Legend of Our Sport: Gary Yamamoto
A legend is told about someone, not by them. So we didn't dial up Gary Yamamoto's cell phone number to ask him anything for this story. We easily could have, but that's no way to write a legend story. It's an interview. Instead we contacted key people on three continents who were there with Gary at the time. We asked them to recall the legend for you. Keep in mind, we did not confirm anything. So this story is written as told. It's the stuff of legend, and therefore not necessarily complete or correct. Legends are best told that way. Please enjoy.
Editor's Note: A version of this story also appeared in
Bass WEST USA May/June 2008.
Yamamoto's legend begins, as all do, with an ordinary man. After returning from a tour of duty as a medic during the Vietnam war, Gary Yamamoto got a degree in business administration. He was working in Los Angeles as a computer salesman when he decided that the L.A. hustle and bustle was not the ideal environment to raise his young family (Gary has two sons and a daughter). When he learned of a beautiful resort town called Page in northern Arizona, Yamamoto moved his family there. Page is situated on a famous reservoir, Lake Powell. People say it's truly the world's most scenic bass lake. The small town of 8,000 plays host to nearly four million vacationers a year. About half are families from Europe, Asia and Australia. The other half journey from across the USA. They come to marvel at Lake Powell, a scenic wonderland with 96 major canyons and nearly 2,000 miles of shoreline, more than that of the western coast of the United States. It is a place that families from all over the world and the US work and save all year to enjoy summer vacation here. Gary bought a scenic RV campground on a park-like setting and moved his family right away. That was 1976. Gary still owns the campground, his company offices are headquartered there, and many vacationing families from all over the world have enjoyed memorable summer vacations at his campground.
As a new resident, Gary spent many hours on Lake Powell exploring the good fishery there for smallmouth, largemouth, stripers, walleye, crappie and more. Soon he began entering local bass fishing tournaments. In fact, legend says he won the very first tournament he entered. The prize was an outboard motor. To go with it, Yamamoto bought his first bass boat. As every readers knows, that's the point of no return.
From that day, Yamamoto became a dedicated bass angler, boater and tournament contender with a love for the sport that would last for his lifetime - a love he would pass along to his family, his friends and ultimately, to every bass angler.
As aspiring tournament anglers, we are always looking for an edge, an advantage, and it often comes down to lures. For Yamamoto, he quickly found himself frustrated with available lures (approx. the late 1970s). Conventional lures didn't cut it. He and a friend experimented for hundreds of hours. Gary realized his tournament success would depend on his ability to customize the lures he had been doing so well with - plain single tail and skirted grubs.
Yamamoto sought more realistic colors, and he found a few sources that would custom pour the colors that Yamamoto wanted to fish with, but he was required to buy 5,000 pieces of each custom color for this privilege. His first order was for five colors not otherwise available at that time. Of the 25,000 lures, Gary kept what he wanted and sold the rest to local fishermen. For those who tried them, the new custom baits began winning tournaments. Word soon spread about the guy who had a very keen eye for the styles and colors of lures that attracted fish. It wasn’t long before Gary was selling to tournament anglers in a five state area - Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and even California.
It wasn't long either, before an opportunity came for Gary to acquire one of his custom bait sources (a company called Twin T's) and he renamed it 'Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits'.
Japan: The Early Years
This part of the story tells how one man helped start the bass fishing industry in Japan, the second largest market for bass fishing in the world.
We begin over 25 years ago when Gary Yamamoto acquired the assets of the small Twin T's bait company. He founded Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits with the initial and small amount of acquired assets, including molds, raw materials for making soft plastics, order fulfillment supplies and a modest customer base. Two of those acquired customers happened to be two tackle distributors in Japan, Smith and Tiemco.
About the second or third year that Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits was in business, Gary perfected his four-inch single tail grub. Yamamoto offered the grub, then a new product, to the two distributors in Japan. One of them extended to Gary the courtesy to purchase a large quantity of the new product. Grubs were new and unfamiliar in Japan then, but the distributor was willing to take a chance with Yamamoto's new lure.
