DECOY - AS-03 PIKE HOOK MADE IN JAPAN JIGGING HOOKS SLOW JIGGING HOOKS

Decoy AS-03 Pike Hook — Made In Japan

"Pike" is the name of a hook shape in Decoy's range, not a species. The AS-03 Pike is the hook itself — the bare single, supervised by Koichi Kubo, that the whole Pike family is built on. Buy the DJ-88 Twin Pike, the DJ-79 Long Pike or the DJ-89 Tachi Pike and you are buying AS-03 hooks already tied onto cord or wire. Buy the AS-03 and you are buying the same hooks loose.

The design brief was light jigging, shore or offshore, where fish take a jig without much conviction and a thick hook rides straight through the bite. A fine long taper and a carefully set point angle start penetration at low force; the shank is thin and the gape wide, which normally costs strength, so Katsuichi add CF coating and flatten two of the loaded curved sections to put it back. Enough anglers fish nothing else in light tackle jigging that Katsuichi quote them saying so.

Key Features

• Bare single hook of the Pike pattern, for building assist rigs
• Designed under Koichi Kubo's supervision for light tackle jigging, shore and offshore
• Fine long taper and set point angle for fast penetration at low force
• Thin shank with a wide gape, with CF coating to hold strength and improve holding power
• Two loaded curved sections flattened to reinforce the shaft
• Large barb to reduce dropped fish
• Tin plating with Aqua Block treatment against saltwater corrosion

Loose Hooks Or A Finished Rig

• Buy them loose if you already tie assists. You control tether length, single or twin, and cord type independently, and per hook it costs far less than a made-up rig.
• Buy a finished rig if you want it ready to clip on. The DJ-88 Twin Pike is the general light jigging twin on elastic braid; the DJ-79 Long Pike the long-tether single for slow work; the DJ-89 Tachi Pike puts AS-03 hooks on 49-strand stainless wire for toothy fish, which is not something to improvise at home.
• Note the ceiling. The DJ-100 Grand Pike is built not on the AS-03 but on the heavier Pike Type-R. Past the light jigging class, changing cord will not save a fine-wire hook — change the hook.
• In volume — the AS-03P ProPack is the identical hook in a bulk carton, for building a season's rigs in one sitting.

How To Rig It

• Single assist — Pass cord through the eye, whip the tag down the shank, finish with shrink tube over the knot. Aim for one third to one half of the jig body, ring to hook bend.
• Twin assist — Tie two hooks onto one cord at unequal lengths so the points cannot fold onto each other on the flutter. Equal-length twins are the usual cause of a rig locking up.
• Front or rear — Front mount for vertical and speed jigging, where fish take on the rise. Add a rear assist when fish are nipping at the tail, and accept more bottom contact.
• Hardware — Hang the finished assist on a solid ring, then join that to the jig with a split ring, so the cord never bears on a split ring seam.

Target Species By Region

• Southeast Asia — Light jigging over reef edges and shipping channels for queenfish (talang), small trevally, tenggiri (Spanish mackerel) and grouper (kerapu), plus shore jigging off breakwaters.
• North America — Bonito, false albacore, Spanish mackerel and school stripers on light jigs; rockfish and small lingcod on the Pacific coast.
• Japan & East Asia — The home fishery: light shore and offshore jigging for wakashi and inada (young buri), soda-gatsuo, saba and kasago.
• Australia, Middle East & Europe — Australian salmon, tailor and small kingfish off the rocks; queenfish and barracuda in the Gulf; mackerel, bass and pollack on European shore marks.

Specifications

Model AS-03 Pike. Made in Japan by Katsuichi (Decoy).

Recommended Pairing

• Metal jigs of roughly 20–80 g on light jigging tackle, PE 0.8–2 braid to a 20–40 lb fluorocarbon leader
• Assist cord in the 100–200 lb class, a solid ring, and shrink tube for the knot
• A short wire trace, or the DJ-89 Tachi Pike, where tenggiri and barracuda are about
• Step up to the Pike Type-R and the DJ-100 Grand Pike once jig weight passes the light jigging class