How can you enjoy more fishing, with less tackle, and less cost, whilst sending your taste buds soaring at the dinner table? Well, it’s all about what most of us have been missing out on – and it’s been right in front of our faces all this time. Fear regularly stops many of us from trying something new, but often things become favourites once tried. We live in a wonderfully diverse culture here in New Zealand, with food tastes from all corners of the globe, yet many of us are missing out on some of the most delectable, easily caught and prepared fish available. It’s time for a change.

Be warned though, once you start down this rabbit hole Alice, a whole new world of fishing opportunities opens up. Your days out around the coast may never be the same again. Your culinary skills will be the envy of all, and your taste buds will demand these newfound delights.

The latest fishing popularity contest winner, hands down, is light game for all manner of species. It’s a whole new and captivating experience, and there’s one ultra-light fishing technique taking off that has a rich international culture – fishing for aji (jack mackerel).

What are aji?

Ajing has its origins in Japan where aji is the name for horse mackerel, or what we call jack mackerel or yellowtail. Jack mackerel belong to the family Carangidae which also includes trevally, koheru and yellowtail kingfish.

Our jack mackerel (Trachurus novaezelandiae) are found in coastal waters and estuaries, more commonly in water less than 150 metres deep and often over 13°c. They are frequently encountered in midwater but are also caught near the surface and they can be found in large schools. The jack mack or aji is a pelagic predator that eats a variety of small plankton and fish – young aji less than 10-15cm feed mainly on crustaceans, while the bigger adults hunt and prey on small fish. It is a relatively long-lived species for its size, capable of living for over 15 years.

Mackerel catch worldwide comprises many thousands of tonnes per annum, sold fresh, smoked, canned and frozen, and cooked by frying, barbequing and baking. Are they a healthy food choice? Top of the pops! Jam-packed with omega-3 fatty acids, mackerel has been classified by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as a nutritionally high-value product. With its high oil content yet non-greasy nature, the fish is rich on the palate, freezes well and lends itself to all manner of dining. 

What is ajing?

In a nutshell, ajing is using tiny lures with ultra-light gear to target jack mackerel and other species. It’s pure, fun fishing, targeting a relatively abundant fish that is both entertaining and rewarding. It captures the essence of fishing itself, encompassing sport, recreation and putting food on the table. Although it can be simple, like most forms of fishing, the more you venture down the path, the more you discover there’s an entire new world of technical aspects to enjoy. It can be regarded as a relaxing way to spend an hour or two after work, or as a form of peak performance through a late-night mission. Lure fishing in New Zealand has taken off over the past several years, and ajing is the epitome of this – using basic or highly technical equipment to cast small prey imitations for mackerel. Like most fishing, it can get extremely addictive, so be warned. Most describe it as the best fun they’ve had in years of fishing, often landbased but also from kayaks, boats and skis.

Found in schools in open water, aji also spend time around inshore structures like wharves, jetties, moorings, marinas, poles, breakwaters, and channels.

The various ways to catch aji are astounding, possibly reflective of the nationalities and ethnicities in New Zealand providing insights, adaptations and knowledge beyond imagination. Some seriously high-tech, ultra-light gear is available overseas. The incredible array of tackle and accessories is often even more technical than mainstream fishing gear due to the very nature of ultra-light and all that it entails in terms of materials, preciseness of production, and miniaturisation and sensitisation of much of the tackle – all enhancing the abilities and thrills for anglers.

The propensity for social media to focus on mainstream clickbait means trophy-sized snapper and kingfish rule the internet. As with most ‘new’ things, the initial reaction by many, in New Zealand that is, is to misunderstand, even ridicule, laugh at, bag, shun and joke about something like ajing. And like most things new, once it is actually tried and enjoyed by well-respected individuals and/or the masses (and these days the social media throng), it is accepted. Fortunately, social media also means that interest groups and like-minded people can thrive in their own world without being scorned until there’s acceptance by the majority! 

