Oh there’s one,right there!Little smallmouth,it looks like. It is; it’s alittle smallmouth!Come on. On that Rio Rico;look at that. He hit it hard, too. Dude; you wastedno time, son!Boy, you got it all insideyour mouth there, buddy. There we go. He’s just a little guy. He hit it with someferociousness, though. That boy was ferocious!Folks, today we’reat Roosevelt Lake. The lake is up!Look at all thebushes in the water. I mean, you could callthis, you know, weedless,Texas rig, flipping,top water, buzz bait;whatever youwant to throw. We’re here late spring. And uh, youknow of course,I love around theoutside of this;to see if those femalesor the bigger fish havepulled out a little bit. You know; just to seeif they might be on theoutside of this stuff; orthrow up in the pocketswith one of my favoritetop water baits,the Rio Rico. You can get the Rico, too,but this one’s a littlebit bigger. You can cast ita lot farther. That’s the Gold Digger. Brand-new colorwe have here. And uh, it’s awesome. And I love it because it’sgot that little chartreusetip tail. Almost has thatbluegill- you can see,with the eyes and allthat- that bluegill color. And. . This time of year afterthe fish have spawned,a lot of times they’rewatching their fry bythese trees;things like that. And uh, a lot of times they can’t stand the bluegill or anything around them- anything thatcomes around them- andthey’ll just crush baitslike this, so. I just thought ‘well,we’ll pull this out andsee what we can’t do’;it’s the first time I’vethrown it. We’ve taken maybe 10 or20 casts on it just comingdown this littlepocket here,just to seewhat’s going on. The water is dingya little bit. We gotta find a cadencethat they like, obviously. That one kinda hitit- I was moving it,not real fast, but Iwas chugging it along. And it’s funny; becausewhen you first come outhere, you’re tryingto figure out, ‘okay,how do I throw this bait’?You know, a lot ofpeople, you know,the old school‘throw it out there;let the rings disappear’,which is good. If you don’t see a lotof shad action going on;a lot of fish busting;things like that,then you can slow it downa little bit and justkinda throw it out therewherever you’re gonnathrow it; by abush; whatever. I threw it in the bush;but it’ll come out ofthere, too, if you reallyease it out of there. Pop; just poppedit out of there. And I’ll let the ringsdisappear a little bit. And then I’ll just giveit a couple of chugs likethat; let it sit there. Couple of more littlepops; let it sit there. You don’t need realheavy pops like this. At times you can get awaywith that when they’rechasing shad. And this bait will‘spit’ up in front of it;and you can see how itlooks like little fry orsomething that’s moving. Sometimes you can get itby a bush and just pop itonce like that, andhave all that fry there,and have one justcome up and crush it. But a lot of times itcomes down to- with topwater like this- findinga cadence that they mightlike. We’ll play aroundwith it a little bit. We’ve got other baitswe can throw, for sure. I’m just trying to see ifthere’s some kind of topwater bite going on. That’s my first topwater fish of the year,to be honest with you. So we’ll uh, we’ll go downthe bank here a little bitand just kinda throwthis thing around. I like to kinda parallelalongside the trees andthings like that. And just see if wecan’t get a big blowup,you know? This is a lot of fun to throw. And there’s nothing more fun than watching a fish explode on your bait. I’ve had the bait just sitting there, after popping it once like that,and had fish justcome up and whack it. So you just gotta findout what they want. A lot of times it’s not somuch the bait that you’rethrowing, it’s the cadencethat you’re throwing it. And so that’s whatwe’ll find out. They’re eithergonna, you know,bite the few cadencesthat I’m gonna do,or we’ll have totry something else. But I’ll tell you what;this bait can be a lot offun to throw. And if you’re catchingquality fish on a baitlike this but you’re notgetting a lot of bites,it’s still worth throwing. You know?So we’re gonna go down thebank and see what we can’tdo here, andcatch us a fish. Oh there’s one, there!Oh that’s a little bitbetter fish, folks! Little Rico bass!Oh he slapped at it andhe’s got it underneath hischin!Got