Forward-facing sonar has become a major part of modern Japanese bass tournaments.

But on heavily pressured lakes, simply finding the fish is no longer enough.

The real challenge is:

How do you make an FFS bass bite after it has already seen countless presentations?

In Japan, two very different answers are currently evolving.

One is extremely small and natural.

The other is extremely heavy and fast.

1. Micro Hover Strolling

Many Japanese tournament lakes contain wakasagi, or Japanese smelt.

These small baitfish are one of the most important forage species for bass through much of the year.

Wakasagi hatch in spring, so during summer many of them are still only around 5 cm long.

That is why extremely small soft plastics become so important in Japanese tournaments from summer into fall.

Dedicated baits such as the JACKALL ELISE 1.5" and DSTYLE VIROLA MICRO 1.5" were developed for this style.

In Japan, this approach is commonly called micro hover strolling.

The rig itself is simple.

A small sinker is inserted into the chin of the soft plastic, and a single hook is placed through the back.

With FFS, the angler then presents this tiny bait to bass suspended in open water.

The Real Key: Study the Bass Before You Cast

The most important part of this technique happens before the cast.

When fishing pressure becomes extreme, advanced anglers do not simply see a bass on FFS and immediately cast ahead of it.

Instead, they spend time carefully watching the fish on the FFS screen.

They study:

how the bass moves,

where it repeatedly cruises,

which direction it tends to travel,

and whether it follows a recognizable route or pattern.

Only after that movement pattern becomes clear does the angler make the cast.

The worm is then placed in advance along the route where the bass is expected to pass.

The idea is not to make the bass swim toward the lure.

It is to understand the fish’s natural movement first, then have the lure already waiting on that route before the bass returns.

That is the core of the technique.

Observe the fish on FFS.
Understand its route.
Cast first.
Let the bass encounter the lure naturally.

On heavily pressured Japanese tournament lakes, this can make a major difference.

From a 1-Inch Gulp! Minnow to Dedicated Micro Baits

This style has been developing in Japan for several years.

Before moving to the United States, Kyoya Fujita was already producing strong tournament results in Japan with extremely small presentations.

In 2021, one of the baits he used was a Berkley Gulp! Minnow 1".

At that time, this kind of ultra-small FFS fishing still looked highly specialized.

Five years later, the idea has developed into a real category.

Now there are dedicated 1.5-inch soft plastics and specialized tackle designed specifically for micro FFS fishing.

2. Speed Reaction FFS

Now we move to almost the complete opposite idea.

Japanese tournament lakes are often small and receive tremendous fishing pressure.

When many anglers began using tiny FFS presentations, some advanced competitors started looking for another way to trigger those same fish.

Their answer was not to go smaller.

It was to go heavier and faster.

This speed-reaction approach may use sinkers from around 1 oz to 2.5 oz.

Behind the sinker is usually a small soft plastic, and in some cases anglers may even use a small hard bait without a diving lip.

The target is still a suspended bass.

But the goal is completely different from micro hover strolling.

Trigger the Chase With Speed

With micro hover strolling, the angler tries to make the presentation small and natural.

With speed reaction fishing, the angler uses the tremendous speed created by the heavy weight to trigger the bass instinctively.

The rig moves rapidly through the water.

The bass begins to chase.

The lure continues toward the bottom, and the angler tries to turn that chase into a bite.

The fish is given very little time to inspect the presentation.

That reaction is the whole point.

Yui Aoki and the Development of the Technique

One of the anglers who first showed the potential of this approach was Yui Aoki.

Before moving to the United States in 2023, Aoki was already experimenting with advanced FFS fishing in Japan.

As more competitors adopted micro hover-strolling techniques, Aoki went in the opposite direction and produced tournament results with speed.

That idea gradually spread.

In the 2026 JB Masters, ultra-heavy-sinker speed-reaction FFS has become increasingly noticeable.

Only a relatively small number of anglers have truly mastered the technique so far, so it is still developing.

Two Opposite Answers to the Same Problem

These two techniques look completely different.

But both were created by the same thing:

extreme fishing pressure.

Micro Hover Strolling

Use an extremely small bait.
Match tiny wakasagi.
Watch the bass carefully on FFS.
Learn its cruising route and movement pattern.
Place the lure on that route before the fish arrives.

Speed Reaction

Use an extremely heavy sinker.
Move the bait at very high speed.
Trigger an instinctive chase.
Turn that chase into a reaction bite.

One approach becomes smaller and more natural.

The other becomes heavier and faster.

That contrast shows how far Japanese FFS tournament fishing has evolved.

The technology allows anglers to see the fish.

Now the real competition is about how to make that fish react.