Book review: Catchy title 'My Life With Fish' will hook fishermen

Bill Baab

As fishing lures go, the tapered soft plastic worm-like thing didn’t look like it could catch anything much, but as is the case with so many things, looks can be deceiving.

As outdoor writer Steve Price writes in his latest book, “Gary Yamamoto: My Life with Fish,” a few lure designers and manufacturers have hit “home runs” with lures that not only appeal to fishermen, but more importantly to fish, especially largemouth and smallmouth basses.

The author is well known in the fishing community since he is a senior writer on the “Bassmaster” magazine staff and a contributor to “Field & Stream” magazine. This is his 16th book.

Most anglers are familiar with big hitters of the fishing lure world like Heddon’s Zara Spook, the Jitterbug and Zoom’s Super Fluke. Then there is the 5-inch-long Senko, which means “flash” in Japanese.

It all started in 1995 with a Bic ballpoint pen. Fishing lure designer and manufacturer Yamamoto had been thinking about a new design for a lure. The idea came during a bass tournament on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee where most of the competitors were fishing a Slug-Go developed by Herb Reed.

“I thought I could design a lure that would still be effective using a softer hook-set than the Slug-Go required,” Yamamoto said. He bought a lathe and started playing with it, but after a couple of days had not been satisfied by what he had produced.

“I happened to have a Bic pen in my pocket and realized its design was what I had been looking for. It was blunt on one end and gradually tapered at the other. It was the perfect diameter and length.”

So he phoned his production manager, Danny Berndt, and told him to buy a particular Bic model and make a mold just like it. One wonders how Berndt felt about what sounded like a crazy request, but he’d worked for Gary long enough to know one didn’t argue with the boss.

“It was a Bic Clic,” Berndt said. “We made the mold and Gary had the first prototypes in early 1996. In fact, I have the very first Senko we produced from that mold.”

But the Senko did not perform as its manufacturer had envisioned. It had no fish appeal when made to dart so Gary essentially abandoned it and moved on. However, the lure was still out there in the marketplace, was being fished and was starting to bring rave notices from bass fishermen that quickly got the company’s attention.

Fishermen were rigging it on wide gap hooks, fishing it weightless and just letting it fall to the bottom. Bass were hitting it on the fall, or else picking it up off the bottom. Oh, yes, the soft plastic body was impregnated with a salt solution so when fish picked it up, they did not want to let go.

Eventually, the company annually sold more than a million bags of 5-inch Senkos (10 in each bag) for five consecutive years. Other lure companies have tried to duplicate it, of course, but no one has been able to duplicate the lure’s unusual action, or the loyalty to the company from thousands of bass fishermen. So not only was it a home run, it was a “Grand Slam.”

That is only one of the fascinating stories to be found in the well-illustrated, 111-page softbound book which also is loaded with fishing tips from the master lure maker. Equally fascinating is the author’s descriptions of the continuing life and times of the now 74-year-old whose love of fishing began at an early age growing up in his native Hawaii. Many of his other bass-catching lures also are discussed with tips on the best ways to fish them.

“I just like to help people catch fish,” he said.

The soft cover version sells for $19.95, while the hard cover book that should be available in late May goes for $24.95. No matter what version of the book you buy, it will become a valuable and entertaining addition to your fishing book library. Reading my review copy kept me glued to my seat.

To order a copy, call Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits at 1 (800) 645-2248.

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