Yahman Stick 6″ / CEO Blog

Posted on by geecrack

o0810108014205153970.jpg

 

Yahman Stick 6″ will be available at stores soon.
It is a down-sized version of the long worm Yahman Stick12″.
8″ and 6″ added to Yahman Stick, and 6″(8 colors) will be available this time. 
We gave away Yahamn Stick to the people who came to Geecrack booth at the fishing event KEEP CAST.
A lot of anglers have already caught bigger bass on them.

 

o1080081014205155789

 

The winner of the Biwako open fishing tournament caught his winning fish on Yahman Stick.

 

o0810108014205155794

 
What’s the difference between Yahman Stick and G-Crawler??
Yahman Stick is a ringed worm with smaller, shallower ribs.
It’s body is almost the same size as that of G-Crawler.
It is bigger than G-Crawler by the length of the ribs.
We developed and manufactured it with Lake Biwa fishing guide Norihito Yamashita.
It’s body is gradually tapering and moves well in the water.
You can see the swimming action well when you use it on a Neko rig.
Geecrack original SAF material is used for making Yahman Stick.
G-Crawler is a product manufacturing overseas. Only salt is impregnated in it.
Yahman Stick is a domestic production worm impregnated with salt, amino acid, and shrimp flavor.
Compared to G-Crawler, it contains larger amount of fish attractant impregnated in the body.
Because of this the price is higher.

 

 

o1080108014205153977.jpg

 

We pool tested Yahman Stick / Neko rig and G-Crawler / Neko rig to see the water action.
The fall rate of Yahman stick was faster than that of G-Crawler, but when we made it collapsed, it collapsed at a speed about equal to G-Crawler.
We thought it can attract and make bass hold onto it longer.

Yahman Stick will be available soon.
Compare Yahman Stick to G-Crawler and feel the difference!

Advertisement

“SUGURI60” / The product of chance?! / by Geecrack CEO Aoki

Posted on by geecrack

 

o0480064113679892085

One day a customer bought SUGURI60 in large amount
without worrying about money.
He said ” SUGURI60 attracts fish and encourages them
to take the bait.
I went to Ohe river with my friends the other day.
Only I caught fish on the high pressured river on the day.
SUGURI60 is one of the best lures!!”

o0480064113679892103

 

We are happy to here that.

When one of our staff came back from fishing,
he said similar thing
“Only I caught fish today! SUGURI60 is a great lure.”

 

o0480032113679892120
It wasn’t easy to develop and manufacture SUGURI60.
To tell the truth SUGURI60 was a failure.

We started in-house production of fishing tackles
a couple of years ago.
We plan and create 3D CAD data, and the initial prototype
is created.
Our products are pool tested many times and necessary changes are made to the final products.
And our field testers test the prototypes paying close attention to every detail.

o0480063713679892134

Geecrack field tester Seiji Kuroda said
“Shad is a must have lure to catch big largemouth bass
on Ohe river.”

So, we started to develop and manufacture SUGURI60.
We could create some lure data but we didn’t have enough experiences to manufacture shad-type lures.
We felt a bit of confusion about makining it, but we repeated
the trial and error process to manufacture shad-type lure
to move on next.

o0480064113679892146

When we started to develop SUGURI60,
Seiji Kuroda requested us to adopt fixed weight for SUGURI60.

He said “I want a lure which stops fast and abruptly.
The casting distance will be decreased
but it will be generally used with spinning tackles.
So, there will be no problem!”

However we concerned about using fixed weight for it
because shad-type lures made by other companies
have moving weight systems.

After the process of trial and error,
we could manage to work it out practically.
However… we couldn’t decide whether to use fixed weight or not
until just before making the molds.

We though many people would say
“Moving weight system is not adopted for the shad !!!???”
After all we decided to adopt weight moving system,
“magnet moving weight system”.
Magnetic moving weight system increases casting distances
and as it is magnetic it will be fixed.

After we decided to use magnetic moving weight,
we went to the patent office to check if a patent is right
for SUGURI60.
After checking it, we corrected the data, placed an order
for magnet, then started to make the molds.

Of course we asked Mr. Kuroda if he was ok with it.

