Got him! That littleNeko rig!You know. . . Ooh, I barely got himhooked in that. . . He’s just a little guy. Get in here!Throwing up by thereeds a little bit. Throwing that Nekorig’s a lot of fun. You know, when these fishget pressured- that’s justa little guy but. . We’ll throw him back. I’m gonna have to put onanother worm, for sure. He ripped my worm up. But. . We’re at SaguaroLake today, folks. And when the fish getreally pressured- it’sstarting- the wind’spicking up a little bit,which we kindadidn’t want. What we wanted, was to seethe- the lake stay slick. With everybody pressuringthe lake so much,sometimes youhave to downsize,and that Neko rig’s alot of fun to throw. And uh,it’s kind of a-kind of a fun deal,where you put the weightinside the worm and you kinda rig it wacky style. And uh, fish will bite it. And fish really go after it. But the deal is, is I use a dropshot rod. You know, I’m using my Johnny Johnson signaturedropshot rod. And I’m using a 20 pound braidline so I can get it out. The braid allows you tocast this thing a long ways. And I’m just using alittle drop shot hook. It’s a 1/0 dropshot hook. And what I’m doing, is I’msticking a little 4 inchuh, worm on it. You can use 6inch, 4 inch,just depends on whatyou want to throw. I like these. Arizona Custom Bait worms. This is theoxblood deluxe. And you basically hookthis thing up wacky style. But I’m hooking it whereit’s somewhat weedless andI’m gonna stickthe- stick the uh,hook where whenI pull it. . Right in there like so. Do you see howI’ve got the hook?And then what I’ll do, isI’ll end up putting theweight rightinside the worm. I’m gonna take alittle nail weight;I’m gonna put itinside the worm. And then when I- when I- when I uh, set the hook, the hook will come right through the plastic and grab the fish. But a lot of times, man I’m telling you,those fish just smack it. Now, you can gettungsten weights. You can do the leador the tungsten. Lead’s a little bitcheaper- those little nailweights- but man, this thingthrows out there so nice. I like to throw thesekinds of worms weightlessa lot of times. If you’re in realshallow water,little breeze blowing,then you- you can throwit. . The Neko style-where you throw the littleweight in the head- throwit out there on 6 poundtest line andman, these fish, they will hit this bait. It’s a lot of fun to throw, and it’s really finesse. A lot of finesse. But the thing is, is as you’re twitching the bait, it really looks like a nightcrawler or something down there, and they just eat it up. Got him!Got him on that bait! Come on baby! Little Texas-rig, there. Saguaro Lake bass!Oh! Oh, there he goes!Catch and release!Folks, I’m throwing that-that little ABC brush hogman, I’ll tell you what,what a little bait. It’s got a little redflake in it- watermelonred flake. It’s a 4 1/2 inch. Something small, becauseI didn’t want to thrownothing really, reallybig, Texas-rigging around. And uh, throwing it on myheavy gear and I’m justkinda. . . You know, big fishare moving up into theshallows this time ofyear, and you know,everything’s bedding,and it’s hard to see,with the windblowing and stuff,but you know you canalways pick up a Texas-rigand just kinda startfan-casting these shallowslike this anddrag it real slow. Sometimes you can getthose fish to bite. That was a goodtwo pounder. And uh, you know, sothat’s what I’ll do. I- I- you know- with thecloud cover and all ofthat, sometimes it justgets too hard to see. So what you can do: takeoff the white stuff,because you don’t need it-you can’t really see it-and just kinda fan-castthe area and just startbringing yourbait in real slow. And I’ll tell you what,sometimes you’ll bereally. . Uh. . You mightget a big bite doing this,for sure. Because you don’tknow what’s coming,but you might drag itacross that bed or put itright in that areawhere they want. But you need to reallyfancast these cuts likethis, and just kinda workreal slow and just drag it. I just threw it up on thebank and dragged it out and- and – and he bit. It’s a fun way to fish when you can’t see them, and you’re trying so hard, and your’re upset because the wind’s blowing. The fish are still there, they’re not gone. But if you can’t see them, just back out and fan-castthe area, see ifyou can catch them. You know thefish are there. We saw a whole lot ofbeds and stuff when uh,when the water was,you know. . Sun was out,and the water wasn’t allwavy and. . So I’m just gonna do that and see what happens. Some fish are gonna bite. There’s some fish you have to play with, but. . Get the aggressive ones on this Texas-rig. And I throw a 3/8 ounceuh, sinker on this,as well. Bullet weight. I’m throwing 17pound test line,and I’m just draggingit on the bottom. That’s all I’m doing. Something alittle bit small,just so I can get the- thelittle males or somethingto bite. Oh, he might’ve takenone of my tails. Nope, it’s there. But this is anawesome little