In my last posts here at Lure-of-the-sea.com, I already turned the spotlight on Japanese Surface Game, which provides a highly fascinating microcosm full of unique approaches and ideas for topwater bass fishing - heavily rooted in appreciation of antique lure building and tackle manufacturing.

To cut a long story short, I’m inviting you all to visit the new blog that will document my staggering and inspiring journeys into the realms of Japanese Surface Game. To learn more about the highly unique and fascinating microcosm of custom tackle and handmade lures, visit the blog entry 100% Topwater – Japanese Surface Game.

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In less than 64 hours (yes I’m already counting in hours, if not minutes) I will be on a flight to southern Spain again to meet friends and finally fishing for bass again. It’s just a one week trip coming up, but besides going back to my favorite reservoirs up in the hills around Cordoba, my friend Enrique and I are attending to a small local tournament again on the 4th of October.

We already where on the list of participants last year at the end of September, but unluckily ended up on place 26 of 45 teams attending to the tournament called: Jamón, Jamón. Guess what the prices are all about?

After an exciting and bass-packed 10 day trip in April this year, I’m really looking forward to go back and try some new tactics and rigs. This time it will be all about finesse and wacky rigs (I hope, but you never know..), but I also stocked up on the usual suspects in recent weeks to make sure we have the right tools at hand in slightly more difficult conditions at this part of the season.

4lb UP bass on a weightless Zoom worm

Low water levels and rarely active, suspending bass where a curse last year, but there should be enough weapons around to tease even the most inactive ones lurking deep down in cover. In April I had some decent fish on wacky rigged worms, so I’m trying to give this discipline a bit more focus this time. I got hands on Deps’ Kincoos, Flickshakes and other worms in diverse sizes & colors and already prepared some rig types that felt promising beforehand.

I will also try to find more time for further testing the Japanese Topwater setup and handmade lures. Hope for some good catches at dawn and nightfall. * fingers crossed *

Enough tackle chit chat for now - there ‘ll be plenty of insights and stories to write about when back in Berlin. I’ll try to upload photos (will give HD Video a try too) every now and then and post some updates on Twitter during my trip.

Stay tuned and have a good and relaxing weekend!

In previous posts I already tried to outline the challenges and difficulties behind this fascinating task and I’ll try to give you brief glimpse at what came out in the end. Within the last weeks I gained a more detailed insight in to the realms of Japanese surface game and the learning curve constantly went up as the tour progressed. Every now and then there where a few doubts on the way but I was sure this project would ultimately be accomplished.

First of all, I like to give you a more detailed picture of the final combo and it’s components (visit Flickr for more high-res photos).

Rod: Tsunami Lures “Sukiyaki 56″
Grip: Frog Products “Toy’s Grip”
Reel: Shimano Calcutta Conquest 101DC

As I already mentioned before, the reel choice was the most difficult task. Most rod grips are supposed to be pared with classic vintage style reels and the few ones that would fit modern round profiles are really hard to find. Therefore I decided to go the original way and bought a BC731SSS by custom tackle maker Isuzu. As soon as I opened the aluminum case, I was amazed by it’s unique egg shape and delicate form.

Rod and grip paired with the BC731SSS

After pairing the rod with it’s new counterpart I had second thoughts about wether this would be the perfect match or not and tried to mount a 101DC. The result was just breathtaking! Everything felt right just from the first palm and I was absolutely convinced about this combination immediately. It is not often that you can get the most important aspects together - proper handling qualities, great balance and a truly stunning aesthetic match.
There’s also the fact that Shimano’s silverling is actually one of my favorite reels and sometimes I catch myself preferring the grounding weight and more robust feel over the light-weightness of the dominating Daiwa reels in my boxes.

For the upcoming trip to Spain I’ll give both reels a try, even if the 101DC feels better for the moment. It would be premature to judge the BC731SSS before having tested it in detail. So let’s wait and see how first tests ‘ll turn out.

