#NationalGoFishingDay Classic Bass Pros Episodes

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Charlotte North Carolina we have a great season of shows spooled up and ready to go and today ishman row is going to show us that Florida is popping with giant bass that live and well the nastiest gnarliest jungle vegetation on planet Earth that's coming up on in-depth then I'm going to talk to you about picking the right speed reel for your style fishing in the zone but first first Elite Series champion at defo is going to show us how current flow even power plants dictate how bass hold tight to cover coming up now in fishing in five [Music] this morning coming up the highway we decided to go to Old Hickory Lake which is an impoundment on the Cumberland River decided to go up the river a little bit and fish near a plant it used to be a cold fired plant the last time I was here but now it's a nuclear powered plant so it's a little bit different when you're fishing the kind of water that comes out of those two places one of them can be really hot coming out of that cold plant a nuclear plant it's still going to have good current but just not that temperature change that I was expecting can you hear that that's that discharge right here it's putting out some water let's see if we can catch some bass around it ended up when we got in there and started fishing around the temperature of the water coming out of the plant was actually cooler than that of the main river and being that at summertime man that was drawing those fish in there like a magnet the area was just absolutely loaded with Bait fish in their first thing this morning that was bait flipping everywhere and there were fish busting in them too duee to that water being 3 or 4° cooler than the area around it there's a fish that's a little guy I threw a top water up there on that point and didn't get bit but threw a crank bed up there and one grabbed it there buddy it's a nice one to start the morning the thing about fishing around a discharge is figuring out where that current's hitting and being able to maximize your potential there you know that those fish are going to be related to that current but hands down the number one most important thing around the discharge is Bait fish and we've got a lot of it right here see buddy another thing about the fish around the discharge is a lot of times they really get grouped up on very specific stuff so once you find that fish you catch one on a certain angle make sure you make repetitive cast to that same spot a lot of times you'll catch another [Music] one that is a fish that's a big one [Music] come here buddy man that fish there dude he slammed it good but the deal is I fished my worm through there got a couple bites didn't catch them picked the crankbait back up caught a white bass caught a large mouth those fish are wanting to react to something right now they're not want wanting something slow dragged on the bottom they want a crankbait moving fast see right now right there is the reason the large mouth white bass all that's in here here you see at the thread fin Shad even though the color may not be exactly what I'm using the size is really really close you know so those that's what those fish are eating they're keying in on those Shad they're flipping around all over the surface here that's what those bass are eating right here I must have landed right on his head that drop shot that's the same little high spot I've been catching them on on the crankbait they seem to have slowed down on it I riged me up a drop shot with a Berkeley Havoc bottom Hopper worm on it and got one to bite it that's a great bait to follow up with a crankbait when you're fish in a place like this and you know those fish are there but you just can't get them to keep biting try a drop shot a lot of times you will and if you look in his throat you can see a tail of one of those Shad just like that one that I caught earlier on the crankbait those fish are still there and they're still feeding I've just got to change baits a little bit and sometimes you can get them to bite again all the bite that I've caught right here have been on a very specific place except the first one he was over here by himself all the rest of them have come out of honestly where I would expect them to be it's the piece of structure here that's getting the absolute most amount of current when you're fishing the discharge it's as if you're fishing a river all in itself in a confined area so you really have to pick it apart find those very specific little places where those fish are going to feed it's just a little high spot right here in the middle it's got some really good hard bottom on it and that's where those fish are set up that current's washing out of there it's washing those Bait fish to them the bass are actually sitting still they're not roaming around they're not moving a lot the bass are there they're letting the bait fish do the work and that current's doing the work for them just pushing those bait around those bass sit still wait on them to show up that's when they eat them Florida strain bass have become famous for one thing and that is being big but there's two problems with that number one they're incredibly intelligent they're big for a reason and number two they they live in the nastiest stuff on planet Earth ishman Rowe is going to teach us how to catch one of those giants in today's in depth [Music] got [Music] it [Music] [Applause] woo today we're fishing vegetation and lots of it coming to a lake with vegetation in it means that there's probably a good population of bass that's why I get excited when I come to places like this you're going to see flat reads round reads you're going see some cmig grass hydrilla which is one of my personal favorites some lily pads I mean there's so many different types of vegetation out there you just got to find some and key in on it to catching bass vegetation usually tells you that you have a healthy Lake usually very good water quality the vegetation will actually filter out a lot of the silt in the lake and so then you get real clean water which allows those fish easy access for feeding when they can see a bait from far away they can swim over there and eat him that's good got all that grass with it thought it was bigger than that woo but can see all the vegetation the one thing that you're going to find about a bass in vegetation is that he knows that there's always somewhat of a constant food source a lot of the insects live on the grass which then attracts The Bait fish which obviously the bait fish attract the bass [Applause] is that one's back in the matted vegetation oh that was a mixture of cmig grass alligator grass blown in hydrilla it's like a combination of a little bit of everything and usually places like that whole bass because there's something there that they want so if you can find a good mixture of everything I mean there's even a few lily pads around so you've got four or five different types of grass here and so that fish was kind of just sitting in mixed in with that well when you're looking at vegetation say you're fishing you know flat reads or round reads or you're fishing some lily pads and there's little points that come out and I call those basically the Ambush points that's where the fish is going to sit to Ambush the bait now also if you're fishing places like hydrilla or cmig grass and there's holes in it then you want to make sure you pitch into those holes holes because those holes are open areas to where a bass can pop out into it eat the bait and swim back in and then there's the matted vegetation when they're hiding up underneath the blankets of the matted hydrilla or the matted cmig grass or the flat reads are laying over and it's got that canopy there basically what you're doing is you're flipping right in the middle because the biggest fish are going to sit in the heart of that