It wasn't long thereafter that Gary received sad notice. The distributor in Japan was regrettably unable to sell the grubs and therefore wanted to return them. The grub was a new-fangled concept to anglers in Japan. The anglers there were not aware of its ability to entice fish nor even how to rig it. So the distributor was unable to move any of the grubs at all. The distributor was asking Gary if it would be okay to return the merchandise.
Yamamoto couldn't blame the distributor. In fact, he appreciated that the distributor had taken the risk to introduce a novel idea and had done its best to try to sell the new product for Gary. Yet Yamamoto was faced with a dilemma. As a small businessman, he couldn't easily absorb returning the merchandise to the States. He was stuck with a large quantity of product in Japan. So Gary decided to go over there and he'd figure out what to do with it once he got there.
What Gary did, based on that trip, was to open up his own subsidiary in Japan, in association with two Japanese businessmen who loved bass fishing and who were involved in the sport fishing industry there, Mr. Kawabe and Mr. Yamashita.
Once the gentlemen got the new Yamamoto subsidiary started in Japan, Gary identified not sales, not advertising but grass roots promotion (to educate and enthuse anglers how to succeed using Yamamoto products) as the most important company goal to be met.
With his associates, Gary Yamamoto was instrumental in founding bass tournaments in Japan. Bass tournaments in Japan really did not exist before Gary got there and got involved fishing them and involved with the organizers.
"When we think of bass fishing in Japan, it's often about how Japanese anglers have evolved finesse fishing to a fine art, but now you know, it was an American angler, Gary Yamamoto who first started finesse fishing in Japan, based on Western tactics born on lakes like Powell and Mead." |
Gary was one of if not the first one to bring a modern high-powered bass boat to Japan. Yamamoto put a twenty-foot 200 horsepower Champion bass boat on a plane and had it flown to Japan. That boat was just about the ultimate bass performance machine of the time in the USA. The main purpose was for promotion, but also for Gary to fish out of it in tournaments that were just starting and really, it was Yamamoto's presence and the sensation of his drop dead gorgeous boat that were instrumental in kick-starting tournament bass fishing in Japan with a bang.
Yamamoto paraded his bass boat to all the fishing events and to popular weekend fishing locations.
Bass fishing in Japan was done at that time from the shore and the few boats in use were Japanese-built twelve to thirteen foot boats of a spartan utilitarian nature. Practically no Japanese angler had seen a modern bass boat before Gary Yamamoto single-handedly set out to show an entire country what bass fishing was all about.
That was approximately twenty-five years ago. There was virtually no one else from the US in Japan promoting bass fishing at that time, just Gary.
What's perhaps most incredible of all is when we think of Japan and the many fine baits made in Japan today, we tend to credit the country with refining bass fishing lures to a fine art, which is true today in Japan. Lure manufacturers in Japan today are highly-advanced.
Yet when Gary Yamamoto first decided to visit Japan to figure out what to do with the large unsold order of single tail grubs he had sent there, very few bass baits were available there, and soft plastic baits did not exist in Japan at all at that time. There were some imported hard baits, meaning crankbaits and topwaters for instance. And there were some limited supplies of soft bait brands from the USA in tackle shops here and there, but they weren't selling well, anglers didn't use them, and there was really only a sparse and scattered supply, drips and drabs you can say, of bass baits in shops across Japan.
Based on Yamamoto's tournament success fishing his lures in the USA, particularly his finesse baits in the West, Gary personally and through example taught Japanese anglers to fish with his bass baits. Of course, once anglers started to connect with their first few fish on these new lures, they couldn't put them down. Their confidence, enthusiasm and ability to learn and to discover new fishing tactics exploded.
