signal into the marina.  The entrance to the marina is locked early morning.  We get together here and the captain will open the key for us.

Booking and Payment

Booking is recommended 3 month prior to your charter.  Booking will be confirmed and held when you send me the receipt of your flight booking.

1 month prior to your charter, I will send you an invoice from PayPal for JPY10,000 per day of charter as the downpayment.  This downpayment will be put forward to the cancellation fee if you cancel the charter for your convenience.  No cancellation fee before 1 month prior.  JPY10000 per day after 1 month mark.  Captain may have to cancel the charter due to bad weather and any other safety issues.  In that case, we will refund your downpayment.  The rest of the fee can be paid on site, Japanese Yen only.  If you wish to pay by your credit card, we can do thru PayPal interface.  4% card payment fee will be required.

Dinner With Your Catch by Totos

Sometimes I open pop-up restaurant. I can cook a dinner for you with the fish you will catch.
I will be using my friend’s cafe in Okinawa city.
It will be JPY6000 per person, excluding drinks.
This is the article on my food blog.
Full Of Okinawa

The food will be basically Japanese style, sometimes with influence of other cuisines. It depends on the fish and the season too.

Dinner will be the next day of the day you return from the fishing trip. I will be fishing with you and I need a day to prepare.