MARO Lure Product by Yuji Minami

Mr. Yuji Minami, a 56 year-old, is also a pioneer of Japanese handmade lure making. He started lure & fly fishing when he was 20 years old, and he soon absorbed in them. It was the early 1970s and the beginning of the first boom of lure & fly fishing in Japan.

Yuji's interest in fishing brought him to open a specialized lure & fly fishing store, "King Fisher" with his two other friends in 1980. At the same time, he start making his original handmade lures named "MARO". MARO lures soon got attention as their beautiful shapes and really "good" for fish. Especially its pencil type topwater lure, "MARO Pen", was a legendary killer lure for bass fishers.

MARO Pen

MARO old lures are very rare because Yuji didn't make so many lures after 1990 due to his health problem. 

When he was 40 years old (in 1994), he has moved to Hokkaido, where the north part of Japan with rich nature, and Yuji has started a small fishing shop. Maro lures became things of the past.

However, Yuji has restarted his lure making from this year after 20 years silence. You can order his Maro lures by on-line, but probably you have to wait for at least one year, as he has already had a lot of back orders...