with water temperature slowly on the rize, the migration of various fish species has begun! For those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning, yes, its this time of the year, Grouper fishing!

As it is still chillie in the morning, the early morning start wasn't the best of options for the fishing as well as the angler. But once the sun was up making me take off my outer layer,  the conditions underneath also heated up. These two groupers obviously couldn't resist the Press Bait Fusion, trying to snatch it off the others mouth bringing about a double hook-up.

 With time quickly running out, I started to paddle back to base, when I spotted a feeding frenzy a couple of clicks off-shore. This was a sight too good to just pass by, so I punch out a top-water pencil. This immidiately produced this small but lively Kingfish, finishing up nicely.

 Tackle Data:

Lure: Press Bait Fusion 70, HAMMER-HEAD Moet
Rod: Yamaga Blanks Various 84M
Line: PE 1
Leader: Nylon 16lb

Let`s get right to it and have a look at the set of next Q&As...

1. Leonidas Kouretas: Mr Adachi, except for the hard work and hard artwork, except for the actual testing and long year experience, we have seen new high tech properties entering lures'/baits' industry every now and then. Such as fluorescent - high visibility colors, heat/warmth glowing, laser graphics, weight moving systems, etc, etc. The question is: What to expect in the next oncoming years from new tech innovations? 

Mr. Adachi: This is a question which interests many people are various opinion regarding the topic. In cases of lures, just giving it a life-like form does not guarantee that it will work well as a lure. At the moment, with the latest technology, it is possible to make a real form of a lure and using the photo print technology give it natural color. 

Introduced more than 13 years ago and being also at DUO, 3D CAD CAM can be used for engraving and getting improved every year, however only design in high-tech machines is something I have never even though of. Initial design of the master image is all done by hand carving. High-teach machines are always just a support, just means, never the end. 

In respect to production, there are various new ways being tried at the moment, but rather than revolutionizing the process, it`s mostly extension of already existing processes which enable to bring the cost down.

 2. Michael Kenneth Dawson: I would like smaller lures in Tide Minnow style also Refina style less than 30mm long so I can fish them for Seatrout on a fly rod.　Do you make or can you design such a lure? 

Mr. Adachi: There is no plan for a lure of 30 mm for now, however if Martin, our overseas sales manager, sees the market potential for it, we will definitely do it. Martin is the guy to speak to.

 3. Francesco Curreli: Mr. Adachi、do you thinks that in a not too distant future, the fish will "learn" to recognize artificial baits? Do you have any solutions in this regard? For example, make the bait more natural looking, or vice versa, very far removed from reality?

 Mr. Adachi: I think rather than fish getting used to baits, the main problem is how to decrease the number of individuals in the natural environment. I feel in Japan there is such a fierce competition between manufacturers, the tackle technique itself is being improved through testing everyday, so I have a feeling that there is much less fish in the waters than in the past.

 4. What lure would you recommend for fishing in muddy waters?

 Mr. Adachi: I think it really depends on the fish that you target, rather than some universal muddy water lure. I believe though that fish in the muddy water has much better ability to perceive than we think, so it`s not so important to worry about the water conditions. Generally it is said though that effective colors are those that stand-out and lures with rattles, in addition to which I would also need to mention retrieve speed and range. One should strive to retrieve the fish above the range.

 5. Corey Rhymer: What fish species do you primarily have in mind when you design your baits, and what goes into choosing the colors and patterns for each bait?

 Mr. Adachi: It is rare to design the image of the lure according to the bait fish although there were several instances of such a design even in Japan itself. However, if you try to focus on the visual part too much the action part suffers and that is why I do not employ that kind of designing.

 6.This is my question for Mr. Adachi : what is the main feature point in your design? Before becoming a designer, were you a fisherman?

 Of course, before becoming a pro designer, I was a fisherman first. As for design, I consider the outline and the body volume the most important points.

 7. Maurel Alex: I would like to know if you ever think to make a lure-that would accept a little camera in the head?

 When fishing from the boat there is commonly a camera attached, however for casting lures, I believe it would be impossible. Since this is outside of my area of profession, I believe for specialists like Sony or Canon, it would be much easier to tackle this problem.

 8. Demaria Florent: What was the fish that inspired you to design the legendary Tide Minnow Slim?

 Mr. Adachi: Tide Minnow Slim was originally designed and developed as targeting hirame(flatfish) and magochi(flatheads).

 9. Yeoh Shim Shian: Good day sir, I'm from Malaysia, but sadly I never had a chance to use a DUO lure before as I can`t find it in Malaysia market. However, from facebook, I trully look forward to cast a DUO lure as it is so beautifully made. As an Angler, with every lure in my box, I truly admired those lure that you designed~

 Mr. Adachi: Thank you very much. I`m also interested in Malaysian nature and fisheries. I wish I would have a chance to go fishing there sometimes.

