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Junichi Numata. Shore slow basic technique.

Shore slow is becoming an increasingly popular way of fishing on the sea. And it is no great surprise, because if the fish are neither the fastest nor the most active, they can’t keep up with the classic jigs, designed for fast retrieves.

In case slow jigging is thoroughly thought through, you can invigorate and trigger attacks of the predatory fish, which didn’t even plan to eat anything.

adriaticnature had no scruple about turning to the ideologist of shore slow jigging Junichi Numata with a request to tell about his vision of this fishing technique.

There is no need for introducing Junichi Numata to fishermen who are actively interested in sea fishing. The videos on YouTubewith his participation, where Junichi tells about and shows the process of fishing with certain tackles or lures, delight everyone who watches them.

Junichi Numata has been enthusiastic about fishing since he was a kid. And in recent years he has been the designer of rods and lures of the Japanese PALMS Company, founded in 1988, specializing in the production of rods, sea lures and lures for trout fishing, which always have their own unique style and approach to manufacturing.

Junichi Numata is an ideologist, designer of tackles and lures, as well as an author of his own original approach to the shore slow technique.

I’ve been asked about the difference between Shore jigging and Shore slow many times.

And my answer has always been as follows: “The standard Shore jigging is for the quite active fish. On the other hand, the target of Shore slow is the fish, which is NOT very active and can’t chase a moving jig quickly.”

The concept of Shore slow is fundamentally different from Shore jigging.

Specifically, the moving distance is controlled to get a bite in small range.

The advantage of Shore slow is that it makes possible to catch the fish, which can’t be caught using the Shore jigging technique.

The idea comes from offshore slow jigging.

There are many fish species in the sea. I thought that I could catch them from the shore. Then, I thought about the way the offshore slow jigging style could be reflected in shore jigging. Of course, there are many restrictions on shore fishing. There is a trick to control the lift and fall of the jig.

When you finish reading this article, you will understand the trick.

Basically, the jig action consists in bouncing of rod tip with reeling. You can watch my videos on YouTube. Please, watch the videos, where Slow Blatt cast series jigs are used. You will be surprised when you watch them, because I don’t flip the rod as much as you could imagine. Also the flipping speed is NOT “Slow”. The speed of rod work is “Fast”.

What is the Slow??

“The interval to the next action.”

Many people are misunderstanding the meaning of “slow”. Rod work is “Fast”. The interval to the next action is “Slow”. We can say the interval to the next action is “longer”.

I want to say “You will be surprised because my rod work is small, since I add jig action on the rod tip without moving widely to use rod butt.”)

The basic principle of reeling is 1 rotation per action. When the target is very active, the interval to the next action is short. It means rod flipping is fast-pace.

When the fish have low activity, it’s low-pace.

Then, the maximum amount of reeling is 1 rotation.

If the fish can’t keep up with the jig, I adjust the amount of reeling to reduce the moving distance. I don’t change the rod flipping speed. Sometimes my reeling amount is 1/6 of rotation per action.

The bite is induced by showing jig closely (very clearly) to the target.

The advantage of Shore slow is the high probability of target attacking the jig, while it is falling. So it’s important to mix short distance moving action and falling.

And fish responds to falling with line tension and free falling differently.

Finding the action of the day is a fun part of Shore slow.

Shore slow may have various targets. Fishing strategy is especially important. The fishing tempo is slow. So if you cast randomly, it’s very inefficient. In this case, you’ll need many hints to catch fish with the rod.

Many fish are interested in Shore slow jigs, because the moving distance is short. You can use hints to catch fish that have different bites, even if they aren’t intended for your target.

If the jig is attacked only near the bottom, you can guess there is not many fish there, in a small area. Then, it’s better to retrieve near the bottom mainly.

If the fish bites in wide area, you can guess there are many fish. Then, you can think, for example, that migration fish is near the surface, Snapper is at the mid-depth range and Grouper is near the bottom.

Making hints and guessing the situation help you to develop fishing strategy and catch fish.

I want to talk about choosing rods.

Shore Gun EVOLV series has 4 special models for Shore Slow.

Bouncing of the rod helps control a certain action of Shore slow jig.