Ajing can require just as much input in terms of angler knowledge as other fishing techniques to be consistently successful. Considerations like habitats, food sources, fish movements, problem-solving, adaptation and more are required – perhaps akin to trout fishing, but with a higher success rate and more accessibility. Also, ultra-light can be part of anyone’s fishing all around the coastline, from highly populated areas to remote locations where no one else is. Younger anglers can really get into this style of fishing for various reasons, but perhaps a lot of it comes from not being conditioned to a certain way of thinking. They have open minds, accept new possibilities, and readily learn and apply that knowledge.

So your ‘average’ angler in New Zealand, who has only ever considered aji as a means to an end – to catch and use simply as bait to catch a ‘real fish’ – is missing out on so much. Yet throughout Asia, Europe and other continents, mackerel are considered top-shelf table fish, with recreational (and commercial) industries thriving on them.

Why is ultra-light fishing becoming popular in New Zealand?

Ask an aji angler what they like about this style of fishing, and accessibility and relative abundance of fish are likely to be high on the list. All you need is a bit of coastline, often close to home for many, and you’re into it. So, time spent getting to fish is minimised, whether before or after work on any given weekday, or enjoyed as a more serious fishing pastime on weekends and holidays. The more abundant nature of aji also helps a great deal. The preponderance of snapper as the holy grail (so much so that, “Did you catch any fish?” usually means, “Did you catch any snapper?”) is a very one-eyed, narrow and blinker-conditioned approach to fishing in New Zealand with its amazing variety of fish species. Perhaps even the decline in snapper numbers, and the increasing effort (read expense) to catch fish like snapper, has helped create this new and expanding fishing category. 

The almost cheeky nature of heading out with a ridiculously light and very pleasurable rod/reel setup about the same weight as your cell phone, and a small bag of imitation worms/crabs/fish in your pocket to chase down some mackerel is hard to beat. Feeling that familiar tap-tap enquiry of fish, focussing on your casts, your mind's eye, technique and what the fish is doing, hooking up and playing – because you have matched your tackle to the target fish – provides the familiar thrills and spills we all search for. It can be a very active form of fishing – not like trying to catch a legal-sized snapper at a wharf, for instance, which can be an exercise in patience (or frustration?) – making it especially good for younger anglers with lower attention spans. 

Perhaps in years gone by, New Zealanders in general have been spoilt by more abundant snapper stocks – we only have to look at photographs of our parents or grandparents fishing to appreciate the size and number of snapper caught readily from shorelines in the past. Is reaction-classifying mackerel as just baitfish or cat food an egotistical, offhand comment, ill-informed snobbery, or just ignorance? The rewards with the right attitude are immense. For example, pro-anglers in Japan will target monster tuna in one season and target aji in another season with equal fervour, intensity and pride of achievement – a wonderful lesson in the pure essence of fishing, without the only measure of success being the size of a fish.

Look out when you hook a kahawai, trevally, legal-sized snapper or even a juvenile kingfish on your ultra-light aji gear – you are in for a thrill and a half. This will put all your angling skills and nerves to the ultimate test – adrenaline-pumping, high-octane stuff! And when you succeed, there’s the real heart-felt triumph.

What’s the gear to get started with?

To get the most out of your ajing, you need to take a knife to a knife fight. Big, heavy gear and line simply won’t cast the lightweight softbaits, tiny jigs and minuscule lures needed and used to catch aji, and you won’t feel any tentative taps or bites – basically, you’ll miss out on so much. So, think lightweight, and whatever you just thought was light, go lighter, probably even lighter again, no joke! 

About a 7’ spin rod is a good starter; often a lightweight softbait rod can suffice when starting out, and many are in the 7’range. The casting weight of your rod is only required to be 0.5g to around 10g – the closer your rod is to this, the better casting and feel you will have. The ultra-sensitive rod tip approach really does help detect bites and what is going on with your lures and intensifies the sporting thrills.

Like most fishing tackle, the ajing ultra-light and higher-end gear can be beautiful, reflecting the absolute best in technology and manufacturing, particularly in terms of extreme sensitivity and lightness, making for an incredible fishing experience and almost certainly addictive if you choose to go all-in.

A reel size between 500 and 2000 (possibly up to 3000 for slightly larger ultra-light game like trevally) is fine to use when starting if that’s what you already have. The shallow spool reels you see and wonder about in these sizes are ideal as they hold plenty of lightweight line. Otherwise, with standard spools you’re up for hundreds of metres of braid – most of which you’ll never use. 