because that's where he's most comfortable made a little bit of move finish some of this offshore hydrilla basically it's just submerged hydrilla bass all over the country seem to really get into this stuff hydrilla is an excellent place to fish when a coal front comes through because those fish will actually get into the hydrilla and sit there and it wraps around their body like a blanket it makes them comfortable and so if you can present a bait to them a lot of times they'll come underneath that blanket and go out and eat something oh there's a good one this one was sitting outside on the submerged grass he just was probably just out here feeding and that's what you get a lot of times in the submerged grass is they're they're feeding but when they're not biting sometimes you got to go to that matted vegetation and you know that's where they're sitting there living hydrilla is excellent I mean hydrilla is my number one choice when talking about vegetation you can punch it when it's matted on top you can punch it when it's underneath you can throw a worm through it you can fish a spinner bait through it hydrilla is probably the one type of vegetation that you can fish any way that you want to fish oh watch him come up to the top and eat it you see that little point that just come out there I mean the when I say Ambush points we're talking about the smallest of points I mean you see that there's a mixture of hydrilla and alligator grass right there and it was just one little point that came out and I reeled it over the top of that point and he just came up and ate it yeah we're coming up to these the arrowhead and these Arrowhead vegetation when I used to come down to Florida they used to call it break your arm grass because they say you're in danger of getting your arm broke because Big Fish seem to really like the arrow heads so I always try to spend a little time fishing it and keying in on it you know fishing the bases of the arrowheads you know with a Texas Rig worm or something real slow like I said is a great place when you're looking for bass around the bedding periods of time couple things that I can tell you to land the biggest bass of your life heavier action rods heavier line size whenever you go to a trophy fishery up your [Music] power oh that's a real good one let me come down here today on the lake that we're fishing it's an excellent place to come go fishing because there's so many different types of vegetation and they're all kind of mixed together so that I can really quickly figure out on what the fish are keying in on now we're kind of out in a cmig grass field and one thing I like about cmig grass it just grows up so much that you get it in so many different stages I mean as you can see what I'm flipping into is the real thick matted version of it there's just Spar stuff out there and then there's submergent cmig grass and the great part about that is the fish have all the different stages that they can pretty much pick and choose what they want if they want to be in shade then they're going to be underneath the matted cmig grass if they're going to be you know ambushing bait they're going to be a little bit more of the sparse stuff and then they can just live in the cmig grass that just Grows Right up another part about the cmig grass as you can see it has lanes and points and and being able to read this grass is is is trying to kind of how you figure it out like if you look at that section right there that we have you know you've got three points you got one right here you got one right here to there and then one right here and then you have the open area right here in the middle and that's where the fish can actually sit and come out of those Ambush points and eat any bait fish that swims through that area this I really like it especially when it gets matted up in its own CMI grass itself you know and what it is is it just seems to grow so much it lays over on top of each other and then the bass use that as a canopy because when it blocks out the sunlight it actually makes a circle of nothing else underneath there and the bass will sitting there waiting to feed if it's matted on the top then you definitely want to punch it but you can also fish around those same mats when it's um emergent when it's sitting below the water throwing top Waters over it is an excellent way to go and then when it's actually above the surface I like to throw uh worms into it you know pitching cinkos into it baits like that and you can even wind a spinner bait through it and burning it through there and catch a lot of big bass that way as well [Music] it's right down this cmig grass line got pads on one side like I said merge hydrilla down here and just vegetation everywhere lily pads love pitching and flipping into lily pads and you know fishing around the edges and like I said creating those little points that come out um that you just have to pay attention to and then pitching in the holes is the way to go with the lily pads when you have a place that has a lot of different types of vegetation and a lot of vegetation I like to fish something fast to cover a lot of water you know maybe it's a swimbait like the missile bait shock wave maybe it's a swimming worm uh Whopper plopper is an also excellent bait and then once you get in an area you know that they kind of stop biting then you can slow down alligator grass only way to do that is flip it you know you're flipping big heavy weight a 1 and a half ounce River to seed trash bomb into it and a 5 O heavy gauge flipping hook and and you have to have those as keys to you know fishing that stuff effectively this stuff right here the alligator grass it's an amazing place for big bass and one of the reason they call it alligator grass is it's tough but that makes it tough to get fish out of this stuff it doesn't really get pressured a lot so when you can actually get into it get that bite you got to guess hold the fish and go in there and kind of get him out and dig in there but you can see how viny and tough this stuff is to fish when I'm fishing in vegetation I really like to use braid the reason I like braid is it has less stretch to it and so you get a better hook set and it actually cuts through the vegetation so you land those really really big fish flat reads and round reads they're pretty much you know you're fishing on the edges of them you're throwing baits that once you get 3 or 4 feet away from that edge you pretty much want to wind up your bait and start all over again so I might parallel those flat reads and also look for those Ambush points that come out from them or I might flip and Pitch into the reads if there's some blown in uh trash or some other type of vegetation mixed in there with it oh that's a giant oh my goodness oh that's a giant that's a giant that's a giant oh my goodness oh come here come here come here come here come here come here come here come here come here oh look at that thing right there folks at home that's a big folks let me tell you get in that vegetation and you catch big fish just like this one right here [Music] here's a fast fact for you you know a drop shot is a bait that you have to have in your Arsenal you know I like to throw a drop shot on Fluor carbon and it really twists your line so mustad has come up with these new no twist drop shot hooks so it makes it very easy to tie up it's got a swivel right connected to the hook a little tiny black swivel and a little loop on the bottom so you can tie your dropper line to it and it just makes it so that that bait can can move freely around it helps the action as the bait's falling it helps the action when the bait's hanging there makes it stand out straight on the hook and then you can add whatever size leader you want to it to your weight so when you're fishing a drop shot it's something you have to have in your Arsenal how do you pick the right speed reel for your fishing well I'm