Why my wife’s jigging catches fish

First published on 16 May 2020; the Japanese source was last updated on 10 November 2023.

It was actually my wife who caught the red seabream in “A red seabream’s magnificent farewell”. I think it was about 50 cm long.

For some reason, red seabream hardly ever come to me. I eventually worked out what I thought was the reason: the relationship between the softness of the rod, the weight of the metal jig and the way we jerk the rod.

A big rod movement, a short lure movement

My wife uses a fairly soft rod and works it with large, forceful jerks. Yet the lure itself travels only a short distance—about as far as it would with a twitch.

Because she jerks so vigorously, though, the movement has a real punch. It seems bursting with life.

This is how she gets her results. To my mind, the distance the lure travels before stopping is just what red seabream like. Her rod action certainly seems well suited to catching them on a metal jig.

My style suits nerigo

My own jerking action suits nerigo—young amberjack. Each forceful jerk sends the lure a long way before it stops. That is the difference.

Nerigo like that movement, don’t they? Another favourite is an extremely fast, continuous retrieve with sharp twitches mixed in. I find that especially good for them.

Yellowtail—the buri group—do not seem quite so willing to follow that pace. For pelagic predators, they can be surprisingly fond of a twitch. Forgive me!

Personally, I love the way nerigo chase a lure. They have the intensity of young fans chasing a star—although perhaps that comparison is a little off. You really feel that they are living at full throttle.

A café full of life

I remember a visit to Denver in the United States two years earlier—the place with that famous horse sculpture with red eyes on the airport grounds.

We went into a Starbucks and found almost every seat occupied by high-school girls after school. The sheer energy was something else.

There were three of us: my wife, a young man from our staff and me. We found some empty seats and sat down, quietly sipping our drinks.

The whole café was so lively that it was practically a feeding frenzy. Those American girls were quite a force. In my mind, I was picturing a school of nerigo.

The boys, meanwhile, seemed more restrained: a few friends eating together at Subway, mostly vegetables wrapped in bread. That was the impression I came away with.

They brought yazu—young yellowtail—to mind. Though perhaps yazu are not quite that quiet. My apologies!