New owner of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits says it wants more angling brands

The new owners of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits are ‘working on several additional acquisitions’ in angling, says its V-P of Sales, with a promise to be a one-stop shop for bait and tackle.

GSM Outdoors, the US hunting and shooting giant which made its first acquisition in the recreational fishing sector last month has revealed it is currently looking at several more additions in the category. The company added top US lure brand Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits to its portfolio, and has lofty ambitions for the sector according to Zach Henderson, its Vice President of Sales (above).

In an exclusive interview with Angling International, Henderson said: “We would like to mimic our success in the hunting/shooting side of our business in the recreational fishing side. We eventually want to become a one-stop shop in the fishing bait and tackle categories. We are already working on several additional acquisitions – we move fast at GSM. We have always liked fishing and have many avid anglers on our team. A lot of our customers have asked us for years to get into the space because we are so easy to do business with.”

Henderson added that he believes that Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits is the right brand to launch GSM Outdoors into the fishing space and establish a foundation for the group to make a splash in the industry.

“It makes one of the best and most well-known soft plastic baits on the market. Everyone knows the Senko and everyone who has used them has more than likely caught fish on them. Gary has done a great job turning Yamamoto Custom Baits into a world renowned brand and the Senko into the standard of all stick-style baits. He didn’t do it as a marketing ploy like many other companies do today. It became what it is simply because it is the best and flat-out catches more fish. That excites us at GSM and we want to continue to bring anglers the best products whether it be through innovation or acquisitions – this will be our standard.”

Henderson said that GSM is set to refresh the Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits brand with a new logo and packaging, but has no intention of changing anything with regard to formula of the products. He added that production will stay at Page, Arizona for the time being. “We would also like to duplicate the success of the Senko in some new bait designs and we are staffing up our team to make sure we are at the forefront of soft bait innovation and plan to launch some new styles in the coming year.”