Yamamoto realized then, due to his own promotion and fishing experiences in Japan, that a huge unmet demand for bass baits was imminent. One of the most important business decisions ever made by Yamamoto was to heavily inventory his entire product line in warehouses not only in the USA, but also in Japan. Yamamoto’s factory crew worked around the clock to build up to an ample supply of inventory dedicated solely to supplying the Japanese market. He timed the inventory peak to perfectly match the Japanese fishing seasons and buying cycle that Yamamoto understood so well via his direct experience and through his valued business associates, Kawabe and Yamashita.
As bass fishing grew in Japan, most all other sources and brands of bass baits remained in poorly limited supply. Often, US or other suppliers simply were not meeting the demand for products there. Only Yamamoto's foresight and his ample nest egg of allocated inventory let his company meet Japan's enthusiastic, escalating desire for bass baits. In Japan at that time, Yamamoto dominated the market. Soft bass baits became synonymous with Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits.
Fast forward to today, and Japan is the second largest market for bass fishing in the world. When we think of bass fishing in Japan, it's often about how Japanese anglers have evolved finesse fishing to a fine art, but now you know, it was an American angler, Gary Yamamoto who first started finesse fishing in Japan, based on Western tactics born on lakes like Powell and Mead.
Still to this day, approximately twenty-five years later, Gary Yamamoto is a well-known and highly respected person in Japan. They say you can walk down any street in Japan, stop any person to ask if they may know who is Gary Yamamoto? In the island nation of Japan, with strong ties to the sea and to fishing, most persons there today, young or old, know who Gary Yamamoto is. They say he's the fisherman who was instrumental in starting bass tournaments, bass boating and the sport of bass fishing in Japan.
Yamamoto Enters the US Market
Once Yamamoto had accomplished all that in Japan, he and his company next turned to the US market, which was about the year 2000. At that time (and it was not so long ago), Yamamoto's company sales were seventy percent in Japan. Gary took all that he and his company members had learned about products, about promotion (meaning to educate and enthuse anglers) and he began to apply it to the USA market, repeating the success he had experienced in Japan.
In considering the US market, Gary identified not sales, not advertising but grass roots promotion (to educate and enthuse anglers how to succeed using Yamamoto products) as the most important corporate goal to be met. Gary embarked on tour across the USA, promoting his products and showing anglers how to do well with Yamamoto baits on the top level tournament trails, just as he had done in Japan. Unique among bait companies is that he publishes a magazine (the Inside Line which went online in 2008) and also an ezine newsletter to educate and enthuse anglers how to succeed using Yamamoto products. Via all of these efforts in only the last nine years, he has introduced the USA to the Senko and to his entire line - some of the best bass baits ever.
It sounds incredible but in less than nine years, Gary Yamamoto, his company and products have become a household name among bass anglers in the USA also. They say you can ask any bass angler in the USA today who is Gary Yamamoto? Chances are each one will speak of him highly and tell you how Gary's baits are some of the greatest for bass fishing across the USA today.
That's incredible when you realize, only nine years ago, Yamamoto baits were practically unknown outside the West.
Nine years ago, Yamamoto baits were only carried in a dozen stores spread across eight states in the Southeast where one in four bass anglers reside. Florida, with one of the largest populations of bass anglers of any state, had no store that carried Yamamoto eight years ago. So Yamamoto's legend and products have spread far and wide in a short time.
