Busy Year

We have been really busy since the start of 2008! The weather has been cooperating, and so have the fish. We have several nice 2008 boat records on our website to view, and we have been catching large quantities of fish almost every time we go out. Large quantities? Yes, up to 180 fish on a regular charter. Be sure to get your reservations in early so you can get the day that you want.

LET'S GO CATCH SOME FISH!!!

2007 Final Fishing Report

We were able to get one more charter in before the weather turned bad for the rest of the year. The largest mahi we landed were both over 5 feet long, and weighed over 30 pounds. (Last 2 pics on the Gallery, Page 3 www.Saltwater-Fishing-Okinawa.com). We are still hitting decent tuna, nice rainbow runners, blue mackerel, and it seems that a school of skipjacks was passing through, because we nailed a whole bunch of them.

We are constantly testing new methods, and new baits to make fishing more productive for you. In 2007 we found new hooks, and new bait that has allowed us to boat more big fish than any other charter service on the island. Some may doubt this, but the pictures do not lie. The high cost of quality rigs is a good trade off for someone catching the biggest fish in their life, which is a comment we hear almost every time we go out.

Looking forward to another great year of fishing in 2008!

SFO 2007 In Review

2007 has been quite a year. The weather has been particularly bad throughout the year, making it difficult to get charters out. We were notified by the tax office that our sales were high, so we had to graduate from a company to a corporation. We were able to register our corporation in Japan during October, and are operating as a Japanese corporation (American Owned of course). The corporate name is SFO Group Co., LTD.

We registered the trademark in Japan for our name, Saltwater Fishing Okinawa, and logo. Our trademark is recognized internationally through the Madrid rules of trademarks. The trademark is owned by our new corporation.

Discovery Channel’s Travel division did a shoot with us for fishing in Okinawa. It is expected to air in January 2008. Don’t worry if you miss it, they have promised me a copy that you will be able to see after the program airs. Taiwanese Super Model, Janet, is the presenter for this segment. My good friend Tim Li is the producer, and James Wu is the director.

We submitted our application, which was accepted, to the Urasoe/Ginowan Fisherman’s Association in June of 2007.

“Okinawa Island Guide” featured us on a 2 page spread in their magazine for 2008-2009. This is available now at Jusco in Chatan, and will be on the bases soon. You can also purchase a copy from us for $15.

The International Game Fish Association interviewed us for a special feature in their January 2008 issue of “International Angler”.

We are getting more and more customers from outside Okinawa. The word must be getting out about the fishing here. We have had clients from as far away as Spain, London, Seoul Korea, Taiwan, Canada, and several US States, coming to Okinawa for the sole purpose of going fishing with us.

We purchased a truck with a crane and power gate this year. This has been a great help in transporting gear, fish, and lifting heavy coolers on and off the boat. With the purchase of this truck, we also bought and certified crane scales for weighing large fish like marlin and big tuna. We set up the first, and currently, the only official weigh station not only in Japan, but in the entire North West Pacific Region. There are no world record catches in Japan unless we say they are!

Now we are being approached by travel agencies wanting to contract with us for fishing tour packages. Should be interesting to see how this turns out.

A very successful and eventful year was 2007, but none of it would have been possible without each one of our clients. A very warm and heartfelt thank you to all of you, and we wish you the best year ever in 2008!

Discovery Shoot

Tuesday, November 20th 2007 - We did a short fishing shoot with the good people from the Discovery Channel for their Travel section. The presenter for this shoot was none other than the world famous supermodel known as Janet. Janet has graced the cover of magazines like GQ, BAZAAR, and models Louis Vitton clothing, multi-million dollar diamond jewelry, and does high end commercials for various other products like cognac and etc.... She also caught the largest mahi mahi of the day, which weighed in at 53 pounds. This tough little girl proved that supermodels like to fish too! Her blog site is: http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/janet-funtaiwan. The fishing was awesome that day as we caught huge mahi all day long, before we went to the Kerama Islands for a diving shoot with Reef Encounters. It was an honor to have Janet, Tim (the producer), and the rest of the crew go fishing with us on Seiya Maru!

November 2007

October is finally past, and November lies ahead. 3 weekends of October were not fishable due to high winds and high seas. We hope that November calms down a little so we can get out and fish!!!. Our weekends are nearly booked solid for offshore charters in November, and we are starting to get reservations for December. If there is a certain day that you want, be sure to reserve it early!

Spearfishing On Okinawa

Got some hot scoop for the spearfishing enthusiasts on Okinawa. Seems like there is a campaign going on to crack down on illegal spearfishing, illegal marine life harvesting, and illegal fish sales/bartering in Okinawa. If you use a trigger operated spear gun, you need to read the following link:

http://www.saltwater-fishing-okinawa.com/charters.htm#Laws

Cap'n Billy Fanska

Cap'n Billy, The owner of Saltwater Fishing Okinawa and President of SFO Group Co., LTD., has a Type I Japanese Skipper's License. He is the first foreigner in Japan to be granted a Japanese commercial fishing license, and the first foreigner in Japan to be registered as a Recreational Fishing Guide. Cap'n Billy fished commercially in North Carolina for 7 years, worked charter boats in Florida and North Carolina, and has more than 40 years of fishing experience. He is an IGFA Certified Captain, and established the first Official IGFA Weigh Station in Japan. He can certify that record fish, ensuring that you get the recognition you deserve!