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News Flash
Truth: Stranger Than Fiction

May/June 1995

Yamamoto Skirted Grubs catch bass. Largemouth, smallmouth, spotted and probably several species I've never heard of much less fished for. Well, maybe this news flash is not that newsworthy after all, but what may be a surprise to you is how effective the bait is on non bass species.

Item - Florida

During a guided trip to Florida in the mid 80's, Gary Yamamoto was fishing a small pond in the Orlando area from the center seat of a canoe (I'd have given ten bucks and a Shrade Walden pocket knife to see that!). The guide was smoothly paddling along the tulles and suggested to Gary to "troll" a ten-inch worm behind the canoe. Like any good client worth his salt, Gary immediately pitched a five-inch skirted grub in smoke/pepper (150) to the tulles and bounced it along the bottom. On the second bounce all hell broke loose and Gary, sure that finally he had gotten the magic "ten" whooped it up as the critter made an incredibly hard turn against the tightly set drag.

Five minutes later Gary looked down with dismay (he was no longer elated) at a viciously snapping turtle swimming alongside the canoe with a skirted grub peeking out from the corner of its mouth. The guide excitedly explained that the 30-pound snapper would bring $60 back in town!

Gary looked closely as the man-hole-cover sized turtle tried to bite a hole in the side of the canoe next to his knee, carefully analyzed the situation and made an on-the-spot executive decision (That's why we pay him the big bucks.).

"Give me that knife, we're cutting this sucker loose. You're not putting him in this canoe with me!" As I'm told my sources close to the boss, that one day's trip satisfied an entire lifetime's requirement for both canoes and snapping turtles.

Item - Texas

En-route to winning a Western Bass Team Championship and the $100,000 first prize on Yamamoto Grubs, a Texas-based team was flipping a crawfish pattern skirted grub in the upper reaches of New Mexico's Elephant Butte Reservoir.

Working flooded cover in eight feet of water, one of the partners had just set the bait softly at the base of a flooded mesquite tree when the line jumped. Setting the hook solidly, the fisherman was immediately pulled forward by what acted like a runaway train. Ten minutes later he landed the fish - a 67-pound flathead catfish.

Item - Utah

While bass fishing the San Juan Arm of Lake Powell, pro-fisherman Lionel Dugas and partner Pamela found a school of spawning bluegill that tore the tail from every chartreuse grub that touched the water.

Following a tip they had received from Gary Yamamoto, they took the de-tailed grub bodies and sliced them into narrow strips. After soaking the skinny strips in Yamamoto Attractant they laced them on Yamamoto's #7 split-shot hooks. In the next two hours they managed to cull out a cooler load (67 fish) of hand sized and larger bluegill from less than a quarter mile of shoreline cover.

Item - Arizona

Guide Dale Whitmore of Marble Canyon, Arizona, was boating his clients between staging areas for spawning stripers in Lake Powell's Navajo Canyon when he saw a pair of jumbo stripers cruising the shallows along a vertical wall. Cutting the motor, Whitmore and client cast five-inch Yamamoto Grubs ahead of the cruisers as the boat glided silently ahead of the fish.

Swimming their 1/4-ounce jigs just below the surface, Whitmore and client got bit simultaneously. At the hookset the fish separated and the two men fought their battle from opposite ends of the boat. After a ten minute fight the client made an ill-advised move as the fish neared netting range. The eight-pound line snapped and the client fell victim to involuntary muscle spasms and began babbling in an incoherent speech pattern.

Whitmore landed his fish, the smaller of the two, some five minutes later. On certified scales that day Whitmore's striper weighed in at 39-pounds.

Item - Arizona

During a Western Bass Tournament on Arizona's Lake Roosevelt, Pro Staffer Jerry Loughran had an early limit of pre-spawn bass in the boat, all on crawfish pattern (208) skirted grubs pitched to visible cover. When he sent the next pitch behind a boulder in about three feet of water, the grub kissed the surface, the water exploded, and a big fish made a bid for freedom as it rushed toward deeper water alongside the boat.

Using the momentum of the fish and all the power of his flipping stick, Loughran set the hook and swung the fish aboard all in one smooth motion. Neither Loughran nor his partner could believe what they were looking at. Lying on the deck of the boat was a 35-pound flathead catfish.