Yamamoto's Product Development Timeline |
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1980'sWestern Origins. Originally started business in the late seventies, and by the 1980-1985 time range, Yamamoto first perfected the standard, staple tools of Western finesse style lures - relatively small-size (4" & 5") single-tail, double-tail, GY hula grubs and the Ika (solid-bodied to allow more versatile rigging of tube bait type lures) for typical clear, deep Western impoundments. Early Days in Japan. During the same mid-1980's time period, Gary journeyed to Japan where Yamamoto developed the original baits needed for the Japanese style of finesse fishing, such as the Kut-Tail Worm. |
1990'sBig Bait Designs in Mexico. In 1990's, he forayed to Mexico where Gary designed and added to product line the leading big soft plastic baits for big bass. He developed big single tail grubs (10-series, 100-series) big double tail grubs (17-series, 12-series), and what would become the Senko - in Mexico for Mexican trophy bass fishing. U.S. Open Win. In 1995, Yamamoto won the prestigious U.S. Open on Lake Mead with a football jig, skirt and twin tail grub, all of his own products. The win was symbolic of Yamamoto's mastery of Western fishing. It demonstrated his readiness to ramp up to the national tour level. Senko Sensation. Beginning with the 5-inch flagship model in the mid-1990's, Yamamoto designed approx. 10 other Senko models through the mid-2000's for different situations/tactics that Gary encountered. Yamamoto is still developing necessary Senko models today, such as the new 9P Pro Senko released in early 2008 for shakey jig fishing with Gary's new jig. |
2000'sBASS and FLW Pro Tours. In the 2000 decade, Gary toured heavily on the top BASS and FLW trails, fishing northern, eastern, southern USA waters, many for the first time. In doing so, he has qualified for the pinnacle events of our sport (Bassmaster Classic and FLW Championship). As Gary journeyed to these new regions during the decade, GYB products followed Gary into new stores wherever he went. In many areas, this was the first time GYB products were really seen outside the West - and look at it now! Mid-Size Bait Designs for Mid-America. As Gary fished new waters on tour across the USA, he developed many of the mid-size product models that he needed to do best across much of south, east and north regions of America. For BASS and FLW, Gary needed a little bigger than the typical Western and Japanese finesse models of the 1980's - but not quite as big as the Mexican trophy-sized models he designed in the 1990's. So for success fishing BASS and FLW, Gary developed mid-range sizes of Kut-Tail Worms, several mid-sizes of Craws, the Swim Senko and the new Pro Double Tail grub, along with a revolutionary new jig to fish his baits, dubbed 'Gary's Jig.' Not only did Gary evolve his product line with mid-sized baits in the 2000's but his participation and personal appearances on the BASS and FLW tours helped to popularize GYB wherever Gary went across the country |
Yamamoto's Legend in Japan
"There are so many soft baits in the Japanese market, yet Yamamoto plastics have always been the best sellers," says Hirokazu Kawabe, head of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits division in Japan. Kawabe is one of the winning-est and most popular pro anglers in Japan, with his own fishing TV show there.
"I was surprised to see the Gary Yamamoto grub for the first time in tackle shops in Japan in the early eighties. The sight of the grub, a lure we had never seen before, in the Yamamoto bag excited me and made me want to go fishing with them. I bought a bag of the grubs and I tried them that weekend. I rigged the salty Yamamoto grub on an 1/8th oz jig head. It just looked alive in the water, like a baitfish with the vibration of its tail. It was the first time I had seen anything like this grub's rippling tail. Well, I caught so many bass like nobody's business, and I felt like I could catch all the fish in the lake."
When Gary came to Japan a few months after that, he said "Once bass bite my grub, they never let go of it," and it was the truth, states Kawabe.
"In time, the news of this marvelous new lure by Gary Yamamoto spread all over Japan. Soon, we could see long queues of people in front of the tackle shops before they opened. They all wanted to buy the Yamamoto grubs. This was the beginning of Gary Yamamoto's legend in Japan."
"After that, many other grubs appeared on the Japanese market. but everyone noticed there was a big difference in the numbers of bites between the Yamamoto grubs and the others. However close the other grubs looked to the fisherman, there was a difference in the Yamamoto baits that the fish could detect."
"...the material itself, it has some kind of power, some illusion of life and it creates an attraction that's irresistible to many fish." |
"I was convinced that one of the differences (between GY and others) was in the specific gravity of the GY material. It was hard to say what, but something was in there that captured fish. After I announced my ideas of what made Yamamoto baits so great in a fishing magazine, many other lure vendors tried to study what it was about the specific gravity of Gary's grubs, and they released many imitative bait models, but they could never quite capture what it was in those grubs. It's still going on today, with the many imitations of the Senko. They can never quite capture the eye of the fish like only the Yamamoto original can."
