I’ll be the first to admit, I’m pretty stubborn and set in my ways when it comes to trying new baits.  I follow Yamamoto International and keep tabs on baits used overseas.  After all, I am a finesse fisherman and a lot of our finesse techniques started overseas.  I was lucky enough to tour the Yamamoto factory in Page, Arizona and watched all of my favorites being manufactured.  During that tour we walked down an isle in the warehouse that had different packaging than what I was used to.  When I asked, I was told those were baits made specifically for overseas.  My ears perked up and I asked if I could “shop” a little.  I was told sternly no.  So when I saw the Yamatanuki come across my feed from the international division, I was curious and I felt a strange desire to try this bait.  So curious in fact, I had a friend ship me some from Japan.  I put them up because they were so “special” and kinda forgot them.  Then low and behold, Yamamoto sells to GSM and a raft of new products start to appear.  On that list of new products is the Yamatanuki.  I wasted no time ordering my favorite colors in all 3 sizes.  I took them to Michigan and Lake St Clair, gave a few to some of my fishing friends and told them to try them out and report back.  Some good fish were caught with them weightless.  I could not break from my “Traditional” Yamamoto baits and, as always did very well.  Fast forward to this last weekend, mid summer, tidal river, hot water temps and I was struggling.  I flipped open my Ned Rig Plano box reaching for my traditional 4” Senko and I see where I put some of the Yamatanuki in the box.

I decided to finally give them a try and I’m really glad I did.  The bass we’re hitting them so hard, I had to shorten my fuse for setting the hook or risk them totally choking the bait.  Is it a new favorite? That’s a pretty high bar but I will say it’s now definitely in the rotation.