When I was living in Japan as a college student and studying the language, I found it amusing that dogs in Japan didn’t go “Woof! Woof!”” but “Wan! Wan!” and frogs didn’t make a “Ribbit! Ribbit!” sound but rather “Gero! Gero!” Being a bass fisherman, I often wondered did Japanese frogs swim differently as well. Joking aside, I would like to tell you a little more about the frog fishing done in Japan. Over the past 15 years, the U.S. fishing industry has been inundated with Japanese hard lures and more recently with finesse terminal tackle. It’s safe to say that most avid bass anglers agree that the Japanese tackle manufacturers are very meticulous about the lures and products they release to the market. A relatively new phenomenon in Japan, the hollow body frogs used for bass fishing are no exception.
From the year 2000 to 2005, the time I spent running Optimum Baits Japan branch office, the fishing market in Japan was filled with U.S. manufacturers’ frogs. You could find a vast array of Snag Proof and Scum Frogs in tackle stores. There were a few Japanese tackle companies at the time dabbling in this hollow body amphibian world; manufacturers like ValleyHill, Smith, and Rodeo Craft. However, the majority of these products, both U.S. frogs and Japanese-produced were being sold for raigyo (yes, snakehead) fisherman. There is a rather large group of Japanese anglers that only target this species. Jump ahead to year 2010 and the Japanese bass market changed for the better with more and more tackle manufacturers starting to design hollow body frogs to hunt down bass. No doubt they followed a U.S. trend but were adding their own twists and technology to the ballgame.
Introducing Kenta Kimura
Since six years ago, I’ve had the pleasure of acquaintance and friendship with one of the most well-known Japanese frog fisherman and guides on Lake Biwa, Kenta Kimura. Kenta has now been guiding for 8 years on Lake Biwa but has been fishing his home lake for 20 years. He started out working the shorelines as a lad and graduated to his first aluminum johnboat age 15. Kenta has definitely put the time in to have a solid grasp of the variables and elements to be an excellent fisherman on Lake Biwa. But what separates Kenta from the next experienced Japanese angler is Kimura’s 3 years of having fishing the FLW Tour as a co-angler, qualifying for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 FLW Forrest Wood Cup Championships. His experience at home and as an angler on the FLW Tour helped instill Kimura with the knowledge he would need to develop new frog baits for the Japanese market. Read more….