"At that time, back then, GY baits were not so famous in the U.S. as in Japan. So many other vendors who tried to make a market in Japan, they could say that their baits were number one in the U.S., but they could never say the same in Japan. GY baits were already the most famous ones in Japan."
"In time, I opened Gary Yamamoto's offices in Japan, and we succeeded in releasing many great baits here - the Kut Tail worm, the Senko and many others."
"I think that the studious anglers in Japan can tell why GY baits get so many bites. It depends on the material, the colors which are second to none, the saltiness, the texture, the shapes, the action - but it all manifests in the material itself, it has some kind of power, some illusion of life and it creates an attraction that's irresistible to many fish. Part of why I say this is, because whatever changes in shape or new models have been made over the years, they still get many bites."
"It may be a result of good luck, fortune, serendipity or coincidence, but the GY material is perfect in specific gravity, softness, the way it waves and undulates in the water like live baitfish and so on."
"Lure Magazine, which is the best-selling fishing magazine in Japan. takes a reader poll once a year on what are the most popular baits in Japan. Since voting began in 1999, Yamamoto baits have gotten first place in the soft bait category in Japan for 8 years (1999 - 2007). The 4" grub was ranked first in 1999 and 2000, with the 4" Kut Tail dominating the rankings from 2001 through 2006. In 2007, the 4" Kut Tail was excluded from the voting because every angler understands the 4" Kut Tail is the #1 soft bait in Japan without having to vote on it. So the 4" grub was again voted the #1 soft bait in Japan 2007, and the 4" Senko number #2."
"So you can see from the voting that Gary Yamamoto's legend in Japan is not just part of the past. It's very much today. GY baits are number one here. The favorites of many anglers and bass, they are the baits that account for many memorable fishing moments of glory!"
Most Popular Yamamoto Baits Worldwide There are over fifty, maybe sixty models of Yamamoto baits, and new models are always under development. Most are designed by Gary Yamamoto himself. All work swell, but if you had to narrow it down, these are three of the most popular styles and uses of Yamamoto baits worldwide: |
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Deep Water5" Twin Tail Yamamoto Hula Grub (97-series). One of the first baits Yamamoto came out with over 25 years ago. Still one of the best today. Most often used on a jig head in deepwater structure fishing situations. |
Shallow Water5" Senko (9-series), 4" Senkos (9S-series) and 6" Senkos (9L-series). The 5" model fished weightless in shallow water is often considered to be 'the' most effective bass bait in existence. The 6" (9L) model is the 'go to' size for bigger 'kicker' bass. The 4" (9S) model is devastating in clear water, pressured fishing situations and on spinning gear, such as for skipping under docks. |
Light Tackle Finesse Fishing4" Kut Tail Worm (7-series) and 4" Single Tail Grub (40-series). The 40-series single tail grub is the first bait that Yamamoto introduced to Japan many moons ago. The land of finesse fishing, the original 40-series grub is still one of the most popular of all finesse baits in Japan, second only to Yamamoto's Kut Tail worm. Gary created the Kut Tail worm while fishing in Japan over twenty years ago, and it still is number one there today. That's incredible considering the many finesse baits that have come along since. So wherever you are, whenever light tackle finesse fishing becomes necessary, you should give the 40-series grub and the Kut Tail worm a try! |
Yamamoto's Legend in Europe
"Gary Yamamoto had been the first professional angler who I remember from the US to fish European waters during the late 1990s. As I recall, he was first to participate in organized tournaments on the old continent especially Italy and Spain," says Paolo Vannini, a distributor of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits in Europe.
Paolo still remembers the first time Yamamoto arrived in Italy. Gary just looked at Trasimeno Lake (where he was running a special Gary Yamamoto's Welcome Cup). "It's quite similar to Lake Biwa in Japan, something I am very familiar with," Gary said.
"I remember we just had a small aluminum boat with a 15hp engine for Yamamoto to fish in. It had sprung rivets, and a lot of water was leaking inside, but that's all we had. There was almost nothing at that time (back in 1998) in terms of fishing boats in Italy or Spain. Modern U.S. bass boats were a dream for us," recalls Paolo.