 10. Athanasios Gorgogianni: Is the color as important as the shape and the movement of a lure?

 Mr. Adachi: While this topic can not be ignored, I do not think there is any need to expand the color range existing at the moment. In my case, I classify colors in four rough groups as “Silver”, “Gold”, “Pearl” and “Clear” and then it`s just a matter of preference. However, as a manufacturer, this shall never be said aloud.

 11. Joel Wade: How old were you when you started designing lures? 

 Mr. Adachi: It was at the age of 23 when I took a job at a lure manufacturer. I worked there for a while as a part-timer before being put in charge of design and development. Of course, I started from the most simple tasks, so I have not become a “stand-alone” designer until the age of 26, when DUO was established.

 We shall be back with the third part in the next couple of week...still a lot of questions to go through.

With Black-fin seabass fishing at the tail end of the season, I have slowly started to shift my fishing to other targets. One of them is to target the Kingfish swimming around the off-shore rocks from Kayaks.  One would probably target these with heavy tackle, but fishing from a kayak gives me great advantage, allowing me to utilize my thrilling light tackle.

 

I simply can't get enough of this Top-water game!! 

Tackle Data:

Lure: DUO Realis Pencil 110, Tide Pencil, HAMMER-HEAD Moet, etc
Rod: Ripple Fisher Aquila 69MH
Reel: 4000class
Line: PE 25lb
Leader: Nylon 35lb

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We are enjoying receiving the pictures with catch on DUO lures too much at the moment, so we decided to prelong the deadline to another month.

The rules are staying the same - all you have to do is to send us a picture of a catch on one of our lures and become a fan of DUO at www.facebook.com/DUOJPN

Good luck everyone! Looking forward to checking more pictures.

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We know who are the winners in the previous contest, so for all of you who did not find your name in the winner list, it`s on to the next one.

After an interactive previous contest, we will continue in this line. I believe that there are many fans of DUO among the readers and that many of you had amazing fishing adventures using one of our products. Now, it`s time to show us.

You can send your photos with catches on DUO lures to duocontest@gmail.com until 28th May 5 PM. Do not forget as with previous contests, you have to be a fan of DUO at www.facebook.com/DUOJPN.

This nice lure package is waiting for three of you.

Good luck everyone and looking forward to seeing the photos.
 

Tackle Data:

 Lure: Tide Minnow 90S, Larus Twitcher 95L, etc
Rod: Ripple Fisher 110HH prototype
Reel: 4000 class
Line: PE 25lb
Leader: Nylon 35lb

This sinker decides in practice the “character” of the lure. The sinking speed plays a key role in the squid fishing. Many “Eging Anglers” fish from Japan dividing the water column in 3 layers ( a depth of 9 meters is divided into a 3  superficial meters, 3 central and 3 meters of bottom). This technique does not obviate the measurement of backdrop in which you are fishing. These three distinct layers are ispected time by time using Egi Lures with sinking speed appropriate to the layer. This is the reason why on some boxes of Egi Bait show the speed of sinking in meters for second. Therefore, knowing the depth and knowing how many feet  down our lure in a second we can inspect, we can inspect the the 3 distinct layers, and once indentified the layer where the squid are present persisting in this last part of water for best results.
 

As already mentioned the Eging is practiced mainly by the coast. The technique mostly practiced by boat from Squid Fanatic is the Tataki-Misaki Fishing. This way of fishing is practiced at depths ranging from 30 to 40 meters. At these dephts in the Mediterranean Sea in autumn and winter time the squids will gather in dense shoals searching for food. Very Often the squids are near the bottom so this is the area where is necessary to focus the fishing action. Then the Speed and direction of the boat drift is fundamental. The weight of lead goes chosen based on the drift, in principle is necessary to try to hold the line in the vertical for the longest possible time.

Once the line has reached the bottom we must  retrieve with soft and long “Jerks” so that the lures of a few meters up, then let it fall again to the bottom. We must retrieve the lures in the classic “Sawtooth style”. The Tataki line system must be made so meticulously to allow the bait to work in the right way. We can make lure system with 2 to 5 Tataki bearing in mind that these should be spaced 20 to 30cm from an other. Another importan device for make the right tataki line system is to be spaced a few inches for the carabiner where we put the line mother, in this way the bait may have more large and sinuous movements.

