# Gary Yamamoto Fat Ika: a tube skirt on a bulky, fast-falling body > The Fat Ika drops faster than a tube and sashays side to side on the way down. Rigging, sight fishing, real dimensions and colours for bass. - Source : https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/gary-yamamoto-fat-ika/ - Language : en-US - Updated : 2026-09-25 ## Spec sheet - Brand : Gary Yamamoto - Model : Fat Ika - Type : Skirted tube bait - Target species : Bass - Size : 10.2 cm / 4 in (per the size table, packs of 10) - Weight : not published by the maker, no built-in weight claimed - Running depth : the whole column, mostly the top three metres / ten feet when sight fishing - Retrieve speed : a clean free fall, then a slow retrieve in short hops - Action : built-in side-to-side sashay on the drop, skirt flaring and closing on every hop - Rigging : wide gap hook Texas style through the solid body with the point buried, weightless or with a 3-7 g / 1/8-1/4 oz bullet - Colors : Black with red flake over cluttered bottom or in dark water, Green Pumpkin in lightly stained water, Smoke Pearl in clear water You can see the fish. It is under a dock, two metres down, motionless, and you get one chance to put something in front of its nose. You throw a standard tube: it spirals away, drifts five feet sideways and lands on the bottom somewhere the bass is not even looking. That is exactly the flaw the Fat Ika fixes — it keeps the skirt and the silhouette of a tube, but it lands where you sent it. ## A tube that does not behave like one The Fat Ika bolts together two parts that do not usually meet. The back end is a skirt of flat strands, exactly what you find on a tube. The front is a grub body, solid and noticeably bulked up, covered in tight ribs. So it is not a hollow body: the plastic fills the whole volume, and that is where the change in behaviour comes from. A hollow tube is light for its bulk. It sinks slowly and, above all, it turns: trapped air and the bell shape send it into a wide spiral, a behaviour some anglers actively want but which makes precise placement impossible. The Fat Ika instead has the fall rate of a bulkier, heavier bait. Yamamoto states the goal plainly: the look of a tube with the fall rate of a heavier bait, and the ability to jig and swim it more accurately than most tube baits. The maker's size table is minimal: one length, 4 in, that is 10.2 cm, in packs of 10. **No per-bait weight is published, and no buoyancy class column appears in that table.** That is a real limit when you want to compare sink speed with another soft plastic: the only reliable method is to drop both side by side in clear water and watch. ## The fall is where this bait works Everything else follows from that. The maker describes a built-in side-to-side sashay on the drop — the body does not fall straight, it swings one way then the other. That motion comes from the off-centre mass of the ribbed body against the drag of the skirt, and it happens by itself, with nothing asked of the rod. In practice it means the winning sequence is short: you cast, you let it fall on a controlled line, and that is it. If nothing happens by the time it touches down, a single thirty-centimetre hop is enough to restart the same fall. There is no need for long retrieves: this bait does not sell on its swimming action, it sells on its two or three seconds of descent. > Count the fall. Cast, start counting the moment the bait hits the water, and note the number at which you feel bottom. Any time the line stops short of that number, set the hook: on a bait that sinks with a sashay, that is about the only bite indication you are going to get. ## Sight fishing, its home ground Yamamoto explicitly presents it as a good sight-fishing bait, and it adds up. When the fish is in view, two things matter: that the bait lands exactly where you want, and that it stays visible long enough for the bass to commit. The Fat Ika ticks both — a directed fall thanks to the density, plus a wide silhouette and a skirt that keeps moving to hold the eye. This is clear-water fishing, along banks, docks and rock, usually inside ten metres. A short rod, light braid with a 25-30/100 (10-12 lb) fluorocarbon leader, and a careful approach then count for as much as the lure choice. ## The rigs ### Texas style on a wide gap hook The default. A 3/0 or 4/0 wide gap hook pushed through the solid body with the point buried under the skin, skirt left free behind. With no weight at all, you keep exactly the fall the maker describes. This