it underneathhis chin!Oh no no no no; I don’twant him tearing off thosehooks. That’s why you use a-Look at that. One of thereasons you use a-Look at that; we got him-let’s see if I can get himin. He slapped at that thing. Little largemouth. Hello, buddy. What happened there, is hecame up and slapped at it. Little bit betterfish, right there. Boy, you can tell they’vealready spawned out there,but. Anyways; ol’ uh. . One of the reasonsyou want to use like,a medium action rod. And there’s a couple oftricks to throwing a baitwith really smalltreble hooks like this. Treble hooks arefun to throw. You would thinkthat, ‘wow,once they grab the treblehooks, you got them’. But they can tearfrom them, too. So. . Couple of things: I liketo use that medium actionrod for my top water. Okay?So I’ll use a- I’musing a Taipan. And this is a 7′ 6″. Okay?Medium Taipanrod right there. Okay; and one of thethings that’s reallyimportant is that I putmonofilament line on myreel. I’m using the Ardentbait-cast reel. It’s an awesome reel. These reels are awesome;you can get a real longcast with them. But I put the monofilamenton there because I likesomething, number one;that floats a little bitand has a littlestretch in it. So this is a15 pound test. Okay?Monofilament line. And uh, I use green line;I like the green line. We’re in dirty water; I’vealways kinda liked thegreen line. The clear line has atendency to put off alittle shine to it. So when I’m aroundthe trees and stuff,I don’t want somethingthat’s glistening so much,but- with the sun. But it allowsenough stretchbetween the rod and theline to be able to getfish like what we justcaught, on the back hook. Barely had him hooked;because he slapped at it. Now a lot of times whatthese fish will do,is they’ll come up, andinstead of just actuallyeat the bait, they’llgo up and slap it. Especially; especiallyif they’re guarding fry. Because all’s they’retrying to do is get thething out of the way. So they’ll go up there and smack at it, and try to threaten the bait or whatever. And a lot of times, sometimes they’ll go up there to kill it and then turn around and come back and eat it. But these treble hooks that they put on these things are pretty dog gone sharp. They’re really ultra-sharp treble hooks. Having the right equipmentto throw with this: youdon’t want areal heavy rod. Because if youuse a heavy rod,then the odds of youpulling the hook out ofthe fish are pretty goodwhen you’re trying to reelthe fish in; especiallywhen it surges. You have to worry aboutwhen the fish surges. Because when it actuallymakes that initial surge,like when it sees the boatand starts going down, that’s when the rod tip and the line and everything come into play. So you want to make sure that you’re good for that. This isn’t the kind of bait you want to throw out there, catch the fish, and start reeling him across the top of the water and hope he don’t dive; and then he’s gone, so. One thing I love about this bait is it’s got- you can hear it- it’s got a littlerattle in it. So you can kinda walkthis bait real slow,and it’s got thoselittle rattles. And especiallyin dingier water,if they’re on oneside of the bush,they can hear it. They can hear it overthere and they’ll runaround to the other sideof the bush and go grabit; you know? You know; one thingthat’ll really help you incatching some ofthese fish, too,is to be sure thatwhen your casting,and you’re targeting alittle bush like we havehere: I want tocast past the bush;I don’t want to be righton top of the bush. There’s nothing wrong withcasting ‘by’ it, like so,okay; and then bringthe bait by the bush. And get it as close to thebush as you can withoutgetting too hung up. But the thing is: youusually get a littleforgiveness; like I’min the bush there?Let’s see if it’ll-there it comes;see how it came loose?A lot of times, you popit loose; you catch one. But bringing it by thebush is always better thanslamming it righton top of the bush. Because a lot oftimes these fish,especially if they’rewatching fry or anythinglike that, are subsurface;they’re just right upunderneath where you canalmost see them in thebushy part of the bush. And they’re watchingaround it and everything. So if they seesomething coming in, you got a better chance of getting that