The first Triple Trout (Named so by the owner of Performance Tackle) was carved from wood, in my store in Nagoya, Japan by a die hard swimbait fisherman, Mr. Hayashi. It was a three piece、lipless swimbait, the first of it's kind for hardbaits. 316 Lure Company had the first lipless/non paddle tail soft swimbait, to the best of my knowledge.
Mr. Hayashi came to me to produce the lure with a new material that John Viazanko developed called 'Polywood', which is a castable urethane. The first ones that Mr. Hayashi produced with me (I have quite a bit of mold making experience) were made from a Japanese "Polywood" material, which is similar to the material used by a joint venture company that I named 22 Century Swimbaits, after one of my favorite punk band's (The Briefs) song "22nd. Century Man".

I brought some of the first few to the USA, after extensive testing in Japan, and Mr. Rob Belloni met me at some lake (???) near the San Francisco Hotel I was staying. I value Rob's opinion, so I showed him some of the baits on the lake, and was a little more than disappointed with his "Oh...its pretty good" response.
But most good sticks that fish swimbaits are like that--they do not get too excited about a swimbait until the confirm the results themselves. Which is why I seek out their advice when testing prototypes. The rest regarding the "proving" of the TT is history.

We were never able to keep this handmade bait in stock in Japan, let alone the USA.

We are currently producing a limited quantity of the original Triple Trouts with some upgrades.
1. Although not a major problem, we had some of the original barrel swivels pull out of the baits. If you look at this X-ray photo, you can see that there is no internal harness system to keep the swivels from pulling out--all we did was bend the top of the swivel.
The new design will have ball bearing swivels that are locked into place with 1,200 lb. stainless wire. The tiny addition of the ball bearing swivel, plus the free turning of the hooks makes the bait swim a little better, and provides less of a chance for the fish to twist out the hooks from the fish's mouth.
2. Japanese quality foil airbrushed finishes, with some pretty cool eyes. I attached a couple of pics of my Slammers and GenTrout that I had repainted.
3. All lures come with the highest quality Japanese ball bearing swivels, split rings, and hooks, so it will be ready to fish right out of the box.

The first thousand baits are already pre-sold in Japan, but we are now in negotiations with three USA distribution companies to distribute the lures in the USA market in 2009.

Just a heads up on what is new here in Japan; Calfishing.com is the first place that I have posted this information in public.

Rob's Triple Trout have been swimtested, and are now being airbrushed and clear coated. He will be the first person in the USA that we send the lure to.
Peace.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7063-tt1.jpg


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7064-tt2.jpg


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7065-DSC00951.JPG


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7066-DSC00946.JPG
:P

"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

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you seem to know alot about the tripple trouts, i was wondering if you know about the rat, ive got 2 a large and a small i think, but they dont have the swivel for the hooks like the tripple trouts. Why is this?

fish tremble at the sound of my name

>you seem to know alot about the tripple trouts, i was
>wondering if you know about the rat, ive got 2 a large and a
>small i think, but they dont have the swivel for the hooks
>like the tripple trouts. Why is this?

The Nezumaa Rat was carved by Mr. Mabuchi and myself, here in Japan. The first 100 pieces were made without swivels; some of those were sold in the USA at Performance Tackle. We never marketed a 'Small' size, just 'm' 'L' and xL.

The very first few did not even have ears. The ears were actually molded from modeling clay and put on the prototype ON THE WATER while were were fishing big baits on Lake Perris one day in a Champion 203.

I hope you are catching fish on your baits.

:-)

"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

Greg,

I'm getting the feeling that you are using calfishing.com as a way to antagonize a dispute between you and Scott and Terry. I don't know why you are doing this but I ask you to stop.

It seems like you are very focused on who invented what lures, who made them, and who sold them where. Your version of what happened years ago doesn't agree with what the other guys involved in the Triple Trout say. I cannot and will not attempt to work that out. But when this sort of stuff goes on I must simply remind the readers of the site that as moderator, I can't magically sort fact from fiction when deciding what stays on the site and what goes.

Looking at this from a larger perspective ... my experience has been that arguing about lure making and "who invented what when" is never productive. Just think of all the time that could have been spent fishing or making lures that has been wasted on this topic in the past. This post and this topic will not be any different.

Greg - can you help me keep things postive and give me a thumbs up to delete this thread? Let's change the subject and push things forward.

-Rob