Capt. G / Pacific Rim Specialist
Anatomy of a Japanese Jig Fisherman
Apr. 15 2010, 12:54 AM
Apr. 15 2010, 12:54 AM
Anatomy of a Japanese Jig Fisherman
Soon after I moved to Japan twenty years ago, I was invited to go "jig fishing" for Japanese yellowtail. Having grown up in Southern California, and later received my 100 ton Masters License and run sport boats, "jig fishing" to me was a 9 or 10 foot surface iron rod, and a yo yo iron workhorse, my favorite being a Truline D8. I showed up with these two rods, and a handful of 6X jigs, and a few surface iron.
The first thing I noticed when I boarded the boat was all the spinning reels, and really short (by California standards) rods. To make a long story short, the day passed with all on board catching a few yellowtail, even the "foreigner" with the long rods.
Since that day, I have studied the way the Japanese fish jigs, which is almost exclusively a vertical presentation. Some ask me which is better, the way we do it in California, or the "butterfly" method, as it has become known. I have seen it where I could not buy a strike on the traditional straight grind yo yo method, and vice versa. In the end, I think it is best to be versatile--have a lot of different arrows in your quiver.
Rather than show you my tackle, I went by a Japanese friend's house, and asked to borrow his gear, so I could photographs and explain it to you here.
Soon after I moved to Japan twenty years ago, I was invited to go "jig fishing" for Japanese yellowtail. Having grown up in Southern California, and later received my 100 ton Masters License and run sport boats, "jig fishing" to me was a 9 or 10 foot surface iron rod, and a yo yo iron workhorse, my favorite being a Truline D8. I showed up with these two rods, and a handful of 6X jigs, and a few surface iron.
The first thing I noticed when I boarded the boat was all the spinning reels, and really short (by California standards) rods. To make a long story short, the day passed with all on board catching a few yellowtail, even the "foreigner" with the long rods.
Since that day, I have studied the way the Japanese fish jigs, which is almost exclusively a vertical presentation. Some ask me which is better, the way we do it in California, or the "butterfly" method, as it has become known. I have seen it where I could not buy a strike on the traditional straight grind yo yo method, and vice versa. In the end, I think it is best to be versatile--have a lot of different arrows in your quiver.
Rather than show you my tackle, I went by a Japanese friend's house, and asked to borrow his gear, so I could photographs and explain it to you here.
We are going jigging next Monday, in the Sea of Japan, for school size hamachi (Japanese Yellowtail), so he already had his gear ready to go. A compact tackle bag, and three rods--two spinning and one conventional. He uses popular jigging rods by Tenryu, and Daiwa, as well as some custom made jigging rods.
Since we will be using med size jigs, from 100 to 200 gram size, he is bringing a Shimano Stella, and a Twin Power, both in the 6000 size. Not pictured are his Curado 300J, and a high speed Daiwa conventional.
This is one of three boxes of jigs he will bring, and in it are both regular, and long knife style jigs, as well as squid skirted "Inchiku" jigs in various weights and colors.
These are his assist hooks, split rings, and leader line, which is fluoro #30 to #130.
Finally the outside compartment on his tackle bag holds his split ring pliers, PE braid scissors, needle nose pliers, PR knot bobbin (for braid to fluoro splicing), general purpose (other than braid) scissors, and a folding knife, used to bleed the fish before they go into the RSW chiller.
So, there you have it, a compact tackle bag, and some rods and reels used by a successful Japanese jig fisherman.
The Sea of Japan has been very rough this year, but when the boats do get out of port, the fishing has been pretty good.
If we get out next Monday, I will blog about my results (or lack thereof!).
Since we will be using med size jigs, from 100 to 200 gram size, he is bringing a Shimano Stella, and a Twin Power, both in the 6000 size. Not pictured are his Curado 300J, and a high speed Daiwa conventional.
This is one of three boxes of jigs he will bring, and in it are both regular, and long knife style jigs, as well as squid skirted "Inchiku" jigs in various weights and colors.
These are his assist hooks, split rings, and leader line, which is fluoro #30 to #130.
Finally the outside compartment on his tackle bag holds his split ring pliers, PE braid scissors, needle nose pliers, PR knot bobbin (for braid to fluoro splicing), general purpose (other than braid) scissors, and a folding knife, used to bleed the fish before they go into the RSW chiller.
So, there you have it, a compact tackle bag, and some rods and reels used by a successful Japanese jig fisherman.
The Sea of Japan has been very rough this year, but when the boats do get out of port, the fishing has been pretty good.
If we get out next Monday, I will blog about my results (or lack thereof!).
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July 12, 2010, 4:10 am
Nice repot and pics, I used vertical jiggin
in Puerto Vallarta back in the 70's
short rods spinnig reels and home made jigs
some made of kitchen knife handles LOL
the equivalent of a 150 grm jig I guess,
we had lots of fun but it was very tyring
and we lost a lot of jigs, since we used trebble hooks that we lost at the rocks, thanks for your report it was very entertainning, and good luck fishing