going to tell you in the [Music] zone hey gang one of the most confusing things on planet Earth is picking the right speed reel for your style fishing and here here's the best way to put it if you come into Bass Pro Shops you look at all of these reels right here you see 62 to One 73:1 8 2:1 you say to yourself oh that doesn't mean anything well it does it actually means a lot and one of the biggest things that I can tell you that will help you out is if you come in a Bass Pro Shop you pick a reel out pick a reel out and ask one of the folks that works at Bass Pro how many inches of line does that reel pick up per crank because all reels can say 63 to one but only certain reels actually have more inches per rotation and the other side of that is and this is critical is and I always used to get this wrong when I started fishing was if you're a slow fisherman you fish a jig a lot you fish a worm a lot use a highspeed reel what it's going to do it's going to pick up a lot of slack when you set the hook and on the opposite side of the spectrum if you're a cranker if you're a deep crankbait fisherman if you throw a lot of lipless crankbaits I want you to go to a slower speed reel and I want you to think of that reel as when you drop a car down into first or second gear you're going to gain a ton of power and what you're really letting it do you're letting that reel do the work for you if you go out and sling a deep diving crankbait all day long well you're going to wear yourself out if you have a high-speed reel cuz you're constantly burning and turning but if you're using a slower speed reel for fast baits you're letting the Reel do the work for you so here's the best way to look at it if you're going to Bass Pro Shops and you're going to buy a a worm reel a jig reel find the highest speed reel you can find on the opposite side of the spectrum if you buying a crankbait reel slow down I guarantee you at the end of the day your reel is going to do the work and you're not going to be wor [Music] [Applause] [Music] out hey everyone we have a great show for you today and this is Bass Pro Shops at the pyramid [Applause] [Music] this is a huge Bass Pro Shops inside the now iconic landmark in Memphis Tennessee if you've not seen it you must see it with your own eyes it's amazing today Rick Clen shows us a different way to fish a crankbait just like a jerk bait during the pre-spawn as he goes in depth then what does it mean when we hear the pros talk about boat control I'll dial you in coming up in the zone but first former classic Champion Chris Lane shows us his two favorite lures for the spawn Here Comes fishing in [Music] five there he is today what we're going to do is throw two plastic baits two of my favorite plastic baits during the spawn here on Lake Gunnersville we're onun some shallow Flats of course we got the Liz and the drop dead crawl we're going to try to catch a bunch of fish today and have a lot of [Music] fun number one option this time of year fishing for fish up in the shallows whether they're spawning or getting ready to spawn drop dead crawl number two my favorite plastic has got to be a lizard it's a creature style bait you can either swim it real slow or you can just bring it across their beds or through the grass real easy you know as you can see we're heading into the back of this pocket we've got rock you know there's an old Road bed that comes out of here there's a lot of stumps around it and that's where we're catching our fish today what we're doing is we're making long cast with this lizard and we're slowly bringing it keeping it in contact with the bottom but one of the most important things is when you feel that stump let it sit there for a second or that rock or that road bed that we're coming over let it sit there and wait for that fish to take the bait gear today for the lizard is going to be a 5 O trar hook one thing it's got it pegged on the weight this an XPS weight you just slide that bobber stopper down and it keeps that weight really you know tight onto there of course a 5 a ewg tro car hook and 15lb monofilament come on bigon just pulled into this Cove and they're both right there we're coming back here we got Rip r hard bottom logs Cattails and we got a bass on bed right here we are very shallow right now and one thing with this fish that's up here it's very skittish so we got to be very quiet put your power poles down and really try to just let that fish see that bait as many times until he bites it here he comes here he comes come on Big Boy you know the fish is just sitting there protecting the bed come on you work that bait a little bit the fish is is moving almost gets it and then he doesn't I don't know I don't know if he'll do it and then you pitch it back in there and he almost gets it again being real funny and then all of a sudden man they just take it right [Music] away Springtime what a great time to get out on the water it's beautiful outside everything's warming up great time to go fishing this is the time of year that the lak start to reproduce they try to replenish themselves lot of fish are coming up they're full of eggs catch a bunch of big fish turn around and let them go you know pulled back in this pocket right here off of the main actual River Channel out there fish are pushing up to spawn this time of year water temperatures 63 64° come back in here there's some structure back in here logs a few Docks but mainly log some old tires and uh rocks and Cattails right through here and fish love to spawn by these Cattails and logs they want to they want to you know relate to something so right here we had a log right in front of a cattail and the two three pounder was just sitting there pitched over there with the drop bed crawl got them hey what I'm using right now when we get back into these Pockets where these where we're seeing these fish on bed and seeing you know some heavy covers some logs you're by docks it's a 73 heavy action Rod because a lot of the times when that big fish hits it and you're by docks or trees you want to be able to horse that fish out of there you know you got a 73 Johnny mois carbon light with a 71 gear ratio reel 50 lb strand bra there again we've got a 3/16 weight pegged of course and we have a straight shank TR car hook in here man it's a beautiful time of year to catch fish the fish are starting to push up everything's blooming it's warming up it's beautiful outside get you some soft Plastics go out there get in the shallow water and catch a lot of [Music] fish hey gang during pre-spawn when the water's real cold and shads start dying off we'll big bass love an easy meal and today Rick Ken's going to show us how to fish a crankbait that exact way as he goes in [Music] depth what we're doing with here today is pre spawn conditions uh the water temperature is still fairly cold mid to upper 40s and uh it's the time of the year when the bites can be kind of slow uh my favorite technique probably this time of year is a suspended jerk bake I'm throwing an RC stick suspended bait it's a really a great big fish technique it's when you take that suspended bait and you sit there motionless now you'll see me when I'm counting taking up line but if you'll notice I'm moving toward it that's really kind of tough for most of us Anglers who have fast boats and fast trow Motors we want to keep moving but this is the one time of year that really is going to work against you you got to be able to get that jerk bait down suspended jerk bait and stop it 1,1 1,2 1003 1004 1005 1006 17 1008 then you know move it again there we go see that was about 1,000 seven and I just moved it when he hit it and he tried to eat the head of it as you can tell the head's in his mouth right there hard part is finding that correct what we call Cadence and uh you know and that was first fish maybe that's maybe he give us a real quick answer there but you know we'll continue try and see