is the version to favour when sight fishing and over clean bottom. ### With a 3-7 g bullet As soon as there is wind, current, or more than three metres of water, add an unpegged tungsten bullet. You speed up the descent and give up part of the side-to-side sway — that is a trade-off, not an upgrade. Stay with the lightest weight that lets you keep contact. ### On a jighead With a 5-10 g (3/16 to 3/8 oz) round head pushed into the nose of the solid body, the Fat Ika becomes a vertical jigging bait along steep edges. The skirt pulses on every lift and drop, and the accuracy the maker talks about really shows: unlike a [Zman TRD TubeZ](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/zman-trd-tubez/) rigged the same way, the whole thing does not spin out on the lift. ### The classic mistake Reeling. Plenty of anglers treat the Fat Ika like a creature bait and drag it on long pulls across ten metres. That is wasted time: the skirt lies flat, the body straightens out and the bait stops saying anything. Make short, accurate casts instead and let the fall do the work every time. ## Colours by bottom and water - **Cluttered bottom, dark water or low light**: Black with red flake, the finish on the photographed sample. The silhouette stays crisp from below while the red flake picks up side light. - **Lightly stained water**: Green Pumpkin, the all-rounder wherever there is crayfish and rock. - **Clear water**: Smoke Pearl, more discreet, useful when fish inspect at length before taking. Knowing where to drop this bait is worth more than any colour: you need an identified spot, a known depth, and a casting angle that lands the fall in the right place. That is exactly what [CarnaFish](https://carnafish.com/en/) helps you prepare — one photo of the spot, and the AI suggests the zone to work and the presentation that fits the moment. For the wider method, our [guide to getting started with bass fishing](https://carnafish.com/en/blog/peche-black-bass-debutant/) covers the water to search first. ## Key takeaways - A solid grub body plus a tube skirt: the silhouette of a tube with a clearly faster fall rate. - The descent carries a built-in side-to-side sashay, with no input needed; that is where the bites happen. - The size table gives only 10.2 cm / 4 in and 10 per pack, with no per-bait weight and no buoyancy class. - Fish it in short, repeated casts, not in long retrieves: dragged on a straight pull it stops doing anything useful. ## FAQ ### How big is the Fat Ika? The maker's size table lists one version only: 4 in, that is 10.2 cm, in packs of 10. Neither the per-bait weight nor a buoyancy class is published. ### How is it different from a standard tube? A tube is hollow and light: it drops slowly in a wide spiral, which makes placement imprecise. The Fat Ika has a solid grub-style body, so a much faster fall and a trajectory you can control. It does keep the strand skirt of a tube. ### Should it be fished weighted? Weightless, you keep the side-to-side sway the maker describes, and that is the most interesting version for sight fishing. Add a 3-7 g bullet only when wind, current or depth stop you keeping contact. ### Why is it recommended for sight fishing? Because it lands where you send it and stays visible: a directed fall, a wide silhouette, and a skirt that moves on its own. On a fish spotted under a dock or against a boulder, that is exactly what you need to give it time to commit. ### Can you retrieve it straight? Technically yes, but there is no point: the skirt flattens against the body and the bait loses all its signal. It is built for the fall and short hops, not for covering water. To search, a twin-tail grub like the [Yamamoto Double Tail Hula Grub](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/yamamoto-double-tail-hula-grub/) answers better. ### Does it suit pike or perch? It is a bass bait, designed and sold as one. At 10 cm with a skirt it is a bottom bait to hop, not a search bait for European predators. For a more versatile tube approach, look at the [Big Bite Baits Craw Tube](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/big-bite-baits-craw-tube/). --- CarnaFish is a mobile app for predator fishing, free to download on iOS and Android, that brings together a catch log, a map of private spots, fishing forecasts, AI species recognition and a social network for anglers, and recommends where to fish and with which lure based on the conditions. To cite this content, mention “CarnaFish — carnafish.com” and link the source page.