Memorial Zamami - Day 3

On our third day, Joe, a friend of ours decided to come out and join us for some snorkeling on the island. We picked him up at the port and headed for the spot where we saw the reef shark the day before. Although Joe is from the Tampa area and has spent lots of time on the water, he had never been spear fishing before. So I handed him my spare spear and we went off in search for dinner. As always I was on the lookout for groupers (I intend to land a 30lb plus one before leaving Okinawa  either by spear or pole) and Joe was on the hunt for parrot fish.  After just a few minutes I noticed a large (4 1/2 - 5 foot) barracuda hanging out above a large coral formation. Directly below it, at a wrass cleaning station, I saw what looked to be a large, longer version of the Atlantic pompano (one of my favorite eating fish; delicious...or as they say here in Okinawa "Oishii!!!). Without too much thought of the barracuda or the safety of my pole spear, I cocked back and stuck. Although it was a perfect shot just behind the eyes, the spear did not penetrate and the fish in a torent of activity, came free. I immediately cocked again, and scored a second hit, this time securing the fish on the pole. Swimming back to our kayak with a 12 lb fish on the end of a spear, heart racing, in waters where we saw a shark the day before is a bit unnerving.

After throwing him in the cooler, I wanted to go into town and get a trophy print made of the fish. Its a neat process, and unlike in the states there is no large goofy plastic fish to mount. The fish was a big hit in town, and although we had a language barrier, we managed to order a print. A few photos of the fish, an official measurement and weight, lots of pantomimes and  more than a few sugoys' (Japanese for awesome) and we were done. A bit of research on Google and I found out that this was an African Pompano, member of the Jack family, and best yet...good to eat!

Trophy maker taking a photo of me and the fish for the print.

We brought the fish back to Shozo, and being the awesome host that he is, we awoke the next day to sautéed pompano in a sweet garlic sauce for breakfast!

As the Japanese say "Oeshii!!!"

Here is what the final trophy will look like! I cant wait to have it framed and hanging on the wall.