if that's really the whole key the alternative though is really a technique that I'm going to probably fish more today than the jerk bait and it's going to be crawfish colored crankbaits what I'm going to try to do is do exactly the same thing with it jerk bait is already suspended most crankbaits aren't so I've had to add suspend strips to mine to get it to suspend but I'm going to throw it out there reel it down stop it and do the same thing I don't have to have that jerking motion that I have to have with the jerk bait this one I'm going to have a a little bit different technique after I pause it to move it you know the suspended jerk bait really originated from an evolution of of one lure and it was actually the mental bait evolving into the jerk bait which happened a long long time ago my early career they were not jerk baits they were minim baits but in the Ozarks all of a sudden some guys decided hey in these cold winter days I don't want my bait moving so much I want to suspend so they started wrapping the hooks with this lead weight in doing so they created the jerk bait nowadays the manufacturers already do that for you but a lot of the baits I like the fish this time of year you don't have that luxury and you have to add the weight to yourselves and we'll be fishing crankbaits that I Mak the spin just like a jerk bait the action will be a little bit different but the pulse will be pretty much the same that's the kind you like cuz I didn't have to let it sit very long yeah that's crawfish bait there he kind of made it easy to be honest with you because uh I hit the rock I paused it probably over two count at the most and he he hit it he was probably not he was pretty shallow so that's that's all data you got to take in on this pattern we had one earlier that was probably 10 or 12T on about an eight8 count and this one we had on a you know on about a two count and shallower so uh which is not untypical this time of year they can be spread out a little bit especially on these War days where they're moving from Deep to shallow you know as we explained earlier about the evolution of the jerk bait uh from a floating bait to a suspended bait nowadays with jerk baits we're fortunate we don't have to do any of our own customizing of the bait by putting lead on it to get it to suspend but the other baits and I think they work sometimes even better that we don't hear about that has not have that Evolution or you know our media size crankbaits uh cuz with the jerk bait again uh we're trying to have imitate a shed with this uh middle free care I'm trying to imitate a crawfish and but with these we do have to customize them we do have to go with these suspend strips and uh put them on the belly and I'm going to kind of show what I normally do I basically just take a strip and uh I try to just I try to get it as far forward as possible on these I found right behind that this side right here and it's a strip it's not a suspend dot that way I get more weight on it faster and what I'm trying to do is Achieve the same thing that would have with jerk bait I'll put with these normally two or three or four sometimes it varies uh enough to get it to suspend like a jerk bait and that's all we're trying to do and so uh this is a great technique uh these little suspend strips are very versatile and uh but I like said I'm going to try to put several of them on the bait to get it to uh whatever you're trying to do in other words some guys want it to float up slow some guys want it to suspend some guys want a little faster speed floating up naturally if you don't if you want it to float up fast then you don't put any strips on it this this will pop up real quick but anyway I'll just continue to put on these until I get the desired effect you know the final step once I've added to desired weight and to try to stay consistent with having that crawfish color is I take a red marcelot and just paint that red just so so it kind of Blends in with the original color of the stomach of this crawfish crankbait oh Rick Clen getting it done with a crankbait and if there's really one principle to live by whether it's a stop Ando technique with a crankbait or a suspending jerk bait it's the colder the water is the longer you want to pause that bait the warmer the water the the shorter the pause if you live by that one General principle you will catch more bass during the [Music] pre-spawn even though the jerk bait is probably my favorite pre-spawn technique in cold water real close to it though especially if I think the fish are King more on crawfish it's a mediumsized uh crankbait that I actually put suspend strip on to suspend it's a little bit different the way you get it down but the again most of the strikes what similar to the jerk bait will come on the PS so I'm just going to basically try to get it down to max depth and then stop it and then I'm going to do the same thing jerk bait 1,1 1,002 13 1004 1005 1006 then I instead of jerking it now like we did the jerk bank I I do what I call short spurts just real three or four or five turns of the handle real fast and then I'll pause it again now you'll see me when I'm counting taking up line but if you'll notice I'm moving toward it with the boat so I'm still I'm trying to just take up the line that the boat is moving toward the bait I'm still still trying to keep the bait as Mo L as possible with this bait you know I tend to like to also try to move in a little tighter than I would with the suspended bait where are crawfish crawfish are down in the Rocks so I'm trying to get down in those rocks as quick as I can before I slow it down just imagine that it's in the rocks and you stopped it and it's down there in the bottom of the rocks and now you're just letting it sit above the rocks and then when I move it I move it back in the rocks and stop it again so it's just like a crawfish would be that was better fish he was hooked kind of like that last one though just hooked right in the in the top of the mouth a little bit you know that fish is a good illustration the one I just lost that uh this time of year they do do a lot of that just nipping at the bait and so you're not going to have them hooked quite as good as you might normally like so normally you got to play those fish a little less aggressive than I normally would play one normally if I if I look at the hook and I see he's hooked good I'm pretty aggressive with the fish but the these fish this time of year he was hooked just like the second fish this morning just barely hooked and you got to be a lot gentler with those fish if you want a chance of getting them in the boat you know that's and why right now again I haven't figured out the puzzle is do I need to slow it down more do I need to you know maybe speed it up that's I've made the mistake of thinking in cold water I got to slow down I got to slow down and it ended up being the opposite and only a few more fish hopefully will tell me the answer to that you know another thing I'll try to do with the the spiny behavior that they the pre-spawn fish tend to have at just nipping at the Bas is I will normally upgrade the size of my hooks one size bigger than it's on the bait it just gives me a little bit more hook bite with those what I call slappers and those slappers are hit it and you got a little bit more of a bite that you can you know get a decent penetration what if the water we're fishing is really off color in other words one foot or less visibility that translates into that we're really dealing with a much smaller water column where I think the fish might be active one to 5 foot one to 4 foot and that's when I'm going to probably go away from the deeper baits like the suspend you know jerk bait or the suspend uh freak and go to a square bill but it'll be a flat sided Square bill because I can they're less bullant they won't want to float up fast and I don't want that movement either up