There are anglers named "a tournament angler" in JAPAN. They join the tournaments of catching Large Mouth Bass by lure fishing. Among those tournaments, the one hold by JB (JAPAN BASS PRO ASSOCIATION) is the top level.
Anglers who join JB tournament are called "professional" but to tell the truth, the prize of tournaments are not much so main income of them are from their sponsors.
Japanese fishing makers sponsor tournament anglers to promote their products. Actually consumers like to buy products which top anglers are using and win the game. Because those products can shows the results in top level competitions.
Here is the list of JB top 20 anglers and their sponsors.
Actually huge makers like SHIMANO & DAIWA do not commit a lot about these kind of competitions. But we can easily know which maker is popular in Japan from this list.
◎ Famous makers which commit to Tournament in JAPAN.
= SHIMANO, MEGABASS, JACKAL, IMAKATSU, TIEMCO, EVERGREEN, SMITH, PURE Fishing, TORAY, SUNLINE, KAHARA JAPANA, GARY, GAMAKATSU
◎ Famous makers who does not much commit to Tournament in JAPAN.
= DAIWA, TENRYU, VARIVAS, YGK, VALLEYHILL, OWNER, ANGLERS REPUBLIC
【 2014 JB TOP 20 anglers 】
01: KITA DAISUKE = TIEMCO, SUNLINE
02: ICHIMURA NAOYUKI = GARY International, PURE Fishing, GAMAKATSU, JACKSON, TORAY
03: OKIHARA HIROSHI = GARY International, PURE Fishing
04: AOKI DAISUKE = GARY International, PURE Fishing, TIEMCO,
05: KAWAGUCHI NAOTO = GARY International, DAIWA, JACKAL
06: HUKUSHIMA KEN = EVERGREEN, GAMAKATSU
07: SHINGO WATANABE = LUCKY CRAFT, GARY International, TORAY, GAMAKATSU
08: SAWAMURA HIROYUKI = TIEMCO, JACKAL
09: HONDO YASUNAO = IMAKATSU, TORAY, MEIHO, EVERGREEN, PURE Fishing
10: YAMAMOTO KAZUTO = JACKAL, SHIMANO, TORAY, MEIHO
11: TOMOHIRO KOBAYASHI = EVERGREEN, GAMAKATSU,
12: MAKOTO IGARASHI = GAMAKATSU, SUNLINE
13: RYO SHINOZUKA = SMITH, LUCKYCRAFT, KAHARA JAPAN, SUNLINE
14: SHIGERU OHTSUKA = GAMAKATSU, TORAY, GARY International
15 OSHIHARU MABUCHI = IMAKATSU, EVERGREEN, MEIHO, PURE Fishing, TORAY, ZEAL
16: SHUNSUKE EGUCHI = JACKSON, TORAY, GARY International
17: TSUGUHIKO KOMORI = PURE Fishing, GARY International, MEGABASS
18: SEIJI KATOH = JACKAL, SHIMANO
19: YOSHIHUMI KAWAMATA = SUNLINE, SMITH, GAMAKASTU, KAHARA JAPAN
20: OUSHI KATAOKA = JACKAL
★ PURE Fishig = A US maker selling ABU reels in JAPAN
★ GARY International= A maker which produces plastic soft worms originally comes from USA.
