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My Inside Line Experience
By Todd Woods

September/October 1993

While fishing a WON bass tournament at Lake Mead on October 16 and 17, I did not realize that I had a disadvantage. What was my disadvantage? The Yamamoto Advantage. After reading the August Inside Line, I thought maybe it was a fluke that 90% of the Yamamoto fishing team finished in the money at the Las Vegas Open last July. But it was no fluke. Yet I still wasn’t convinced. So I thought, let’s see how they do at the next WON Bass Tournament held at Lake Mead.

So on October 15th at the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas I saw Gary Yamamoto. I introduced myself and said, ”Gary, I read your article in the Inside Line and enjoyed it very much.” Gary said,” Some secrets can’t be kept forever.” Then I thought to myself maybe I should have ordered some baits. Then almost instantaneously, WON bass pro Ted Morton (a good friend) walked up to Gary and quietly said,” Gary, I want to thank you for what you showed me.” Then with a gleam in his eye Ted said with conviction, " Watch Out.” Right then I knew I should have ordered some baits, because Ted doesn’t have that gleam to often.

Needless to say Ted weighed in a big bag of fish the first day was definitely in the running. But one of the other Yamamoto boys, Jerry Loughran had a huge bag of bass, including a five pound kicker. I knew I needed the Yamamoto advantage because I only had 8.8 pounds. Well, I managed to scrape up a 5/8 ounce football head, a sparkle skirt #177 and a salt and pepper grub #150. I caught 11 pounds of fish on the second day before losing the jig. After the tournament, I called the third place finisher Jerry Loughran at the Tempe Store. I told him to send me everything I needed for the Champion Boats Tournament on October 30th. Craig McCoy, my partner, and I caught ten keepers and finished in 11th place. We lost two good fish which would have put us in the top five.

Another thing I learned is to make sure you use Yamamoto fish attractant. I mix mine with Hot Sauce Attractant for excellent consistency. The fish won’t let go. Thanks, Gary, for a new bass fishing advantage!

s/Todd Woods
“The Fishing Fireman”
Orange County, California

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