i had seen the development of Japanese Jigging and Popping tackle from 25 years of visiting Japanese tackle exhibitions.  Eventually I could resist no longer and began importing Japanese rods from Carpenter, Daiko, and Hots.  At the same time I also began importing Zest long jigs to match the rods.  By good research and some luck, I managed to join a group of Japanese jiggers who regularly jigged the Ranfurly Banks on the wild East Coast of New Zealand.   That group consisted of the originator of Japanese jigging - Yoichi Mogi and his good friend Kenji Konishi of Carpenter.   I could not be in more exhalted company!   Needless to say, I learnt a lot about this style of jigging from these guys.  

 

About the same time, I had contacted Jigging Master, a small Taiwanese business who specialised in jigging tackle. Its' owner - Pony Liu asked me to organise a jigging trip to the 3 Kings later that year.   Soon I was well schooled in the dark art of Japanese jigging or what we now call Mechanical Jigging (MJ) after experiencing both Japanese and Taiwanese flavours with these 2 groups of jigging icons.

 

I had long realised that for Zest jigs to become a success, I had to learn to jig like the Japanese and Taiwanese experts and school Kiwi jiggers into this genre.  I quickly realised how effective jigging would be for NZ species such as Kingfish, Hapuka and Bass (Wreakfish) and that MJ was so addictive!

 

Tackling monster NZ Kingfish and Hapuka needed tackle that was strong and lightweight.    Such specialist tackle was expensive and hard to source.  I had the opportunites to use most of the available jig rods from the better Asian brands so I knew the type of rods I liked and what I thought would be suited to NZ conditions.   I began formulating plans to produce attractively priced jigging tackle based on my growing experience so that MJ could be accepted by Kiwi anglers. 

 

Jig Star was born.  

My plans were to produce high quality, high performance tackle at moderate prices that would withstand the rigours of NZ Kingfish and similar exotic species.   The 3 Kings and Ranfurly Banks were my testbed while many locations from South Africa to East Coast USA provided the proof of my designs.  

Today Jig Star tackle comprises of rods, jig hooks, assist hooks, PE braid, terminal hardware and fishing gloves so check out my website and if you have any queries take a look at support above or email me at info@bcsent.co.nz if your question is not addressed. 

 

Chris Wong

founder, designer of Jig Star