Once in awhile a piece fishing tackle will come along and blow our minds. Over the years we have a strong collection of these very special creations which will forever have a place in our tackle boxes for their impact made on enhancing our fishing experience. Here is one such.
And what better place to see it put to good use than in its place of origin, while fishing with its creator and maker. Here is FCL Labo at its best, encapsulated in one lure...
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| We were fishing the urban scape of Southern Japan in search of anything which would bite a lure. The usual suspects were fish like this - the mighty Japanese Snakehead or Raigyo as they are locally termed... |
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| The lure in question is the absolutely magical FCL Labo Keshal 63, as seen on this Raigyo. On this trip we only had one of this lures in our tackle box, but boy did that one lure go a long way... |
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| In amongst the Raigyo in these inter-tidal waterways, you will find the beautifully marked Chinese Seabass too. They put on a dramatic show when hooked and are just awesome to look at... |
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| The Keshal 63 is almost fully handmade with hard foam material. It has all the characteristics of the balsa wood lures of old but packed in an ultra consistent manufacturing process which ensures every lure comes out as intended. The finish is ultra durable which is a hallmark of FCL Labo's pride in lure making... |
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| Throughout this day we targeted the Snakehead with very unconventional tackle. Raigyo hunters usually wield extra heavy outfits consisting line of over 100lbs breaking strain to wrench these beasts from their snaggy homes. The usual lure of choice would be snagless rubber frogs and the like. We used a punchy spin rod in the shape of our trusty Evergreen Kaleido 'Spin Cobra Q7' to cast the Keshal into tight cover and extract our quarry... |
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| The Snakehead have big teeth and crunching jaws, but the Keshal looked brand new even after a few fish had munched on it. The finish on this lure is the best we've seen... |
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| This was the biggest fish of the day, and a trophy in its own right for any Raigyo hunter. We were stoked that it come out of a small piece of water and there were many anxious moments throughout its fight for freedom... |
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| The magic of the FCL Labo Keshal is its ability to work its wonders in ultra skinny water due to its penchant for being worked at the slowest of retrieve speeds. Accurate casts made into likely hidey holes followed by a couple of slow cranks is usually all it takes. The fish usually never says no... |
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| Most fish were targeted sight-fishing. And that provided the largest thrills for the day. This fish was seen cruising the edges in search of its next meal. We crept stealthily behind the cover of some scrubs and sneaked a cast in a metre in front of it... |
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| Because of the natural properties of its material, the Keshal 63 is able to land on the water in the most natural of ways, without spooking these vary fish in shallow water. This has a profound impact on the rate of success... |
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| Using the light outfit for these fish changes the game entirely. Yes, the risks are there but the fun-level is raised exponentially. We did this all day in all sorts of water bodies and never tired one bit... |
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| It was sight-fishing at its best, and the ultra-natural FCL Labo Keshal 63 was the only lure we ever needed in this game... |
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