More details about the rod blank by Tsunami Lures you can find in one of my previous posts.

Another interesting task was to select appropriate and eye-catching lures for the new combo. The procedure was quite extraordinary, because of the fact that I found only two topwater stores that where willing to sell and ship to overseas customers. Luckily a friend of a friend is running a small but fine topwater section in his tackle store based in Kanagawa and I got dozens of photos from lure in his his stock that helped a lot to put together a small but fine selection of mostly wooden handmade plugs. I’ll to put together a few more details alongside with some photos in one of my next blogs. In the meantime you can already have a look at the “topwater style” section in the gallery to get a better idea of what I’m talking about.

So there she is… the first classic Japanese topwater combo. Perfectly balanced with 5,5 ft in length and a lure-weight of 1 oz (and above) - garnished with some gorgeous handmade lures - eagerly awaiting the first strike, hook-set and fight.

Did I already mentioned that my favorite lakes are still covered with ice of 5-10 cm thickness? Anyway, no need to revive winter depression. Only two weeks left until I’m heading off to Spain again. Ten relaxing days of bass fishing with my friends from Cordoba… can’t wait to go!

Finally, I would like to send big hugs to Tsuyoshi and Yuji who did a great job helping me to get this project under way and for spending a lot of time and energy to get together this great and well tuned setup of Japanese topwater tackle.

Related Links

• Sukiyaki 56 product page
• Tsunami Lures official website
• Isuzu BC731SSS product page
• Isuzu Shop at Rakuten.co.jp
• Frog Products official website

When compiling rod & reel setups in the past, I was able to consult the known ressources, such as forums and manufacturer websites and there was hardly a rod or reel that wasn’t reviewed or featured already somewhere. Besides of that, own experiences and knowledge of taper ratings, blank characteristics and other tackle components qualities made it easy to judge wether a particular piece of tackle suits a specific field or not.
In this particular case there where nearly no informations available besides of cryptic japanese blogs and a hadful of mostly outdated maker websites, so most of my “instruments” where failing right from the beginning.

Even if an appropriate rod blank was quickly found due to helpful recommendations and guidance from friends in Japan, the forming of a unified and well belanced composition of rod, grip and reel was still a good way off. One of the toughest tasks was to step back a step and get rid of all too conventional thinking about tackle in general. Japanese surface game is a field rich in tradition and anticipation of early custom tackle and handmade lures that goes back to the end of 19th century and beyond. But there’s way more than just the traditional background.

After browsing through countless blogs, manufacturer websites + online shops and enjoying plenty of topwater related video footage on YouTube and other online video platforms, it feels like SUIMEN (水面 - japanese kanji for surface) represents an apparently different approach to bass fishing in general.
It’s not about following the faster - harder - better approach of well known and high technologized japanese tackle giants, but more about design & style, a close connection to nature and environment and obviously about having fun. Keeping in mind the impressive amount of 50up lunkers I saw at online galleries in recent weeks, it doesn’t seem to be a less effective approach either. I’m aware the above ramblings might sound a bit cryptic to some of you, but I’m sure you get the point.

Back on topic!
For now we already have a sweet handcrafted 1oz topwater stick and a vague idea of the grip to complement the rod setup. Initially I was thinking about using my 101DC reel for the upcoming topwater combo, but just after a few days I had to realize that nearly none of the available grip types and models are made to fit latest Shimano reels.

I was aware that vintage reels where quite popular for topwater fishing, but thought about giving things an own spin again and of course about saving a few bucks. After studying all possibilities I ended up with two options: 1st - to continue searching for a grip that fits the 101DC (most unlikely, as I was looking for a particular design) or to follow the original way of things and go for a vintage round profile. But even this 2nd option turned out to be more difficult than expected. Most available models where right-hands and I only found a handful of already discontinued reels by Abu Garcia and other manufacturers offering left-hand versions.

