Ajing in a storm: two giga aji

A recollection published in November 2019. The original says “early March this year”; the weather described belongs to that past trip.

It was early March. Apparently February is a good time, but this was when we arrived at a spot said to produce giga-sized aji.

The sea was rough. Spray was coming over the breakwater.

At this time of year, bait anglers usually line the place, leaving no space to squeeze in. This time, there were just two of us: my wife and me.

We went out to the end.

I cast an M-Caro rig with the wind. It flew a long way. Having the wind behind it helped.

“It is big!”

My wife began with several fish of 25–27 cm, then added aji in the roughly 30 cm class.

Meanwhile, I finally managed a few just over 20 cm.

Then my wife started calling out.

“It is big!”

I immediately wound in my own rig and got the landing net ready.

All set.

Here it came. Big indeed—large enough to mistake for a nerigo, a young greater amberjack.

45.5 cm.

Yes! A giga aji.

A little luck for me too

I was thinking how nice that must be when, as it turned out, I had some luck as well.

It seemed the weather had brought the big aji into the bay.

Mine was 40.5 cm. Just about a giga aji, if we are being generous.

Later, at a tackle shop, I heard that someone had caught one close to 50 cm—a tera aji.

I would like to catch one that size.

Just a little smaller than my wife’s, of course.

The measurements follow this Japanese article exactly. The near-50 cm catch is something the author heard about afterwards, not a fish caught on this trip. Related: a winter trip that improved after a change of spot.