From Passionable Fishing, our Japanese-language journal.

Wind at 4–7 m/s: hardly ideal ajing weather. High waves, too. Spray from waves hitting the breakwater kept splashing my trousers as I fished. Hmm.

There was a feeding spell, but it lasted only about five minutes.

I first landed a 28 cm aji. The next ones were smaller: 25 cm, then 23 cm. Between my wife and me, we caught just six.

My wife had switched to a metal jig

It turned out that my wife had given up on ajing and started jigging. She was using a Lateo 86 seabass rod and a 30 g metal jig, as she told me afterwards.

Not knowing that, I watched from a distance while she fought what looked like a fairly large bottom-dwelling fish. I assumed she still had an ajing rod.

Apparently, she had wanted me to take over.

Then her PE braid broke.

On my second cast

Now it was my turn. I cast, wondering what the fish might be, and worked the jig with vigorous lifts of the rod.

There it was! On the second cast!

As I brought it towards me, it dived hard at some rocks about ten metres out. I lifted it away and drew it closer.

But there were rocks directly in front of me too. Here it made another powerful dive. This was getting dangerous for the line.

The drag was already tight, yet it started singing as though it could not hold the fish.

I moved from side to side to buy the brief moment I needed to tighten the drag further. Every time the fish turned and pulled downwards, I raised the rod firmly: “Oh no, you don’t.”

After dealing with five or six strong dives, I finally brought it to the surface. My wife scooped it up in our new landing net.

Looking at the fish, I realised it was a nerigo—a young greater amberjack. Measured back at home, it was 40 cm.

A proper first fish for the new net

The new net folds away.

While ajing, I had also hooked a hira, or elongate ilisha. I did not much fancy a strong-smelling hira being the first fish in the new net.

“No net needed. I’ll lift it out,” I said, and did just that. It was around 40 cm too, but of course much lighter than the nerigo.

I had not been out specifically targeting these pelagic fish for more than three years. Catching a nerigo again after so long was really enjoyable.

Originally published on our Japanese-language site, Passionable Fishing, on 11 Sep 2022. Translated for Avantgarde Fishing. These are the author’s personal observations at the time of writing. Product availability and fishing conditions may have changed.
Read this article on Passionable Fishing (日本語) ↗