Matzuo America® pro staff director Marianne Huskey feels well‐prepared to take on the world at the annual World Predator Classic beginning on June 24 in Hellevoetsluis, Netherlands. And one of the secrets to her confidence comes from an unlikely source; the success of Matzuo baits with American predator fish, particularly walleye.
“The fish we’re targeting in Europe are zander and pike,” Huskey explains, “and they are species that are close cousins to walleye in America. We’ve shown that Matzuo rigs and baits are absolute killers when it comes to landing walleye. I’ve had tremendous success using Matzuo baits in walleye tournaments, and just last month Matzuo pro staffer Bill Sutton won a major walleye tour event with the Matzuo Rip-N Roll™ rig and Matzuo Sickle™ hooks. Given the similarity between walleye and the predator species in Europe, I really feel like these baits, hooks and rigs will give me an edge in the WPC Tournament. I think we’ve got a great shot at winning!”
Huskey is the leader of one of only two American teams competing in the WPC tournament. Her credentials as a top notch walleye angler, she won the prestigious AIM Angler of the Year award in 2012, and has been a consistent tournament threat for almost 5 years, garnered her an invitation for the event. Huskey will partner with Matzuo pro staffer Terry Hansen in this 3-day event, which will pit them against more than 60 other teams representing 15 countries in catching the greatest combined length of fish over the duration of the event. These competitors, from France to Russia, England to Germany, will provide stiff competition, but Huskey is up to the challenge. “It’s an amazing opportunity to compete on behalf of the U.S., on a world stage like this,” she said. “I’m excited to compete, to expand my skill set by targeting European species, and prove that what we’ve learned about catching predator fish in the U.S. can apply perfectly in Europe and elsewhere.”
Matzuo’s Sickle and Rip-N Roll hooks are well known in the American market for being some of the sharpest and most durable. Rip‐N Roll hooks are designed to slowly roll live bait while trolling or drifting, to create a tantalizing, distressed action through the water. The patented design of Matzuo Sickle hooks, which Huskey will use in the World Predator Classic, features an acute angle bend below the hook point that holds fish more firmly than regular hooks. Each hook is carefully crafted to be more effective than other hooks of the same size and weight, as their built-in strength and field-tested angles keep the hook firmly planted in the fish’s mouth throughout the fight. Because walleye are very similar to the European zander, and are targeted in many of the same ways, Matzuo America is confident that its products’ success will translate well from the American species to their European counterparts.
