Yamamoto's New Baits -
"They Put Panfish in the Pan"
January 27, 2009
Part 4
(click here for parts one, two and three in the series . . . )
Using the right lure speed is essential if you hope to put many crappies into your boat.
If you’ve read the first three parts of this series you’re aware lure speed is, along with locating the schools and fishing at the right depth, one of the three basic keys to consistent success with America’s favorite panfish. 
There’s no mystery where the best lure speed is concerned. The great majority of the time you simply can’t retrieve a lure too slowly. That’s why I mentioned earlier that you need a selection of all four of the new Yamamoto (GYCB) panfish lures and different sized leadheads to go with them.
While you might use a 1/8th-ounce Road Runner and a YamaMinnow to locate crappie schools in the first place, you may have trouble fishing it as slowly as might be required once you pinpoint the depth at which the school is holding. Once you’ve got that determined you might do much better with a GYCB panfish grub or tube used on a lighter leadhead.
In my book on crappie fishing I told about the most effective crappie angler I’ve ever met. He fished crappie like so many of us go after bass. For years we fished the same lake. He was a good guy and I loved to hear him talk about crappie catching. I’d swing by now and then when the bass fishing was slow just to visit and watch what he was doing.
Did he retrieve his lures slowly? You can believe it! The sunken rock piles where he did much of his fishing were in water no more than 6-feet deep. He anchored about 20-feet away from the sunken rocks. Much of the time he used a float above whatever lure he had tied on.
What he did was cast his bobber and lure combination over and beyond the sunken rock pile. Once the splash settled down he’d begin inching the bobber back to his boat. Every now and then he’d stop reeling and just let the float remain motionless on the surface.
He told me, and I watched him do it, that he often caught crappies when the lure suspended beneath the float was completely still. If there was the slightest breeze it undoubtedly gave the float and the lure below it a slight up and down motion. Whatever the reason, my crappie catching friend made the procedure pay off big time.
This float and lure approach is a dandy if you have youngsters you want to introduce to crappie fishing. It works even with little guys or gals who want to accompany you on a fishing adventure. One you’ve got the fish located, suspend a GYCB panfish tube or grub on a 1/32nd-ounce leadhead beneath a float. You’ll likely have to cast this out there for the kids, but they can reel it in slowly all by themselves.
I’ve used the float and lure approach now and then in my own crappie fishing but I don’t really care that much about it. Having to use the float, even when a bobber stopper is attached, makes for kind of clumsy casting with the lightweight outfits I use for crappies.
What I find is that if I use tiny leadheads, as light as 1/32nd-ounce, I can usually fish slowly enough to get fish without messing around with a float. That’s the approach I’ll use in the future with both the GYCB panfish size tube and grubs. Both these little baits can be dynamite once you’ve got a crappie school located.
The best crappie fishing around the country usually comes in the spring and again in the fall. That’s when the schools are concentrated. Find them and the action can be fast and furious. If you do start catching one fish after another on a GYCB grub you’ll have to stop every now and then because the fish have pulled the little two inch bait out of position on your hook. There’s a way around this problem.
All you need do is simply pre-rig some of your grubs before you go out. Put a drop of super glue right behind the head of your small jig and then slide the GYCB grub into place. You’ll find it makes a big difference in saved time when the fish really start hitting.
There’s something else you’ll like about the GYCB panfish grub. With most of the little grubs now on the market, crappies often eventually tear off a piece of the tiny tail. Gary Yamamoto and George (Chief) Braswell ran into this problem while they were testing these dandy new panfish baits.
Just as Gary has always done with his much respected bass baits, when he runs into a problem he comes up with a remedy. That’s what’s been done with the GYB 1.75-inch panfish grub. The ingredients used in this new panfish bait have been altered to make for a stronger tail section. The feeding fish will find it more difficult to tear apart and you’ll save fishing time as a result.
What are likely to be the most effective colors in these new GYCB panfish lures? I’ll carry a selection of shades. Once I get on the water I’ll endeavor to let the fish tell me which one they want. If I know I’m where the fish are, I’ll keep changing colors until I find what they’ll take. That may vary now and then.
During his testing of these baits prior to their introduction, Braswell told me he did particularly well on white or chartreuse colors while using a Road Runner and the YamaMinnow. He also did well with these lures that had a blue shaded top and chartreuse belly.
My own experience over the past half century of crappie fishing tells me that if I had to (Heaven forbid!) stick to just one color it would be white. If there could be a little yellow blended in with the white---all the better. But though that’s my favorite shade, there’s no way I’m going to keep throwing it hour after hour if I’m not getting results. That’s why I’ve stressed the importance of carrying a color selection and letting the fish tell you what they want.
I don’t care if I live to be 100, and I’m well on the way there, I’m never going to get over my love for catching crappies. I wasn’t in on the original testing of the new GYCB panfish baits but I’m doing my share of it now.
You’re missing a bet if you don’t do the same.