sideways or down I want it suspended so I'll just add suspend strips on it until I achieve that desired suspension that's why I tend to choose this type of bait in that off-color water and pre-spawn anytime I'm fishing you know trouble hook baits and baits that on moving a lot I'm using the Bass Pro cranking stick I'm using it in a 7t and a 7 fo6 depending on the particular bait I'm using again I'm using 10 to 12 lb test um premium Excel line I use the same reel it's a Johnny Moore signature reel 6.3 gear ratio I choose that even though a lot of people say well that's going to be fast you're talking about fishing slow I just use the same reel cuz by doing that I'm very intimate with how that bait feels with that reel you change speeds in the Reel you lose that intimacy so if I got to slow it down I just have to mentally Go Slow Down slow it down slow it down and that's when I pause and move at the speed I want it's it's like any sport you got to concentrate on techniques some techniques are more finessed than others the good thing about this technique whether it's a jerk bait technique or the suspended crankbait is all the species that I fish far like it uh and the big fish in those species like it the big large mouth the big small mouth spot it back all of them really like this technique so it's it's a good allaround [Music] technique here's a fast fact for how I pick the best color frog for any situation in Clear Water I want a really dark frog that solid black one is what I'm going to go with when the water's clear in the dirtiest water I'm going to fish a frog and I want something really bright like that white camo it's going to really stand out really well and that kind of in between water I want something that's natural but not too much contrast hot mud camo and brown leopard both of those have some color to them to where those fish are going to see them but still natural enough that in that clear water they'll still get bit something that I found in really clear cold water I like to go to the old school living rubber they call it the flat brown rubber well this is the bait right here that I won the Bassmaster Classic on caught 29 lbs the final day it's an Andy's custom hand tied F jig I just love the color and the subtleness of the flat brown rubber it just there's something special about it I can't really put my finger on it but everybody that's fished it they understand why when you've got those situations like I had in the classic clear cold water bite might be tough go with that old brown flat living rubber are you like me you have an allergic reaction to yourself when you catch a big bass boat control number one thing in fishing let's go in the zone [Music] one of the most important things to do when you catch a big one inevitably what you're trying to do is duplicate what just happened one of the most important things in the world if you look at some of the top names in bass fishing the first thing they do when they catch one let it go and get right back to business in fact in fact here's the best tip I can give you and I've had to work on this here's what you don't need to do you don't need to take a fish and use it as a guitar you don't need to high-five the cameraman for 10 minutes and we drift about a 100 yards away from what just happened hey it's real easy if you have a GPS you catch one you lock a waypoint in you go right back to that spot well what if you're one of those people that doesn't have a GPS right when you catch one just physically lift your head up when you hook one and look at your surroundings look at what the depth is look look at the angle of your cast look at the shoreline to duplicate what just happened the first thing that I teach myself when I hook one I'm instantly in computer mode trying to get as many variables that are around me with my eyeballs to duplicate what just happened to catch bigger and more fish when you catch one what just happened [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World in Charlotte North Carolina and this store right here over 150,000 sare ft of shopping fun you got to come see this and Bassmaster Classic Champion Davey height is going to show us his three favorite lures for the spawn on indepth and have you ever wondered what is the right fishing line to use like if you walk through the fishing line aisle there's a million different fishing lines that's coming up in the zone but first Timmy Horton's going to take us down to Alabama and show us that defined grass lines are the perfect spot for swimming a jig Here Comes fishing in five [Music] [Music] it's pretty cool we get out early in the morning like this and even though it's the heat of the summer you can find a good shallow B if you have shallow cover in your Lake and we're here on pwi lake and it has a lot of hydrilla that is up Shallow we're actually fishing a swim jig with a trailer on there but what this does it really allows that lure to stay on the surface jumping coming through that grass it's weedless when that grass is really close to the surface there's not a lure that comes through it better than a swim jig but for the most part these fish are on this outside edge and this Hydro is only a few feet under the surface I literally can't see this grass every now in I see some coming up close to the surface but I can sure see where the where the brake is by both using my mapping and also looking at the graphet where the grass is growing that solid Edge is solid and it's going to stay thick like that but under the surface until it's about 10 or 15 ft out and then it's going to break up and almost create a wall and that's in about 7 or 8 ft of water where that wall usually is the basss are going to be sitting out on the edge looking for Shad that that come by overhead so they're going to be on that edge and they see that jig go from not being there all of the sudden to there it is swimming over them and that's the key throwing past the window you don't want to land on top of it you know you want them to to Ambush it out of instinct this is generally a pattern that's that's a lot better late in the evening or early in the morning like we have right now you know earlier in the spring or late in the fall it's a technique that allow last all day long in the summertime they're going to bury a little bit more up in the thicker stuff as the day goes on you know one of the keys is to that I like to do is to bring that jiggle on the surface and make it boil the water every now and then or keep that Steady V cutting through the top of the water collumn when a bass sees that you know that that kicks its instincts in that the uh The Bait fish is injured or fleeing from something which is going to make them strike it really really Keys those strikes so keep that lure along the surface of the water as well what you can see right here we'll Zoom this in a little bit you can see the bottom really gets firm and a lot of this grass starting to grow on the surface and you can even see on the side all of this shadowing is grass so that's really cool even though we visually can't see it here we've got a good spot and we also know there's a kick out according to the to the mapping here so we really got a cool scenario this is one of those situations where you think the edge is so solid that's going to be the edge but it's not it comes on out about 10 or 15 ft from visually what you see there and those fish are all Bing out there we go oh yeah oh another nice one oh yeah we taking a look at our setup and what makes for a grape swim jig you know the sizes I like anywhere from a 5/16 half o up to a 9/16 really works well staying around that half ounce is really what I like this here is actually a Gary Klein Swamper swim jig some of the other ones that I really like the Bass Pro Enticer swim jig is a great one all of them that have the concaved head is going to work really well the big key one of the tips that I like