bait. And of course, watermelonred flake is always a goodcolor for thiskind of water. You know. . Clearwater, it’s beautiful. So the fish are here, youjust gotta- you just gottafan-cast it out there. And I love the way thissinks to the bottom realquick. And just drag it. Don’t even- I don’t evenbother lifting it off thebottom, because you dowant it to drag it acrossthe- across the bed. You know? Oh! No I didn’t!That’s a good one, too!Ahh yeah! Come on!No no no no no. . You’re done. You’re done. . You’re done. You’re done. You’re done. . We’ll get you in by golly,if I can ever reach overand grab him. Look at that. Hammered that thingon the way out. I was crawling it upthis way off the point,looking around,and he smashed it. Didn’t evensee him hit it. That’s the coolthing. . Like I said,when you get the cloudcover and all of that,you can still get up andlook a little bit but. . . I’ll tell you. . I’ll justTexas-rig something Ithink they’ll eat. Ah, there we go. There you go, buddy. Beautiful fish. That’s a two pounder. Yeah. It’s not all lost, as longas you know the fish areshallow, you canstill get them. It’s not- it’s not quiteas fun as being able tosee them, but as long asyou’re casting around,like I say, inthe shallows,there’s- there’sbeds there. He smacked it right infront of the boat while Iwas over lookingat something else. There’s something aboutwatermelon red flake. If you’re gonnathrow anything,either a green pumpkin orwatermelon red flake man,is a good color. Love those colors. Gotta have them. I’m just hookingit up weedless. And I’m using- becausethat bait is so small- I’monly using a 2/0wide-gap hook. Now, you can usean offset-shank,2/0 or 3/0 but. . Thebait’s kind of smallbecause it’s real thin. But it still has greatleg action and all that. It works great. So. . I’m gonnaturn around. Go back up through there. This is a big flatright up in here,so you can cast just aboutanywhere and probably dragit over something good. You know, I use a- aheavy action rod when I’mthrowing thiskind of stuff. I’m throwing 17 pound testline; heavy action rod;because what’s coolabout doing this, too,is you can flip it up inthe brush if you think thefish are up in there. There’s nothing more funthan throwing up in thereand hearing the- the reedsrattle, that’s for sure,when you’re doingthis kind of fishing. Got him!Oh yeah, that’sa nice one! Oh. . He’s got anotherone chasing him!Oh look at that!Come on son!You are an aggressivelittle dude. Easy easy easy easy. Look at that fish. Beautiful SaguaroLake bass. Throw right upin the tulies. Right up alongthose tulies. I saw that dude roamingaround in there. I’m like, ‘hey we might beable to get us one in there’. That was a nice fish, folks. You know, I’m one for always thinking ‘ahh. . ‘When that wind blows inthe spring, I hate it. In the clear waterit’s not so bad though,because you can stillsee the fish roaming. You can still see, you know, where the beds are all at and all that stuff but. . Flipping up in the brush; you know that there’susually lots of beds madearound the brush piles andstuff like that. So, you know, you see abare spot there, obviously. I can’t see anything onit; the wind blowing in;we’re kind ofsheltered a little bit;but I just thought I’dthrow up in there and see,and there he was. That’s when you needthat 17 pound test line. You know, when you’rethrowing up in this stuff,you want to usethat heavy line. 17+ or braid or somethingbut. . With as clear as thewater is- and I’m kind offishing the outskirts ofit- I kinda like justusing the 17 pound testline. Toss into the bush,nothing but fish!Come on, you’redone. . You’re done. Had to flip that littlething right up into thebrush pile. I’ll tell you what man,these things are a lot offun to fish when youget into this brush. Something tonever overlook,especially when you’regoing back to cuts,is you’re going to havesome areas- especially onSaguaro, that has goodlittle drop-offs- butevery once in a whileyou’ll see a little flaton it. And we got a littleflat right here,even though we’re in a-in an area where it’s morebluffy, and it’s gota little flat on it. And uh, thatlittle tiny flat,the fish was justhanging around that. And I had to get it upunder- I had to actuallythrow it up underneath abrush pile there to gethim. But uh, he was there. He only bit it twice!But yeah, it’s a lotof fun, I’ll tell you. You know uh, that heaviersinker. . When you go tothat 3/8 ounce- you can goto lighter stuff and tryweightless stuff, but whenyou’re having the wind andeverything that we have, alot of times that heaviersinker gets it right downthere so. . And it helpsyou, also, to be able topitch up underneath uh-with a bait caster- upunderneath some of thesebrush piles that areover hanged and stuff. You can get a littlebit more weight;get a little bit more skipunderneath there with itbut. . I do prettywell with it. I like havingthe heavy weight. And then