After doing some more research, I stumbeled upon Isuzu’s vintage reels and instantly felt in love with their BC731SSS series. I really love the uinique american egg-shape design and the reel’s specifications seem to fit the proposed field of application quite well. In Japan Isuzu is known for their fly fishing reels but also for a compelling catalogue of vintage reels and the perfect finishing and highly unique design of their products instantly caught my eye.

Now that the reel part was resolved I went back focussing on the grip choice and one of my early favourites felt within reach again. Frog Product’s 2008 Toy’s grip was leading the list of most likely candidates since the beginning, but wouldn’t fit one of the reels I already had in my arsenal.

I’m really excited that slowly but surely all ingeredients are coming together and I already got confirmation from Japan that both components are available. I’m quite curious to see how all three parts ‘ll fit together and looking forward to first field tests in southern Spain at the end of March / begin of April.

I hope this lengthy blogging offered a brief glimpse at whats been going on behind the scenes in recent weeks and offers some more insights into the world of Japanese surface game. To be continued…

Related Links

• Sukiyaki 56 product page
• Tsunami Lures official website
• Isuzu BC731SSS product page
• Isuzu Shop at Rakuten.co.jp
• Frog Products official website

While putting together a handful of must-haves for the coming season, some of their topwater lures immediately made it to the top of a constantly growing list of most likely candidates. Unfortunately there’s a big gap between setting up such kind of lists and finally getting hands on containing lures and goods.

It’s quite difficult to find and purchase lures that are already featured on popular maker and shop websites, because production quantities of most handcrafted topater lures are strongly limited. Some of them are in such high demand, that shops are staging lottery-like events to do justice to customers and potential buyers.

Wild Dancer is truly one of the more popular handmade lure makers from Japan and if you cast a glance at the incredible coloring and finish of their products, the reasons become quite obvious.

Image source: Wilddancer.net

Besides their growing portfolio of handmade plugs, Wild Dancer is also known for their custom topwater sticks and rod grips which are as hard to find as their lures (or a four-leaf clover). The official website currently features three different rod series and a small set of “handles”.

The showcased topwater rods are sharing the specifications of most available japanese topwater sticks, but are once again impressing with The Wild Dancers’ own and highly unqiue rockin’ style.

Related Links

• The Wild Dancers’ official website
• Wild Dancer Lures
• The Wild Style Blog #1 by Builder.HW
• The Wild Style Tester’s Blog

In comparrison to putting together a conventional rod and reel combo, the process of finding a well performing combination of single custom tackle modules, is way more challenging than I initially thought. While working through the single components from bottom to top, I was truly grateful for support and guidance as there are no other online sources worth mentioning except of some japanese-only websites and blogs.

I’m currently targeting a custom topwater setup for casting wooden lures from 1/2 to 1oz from a boat, float tube and from the banks of small rivers and channels. Working through the single components from bottom to top, I was truly grateful for support and guidance and I’m more than just curious about how this project ‘ll turn out in the end.

It all started with selecting a rod-grip that suits not only the reel, but especially the eventual rod that completes the setup. Even if the final decision still up in the air, the following rod grip is one of my favourites.

Because of the fact that I was unsure about whether I would like the soft touch of a pure glass rod or not, we stroke a balance between both available materials with selecting a glass-graphite composite blank. There are only a handful of Japanese custom rod makers utilizing this type of material blend and we quickly ended up with Tsunami Lures’ “Sukiyaki 56″ (スキヤキ 5 6) as our first choice.

Image source: Tsunami-lures.com

The Sukiyaki 56 specs and features at a glance:

Blank material: Glass-Carbon Composite
Lentgh: 5.6 ft (Blank Length：4.7 ft / 144 cm)
Lure Weight：5/8oz ~ 1oz and up
Taper Rating: Fast
Action: Medium Heavy
Available Colors : Green & Ivory
Featues: Original Guides with SIC Rings, low ring position for better handling of PE and FC lines

With it’s length or shortness of 5.6 ft, the rod should be perfect for pint-point casting in even difficult situations like heavy cover and overhanging obstacles while the medium-heavy action should ensure handling the big ones with ease. The Sukiyaki 56 is rated as a Fast Taper stick, but it remains to be seen if this specification is up to my expectations. I really like the Regular-Fast Taper of my Vagabond rod that covers lures below 1/2oz, so I’m full of confidence.

