Archive for the 'Gary Yamamoto's Ezine Newsletter' Category

Gary Yamamota’s Weekly Ezine Newsletter Vol. 9 No. 35 11-7-08

gengberg November 7th, 2008

Welcome to Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine NewsletterNovember 7, 2008 ~ Vol. 9 No. 35

Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine is the best way for our customers, friends, anglers, tackle shops, retailers, distributors, the press and the media to find out first about the newest Yamamoto products, press releases, hot new colors, top pro tips and industry-leading research on innovative fishing tactics.
New Colors Added to 7-inch Senko

Click here to see our: 7-inch Senko

Model series: 9X-05
New colors added: 051, 157, 196, 213, 301, 305, 306, 318, 323, 330, 900*, 901*, 908*, 912*, 925*, 927* (* = two-tone laminates)

In recent years, anglers have been making an overall trend toward bigger lures of every kind - heavier, bulkier jigs, longer 10-inch worms, beefy swimbaits, supersize jerkbaits, giant spoons and so on. Everything’s gotten bigger.

It wasn’t long ago that such massive baits would’ve been considered way too big to be bass lures. The swimbait craze is what’s helped change that thinking, and now bigger and bigger baits of every variety are in vogue. We’re rewriting the book on what’s practical in terms of lure sizes for bass fishing.

Part of the overall trend to ‘big up’ baits has been that our 7-inch Senkos are being used by more anglers in more situations and places than ever before, which is good. Our 7-inch Senkos do catch a better grade of fish for you.
Double Up Your Swimbait Success with 7-inch Senkos

One special tactic used by swimbait anglers is to toss back 7-inch Senkos as ‘follow up’ baits when fishing big swimbaits.

Big bass that follow but do not strike swimbaits are a common (and heart-breaking) occurrence.

Swimbait anglers have been jonesing for some way to convert these frequent followers into strikers, and the 7-inch Senko is it.

It’s simple. Keep a big Senko rigged (either wacky, weightless or weighted Texas rig) and ready to throw back at big followers.

Toss one back into the area (either where the big bass was last seen, was coming from or headed to) and enjoy a second shot at finicky behemoth bass that follow but won’t bite swimbaits.

Some anxious anglers throw back right away with the Senkos, right in on the follower while the fish is still visible/active. Others coolly wait to calm their nerves. Let the brute begin to regret it missed the potential meal that got away… then lob the big, fat, succulent Senko in front of the sulking trophy after a wait of one to several minutes!

It’s always a gamble, but ’sleeping on them’ by waiting even longer - up to 5-10 minutes without casting before you follow-up with the big Senko can be intense - if you have the steely wherewithal to wisely wait.
7-inch Senkos Mexican Style Continue Reading »

Gary Yamamota’s Weekly Ezine Newsletter October 17, 2008 Vol. 9 no. 33

gengberg October 24th, 2008

Welcome to Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine NewsletterOctober 17, 2008 ~ Vol. 9 No. 33

Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine is the best way for our customers, friends, anglers, tackle shops, retailers, distributors, the press and the media to find out first about the newest Yamamoto products, press releases, hot new colors, top pro tips and industry-leading research on innovative fishing tactics.
Crankbait Tuning Tutorial ~ Part One

Surveys say the average bass angler owns more crankbaits than any other lure. Crankbaits are the most popular bass fishing lure of all.

But what if you did a survey of your crankbaits themselves? Chances are you’d find that one in every four crankbaits may never work well. Two will only ever be average, and only one treasured crank of every four will entice most all your crankbait bites.

This phenomena doesn’t apply only to bargain bin baits. Price is not a factor here. You will get low and average performers as well as superstars in every bunch of high-dollar dolls too.

So what is the biggest mistake I see crankbait anglers make? It is fishing with those two to three out of every four crankbaits that have limited chance to succeed.

