Jake Lawrence Hinge Minnow

Is the Yamamoto Hinge Minnow the ultimate scoping minnow? If you ask MLF Bass Pro Tour Angler, Jake Lawrence the answer would be a resounding, “YES”. After all, Lawrence spent over a year working in collaboration with Yamamoto bait designers to perfect the Hinge Minnow. “I wanted to be able to make a minnow that is simplistic,” he said. “I didn't want any crazy rigging. I wanted anybody to be able to pick up the Hinge Minnow and with relative ease get the bait to roll and act correctly. There are a ton of minnow baits on the market but very few that the bass like.”

“The actual hinge is a real difference maker,” said Lawrence, “It exaggerates the rolling action. You can shake the Hinge Minnow less aggresively and get the same rolling action as a lot of the other minnows. The smaller the shakes, the more consistent you can be. I wanted a very light shake to get this minnow to roll, which just adds to the consistency and makes it easy for anyone to use. The hinge also gives the bait a secondary action. Speed up your winding for a few cranks and the back part of the bait will swim just like a little threadfin or a herring. It's nothing real aggressive but it's enough of a secondary action to get them to react.”

According to Lawrence there is a real misconception about the purpose of the extended side flanges. “A lot of people think that is what is getting the bait to roll over itself but, that could not be further from the truth,” he explained. “With each roll over, the bottom side of the flange will catch and displace water, what that does is it slows the roll down and adds consistency. Most of our bass really react well to a slow consistent roll.”

“We have four size Hinge Minnows: 3.5”, 5”, 6” and 7” that will cover most of forage your bases,” said Lawrence. “On each one of those we had to change the profile of the bait, you can see as they get smaller we had to add more depth. Again, shorter in length, fatter in width, taller in height. The small minnow is something I knew we really had an edge on. Up until the Hinge, the little 3.5”, there has not been a small minnow that is easy to get to roll. Again it's a lot of weight distribution, we had to bulk it up but we wanted to keep it a small profile but have enough weight to get it to roll over and act the way we want to.”

Lawrence is adamant about the importance of properly rigging the Hinge Minnow. He wants the bait to be straight but insists that once the bait is rigged, that the tail be slightly higher than the top of the jig head. He does this by threading the jig head onto the minnow but instead of running the hook point out the top of the bait such that it is exactly sized up for the jig head, he will run the hook 1/16” further back into the bait before coming out the top. By doing so, he creates a very slight bend in the bait. Once he has determined the correct jig head placement, Lawrence takes note of the exact position where the hook exits the bait. The Hinge Minnow is designed with a series of dimples on the top of the bait, making it easy to replicate the desired rigging position.

The Yamamoto Pro employs a Northland Tackle Tungsten Round Ball Jig. He'll alternate between both the round bend and wide gap versions depending on the conditions. Lawrence is a stickler about hook size as it plays an important role in the rigging equation. He recommends using a smaller sized hook because it allows the bait to best achieve its desired action. Too large a hook can act as a spine and will stiffen the bait and not allow it to roll. In general with the smaller Hinge Minnows, Lawrence likes the 2/0 wide gap but will step up to the 3/0 size for the larger 7” Hinge.