New Worms Great Bet For Big Bass
June 23, 2009
Part II
The stage was set.
But what kind of performance would I get from the two potential new stars for the bass fishing stage that I carried in my travelling tackle bag? I was about to find out.
If you read Part 1 of this two part feature you know what those potential performers were. Both were new additions to the Gary Yamamoto lineup of plastic worms. One was the 12-inch Curly Tail. The other was a 10-inch Kut Tail. I was about to fish with these new baits for the very first time at Mexico’s famed Lake El Salto.
In the first part of this story I told why I knew throwing large worms was always a good bet at El Salto Lake. I was just as convinced, and as bass fishing results all over the place in past years have made abundantly clear, my newly introduced Yamamoto baits would probably do it better than it had been done before.
So did those new big worms get the desired results? You better believe it! Marion Sundwall, my partner from Nampa, Idaho, and I wound up catching most of our fish on them, including the largest we were to put in the boat, during our late April three day stay at Anglers Inn on El Salto Lake.
Both of these new baits got the kind of reception from those savage Mexican bass I had anticipated. They flat ate the fire out of ‘em! I got most of mine on the 12-inch Curly Tail. Marion had his best success on the new 10-inch Kut Tail.
There was really nothing fancy about the way we fished them. Most of the time our capable guide had us fishing over and through submerged timber. A good share of the time the water we fished was from 10 to 20-feet in depth.
We rigged our new Yamamoto worms Texas Style on 4/0 and 5/0 extra wide gap Gamakatsu hooks. We used slip sinkers of sufficient weight to keep the long worms working right along the bottom during the retrieve. There was no need for extra weight in getting our lures out to desired targets. These new lengthy fish-catchers have enough weight to let you fire them halfway across the lake if that’s what you choose to do.
It was important, of course, that these worms needed to drop all the way down and stay there once we started our retrieve. It was as obvious right off that you that couldn’t fish these lures too slowly. The bass evidently were often eyeballing our worms as we brought them back to the boat before they decided to pick them up.
Our hits often came close to the boat. That’s not unusual behavior for El Salto bass. I’ve encountered it a number of times there before. Any time you’re fishing a lure right along the bottom at El Salto develop the habit of jigging it up and down a couple of times right below the boat before bringing it on in. Sometimes that’s a cinch to pay off.
Both Marion and I also had good results during our retrieves by occasionally using a slow lift of the rod tip. Sometimes we also had success using a slight shake of our rod tips as the lures were lifted.
Our most productive colors in the new Yamamoto baits were black with large blue flakes and watermelon with red flakes. Both colors were equally productive. We came away convinced the way we fished these lengthy new plastic baits was more important than color.
Did we get a bass of more than 10-pounds? Nope, not this time around. We did have hold of a couple that might have topped that mark, but they got back into the submerged timber where they’d been holding before we could do anything about it. We did get a bunch of fish between 6 and 8-pounds and the day I elevate my snout at fish of that size I’ll quit fishin’ and take up bird watching.
Incidentally, each of the fish I’m talking about were weighed on Boga Grip scales and immediately released. There was none of the guesswork I’ve seen so often where released bass is concerned. I also mention this because I’ve wound up junking a couple of different digital scales that gave me different readings on the same fish.
There may be those who don’t care all that much about knowing the exact weight of their fish. I’m not one of them. If and when I tell you I’ve boated a big bass of this weight or that I want to be certain I’m telling it like it is. A Boga Grip scales lets me do that. It will do the same for you.
I’m hoping to get back to El Salto Lake again later this year. I can tell you right now what I’ll have hanging off the tips of two of my rods when I get there. One will be rigged with a Yamamoto 12-inch Curly Tail. A second will carry a10-inch Kut Tail.
My April experience was sufficient to convince me these new baits will get more than their share of fish at El Salto or anyplace else where those pot bellied lunkers are to be found. I’m fixin’ to get in on it. You’ll be wise to do the same.