The Man of the Strong Style, Norio Tanabe

This is an article of the man who became the first non-US citizen winner of a US bass fishing tournament, Mr. Norio Tanabe. He is one of the top anglers in Japan who has been one of the pioneers in bass fishing in Japan.

He is not only the top tournament angler, but also a product designer and the founder of Nories brand. I will follow his career in timeline, introduce his fishing style and review some of his products.

The tournaments and his career

The match where he became the first winner as a non-US citizen was the B.A.S.S. Kentucky Invitational in 1993. You can see the result from this page of B.A.S.S. In this event, he took first place, defeating Mike Saleeba in second and Rick Clunn in third place. You can see the pictures of the podium from this flashback page of B.A.S.S.

It seems that Mr. Tanabe and Mr. Clunn has been in a close relationship since that time. In 2024, these two were in the video and talked about bass fishing.

You can view the talk of Norio Tanabe and Rick Clunn, from the link below. It is in English.

In this video, Rick Clunn was describing the rival Japanese anglers, such as Norio Tanabe and Takahiro Omori, as they were really observant and it made them placed at the top of some competitions, against all the odds. According to him, around that time, it required a lot of courage to come to join the competitive environment in the US. And it was hard for them to be understood because of the language and cultural barrier. 

Norio's challenge in the US tournament started in 1986, for the US Open. Until that time, he had won the Anglers of the Year of B.A.S.S. Japan for the two consecutive years, in 1984 and 1985. It means that he went to the United States to look for the new stages of his competitive career. 

By then, Mr. Tanabe had been selling lures of his design under the company called Tifa. In the above video, his popper called Lico (in Japan, it was named Michael) was mentioned, along with the Rebel Pop R. Lico was an improved popper inspired by Pop R designed by him.

With this Tifa company, he had launched bass fishing rods as well as lures. For instance, Grand Slum was the rod produced by himself and launched in 1993. 

Between his first challenge in the US tournaments in 1986 and the next one in 1992, he was competing in Japanese tournaments and acquired multiple wins. 

In 1992, he went back to the US, and resumed his competitions there. It would be followed by his first win in 1993. In 1994, he competed in the B.A.S.S. Top 100.

From 1994, he joined the development team of Marukyu, the Japanese ground bait company, to produce lures under the EcoGear brand. In 1995, he established the Nories brand under Tifa company. The brand would be under the Marukyu, in 2003, because Tifa sold the Nories brand to Marukyu. This organization has been continuing until now and this is why Nories website is under the Marukyu homepage. Along this, Mr. Tanabe was starting to engage with DUEL, and was involved in their product development. His relationship with DUEL would finish by 2009.

He continued his activity in Japanese Tournaments until 1998, when he retired from Japanese competition organization, and he turned back to the US competition scenes again. He competed in Top 150, in 1998 and 1999. Then he got qualified to enroll in the BassMaster Classic in 2000, after he earned the 12th season end rankings. His competition in the US continued until 2005.

After 2005, he seemed to have shifted his main focus from tournaments to product development, related businesses and promotion of bass fishing in Japan. 

Fishing style

It is said that Mr. Tanabe is the one who brought “Pattern Fishing” into Japan. It says that there are certain patterns in bass fishing. In it, he clarified what to present under certain circumstances. From his long experience of bass fishing in the US, he learned the “patterns” and introduced the theories used in the American largemouth bass fishing. 

The patterns are explained by the surrounding conditions and environments, feeling the nature to read the movement of the bass. When you know the pattern, you can take the quickest route to catch a bass in any new lakes. 

His fishing style, based on his pattern fishing, is called the “Strong Style.” He explained that the style is to face the situation with thought or with solid theories, in other words, presenting himself on the water with a strong mind. This style is combined with his stoicism attitude in fishing, to make himself an outstanding character among the top anglers in Japan.

Lures of Norio Tanabe

One of the famous lures of his design is a spinnerbait. 

Nories branded Crystal S is the one.

The unique points of this spinnerbait are in the blade and wire.

The blade, called “V-blade” has a large flat surface in the middle, which reflects only in one direction. Normal rounded blade can only reflect the light to a wider area, while the flat face flashes the light in one direction and it enhances the flashing effects. The wire is thinner than conventional one to flex properly to transfer the hooking power and the vibration of blades.  

Another lure which was introduced in the early stage of the Nories brand is the vibration, TG Jetter. 

Since its launch, the TG Jetter has received a high reputation, with its ability to keep its target depth range. You can trace the deeper depth than other vibration lures retrieved at the same speed. 

Presently, as the main focus of his activity, Mr. Tanabe is trying to promote sustainable bass fishing in Japan. As there is the atmosphere in Japan that largemouth bass is labeled as “bad fish,” being an invasive species, some people view the bass fishing negatively. His main argument is that the bass has been in Japan so long that it is virtually localized, and the fish helps the economy around the dwelling waters. There are many supporters in his viewpoint and I wish it will successfully gain back the popularity in this fishing.