SEAGUAR- Better Living Through Chemistry- Japanese Style
Most anglers are not familiar with Kureha- a company many consider to be “the DuPont of Japan”. Founded in 1944, Kureha has been creating specialty products that contribute to the quality of life while being mindful of their impact on the global environment. This approach of valuing people and the environment constantly evolves through innovation. In 1966, in this spirit of innovation, a research chemist and an avid angler working in the patent department- Mr. Ishii and Mr. Yoshida- were studying the various attributes of Fluorocarbon and how it might enhance a variety of their products. While reviewing Ishii-san’s research, Yoshida-san noticed that Fluorocarbon was less absorbent than monofilament, was impervious to UV rays, and was nearly invisible underwater. The fisherman in him was very excited, and after sharing the relationship between the research and his favorite sport with Ishii-san, the two scientists truly believed they had stumbled onto something that would revolutionize the fishing line industry!
They wasted no time applying for a patent to utilize Fluorocarbon technology to manufacture
fishing line, a patent that was granted in 1969. Around the same time, based on the work of another research team, Kureha launched the Fluorocarbon Development Project, staffing it with 40 employees, with the primary goal of developing Fluorocarbon film for capacitors and Fluorocarbon enhanced paint that would capitalize on its resistance to UV rays. Unfortunately for Ishii and Yoshida, development of Fluorocarbon fishing line was not a priority and their project suffered budget cuts. Despite the cuts, the two men were determined to continue their line development project.
They pulled together what old equipment they could, much of which had been repaired many times, and continued to master the process of extracting the highest-caliber Fluorocarbon crystal which they used to develop their leader and line resin. It took them several years to succeed in extruding the resin to create Fluorocarbon fishing line that would meet the performance characteristics demanded by fisherman. Once the quality standards were met, and production technology and equipment perfected, the two men convinced Kureha to invest in a new factory large enough to support the extrusion process and Seaguar Fluorocarbon Fishing Line was born.
Introduced to the public at the 1972 Osaka Fishing Tackle Exhibition, all who saw it understood
the revolutionary characteristics of this line and were impressed by its invisibility and high-density, which allowed the line to sink faster and give anglers more immediate access to the strike zone. Since then, Seaguar has become a premier line product but it was not without challenges. The first was to improve knot strength for Leader and Tippet applications. Seaguar was able to use a revolutionary a double structure combining two different 100% Fluoro resins which after combination, became impossible to separate. This product maintained all the qualities of Seaguar's single structure line and enhanced knot strength. However, the new double structure was more difficult to extrude in production. It took until 1983 to create an improved extrusion process that allowed the introduction of Seaguar Ace Leader, known as Red Label in the USA. Today's Double Structure Technology products include Red Label, Grand Max, Grand Max FX and Fluoro Premier Leaders and Tippets.
Fifteen years later, Ishii and Yoshida’s dream was realized. Since then, Seaguar has continued the advancement of Fluorocarbon by improving abrasion resistance. They capitalized on the
expertise earned through years of developing formulations to create a new Fluorocarbon resin that maintained all the achieved performance expectations and better able to withstand the damage caused by heavy cover. The result was the introduction of AbrazX, a line proved to be twice as abrasion resistant as other Fluorocarbon lines. The desire to give the fisherman more performance drives Seaguar to continue to perfect the Fluorocarbon Leader, Tippets and Main Line products they bring to market.