Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

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Knotty
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Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Knotty » Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:44 am

With the popularity of ajing (horse mackerel fishing) in Japan, I was wondering if there is any equivalent for salt water fishing in the US, particularly the mid-Atlantic states?

I don't fish the salt very often but when I do, it would be nice to have a target species for UL equipment and techniques.

CM_Stewart
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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by CM_Stewart » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:59 am

Snapper blues?
Chris Stewart
(affiliations: TenkaraBum.com, Finesse-Fishing.com)

Houndfish
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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Houndfish » Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:20 am

I fish the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers for white perch, pickerel, and small stripers and blues with UL tackle. Other the creeks and streams, most of the freshwater around me is too full of cover for light lines to be a reasonable choice.

Knotty
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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Knotty » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:35 pm

Aji are a baitfish that put up a great fight for their size and are abundant. Don't we have something similar to target? Thanks for the suggestions but they are all predators. I've caught snapper blues in the salt on both fly and spinning but that's quite different from aji.

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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Houndfish » Thu Mar 07, 2019 7:27 pm

Knotty wrote:Aji are a baitfish that put up a great fight for their size and are abundant. Don't we have something similar to target? Thanks for the suggestions but they are all predators. I've caught snapper blues in the salt on both fly and spinning but that's quite different from aji.
Oh, shad maybe? I have never fished for them but people target them around here with tiny fur/hair/feather dressed jigheads and such. Shad can get pretty big though. Where in the mid-Atlantic are you fishing?

Knotty
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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Knotty » Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:52 am

Houndfish, I'm in northern NJ.

A few hundred thousand shad run up the Delaware River every Spring. Haven't tried that yet. Just don't have enough local knowledge of the run to know when and where to go. And yes, they can get pretty big.

As usual, I'm being picky and looking for something to target in the salt water bays and shore. Often looking for something that doesn't exist but you don't know until you ask.

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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Houndfish » Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:49 pm

Knotty wrote:Houndfish, I'm in northern NJ.

A few hundred thousand shad run up the Delaware River every Spring. Haven't tried that yet. Just don't have enough local knowledge of the run to know when and where to go. And yes, they can get pretty big.

As usual, I'm being picky and looking for something to target in the salt water bays and shore. Often looking for something that doesn't exist but you don't know until you ask.
I mean, the obvious answer is, tie on a tiny little jig and see what bites :big grin: I do catch tiny Killifish pretty often but I have never tried to target them.
Image

Don't sleep on the white perch, they are very very aggressive and even a 4" one will fight you all the way to the boat. They are hands down my favorite species to target with UL tackle as once you get the patterned on a given day you can catch them by the bucket load. I fish with a guy sometimes who uses a counter and he has gotten quite a few 100+ fish days. The game I play with myself is to see how many I can catch on consecutive casts, I am up to like 13 in a row but it's not uncommon to get one every other cast if you find a big enough school. I catch them on 1/16-1/8oz inline spinners and spoons but guys who go for bigger ones tend to use 1/8oz spinnerbaits or 2" plastics on small jigheads.

Knotty
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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Knotty » Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:49 am

That sounds good. I'm totally unfamiliar with white perch and will have to look into it. Target locations, seasons, lures and any other tips gladly accepted!

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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Houndfish » Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:30 pm

Knotty wrote:That sounds good. I'm totally unfamiliar with white perch and will have to look into it. Target locations, seasons, lures and any other tips gladly accepted!
Full disclosure, I have no idea if white perch exist in north NJ. But, they coexist with stripers down here, so this is all assuming it works the same way up there.

Perch "season" here is spring when they move up shallow. I am assuming the stripers up your way move shallow in the spring, this is the time to start in after the perch. I get them in summer and fall as well, but not in the same numbers. They are a schooling fish and if you find one, you will be able to get numbers. The primary lures are small inline spinners like the pic I posted before and small spinner baits like this one:
Image

Small spoons, either trout or Kastmasters work great as well. Chartreuse is by far the most common color for spinners and silver for spoons around here.

They school up around any cover, some days they are under docks, some days they are in laydowns. In the creeks I fish they seem to strongly lean one way or the other on any given day so once you pattern them you are good to go. They will bump a lure before hitting it, so keep reeling and wait for a good hit. They will also chase each other and steal food, so it's common to have one come off the lure but another perch will grab it before you can bring it back for a recast. If you get a ton of bumps but no good hits try going slower/deeper, this works a lot of the time.

This is an average/smaller one for around here:
Image

This is a average/larger one:
Image

And this is why I err on the side of thicker line when fishing for them, as schoolies are a not uncommon bycatch:
Image

Knotty
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Re: Ajing/Mebaru in the US?

Post by Knotty » Mon Mar 11, 2019 7:56 am

Thanks houndfish. I did some searching a watched some YouTubes from NJ that agree with what you are saying. Not sure if an ajing rod is best for this application or not, since the white perch seem to hit much more aggressively than aji. Either way, glad to have another species to target.

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