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Yamamoto Hula Grub

Yamamoto Plastics
by Al Pugh

Currently, I am comparing Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits to other popular plastics in detailed research. I will report on the conclusions drawn when I have sufficient data. If the conclusions modify what I write today, I will tell you here.

I found one thing that I don't expect to change. Smallmouth hang on to these things. They hang on like it's live bait. Research fishing on the Potomac, with not much boat time available, I was shaking the fish off after seeing them, to get in more casts for data. Actually, I was shaking the fish off the other baits. I was having a devil of a time shaking them off the Yammis. There is also a danger of the fish swallowing the bait. I have cut more hooks in the last few weeks than I remember cutting since catching hellgrammites for bait as a kid. Smallies don't "hit" this bait. They just sort of "have" it. Kind of like stealing apples from a fruit stand. If you don't detect a strike by watching your line, you may have some surgery to do.

Yamamoto makes standard grubs from 4" to 10", "hula" grubs, worms, lizards, crawdads, stickbaits called Senkos, teaser skirts and Ikas. An Ika is kind of like a tube, but has a worm body, instead of a hollow one. Many folks use the teaser skirts to mix colors on the same bait. I usually use a #1 or 1/0 fine wire sproat bend hook, with a 1/32 oz bullet head, not pegged, texsposed on Ikas, Hulas, crawdads, lizards, and 4" Senkos. The 4" Senko on this rig has done particularly well dead drifted from a quarter upstream to a quarter downstream. The grubs, Hulas, and Ikas do well on a 1/16 jig head, as well.

Yamamoto plastics are more dense than most plastics, so experiment to find your drop rate. One size lighter lead is usually sufficient for me. These are not made with petroleum based plastic, and have an intense amount of salt in them. Therefore, do not expect them to stretch like other plastics or to tolerate as many reuses. Do expect fish to hold on like it's live bait. My best method is fishing them exactly like live bait, casting and letting it drift, watching the line like a fly fisherman. I can usually "tighten up" on the line by raising my rod tip carefully to check for "weight." So far, the fish have rarely released it. If you do this, set the hook at the end of the raise. It seems that slacking the line after the raise, then setting the hook results in most of the swallowed baits. Perhaps the pressure of the raise makes them think the food is getting away, and they swallow again, I don't know.

I have a lot of reasearch left to do, and I have to be impartial while doing it. On the other hand, I know a guide who makes his living on the Penobscot River in Maine, and has been guiding for 30 years. He carries only Yammis for himself and his clients, only Yammis, and I think he makes more money than I do every year.

Frankly, that tells me something.

Yamamoto Custom Baits

Read Al's comparison test results - Yamamoto Plastics: A Comparison