For anglers who love all light games.
Light games, including mebaring and ajing, are a deep form of fishing that is pursued to the fullest.
Genkiman is one of those who are fascinated by such fun.
I dreamed of one day making a full-fledged light game rod from Finch.
Delicate light game rods are particularly difficult to make until you're satisfied with one.
I hit a wall again and again, to the point where I thought, "Maybe it's just not possible."
The one who pushed the development forward was my trusted partner, Tomo Shimizu, who worked on the COCO77.
He's been making rods with me for over 15 years.
He understands Genkiman's fishing (fields, fishing methods, even his personality), so when I tell him one thing, he understands 100%.
It's only because of these two people that this rod was made.
After countless trials and errors over the past four years, the dream of a light game rod with no compromises, the AZORES, has finally been completed.
<What is the AZORES>
There are bird lovers all over the world who love canaries.
However, when it comes to wild canaries, their habitat is limited to three islands.
One of these is the Azores, an archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The wild canaries that live there are not bright yellow, but a sooty yellow-green with brownish tinges, giving them a wild body color.
At first glance, they may seem like a plain bird, but they have evolved to survive in harsh natural environments, and they are still surviving to this day.
We named this rod "AZORES" after an improved rod that allows you to take advantage of the few opportunities you have to catch fish even in harsh environments.
＜Target＞
"If you could only take one rod, which would you take?"
The CANARIA series was created with this concept in mind.
The CANARIA AZORES is a rod with no specific target, aiming at all sorts of "lurking nearby."
While focusing on rockfish and horse mackerel, it also targets all small fish that lurk nearby the user, from saltwater to freshwater, such as bass, silverfish, squid, and barracuda.
It is a versatile rod designed specifically for light games, but has the power to withstand unexpected large fish.
<Features of Azores 77>
Azores has two models, 77 and 81, and they have completely different characteristics.
They are so reliable that you can play almost any light game with these two.
The 7'7" is a "fast taper".
This is to control the delicate movements of jig heads, etc., so the overall impression is that the lure is crisp and the tip goes in easily.
The so-called "hook" action.
The balance setting is to make the lure move finely and make it fall and bite.
The guide uses a micro guide.
You may think that micro guides reduce the casting distance, but we have repeatedly redone the guide settings and thoroughly pursued a setting that does not affect the casting distance.
The bigger advantage I felt was that the enemy of light games is the wind.
Even in situations where the line is likely to fray due to wind, the micro guide makes it less likely for the line to move around, and the advantage is that it conveys the bite firmly.
<Magnus manufacturing method>
Both AZORES77 and AZORES81 are made using the Magnus manufacturing method.
A sharp, firm blank designed with casting performance in mind, and the ability to sense changes in the tide and subtle bites.
It has a straight line, but when casting and fighting, it bends firmly and flexes like a whip.
A blank that has the power to bring in fish and float them just by holding it in against the strong fight of the fish.
Lightweight and highly sensitive without necessarily relying on high elasticity.
And a blank that can cast even further.
To achieve this, the "MAGNUS manufacturing method" was born.
With the backing of Toray, the Magnus manufacturing method was able to derive the optimal solution from tens of thousands of pattern designs.
Form a hypothesis, make a provisional design, cut, reel, measure, fold and collect strength data.
I wonder how many times this process was repeated.
The foundations of rod design built by our predecessors over decades serve as a base, and by applying these foundations, we aim to reach even greater heights.
Rod development and design are deeper and more interesting than you may know. And there is still room for improvement.
We make hypotheses, design and develop from multiple angles, and test them in the field.
From Genkiman
I never thought that a pack rod could evolve to this extent.
I have a lot of experience and love fishing, so I'm not half-hearted.
One of the reasons I'm obsessed with light games is "diversity".
From ultra-light jig heads less than 1g to floats over 20g.
The target range is from the surface to the bottom.
The deeper you go, the deeper, more difficult, and the more fun it becomes.
I want to make a pack rod that can handle that without compromise.
When I held the completed rod, I realized that "the world of pack rods has changed."
The balance design is very strict, so it doesn't feel heavy, and it's no different from a two-piece rod, or even better, and I can proudly say that it's better than that.
In my hometown, the main target of light games is rockfish.
"Catch rockfish in the tide" is a phrase that has been said for a long time.
When I'm fishing for rockfish, I see the ocean in 3D and cast my lure into the range where the rockfish are.
If you can do this fishing, your catch will improve dramatically.
However, it won't work without the sensitivity to clearly convey subtle changes in the tides.
Sensitivity is the strongest weapon in light games.
To create sensitivity, we focused on using extremely small micro guides.
We use guides with the smallest diameter of all existing guides.
People tend to think that small guides mean you can't get the casting distance, but that's not true at all.
Because the guides are small, the line released from the reel doesn't move around as much, allowing for a stable casting distance.
In tests, we used leaders up to 12 pounds, and were able to cast without any stress.
The only stress is that it's difficult to thread the line through the guides with my farsightedness...
Today's pack rods have undergone rapid technological advances, and thanks to the Magnus manufacturing process, they don't feel heavy to hold and bend naturally.
Although it is a four-piece rod, you can enjoy fishing with it in the same way as with a one-piece rod.
In fact, you might even forget that it's a pack rod while fishing.
We encourage you to try playing with local fish with this rod; we have created a rod that will help you return to the true joy of fishing.
