HINOTSU - HIKARI SOFT SUTTE 65mm/75mm SABIKI SQUID FISHING

Hinotsu Hikari Soft Sutte 65 mm / 75 mm — Sabiki Squid Bait, 3 Per Pack

A sutte is not an egi. Where an egi is a cast-and-jerk shrimp with a lead keel, a sutte is the plain barrel-shaped squid bait that Japanese and Southeast Asian boat anglers hang off the branch lines of a vertical rig — several on one dropper trace, lowered under the boat and worked with slow lifts. That is the mainstream candat sotong method in Malaysia, and the Hikari is built for it: soft polyvinyl with a translucent, luminous body and an artificial tied hook crown, so the bait compresses when a squid pulls it in rather than feeling hard and wrong. Sold three to a pack in 65 mm and 75 mm, Red Head pattern.

Key Features

• Soft polyvinyl body — squid hold on longer than they do on a hard jig
• Translucent, fluorescent luminous body for night and deep-water visibility
• Artificial tied hook crown at the tail
• Three pieces per packet — enough to load a short sabiki dropper
• Red Head colour; model code 36103

How To Fish It

• Rig it sabiki-style — Tie or clip several sutte onto the branch lines of a vertical trace, weight the bottom, and drop straight down. Alternate 65 mm and 75 mm on the same rig until the squid tell you which size they want.
• Count down to the layer — Drop to the bottom and wind up a fixed number of turns, or free-spool while counting. Squid stack at a depth; once one comes, repeat that count every drop.
• Slow lift, controlled drop, long pause — Lift the rod 30–50 cm, lower it under control, and stop dead for several seconds. The take almost always lands in the pause and feels like the rig going heavy, light, or simply not dropping.
• Never strike — wind instead — A squid hugs the bait with its arms, it does not bite. Sweep gently into the weight, then wind slow and steady under constant tension. Pumping the rod creates slack and the squid lets go.
• Charge the glow, fish the shadow — Luminous bodies need light to charge: hold them under the boat lamp or a torch before each drop. Then work the rig at the dark edge of the light pool rather than the bright middle, which is where squid sit waiting.

Target Species By Region

• Southeast Asia — The core candat sotong bait: bigfin reef squid (sotong torak) and cuttlefish (sotong katak) on night boats out of Terengganu, Pahang and Johor, and off lit jetties and fishing platforms.
• North America — Market squid on West Coast squid boats and around lit California harbours, fished on multi-bait vertical rigs.
• Japan & East Asia — The sutte's home discipline: kensaki-ika and yariika on ika-metal and omorig droppers, plus Korean and Taiwanese night squid boats.
• Australia, Middle East & Europe — Southern calamari and cuttlefish over weed and reef in southern Australia; European squid and cuttlefish fished vertically in the Mediterranean.

Specifications

Recommended Pairing

• Short boat rod with a soft, visible tip — the tip is the bite indicator on a sutte rig
• Small baitcasting or 2500-size spinning reel, PE 0.6–1.0 braid for depth control
• Dropper trace of 15–25 lb fluorocarbon with a sinker sized to the current
• A torch or the boat lamp for charging the luminous bodies between drops