Over a season or two, say a guy buys twenty cranks. He never does exceptionally well with most of them, and he thinks crankbait fishing is overrated. Fact is, ten of those twenty lures are only ever average. Five are unadulterated duds. And the other five that have the best chance, he may never tune them to unlock their maximum potential. Maybe he doesn’t know how to tune them or what to look for when tuning them? Soon, he takes up golf or gardening as a hobby that is more rewarding than fishing with his sorry lot of crankbaits. That’s a sad story.

Like a garden, your crankbait patch needs to be pruned and groomed regularly. Lures that are not catching fish are dead wood. You need to weed them out so that more productive crankbaits can replace them.

The process to separate good cranks from bad can start before you even take them out of the package. Actually, it can start before you even buy them.

The critical crankbait selection process is a situation where walk-in shopping lets you do one thing that’s not possible with mail order or online ordering. You have a chance to inspect the troops lined up for display on the store shelf. When the shopkeeper or sales associate is not looking, rummage through a rack of cranks in order to cherry pick the ones where the two body halves look sealed together properly, with no mismatches on the seams. Look for a neat seam seal that did not need remedial sanding or smoothing on the seam.

As hot plastic cools and cures out of the injection mold, it can shrink and cause a dimple or pucker rather consistently at the same spot on a lure body. Ideally, you want to bypass those with any dips or indents in the plastic body. Avoid any heavy drips in the paint, no sags or runs in the topcoat finish.

In terms of glue or whatever solvent used to seal the two halves of a lure together, look for it to be clear and not run over the seams. Avoid seams that seem to have bubbly or cloudy glue or sealant. Often the glue is painted over with a solid lure color, so you cannot see under the paint. However, the diving lips tend to be clear, where you can get an indication of what the glue’s like or how the sealing process went, and inspect around the posts where the figure-eight hook hangers are held in the lure. Look for clear, not hazy or cloudy and bubble-free glue or closure around the hook hanger posts.

Look at the hook hangers eyelets to ensure each is seated properly in the bait, that a hook eye isn’t cockeyed. Make sure plastic flowed fully and formed properly around the sprue stem slot for each hook hanger eye. Sometimes the assembly leaves a hollow space in between the two wire stems of an eye or you can see where an air pocket formed there when paint was applied, and you don’t want that. The front eye is most critical. That is the pull point that needs to be solidly set inside the lure.

On transparent colored lures, look at every weight ball or rattle bead inside. Occasionally, an internal ball or bead may get glued against a body seam or somehow stuck inside.

Some models of cranks, including most wood ones, are made with the diving lip glued in as a separate piece. On these, try to inspect both sides where the lip adjoins the body, to make sure the lip is not slightly set off to one side or another. On wood baits, there can be even more variability as to how the hook eyes and any body weights are inserted into the wood body.

Overall, any variances, no matter how slight, they are reasons to bypass such crankbaits. It’s not that they won’t work, but odds are they will be more unpredictable in their performance. Sometimes that little irregularity can make them better-than-average. Most often, it makes them, well, inconsistent - a little more of a gamble.

Every crankbait vendor or brand has different construction or assembly characteristics. None are entirely perfect, so don’t expect them to be. Get a feel for each vendor or brand. Some have more likelihood of certain assembly variances than others. These aren’t defects, it’s just how the baits are made. So don’t have unrealistic expectations that a crankbait should be made this or that way without any variance. They are what they are, and many crankbait vendors produce great baits that all have some variability from one to another. That variability is reasonable and expected. For every dozen cranks one randomly chooses from most any vendor, odds are that three will excel, three may never work well and the other six will only ever be average. Continue Reading »

Gary Yamamota’s Weekly Exine Newsletter Vol. 9 No.32

gengberg October 8th, 2008

Welcome to Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine NewsletterOctober 8, 2008 ~ Vol. 9 No. 32

Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine is the best way for our customers, friends, anglers, tackle shops, retailers, distributors, the press and the media to find out first about the newest Yamamoto products, press releases, hot new colors, top pro tips and industry-leading research on innovative fishing tactics.
Sugoi Fluorocarbon for Finesse, Casting and Power Applications

For many of us, bass fishing starts off simple, shore walking with one good rod in hand. Jigs, rigs, spinner and buzzbaits, cranks and jerkbaits, topwater or whatever’s called for, that one rod can do everything happily. As you advance, you may join a club as a non-boater only to discover you need 3, 4 or 5 rods to do everything now. Graduate to your own boat, and you’ll realize 9 or 10 rods are required on board. Different lines too. Braid for this, fluorocarbon for that, and mono for the other.