to do is trim the weed guard up because you're not in cover that's going to hang up and what I mean by hang up is get hung to where you have to go get it Rock Wood things like that grass is going to come through there very easy so I like to trim my weed guard down some as well now taking a look at the trailer what this is is actually just a crawl that I have taken in in its section and I cut it off at about the second section there I don't like a whole lot of it hanging out I want to keep it compact but enough that it's going to move and swim really good when you're using a heavy chunk or a crawl like what we're using today it really allows that jig to stay up close to the surface without moving it too fast the buoyancy is the key with those Flappers moving it really keeps that lure up near the surface undulating the water that's what's creating creating those strikes now another trailer that I really like especially around boat docks with a swim jig is a Bass Pro Shops tournament series uh twin tail grub a little bit more action but when I'm trying to keep the lure up along the surface over grass I like something a little bit more buoyant and a heavier chunk or a craw does that for me what we were using today there's a lot of Shad feeding and when I'm using white I like something that gives a lot of contrast which this black and blue does um instead of mixing it all the same I have found that a contrast of the trailer works really well in that black and blue is a perfect setup oh yeah he crushed it man that is so cool watching them strike that early in the morning late in the evening when these fish pull out of this heavy cover if you've got vegetation in your home Lake give the swim jig a try you're going to find this technique will catch you a lot of bass look at the contrast of that lure well when they get in the grass too they get colored up and pretty [Music] oh that magical time of year when the large mouth decide hey it is time to spawn right but it can also be some of the most finicky fishing we will see the entire season the beautiful thing today Davey height he is here to show us his three favorite lures as we go in depth [Music] [Laughter] [Music] today we're going to go out and try to catch some fish that are pre-spawn uh you know winter is gone it's it's spring had a lot of warm weather and the water temperature warmed up really fast on the surface but a lot of those fish are still staging on these pre-spawn type places pre-spawn staging places are typically close to some some Contour change those fish move from their winter uh patterned and where they've been all winter feeding out on shad and in that deeper water into the Creeks close to the spawning areas and typically they'll make that move and then they'll just hold until uh several things happen the water temperature gets just right the eggs mature it's time for those fish to go on and spawn so it's a a little a little stopping ground a little place that they they hold up and it's usually groups of fish that hold up together so it's really fun when you're able to find some you can catch multiple fish I picked up a jerk bait started with you know yesterday afternoon was really warm uh after a cold cold night the night before last and I just the jerk bait didn't feel quite right I thought maybe these fish might be up there really shallow this morning even though it's quite quite Frosty this morning but uh you know I threw this lipless bait right up there shallow on the point and uh caught one like second cast and then I just missed a fish so hopefully there's a little group of them up there and we can get a few of them to buy there there go you know I love fishing this time of year because when you do find fish they're normally grouped up and the reason they're grouped up these fish are staging uh pre-spawn pattern I can't emphasize enough it's so important to know the seasonal pattern and uh coming to a lake like this that hadn't been on in quite a while you don't always guess it right because like I mentioned we've had some unusual warm weather water temperature jumped up 20° in about 10 or 12 days so it's hard to know but I just felt like that uh we still had a lot of fish prespawn and that's what I want to Target because they're groups of fish they schools of fish and and you just find one place and you can you you can catch a a limit that'll win any tournament there's three baits that I certainly like to use when I'm fishing pre-spawn patterns and no matter where it is in the country the lipless crankbait the dt6 crankbait and of course the jerk bait the reason I like the dt6 in this condition is it's it's all about vibration uh and being able to work that bait whether you're fishing it through rocks through wood through grass that sort of thing and not getting hung up a lot U you know it's just the thump if you've ever thrown a dt6 for the size bait it has it has a lot of vibration and moves moves a lot of water and uh just those pre-spawn fish can't understand it being around them oh they fight so good this time of you too now here's a good sign this is my first cast with a dt6 you see that I found the bait they want that fish absolutely inhal that bait so this is the bait I'm going to stick with for quite a while jump baby jump jump baby jump there you go if those fish are being hooked on the outside of the mouth you might need to change up your retrieve your your color of your lure something like that but when you catch a fish and that that fish has that bait all the way in the back of his throat you're doing things right take note of that use the same retrieve obviously the same color bait and I think you'll continue to catch fish when I'm throwing a crankbait on these PR prespawn points and drops I get the crankbait down and make contact with with the bottom uh typically it's rock sometime you know gravel or grass but uh here on this Lake I'm reg targeting Rock I think there's three three main retrieves that you you need to experiment with throughout the day if you're not getting bites you know you need to change a retrieve and um I got a little deal that I say uh fast slow stop and go typically this time of year when War temperature is in the 50s I reel the bait slower uh I'll speed it up if I'm not catching any sometimes that'll trigger a reaction strike and then obviously the Stop and Go technique has always you know been something that that you want to do with a crankbait to try to trigger a strike if fish are fallowing the bait so fast slow stop and go one big tip for spawning bass quiet silence turn your trolling motor down don't be a bull in a china shop jumping all over your boat think of Spawners the same way you do when you're hunting the quieter the better in a nutshell tone it [Applause] down it's early spring and I've been showing you some really good pre-spawn lures typically pre-spawn is is when your water temperature goes from like low to mid 40s up into the 50° area uh you know I typically want to say those fish really start moving and set up on those pre-spawn places uh when the water temperature is upper 40s to Upper 50s by about a 10° range there you know I like to crank a lot pre-spawn but it's tough to catch those fish in clear water um with a crankbait with no wind I tend to like to to throw the jerk baits more when the water's clear on these pre-spawn fish when it's clear the the sun's High uh during the middle of the day or the visibility is just so good that the fish I think can see your bait a little a little too good and tell that it's not uh real so a good flashy jerk bait with a lot of action it'll get you more bites this time of year I think there one it's a great example of throwing multiple baits on the pre-spawn uh you I fish two different crankbaits there picked up this shatter wrap shad and uh I got a good one I hope I can land it look at there nice one nice one you know jerk baits are used throughout the year