As I’ve already mentioned, my rod work is small motion (don’t flip the rod too much).

Why is it not big?

The answer is as follows: “I make the rod tip bounce, while using a special jig for Shore slow like Slow Blatt cast series”. The main feature of Shore slow is that it provides more actions than standard Shore jigging in small area to get bites.

So, this special rod for Shore slow has power to control Shore slow jigs on the tip section, but the butt section suppresses to add excessive power for jigs.

When you grab these rods, you will feel they are light and provide sharp action.

All special rods for Shore slow are 9ft9inc long.

When I fish using Shore slow, I tend to set it standing.

A long rod is rather heavy to use it the whole day.

On the other hand, a short rod is not good for certain places like rocky fishing spots.

I considered the best length of the rod. It happened to be 9ft9inc.

The corresponding models are 990, 991, 992, 993.

The first two digits mean 9ft9inc. The last one shows the power class of the rods.

The main feature of Shore slow is choosing the rod depending on the fish activity. (NOT the size of the target). The number one priority is to get bites.

“0” power rod (990) is the lowest power in the series. “3” power rod (993) is the most powerful one.

What happens when we use the same lure with these rods?

When we use a low power rod, the initial velocity is reduced. So, the jig action speed is getting higher gradually.

On the other hand, when we use a high power rod, the jig movement follows the movement of the rod.

This is the easiest way to imagine the way it works.

If you use a metal stick, which doesn’t bend as a fishing rod, the lure movement follows the rod movement. In case of the metal stick, it means exactly the same speed and movement.

If you use a flexible rod, the lure starts following the rod movement a bit later, because the initial velocity of the lure is reduced by bending the rod.

So, the lure action is changed by rod power.

When the target has a low activity, a rather reduced velocity action is more efficient than the fast one.

When the target has high activity, a fast action is more efficient than the slow one.

Usually, I choose the medium power rod “992”, when I start fishing.

Actually, the jig action is created by the balance of the rod power and the weight of the jig.

Let’s quickly revise what I told about the balance of rod power and jig weight.

What happens when we use the same weight jig (for example, Slow Blatt cast SLIM 40g) with different power rods (for example, the most powerful rod 993 and 990 with the lowest power)?

The high power rod initiates fast lure action.

The rod with the lowest power initiates reduced velocity of the lure action.

The lure action differs depending on the rod power, even if we use the same jig.

On the contrary, what happens when we use several different weight jigs (for example, Slow Blatt cast WIDE 30g and Slow Blatt cast 60g) with the same rod (for example, 991)?

When we use 30g jig with 991, the lure action is active, because it’s light and easy to move sideways.

When we use 60g one with 991, the lure action is not active, because the power that makes the jig sink is higher than with 30g one. It means that the resistance to move sideways is higher. So, heavyweight lures move quieter than light ones.

I want to cover these things in details.

For example, I’m fishing with 30g jig with 992 (medium power rod). And I want to change the action a little.

What should I do?

I can expect the same changes, if:

– I use the one step lower power rod “991” without changing the lure

or

– I use the heavier 40g jig without changing the rod.

These changes in lure action are almost the same. It means that the lure action is almost the same in both cases.

But, in fact, the falling speed is different. So, we have to consider the balance of jig weight and falling speed as well.

The most important thing in Shore slow is to find the best balance of rod power and jig weight of the day.

I try to fish using various patterns to find the best technique of the day.

I think that the shortcut is to start fishing with the medium power rod “992”.

All we need to specify is Activity (high or low), Range (water depth) and Distance (far from the shore or close to it).

“Palms” is releasing “Slow Blatt cast” series of special jigs for Shore slow.

Actually, we have 5 models of special Shore slow lures of “Slow Blatt cast” series.

But, this time, I’ll provide some information on 3 basic lures to make it easy for you to understand the differences.

I’m going to consider Slow Blatt cast WIDE, SLIM and OVAL.

Judging by the photo, WIDE is the fastest to sink out of those models. The second one is SLIM and OVAL is the slowest to sink.

