Seek, Catch, Release, Protect
Received a package from Digitaka yesterday. In talking with my wife, I asked why she didn’t use her trout spoons more. Her response was that she was afraid to lose them because she only had a few. So I ordered some more spoons. Problem solved.
I also ordered a couple of packages of plastic lures to try out. It’s nice to have various options in case a maker goes belly up or they are sold out.
I’m not even going to attempt to explain or understand the names. Catch you on the next one…
I did a blog post about using JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) fishing tackle about a year ago and I thought I’d do a follow up post.
I find the Japanese fishing industry very interesting. The gear, the specialization and the sheer mass of tackle at their disposal is fascinating. The cutting edge equipment and ever-evolving techniques is something to keep an eye on.
So when the wife and I made the plunge into JDM gear, we were clueless and taking big risks. Sure we had done some preliminary research, but there wasn’t a whole lot out there on our specific fishing style. Not saying that we are unique in any way, but that there appeared to be a gap between Trout fishing and Bass fishing, our style tended to blur the lines between the two.
The emphasis out there seemed to be on SUL, XUL and UL rods and then over to M,MH and H rods. We were looking at L (light) to ML (medium light) rods. Our plans were to fish rivers and streams with current yet the fish would generally be 3 pounds or less. We would just have to buy and try and hope for the best.
If you’ve read my blog then you have seen all of the rods and reels we have purchased so I won’t go into depth in regards to those.
What I will tell you is that these rods and reels took our fishing to the next level. Sensitivity was better, construction quality was better, they were lighter and smoother as well. The main thing was that they increased our enjoyment of fishing and it is hard to put a price on that.
I am NOT badmouthing any of the rods and reels you can purchase locally. I’ve fished with them for years and years. I just wanted something a bit more…a bit better.
And we found them! The Major Craft brand has been excellent in price vs performance. The TenRyu rods are true Japanese made rods and are outstanding, yet pricey. Tailwalk rods have great aesthetics and functionality. None of our rods are classified as high-end JDM rods by a long shot.
The pure joy of using these rods has made fishing truly fun again for us. Even the wife noticed and commented that she hadn’t seen me smile that much in a long time. Keep in mind that we are not wealthy by any means. I was forced to work overtime for months and we opted to use some of that income to purchase the items you see on the blog. But in hindsight, I would have no qualms about buying any of the rods we have with whatever money we had available. To me, they were worth the expenditure.
It was never about “snobbery” or being trendy. It was about finding joy and filling a niche in our style of fishing. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
I used to do reviews when I had my YouTube fishing channel. And invariably the “experts” would appear in the comment section to hold court with their superiority. It became tedious and annoying. Constructive criticism is fine, but everyone hates Trolls. Perhaps I just sucked at it?
I have a full-time job with accompanying commute, a family, commitments and everything else that goes with being an adult. And honestly, I don’t think I could do justice to the subject with the skills I have.
I am not the CEO or CTO of a Hollywood production company with the best and brightest graphic designers, visual artists and photographers on staff.
Have you ever tried to photograph a fishing rod??? It’s not easy!
Besides, there are plenty of YouTube channels who specialize in that sort of thing already. And fishing tackle is subjective to begin with. People may not like the same things that I do…the horror! All joking aside, we are all different and have varying needs and tastes. That’s OK.
Factor in budget restraints and the target audience shrinks drastically. Rods and reels marketed towards the Japanese fishermen/women are different. The Japanese admire quality over quantity. They have no qualms about buying a top tier rod or reel to enrich their fishing experience. They completely ignore cheaply made gear. They don’t mind fishing all day to catch one good fish as opposed to lots of little fish one after another. It’s about the entire experience…not just the catch.
Quality gear costs money. Sometimes a lot of money! If it’s within your budget then get it. If not, don’t. FACT: I fished the Cossatot River with a $15 rod. Sensitivity was almost non-existent and build quality left a lot to be desired. But I caught fish.