PE0.2 to PE0.4 braid mainline (around 4-8lb) and 5lb leader is plenty. Many will use as low as 2-4lb line very effectively.

The typical setup for a keen aji angler.

Jig heads and lure weights are typically in the 0.5gm to 5gm range, but can also go up to 8-10g depending on conditions and when using smaller but heavier tungsten rather than lead jigs. A big reason for these low weights is the ability to drift the lures, akin to flyfishing, allowing the lure to drift along and sink with the current until it reaches the fish often holding in mid-water. The micro-size of jigs imitates the tiny fish and crustaceans like shrimps, prawns and crabs that mackerel are keen to eat. 

Another main reason for matching your ultra-light tackle is because you can’t cast, for example, a 1g jighead on a big 8’5” rod. The tip won’t load with such a lightweight lure, so casting is just not going to end well. Similarly, trying to cast a 20g jig on an ultra-light ajing rod will probably load the rod far too much, so the rod action is almost useless in assisting an effective cast. 

Softbaits are typically diminutive, representing the prey aji eat, so a softbait of 1-3’’ length is excellent – especially when targeting the bigger adult aji whose diet comprises mainly small fish. Now it’s worth noting here that, like trevally, mackerel suck their prey in rather than biting like a snapper, and jack mackerel also have soft mouths so their ‘bite’ or take can be subtle. That’s why sensitivity is key for hooking up – it’s more of a tap rather than a bite. A thin line, a light leader and a sensitive rod help you immensely when detecting bites. 

Where and when? 

Aji are found in schools in open water but also around inshore structures like wharves, jetties, moorings, marinas, poles, breakwaters and where there are channels, meaning harbours are ideal habitats. When daytime fishing out in more open waters, use your sounder to find them but also start with your best friends, the terns, as they’re your ideal spotters. These little birds, often referred to as kahawai birds, feed on tiny baitfish like anchovies – exactly what aji are looking for. Terns diving or even just sitting around on the water are worth a cast or drop of your tiny offerings.

If shore-based, it is definitely worth casting a tiny softbait or jig in places you’d normally bypass or not really think to cast a line. Aji are caught in surprising places, all the more adding to the thrill of discovery. Aji fishing is great fun during the day, however many keen anglers target them at night for fast and furious action. Using lights, or better still a well-lit wharf, jetty, bridge or similar will attract the tiny morsels that aji delight in eating. Lights from an anchored boat at night can also be a classic aji-fest. 

Aji do move around a fair bit. They are pelagic in nature so they come and go depending on water temperature, currents, predators and food sources, although they can be found around the greater Auckland area most of the year, for instance. Autumn is prime time for the bigger aji to be caught – the bigger adults tend to move inshore and feed up before winter. Mackerel tend not to feed hard on the bottom (like snapper) but are more interested in drifting or swimming lures that mimic small anchovies/whitebait, krill, larvae and the like.

Techniques

As with all fishing techniques, most anglers start with the basics and adapt them to their particular surroundings, style, and time available. Here are a few good techniques to kick off with.

When you’re on a boat and you have a bait school holding down in the water column either seen on your sounder and/or underneath birds working or sitting and waiting, a 3-10g jig is good. Either drop it down onto the school or cast it out from the boat. Let it fall and be ready for the hit on the drop, keeping slack line to a minimum. A slow steady retrieve works well, too. When terns are actively working, it’s fun to sight cast to action on the surface. Because aji don’t bite as such, more suck their prey into their soft mouths, it’s preferable to use a net – their soft mouths will tear easily.  

Watch out when handling aji. They have nasty concealed spikes that cause considerable pain to the unaware and can readily break off and cause an infection – that’s why you see them being handled with aji tongs and/or gloves. Another option is using the back edge of a knife to raise the hook and the aji will drop off and into a bait tank. Many anglers keep them alive all the way home so they are perfectly fresh and able to be prepared in immaculate condition. The other option is to kill them instantly and put them into a salt ice slurry, quickly bringing their temperature down which ensures they stay in great condition for eating. 