but I think the the main time that most angers throw jerk baits are pre-spawn when those fish first move to the pre-spawn type areas they suspend because the water temperature and where they want to be in the water column they come from that deeper water and they just don't get right up on that shallower stuff so they go from the wintering place to the pre-spawn type place and they'll suspend as the as the process moves along those fish move up and get a little shallower but they're still holding on the pre-spawn areas then I use the crankbaits and the lipless and that sort of thing a little more but uh I'm going to throw a jerk bait always to try to catch those couple fish that might be suspended off of those those pre-spawn staging areas when I'm fishing a jerk bait there's a couple things to think about the water temperature what's going on with a shed those sheds start dying off when that water temperature gets in the low 50s even in the 4S they really dying off fast so you need to be mindful of what those shed might actually be doing down in the water so a jerk bait it's a spinning jerk bait or a jerk bait that has that dying wiggle and that slow rise I think it's just deadly and I'm gonna always have one tied on if I've got Clear Water there one all right a jerk bait fish when I want that bait to really be darting around and have a lot of action if that water temperatures in the upper 50s or above then I want that bait to be very erratic so a a graphite rod with fast action will give that bait a lot of action if if it's colder water temperature in the low to mid-40s and I want that bait to be sluggish so to speak then I can use a soft a moderate action a medium action rod and and that bait won't have nearly as much action a jerk bait is is something to just naturally attracts uh the fish's attention you want to get their attention with the Flash and that the erratic action but but not really see it clearly and this particular bait that that I'm using when you pause the bait it stops and wiggles like an injured fish bait fish but just basically stays in place and then it kicks head up and comes up like so and and when a shad's dying often times instead of just going down it's like it's trying to get to the surface and and that's what makes this bait unique and I think it gets you a lot of strikes you know with crankbaits it's really important to find the retree that the fish want on any particular day uh fast slow stop and go kind of deal is is what I always try to do with a jerk bait it's all about finding a rhythm and a Cadence I'll jerk jerk Paws jerk jerk Paws longer maybe four or five jerks maybe two but find you a rhythm and a Cadence that that works and it seems like once you find that if you continue to have that that certain Cadence you can catch a lot more fish ah they are good he's long and lean not bad at all not bad at all lipless crank bait is a really good pre-spawn type uh bait it has a a tight wobble when that water temperature is cold especially when the water temperatures in those upper 40s when those fish are just moving up the lipless crankbait because of the flat side and the tight wiggle in that bait is deadly during a pre-spawn pattern Bish good one you know your retrieve is really important no matter what bait you're using with a lipless crankbait I like to change my retrieve up like every few casts if I'm not getting a bite uh you know I yoyo the bait like I'm doing here now you can reel that bait fast right up under the surface uh when those fish are schooling especially like a Shad just swimming as hard as he can to get away really really fast and there's times when it's just a moderate retrieve a stop and go and then there's times when I throw that baed out let it sink all the way to the bottom and just almost fish it like a worm just crawling around you know a lot of people lose a lot of fish on limus crankbaits I've certainly lost my share but one thing that I've definitely learned is I land a lot more fish when I use a cranking stick that has a slow action and a very moderate Bend this is not a stiff Rod this is a cranking rod and I land a lot more fish on on the lipless crankbait if I use this Rod rather than a fast action graphite Rod there he is that was a yo-yo technique most of the time when when they buy it like that you don't have trouble Landing a fish cuz they will really swallow it let's see what happens with this one the yo-yo technique they love [Music] it here's a quick tip when the fish a Cher fast when to fish is slow normally in the summer and fall I tend to fish it very fast instead of chug bloop bloop bloop I'm spitting and I'm working it fast skipping it along then stop then we're working it another 3 or 4 foot fast and stop another 3 or 4 foot but when they get around the bed they don't want it seem to want it fast in fact if you're around the bed the longer you can leave that suar around that bed the battery off so then slow it down you and they sit there boop boop that's the old traditional Cher [Music] way if you look behind me okay and you look at all the different lines that are out on the market right now you say to yourself where do I start where do I start with that rack that is behind me and I'm one of those fishermen and you know who you are that man you use the same line that you Ed back in 1980 a good monofilament as time's gone on you might go to a fluorocarbon and you're like hey it works it works pretty good I land a lot of fish but in the last few years really the last half dozen years braided line is one of the biggest changes in bass fishing and here's the beauty of this okay the first time that I put it on and possibly if you're a braided line fan you say to yourself well this just doesn't feel right well it's not that it doesn't feel right it feels different but there are so many advantages in braided line fishing that truly can change your fishing one of them is if you live on a lake that has a lot of vegetation a lot of grass that's when braided line is going to be at its highest power for the simple reason why when you hook up into a fish when a fish bites the natural tendency is where does he go he goes back into the vegetation and that's a lot of times when we pull out of him when we lose that fish well braided line guarantees a solid hookup and it almost acts like a saw you know what I mean it acts like a saw and cuts that vegetation the other side of it is we all have that friend you know who I mean that may not have the most solid hook set really what braided line does for you it ensures a guaranteed hookup in some way shape or form if you may not have properly set the hook right the reason why there is zero zero stretch in braided line the other side of that is the sensitivity that you're going to get out of braided line is so far and above using a fluorocarbon or a monofilament game this year if you want to just up the fish that you put in the boat not the fish that you hook the fish you put in the boat try braided life [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey everyone I'm at the very top of Bass Pro Shops at the pyramid this is home to one of the largest retail spaces in the whole country and it's located right here in Memphis Tennessee on today's show at defo takes us to a river system on the Canadian border and not your everyday system the Niagara River where a shows off some of his favorite faite top water areas that's coming up in depth then how about one secret for when the fishing gets tough on your Lake next year that's coming up in the zone but first we're going to slide down to Alabama with Randy Howell and do a little middepth cranking Here Comes fishing in five [Music] oh it's a big one look oh my gosh oh I threw the school Master out off that point let it fall down I counted it down and a big one suspended out there look at that oh he is he is sick looking he's so big look at that head on that thing holy cow