Yo-Zuri lure hunt

[Craig_S]

Normally I go fishing with a Pins-Minno with pretty good success on my local lake, usually 5-10 hits an hour and it’s been that way for the last three years or so up until the mariner east pipe line lay out and blow out.

where the ran the the pipe through one of the fingers of the lake changed the channel and the flats, that I only caught two. worst off nothing that you’d consider a keeper.

Then I ran down to the other finger of the lake were I had success and again only 3 this time working the edge of the flat and that only being perch. and again nothing that you’d consider a keeper.

finally I switched out lures to a different Yo-Zuri I had, and suddenly we went from fishing to catching. From 6pm until 8pm every cast was a fish. and in a spot I no anyone else ever seemed to have any luck. If a cast failed to produce a fish one stroke with the paddle put me back on the game again. Again nothing save for one was a keeper but I was catching 4 to 8", Perch, White Perch, Bass, Sunfish you name it I was getting it. Finally I has to get off the water at 8pm as I didn’t have a light and being on the lake without a light would have been well illegal.

So my quandary, here is I only have one of these lures. Usually I’ll have three or four of something that works. I bought this one to try out and now that I found that it works I’d like to have several more but can’t see to find it anywhere.

Any help in pointing me to where I could purchase another 4 or perhaps 10.

Seriously this is like kryptonite for fish. Any help would be appreciated.

[kayakbasser]

Yo-Zuri Pins Minnow Floating Shallow Diver — Discount Tackle I didn’t see that exact color, but Discount Tackle has a good variety of sizes and colors. Yo-Zuri’s website doesn’t even show that color. Possibly discontinued.

[RiverWay]

Discount Tackle has the exact one in your picture

Yo-Zuri L Minnow Ultralight Jerkbait

[Craig_S]

@RiverWay Thanks very much, Ordered another two, and a few others as well. Now just waiting on them to arrive.

[RiverWay]

Bass are funny. They’ll love a lure until they’ve all either hit it or seen a buddy hit it, and then nobody wants it. On heavily pressured lakes especially, you need to find a presentation they’ve never seen before. Yo-Zuri lures are pretty rare, at least around places I’ve lived and fished, so you might be the only one presenting them, and your Pinns-Minno ran its course and now your L Minnow is the hot new game in town. I hope your streak continues!

[Craig_S]

well the pins lasted for at-least 3 years maybe more like 5 and that worked on everything. from bluegill to bass and trout to perch it’s just the Bass that have cooled off it the perch and bluegill are still happy with the pins, this one though has the magic that the pins had so we’ll see.

I know up in the Adirondacks it was the Blue-Fox Vibrax lures, and they were bringing me monster bass.

the most satisifying part is I was catching them with a Dock-Demon Pro. They’re tough little rods, and when fishing from a small kayak they’re the perfect size. Of course I keep the rod and outfit them with a good shimano. it’s just fun to be catching from a little kayak with a $10 rod when the guys in 30K bass boats and $100 rods can’t even get a nibble.

[Buffalo_Alice]

@Craig_S

it’s just fun to be catching from a little kayak with a $10 rod when the guys in 30K bass boats and $100 rods can’t even get a nibble

Most definitely!
Seems like they spend more time racing around from spot to spot than they do fishing.

[string]

The lure looks like the original Rapala.

[Craig_S]

I have the original Rapala, It’s currently sitting on my log splitter. It’s slightly larger and the spoon is a might different. It also doesn’t have the internal rattle that this has that just angers the fish into striking.

And of course the colors are a tad different.

[Craig_S]

At least on this lake they are limited to trolling motors only. So in the kayak I’m actually faster than they are.

Two of the Lures arrived over the weekend, one the same as I had been using and one in a speckled chrome. Of course my son saw them and into his tackle box they went, So I’m waiting on the follow up order to arrive.

[string]

When I was a teen, my Dad had access to a stocked pond on an offshore island. We’d get there by boat . He had discovered Rapalas and we would catch bass with every cast.
We released the fish which weren’t very big. More fun could not be had on a summer afternoon.

[Craig_S]

@string Same here, though not a private island, but my dad had a friend who was a sport fisherman, used to go all over to fish but he had put in a pond on his property since he had a spring running through it. Basically he just excavated a hole 18’ deep and put retaining stone in (stone in wire cages) to keep the banks from collapsing. He had Trout and Bass and bluegill in it. And since it was private property no one could fish it. Although I was allowed to once or twice, that is until I started to catch fish.

[Craig_S]

Just as a update tot he anglers out there.

My L-Minnow replacements came in, and I went out yesterday.

Unfortunately conditions were not ideal, as it’s been raining off and on for the past three days, and yesterday it was torrential downpour ending at 5pm.

But I figured what the hell, I have some time so I got on the water and to the spots where I’ve never caught anything starting with the spot where all the magic happened before.

Off the bat it was no longer catching, but exceptional fishing, in the first hour I caught about 15-20 White perch, One small 8" bass and two sunfish.

I then moved down near the dam, I wanted to fish the spot over the weed bed near the spillway but someone was fishing there with a fly rod, so I went around him and fished the Levee.

right of the bat I hooked into a Rock Bass, and the Fly fisherman asked what I was using, I showed him my setup then went back to the rock wall a might further down. And BAM! another rock bass.

In disgust the fly fisherman left.

I went a bit further, and it’s a shame the fly fisher left, as he missed the largemouth I hooked into. Granted it wasn’t a keeper, 12-13 inches, and the regulations on the lake are 15 or larger. But still a fun fight.

I ended the day with a few more perch, and then things were getting dark so I decided to call it a day.

It looks like the L-Minnow is still the fish slayer, that the Pins used to be.

I figured I share My rod set up. so you all can see why when I’m catching and the guys in the Bass Boats and expensive rods are getting all pissed off with me.

(Not me but you get the idea.) I have the dock demon pro rod which is only 34" long, that I replace the Zebco spinning reel with a good Shimano reel. I like the rod because it’s tough and it’s size makes it usable and simple in a kayak. I have full size rods but they are just unwieldy in a 10’ kayak.

[RiverWay]

Word must be out on these lures - I just paddled the Huron River from Ann Arbor to Lake Erie, and I found one along the way …

[Craig_S]

Well if you don’t want it… I’ll PM you my address…

[RiverWay]

Haha it would probably cost as much to ship it as it would cost new. Besides, you are slaying the fish with it, I might try it sometime. I’ve never gone down that small, it would be an excuse to buy a new rod and reel…

If I got a lure that did half as well as yours, I’d buy a bunch more copies plus some in other colors, plus some in similar configurations, plus other things to try, so I admire your control that you bought so few. You are slaying them with that lure! Those are incredible numbers.

[Craig_S]

@RiverWay Just joking about you sending it. I have one in every color that they have for this year and size.

Colors and whatnot do change from year to year.

Small can catch small fish and also larger fish. Large can only catch large fish. Since catching is better than fishing, and feeds my ADDHD need. I run small stuff all the time, even if im inundated with little 4" perch.

Thats the Fish that the boy caught with a Pins Minnow.

And here’s his complete haul.

The rest were walleye.