Japanese fishing company DUO has begun preorders for two new Pokemon fishing lures today, March 2, 2021. The two lures are modeled after Pikachu and Kyogre. People in Japan can order the Pikachu lure for ¥2,480 (about $23) and the Kyogre lure for ¥4,980 (about $46). Sales are limited to 3 of each model per person and are expected to deliver around the beginning of April. [Thanks, Game Watch!]
Pikachu’s lure is a jitterbug type, and features 3 hooks including a removable tail hook mounted on Pikachu’s tail. The Kyogre lure is a crawler type, featuring durable duralumin wings and two blue feather hooks for better catching. Buying from this limited run can also get you a sticker of the lure that you purchased. If you buy more than two lures, you’ll also receive an official logo sticker and a lure cleaning cloth.
While this isn’t the most niche Pokemon collaboration, the two lures are the first in DUO’s Pokemon Fishing series, which may indicate that fishing lures with other Pokemon characters are coming in the future.
You can catch the lures in action here:
The idea for a collaboration began when members of DUO visited ICAST, the world’s largest fishing show hosted in Florida, back in July 2018. On the official project page, the team explains that they were inspired by the numerous kid’s fishing rods featuring cartoon character designs on display at the time. Realizing that Japan lacked this type of merchandise, the team decided that they wanted to be the first in Japan to use “fun, playful” designs on a serious piece of fishing equipment.
Both the Pikachu and Kyogre lures are currently available on the BACKDOOR Project official site.