Tataki Fishing is less sensitive respect Eging, this is because the lead at the end of line take away much of the sensitivity and for this is more hard feel the squid bite. While with this technique is possible make multiple catch, retrieve a line system with a lead in the end deprives us in the unique feeling that gives the attack of a predator. More than once i looked for lures that would allow me to challenge in deep water without additional weight. For this problem some Japanese brands seem to have been solved. One of the best solution seems to have found by DUO with the D-Squid

the D-Squid is a lure for the cephalopod very conceptually modern, a real challenge to the stereotypes of squid fishing. Conceptually it was designed for fishing from the boat and precisely what the Japanese Anglers called “Tip-Run”.It is basically a technique that is based on observation of the rod tip to perceive even the most subtle touch. the D-Squid sank very quickly, thanks to absence of classical sinker under the head of Egi Lure, and lend themselves well to use hugging the bottom. There are two size (the 95mm/21gr. designed to operate from 15 mt to 30 and the 105/27gr. designed to operate from 20 to 30mt. I was able to try the new D-Squid 2, a lure that has the weight just below the head. The weight is designed for don’t damage the hydrodynamics of lure. The version 2 allows us to draw well from 30 to 35mt and in general can be used when the drift boat is more strong. The esthetics of D-Squid are very closely resemble to the legendary minnow of this Japanese company, while the body shape and the weight distribution are put in order to make alive the lure in the sinking action. Reading these features i immediately thought to have found what is was looking for a Squid Fishing Lure capable of making me forget any additional lead on the line. But will it work? This the key question...

I took two sizes and i tried to use them at dephts of 20 mt to 30mt. With a reduced rate of drift and a little current i did work the D-Squid (105/27gr) and the D-Squid2 in 30mt depht water to make them lift up just for 3 mt from the bottom. I animated the lure with 3/4 vertical “Jerk” then i left again to the bottom

After a few meters i felt a touch, just another turn of the handle and the squid was hooked, i could hardly to believe, i head the the bite at a 30mt water depth....like taking off the condom when you’re makin’ love!
 

I tried the D-Squid in various areas and with different conditions. When the drift boat increased we use the floating anchor. This method allows to fishing also when the wind increased. We feel the bites on the deep water, and now ins’t seemed to pull up a plastic bag from the bottom. The “bite demon was satisfied once again.....

Gianluca Sulas For Salwater Rusty Memories
www.capitanrustyhook.com

 

Over all, I was able to land 9 black-fins, testing out a number of rods to be released in the near future.

Takcle Data:

Lure: Larus Twitcher 95L, Tide Minnow 90S, Tide Minnow Slim 120, etc.
Rod: Ripple Fisher 110 HH prototype
Reel: 4000 class
Line: PE 25lb
Leader: Nylon 35lb

I will continue in this banal way if i want, but if you don’t walk in this land, if you don’t see at least once, you can hardly undestand. Tiger Fish, Nile Perch, and the final unknow antagonist, the African Pike, these are the three bad guys to meet, that’s what we came up to here. If fishing the Nile Perch may seem boring in the research action for a topwater fanatic like me, detect and dealing with a fish like the African Pike has been one of the great satisfactions of my life as a fisherman.

This fish is not huge, even you meet are little, but highly sporty, it must be precise, run the edge of the shore, trying to land our lures in those two inches what we divide by an obstructions; a precise cast in the right zone means only one thing, AN EXPLOSION, because this fantastic predator is hidden there under the bushes, near the branches in the shade, he waited. I don’t think i can claim to be a great fisherman, but i know perfectly what i like, and i’m not ashamed to say, i Fell in love for the Hepsetus Odoe Aka African Pike. To me he is worth the ticket price, the only defect, the size little, sure not a heavyweight, but a nervous pinweight with a killer uppercut.

Trying to summarize the few days at my disposal and sure without claiming to offer certain rules, but only to tell a personal experience, i can say that this great gamefish is not squeamish, eating almost anything, but there are things that eat more than others. we catch some with the classic trout spoons, we take other with little stickbaits. But the thing that really piss off this fish were small lures, with a very pronounced rolling, a lot of flash and it was floating, and there are the qualities that has definitely the Terrif DC9 Bullet, this lure is certainly not born to cross the terrible teeth of this predator, not sure for this kind of freshwater, but in Africa there aren’t rules, but seeks only the result and i think the African Pike cared much what the intended us of this lure, he hated her, hated her and enough.

In addition at the features listed above the DC9 had a quality has allowed us to have more bite than others, could remain in the hot zone for longest time, because already at very low speeds could wiggling in front of the door of this toothy predator and believe me this made him so angry. In Certain areas where the water was deeper, as close to the rocky shores, i hade great results with a lure that i felt for the first time, the Deep Feat 90MDS, a small minnow very castable also with its only 13 gramms but thanks to a great movement was a winner on several occasions and not only in freshwater but that’s another story.............

Capt Rusty Hook

For
Saltwater Rusty Memories
www.capitanrustyhook.com


thanks to M’Ies Vagues de découvertes