This year marks my 23rd trip to ICAST. I attended this amazing fishing show for the first time at age 18. I’ve been to ICAST every year since then, except for 2020 when it was canceled due to COVID19.
I was an aspiring pro angler at my first ICAST and had the good fortune to meet a great guy named Curt Arakawa. He promoted Jackall Lures then, and I stopped by his booth to check out the company’s baits.
He gave me a bait to try along with his business card. His kind gesture proved essential to my career. I called him several months later to tell him how much I liked the bait and to update him on what I had been doing. That chat resulted in him sponsoring me with Jackall products.
I provided feedback and photos to Curt to help with his promotions. When he asked if I’d like to work for him at ICAST, I jumped at the chance.
Like a lot of bass fishermen, I wasn’t at ease in front of an audience. Curt stressed I had to be able to speak comfortably to individuals, groups and on camera. He immediately had me doing videos about Jackall products for the many media folks who stopped by the booth.
He told me how important it was to stay in the booth to take advantage of every opportunity to get in front of a camera.
“The more people that see you, the better it is for your career,” he said.
Curt really broke me into this industry. I went from being a shy kid to becoming an outgoing angler who truly enjoys talking about fishing and fishing products. Curt taught me to be a reliable, dependable asset for my sponsors.
When Curt became the marketing manager at Daiwa, he brought me with him. He has been a great friend and mentor. I’m still saddened that he retired last year.
This year, all kinds of fuzzy baits invaded ICAST. Several of them have the word dice in their name because they’re built around a small, soft plastic cube. Whatever shape the plastic happens to be, it is skewered with long strands of silicone or rubber. Some of these baits have molded strands.
Fuzzy baits started in Japan, which has brutally tough fishing conditions. These baits don’t look like anything that would ever catch a bass, but they’re killer on highly pressured fish.
During the offseason last year, I took two of Yamamoto’s product designers fishing. We cut up Senkos and ran strands through the pieces to make prototype fuzzy baits. We fished them on drop-shot rigs and caught some big ones. Yamamoto has since introduced their Fuzzy Nut, Fuzzy Senko and Fuzzy Nuki.
Before that outing, I fished a Bassmaster Open at Lake St. Clair. On the first day, I caught 21 pounds of smallmouth on a tube and a drop shot sporting a small plastic offering. I struggled the next day. With an hour left to fish, I had only 15 pounds, which is a disaster at St. Clair.
I had a few Japanese fuzzy dice baits with me. I had never tried one before, but I had nothing to lose. I rigged one on a drop shot, continued fishing the same water and culled every bass in my livewell. I ended up with 19 pounds. That’s not a big deal for St. Clair, but I received 60 to 70 points more than I would have gotten with a 15-pound bag. Those extra points helped me qualify for this year’s Bassmaster Elite Series.
I especially like the Fuzzy Nut. Its tiny plastic body is loaded with the same salt content as the Senko. I don’t know what the bass think it is, but, man, do they ever eat it. I’ll have plenty of Fuzzy Nuts and Yamamoto’s other fuzzy baits with me when I fish the next Elite Series tournament, which happens to be at St. Clair. I hope they carry me to a high finish.
