This time, we would like to introduce a fishing report from Masahiko Kouno, a young Japanese tournament pro competing in the JB TOP50 series.

Masahiko Kouno is supported by IMAKATSU and has already won a JB TOP50 tournament. He is especially known for sight fishing and big bait techniques. When Kyoya Fujita was still competing in Japan, Kouno was one of his strong young rivals.

Recently in Japan, more bass have started to finish spawning and move into the post-spawn stage.

According to Kouno, one very effective way to catch these post-spawn bass is topwater fishing.

For this timing, he especially recommends two IMAKATSU lures.

The first is the IMAKATSU Aventa Crawler RS.

The second is the IMAKATSU Oni Viral RS.

Both lures are very easy to use.

You simply retrieve them slowly.

One of the biggest strengths of these two lures is that they can make bass bite even when sight fishing. This is a very important point, because visible bass can often be extremely difficult to catch, especially after the spawn or in high-pressure situations.

Kouno has actually caught a 70 cm class bass by sight fishing with the Aventa Crawler RS. It is also a proven lure that has produced many fish for him even during high-pressure tournaments.

The Aventa Crawler RS has the ability to call fish up to the surface while still being natural enough to make difficult bass commit.

The Oni Viral RS was released last year. It can be retrieved extremely slowly while producing a subtle, pleasant sound. This lure does not have an overly strong appeal. Instead, it has just the right amount of weakness.

That weak and natural action is one of the reasons why it has such a high ability to make pressured bass bite.

For post-spawn bass, especially fish that are recovering and not aggressively chasing fast-moving lures, a slow topwater presentation can be very effective.

This is not a difficult technique.

Cast the lure, keep your rod steady, and retrieve it slowly.

The important point is not to move the lure too fast. Let the lure create its own natural surface action and give the bass time to come up and bite.

For anglers outside Japan, this is an interesting example of how Japanese tournament pros often use topwater lures not only as aggressive search baits, but also as precise tools for difficult fish.

Recommended lures:

IMAKATSU Aventa Crawler RS
https://www2.imakatsu.co.jp/products/lure/pro_a274.html

IMAKATSU Oni Viral RS
https://www.imakatsu.co.jp/hard-lure/oniviral-rs/

Pro angler: Masahiko Kouno
Tournament: JB TOP50
https://www.jbnbc.jp/_JB2026/top50members/

Supported by: IMAKATSU

This is a real post-spawn topwater technique from a Japanese TOP50 pro.