Tournament Report: Island Cup Kingfisher Tournament ... Koki Wada - VANFOOK : Premium Japanese Fishing Hook Brand

Hello! I’m Koki Wada, a VANFOOK Field Staff member.

The other day, I competed in the Island Cup Kingfisher Tournament and was able to finish in 3rd place.

I have fished (against other anglers) at Angler’s Park Kingfisher before, but this was my first time to participate in a tournament.
This was my second time to fish there, so I started the tournament with very little information.
In this situation, the hook setting contributed greatly to the results, so I would like to introduce it to you.

First, the qualifying round was a round-robin league of 6 anglers per group.
It was stocked in the pond the day before, and we started the first match with the condition.
I fished with an ester setting in order to know the speed of the fish and how they bite there.
The “SW-31F” is my favorite hook for recent stocked patterns.

This hook is essential, especially when using ester tackle.

I started with a 2gram spoon and “SW-31F #5” to search the conditions.

When I started fishing, the fish were very active, and many bites occurred, pushing the lure to the front with speed!
The SW-31F was the best match for this situation, and as I continued fishing, I was able to catch almost every fish on every cast without any loss of fish or mistakes.
The SW-31F series is especially strong, which is especially reassuring!

After that, I read the situation as I watched others fish while playing my own game and refereeing other games.

At the timing when the stocked fish calmed down, I cast far with a 1.4 gram spoon and found a surface spoon pattern of luring + reeling up & down.
The fish’s speed had calmed down, and the fish appeared on the surface from below before chasing the spoon and biting.

Then, I changed the hook to “SP-21F #7” with #0.3 ester setting.

I was able to catch the bites that the fish chased and turned back, and the way it hooked-up that I didn’t feel like it was going to come off.
The tackle setting worked perfectly, and the scene was so intense that I had a bite on every cast.

The SP-21F series is also essential for calm spooning situations.

I also found other ways to fish with smaller cranks and made it through the qualifying rounds with all wins.

The small crank hooks I used were BC-33F #8 and #7.

I used a #8 hook in the front and a #7 hook in the rear, which is the royal setting for me.
This was also the best match!

In the semi-finals, the fishing spots changed and the wind got stronger, which made the spoon pattern less effective, but I managed to adjust to the crank pattern and made it to the finals.

In the finals, the wind picked up and it was tough to use spoons.
I fished with a crank pattern aiming at the opposite shore, but it was a single hit that didn’t last, and something didn’t go right.
I wanted to find a pattern that would produce a series of hits, but considering the time of the match, I decided to stay calm and make sure to catch one fish at a time by rotating lures.

I rotated the silhouettes, movements, etc. of cranks to catch.

All hooks were “BC-33F series.”
The larger silhouettes are #7, and the smaller ones are the aforementioned #8 and #7 settings.

I fished carefully to make sure I caught each fish, and although it was frustrating that I could not find a continuous pattern during the game time, I took 3rd place by the Sudden Death method (two fish hooked up early).
In Sudden Death time, the location was changed and it became a fishing spot that was not used in the final.

So, I decided to narrow down my target to the opposite shore and use a long casting crank pattern, using my trusty BC-33F #7 hook.
Thanks to the hook that I trust so much, I was able to calmly catch the first two fish and finished in third place.

I didn’t have much information or experience with this pond on the day, so the hook setting really helped me a lot!
Thank you to all the tournament organizers, Angler’s Park Kingfisher, and everyone who participated in the tournament!

Hook settings can make a big difference in the fishing results, so we hope everyone will try various hook settings!