Fishing tackle built to a price point doesn’t do much for me anymore. I’m not looking down my nose at anyone…rather, I prefer quality gear. I’ve experienced “the Dark Side”…and I LIKE IT!
Also, with a little bit of effort and “Google-fu”, you can find out all of the information about a particular rod or reel. I don’t mind providing links and pointing the way.
Most importantly…I don’t want to be obligated to a production schedule or script. Or trying to stay trendy by buying every new fishing item that hits the market. Relevance only matters when on the water. Sure I could have done an “unboxing video” with my 2021 Daiwa Presso LT standing mid-stream. YAWN! But I’d rather put that time to use by actually fishing.
I don’t have a clue as to how many fishermen/women actually like JDM fishing tackle. I just enjoy fishing and using decent gear while being non-judgmental about it all. I just share what I’ve learned and if any of my images trip your trigger and starts you on the path…Great! If it doesn’t…that’s fine too. Believe me, I’ve read blog posts where guys are fishing with a $2000+ setup and I click out because I probably will never be able to afford something like that. Obviously I’m not in that target audience LOL.
Now…on a serious note…I know it is sometimes hard to find pictures of JDM fishing rods. You occasionally have to open multiple pages on your browser as well as language translation apps. But the best site I have found to view pictures of any rod that you might be interested in is:
https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/cid/39
I am amazed by two things on that site, the sheer quantity and the complete lack of inventory. In some respects, both could be construed as good things. With COVID, everything changed and perhaps more fishermen/women are on the water or getting into the sport. Maybe not, but I try to stay positive.
With all that being said…my blog is an enjoyable hobby for me. What you see and read is 100% ME. No script, no timetable, no commitments to sponsors or affiliates, everything purchased by me and for me. If one other person gets some enjoyment out of the content…THAT’S AWESOME!
P.S> You probably can’t tell…but I started writing on the Blog this morning at 0318. In regards to Zip(our puppy), I’m not sure about who is training who anymore.
We’ve been kicking around the idea of fishing in the Southwestern Missouri, Northwestern Arkansas and Northeastern Oklahoma region this year. There are a few rivers that we have been really curious about. Researching the area, it appears that a canoe will be necessary for some of them but that’s fine with me.
Our friends keep telling us to go fish at Noel Missouri for trout but I’m not interested in fishing shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of people. We prefer some solitude when we fish. And at this juncture in our lives…we’re after native smallmouth bass anyway!
Of course, so much will depend on the weather, especially how much rainfall we get this coming Spring. And lets not forget COVID! Heaven help those who try to ignore it and get on with living.
I’ve managed to track down a few fishing reports and poured over several maps so far. It definitely looks promising. Part of our desire to fish new areas stems from the sense of adventure that we like to incorporate into our trips.
We seem to have our fishing gear “dialed in” and are not planning any significant changes this year so it will allow us to focus entirely on destinations. Non-resident annual fishing permits are reasonable for both states at $49.00 each. So approximately $200 and we can fish Missouri and Arkansas for the year. There will definitely be canoe rentals, shuttles, camping fees, fuel, food etc to contend with…but things are already falling into place and we’re excited.
We can’t fast-forward through Winter so we will do the best we can. Hopefully we will be able to squeeze in a couple of recon trips between now and Spring to get a feel for what we will be dealing with.
There’s always a lot of work to do before we ever step into a river!
I thought I would share this Manufacturer’s List. Lots of interesting stuff all in one place. No affiliation whatsoever on my part: For Informational Purposes Only.
https://www.tacklejapan.com/brand
*Not responsible for any purchases made!
I was surfing the web this evening and ran across this rod. What caught my attention was its weight! It comes in 3 iterations…the React 50 weighs 36 grams!!!! The React 55 weighs 38 grams and the React 65 weighs 44 grams. To me that is incredibly light and it started the gears in my head turning.
It’s pricey but opens up quite a few possibilities in regards to my type of fishing. I definitely like the minimalist handle and the 0.6mm tip diameter is “uber thin” and tends to make me think that this is a specialists rod, possibly targeted towards Ajing fishers.
