From Passionable Fishing, our Japanese-language journal.

We had already heard of aji around Nogama Island reaching a little over 30 cm. At our own spot, though, the season was slow to get going. It was only once July arrived that we finally started catching them.

The feeding window was still short: a little over an hour. Between the two of us, we caught 28 fish, from 20 to 28 cm.

Two days later, we took a friend along. There was very little room to stand, so we took turns. My wife and I caught 32 between us, about two-thirds of them hers. Our friend caught 15.

That day, we gave him all of ours to take home too. A whole tackle bucket full.

The rods we used

  • My wife: Daiwa Saltist CN79LML.
  • Me: a Gamakatsu eging rod—a rod intended for squid fishing.
  • Our friend: a longer Daiwa ajing rod.

A surprise from a cheap soft lure

Partway through the session, the fishing became harder, and bites on our soft lures dropped sharply. Our friend, meanwhile, seemed to be doing well.

His lure was an extremely cheap one.

I borrowed one from him. The bites came back.

What? We lost to this?

Well, the evidence was right there. We had lost. On that occasion, this was the lure that beat ours.

Hmm. The world is full of surprises. That is wonderful too.

Originally published on our Japanese-language site, Passionable Fishing, on 16 Jul 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.
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