Gary Yamamoto plans Crappie and Panfish line for October
 

Introduction: This ICAST Gary Yamamoto was relatively quiet in regards to bass baits, mostly because the company had already debuted new baits earlier this spring. But that didn't mean the brand didn't have something up their sleeves and in just a month Yamamoto will release petite new baits designed specifically to target Crappie and Panfish.

Yamamoto's newest line designed specifically for Crappie and Panfish

Earlier this Spring Yamamoto decided to release their ICAST baits early and debuted the Pro Senko for shakey head fishing, the Pro Double Tail Grub for swim jigging and Gary's new inline jig head for Texas-rigging weedless. These baits combined with new patterns increased the number of bass SKU's in the Yamamoto lineup by over a hundred new bass baits.

A example of the various new baits rigged with a variety of jigheads

Fast forward to this ICAST and the company did the unexpected, they introduced not bigger baits for bass, but rather smaller baits designed specifically for Crappie and Panfish anglers. Russ "Bassdozer" Comeau of Yamamoto states "Truth is, even Gary Yamamoto loves to catch crappie for the pan, and in testing these new crappie baits, Gary had a heck of a hard time (not that he minded) keeping bass off them, including big bass."

Tube: Yamamoto makes use of their proven designs, just smaller, and introduces four new baits. The smallest of which is the 1-3/4" tube. Tubes are used by many panfish anglers as they are versatile and easy to fish in varying applications including ice fishing. The new baits are designed to be rigged with a jighead either internally or through the top.

YamaMinnow: The YamaMinnow is a dream come true for spinners and can be fished with a Road Runner or on a traditional jighead. When it comes to jighead pairing with this bait the sky's the limit and the YamaMinnow can be fished both slow and fast depending on how the bait is rigged. The YamaMinnow will be available in a wide range of patterns (many of them among the most popular traditional Yamamoto colors) and each bait will be 2 inches in length.

Grub: This bait needs no introduction, the Yamamoto grub is the stuff of legend, and the original bait is what first made Yamamoto legendary in the Western US and for 25 years the 18-series has ranked highly as one of if not 'the' most productive grub for bass in the US West and worldwide. The new panfish version is shrunken down to 2" in length and can be fished all the ways you would normally fish the larger version as well as on a Road Runner head.

Ika: Like the Grub the Ika needs no introduction to bass anglers and the new 3" version for smaller prey is a slender smaller version of the original. The Ika 3" Crappie version has a much thinner midsection than the bass version and has a less dense tentacle array as well, both of which increase the small lure's finesse. The Ika can be rigged a variety of ways as well but should be excellent with a round jighead.

Chief George Braswell smiles with results from field testing the new Yamamoto Crappie and Panfish bait lineup

All of these new lures were hand tested by Gary Yamamoto and the company's staff, and while most of the staff is most used to targeting largemouth they had plenty of success with the new Crappie baits, even catching the odd bass now and again. Crappie and Panfish anglers will finally be able to take advantage of the proven fish catching abilities of Yamamoto designs in just a month and a half. While the tubes are designed for Crappie fishing they will also garner attention from trout anglers as well. While not a move we expected from Yamamoto the four new Crappie and Panfish baits fill a need and can even double as bass ultra-finesse baits.