Purist AK

AK stands for akiaji (アキアジ), the Hokkaido name for autumn-run chum salmon, and this three-rod set is built for that fishery rather than for stream trout. Hokkaido anglers take chum and pink salmon from beaches, river mouths and harbor walls using float rigs, a large buoyant float set above a jig, spoon or baited hook, cast long and drifted through holding water. That rig is wind-resistant and heavy, so the rods are long surf-class spinning blanks rather than the short sticks the rest of the Purist family uses. The three models are 106MH-2 at 3.20 m (10'6"), two-piece, 10 to 50 g, 10 to 25 lb, 230 g; 116H-3 at 3.51 m (11'6"), three-piece, 10 to 60 g, 10 to 30 lb, 240 g; and 126H-3 at 3.81 m (12'6"), three-piece, 15 to 70 g, 12 to 30 lb, 275 g. Daiwa pairs a fine tip section, meant to register the soft pickup a chum gives on a float rig, with an HVF carbon butt carrying enough reserve to turn a fish and control it through the last few metres of a snaggy shoreline landing. X45 bias wrapping and Braiding X carbon tape over the butt section handle the torsional load of casting a float rig at distance.