After a few days the molds were completed,
and the trial product was created.

Our first shad-type lure.
And we adopted the magnetic moving weight system
for the first time.

We built our first shad-type prototype lure and pool tested it.

SUGURI60 was supposed to be a suspending lure.
We calculated the weight needed for it
but actually it sank after casting!!!

It sank after casting ….

Well…we used a 5mm metal ball at that point,
so we changed the 5mm metal ball to 4mm metal ball.
It was pool tested again.
It stopped fast and abruptly.
Suspending lure!!!!

The problem was solved and we were going to correct the molds data of rails for the moving weight, 5mm to 4mm.

However, I just remembered the conversation
with GEECRACK field tester Aya(Sea Magical).

o0480064013679931771

When I went fishing, I caught fish one after another.
The lure I used was Valleyhill / AIR DEEP!!!!

This is a must have lure for the staff of Sea Magical as well.
It attracts fish and encourages them to take the bait.

When I was landing fish, I just though”It is One knocker.”
I’m not sure if they created the rattling lure intentionally or not,
but the two moving weights rattle and produce sounds.
It is just like an one knocker sinker.

I said to Aya “AIR DEEP is a vibration lure, isn’t it?”
She said “Vibration??? It’s a minnow lure!!!”

o0480036013679892173

There are many lures without rattles for saltwater fishing.
I’m not sure if they created the rattling lure intentionally or not,
but it is a rattling bait.

Getting back to the original topic…
I remembered the conversation and stopped correcting the molds of SUGURI intentionally.
There is a small clearance between the rail and the metal ball,
so the weight rattles.
SUGURI60 is an One knocker Shad lure!

One knocker is effective or not,
Non-rattle bait is effective or not.
It depends on the time of year when you are fishing,
but try SUGURI60.
I have confidence that SUGURI60 will produce good results.

o0480036013679892183

Enhancing the in-house production

Posted on by geecrack

o0480036013418402335

We’re working on the  BB MUSTANG printing task at GEECRACK factory.

o0480036013418402345

o0480036013418414953

TINY GILLING is waiting to be printed behind BB MUSTANG.

 

We have been shifting our overseas production

into the in-house production this year.

Most of our lures were manufactured under contract

in overseas associate factories, and the rest were manufactured

in our own factory in China.

However about ABS PLUGS, we started to make all of them

in our own factory in Japan this spring.

This is because of  the affect of the appreciation of exchange and control of quality,

but the most important purpose is to respond to the trends in the world around.

 

Since we are such a small fishing tackle maker,

it is difficult to predict how many of products we need to make.

We have to start  planning at least 6 months prior to the sale.

To put it simply, we have to predict the number of the product

that we can sell after six month.

It means we need to plan products for opposite season.

 

If we are wrong  it will be condemned inventory.

Mass retailers started to use point-of sale system and control

inventory, and it is same as retail stores,

So,  it is true that risky purchase of stock is becoming a thing of the past.

 

We think it is really a good thing.

Overflowing with stock, and reduce the amount of purchase of stock.

The result of it, there are not enough goods at stores that anglers want.

That’s a disaster.

 

Lure makers and retail stores face the same situation.

We think it is same as anglers who are our consumers.

We want to buy only the quantity when we need.

 

We want to be a Lure maker that can respond to those consumers.

So, we have invested in plant and equipment for two years,

and in-house production started well.

 

Especially this year, we only make the little more than the amount of product

that we receive from retail stores.

 

It is not production cut to reduce the amount of purchase of stock.

This is improvement of company quality – aware of the needs of our consumers,

and make a only minimum number of product quickly that we can sell.

And at the same time, we run promotion  through SNS

such as YouTube, Facebook, and Blogs.

Then deliver goods to retail stores.

After watching the sales trend, we reproduce them as soon as possible.

 

So, we controlled  the production by  manufacturing them in our own factory.

There is limit of numbers of product that we can make though….

 

We don’t execute an extensive launch for our products.

We hope that we grow gradually  through the look of over- the-counter products.

 

We should be always hungry for new products

that our consumers will say ‘Oh, that’s awesome!’