For landbased folk fishing where there is current, casting upstream is a good plan, staying in touch with the lure by winding in the slack line and allowing the lure to drift down to near the bottom (remember aji love to hit on the drop). Adding a few gentle flicks can help get their attention. If the bottom is weedy or rocky, retrieve slow ‘n’ steady before it gets down too deep. You’re trying to find out where they are holding. Once the spot is discovered (e.g. down current from a bridge column in the eddy, say), cast right into them and be ready for the hit on the drop. Little aji softbaits are ideal for this when the mackerel are close enough to you; the lightweight tackle means you can cast the miniature softbaits well without off-putting big jig heads. Little metal jigs/lures that look like small anchovies and sprats offer more distance to your cast, so a variety of tackle helps considerably. Vary your cast and leave to drop, or cast and retrieve – just like all fish, they can change their minds regarding what they will bite at the drop of a hat.

Want to get the most out of your ajing? You'll need to take a knife to a knife fight.

When aji are boiling up the surface – whether boat- or land-based – the action is generally fast and furious. However, when aji are not in a noticeable surface frenzy taking just a few minutes to observe things first can help a lot. Cast your little lure up current if you can, so the lure drifts down and along with the current, taking up slack line so that you are in touch with your lure, adding a few little twitches to help bring the lure to life. If you like, count in your head so that when you get a tap or strike you know roughly where the aji are holding. Just remember they can swim around a lot so your prospective casts should follow suit. Small snapper also love the little softbaits, but can be pesky and destructive, so keeping your lures up from the seafloor can help avoid some of this. Aji do not bite like a snapper – gently lifting the rod tip is normally all that’s required to set the hook.

Colours of softbaits and lures recommended are typical of their prey – clear, silvers, pinks and greens that imitate the anchovies, krill, shrimp, whitebait and crabs they like to devour. With the tiny softbaits used (typically less than 2”), ones that offer some tail movement help give a lifelike action.

How about some topwater aji action? Yes indeed, the bigger mackerel that are often found in depths of 50 metres or more do migrate to shore and feed aggressively on the surface – casting diminutive topwater lures or stickbaits of just a few grams is exciting, very visual and incredibly fun! Autumn in Auckland is a great time for this. 

How to savour the flavour

Aji can be bled like many fish, and getting their temperature down fast is key to freshness like most other fish. Dry aging is another way to preserve and eat them – they are a small fish so this will often be quicker than larger fish, so don’t overdo the drying process.

Be it grilled on a skillet, barbequed, crispy fried with the skin on and served with tare (a soy-based sauce with ginger, garlic and more) or chilli sauce, there are so many mouthwatering ways to enjoy aji. They cook very quickly, so have everything ready as they can be cooked and served in moments. For example, with skin on and down onto a sizzling hot barbeque skillet so the skin is blackened and crispy, there is no real need to flip over. They will cook very fast like this and taste sensational. Add your favourite spices to suit your palate.

Eating aji is a serious business in Japan.

Aji are mildly oily fish and exceptional to eat raw. Aji will be a sashimi favourite well above many other fish once tried. Aji-fry is also very popular, so much so that in Japan there is a town that has an aji-fry festival, featuring highly coveted competitions. Or you could try namero – a Japanese-style dish utilising minced raw aji. Or how about something more westernised like aji tacos? Friend Chris Leskovsek says he serves them up as “panko-fried aji with guacamole, chopped tomatoes and onion on corn tortillas.”

Ajing is incredible fun and our humble jack mackerel are a rewarding fish to catch in so many ways – try it and find out what you’ve been missing. 

Special thanks and recognition to Chris Leskovsek and Todd Beeby for their expertise, enthusiastic input and images for this article, and to Dmitriy Kroll and other active members of the Facebook page NZ Ajing & Light Game.

Some interesting links:

Aji Sashimi Recipe (How to Clean and Fillet Japanese Horse Mackerel) - Cooking with Dog
Aji Namero and Namero Chazuke Recipe (Minced Horse Mackerel Mixed with Seasonings) - Cooking with Dog

- By Grant 'Espresso' Bittle