At first glance, WIDE seems to sink faster because of its shape. But the weight balance of WIDE is a bit in front, not at the center. So, the sinking position is tilted and the jig sinks faster.

Each model has various weight options, 10g~60g. The sinking speed of each weight is different. So, this is the “average” sinking speed.

The sinking speed of WIDE is 90cm/sec, SLIM – 80cm/sec and OVAL – 60cm/sec.

If you remember the sinking speed of the jigs you are using, you know:

The depth of the water body. For example, you cast WIDE and it takes 10 seconds to touch the bottom. It means the depth of the water body is 9m (90cmx10sec=9m).

How much time it takes the jig to rise back to the surface during 1 action. For example, you cast WIDE and it dropped to the bottom. You flipped twice to trigger the lure action (then, the jig rose through the water) and stopped the rod activity. Then, it took 1 second to touch the bottom again. It means the jig rises 45cm during flipping the rod once (sinking 90cm/sec÷2 times flipping the rod=45cm).

This information will help you imagine the situation in the water easily.

Besides, if the sinking time changes, it means there is depression or rise there.

It’s really important to specify the water depth and conditions for Shore slow. I highly recommend doing it the way I mentioned above.

I’m going to deal with the sinking position next.

When I choose a jig, I consider the sinking position as well.

The sinking position of WIDE is bit tilting. SLIM and OVAL are horizontal.

It influences the way it attracts the target. Moreover, it influences the jig action for rising by means of the rod activity.

As I’ve already mentioned, the sinking position of WIDE is tilted. The head is dropped, because the weight balance is a bit in the front. So, more power is needed to raise it by flipping the rod.

On the other hand, less power is needed to raise SLIM and OVAL than WIDE, because their sinking position is horizontal.

When we fish in the shallow area or very close to it, it’s sometimes easy to tangle the rear hook with the line, if you use SLIM and OVAL. The reason is the sinking position. In this case, we can avoid tangling by changing the jig for WIDE.

What I’m trying to say is that different jigs mean not only the differences in falling speed and sinking position, it also means avoiding troubles or sinking options.

I’m going to explain these differences by using videos.

The first one is WIDE. As far as you can see in the video, it’s sinking with a slight tilting. The tilting sinking position often works well.

The image of WIDE shows slow rising movement and inducing bites by fast sinking action.

The next one is SLIM.

As far as you can see, the falling position is horizontal.

The falling speed of these models is average. So, I usually choose SLIM at first to figure out the situation.

The last one is OVAL.

As far as you can see, OVAL sinks slower than WIDE and SLIM.

The slow sinking speed is induced not only by the shape, but by the material as well. The material of OVAL is the metal with a small specific gravity, called “Z-Light Material”.

So, OVAL sinks slowly due to the combination of the shape (to overcome the resistance of the water) and the material with a small specific gravity.

I want to talk about the way I search the field and situations.

I choose Slow Blatt cast SLIM for searching at first.

The reason is that their sinking speed is medium. And the sinking posture is horizontal. So SLIM can be basic lure for Shore slow.

The average sinking speed of SLIM is 80cm/sec.

I keep it in mind and grasp the image in the water.

The step is:

Do full cast and count down to touch the bottom.

Search where the drop off is.

Guess the bottom material by means of the rod.

Grasp the variation of landform sideways.

I start fishing to search the field like this at first.

Also, we can see the tidal current and changes by casting jig.

If I get any bite at this stage, I fish intensively in the same water depth range and distance.

But usually it’s not easy like that.

If nothing happens during searching, I change:

The rod power (I’ve explained why I change the rod power in the previous article).

Volume of the jig action.

If these don’t work, I change the type of jig.

In this case my choice is WIDE or OVAL. Usually the next one I choose is WIDE.

The reason is that I can search speedy with WIDE.

After changing the next type of jig, I search the same way I mentioned above. We must get any hints until this step.

There is bait fish or not.

The existing of any fish eater etc.

At this stage we can guess:

The fish range

The type of jig

The color of jig

By the way, it’s possible to Shore slow fish in shallow area at the depth of 2m~3m.

How to do that?

