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New Color 323
As Easy as 3-2-3!
By Russ Bassdozer

June 12, 2002

Gary Yamamoto has released new color 323, which is fading watermelon with large black and small gold flakes.

"This is a color I first made for Lake Mead, Nevada," says lure designer and international bass fishing star, Gary Yamamoto. "Since Mead, I have used 323 all across the country and I have had a number of top Team Yamamoto pros test it out too, says Gary, adding that 323 has consistently proven to be a strong color. It is a top watermelon color pattern says Gary.

Due to the gold flakes in it, I tend to differentiate it from other watermelons, considering 323 more like a bluegill color pattern, says Gary, especially in deep water. In shallow water, it can appear to be a baby bass or small golden shiner, he says.

The baby bass or golden shiner effect can be enhanced by using a dye pen or tail dip to add a black back stripe (shiner) or black tail (bass) coloration to the 323 pattern, suggests Internet bass fishing celebrity, Russ Bassdozer.

With the growing popularity of Yamamoto baits in recent years, I've been losing the competitive advantage of having my own "secret" baits, laughs Gary, adding proudly that it is okay with him. However, I've held onto this 323 color as my own for a while now, he says. Having several years of success under his belt with the 323, it is a confidence color for Gary. For example with the dropshot, I will often start out with the 323 every day, says Gary, and then go to other colors from there.

Anglers can have a lot of fun, and confidence can be made even stronger by experimenting with the fading properties of the 323 color, says Bassdozer.

There are several colors of Gary Yamamoto baits in the "fader family" including 042J (watermelon), 194J (watermelon w/black), 208 (watermelon w/black & small red), and now 323 (watermelon w/black & small gold).

Exposure to the elements, namely strong sunlight, fades them. I'm not so sure that any other companies have this, says Bassdozer. The baits start out opaque and darker, always green to begin with, he says. 042J and 194J tend to yellow into a translucent type of pea green as they lighten, especially the flakeless 042J. The red flakes in 208 tend to preserve a rich scotch brown hue as 208 fades, whereas 323 fades into a golden green translucence. You can stop the fading process at any point until the baits become fully-bleached out after several strong days in the sun.

To fade, turn the bag over with the label side down, transparent side up. Keep in mind, intense sun may soften the print and it will come off the down-turned label, sticking to whatever it rests on. Hopefully not your car dash or new boat seat, says Bassdozer.

With the 323, a few days of fading will penetrate halfway through the bottom of the bait, leaving the top half noticeably darker, a subtle laminate effect. Another option is to slip a piece of cardboard into the bag to cover the mid-section of the baits, but not the two tips, which will fade. Two strips of inch-wide black electrical tape will work as well, creating a blotchy light-dark-light-dark-light pattern on a 5" bait.

It seems bass find these artfully-faded baits to be desirable, suggests Bassdozer. Most anglers will not go through the effort. Those who do exude more confidence in the baits, and fish them more intensely, with a better positive attitude. Bottom line, if you feel that you will catch more fish with your own specially-prepared baits, then you will. I know I definitely do, smiles Bassdozer.

Another thing most anglers do not do is use dips and dye pens. As with fading, says Bassdozer, it takes hardly any time to dip or dye 100 baits. A few minutes at most. You can do this at home during lulls in the action while watching a movie or ballgame after dinner.

Colors always appear duller in air than under the water's surface. The effect of fades, dips, dyes and metal flakes in the bait are dramatically enhanced under water says Bassdozer.

The fish-catching power of a faded, dipped or dyed bait is this: It's not something that somebody else made for you. It is a bait you made yourself, exactly the way that you wanted to make it.

If your coloration works, you will build tremendous confidence using your own soft bait patterns, knowing that no one else can buy them as good as you can make them. And if the coloration you concoct does not work, you still learn an important self-taught lesson about bait colorations. What doesn't work is as important a lesson as what does, says Bassdozer. Continue to experiment and you will come up with better results. When you finally do feel as if you've improved on the stock coloration, the credit does not go to the lure manufacturer. When you make it yourself, and it is the only thing the fish want that day, you deserve the credit for it. You designed it, colored it, and caught on it. No one else was involved - just you. It's a tremendous feeling of confidence that builds success!

As the new 323 passes from Gary's hands into yours, we hope you too will share the special feeling of catching fish on it as much as Gary himself has enjoyed his own secret color, 323, over the last few years.

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