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Plus Fishing Cup 2024: Toshifumi Kikumoto - the passion for bass fishing triumphs on lake Pusiano

14 October 2024
Evergreen Topics
Events
Plus Fishing Cup 2024: Toshifumi Kikumoto - the passion for bass fishing triumphs on lake Pusiano

Toshifumi Kikumoto's new adventure in Italy begins Thursday. The first glances at the lake that will host Sunday's competition, that almost compulsive attraction to the water that separates him from the catch. Right from the start, he asks for information about the lake's conformation, its maximum depth, the seasonal temperature, and so on. A necessary and habitual preparation for him in view of the following day when, accompanied by Plus Fishing Prostaff Nicola Minaldoni, he would take to the field to get to know Lake Pusiano and the beautiful fishes it hosts.

Toshifumi Kikumoto

Toshifumi Kikumoto

Having always been passionate about fishing, he caught his first bass at Lake Tojo during the summer of his third year of middle school.

In 1986, he participated in his first JBTA (now JB) championship tournament on Lake Biwa. At the age of 25, he joined Evergreen and, as he stated in an interview, "at the time it was just me and the president." In 1997, he became the first JB World Champion. In 2002, he retired from fishing competition and dedicated himself entirely to designing fishing equipment as a member of the Evergreen development staff, contributing to the launch of legendary rods and lures such as the Kicker Bug, Justine, and the recent "Orion" combat stick series.

Those who had the fortune to see him that day cannot have failed to notice his extraordinary dedication, cast after cast, trying to adapt his infinite fishing experience to conquer a black bass even in this lake, entirely new to him.

The catches arrive but the size isn’t good. The most beautiful fish of the day, as often happens, quickly returns to freedom shaking its head after a brief fight. But you can't win all the time and a legend like Kikumoto knows it well.

The day ends with many catches made, a nice fish over a kilogram, perches and a pike.

Tuttospinnig Event

The following day, the event dedicated entirely to Toshifumi Kikumoto, his story as a fisherman and as the creator of lures, and the historic Evergreen brand was held at Luca Raldiri's Tuttospinnig shop.

For the entire afternoon, we experienced an almost dreamlike moment where the focus was concentrated solely on fishing through stories of experiences lived, advice, comparisons, and technical explanations to which Kikumoto had a central role, sharing curiosities and information about already released products, such as the Orion series. 

In addition, some prototypes of products to be released next year were shown and described, along with rumors about future releases currently under development.

An event that also allowed us to learn how fishing is lived in other countries thanks to all the new and old friends who came to visit us.

Sunday's competition

The atmosphere that could be breathed already laid excellent foundations for the weekend's highlight, the day of the Plus Fishing Cup.

A fixed appointment that has been accompanying bass fishing enthusiasts for years, is a competition that goes beyond the intrinsic value of the competition itself, highlighting the passion for this sport and respect for the catch.

For the first time, the 2024 edition saw not only crews in electric boats but also belly boat users (with two separate classifications per category). With great joy, the event was very successful, with particularly widespread participation involving other countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Spain, in addition to many Italian crews, thanks also to the exceptional presence and participation of a legend like Toshifumi Kikumoto.

The choice of location once again fell on Lake Pusiano, a jewel set among the mountains, as beautiful as it is technical due to its crystal-clear waters with significant drops combined with the many covers such as dense reeds and water lilies that can make it difficult to locate fish. The appointment was set for September 29th at 6:30 AM. 

After launching the boats, a quick briefing to recall the main rules: participants had 7 hours to catch the quota (set at 5 fish and a minimum size of 28 cm) with semi-instantaneous weighing. A method that proved to be less stressful for the fish, which were kept in livewells for a limited time before being released.

Finally, the competition began on a day with a climate that didn't feel like autumn.

After a short time, the first catches began to arrive, the result of strategies and intuitions born from experience and tests on the lake, with a situation in the weeks preceding the event still unstable, in which from one day to the next the fish moved to completely different spots.

Certainly, pitching and flipping fishing in the reed beds brought the most important results, although it did not provide the monster bass that Lake Pusiano has accustomed us to. Catches in general were not lacking, unfortunately, many undersized fish came out and there were not a few "wrong" catches such as rudd, chub, and catfish that gave the illusion of having hooked the BASS of the day.

Hours passed and the classification began to take shape.

At 3:00 PM, the competition ended and everyone returned to the beautiful Ramé restaurant on the lakeshore, where refreshments were waiting for the competitors to recover their energy and chat about the progress of the competition and fishing in general, where an air of conviviality and passion for this incredible and fascinating sport could be breathed.

Classifications

In the meantime, the classifications were drawn up and the final preparations for the award ceremony were completed, it was time to discover who had managed to conquer the podium. Although it is an amateur competition, where victory is only a side note, the enthusiasm and curiosity for the final positions is palpable."

Let's start with the belly boat category:

First place Mario Ascensio Ciudad with a catch of 2.21kg
Second place Francisco Javier Valle Roncero with 2.06kg
Third place Javier Alejandro De San Frutos Lugo with 1.82kg
Big Bass award won by Francisco Javier Valle Roncero with a 0.61kg fish

For the electric motorboat category:

Gold medal Crew Cozzolino-Marchiori with a total catch of 5.60kg
Second place Crew Dabrek-Pagani with 3.46kg
Third place Crew Baldassarre-Corsico with 2.62kg
Big bass caught by crew Dabrek-Pagani weighing 1.68kg

Once again, we would like to congratulate the winners and thank all the participants who challenged themselves on this beautiful lake.

A special thank you to our staff who, with a collective effort, worked hard to make the event a success.

Thank you to Luca Raldiri and his staff for the support they provided before, during, and after the event.

Finally, a huge thank you to Toshifumi Kikumoto and Masahiro Torii who allowed us to learn information and secrets, making us grow as anglers and as people.

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