Japanese style calamari

The art of catching calamari on artificial prawn style jigs has been around throughout Australia for many years.

However over the last 18 months a boom has evolved throughout the southern states, particularly around Melbourne.

This boom may be due to many reasons, but calamari are very close to the perfect target species for anglers. They are very common in Victorian and Tasmanian bays and coastal areas with productive weed beds and juvenile fish, especially in sheltered waters such as Port Phillip and Western Port and the east coast of Tasmania. They are one of the best fresh baits to use and they taste darn good on the plate!

JAPANESE EGI-STYLE

Like all fish species, they can be tricky at times to catch and the latest Japanese ‘Egi’ techniques certainly have drawn the attention of many anglers. Egi-ing is the Japanese term meaning ‘squid game’, consisting of specialised techniques developed on the highly pressured waters surrounding Japan to catch several species of squid.

Recently I was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon with two Japanese specialists, not only Egi-ing techniques, but also jig design and development. Yasushi Kawahara and Taro Kitamura are both employed by Yamashita, a company who many anglers would be familiar with for their awesome range of squid jigs, especially the natural coloured jig series...