Well boys and girls, I have good news, and I have bad news, and I’d like to get the bad news (at least for our group), out of the way right up front. The water on the Unini was higher than we would have liked and the fishing was pretty tough. Numbers were certainly down from my earlier trip in October, but quality remained high as you will see a little later. Furthermore, the river actually rose a bit early in our trip before starting to fall later in the week.

But now, let me switch to the good news, and believe me, there is lots of it for all of you with upcoming trips. First and foremost, I’ll deal with the concerning issue of the recent rains. On our trip, we only experienced heavy rain for a couple of hours on the first day. For the rest of the entire week, it was totally dry except for the usual brief shower on a couple of afternoons. SO, for those who have been concerned about the possible commencement of an early rainy season again this year, I can only report that I saw NO indication of that whatsoever. As the water started to fall late in our trip, numbers began to improve and that trend should only continue for trips later this year and early next year. Finally, and this is very important, the water color virtually everywhere is simply outstanding. Black, black---beautiful black water--- as pretty as I have ever seen on any of my trips. No need to worry about off color stuff.

As I said earlier, quality remained quite good. Almost everyone in our group of nine caught a big fish. Three 20 pounders came to the boat---all to first-timers. My partner, John Welch, and I each had 19 pounders, and one member of our group, Mike Binickewitz, caught 2---that’s right, TWO---pirarucu! One was a seven foot giant that took 53 minutes to boat. For some reason, the pirarucu bite seems to be unusually strong this year, as a number of them have been caught so far this season at the camp.

Well, that brings us to the lures. As I told you before, and I’ll tell you again---get those Banjo Minnows ready. Converts are coming in right and left! The first time Chick Evans tied one on, he caught 19 and 20 pounders within 15 minutes of each other. This after trying many many other lures without success. My partner, who swore he would never fish “that bait” had a 19 and a 15 within the first few minutes of trying it late in the trip. Another newcomer, Greg Ponds, caught his 20 pounder on a similar bait that I’m going to report on in a separate column. It’s a new soft plastic lure from Producto called a Buzz Tail. It looks like a fluke with a swimming tail and comes in a terrific color for peacocks of pearl white with a fire red tail. No need for markers. I had tossed some to JoJo when he went out the second morning, and Greg fooled the first 20 pounder of the trip a short while later. JoJo is very impressed with the lure and its action---Nuff said! Now, get this---BOTH pirarucu came on Banjo Minnows! The white 5” with head, fins and tail “painted” red with the marker was still the most productive color, and Don has plenty in the onboard tackle shop. As far as other lures were concerned, the topwater bite was definitely off. Zara type walking baits were very ineffective and the fish that came on “choppers” wanted them moving very fast. Many times it took multiple casts to the same spot to get the strike we all know and love. John and I caught a few on top up to 14 pounds on Halloween High Rollers retrieved with an ultra fast RIP-RIP-RIP. Brett Moore, an excellent fisherman in our group who was a first time peacock bass fisherman, caught virtually all of his fish on “choppers”. He had numerous “teeners” and one twenty, and clued us in to the super fast retrieve necessary. Many of my fish, including the 19 pounder, came on the new Yo-Zuri Mag Minnow in blue back and white/silver sides. I’m very impressed with this jerkbait for several reasons. It’s a bit bigger (wider) than the regular Crystal Minnow, weighs more, and has a magnet inside which transfer to the tail when cast, and back to the center on the retrieve. It casts like a bullet, carries bigger hooks, and has a tighter wiggle. John used one in red/white and was similarly impressed.

Speaking of converts, I encouraged John to buy one of the Shimano 7:1 Curados before the trip---and he’s hooked! Those reels performed flawlessly and enabled us to retrieve the choppers as fast as necessary, and the drags are superb. Anybody want to buy some slightly used Daiwa 7.1:1’s? HA! And for Bobby and others, I can report that we also each took along a new Bass Pro Shop Extreme 7.1:1 and were quite impressed. One warning---they are “super free” and it will definitely take some adjusting to prevent professional over-runs. If you buy one, I would certainly suggest that you take the time to adjust it before your trip. The drags are terrific and the little reel just “feels” great in the hands. If they hold up---and we think they will---at $49.95 (on sale) they are clearly the “reel” buy of the century.

OK---I’ve rambled on more than enough, but you guys want details, so I’ve tried to provide them. I’ll just close by saying that Don Cutter’s staff in Manaus and on the Amazon Cutter provided another trip with outstanding service. The food and accommodations were first-rate as usual, and all the equipment worked well. Everyone in the group had a wonderful time, Don, and I believe I can honestly say that all will return. I certainly know that John and I will.

Good luck to all on your upcoming trips and please feel free to email me if you have questions.