plus, when youknow they’re on beds thistime of year, it’s goingright down there to them. Watermelon red flake. . Beautiful color. That translucent color or whatever it is, with the- that green; they- they can’t stand it. Remember thatthis time of year,bass are gonnahit bluegill,anything that comesthrough their area rightnow. So anything that yougot a little green on;a little chartreuseon; anything like that;it’s gonna work reallywell up in the shallowsthis time of year. Even a little blue. So- so that kind of stuffright there will reallywork well this time ofyear because those- thebass can’t stand it,and you’ll actually,sometimes, even get aharder hit with anythingwith a little chartreuseor blue and it. Hey folks, for myTip of the Week,I got a couple ofthings for you. First and foremost:anytime that you’refishing a high-pressuredlake, like Saguaro gets,don’t be afraid,especially in the springtime, to find areas that alot of boats aren’t goingto. Because I’m telling you,those areas might not bethe best picked spots, butthey’ve become gold minesfor me in the past. And- and just fishingareas that nobody hasreally touched too much,those fish haven’tbeen messed with that all. And those areas might bethe area that might pulloff the big one. The other tip is, iswhenever you’re doingshallow water fishing,it’s very important to besure that when you’reon your big motor,backoff clear enough backto where you can drop yourtrolling motor andmove in quietly. You want to be stealthywhen you get into theseshallow fish. It’ll help you a lot,and you can catch themquicker; they’renot so spooky;and that’s a bigtip right there. Because if you pullright in on them,drop the trolling motorand just jump right up onit, you’re gonnaspook the fish. He knows you’re thereso. . So the thing is,be a little more stealthy. You know, giveyourself some time;use your trollingmotor; scoot in on them;and you’re goingto catch more bass. Again, I’m putting abobber-stopper or on this,just so you know. Because I have tochange out my bait. They tore my watermelon-my- my watermelon redflake uh, ACBbrush hog up. That- that thing rightthere is un- look at thecolors in that. I don’t know if the sun-I don’t even know if thecamera does thething justice. It’s really cool looking. But, I’m going toput the bobber-stop,and I’m also- because I’musing tungsten- gonna puta bobber-stop underneaththe tungsten weight. Now, I’m using a bead soI can get that ‘click’. It’s still- the bead stillhits the tungsten a littlebit, and I stillget that click,but at least thattungsten’s not cuttingeverything. And cutting myknot and all that,so. . Then I’m gonna goahead and put this on. 2/0 wide-gap hook. And you have to remembersomething: that you’ve gotsteeper water a loton- on Saguaro Lake. We have a lot ofsteeper water. A lot of guys going to theback, where it’s all flat. But remember, some of theareas that are kind ofbeing untouched- butyou’re gonna have to kindof flip underneath them,and that’s why I like thisheavier sinker, this 3/8ounce- is flip underthis brush right here onsome of these bluffierareas. The good news is, is thatsome of these bluffierareas have little shallowflats on them as well,that just kinda goout a little bit. So, you know, you’ll beable to find a rock orsomething that thefish will spawn on,and they hang upunderneath that. So you’ll- you’ll have asteep bluff, and then youhave a little embankment comeout that’s kind of flat. And that kind of stuff rightthere, they’ll hang on. But a lot of guys like tojust get up and fish theflats, which I do too,but. . When you run out ofroom, and you runout of places to go,and everybody’s fishingthem on a tight lake likethis, you can hit some ofthese secondary areas andstill catch your fishuh, in shallow water,even though itlooks bluffy. You just gotta lookfor those ledges. That’s what youcall ‘gettingthem out of thetrees’, baby!He looked bigger thanthat, down there. He was in those bulrushs,that’s for sure. I’ll tell you what folks,you have got totry doing this. You know, you can throwthe- the white craws,things like that, whenyou can really see them. When the light levelgoes low- and I justlike to kinda cast- youcan still see the beds andstuff, but oncein a while,when the sun peeks throughthe cloud or something,I can see them. . Throwing in there,flipping in there;something natural coloredmakes me feel a lot morecomfortable a lot of timestoo, if I can get awaywith it, and I do that. But, I’ll tell youwhat, you can’t beat aTexas-rig. You have got to try it. And uh, do a littleflipping in the brush. Because you know those bigfish will be in there, too. And I’ll tell you, you’llhave a lot of fun withthis Arizona CustomBaits brush hog. I’ll tell you,it’s awesome. Watermelon red flakeon Saguaro Lake,you’re gonna catcha lot of fish on it. Good luck to you, we’llsee you on the water,I’m Johnny Johnson.
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