As far as you can guess, it’s hard to do Slow jigging in shallow area. If you try to do that, you have to keep flipping rod like during normal jigging. Otherwise, jig keeps dragging at the bottom.

But OVAL works well to search and fish in this situation.

Also it makes possible to arrange falling jig action even in shallow area.

Next, I want to talk about jig color.

When there are signs of bait fish, for example, I can see them or birds are diving etc, usually I choose the real color jigs, which are Clear magma color or Zebra glow color.

To my mind, Zebra glow color is all-rounder. So, I choose this color when I search the situations too.

On the other hand, when there is no sign of bait fish, I usually choose Gold color base jig. Gold color works well when the target feeds on Crabs and shrimps. So, Gold color is one of the most effective colors for Rock fish, Flat head, Flounder and Snapper.

The image of Red color is showing the silhouette clearly in the deep water range. Sometimes, Red color works well for Rock fish, Hairtail and small migratory fish. So, I always put some Red color jigs in my box.

What are the criteria of the color rotation?

As I told you, the choice of the first color depends on whether there is bait fish or not etc.

When I change it to the next one, I usually choose the opposite base color, which is Silver, Gold or Red color.

Then, I consider, whether the jig should be with or without glow color, and the color on the back of the jig.

I have many patterns of approaching Shore slow. All I need to do at first is to find the best pattern of the day as quickly as possible.

I want to talk about the fishing tackle except rods and jigs.

At first, let’s deal with the line.

I use VARIVAS Avani Jigging 10×10 Max power PE (Jigging 10×10) and Avani Shore caster 10×10 Max Power (Shore caster) as a main line.

Both of them are 30 to 50% stronger than a normal PE line. Also the line surface is coated. It helps make long casts and avoid troubles.

And the other reason I use these lines is that these lines are painted differently every 10 meters. The line color tells me the distance I cast the lure at and the place I got a strike. It helps reproduce the same fishing process, when I miss a bite. I can say that if I can’t always grasp the water depth range by counting down and distance by the line color, I can’t reproduce the best method of the day.

I choose PE #1, when I fish in the new place for the first time or don’t know what kind of fish is there.

I choose PE #1~#2 (#1.5 mainly), when I use jigs weighing 30g, 40g and 60g. Many fish attack falling lures during Shore slow. A thinner line doesn’t disturb the falling action. So when fish are not active, the thin line works better than the thick one.

Also I choose PE #0.6 or #0.8, when I use jigs weighing less than 20g, which are called “Superlight class” jigs.

The amount of line in a reel is 300 meters for Regular weight jigs. 200m – for Superlight jigs. This is enough to keep fishing, if I have some line troubles.

The main criterion of choosing the reel is whether it has a capacity to keep the given amount of line.

I choose high gear reels. The reason is that it makes easy to control the length of jig movement and it helps landing fish quickly.

Also the line slack control is important, especially when the wind is blowing. In this situation high gear reels retrieve the line slack speedy to keep feeling of the jig action on the rod tip.

I need to have various tackles to deal under a variety of conditions.

About the leader.

The length of the leader is one fathom. I tied it up to the main line by FG knot. The knot is outside the rod to avoid trouble.

The criterion of selecting the leader strength is “The main line size x 20”. For example, I choose PE #1,#1.5 x 20=30lb. Sometimes I choose 1 size more or less than this, depending on the situations. It’s 25lb~40lb in this situation.

I use DECOY GP ring to connect the leader and the jig. The part, where the ring is tied, is convex.

Usually I use size #4. #3 is for Superlight class jigs. Using the ring makes it possible to avoid troubles with tangled hooks and other rings and bring out natural falling action.

The standard specification: hooks of Slow Blatt cast series, jigs weighing 30g are DECOY TWIN PIKE #1 at the front and DECOY SHORT PIKE #1 at the rear.

For under 20g jigs, there are DECOY LIGHT GAME TWIN (#2 for 20g, #4 for 15g, #6 for 10g) at the front. And the same size hooks of DECOY SHORT PIKE are at the rear.

These hook combinations cover almost all the situations.

But I use heavy hooks in certain situations. I choose Heavy assist hook.

Also I can expect the same effect, if I change the hook size to big one.

