<Previous—–Lure of the Month—–Next>

FuKu Squid

In fishing, the bigger the quarry, the more important the attention to detail. This is particularly true of sharp-sighted species like tuna. For a fish that inhales its food while zipping through the water column at 30 to 40 miles per hour, a tuna is surprisingly discerning when it comes to what it will and will not attempt to eat. Awkwardly swimming lures, heavy leader material and blemished color patterns have all been known to turn off pursuing tuna. Despite this, many anglers fail to scrutinize their offerings the way a tuna will, especially when it comes to one of the most popular and effective tuna trolling lures available – the shell squid.

Spreader bars are the meat and potatoes of the tuna troller’s arsenal. Many thousands of hours are spent watching these bars and the trailing squids slither over the waves in a boat’s wake each season. How many times during the course of a season do captains or mates watch a tuna come rocketing out of the depths, right behind a bar, only to veer off at that last second? Anytime I’ve spotted this, I wrote it off as peculiar behavior by these enigmatic fish, but perhaps I’ve been wrong. Perhaps more attention to detail and a more discerning choice of shell squid would have converted those “drive-bys” into hook-ups.

John Carlson had a similar theory in mind when he began importing a new kind of shell squid from Japan. The squid had colors (and a price tag) unlike any he’d ever seen. As much as he wanted to offer these squids through Carlson Offshore Tackle, at that price (retailing nearly $20 per squid), he simply could not make it work. Being an avid offshore angler himself, John knew the baits would catch – and so did a small segment of his customer base. For the brief period that he offered these “Fuku” Squids at high prices, they were snapped up eagerly by giant tuna fishermen in Nova Scotia. Eventually, John went back to the factory, and explained that at a lower price, he could sell a truckload of these baits. The factory obliged, and John began stockpiling the Fuku Squid to sell and distribute from his shop in Middleboro, Massachusetts.

The finishes and color combinations that are hand-painted onto each bait are what made the squid so pricey and so appealing to John. In addition, the baits arrived in pristine condition. While shell squids from other factories arrived smashed and flattened, the Fuku’s came neatly packed with Styrofoam inserts to help the baits maintain their shape.

Carlson said other shell squids didn’t share the consistency of the Fuku squids. “With other baits, sometimes you’re adding weights or things to balance the bar. Not with the Fuku squids.  Every one comes out of the package exactly the same as the one before it.”

Carlson stocks the Fuku Squids in two sizes (11-inch and 13-inch) and 26 colors, which he handpicked out of hundreds available as the best suited for Northeast fishing. Some of his favorites are the “Purple Haze,” a white squid with a purple sheen, and a clear squid that has a glow stripe down the side and takes on an iridescent purple color in sunlight. The pink-and-orange-colored Fuku Squids are popular as well. The incredible color selection is not only turning heads at the tackle shops, it’s turning heads on the water too – tuna heads. Last year, anglers gave rave reviews of these premium shell squid, replacing their Yamashitas or cheaper Chinese imports with Fukus.

Carlson has sold Fuku Squids throughout the Northeast. In Maine, on Stellwagen Bank and East of Chatham, the 13-inch Fuku Squid have been the go-to for anglers in search of bluefin. In the New York Bight, anglers plying the canyons for yellowfin or the midshore waters for bluefin seem to prefer the 11-inch models.

Even with the price reduction John was able to get, the Fuku Squid are still on the pricey side. Though cutting costs may seem like the savvy thing to do at the tackle shop, on the water, a penny-pinching mentality can convert to a price-is-no-object mindset faster than a 200-pound bluefin can tear through a school of halfbeaks. When Charlie comes barreling out of the deep blue only to turn up his nose at your squid bar at the last millisecond, those few dollars you saved are going to seem far more costly than a premium Fuku shell squid.