fish to go out and target it. So that’ll help you a bunch when you’re throwingthis kind of baitaround those areas. Sometimes it’s tough; whenyou find the lanes andthings like this andyou’re throwing in,you’re gonna hit a bush. But you might be tryingto hit a different bush. But all- you know; yougot to hit them all. You gotta find the onesthat hold- just like thestags; I call these‘stags’ back here;they’re twigs. And they could beholding in there. Or they might be holdingin the green stuff here;these green bushes. And it’s just a matterof you going around andthrowing to all of themto find out which one theymight be hanging out in,or where they might be. I find that whenthey’re watching fry,they tend to likebushier type bushes;the fry tend togather in that area; unless the only thing they do have is a stag, so. With all the bushes that we have now in the flooded Roosevelt, the way it is, you can find a lot of thisgreen stuff allover the place. Now, trying to pick andchoose what color you wantto throw: now remember;early in the spring or midspring when thesefish have spawned,a lot of times they’rewatching their fry aroundthe bushes. So that’s kind of whatwe’re targeting a littlebit today. Now, you’re going to havea couple of things goingon; you might see- startseeing shad up in theshallows. So if you see thembusting a lot of shad, then you want to be throwing more shad colored baits. But right now I’m throwing more bluegill, perch colored baits; frog colored baits like this;my Formula color. You know; anything that’sgot a little blue andchartreuse in it;frog colors; you know. Anything kind oflike that, okay?I like this because I’musing the- this particularone here; the Gold Digger. It’s got thatchartreuse tip on it. I like that. But if I’m gonnago for the shad,I like the Lightning Shadpatterns or just the shadpatterns of these Ricos. And those work good whenthey’re actually bustingthe shad. So the deal is, if youthink they’re reallyfeeding on frogs, orthey’re feeding onbluegill and perch, that’swhen you want to go tothose perch colors. And as soon asthat’s done,I usually all the timethroughout the summer,will throw that shad colorand I’ll do really good onit, so. Shad in fall when they’rereally busting- or uh-summer and fall, whenthey’re really busting onthem shad, andlate spring,then I’ll switch over tothe shad colors becausethey have the whitebottoms on them. And they’ve got the littlewhite tails and things. But I’ve designed thismore for clear water. You want to use thosetranslucent colors whenyou’re in realclear water. Right now we’renot in clear water. That’s why we’rethrowing the Gold Digger. And you can see thebottom’s kind of perchcolored; and that’swhat we’re looking for. So that’s whatI’m gonna throw. And uh, just kinda go downthe bank and find someareas. Now one thing you willlearn about this type offishing is you’re gonnafind pockets and cuts andstuff that just aren’tas good as others. You just gotta keepcasting and going. You know; until youfind some areas. You’ll come into an areawhere you will go boomboom boom; catchfish; they’re active. You’ll go into anotherarea and you’ll go,’what happened’?Somebody shutthe lights off. It happens at every lake. You know; and for somereason- that’s why theycall it fishing. You gotta keep ‘finding’until you find the fish. Oh there’s one!There’s one!Oh! Catching a lotof the buck bass. Little Rio Ricobass; look at that!And he’s a little- little. Get in here son!There. And there you have it. He exploded on it. Good fish. One thing you’lllearn about top water,more thananything, is boy,talk about catching youwhen you least expect it,man. These fish will-you’ll turn your head, and all of the sudden your lure’s gone. I’m looking for my next cast, and all the sudden I heard the splash; I look over and my bait’s gone. I’m like, ‘aah. . ‘ There he is! What I’m doing with the cadence on this particularbait right now, is justkinda keeping it coming. Real light,though; real light. Not real big splashes;I’m not spitting way up infront of me. I’m letting the rattlesdo the work and uh,just kind ofwalking it, almost. Just kinda- just enoughtwitches to- and I’ll stopit for a second; but I’llkinda keep it coming;not giving them a goodchance to get a good lookat it. But