The gears are definitely turning and I will have to mull this rod over…
I thought I would share a few links from businesses and YouTube channels that specialize in JDM fishing gear, or fishing in general. During the “winter doldrums” these links keep me fired up.
As much as I detest YouTube…I will add some channels that I enjoy in spite of the “experts” in the comment sections!
-TroutMagnetMan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWCjOaWgSZm8ogjti50JFg/featured
-Enjoy Fishing Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrQAtakEbQa-YZ6zmESV92w
-i_fish https://www.youtube.com/c/ifishcatfish
-TSURINAN https://www.youtube.com/c/%E9%87%A3%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AA%E3%82%93%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99ch
-27 mojo https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvGkG9JtqfRZFY-yIGQJcag
-Threadline Angler https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTrXgmWY9fLzd9BqfOnZwpg
-Hobie-Wan Kenobi https://www.youtube.com/c/HobieWanKenobi
-Brooksy https://www.youtube.com/c/JonnyBrooksFishing
-RoKKiT Kit https://www.youtube.com/c/rokkitkit
-Henry Gilbey https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGM2KWkhqA8L18HT7oFsfrQ
-Gido’s Fishing Adventures https://www.youtube.com/c/GidosLandBasedFishingAdventures
-Lanix Fishing Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/LanixFishingChannel
These are just a few that I regularly watch. I enjoy several different forms of fishing and I like to see “how it’s done” in various parts of the world. And now for the Ubiquitous Disclaimer: I do not sell anything, make commissions from, or have sponsorships from any of the above. They are merely links for the sake of information.
I was talking to my Dad last night via Facetime and he was giving me a little grief about not fishing. He said, “you say its too hot yet you’re running around all over doing other things.” He was right! We were trying to come up with something to do today so opted to hit both of our local lakes. We got up early to beat the heat and headed out.
The first lake was a bust since it is completely overgrown now and fishing from the shore is virtually impossible. We caught zero fish after walking all the way around it. As usual I was on the lookout for plants. Here is just a few of what we ran across.
After getting skunked and picking all of the burs and stick-tights off of us, we opted to try the other lake near us. As we were driving down the gravel road we were witness to a Bobcat crossing the road carrying a rabbit in its mouth. We watched as it loped across the road and coursed up a steep hill. We thought that was pretty cool…especially with how big it was.
We reached the next lake and chatted with a local. He was out on his 4-wheeler with the grandkids and was letting them burn off some energy. We know the feeling all too well.
All told we caught 5 largemouth bass, a perch and a crappie. I wanted to get a few pictures for the blog and quit fishing after an hour. Remember me mentioning that this area was covered by the Western Interior Sea during the Cretaceous Period 145 million to 66 million years ago? I took some pictures of the fossils that cover a large portion of this area.
As we were roaming around the area just looking, we ran across this guy!
After interacting with the snake we decided to move on and see what else we could find. As usual, there were numerous plants in bloom in the area.
We had fun with the few hours we were out. We tend to free-range the chickens on the weekends so we decided to head home to let them out for the day. As I sit here typing, I’m surrounded by foraging chickens. There is shade at the moment and a breeze blowing through the tree tops.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Please don’t take this as me showing off…that’s not what I’m about. Rather, when researching JDM tackle, you run across names and numbers without pictures provided. I’m merely putting forth pictures to anyone interested in JDM tackle.
I have ZERO affiliation with MajorCraft but have found them to be good values in terms of quality and performance. There are LOTS of other brands out there and there are higher and lower priced rods and reels as well. As stated before…we are really happy with these rods in regards to price vs performance.
Two of the main places I purchase my JDM tackle from are Digitaka and JDMTackleHeaven. I have found them to be reasonably priced with fast/reliable shipping. Again, no affiliation. Also, Chris Stewart over at http://www.finesse-fishing.com has a selection of BFS rods, reels, lures etc. He’s based in NY so shipping might be faster on certain items.
