Scott Hammer TOXIC
Well-Known Member
Well, I'll tell you this, Page Arizona is in the middle of no man's land!! 4 1/2 hour flight to Vegas and another 4 hours on the road to get there. One of the best things was when I rented a car, I went to National because they rent chebbies (gotta help Mac!!LOL!!). When I got out to the lot I used my powers of persuasion and talked the lot manager into giving me a brand spankin' new, lipstick red, Impala SS. Sunroof, XM radio, priemum sound pkg., 18 inch rims, low profile tires and best of all V8 power. Holy Moly, that rig moves!! Put me out in the desert where you can see 50 miles ahead and I let er' eat!! I went from 80 (speed limit is 75) to 120 in about 4 sec. Then went through Zion National Park (speed limit 25) at about 60 through some of the most wickid curves that I have seen. It was like a road rally. Now before y'all jump my case about being reckless, I only did it in the deserted road stretches where there were no tourist pulloffs or other vehicles. Whatta blast!!
OK...now on to business. I took all of your suggestions to Yamamoto and they were well received. Lifted a few eyebrows. Friday was meetings and then..........I got to tour Yamamoto Central. Do you know what it was like for me to see 75 foot long ropes of plastic with Senko's hanging off them like clusters of grapes?!?!?! AND they were color 297 AHHHHHHHHHHHH. Oh my heavens, I almost fainted, it was too much for me to take!!:lol:!! I learned a TON!! Did you know that they package ALL of their products by hand? And that they assemble Hula Grubs by hand (solder the skirts to the bodies). And that they have an entire product line that is not sold in the US, only Japan and are unique, unlike ANYTHING we have? They ship the equivelant of 2 boxcars a month to Japan.
Saturday was another mind altering experience. I got to fish Lake Powell. First off, it was 30 degrees in the morning and 75 degrees in the afternoon. What kind of wickid joke that is!! Thank God for Gortex!! Next, Lake Powell is 100 feet down....that's right, 100 FEET. I have never in my life seen a ramp that is 50 yards wide and 1/2 mile long and to top it off, it is at about a 60 degree angle!!...guess who got to park the truck and trailer???:angry::lol: Wind was blowing sustained 30 with gusts to 50. Normally unfishable right? Not when the friggin lake is 600 feet deep!!! Keeps wave action to a minimum in most places. Did have to be careful because some of the gusts would almost blow you off the deck!! It is awsome to be running down canyons with 300 foot sheer cliffs all around you. I'll have pictures soon. Boy howdy was I out of my element!! There wasn't a tree, laydown or structure of ANY kind. There were rocks and more rocks!! 2 foot ledge 4 feet deep that drops off into 200 feet of water. These guys fish rock piles....period!!:lol: Deep rockpiles, shallow rockpiles, big rockpiles, small rockpiles, but rockpiles are the ticket. In the backs of some canyons there are channels that are cut in the rock that do well and there are some water plants that look like tumbleweeds but that my friends is it. Oh yeah, they have creases in the cliff walls that they call "butt cracks":lol::lol::lol:....I was in my element with those:lol: We did good probally 20 fish each, with the bite dying severly when the sun crested the canyon walls.
Day 2 (Sunday) got out for about 3 hours with a different guy. Beautiful weather, no wind. Pulled into Warmwater Canyon, started fishing, and this guy in a deep v is motoring straight for us. I thought it was DNR. He pulls up and asked us if we wanted to catch some Striper, I said SURE!! He told us they had bait coralled in the back of Cottonwood Canyon and were busting like mad. He was catching them on a crankbait. You have to remember, there is no limit on Striper in this lake either size or number, DNR actually wants fishermen to keep or kill all Striper they catch.
OK...now on to business. I took all of your suggestions to Yamamoto and they were well received. Lifted a few eyebrows. Friday was meetings and then..........I got to tour Yamamoto Central. Do you know what it was like for me to see 75 foot long ropes of plastic with Senko's hanging off them like clusters of grapes?!?!?! AND they were color 297 AHHHHHHHHHHHH. Oh my heavens, I almost fainted, it was too much for me to take!!:lol:!! I learned a TON!! Did you know that they package ALL of their products by hand? And that they assemble Hula Grubs by hand (solder the skirts to the bodies). And that they have an entire product line that is not sold in the US, only Japan and are unique, unlike ANYTHING we have? They ship the equivelant of 2 boxcars a month to Japan.
Saturday was another mind altering experience. I got to fish Lake Powell. First off, it was 30 degrees in the morning and 75 degrees in the afternoon. What kind of wickid joke that is!! Thank God for Gortex!! Next, Lake Powell is 100 feet down....that's right, 100 FEET. I have never in my life seen a ramp that is 50 yards wide and 1/2 mile long and to top it off, it is at about a 60 degree angle!!...guess who got to park the truck and trailer???:angry::lol: Wind was blowing sustained 30 with gusts to 50. Normally unfishable right? Not when the friggin lake is 600 feet deep!!! Keeps wave action to a minimum in most places. Did have to be careful because some of the gusts would almost blow you off the deck!! It is awsome to be running down canyons with 300 foot sheer cliffs all around you. I'll have pictures soon. Boy howdy was I out of my element!! There wasn't a tree, laydown or structure of ANY kind. There were rocks and more rocks!! 2 foot ledge 4 feet deep that drops off into 200 feet of water. These guys fish rock piles....period!!:lol: Deep rockpiles, shallow rockpiles, big rockpiles, small rockpiles, but rockpiles are the ticket. In the backs of some canyons there are channels that are cut in the rock that do well and there are some water plants that look like tumbleweeds but that my friends is it. Oh yeah, they have creases in the cliff walls that they call "butt cracks":lol::lol::lol:....I was in my element with those:lol: We did good probally 20 fish each, with the bite dying severly when the sun crested the canyon walls.
Day 2 (Sunday) got out for about 3 hours with a different guy. Beautiful weather, no wind. Pulled into Warmwater Canyon, started fishing, and this guy in a deep v is motoring straight for us. I thought it was DNR. He pulls up and asked us if we wanted to catch some Striper, I said SURE!! He told us they had bait coralled in the back of Cottonwood Canyon and were busting like mad. He was catching them on a crankbait. You have to remember, there is no limit on Striper in this lake either size or number, DNR actually wants fishermen to keep or kill all Striper they catch.