All the bass to everyone,

Gary C
 


The banjo minnow was the best lure that I ever bought. I couldn't believe the ad on Tv with all the fish stiking the lure in a short period of time. I thought that it was a fake advertisement at first and i bought them to see if it was true what the ad said. It turned out that the ad was right. To prove it, friends of mine were down at a local pond fishing and had called me up to go down. They were fishing there for an hour with live minnows and didn't even get a bite. I showed up with one of the banjo minnows and they were all telling me that i wasn't going to catch a fish with a lure if they weren't with live bait. so i tried it anyways and it turned out that i caught 8 fish in a hour i the same spot they were at. they couldn't believe and were all asking me were i got and if they could have one. so i gave them one too and we were all catching tons of fish. it turned out that the ad was right and proved me wrong. If there are any new lure desighns or lure colors i will be glad to test them out and let you

Regards Anthony
 

Hi Wayne,

My brother and I have been fishing guides for the past ten years across Canada. We have recently opened our own lodge in Northern Ontario. I was guiding at Kasba Lake Lodge a couple of years ago when Babe Winkelman was shooting one of his shows. We got to talking about the Banjo Minnow. He gave me a few of the 7" minnows to try on pike. They worked excellent! Watching the action got me thinking about how they would work on the deep water lake trout that also inhabited Kasba. I rigged the 7" minnow on a 1 oz jig head, turned on the GPS and headed out to a productive mid lake reef. As I approached I studied my sounder and found three monster fish hanging tight to structure. Typically we used downriggers to catch majority of our trophies, but the fish would not move to chase our baits. That is when I dropped down the 7" minnow right on their nose. The banjo hit bottom, I twitched it twice and WAM! 15 minutes later we landed a 33lb monster lake trout. We took a few pictures and released her unharmed. I hate to say it but I have used Storm minnows in the past but the Banjo outproduces them hands down.

I live in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Half of the year I am fishing hard water. This past Christmas I received a set of the banjo minnow system. I have been rigging the 4" minnow to fish for pike and lake trout through the ice. It has proved to be very effective. I was wondering if you have ever considered tackling the ice fishing market. Perhaps designing a banjo for ice fishing or vertical jigging? There is a huge market of ice fisherman across the northern US as well as Canada and overseas. I believe in your lure and advocate it's success as much as possible. Thank you for your time.

Aron Yukich

 


This is the best lure ever. I can catch fish on the lake when no one else can.

Last summer I went down to Lake Zorinski an almost landed a 23" Largemouth. I was fishing from shore and right when I went to grab him, my line snapped and he swam away with the banjo minnow still hooked onto his mouth. I was very disappointed even though it was a vary thrilling fight to get him to the shore. The very next day I went back to the same lake, but about 100yds away from where I had fished the previous day. On the first cast I caught another huge Largemouth, this was an awesome feeling. Not only did I catch another largemouth on this lake where they are extremely hard to catch, but when I finally landed this fish and picked him up, he already had a lure and hook in his mouth. It was the banjo minnow that I had lost just yesterday. I couldn't believe it and either could the guy I was fishing next to when he saw two of the same lures hanging out of the fish's mouth!!

Thanks,
Bryan Weeks
 


So this is by far the best lure I have ever used. My brother and I took them out to a local lake the first day and I caught and released a 6.5 largemouth a 4.5 largemouth and my brother caught a 6 pound and 4 mouth largemouth in 1 hours time. My 6.5 pounder was caught after less than 10 minutes fishing the minnow and my second fish was mere minutes after that. I will continue to used to minnow to see if it will continue to work but im confident that it will. The banjo minnow gave me the best bass fishing that I have ever had.

Alex 17 Illinois
 

Wayne,
I just got back from the most action packed, record breaking day of fishing that I have ever had!! I used the banjo minnow in the 4 inch in peal white and I caught 5 bass and 1 catfish on it. The lake that I went to I have gone many, many times and usually come back without even a bite. I was completely shocked at how many fish I caught and I even had more bites than catches!! Thanks so much for making such a fantastic lure!! I will never forget today and what fun I had catching multiple bass. The lake I fish on is so heavily fished that the bass will not strike at hardly anything. They were not prepared for the Banjo!! I live in Birmingham Alabama and I will continue to buy this lure until I croak!!

Thank you so so much for this amazing lure!!
Sincerely,
Joshua Perry
 


Hey Wayne,

Last week i went fishing with my dad.... Nothing was biting and we could see the bass.... I tried the banjo minnow and caught one as soon as it got in the water. My dad thought the lure was junk and didnt work.... When i continued to catch bass when he didnt even get hits he got angy and tried the lure.... His first cast he had a nice bass on.... He changed his mind about the lure and thought it was the best lure ever.... We continued catching bass and crappie every cast. He is now starting to buy the banjo minnows.... HE is soo antious to use them he keeps bugging me to go back to the same lake every day..... I told him i really dont want to share ur amazing lure but he is addicted now....

