Tsurizukan
What is biting, here, right now.
A Japanese saltwater fishing guide that tells you what is biting this month
Tsurizukan is a field guide to fishing in Japan: what you can catch now, where you are, with the gear you have. Look it up by fish, by method, by month or by the kind of place you can reach. Japanese, English and scientific names are matched throughout.
In season in August
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Dusky Rabbitfish
アイゴ / Siganus fuscescens
May–November
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Barred Knifejaw
イシダイ / Oplegnathus fasciatus
May–November
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Japanese Anchovy
カタクチイワシ / Engraulis japonicus
April–November
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Greater Amberjack
カンパチ / Seriola dumerili
June–November
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Yellowfin Seabream
キチヌ / Acanthopagrus latus
April–December
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Grey-spotted Puffer
クサフグ / Takifugu alboplumbeus
April–November
Look it up
By fish
Search Japanese, kana, English or local names (963 species)
By method
Sabiki, eging, tairaba and seven more
By season
Twelve months of catch seasons
By place
Pier, rocky shore, beach, river mouth, boat, raft
Bait & tackle
Starter kits and consumables
Dangerous fish
Fish that sting, bite, or poison
30 species with full fishing information. The rest are listed by name in the index.
Read
Etiquette
Etiquette at the water — how a spot stays open
Litter, crowding, parking, noise. Spots close because of people, not because of fish.
Safety
Fishing safety basics — the life jacket, and knowing when to leave
Falling in is not a question of whether you can swim. How to choose a life jacket, and when weather, swell, or footing means you go home.
Safety
Dangerous fish and animals — what to do when you are stung or bitten
The fish that hurts you is not the big one; it is the 20 cm by-catch you did not want. Venomous spines, teeth, gill covers — and what to do afterwards.
Rules & law
Yugyoken and fishing rights — the sea and the rivers are governed differently
Sea angling in Japan normally needs no permit. Rivers and lakes do. And nothing about the sea means everything in it is free to take.
Rules & law
Closed seasons and size limits — how to find the numbers, which differ by prefecture
There is no national number. How to reach the prefectural rule that applies, how the length is measured, and what to do when you are unsure.
How-to
Sabiki fishing for beginners — where almost everyone catches their first fish
No casting, no strike timing. Pack the cage with krill, drop it in, shake the rod, and wait.