Japanese Lures for Land-Based Longtail Tuna in Australia: 7 JDM Metals and Stickbaits Compared

Two Australian guides to land-based longtail tuna give opposite advice on how fast to wind. Fishing World’s rock-spinning guide wants it fast, moving like a flighty garfish. Hooked Up’s asks for a medium pace across the surface and warns that winding flat out only makes a metal twist. Hooked Up puts its longtail metals at 60 to 100 g, and the three surface lures it names are 135 to 150 mm.

The makers of the seven Japanese lures below each write down how theirs is meant to be worked. Some of the seven below are designed around a fast handle and some around the rod tip, and the product page says which. Japan knows longtail as koshinaga, and no maker here lists it as a target. These lures were built for aomono (青物), the Japanese catch-all for yellowtail, hiramasa kingfish and amberjack, and one maker adds tuna to the list.

Longtail Tuna (Thunnus tonggol) itself, and the rod and line class it asks for, are in our guide to shore jigging species in Australia. Reels with the line capacity are in JDM reels for kingfish, which is the same size class.

The buy links here go to Amazon Japan, which ships internationally: check availability and shipping cost at checkout, and orders over A$59 may qualify for free international delivery. Tuna size and bag limits are set by each state, so check your local regulations.

What to Look for Before You Order

Read the retrieve the maker describes before you read the weight. A lure tuned for long sweeps of the rod will still come back if you just wind it, but you’re then fishing it outside what the maker describes. Two of the seven, the P-Boy Jig Casting and the Monster Shot, state a straight-retrieve range from slow to fast, which leaves the fast-or-medium question open.

Weight comes second, and it’s about your rod as much as the fish. Fishing World matches its longtail rods to 40 to 80 g, so a 35 g pencil and a 100 g sinking plug both sit outside that window at opposite ends. Picking the weight for the depth and wind in front of you is a separate job, worked through in our metal jig weight and colour guide.

• Hooks as shipped. Fishing World’s advice is to upgrade split rings and trebles as routine. The Japanese packets differ a lot here: one jig carries a single assist hook and nothing on the tail, the Maria pencils come on oval heavy-duty rings, and the Tackle House lures list the exact treble model.
• Whether a price exists. Tackle House and Jackall publish list prices. Maria publishes none, and Duel lists its lures as open price, so with those two the only number is whatever the seller is asking that day.

Tackle House P-Boy Jig Casting: A Metal With a Stated Speed Range

Tackle House sells several P-Boy jigs, and this is the one shaped for distance. The line that matters is at the end of their description: a stable swimming action from low speed to very high speed, with the lure held down so it doesn’t climb to the surface. Wind it at either pace the Australian guides argue for and it’s still inside what the maker designed. They also describe twitching it fast from the moment it lands, minnow-style, because the body pulls so lightly on the rod.

Check price on eBay

Opens eBay Australia search results for the Tackle House P-Boy Jig Casting; listings come from independent sellers.

The range stops at 65 g, so the top half of Hooked Up’s 60 to 100 g band isn’t covered. The 25 g and 35 g versions belong to a different fishery, the one in our tailor and bonito metal jig guide.

Jackall CiAN Jig Default: 60 to 100 g in a Hard Alloy

Jackall built the CiAN Jig Default as a rock-shore jerking jig: a sharp long slide on the jerk, then a slow, level, rolling fall, with the whole body made asymmetric on purpose so both go irregular. Nothing on the product page talks about winding it straight.

Check price on eBay

Opens eBay Australia search results for the Jackall CiAN Jig Default; listings come from independent sellers.

What you’re buying is the weight band and the metal. Jackall says it re-worked the alloy mix for hard use on the rocks, to cut body deformation as far as possible. Fishing World’s worry on the rocks is a different part of the lure: it prefers brass or stainless metals because the wire tow points of lead ones bend and snap when they hit rock, and Jackall’s page doesn’t mention the tow point. The shape is what Jackall calls semi-long, 141 mm at 60 g.

What Comes in the Packet

One assist hook, and that’s all. Jackall fits 3/0 to the 60 and 85 g and 4/0 to the 100 g. There’s no hook on the tail, so a rear treble for straight winding is something you add yourself.

If the jerk-and-fall side of it is what you want, the vertical end of that technique is in our Japanese metal jigs for kingfish comparison.

Duel Hardcore Monster Shot (S): Jig Weight in a Plug Body

A sinking pencil that weighs what a jig weighs. Duel’s own summary is the casting distance of a jig with the pull of a plug, and they put a number on it: over 100 m at best. The body is thick-walled with a wire running through it, and Duel lists these retrieves: straight winding from fast to slow, one-pitch jerks, and skipping across the top.

Check price on eBay

Opens eBay Australia search results for the Duel Hardcore Monster Shot; listings come from independent sellers.

The Two Sizes in the Longtail Band

The 125 mm is 60 g. Duel gives it a 1.4 mm through-wire and names large aomono and tuna as what it’s for, with the note that it stays castable and controllable on heavy tackle. The 140 mm is 100 g and a different tool: Duel wrote it for the day thick line gets pushed around by current, quotes a sink rate of 60 cm a second, and recommends it for deep water and fast tide.

It sinks, so it’s only a surface lure for as long as you keep it skipping. And with no list price, the seller’s number is the only one you get.

Maria Legato F140: The Pencil Built for a Fast Handle

A diving pencil (ダイビングペンシル) is a floating stickbait that ducks under on a sweep of the rod. Maria’s pitch for the Legato is that it also takes speed: after the dive you wind, and it keeps swimming just under the surface with a hard flash. Dimples pressed into the sides catch water at pace and throw in an irregular slide. Maria’s tagline for it translates as getting the bite before the fish sees through the lure.

