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The report of the Japan Fishing Show 2016 in Yokohama, Japan
Jan 29- Jan 31, 2016
Yokohama, Japan
Reporter: Jun Sonoda
Dear anglers, I am reporting the 2016 Japan Fishing Show ( International Sport Fishing Show) held in Yokohama, Japan. This is the largest fishing tackle show in Japan to reveal new fishing tackle to Japanese market. I made it on consecutive two days, Jan 29 and 30, as a tackle dealer and as a father. Show total exibits the industry's high energy to find a way to survive, and I am quite excieted to see great new products. One thing I noticed is that is that quite a few tackle brands now offer quite different products which it wouldn't deal with in the past. For example, bass fishing tackle brand Ever Green now offers wide variety of deep sea jigging rods, and Hapyson, which is a float with battery light top manufacturer, is now offering rods. Wow, what a mess, and a kind of no-rule survival. Another small thing I noticed is that many large boothes have black dark decorations, and I had difficulties in taking photos of new products. A lot of anglers and dealers visits the show and the show is quite fun.
Let's start with Shimano's new bait casters.
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This year, Shimano releases quite a few new low profile bait casters, and I first visited the booth. As you see in the middle of the photo, Bantam, logo is seen. Shimano releases Bantam rods and some baits this year, after quite long time of missing the legendary brand name. Shimano employs "Hagane" campaign to advertise its metal body reels. Hagane originally means steel (forged) in Japanese. Japanese swords are all made of hagane. |
Here are the new bait casting reels of Shimano.
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This is the new magnet brake system of 16Aldebaran BFS XG. The magnet holder is held by cam system to move out-ward when brake force is emitted. Therefore, it has similar brake profile as Daiwa's Magforce Z, or Air brake system. |
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Silver body Metanium is what we've been looking for. The MGL version has almost the same body construction as 13 Metanium, and has improved spool and SVS Infinity brake system. Delivery starts by end of March 2016. |
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Shimano's catalog photo didn't do right job, and showing it to be a fat boy, but it isn't. New Antares also has slim sharp front exterior design. It no longer has mecanical cast control cap, and the adjusting job will be all done by DC brake system. It means DC brake stops the spool. Wow. Delivery starts by end of April 2016 for right hand models, by end of June for left hand models. |
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New Scorpion has gunmetal color with wine red accent. It is surely in Shimano high quality. I might miss the wine red body later. |
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Brake system of the Stile is for ultra finesse casting, and it has 8 small brake blocks as previous 2012Aldebaran BFS had. With the long handle with EVA knobs, Stile will be a great finesse tackle. |
Shimano Spinning reels.
2016Vanquish is the major new product. It surely has less inertia than Shimano Stella reels. A Shimano rep told me now it has less inertia than Daiwa's Exist by 20%, and suite great for freshwater finesse tactics. Stella is for more steady retrieve purpose.
Let's move on to Daiwa booth.
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As you see from the photo, Daiwa recent years puts more focus on fashion, and its rain wares are selling well. I saw a few ladies testing fashonable rain ware at the booth. Magseal is the Daiwa's major selling key word in 2016. New Certate has another magsealed ball bearing. |
Daiwa's new TWS bait casters are here.
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2016 Steez TW Wow, little information was offered for this new model beforehand. Yes this is a great high-end bait caster in market. |
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2016 Zillion SV TW 1016 Small Zillion with TWS and SV spool. The decoration around handle post on larger brother 1516 was saved for the SV spool, a rep explains. I surely agree to the idea, to install the SV spool instead of the decoration. This small Zillion has very solid aluminum body and it is the strong push in 2016 Show. |
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2016 SS SV 103XH Newly added 8.1:1 extra high gear model to SS SV reel. The purple spool and accent shines quite good. |
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2016 Zillion HLC Hyper Long Cast model of Zillion 1516 will come out in June. It spool has 4 times strong brake-rotor pop-out spring than regular Zillion for long cast, and it emits quite less brake than regular reels. |
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2016 HRF Tatula based tuned model with long handle with EVA knobs. Its intended purpose is vertical jigging, but it suites great for casting as well. |
Daiwa is selling Magseal technology and durability improved by the sealing system. 2016 new Certate is the major new model.
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A Daiwa rep shows 2016 new Certate. It has very solid aluminum alloy body and magsealed components to offer super durability and reliability. |
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New 2016 Certate 3500/4000 mono-coque body. Amazingly large drive gear sits in the screw-in body. Certate 3500H will be my next mahi reel for sure. |
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Daiwa SLP Works proto modified model. No future schedule for sale for this model, but yes it is surely looking cool! It has polished magnesium alloy body, which has no protection to corrosion. Spool has been machined, but lines might be damaged at the groove. SLP Works is a division of Daiwa specialized in tuning parts and custom paint products. |
Jackall large tank talk show attracts a lot of audiences.
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Jackall 2016 new jointed swim bait. It has quite attracting colors, and I will surely deal with them.
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| Jackall seems to be the top bass fishing bait brand here. It contracts with a lof of professional anglers, and it hosts many talk shows over tank. |
Gamakatsu 9-10m Ayu fishing poles. Fishing Show is the rare chance to see those quite expensive, up to $5,000 rods, side by side. Ayu luring fishing is one of the most popular fishing here. You buy the first live Ayu, and let it swim around rocks in shallows, and another Ayu will hit your lure to protect turf. Then the game will be hooked by ultra sharp treble hooks. Gamakatsu has sophisticated its steel hooks by producing the Ayu hooks, which is very thin and sharp, but has to be tough.
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 Ayu, 15-25cm |
Fuji Tackle, rod components giant also has black, dark booth.
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Its Torzite rings are now on the high-end rods. |
Famouse icon in sport fishing in Japan, Mr. Murata Hajime has a lot of talk shows every where. He stages for Shimano, line manufacturers, bait brands, at main stage, casting booth and etc. He must be the busiest man in 2016 Show.
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Mr. Murata Hajime holds talk show for Shimano. He has been an ambassodeur of its tackle for years, and he is quite popular among anglers in Japan. This year, Shimano releases New Antares DC, and he must have been involved in the development project for it. |
There are some attractions for kids. Large 10mx20m trout pool is set on the show premise, and fishing guiding boys (old boys) are teaching how to fish.
And, there are so many other boothes I may not mention here, and brands I deal is only a parts of the total.
This year, I found the marketing battle between Hagane vs Magseal quite interesting. They both now aim for durability and reliability. Smoothness and efficiency might have been achieved at high and they no longer sell as buzz word.
A few Chinese tackle manufacturers exibits their products, but they are lacking marketing strategy in severe competitions. Fishing tackle will not sell without marketing.
Some major manufacturers do not exibited at the show, like Megabass, Duel (Yo-zuri), Bassday, Toray, Owner, Major Craft, ZPI and etc. I wonder what is going on them. Some of them might participate in a show in Osaka in March.
Hope you grab the sence of the show from this report, and to be exited by the 2016 new tackle.
Keep casting, keep fishing,
Jun Sonoda
Japan Tackle Co., Ltd.