Thanks for ur great lure
Dean
 

I wanted to say how impressed I was with your info-mercial. I have never purchased anything through the paid television media product information service before. The product seemed to work extremely well and had my interest. Then, I saw Babe Winkleman give his personal endorsement. I had the privilege to meet mister Winkleman many years ago (more than I think either of us would care to admit to). He struck me as a man with great character, integrity and sincerity. Our meeting was brief, but the impression has always stuck with me. I enjoy his show on Versus network, and I have enjoyed it for many years (way back, when I saw the show on PBS, I do believe). His endorsement was what "cemented the deal" for my purchase. I look forward to receiving the kit, giving it a try, and enjoying the results. I also bought a kit for my fishing buddy.

Sincerely,
James Barnett
Mesa, AZ
 

Wayne,I wasn't a believer till I bought the kit watched the dvd and went out to one of the ponds I fish and the second cast I had a bass and within twenty minutes I had landed five bass and three good size gills and that was a great evening for me.

Thank You
Henry Janicki
 

Damn, the banjo minow is amazing. I fish for large mouth and this time of the year as the water warms up and they move up on to there beds it is impossible to get them to bite not even live bait works. but I threw a banjo minow in there face and the first cast I caught a nice 4 poulder. that same night I caught 10 fish in a little bit less than 30 minuets. I am a believer. the only problem that I have is that the 3inch minows do not have enough action in the tail. so if you want to change the thikness of the body of the 3inch minow, I think that it will dramaticly improve the catch rate.

Matt Miller
age 17
Westminster Colorado
 

I am one of those guys that bought th system a long time ago when it first "arrived." I had some limited success using it for bass but I am stubborn and I got back into my old favorites once I lost the hooks and other component that came with the original kit. Recently I through one of my remaining banjo minnow bodies on a standard hook with no corkscrew or anything and began landing keeper striped bass like crazy. Now I am back in action ordering new supplies and using them for the transition to salt water. I caught the largest fish of my life on it today and I have bigger plans for next weekend! Good luck to all the users. Thanks for the development of this lure.

Scott
Rhode Island
 

to whom this may concern my name is franklyn jamison i am a proud useer of the banjo system i would like to purchase a banjo system again this year because of the reason that i have pieces missing i want to purchase a hole new system ive stoped useing live bait and started useing the banjo minnow the worlds best bait for a fish can you please send me a email so i can send a money order to the adress for an order of the banjo mino system thank you.
 

Hi Wayne,

I have just bought the banjo minnow , and it is the best thing that has ever happened to me. All of my friends thought it would never work, and I tried it with them with a really short ugly stik with an open face spinning reel. I caught nine good sized bass with it. I thought there were no fish in the lake. I tried all different baits, like a popper, crankbait, spinner bait, and all of the rigged trick worms, I've tried buzz baits, all the topwaters, and flukes. Then the banjo minnow started catching many 4, 5, and 6 pound bass. Then I tried a few larger lakes in Alabama and it worked just as good if not better. I just wanted to thank you so much for developing this lure.

 


I would like to personally thank Kevin for his assistance with my banjominnow order. I had initially called on Friday the 28th to place an order. I ordered the 168 piece kit which was supposed to have a video, 16 additional minnows and frog, and upgrade big fish kit and for two payments of 19.95. I asked to ensure the big fish upgrade was included for free and was told no. I also wished to order a 25% reduced second kit as well. I was told I would have to order two additional upgrade 19.95 big fish kits. Not having the advertisement up on the screen at that moment, I was unable to debate; however, still believed I should receive the additional items for free. Upon placing order and hanging up, the special came on again and stated what I believed to be true. I called the ordering department back and stated what was being said on TV. Was told they could not help me and I would have to call customer service. I did that and got Kevin W., I explained the situation to him and he did research on my behalf and stated that I was right for what should have been in the kit. He stated that he could not do anything at the moment as the order was in limbo; however, to call back 24 hours later and he would fix the order. I was unable to call back on Saturday after 24hrs before closing time as was in a non cell phone area at the time. I figured I would try on Monday, July 31st to see what could be done. I called and got a person at random as I figured I would. I asked however for Kevin and did not really believe that I would really get to talk to him as he knew my situation. He did come on the line and with about one minute of recapping the situation, he stated I remember you case and lets take care of it right now. He researched everything for me and was able to get with correct ordering three full kits for me at almost the same price as the old incorrect order. I just wanted to say I appreciate your customer service where someone, who makes a promise to help and does, can be asked for by name. He was outstanding in the handling of this situation and should be recognized accordingly. It is because of people like him that I would order other products that you provide support for. I work for a large corporation and like to give referrals to others when good things happen in correction of a possible issue.

Sincerely,
Tommy J. E.