Want to know a little secret? The flipping and pitching bite is about to get really—and I mean really—good in the next several weeks. As the bass vacate their deep, summertime haunts in favor of fresher water and plentiful populations of protein-packed forage, you can expect to see them steadily making their way to the shallows.
I look forward to this bite every year and for whatever reason, it seems to have already started in my area. I’ve been pitching the Yamamoto Kreature to every piece of shallow cover I can find lately and to be quite honest, I’m simply blown away by its effectiveness.
There are three things I really like about it.
- Compact profile
- Very natural action
- Color selection
Get through the jungle in a hurry
Although its importance is often overlooked, stealth plays a huge role in your pitching and flipping success. When the bass are positioned in just a few feet of water, they’re very aware of their surroundings. For this reason, I make a concerted effort to use compact baits that penetrate cover quickly and quietly.
The Yamamoto Kreature gets through thick cover without any jiggling, wiggling or shaking whatsoever. I’ve been seeing some giant bass in gnarly laydowns lately, but there’s been one big problem—they’re super spooky. I tried pitching bulkier creature baits to ‘em but each time an appendage got snagged on a limb, the bass would swim away and never be seen again.
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That’s when I started experimenting with the Kreature. I figured since it had a compact profile and smaller appendages it might work—and did it ever. Now keep in mind, these fish had been giving me fits for several days, so I was about to give up on ‘em. But my first two pitches with the Yamamoto Kreature yielded two 6-pounders. I’m not even kidding.
Since catching those two big bass, I’ve been using the Kreature for several weeks with ridiculous success. I’ve gone back to the same “uncatchable†fish that I previously mentioned and caught ‘em. The bait falls straight to the bottom, its appendages avoid hang-ups very well and the bass can’t seem to help themselves. I’m not saying this is some sort of “magic†bait, but I do believe it’s one of the most well-designed pitching and flipping baits I’ve ever used.
Very natural action
As far as I can tell, the Yamamoto Kreature is a very unique blend of a few of Yamamoto’s most popular baits—the Double Tail Grub, the Fat Ika and the Senko. Even when I took the Kreature out of the package for the first time, it looked a little strange. It doesn’t perfectly imitate any type of bass forage but its action has proven to drive the bass nuts.
When rigged on a light Texas rig, the Kreature falls very slowly as the Senko-style body undulates lazily and its arms kick wildly. While at rest on the bottom, the tentacles of the Kreature sway back and forth as the paddles undulate with no extra action from your rod tip. Because most of my bites have occurred on the fall or within a few seconds of reaching the bottom, I’ve been able to cover water very quickly. I’ll pitch into a small area, hop it one or two times and keep on moving down the bank.
To achieve this natural action, some sacrifices have to be made when it comes to durability. I’m averaging about two fish catches for each bait, so while it’s not the toughest pitching bait I’ve ever used, the quantity and quality I’ve caught on it outweighs any durability issues.
Colors to fit your situation
The Yamamoto Kreature is available in 15 colors on Tackle Warehouse and they all have very specific applications. You’ll often find a lot of soft plastics colors that simply don’t make any sense, but that’s not the case here.
When I’m fishing dirty water, I like to use Black Blue Flake, Black/Blue Flake Blue Skirt, June Big and Black/Blue Flake Chartreuse Skirt. If the water is relatively clear, I’ve had a lot of success using Watermelon Black and Red Flake, Watermelon Red and Green and Green Pumpkin Black Flake.
If you like to pitch and flip shallow cover, I definitely recommend the Yamamoto Kreature. I wish I could delve deeper into “why†it’s so effective, but I honestly don’t know—all I can speak from is my personal experiences. I’ve done a lot of damage with it lately and I will definitely be ordering some more packs this week.
The Yamamoto Kreature is available at TackleWarehouse.com.