Within the next weeks I’ll post more details and insigths about how this custom topwater project turns out. Stay tuned and enjoy browsing the resources below!

Related Links

• Sukiyaki 56 product page
• Tsunami Lures official website
• Tsunami Times Blog

While browsing the website and digging through the japanese only pages I found numerous references and links underlining the unique approach of the folks behind these beautifully crafted plugs. I had to confine myself to the insufficient translation services of a popular search engine, but derived a few basic facts and statements that I found worth mentioning.

Photography by Abdeal - abdeal1980.com

As for most of Japans sparkling handmade lure makers, the warmth and naturalness of wood are the catalyst through which unique haptic qualities and experiences are created. Through it’s products, Abdeal is trying to create a special aura and link to connect the eventual owner and bass angler with the passion and craftmanship of the creator.

This kind of poetic vein is underlined by the tenderly designed shapes and forms aswell as an overwhelming sense of aesthetic and coloring. Despite the evident focus on detailing and design, there are some statements pointing out to a more practical approach - keeping in mind the bass angler and the constantly changing conditions he has to face with.

At all Abdeal stands out from the crowd due to it’s technical concepts, unique coloring and breathtaking finish. The look and appearance of their products goes beyond popular patterns while showing a great commitment to the quality of used materials and perfect craftsmanship.

Related Links

• Abdeal website
• List of available Lures
• The Abdeal blog at yahoo.co.jp
• Abdeal’s lures are available at Match Box Collectibles

Time to have a closer look behind that pretty, shiny curtain to get a glimpse on the diversity and unique style of japanese surface game.

As usual, further research is complicated by the fact that most online resources are Japanese only manufacturer websites and a multitudinous number of small but exciting online shops. Surface game in Japan is heavily rooted in originality and appreciation of traditional rod building and first of all characterized by a passion for highly customized tackle and hand-crafted materials.

It’s amzing to see the unique approach and aesthetic of countless independent tackle and lure makers, which are constantly rethinking existing design concepts while keeping alive the vintage look and feel of traditional forms and shapes. The following pictures are just quoting the multifaceted output of some selected makers I came across during my research.

This first blog about surface game is supposed to give a rough overview about Japanese makers and online resources related to this highly fascinating and multifaceted field. Before focussing on particular makers and products, let’s start with a collection of links for further reference and reading (watching).

Surface Game Links

• Hiyoko Brand - Fishing Tackle Technology (Lures, Reels & Grips)
• Abdeal - Beautiful Handmade Lures
• Wild Dancer - Topwater Tackle
• Frog Products (Handmade Lures, Reels & Blanks)
• Slowtaper (Custom Rod Grips & Blanks)
• Tengu Baits - Handmade Lures
• Robelseon - Old, Good Hardware Company (Reels, Grips & Rods)
• Wild Dancer - Handmade Lures, Rods and other Goods
• Code - Lifetime Design (Wooden Topwater Plugs)
• Match Box - Collectibles (Lures & More)
• Will Lure - Handmade Plugs
• Tet Norichika (Handmade Lures & Goods)
• Childheart Lures
• Salamander - Original Handmade Lure

Blogs & Diaries

• Higedancer Blog - one of the Wild Dancer staff blogs
• Headz Blog - run by the people at Headhunters
• Frog Products Blog
• Sun River Diary
• Elephant’s Today

Online Shopping Resources

• Bass Pond - Surface Game Store
• Sun River - Topwater Store
• Match Box Collectibles - Topwater stuff and more
• Headhunters - Topwater Store
• BAPS - Surface Bait Libertaria
• Oh! Chuck - Topwater Store
• Magnum K’s Outlet Shop - Huge Top Water Store
• Opa! - Genuine Fishing Tackle Store
• Sarasi - Fishing Speciality Shop

To be continued…

Despite the fact that I had way too much Cuba Libres last night, I decided to have some hours of bank fishing today. After a micro breakfast consisting of two painkillers and a cereal bar, I went to a small lake to give the new Vagabond stick a first try. Just after a few minutes I was absolutely stunned by it’s perfect grip and overall feel.