Check price on eBay

Opens eBay Australia search results for the Maria Legato F140; listings come from independent sellers.

Then there’s the weight system. A magnet-held weight sits at the tail for the cast and returns to the centre on landing, which gives a near-level swimming posture. Maria says that keeps the lure from popping up suddenly, so a fish that misses still has it in view and can come again. Their stated conditions: bait that moves fast on top, such as flying fish and saury, and the wary hours of midday and flat calm.

At 35 g it’s under the 40 to 80 g window Fishing World gives for a longtail rod, so check the bottom of your rod’s casting range before ordering. Maria calls the F140 the downsized model; the F165, F190 and F230 sit above it.

Legato, Rapido or Loaded?

Maria answers this on the Legato page. Rapido is the base lure for any conditions. Loaded is the loud one, for dawn and for rough water. Legato comes out in daylight and calm, when fish are sluggish and a fast lure gets a reaction before they’ve had a proper look.

Maria Loaded F140 and S140: The Loud One, Floating or Sinking

Where the Legato is slim and quick, the Loaded is all body. Maria describes a wobble-led action with strong water displacement, meant to be noticed by fish a long way off, and says it holds its pull in rough water and over deep ground. The split ring is an oval heavy-duty type that Maria says resists deforming.

Check Maria Loaded F140 on eBay

Opens eBay Australia search results for the Maria Loaded F140; listings come from independent sellers.

Check Maria Loaded S140 on eBay

Opens eBay Australia search results for the Maria Loaded S140; listings come from independent sellers.

The S140 is the same shape made to sink, 12 g heavier. Maria gives two uses for it. One is when fish are showing at the floating model but won’t hook up. The other is strong wind and a broken surface, when the floater gets hard to control and you fish the sinker just under the top instead. If the ledges you fish catch the wind more often than not, that second use is the reason to buy the S140 first.

Maria’s own guidance hands the calm, bright hours to the Legato, which tells you where this one stops. An F180 also exists and the Amazon listing groups the sizes together, so check you’ve selected 140 before you pay.

Maria Rapido F130: Read the Tackle Line First

Maria prints a suggested outfit for the Rapido F130: a 10 ft medium rod, a 4000-size reel, PE 1.5 and a 30 lb leader. That is the outfit our species guide calls a long argument you usually lose against a 12 kg longtail. Maria’s own headline for the F130 is that it can be thrown on seabass tackle. It’s a 30 g pencil for a lighter rod than the longtail guides describe.

Check price on eBay

Opens eBay Australia search results for the Maria Rapido F130; listings come from independent sellers.

The lure itself is the quiet one of Maria’s three. Slim, a restrained rolling action, and aimed at fish that follow and turn away. Maria describes three ways to work it: long sweeps that swim it just under the surface, short high-tempo jerks that it takes without jumping out, and continuous twitches. The slim body and a weight set at the very tail give it the longest cast in its class, by Maria’s claim.

Tackle House Contact Britt: 120 or 145

The Britt is the stickbait here with a published price. Tackle House calls its weight system R-Unit 2.0: a weight chamber set across the body with an axle through the middle, and a weight that travels side to side around it. Under way it kicks the lure off line when it dives. At rest, Tackle House says, the body never quite moves in time with the water, so it reads as alive while sitting still.

Check price on eBay

Opens eBay Australia search results for the Tackle House Contact Britt; listings come from independent sellers.

Who Is It For?

Someone who likes working a lure. Nothing on the page describes a fast straight retrieve, and Tackle House rates it toward the technical end of its own scale. The 145 at 48 g sits inside Fishing World’s 40 to 80 g rod window. The 120 at 33 g has the same problem as the Legato and falls under it.

Comparison Table: All Seven by Type and Weight

Getting Them to Australia

Amazon Japan has the Legato F140, the Loaded and the Monster Shot as product pages. We couldn’t pin the other four to a single product page, so those links open an Amazon Japan search. The blue button under each lure opens an eBay Australia search for it. Japanese export shops with English storefronts, Plat and Digitaka among them, are a third place to look.

For the Tackle House and Jackall lures, the yen list price above is your yardstick: it shows how much a seller has added before postage. For Maria and Duel there’s no yardstick, so compare two or three listings before you commit.

Our Top Pick + Budget Pick

We haven’t fished for longtail tuna ourselves. Both picks come from what the makers publish and from price, not from catches.

Which One Should You Choose?

Going by the conditions each maker writes its lure for: fish feeding on top in bright, calm conditions: the Legato F140, provided your rod throws 35 g. A rough dawn: the Loaded F140, or the S140 once the wind makes a floater hard to steer. Fish out past the range of a 35 to 45 g pencil: the Monster Shot 125 or the PJC65. Deep water with tide in it, or a rod rated well past 80 g: the CiAN Jig Default at 85 or 100 g with a tail hook added, or the Monster Shot 140.

If you’d rather work a lure than wind one, the Britt 145 is the pick. If the outfit in your hand is a lighter one, the Rapido F130 at 30 g and the Britt 120 at 33 g are the two that match it.

One way to split a first order of two: a lure with a stated speed range, and a pencil for the surface.

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マイボートで海に出るボートアングラー（釣り歴20年・ボート歴10年）。タイラバ・ひとつテンヤ・ライトジギングが主戦場で、エリアトラウトや堤防のライトゲームものんびり楽しむ雑食派。

実際に使った道具の「正直どうだったか」を、公式スペックと実釣の両面から書いています。

Boat angler based in Japan, sharing first-hand reviews of JDM tackle.