With the 2023 trout area season underway and managed fishing areas opening in various locations, we visited the 2023 opening event at the Oashi-gawa F&C.
The main purpose of this time was to test new hook that is currently being finalized. Noriyuki Yokota, a Field Staff member, helped us to do the test.
The opening day when many anglers visit. Entry begins before the sun rises.
On the day of the event, many cars lined up in front of the gate from the night before, forming a long line. The fishing is usually great on the opening day, so everyone seems to be staying in their cars looking forward to a big catch.
The fish also seem to be stocked in large numbers, and a full test can be expected.
Immediately after the opening, strong spoons produced a series of hits!
Fishing starts at 7:00. With the announcement of the start, the sound of the drag echoes throughout the fishing area.
The fresh fish are super active and are aggressively attacking the shiny spoons. The bites do not stop at any of the fishing spots.
Noriyuki Yokota’s first lure choice was the “DOHNA 2.4g” + “SP-31F #5.
After a little time, the fish started chasing and biting very fast, and the initial sticking was not so good and there were many loose fish in front of the lure.
Since there were many sudden bites, he changed to “SW-31F #5” and this was the correct choice, and he was able to catch a series of fish without any offs to enjoy the high activity just after the opening.
When the fish in pond calmed down, we asked him to change hooks to the test product.
When the activity calmed down a bit, we replaced the hooks with the test product. We asked him to try the new hook.
The test product this time was a hard and forged hook adjusted to fit low-stretch braid such as ester. The pond situation was still likely to continue to hit with a spoon weighing less than 2 grams, but since we were currently only able to do size #8, we switched to a 1.3g DOHNA for the test and had them fish with it.
Because of its hardness, it hooks solidly on the hard parts around the mouth.
The test results were excellent!
I personally used the hook in the same environment and experienced hooking with little deflection and no time lag because of its hardness when used with ester line.
Although the wire diameter of the hook itself is a thin shaft, the synergistic effect of the forging and hardness of the hook allowed for continuous use without deformation even after hooking 10 or more fish in a row. However, after hooking more than 10 fish, the hook tip becomes dull, so even if there is no apparent change, the hooking becomes worse, so checking the hook tip is essential.
We continued the test after the sun became high in the sky and the activity calmed down.
By noon, the activity had calmed down considerably, with fewer fish moving and more fish staying in position.
The test hook performed very well in such conditions, not only when targeting fish near the bottom by sinking the spoon, but also when fishing just below the surface.
Noriyuki Yokota’s DOHNA 1.3g, which performed well throughout the day.
It was a very intensive test, including a comparison test with existing hooks.
We were able to do this test in the best possible situation, the opening day of the Oashi-gawa F&C Field Village. We believe that the hooks under test were able to gain a lot of momentum for release!
We will be posting more information about the new hook, so stay watching us!
