HISTORY ABOUT HOOCHIES (VINYL BAIT)
Hoochies as they are popularly called are Vinyl Plastic Lures created in Japan in the 1950’s by Kusutaro Yamashita, founder of Yamashita Fishing Tackle Company. The story goes that as a boy he loved to fish and one day while fishing with his older brother they were caught in a storm, lost at sea. They survived their ordeal by catching Tuna using a red cloth that they dangled over their boat.
Years later after he quit as a Commercial Fisherman, he opened up his Fishing Tackle business in 1941. He developed a lure remembering his past boyhood when he and his brother were lost at sea, catching Tuna with a Red Cloth. It took him about 10 years through research and testing before he came up with a soft vinyl plastic lure which imitated the movements, sound and pliability of small fish which attracted bigger prey. He named it “GOLDEN BAIT”.
A Japanese Canadian Commercial Salmon Troller from Steveston, B.C., Hideo Kokubo, was the first to test the GOLDEN BAIT in North America. Nikka Overseas Agency became the agent for Golden Bait. Golden Bait dominated the hoochie lures market but in 1975 Pacific Net & Twine Ltd imported YOZURI Hoochies, a competitor to Golden Bait in Japan which we called NORTH PACIFIC.