| __________________________________________________ March 18, 2003 - Vol. 4 No. 11 __________________________________________________ SEE YOU AT OKEECHOBEE IN THREE WEEKS! Only weeks remain until April 12 and the Yamamoto Open on Okeechobee. From now on each week, I'll offer fishing suggestions from Team Yamamoto to all of us who are going to the Okeechobee Open. I will be there (Bassdozer) to meet each of you, plus Team Yamamoto's Pat Xiques and Paul Crawford. We will man the Yamamoto table, where we'll be meeting you, have a sample bag of baits for you, a catalog, plus gift subscription cards for you to enjoy six big issues of Gary Yamamoto's Inside Line magazine. For those who need to purchase Yamamoto baits, Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Marina will have a selection for sale at the Okeechobee Open. But keep in mind that there are over 2,000 model, size and color combinations of Yamamoto baits you may use (soft baits only), and the selection on sale at the event is only going to be a limited subset of that. Sign-in Friday evening April 11. At least one member of each fishing team must check-in Friday evening. A pig roast BBQ is being provided at the registration to Yamamoto Open entrants courtesy of Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Marina & Resort. It's sure to be delicious. That's all happening Friday evening! Most of the lodging at the marina and in town (Clewiston, FL) is already booked solid by anglers going to the the Open. I suggest you make reservations if you haven't already. __________________________________________________ MIKE DELVISCO'S MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION AT THE BIG O Mike DelVisco will give us his industry-acclaimed multimedia show Friday evening. Here's what Yamamoto customer Willie Boltz had to say about seeing Mike's show on Sunday: "Russ, I would just like to pass along a message to Mike DelVisco on the great job on the presentation and tips that he gave March 16 at the Bassmasters University in Lansing Michigan. I have long been waiting to get a more personalized look at how to use and rig some of the great Yamamoto products. Thanks again to Mike and to all those who make this possible." - Willie Boltz Look forward to seeing Mike's show at Okeechobee! __________________________________________________ OKEECHOBEE OPEN SUGGESTION #1: LOOK FOR THE SHINER POLES! Our first suggestion for those going to Okeechobee comes from Team Yamamoto's resident Floridian, Paul Crawford. "Look for the shiner poles!" says Paul. There are a lot of professional fishing guides on Okeechobee and to keep their customers happy, they use a lot of wild shiners. These native shiners are locally supplied by commercial fishermen who bait an area then come back and use cast nets to harvest the shiners. These shiner trappers stake out their areas and pinpoint the netting locations by placing PVC poles in the bottom to mark specific baiting/netting areas where they return day after day. Since shiners, like other fish, often travel along weed bed edges, channels, or other structure, it is very common for the shiner stakes to actually mark these underwater paths. If you find a line of these shiner poles, you have a built in roadmap for a significant, and often very productive edge that can be used by large populations of bass, which feed on the same shiner that are being trapped by the fishermen. Russ Bassdozer chimes in, "If the locals bait shiner holes near shiner poles, and net shiners there day after day...try something that looks like a shiner near there. Colors 905, 303 and field test 917 are some shiner types," says Bassdozer. For articles on colors 905 and 917, please read: 905 SENKO SHINER by Russ Bassdozer http://insideline.net/articles/905.htm GOLDEN SHINER TIME by Russ Bassdozer http://www.insideline.net/articles/917.html __________________________________________________ OKEECHOBEE OPEN SUGGESTION #2: 213, 297, 239 COLORS BASS/FLW national touring pro Bernie Schultz, a native of Florida suggests: "Whenever in doubt in Florida, use june bug (#213). Another color that can excel on Okeechobee is green pumpkin (#297) plus color #239, which is a translucent white crystal shad type pattern. Like Bassdozer suggested, I'd also try something with gold glitter on Okeechobee," adds Bernie. __________________________________________________ OKEECHOBEE OPEN SUGGESTION #3: SWIM BIG GRUBS "If the water is up, look for surface-oriented feeding on Okeechobee, says Bernie. "One Yamamoto soft bait to use topwater is a 10-series 8-inch swimming grub, either weightless or with a small weight if there's some breeze. Buzz the grub across the surface, and also swim it subsurface at a steady pace. Use it over peppergrass, eelgrass or across scattered reeds," says Bernie Schultz. Paul Crawford agrees wholeheartedly with Bernie about swimming big grubs on Okeechobee. "A lot of people are shocked at how shallow the bass will get on Okeechobee. I often wonder how it could be that I don't see its dorsal fin sticking out of the water on some of these shallow fish," says Paul. "The weightless grub is the old stanby for these fish. You can pull a big 8" or even 10" grub along just under the surface similar to a spinnerbait. These shallow water fish will just blast them. Retrieve the grubs fast with your rod tip raised. You can add a 1/8 oz sinker to your rig just to keep it in the water, moving even faster. When the fish hits or you see the fish roll, stop reeling, drop the rod tip, and give a 3 count before setting the hook, then slam him hard. It can be more fun than the law allows," chuckles Paul Crawford. For articles on swimming big grubs, please read: 10" TOPWATER GRUB http://insideline.net/articles/bass-tubs-5.html HOW TO SWIM A BIG GRUB http://insideline.net/1999/reynolds-0708-99.html CATCH THE MAGIC...OF BIG GRUBS! http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/grubs_two_tones.shtml __________________________________________________ THE BIG O IS HOT AND WAITING FOR US! I'll write to you next week with more news and more Team Yamamoto suggestions. If you're not planning to attend, start making plans, I don't think you will regret it. It will be one affair that will be talked about all year. It will be one that, if you are not there, you will wish you were. Tell your friends and find a partner now, sign up and make a reservation, or you won't get a room. The Big O is hot and waiting for us. It's one of the most famous fisheries in bassdom, and the Yamamoto Open is going to go down in the Okeechobee history books. See you at the BBQ Friday night. Regards, Russ Bassdozer __________________________________________________
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