it- I don’t know;maybe it acts a littleinjured orsomething to them,and they just comeup and crush it. Hey folks, one thingthat’s really tough aboutthrowing this bait, is itdoes have a lot of treblehooks on it. And it’s hard- you wouldthink that it’s hard toget it through the brush. And, say, you’re nota very good caster andyou’re worried aboutthat kind of stuff. Well, number one: when youthrow it over a tree orbranch or anythinglike that-like I just threwright in that area-I know I’m overthis next bush. My line’s hangingover this next bush;coming up to it. Now what I’m gonna doinstead of jerking realfast, realizing thatI made a bad cast andgetting it all caught up,I’m just gonna go aheadand work the bait to thebush- you might initiate astrike through there- andthen just kinda pop itthrough. You lift your rod tip upa little bit and kinda hopit through, and a lot oftimes it’ll come rightthrough there. Now granted, if it’s abig stick or something,that might betougher to do. But the thing is, is a lotof these branches are realsoft. So what ends up happeningis the bait will workthrough that. But if you try to giveit a hard jerk as you’recoming through that tree,you’re gonna bury the hookin something and it’sgonna be tougher to getout. Now that’s gonna help youa lot when you’re fishingthis kind of baitaround the bushes. Because this bait worksaround the bushes,and you want to beable to throw it. That’s my Tip of the Week. You know thisis the time- Oh!There’s one, there! That one’s a littlebetter fish now, son!Let me tell you!Whoa!I love thiskind of fishing!There is nothing more funthan throwing up behind abush. . and catching a fish. That is a blast. Come on in here, Moby. That’s one of thebigger ones today. Actually. Come on in here;I’ll bring you in. I just don’t wantyou to hook me. There you go. All right. Beautiful little fish. All right buddy. You know, one thing that’sreally helped us out alittle bit, too, is-sometimes you really gottatarget your casts. And what I mean bythat is- you know,a lot of folks will godown the bank- and youlearn this in tournaments-is a lot of people will godown the bank and they’rehitting the outside,mid-lake partof the bushes. And that’s one of thereasons you see a lot oftournament fishermankinda angle themselves;parallel the bank andfish behind the bush wherenobody else is fishing. You know, I was recently fishing a tournament at Lake Pleasant and didn’t do so well, but I did get a limit every day. And my ticket was, is I was in an area where itfelt like there was 15boats in there at alltimes; just onelittle cove. The only area Icould really see in. But a lot of them, justwere missing where thefish were. And- you know, I lost aneight pounder- but whatI’m saying is, is a lotof those fish were beddingbehind the bush, andeverybody was looking infront. And they’d just keepgoing down the bank;and they wouldn’t turnand look behind the bush. And if you sawbehind the bush,there’d be someback there,and nobody saw them. And so in sayingthat, you know,the Rico’s the same way. When you’re going down thebank and you’re tossing,for example, you cansee this bush here;a lot of guys would hitthe outside of the bush. You need to parallel,and get behind the bush alittle bit. You know; way back there. I didn’t make thegreatest of casts,but that’s pretty muchwhat I’m talking about. And get behind where thebait’s not normally at;where people don’tnormally throw a bait. And that angle- becausefishing is about angles-that angle will reallyhelp you in maybe gettingthat fish that everybodyelse is passing up. Well, it’s beena fun day today. You have to go pickup some Rio Ricos. The new uh- the new bait-look how they’ve tore thatbait up. I’ve had quite a few thatwe didn’t even- didn’teven get, but we torethem up pretty good;had a lot of fun. A lot of little ones, butthe big ones will startmoving up. That Gold Diggeris the way to go,let me tell you. It’s an awesome-awesome color. And uh, like I said; whenyou see them start goingto shad, then go tothe shad patterns. Lightning shad isanother great color. But that’s a brand-newcolor for this year andit’s a lot offun to throw. Thanks for joiningus on the show. We’ll see you next week,I’m Johnny Johnson.
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