
The heavy plastic craze has officially hit the Goose Hummock. Fishermen on Cape Cod are now discovering the awesome fish catching abilities of heavy plastics that Asian anglers have been enjoying for a long time now. Yamamoto actually came out with the Yamamoto Yamatanuki several years ago, but it has only been available in Japan until this year.
More than likely the surge in popularity of the heavy plastic options is much greater for Cape Cod anglers now than it probably would have been years ago. Heavy plastics like the Yamatanuki is essentially a cross between a senko style worm and a ned rig. The cumulative weight is heavy enough to cast on most bait casting rods and reels. And there are many ways you can fish with it, depending on the scenario. Due to the surging popularity, we are likely to see a lot of copy cat baits like the Yamamoto being rushed into production by other soft plastics manufacturers in the next few seasons.
The profile of the Yamatunaki mirrors the size and profile of the baitfish a bass is inclined to feed on at many stages of the fishing season. Heavy-weighted plastics that just need a hook to be fished are now starting to be developed that include various appendages to mimic even more bait profiles that appeal to both smallmouth and largemouth bass .
The Yamatanuki Distictive Body Shape
This unusual looking bait most resemble a bowling pin with a fatter bottom. The tail section is a rounded , flipper type appendage. The plastic the bait is made of has a unique salt impregnation whose weight distribution makes it heavy and thus, much quicker sinking while still offering active motion to trigger strikes.
The bait we sell the most of is the 3 1/2 inches version. It weighs 5/8 ounce without adding any additional weight like a jig head. Most Goose customers that use it often rig it a 3/0-5/0 hook . Hook size is a personal preference , but must be sized appropriately for proper action and presentation.
The tail section has a lot of natural action. As it is jigged or fished on the bottom or pulls over lily pads on the surface, the tail is always in motion.
The sides of the bait are grooved , making an ideal built in hiding place that is perfect for the point of the hook to lay in.Most anglers prefer to rig it with the hook point coming out of the fat end and the small end acting as a tail as you fish it, but try it either way. Both can be effective. However, we have found that hooking through the fatter body section gives the lure alot more action and more reliable hooksets.
Fishing the Yamatanuki
Remember, this plastic bait is heavy enough on its own to give you a decent distance cast without adding any weights. It actually skips pretty well, can bomb out there on a long cast, it’s easy to pitch and flip to targets. It’s a little tough to get it to sink into thick cover, but pitching it around docks, logs, laydowns, boulders, and stumps has been really nice with this bait on a medium heavy baitcasting setup and heavier 15 to 17-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon.
My favorite application this spring has been pitching it to isolated pieces of sparse cover and fishing it around docks. It has been a lot of fun catching both smallmouth and largemouth that were spawning, cruising and fry guarding. I had a couple great afternoons just last week with the Yamatanuki as you’ll see in the photos.
It’s a really unique bait. I’ve caught a bunch of fish pitching it to targets and a lot of fish get it on the initial fall like a Senko or a Ned Rig. I’ve caught just as many, or maybe more, simply dragging it on bottom. And you can really feel them thump this bait when they bite. I don’t know if that’s because of its added weight but its very easy to detect bites with.
It can be a little cumbersome to feel what the bait is doing as you fish it. Without having a hard weight to transmit bottom contact and a more pronounced hitting bottom, this bait can get lost if you are not really paying attention to it.
I know some guys have been putting them on standup heads and having some good success. I have liked it on the BKK Silent Chaser 4/0 1x EWG Round Head. To me it’s a power ned without being overly bulky. It’s heavy for sure on a weighted head. But it’s a pretty neat profile and gives you another way to fish it.
Yamamoto comes in great fish catching colors...all the staples you already love , plus some new ones like Mimizu and Brown Purple Laminate. Particularly in pre spawn and spawn periods, it probably most closely mimics the size and profile of a bluegill looking to loot their beds of their eggs and hatchlings. Or maybe it just looks like a crawfish or some other small morsel rooting around on the bottom.
I think it has a natural movement in the water - though it looks strange to us, it obviously looks like delicious food to a bass..
Our results?
We have caught tons of smallmouth with this bait. it's been almost equally effective for largemouth in late spring. In most cases, the smallmouths were spawning or just post spawn . Some of the best fish we caught last summer were on this lure. .
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