Fishing in Japan's Nearshore Waters!

Since Japan is an island, it is naturally surrounded by water. There is good fishing in the plentiful bays and rivers, both by shore and boat. The closest waters to where I live are Tokyo Bay and Sagami Bay. There are various kinds of rockfish, seabass, eels, sharks, mackeral, and other kinds of fish that may be caught in waters very close to shore.

Rockfish: There are several types of Rockfish in the nearshore waters of Japan. Ainame (kelp greenling) are normally caught on soft plastics and various types of aoisome (pile worms). Mebaru (bigeye rockfish) are normally quite deep or close to structure during the day, but come out at night to the top of the water and may be caught on nearly any sort of small lure or fly that resembles a small baitfish. Soi and Kasago look very similar, with Kasago being more brown in appearance, and can be caught on the bottom with cut mackeral, pile worms, or soft plastics.

From Left- Sorata with 2 Ainame, Kasago, a nice catch of ainame, soi, and kasago.

Eric with a nice mebaru, my 35cm mebaru that hit a 60gm metal jig.

Suzuki Seabass: Suzuki seabass are a member of the snook and barramundi family. They posses the same sharp gillplates and like to jump. They fight quite well, but may be caught on fairly light tackle. Nearly any lure you would use for snook or freshwater bass will catch seabass: Soft plastics, swimbaits, Rat-L-Traps, diving minnows, and various Rapala lures all work well, especially the new X-Rap lures.

Kisu, Flounder, and Ishimochi: Some of the tastiest inshore species. These can be caught off shore, and Japanese Nage-tsuri (surf fishing) tends to target these species. I have done much better from boat though. Bait of choice for these fish is isome (pile worms) fished on the bottom.

Sharks: One of Tokyo Bays best kept secrets! While not a traditionally fished for species in Japan and sometimes considered a pest, Spotted Houndsharks are a cousin of our Leopard Shark in California. They pull hard, readily available and are good eating when bled properly. These sharks have small but sharp teeth, I prefer to use large 13/0 circle hooks and very heavy mono leader, over 100lb test. This way if the fish does manage to swallow the large circle hook the leader may be cut and the fish released.

Squid: There are various types of squid in Japan. Some of them can be readily caught off piers, the shore, or from boat. The largest shore caught squid in weight are normally Aori-ika (big finned reef squid) and Ko-Ika (cuttlefish). Most squid can be caught on one form of "egi" (squid jig) or another, although most of my larger Aori-ika have been caught using live aji (horse mackeral) with a squid hook.

Tachiou: Deep water toothy critters which make a good light tackle target. VERY delicious. Most of these are caught from boat, although during certain times of year they may be caught from shore. Jigs in Tokyo Bay normally range from 60-100gm, although in Mie and some other deeper places they may use up to 200gm jigs. Tachiou are measured by how tall they are, i.e. four finger or five finger tachiou. Anything larger than five fingers is considered large. Be very careful as their teeth are razor sharp and bring extra jigs as they tend to cut off jigs during the course of a day.

Kurodai: Black sea bream. These guys are very similar to what we call a sheepshead on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. Almost always caught around structure, these are a favorite of "hechi" anglers. Hechi is a type of fishing that consists of lowering a small crab, mussel, or other bait vertically down to the fish. Rods are super sensitive and light with almost a fly-reel type of reel, which can make fighting these fish a blast! More recently lure fisherman are figuring out new ways to target these fish, normally either with crab/mussel imitating lures, small rapalas or poppers.

Fugu: Awesome eating fish but very poisoness! Please do not attempt to clean yourself even though occasionally they may be found live for sale. To be cleaned and prepared only by licensed personnel.

Anago: Conger eel. There are several types of Conger Eels in Japan. Ma-anago are smaller and great eating as tempura, while the larger kuro-anago are larger and while fair eating, normally released.

One of the great things about fishing is you never know what you are going to catch. Japan has countless species of fish, and sometimes you find yourself looking at fish that would make awesome aquarium fish.

A large stingray that hit a 5" swimbait fished near the top of the water for large seabass!