I am by no means an expert on JDM tackle, rather I try to post stuff I have researched, purchased and used. I hope it might prove helpful to someone…Cheers!
I have tried several different makes and models of pack rods through the years and have settled on the MajorCraft Finetail Trekking and Traveler series of rods.
The species of fish I’m chasing (Micropterus dolomieu velox…Neosho-strain Smallmouth Bass) do not require heavy tackle so these rods are more than adequate. I wanted something compact that I could stow in one of my packs and these are perfect for my needs.
I chose the MajorCraft Finetail Trekking and Traveler Switch Style FTX-46/505UL and the baitcast version, the FTX-B46/505UL. MajorCraft does make shorter or longer versions of these rods.
As you can see, they come in a heavy duty zippered pouch which thoroughly protects the rods. However, that comes at a significant weight- 12.1 ounces for the spinning rod and 13.1 ounces for the baitcast rod. So I opted to ditch the zippered cases and just stow the rods in the cloth sleeves they come in thereby reducing the weight to 3.6 ounces for the spinning rod and 4.1 ounces for the baitcast rods.
I find this setup suits most of my needs for the small streams I have been fishing lately. As of yet I haven’t felt underpowered and have all the leverage I need and my casting distance is on par with other JDM rods I have. As a bonus, all of my gear fits inside my pack during transport so I rarely worry about the rods being broken.
For open stretches of a river I prefer the spinning rod but when things get tricky with overhanging trees and such, I prefer the baitcast rod since I find it to be more accurate. Plus, it also depends on what type of lures I’m using at any given time. Since these are 5-piece rods, I have the option to remove the 6 inch insert section and go with a shorter rod if necessary. I have yet to have one of these rods come apart while fishing, but I do check the sections periodically to make sure they are still in place.
I’ve caught quite a few fish on these and have been very pleased with their performance.
We left the house at 0535 and entered the river at 0725. There was a fog in the river valley and the temperature was 63F. It was a beautiful start to the outing. Considering that we had been inundated with rain for most of the week, we were really looking forward to some actual sunshine. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before the sun came up and the fog lifted.
With all of the rain recently, it was interesting to see how much the river had changed. Pools had shifted, gravel bars had moved, the river had split in a couple of places. What used to be an easy walk is now precarious. As the old saying goes…”no man steps in the same river twice.
My main intention for this trip was to try out a new rod. It is the Majorcraft Finetail Trekking and Travel FTX-B46/505UL.
It is a 5-piece baitcast rod with a stiffer action. I kind of like the fact that I can stash 2 rods in my pack. One is a spinning rod and the other is the baitcast rod.
We had a really good outing with 34 fish being caught with about 8 of them being decent. Neither one of us took fish pictures since we were releasing them right away. For 3 hours we had the river to ourselves before a few other fisherpeople showed up. It was well worth the drive.
On the way out we ran into the Game Warden and he checked to see if we had our licenses…which we did. He thanked us profusely after noticing all of the trash in my sling pack I was digging out while getting my license. We talked for a bit and we thanked him for doing his job and for caring about this river. We also ran into a few other people that we chatted with and in the end we all had similar thoughts about this river. “Mum is the word” and none of us mention it, instead preferring to keep it hidden for as long as possible.
Have a great 4th of July and stay safe…
I wanted to try an “Area Trout” baitcasting rod since I already have a “Native Trout” baitcasting rod. The difference is that “Area” designated rods tend to be a bit more limber. They are whippier and have more of a parabolic bend in the blank. In theory, it should be easier to use the rods inertia to assist in casting a light lure.
I have a cheap BPS Sensilite fiberglass rod that I practice with and kind of liked the action…hence getting this rod. As soon as I can get some free time I will definitely give this rod a shot.
Major Craft Finetail Area Stage Rod FAX-B642UL specs…
-6ft 4in- 2 piece rod
-lure weight 1.0-5.0 grams
-line weight 1.5-5 lbs or 0.2-0.6#PE
-action FAST
I definitely like the low profile and minimalist rod handle. I am excited to try this one out…
Velox Seeker 