Even if the 101DC still looks a bit bulky to me, I had a lot of fun casting lures from 7 to 10g and the balance of this rod&reel combo felt quite good. A Conquest 51 might suit this lightweight rod better, but I prefer the performance and feel of the digital control braking system.

First fish caught was a nice-colored mid-sized pike.

In terms of performance the “Shot Gun 601″ seems to be on par with Evergreen’s TXFC-66L The ‘Quad Twister’ (which covered these light-weight lures so far), but loads way more easily which results in increddible casting performance. I was fishing this amazing rod for only a few hours, so it would be premature to make a judgement on whether it’s 100% working for it’s intended purpose or not, but first impressions where thoroughly positive.

Right then, that’s about that. Need to take care of more festivities before plannig the next fishing trip.

Take care…
Christian

I already came across Tsunekichi’s products some time ago and to be honest, the retail prices at known online shops and on ebay deterred me from making a first purchase. Some months later I came across a quite good offer from a friend and ordered two Hama Shads as well as some Han Han Trailers.

Opening the quite extravagant lure boxing was a first manifestation of Tsunekichi’s demand for quality and exclusivity - setting them apart from the known competitors. Not only the design and overall look of the packaging and enclosed information hit my eye, but the incredible detailing and finish of the lure itself. A perfectly balanced body, the painstakingly formed lip-shape and gorgeous multilayered coloring and textures made up for the hefty price tag. Not to miss the solid and super-sharp Owner hooks that complement this main features of Tunekichi’s lures perfectly.

The Hama Shad LR-T 81SF (a diving shad-like crank bait) was the first lure that underwent detailed testing within the last months. Beeing the “big hit” while bass fishing in clear water conditions this season, I’m positively surprised to even catch perch and pike-perch at current temperatures around 0-5°C. While no other lure caused similar reactions, the highly natural wobbling action and dead rattling sound of the Hama Shad seemed to be the key attractions. Leading to continuously strikes even in times when fish are/should be most inactively.

In terms of durability the Hama Shad coloring seems not to lack in comparrison to lures from other popular japanese manufacturers. After serveral hours of intensive usage just a few light scratches are covering the sides, mostly caused by the lures own razor-sharp hooks. The overall durability of Tsunekichi’s lures is excellent and stays ahead of the competition as far as I can say. Something one should expect keeping in mind the high acquisition costs.

Some Hama Shad LR-T 81SF features and sepcs:

Special weight-transfer system, shad-like design, natural wobbling action, outstanding action/reaction to twitches, high-quality owner hooks
Length: 105 mm
Weight: 5/16oz (10.5 g)
Type: Slow Floating

One of todays arrivals is the Nanko Crank 59SR, a relatively new product in Tsunekichi’s product catalog. It’s a tiny (yet bulky for it’s size) crank designed to cover shallow areas. As I didn’t had the chance to test ‘tiny tot’ so far, I’ll limit myself to a brief description. With a size of 59mm (width: 21mm) and 11g of overall weight - mostly caused by its thick body material - the “Nano” comes along as a lure with high density and obviously special chracteristics. Most notably the two channel weight-balancer system, that should ensure perfect casting ability, a wide wiggling and noisy action (the dead, almost muffled sound seems to be typical for Tsunekitchi’s hard baits).
As usual I’ll provide you with more details as soon as I finished some first field testing.

More pictures of the Nanko Crank 59SR

Further reading & related links

• Official Tsunekichi website
• Hama Shad LR-T 81SF product page
• Nanko Crank 59SR product page