That defines me. I have 9 rods on board (if my rod locker could hold more, I’d take them), and many trips I’ll use most of the rods some part of the time. I use braid and mono but mostly I use Yamamoto’s Sugoi fluorocarbon line. Therefore, this week’s feature is a review of how I use:

* Sugoi Fluorocarbon Line for Finesse, Casting and Power Applications By Russ Bassdozer

New Stories on the Inside Line Online

These fresh stories are featured this week on the Inside Line home page:

* Capt. Chuck Duggins tells how a little Basic Boat Maintenance can go a long way

* Let’s Talk by Connie Kilpatrick is a non-angler’s guide to fish-speak!

We hope you’ll find these new stories by our Inside line writers of interest to you at:

* http://www.insideline.net

Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine Newsletter 9-16-08 Vol.9 No.29

gengberg September 16th, 2008

September 16, 2008 ~ Vol. 9 No. 29Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine is the best way for our customers, friends, anglers, tackle shops, retailers, distributors, the press and the media to find out first about the newest Yamamoto products, press releases, hot new colors, top pro tips and industry-leading research on innovative fishing tactics.


Deep Deadsticking with Bated Breath

Actually, don’t bate your breath (pun intended) because it won’t be till next week when we have the final chapter by Jim Gildea on deep deadsticking

By the way, congratulations to Jim Gildea. Jim won the Massachusetts TBF 2008 State Championship on Lake Winnipesaukee last weekend. He had a great year in 2008. He made the Massachusetts State Team for the third time in a row. Jim and his partner won Angler of the Year on the Massachusetts TBF trail for the second season in a row. They won Angler of the Year title on Northern Bass Supply’s team trail too. Jim finished 10th in the TBF Nationals on Lake Wylie, and 11th on the Stren on Lake Champlain.

Overall, Jim cashed checks in 19 out of 22 tournaments in 2008. How did he do it? Mainly by deep deadsticking GYB Kut Tails and Hula Grubs. Jim will inform you how he does that in our next issue of Yamamoto’s Ezine.


The Yin and Yang of Yamamoto Swimbaits

This week, our feature story is all about swimbaits. Please enjoy reading:

Gary Yamamota’s Weekly Exine Newsletter Vol. 9 no. 29

gengberg September 11th, 2008

September 10, 2008 ~ Vol. 9 No. 28   Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine is the best way for our customers, friends, anglers, tackle shops, retailers, distributors, the press and the media to find out first about the newest Yamamoto products, press releases, hot new colors, top pro tips and industry-leading research on innovative fishing tactics.


Deep Deadsticking: Part 3

Story by Russ “Bassdozer” Comeau

This week we deliver to you:

In our next issue, we’ll present part four on deep deadsticking by Massachusetts 2008 TBF State Champion Jim Gildea. Continue Reading »

Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine Newsletter 9-5-2008 Vol. 9 No. 27

gengberg September 5th, 2008

Welcome to Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine NewsletterSeptember 5, 2008 ~ Vol. 9 No. 27

Gary Yamamoto’s Ezine is the best way for our customers, friends, anglers, tackle shops, retailers, distributors, the press and the media to find out first about the newest Yamamoto products, press releases, hot new colors, top pro tips and industry-leading research on innovative fishing tactics.


Deep Deadsticking

Story by Russ “Bassdozer” Comeau

Hello My Students,

When Kotaro Kiriyama won the Bassmaster Elite event on Lake Erie in early August, his method of fishing over open water bait balls astonished many of the BASS/ESPN media commentators who had never seen any fishing done like that before.

It reminded me of a four-part story I wrote in 2006. I had never published that story on the Internet before, but Kiriyama’s success motivated me to track it down and post it online for you today.

You can read all about it in: