Fishing with Johnny Johnson – Catching Bedding Bass Without Your Eyes

Got him! That little
Neko rig!You know. . . Ooh, I barely got him
hooked in that. . . He’s just a little guy. Get in here!Throwing up by the
reeds a little bit. Throwing that Neko
rig’s a lot of fun. You know, when these fish
get pressured- that’s justa little guy but. .
We’ll throw him back. I’m gonna have to put on
another worm, for sure. He ripped my worm up. But. . We’re at Saguaro
Lake today, folks. And when the fish get
really pressured- it’sstarting- the wind’s
picking up a little bit,which we kinda
didn’t want. What we wanted, was to see
the- the lake stay slick. With everybody pressuring
the lake so much,sometimes you
have to downsize,and that Neko rig’s a
lot of fun to throw. And uh,it’s kind of a-
kind of a fun deal,where you put the weight
inside 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 braid
line so I can get it out. The braid allows you to
cast this thing a long ways. And I’m just using a
little drop shot hook. It’s a 1/0 dropshot hook. And what I’m doing, is I’m
sticking a little 4 inchuh, worm on it. You can use 6
inch, 4 inch,just depends on what
you want to throw. I like these. Arizona Custom Bait worms. This is the
oxblood deluxe. And you basically hook
this thing up wacky style. But I’m hooking it where
it’s somewhat weedless andI’m gonna stick
the- stick the uh,hook where when
I pull it. . Right in there like so. Do you see how
I’ve got the hook?And then what I’ll do, is
I’ll end up putting theweight right
inside the worm. I’m gonna take a
little nail weight;I’m gonna put it
inside 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 get
tungsten weights. You can do the lead
or the tungsten. Lead’s a little bit
cheaper- those little nailweights- but man, this thing
throws out there so nice. I like to throw these
kinds of worms weightlessa lot of times. If you’re in real
shallow water,little breeze blowing,
then you- you can throwit. . The Neko style-
where you throw the littleweight in the head- throw
it out there on 6 poundtest line and
man, 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 red
flake in it- watermelonred flake. It’s a 4 1/2 inch. Something small, because
I didn’t want to thrownothing really, really
big, Texas-rigging around. And uh, throwing it on my
heavy gear and I’m justkinda. . . You know, big fish
are moving up into theshallows this time of
year, and you know,everything’s bedding,
and it’s hard to see,with the wind
blowing and stuff,but you know you can
always pick up a Texas-rigand just kinda start
fan-casting these shallowslike this and
drag it real slow. Sometimes you can get
those fish to bite. That was a good
two pounder. And uh, you know, so
that’s what I’ll do. I- I- you know- with the
cloud cover and all ofthat, sometimes it just
gets too hard to see. So what you can do: take
off the white stuff,because you don’t need it-
you can’t really see it-and just kinda fan-cast
the area and just startbringing your
bait in real slow. And I’ll tell you what,
sometimes you’ll bereally. . Uh. . You might
get a big bite doing this,for sure. Because you don’t
know what’s coming,but you might drag it
across that bed or put itright in that area
where they want. But you need to really
fancast these cuts likethis, and just kinda work
real slow and just drag it. I just threw it up on the
bank 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 if
you can catch them. You know the
fish are there. We saw a whole lot of
beds and stuff when uh,when the water was,
you know. . Sun was out,and the water wasn’t all
wavy 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 ounce
uh, sinker on this,as well. Bullet weight. I’m throwing 17
pound test line,and I’m just dragging
it on the bottom. That’s all I’m doing. Something a
little bit small,just so I can get the- the
little males or somethingto bite. Oh, he might’ve taken
one of my tails. Nope, it’s there. But this is an
awesome little bait. And of course, watermelon
red flake is always a goodcolor for this
kind of water. You know. . Clear
water, it’s beautiful. So the fish are here, you
just gotta- you just gottafan-cast it out there. And I love the way this
sinks to the bottom realquick. And just drag it. Don’t even- I don’t even
bother lifting it off thebottom, because you do
want 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 thing
on the way out. I was crawling it up
this way off the point,looking around,
and he smashed it. Didn’t even
see him hit it. That’s the cool
thing. . Like I said,when you get the cloud
cover and all of that,you can still get up and
look a little bit but. . . I’ll tell you. . I’ll just
Texas-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 long
as you know the fish areshallow, you can
still get them. It’s not- it’s not quite
as fun as being able tosee them, but as long as
you’re casting around,like I say, in
the shallows,there’s- there’s
beds there. He smacked it right in
front of the boat while Iwas over looking
at something else. There’s something about
watermelon red flake. If you’re gonna
throw anything,either a green pumpkin or
watermelon red flake man,is a good color. Love those colors. Gotta have them. I’m just hooking
it up weedless. And I’m using- because
that bait is so small- I’monly using a 2/0
wide-gap hook. Now, you can use
an offset-shank,2/0 or 3/0 but. . The
bait’s kind of smallbecause it’s real thin. But it still has great
leg action and all that. It works great. So. . I’m gonna
turn around. Go back up through there. This is a big flat
right up in here,so you can cast just about
anywhere and probably dragit over something good. You know, I use a- a
heavy action rod when I’mthrowing this
kind of stuff. I’m throwing 17 pound test
line; heavy action rod;because what’s cool
about doing this, too,is you can flip it up in
the brush if you think thefish are up in there. There’s nothing more fun
than throwing up in thereand hearing the- the reeds
rattle, that’s for sure,when you’re doing
this kind of fishing. Got him!Oh yeah, that’s
a nice one! Oh. . He’s got another
one chasing him!Oh look at that!Come on son!You are an aggressive
little dude. Easy easy easy easy. Look at that fish. Beautiful Saguaro
Lake bass. Throw right up
in the tulies. Right up along
those tulies. I saw that dude roaming
around in there. I’m like, ‘hey we might be
able 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 in
the spring, I hate it. In the clear water
it’s not so bad though,because you can still
see 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 made
around the brush piles andstuff like that. So, you know, you see a
bare spot there, obviously. I can’t see anything on
it; the wind blowing in;we’re kind of
sheltered a little bit;but I just thought I’d
throw up in there and see,and there he was. That’s when you need
that 17 pound test line. You know, when you’re
throwing up in this stuff,you want to use
that heavy line. 17+ or braid or something
but. . With as clear as thewater is- and I’m kind of
fishing the outskirts ofit- I kinda like just
using the 17 pound testline. Toss into the bush,nothing but fish!Come on, you’re
done. . You’re done. Had to flip that little
thing right up into thebrush pile. I’ll tell you what man,
these things are a lot offun to fish when you
get into this brush. Something to
never overlook,especially when you’re
going back to cuts,is you’re going to have
some areas- especially onSaguaro, that has good
little drop-offs- butevery once in a while
you’ll see a little flaton it. And we got a little
flat right here,even though we’re in a-
in an area where it’s morebluffy, and it’s got
a little flat on it. And uh, that
little tiny flat,the fish was just
hanging around that. And I had to get it up
under- I had to actuallythrow it up underneath a
brush pile there to gethim. But uh, he was there. He only bit it twice!But yeah, it’s a lot
of fun, I’ll tell you. You know uh, that heavier
sinker. . When you go tothat 3/8 ounce- you can go
to lighter stuff and tryweightless stuff, but when
you’re having the wind andeverything that we have, a
lot of times that heaviersinker gets it right down
there so. . And it helpsyou, also, to be able to
pitch up underneath uh-with a bait caster- up
underneath some of thesebrush piles that are
over hanged and stuff. You can get a little
bit more weight;get a little bit more skip
underneath there with itbut. . I do pretty
well with it. I like having
the heavy weight. And then plus, when you
know they’re on beds thistime of year, it’s going
right 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 that
this time of year,bass are gonna
hit bluegill,anything that comes
through their area rightnow. So anything that you
got a little green on;a little chartreuse
on; anything like that;it’s gonna work really
well up in the shallowsthis time of year. Even a little blue. So- so that kind of stuff
right there will reallywork well this time of
year because those- thebass can’t stand it,
and you’ll actually,sometimes, even get a
harder hit with anythingwith a little chartreuse
or blue and it. Hey folks, for my
Tip of the Week,I got a couple of
things for you. First and foremost:
anytime that you’refishing a high-pressured
lake, like Saguaro gets,don’t be afraid,
especially in the springtime, to find areas that a
lot of boats aren’t goingto. Because I’m telling you,
those areas might not bethe best picked spots, but
they’ve become gold minesfor me in the past. And- and just fishing
areas that nobody hasreally touched too much,
those fish haven’tbeen messed with that all. And those areas might be
the area that might pulloff the big one. The other tip is, is
whenever you’re doingshallow water fishing,
it’s very important to besure that when you’re
on your big motor,backoff clear enough back
to where you can drop yourtrolling motor and
move in quietly. You want to be stealthy
when you get into theseshallow fish. It’ll help you a lot,
and you can catch themquicker; they’re
not so spooky;and that’s a big
tip right there. Because if you pull
right in on them,drop the trolling motor
and just jump right up onit, you’re gonna
spook the fish. He knows you’re there
so. . So the thing is,be a little more stealthy. You know, give
yourself some time;use your trolling
motor; scoot in on them;and you’re going
to catch more bass. Again, I’m putting a
bobber-stopper or on this,just so you know. Because I have to
change out my bait. They tore my watermelon-
my- my watermelon redflake uh, ACB
brush hog up. That- that thing right
there is un- look at thecolors in that. I don’t know if the sun-
I don’t even know if thecamera does the
thing justice. It’s really cool looking. But, I’m going to
put the bobber-stop,and I’m also- because I’m
using tungsten- gonna puta bobber-stop underneath
the tungsten weight. Now, I’m using a bead so
I can get that ‘click’. It’s still- the bead still
hits the tungsten a littlebit, and I still
get that click,but at least that
tungsten’s not cuttingeverything. And cutting my
knot and all that,so. . Then I’m gonna go
ahead and put this on. 2/0 wide-gap hook. And you have to remember
something: that you’ve gotsteeper water a lot
on- on Saguaro Lake. We have a lot of
steeper water. A lot of guys going to the
back, where it’s all flat. But remember, some of the
areas that are kind ofbeing untouched- but
you’re gonna have to kindof flip underneath them,
and that’s why I like thisheavier sinker, this 3/8
ounce- is flip underthis brush right here on
some of these bluffierareas. The good news is, is that
some of these bluffierareas have little shallow
flats on them as well,that just kinda go
out a little bit. So, you know, you’ll be
able to find a rock orsomething that the
fish will spawn on,and they hang up
underneath that. So you’ll- you’ll have a
steep bluff, and then youhave a little embankment come
out that’s kind of flat. And that kind of stuff right
there, they’ll hang on. But a lot of guys like to
just get up and fish theflats, which I do too,
but. . When you run out ofroom, and you run
out of places to go,and everybody’s fishing
them on a tight lake likethis, you can hit some of
these secondary areas andstill catch your fish
uh, in shallow water,even though it
looks bluffy. You just gotta look
for those ledges. That’s what you
call ‘gettingthem out of the
trees’, baby!He looked bigger than
that, down there. He was in those bulrushs,
that’s for sure. I’ll tell you what folks,you have got to
try doing this. You know, you can throw
the- the white craws,things like that, when
you can really see them. When the light level
goes low- and I justlike to kinda cast- you
can still see the beds andstuff, but once
in a while,when the sun peeks through
the cloud or something,I can see them. .
Throwing in there,flipping in there;
something natural coloredmakes me feel a lot more
comfortable a lot of timestoo, if I can get away
with it, and I do that. But, I’ll tell you
what, you can’t beat aTexas-rig. You have got to try it. And uh, do a little
flipping in the brush. Because you know those big
fish will be in there, too. And I’ll tell you, you’ll
have a lot of fun withthis Arizona Custom
Baits brush hog. I’ll tell you,
it’s awesome. Watermelon red flake
on Saguaro Lake,you’re gonna catch
a lot of fish on it. Good luck to you, we’ll
see you on the water,I’m Johnny Johnson.