"I can still hear the words of some of my fellow countrymen when I overheard them complaining about the 'cigars' that were given away at the pre-tournament meeting. Everybody had wanted worms or grubs instead. Those were the most common soft baits over here. Well, if I remember correctly, Gary finished second in that tournament. Everyone was shocked because Gary used those 'cigars' to catch most of his bass that day. Of course that 'cigar', the Senko, soon became the most lethal weapon every bass angler can have in his tackle box all over Europe," says Paolo with a grin.
"But most of all, everybody was so excited to see him fishing here. It was unheard of for a pro from the US to be here. It was a first for those of us who were there."
"He is the man of 'changes' in that he changes what fishing means for everyone he meets, a piece of fishing history comes and passes through with him everywhere he goes." |
Paolo had the same experience when Gary came to Spain and Yamamoto saw Caspe Reservoir for the first time. "It look like Lake Powell back in Page. So fishing here will be almost the same," said Gary. "You know, he was right," admits Vannini, "since he got second place and he caught the biggest bass overall in that 3-day tournament. Everybody was amazed about that man who came here from Arizona, who had never seen the lake and beat all the other local anglers. It left a lasting impression on me, on everyone."
"Yet it is not just about the 'old days'. Impressive stories with Yamamoto baits still go on across Europe today. An associate of mine in the Netherlands, he just gave some Yamamoto swimbaits to a quite famous walleye angler with the promise to use them in his next walleye tournament. This guy did it and he won the tournament. All the other anglers went crazy trying to guess what he used to beat them. He said of course, Yamamoto swimbaits and everybody went mad looking for them, because they did not have them. So the legend and stories of Yamamoto continue even today," says Vannini.
"I think Gary has an ability or insight to see things in the sportfishing business, an ability that others do not have. It's something I call his 'third eye' or maybe you would say, his 'sixth sense.' He has been the first to discover bass fishing and marketing potential within Japan, as well as he was the first in Europe too, and even in the US, he has been uniquely and quickly successful in a short time. If it happens to someone in one place, okay, he's lucky, forget it. If it happens in two places, two continents, you have to think maybe there's something. If it happens three places, that guy's got this 'third eye' I am telling you about. That's something that Yamamoto has naturally and it comes from his passion and love for the sport and bass fishing. He is the man of 'changes' in that he changes what fishing means for everyone he meets, a piece of fishing history comes and passes through with him everywhere he goes. It's the same in Japan and Europe as well as the USA."
And That's What Makes a Legend
It's not the myth, it's the man who makes the legend. Gary started in the West, winning regional tournaments. He spent some of his early days in Japan where his presence helped start modern bass fishing there. Yamamoto toured across the USA on BASS and FLW's top trails, creating nation-wide popularity for his products, and he has fished tournaments in many other countries, having the same charismatic effects on fishermen everywhere he goes. After Gary's tournament trips to Canada, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Zimbabwe, South Africa and other places, Yamamoto has left his legacy, a blossoming appreciation of and market for his products wherever he's journeyed.
The Legend is Hardly Over
It's just beginning in many new ways today. Gary increasingly enjoys time saltwater fishing, and he's certain to be forming his product design ideas for that. Walleye fishing, crappie fishing (Gary loves catching crappie and bluegill for the pan), and the overseas waters of Europe are of active interest to Yamamoto today, as he continues to fish the nation-wide FLW Tour and every chance he gets, he'll fish anytime, anywhere.
No, Gary's legend isn't over. As long as he's still fishing, his legend is just beginning - on every new fishing trip he makes.
And whenever Gary fishes, wherever or for whatever species, he'll always be designing the very best baits for every new fishing situation that Gary faces. Best of all, he'll create these baits not only for his own success but to share them equally with his fellow anglers worldwide and he'll teach us how best to succeed with his baits. Same as he always has.
That's the legend of Gary Yamamoto.