Howell Banks On His Confidence In Yamamoto Baits

By David A. Brown

A decorated career spanning 15 years and punctuated by a 2014 Bassmaster Classic win doesn’t just happen. For Randy Howell, all of the many important ingredients are bound together by the assurance of knowing he’s entrusted his performance to the right gear for the job.

Take a peak inside his tackle boxes and one truth stands immediately evident — the amiable pro from Guntersville, Ala. firmly believes in Yamamoto baits. That faith has delivered some stellar moments, but along with the highlight reel stuff, Howell knows he can fish the grinders just as well as the barn burners, as long as he has the baits upon which he’s built a career. 

“I have over 15 years of confidence in using almost exclusively Yamamoto baits,” Howell said. “The quality in their formulation of salt and other ingredients for the texture, flavor and colors ensures that I have baits that will produce bites, regardless of where I’m fishing.” 

TOP-3

Responding to the inquiry about choosing one bait for the rest of his life, Howell points to the 5-inch Senko. Favoring green pumpkin purple/copper for spring and green pumpkin purple/green for summer-fall, Howell often fishes his 5-inch Senkos Texas rigged, but he also spends a lot of time with a wacky rig.

“I’ll rig a 5-inch Senko on a 1/0 wacky hook or a 4/0 Daichi HD Flipping Hook if I’m trying to power fish it,” Howell said. “I fish this bait a lot on a 7-foot-1 Daiwa Power Spin that’s specifically designed for skipping Senkos around docks, brush and cover. It’s a medium-heavy, so you can pull them out of cover with braid.

“With a Daiwa Tatula LT spinning reel, I use straight 20-pound braid a lot without a leader. A lot of anglers think you have to have a fluorocarbon leader to disappear and make that bait more effective, but with straight braid, you never have to worry about breaking them off or getting them out of cover.

“Also, the bait sinks a little faster on straight braid than it does on fluorocarbon. So I can get it to shimmy a little more naturally on straight braid.”

Howell’s other top Yamamoto rigs include:

Flappin’ Hog — Favoring the 955 color, his standard deal involves rigging this bait on a 4/0 Daichi HD Flipping Hook with a 3/8-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS tungsten weight. As-is, this would be an effective presentation, but Howell has a couple of key modifications that benefit his effort.

“I pull the two flappers off so it looks like a little stocky crawfish, instead of a creature bait,” he said. “The way that bait looks and the how that compact design goes in and out of cover well makes it my go-to flipping bait.

“The only time I’ll leave those flappers on, is when I’m going for more of a slow fall, or if I’m in a deep grass area where I want the bait to fall slowly through the (vegetation). For the most part, I pull those flappers off and that rig is deadly.”

Offering a tactical tip, Howell said he uses a red weight during the spawning season. This bold color mimics a red gill flash or a hint of blood; two images that tend to trigger bass aggression.

“I’ve watched them in bed fishing where I’ve had two of the exact same baits rigged up; one with a red weight and one with black weight,” Howell said. “I’ve flipped them back and forth and then watch the fish react more aggressively to the red weight. I know it works, so that gives me a lot of confidence.”

Zako Trailer — Adding this bulky swimbait to a Z-Man Jackhammer ChatterBait improves casting distance and increases buoyancy, which helps keep it up in the water column, even at slower speeds. Favoring the Tennessee shad, green pumpkin, black/blue and green pumpkin laminate, Howell uses the original Zako and the paddletail, depending on the scenario.

“I keep one of each at all times and I’ve seen it make a difference,” Howell said. “I use the regular Zako when I want it to go faster because the tail doesn’t slow it down. This is what I use when the water’s warmer and I want the bait to be more reactive.

“When I want to slow it down and really crawl it past cover like grass or docks, I’ll use that Paddletail Zako. That tail gives it a totally different personality; it shimmies and shakes differently and allows you to slow roll the bait. It won’t fall to the bottom because that tail is pulling back on it.”

Howell said that one of his favorite presentations for a bladed jig with the Paddletail Zako is skipping it under docks. The added buoyancy, he said, allows him to fish it slowly and keep it under the cover longer.

“Those baits are confidence staples; they never leave my boat,” Howell said. “When I really need to catch a fish, I have the most confidence that these baits will produce.”

BIG MOMENTS

Of the many big fish he’s caught, Howell recalls a particular 9-pound, 10-ounce Florida stud that he caught during a Bassmaster event on the Harris Chain of Lakes. Any such fish would make the notable list, but Howell said this one stood out because it showed a clear response to a Yamamoto bait.

“That one stands out because I caught it sight fishing with a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog,” Howell said. “Another competitor had just gone through there and the fish didn’t bite. I was fishing the same bank and when I saw the fish, I went ‘Wow!’

“I flipped a couple of baits in there and finally I flipped the 955 color Flappin’ Hog and the fish bit it right away. I thought it was a 6- or 7-pounder, but when it jumped, I saw it was almost a 10-pounder. It was a big surprise and it won Big Fish for the day. I still remember that because it was such an exciting moment.”

Complementing the top-end quality, Howell has also experienced days of astounding productivity while Yamamoto baits. One in particular took place during a summer tournament on Lake Champlain where he encountered a massive congregation of smallmouth bass.

The big brownies were so numerous and tightly grouped that they acted like a big school of baitfish. Howell recalls a real head-scratcher, as the fish initially played hard-to-get. But once he dialed in their preference, it was lights-out.

“I could visibly see them, but I couldn’t get them to react to anything,” Howell said. “Finally, I tied on a Double Donkey rig with two Yamamoto D-Shads in pearl white and started catching them.

“The way that D-Shad shimmies down, I could jerk, jerk, jerk it really fast out in front of them and let it fall. Those two baits would independently shimmy down and those fish loved it. They were all 3- to 4-pounders and I caught ‘em and caught ‘em and caught ‘em and they never figured out it wasn’t real. It was a magical deal.”

Howell tallied a limit of about 20 pounds and earned a top-20 finish, thanks to the bite-producing appeal of Yamamoto baits.

KEY IMPACTS

Examples of moments when Yamamoto baits helped shape a productive day are many, but Howell said one of his favorite examples came during a 2019 MLF Bass Pro Tour event on the Upper Mississippi River. Fishing Wisconsin waters, he was staring down an unproductive morning when his decision to change from a Texas rig to a wacky-rigged Senko changed his day’s complexion.

“Turning a not-so-good day into a much better day, getting a check or making a cut has happened quite a bit,” Howell said. “But in the (BPT event), I made the first cut after two days and went on to the next round by using a wacky-rigged Senko.

“I had been struggling and there was a lot of fishing pressure where I was fishing. I knew there were fish in the area and a lot of other people were not catching them but I ended up mopping up two days. I think I ended up in the top-15 and moving on to the next round.”

Howell said he turned his day around by skipping the wacky rig around shallow docks and seawall with shade. As he discovered, this zone held a significant number of fish, but every single one of them was on high alert.

“The fish were so skittish, if you threw up there with a Texas rig, it would fall away and move,” Howell said. “They would look at it and they wouldn’t bite it. You’d see them come out and follow it and turn away.

“When I got it on that wacky rig, I could bounce just under the surface and every fish that saw it would eat it. It was unbelievable how the difference in the two presentations in the same area made such a difference.”