Item - Ohio

When Inside Liner Jim Beveridge of Perris, California, returned to his boyhood home in Eastern Ohio for a reunion he took with him a light travel rod and his favorite bait, a four-inch smoke/pepper Yamamoto Grub doused with Yamamoto Attractant. Fishing some farm ponds on his nephew's property, Beveridge had split-shot up five chunky bass on five casts when, on his next cast, things got interesting.

Responding to a tap and steady pressure, he set the hook on what he just knew was going to be the "hawg" of his dreams as the fish made a sustained surge to deeper water. When the pulling stopped dead, Beveridge feared he had wrapped a rock or hung a tree. Applying all the pressure he dared on the six-pound line, Beveridge was taken aback when the head of a huge snapping turtle broke the surface of the pond. He wouldn't have been surprised if he had checked with Gary first. He would have told Jim that color 150 grubs are good turtle bait.

Hollering to his partner, Bob, for camera and pliers, Beveridge turned back to his "hawg" just in time to duck as he saw the turtle release his hold on the hook that was now speeding in a missile-like manner toward our hero's head. Calming his jangled nerves he added another squirt of Yamamoto Attractant to the grub and cast away from the area of the turtle.

As he twitched the bait Beveridge felt a familiar pressure and, sure enough, his hard-shelled buddy was back again. This time he was able to land the brute; they were now calling him "Homer the Hawg", who had apparently developed a real sweet tooth (do turtles have teeth?) for Yamamoto Attractant and grubs. According to Beveridge, he and Bob were able to catch over 30 bass once Homer was out of the way.

Item - Arizona

During a Lake Havasu, Arizona, tournament Pro Staffer Jerry Loughran was sitting pretty with a limit on-board topped by an eight-pound kicker. The spawning bass were absolutely eating a six-inch black Yamamoto worm with a chartreuse tail.

Loughran was pitching the worm in tulle pockets in the "river" portion of the lake when his worm was freight-trained on the drop. The big fish, using the current to its advantage, nearly bested Loughran several times before surrendering alongside the boat in mid-channel. The 27-pound striper wasn't what Loughran was looking for, but it sure added to the excitement level for awhile.

Item - North Dakota

Larry Baker of Pisek, North Dakota, received a care package of Yamamoto Grubs from his brother, Harry Baker, of Page, Arizona. Larry proceeded to outfish his buddies two to one on every species in the north country - pickerel, northern pike, crappie, bluegill, yellow perch, and walleye.

Those fish (oh yeah, the bass liked the grubs, too) had never seen anything like the skirted grubs and they couldn't leave it alone. At last report, Larry was ice fishing the grubs and still kicking butt on his buddies. Baker says he will eventually feel guilty enough to let them in on the secret.

Item - Arizona

During a 1985 club tournament on Arizona's Lake Powell, yours truly missed scoring a Lake Powell "Grand Slam" on consecutive casts. Casting a smoke/sparkle (135) skirted grub to a flooded tree on a gravel bar in the upper reaches of West Canyon, I hooked and landed a bluegill, crappie, largemouth, walleye, striper, and channel cat on as many casts. Never mind that I'd never even seen any of the northern pike that are rumored to be in Lake Powell (one or two are caught each year).

On the next cast I fully expected to hook one of those snakes, or at least a hammerhead shark. I guarantee you that even without the pike or the hammerhead those were the six darndest casts of my life.

Item - California

Bishop, California, resident Bill Stuewe has been racking up huge stringers of "Sacramento Perch" from California's Lake Crowley. Stuewe found that the yellow perch sub-species would go absolutely nuts over a four-inch skirted grub in smoke/sparkle (135). When asked if he had shared his secret with his buddies, Steve answered, "If you don't tell, I'm sure not going to." Sorry, Bill.

As you can see, most anything with or without gills that swims in the water and eats stuff for a living will gladly put the chomp on a Yamamoto grub or worm. If you've got a "truth is stranger than fiction" story, send it along. We'll run it in a future article. How about a muskrat? Beaver? Hmmm...do you think a big grub in ivory (036) would look like an aspen branch?

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