This fall has been good to pro angler Cody Meyer. Since he's been home from the national tournament scene, he's had the chance to get out fishing throughout the west and recently landed a massive smallmouth that would make many bass anglers envious. While on the water getting content with the Yamamoto team, he landed a 7.23-pound smalljaw with the Yamatanuki. This fish was just one of the many nice fish he's landed since this bait was released.
Here's more about the Yamatanuki: A unique bait and how he fishes it
High-density soft plastics
One recent trend in bass fishing is the emergence of small and highly dense soft plastic baits. They are unique in shape and action and fall extremely fast, allowing anglers to fish them at great depths. Meyer's big one came around submerged stumps in 25 feet of water, and he fished the Yamatanuki without any additional weight.
"Fishing with these high-density soft plastics is a very popular technique in Japan and just started to gain popularity here in the past few years," said Meyer. "Even though the bigger Yamatanuki is 3.5 inches, it weighs 5/8 ounce, so you can fish it much deeper than you'd think and it casts extremely well."
Although it's bite-sized, Meyer stresses that this isn't necessarily a finesse tackle as he uses bigger gear and a fairly heavy fluorocarbon line. This is the setup that he used to catch that monster smallmouth.
"I use 16 to 20-pound Daiwa J-Fluoro and a fairly heavy rod," he said. "I fish it on baitcast gear, a 7-foot, 3-inch Brent Ehrler Daiwa Tatula Elite Rod and a Tatula Elite reel."
Fishing the Yamatanuki
Meyer's initial thoughts when he first got ahold of these baits was just how well they would work for him, but he's been pleasantly surprised with how well they have produced in various situations.
"You first look at these and think, 'there's no way this will catch a bass,' but they do," he said. "I had the chance to fish with Bassmaster Elite Series pro Kyoya Fujita a few years ago and he was fishing a similar bait and it pointed me in the right direction for how to fish the Yamatanuki.
There are many similar baits on the market, as this style of bait has gained steam in the past year or two, but Meyer says the Yamatanuki is in a class of its own.
"From my understanding, it was one of the first to be released in Japan and now many different brands make one," he said. "What makes the Yamatanuki different is that it has that little tail that quivers with each movement."
The best way to describe fishing this soft bait is like fishing a football head jig along the bottom. This is how Meyer used it when he caught this big smallmouth.
"This bait is perfect for fishing along the bottom because it's heavy enough to get it down quickly," he said. "I caught that big one dragging it along the bottom and occasionally, I give it a little pop of the rod. Since it's Texas-rigged and without a weight, it hardly ever hangs up. It's also something totally different that the fish haven't seen much."
The rod and reel he mentioned above are also helpful for getting the most out of the bait. "I like a faster gear ratio reel, either the 7.1:1 or even 8.1:1, because the rod does the work and you can pick up line quicker," he said. "The rod I use has a softer tip and allows you to work the bait better along the bottom and give the bait a pop, which gives it the action you want. A rod that's too stiff will pull it too far away when you do that."
Color and thoughts on lure size
Now that Meyer has had some time on the water with the Yamatanuki, he's learned a few things and generally likes the 3.5-inch version in some shade of green pumpkin.
"I don't know exactly what the fish think this thing is, but in my mind, it looks like a big crawdad scurrying along on the bottom," he said. "That's why all green pumpkin colors are my favorite and best producers. I like both sizes, but the big size is my favorite for fishing it along the bottom and dragging it. The small 2.5-inch size will work with this method, but I've had the best success with it on a Ned Rig."
Meyer's recent big smallmouth catch on the Yamatanuki was his biggest yet on the bait, but he will keep fishing it and try for a bigger one. This special little bait has quickly gained a spot in his arsenal for the times when he wants to show the fish something different.
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