These are photos and details of the tackle:

Striped Bonito

Rod: Shore Gun EVOLV SFSGS-993 SS

Reel: Shimano Stella SW5000XG

Main line: Jigging 10×10 #2

Shock leader: Fluorocarbon 40lb

Jig: Slow Blatt cast SLIM 60g

Hook: Heavy assist hook #1

Blacktip Grouper

Rod: Shore Gun EVOLV SFSGS-992 SS

Reel: Shimano Stella SW4000XG

Mail line: Jigging 10×10 #1.5

Shock leader: Fluorocarbon 30lb

Jig: Slow Blatt cast SLIM 40g

Hook: Heavy assist hook #1

Yellowtail

Rod: Shore Gun EVOLV SFSGS-991 SS

Reel: Shimano Stella SW4000XG

Main line: Jigging 10×10 #1.5

Shock leader: Fluorocarbon 30lb

Jig: Slow Blatt cast SLIM 30g

Hook: (Standard specification hook) TWIN PIKE and SHORT PIKE #1

Flathead

Rod: Shore Gun EVOLV SFSGS-990 SS

Reel: Shimano Stella 3000HGM

Main line: Shore caster #0.6

Shock leader: Fluorocarbon 16lb

Jig: Slow Blatt cast SLIM 20g

Hook: (Standard specification hook) LIGHT GAME TWIN #2

 

Slow Blatt cast series has 6 different types of weight.

I categorize 3 weight classes 10g, 15g and 20g as “Superlight class”.

I want to talk about Superlight shore slow.

The advantage of Superlight class is that it makes possible to:

Size down the silhouette.

Slow down the falling speed.

It works well to make the silhouette smaller while fish is chasing micro bait, like whitebait.

When the target doesn’t bite any lures, even if they are chasing violently near the surface, usually the size of the lures and the bait fish are not matched.

The most important thing is to match the size of the bait and lures, when fish is chasing whitebait.

Next is the slow down of the falling speed.

Slow Blatt cast WIDE sinks the fastest. The second fastest is SLIM. And then OVAL. But if we want to make the falling speed slow down with the same type of jig to keep falling action, we have to choose the light weight one.

Light weight jigs make it possible to control the falling speed and posture especially in the very shallow area.

But we should be careful with several things when we use “Superlight class” jigs.

The first one is tackle balance.

I use PE #1.5 as a main line. But it’s not easy to do long casts and the falling posture is not good (because the line resistance against the light weight jigs is high) with my main line PE #1.5.

I recommend PE #0.6~0.8 line for Superlight shore slow.

And the leader size is 12lb~16lb and the length is around 5ft.

Also I use smaller size reel for Superlight shore slow.

The reason is that we should put lure action like small bait fish. Then it works well to put the action delicately. So small size reel is better.

The last is rods.

I use Shore Gun EVOLV 991~993 depending on the situations for the jig weight over 30g. So the 992 is the basic rod for Shore slow. But 990 is the basic rod for Superlight shore slow.

The possibility of landing fish gets higher, if the tackle balance is matched.

By the way Slow Blatt cast series jigs have DECOY/ Light game twin hooks in the front of the jig and the rear hook is a single hook, the same as the front one. So we can use them without changing other hooks.

Also small size rings are used.

We need a special care for using Superlight jigs.

It’s quite hard to feel that the jig touches the bottom in the deep area.

Sometimes the line is drifted by a tidal current and it keeps out the line, even if the jig is touching the bottom. And then it’s snagged,,,

Such a situation can be avoided, if a thinner line is used.

If you can feel touching on the bottom, it means the tackle balance is matched.

We can control falling and drifting of the jig by casting to upstream of the tidal current.

I want to talk about the target of Superlight shore slow.

Actually many species become the target on Superlight shore slow.

You must get some bites, even when it’s “rush hour”, like during the day time.

Superlight shore slow expands the enjoyment of Shore slow.

You must be able to enjoy Superlight shore slow in your familiar fishing field.

Are you still reading the article on the adriaticnature site?! You’re supposed to be at the seaside, aren’t you?! You keep on an even keel!! Way to go!! Let’s do it!!