Where to wait for spear squid on the move. A night working good tidal flow and the streetlights with the Jado Egi 3.5
Jado Egi, the egi for targeting spear squid and Japanese flying squid from shore in midwinter, is fished with bait wrapped on its back. Spear squid are always on the move, so you look for them where the tide runs well or around streetlights, searching the surface, mid-water and the bottom evenly until you find the school. On this night a good-sized Japanese flying squid took a Full Glow White 3.5 V1, and in a headwind a spear squid (sasa-ika) came near the bottom on a Yellow Glow Green 3.5 V2.
What the Jado Egi® is
Jado Egi (Haifukugata / Jado Edition) is an egi made for targeting spear squid and Japanese flying squid from the breakwater in midwinter, after the bigfin reef squid season has ended — squid that could once only be caught by boat. Bait such as kibinago or chicken tender is wrapped on its back with wire, combining the mobility of an egi with the drawing power of bait. It creates a situation where the wary spear squid and Japanese flying squid, once they grab on, will not let go, so a squid can be on the egi even when you never felt the bite. This night was early in the season, in a year when spear squid were late coming inshore across the country. On shallow ground where the rising tide was running right to left, a Full Glow White 3.5 V1 was wrapped with bait and cast, and produced a good-sized Japanese flying squid (called ganseki in this region). Then, in a headwind, the target spear squid (sasa-ika) came near the bottom on a Yellow Glow Green 3.5 V2.
Field Data
- Season
- Winter
- Time of day
- Night
- Target
- Spear squid (sasa-ika) / Japanese flying squid (ganseki)
- Wind
- Headwind
- Current
- Rising tide, right to left
- Lure
- Jado Egi
- Model
- Haifukugata / Jado Edition
- Size
- 3.5 V1 (16 g) / 3.5 V2 (19 g)
- Colour
- Full Glow White / Yellow Glow Green
- Method
- Jado eging (bait-wrapped, from shore)
Choosing the spot, and when to use V1 or V2
Spear squid are always on the move and do not settle in one place. So rather than deciding in advance whether they are on the surface, in mid-water or on the bottom, it becomes a matter of searching every layer evenly until you find the school. The spots to look are where the tide runs well, or around streetlights. This night's spot was shallow with a drop-off, and once the rising tide came in, the current began to run. It is also the kind of ground where bigfin reef squid gather, but if nothing follows the egi you do not linger — you narrow the spot down by current and light. For sink rate, when the wind has eased and the tide is only running right to left, use V1 (16 g in size 3.5); when the current is strong enough to carry the egi too far, move to V2 (19 g). The Jado Egi size 3.5 comes in four steps from V0 (15 g) to V3 (27 g), chosen to match depth, wind and current.
To wrap the bait, turn the wire at its base right round to release it, lay the bait along the flat part of the egi's back, wind the wire firmly up to the head at intervals of about 5–8 mm, and finish by winding it round and round to hold it. That is all; from there it is just a matter of casting and eging. For colour, Full Glow White, the strongest-glowing of the Jado Egi's 12 colours, was the first pick, with Yellow Glow Green as the second. Which baits to use and how to prepare them are covered in a separate record.
The Lure's Role
Jado Egi®
Jado Egi is an egi that fuses the mobility of an egi with the drawing power of bait — its scent, taste and texture. Jerk it to search a wide area, and let the bait create the situation where the squid "grabs on and won't let go": the holding time is longer, widening the hooking chances even for beginners. Balanced for use with bait attached, size 3.5 comes in sink rates V0 (15 g), V1 (16 g), V2 (19 g) and V3 (27 g), and size 3.0 in V0 (11 g) and V1 (12 g). The bait makes them hold on; the sink rate matches the current.
This night's Japanese flying squid was on without any bite being felt: it had been nibbling away at the bait the whole time, and when the rod was jerked, there it was. "The bait is there, so they hold on for a long time" — a squid where the Jado Egi's long holding time turned directly into a catch. The spear squid came near the bottom, drifting a V2 through the headwind. Search for spear squid on the move where the current runs, from the surface down to the bottom, and switch from V1 to V2 to match the wind and current. When a school comes in the numbers build; this was the first squid, at the door of that kind of fishing.
From the Workshop in Arita
The egi used in this video are genuine made-in-Japan products, crafted at KEYSTONE's own factory in Arita, Saga Prefecture — the town of Arita porcelain. We put our soul into each and every egi.
MADE TODAY IN ARITA
Everything above is what this video records. Published on YouTube in February 2024, 7 minutes 24 seconds. The first half shows the bait being wrapped from start to finish; the Japanese flying squid hit is at 4:55, the spear squid at 6:01. It was filmed early in the season, and the angler says spear squid were late coming inshore across the country that year. New prototype colours were being tried at the time, so some of the colours in the video were still under test.
If it will not play, watch it on YouTube.