he can't even jump boy look at that oh don't jump don't jump don't jump come here oh yeah God look at the monster head on that fish and now you're thinking what kind of bait is that that is a Livingston lurs School master and this is best kept secret in the Bass Pro Shop store you walk into that Livingston aisle and you get those crank baits and you always see this bait hanging there people always say what how do you fish that bait well I'm about to show you and tell you right here [Music] boy that's the way to start out with a big old bass today on the Livingston lure School Master this is what I was talking about when I landed that fish this is a bait that kind of hides in the Bass Pro Shops in the midst of all the good crank baits there that I that I like to throw this bait hides in there it's called a school master and a lot of people see it and they ask me at seminars how do you fish with that bait and when I'm at the Bass Pro Stores doing seminars you get to see it in the water it really comes to life but this bait is a very it's kind of like a hybrid bait if you've ever fished a soft plastic jerk bait which most of you have it's real similar to that but it's a bait that when you jerk it and twitch it side to side it's really radic but when you stop it that's the key it's very balanced in the belly and it stops and it doesn't sink forward it sinks straight down and it sinks at about a half a foot per second so every every two you know every second it's just barely going down so it's going real slow this is a really good bait for for the the lethargic Bass are suspended in the fall and the winter time that's when I love to fish the school Master let me show you how you fish this thing though make a super long cast first of all which I like to do it's a heavy bait because it's got a good balast belly weight in it that helps that bait shimmy as it goes down is throw it out there let it sink and immediately I just watch my line if I cast it out off the side of this 15 ft deep point I'm going to let it fall I never even twitch it I'm just watching my line sometimes your line will stop and then I'll tighten up and kind kind of pull up on it almost like a jigging spoon sometimes to make sure that wasn't a fish that got it on the fall or it might have been a fish and you're going to hook it if you just pull lightly up on a fish sometimes and the fish has got it you don't set the hook you'll miss it so you kind of got to be ready to pump that Rod tip when it when you first take your slack up and then I'll just twitch twitch twitch and I'll start just twitching it much like a soft plastic jerk bait you're making it go side to side side to side and then I'll kill it again and I'll let it fall on a on a kind of controlled slack line not a not a LM line but a controlled slack line so I'm watching my line fall about halfway back to the boat and then I'll reel it back in and do it again but it's just a real versatile bait for those fish that aren't on the bottom I use my electronics a lot with this bait so I'm looking at my laurance on as I'm going around these points and I'm seeing like right here it's 13 or 14 ft deep and I keep seeing fish fish streaking through Shad so that's what I'm trying to Target and I'm picturing that bait as it's shimmying down letting it fall through those shad and that's kind of why we developed the bait like this that it could be fished in the midst of all the shad and and The Bait fish something that will stay slow as it's falling and not fall through too fast like a jigging spoon or or you know a swim bait might go down too fast but this bait is timing real slow and the sound the electronic Bait fish sound that Shad sound is pulsing and calling those fish to you as it's falling down real slow all right it's real simple to switch swi to sound and and on all the Livingston Lures this particular School Master right here you just simply take your thumb on the hook hanger put it there and you put your index finger on this and hold it up to my ear and I listen to it and you can hear it the first sound that comes on is the regular electronic Bait fish sound which comes on in the water immediately you'll hear the second sound which is a crawfish ticking sound then the third sound is the intense high pitch Shad sound like the fleeing Shad sound I like and once you get it where you want it you take your finger off and it locks it in on that sound after it's wet then it comes on and starts working so that's simple as that it does all the work for you and calls the fish to you after that there is that's how they always bite this school Master you just never know when they're going to come in it's not a big one but I watched my line jump threw it out in front of that suspended dock letting it fall little guy but tough day like this a lot of days I'd like to have one like that the school Master will produce for you you just got to be patient you got to keep it wet got to keep watching your line and it will pay off for you I guarantee [Music] it hey we all know Niagra Falls is a great vacation spot but above those falls out on that River well at defo knows it's great fishing in the middle of the day on a top water bait that is today's in depth [Music] what we've got going on right now is that it's post bomb it's early summer up here up north on the Niagara River the Niagara River comes out of Lake Erie flows through here then it actually goes over the falls and then on into Lake Ontario but this between Lake Erie and the Niagara Falls is some incredible fishing there's some islands there's a lot of habitat in here for both Largemouth and smallmouth bass but those bass that are spawning and immediately post spawn they don't want to be right in that direct current where they're going to be later in the summer and then in the fall they want to be hid from it where they could spawn have a successful spawn to do that they need to find areas that are a little bit more broken up a little bit out of the current that's where I'm finding them today I'm going to fish all morning with one bait that's the storm top Walker 11 and pearl IU oh oh got him small M of all things back in here in this Marina he come up rolled under it rolled under it then he came back and got it that was pretty cool there now I saw that fish come out from under that boat come up up there and he kind of swatted then he came back and then he finally finally grabbed a hold of it that storm top Walker dud he like that bait that was a fun bite let's let him go see you buddy we're back in a little marine and that fish was hiding under one of those boats usually fish that are around docks in this kind of clear water are going to be under the best shade nine times out of 10 that shade is going to be in the form of a boat that's where that fish right there came from this is system is very similar to a lot of other river systems in that the fish are going to spawn in areas that aren't in the direct main current and like I said it's immediately post spawn so those fish are still hanging around those areas they're not out in that direct current and that's the way it is on most any river system those fish it doesn't matter if they're small mouth or large mouth they can't spawn in that heavy heavy current they have to get in areas that are a little bit more protected see you buddy golly dang that fish smoked it man what a bite that's a fish too right there buddy that's a good small mouth golly what a bite dang that's a nice one that was such an awesome bite golly look at that fish dude that is a beauty that's the kind of fish that you can catch if you just take your time with that top water bait postpone he was was right beside that boat where he had some good overhead shade I walked that bait up through there and he's just I mean unloaded on it golly what a beautiful fish that is a very very healthy small mouth you can see its mouth's a little bit beat up from where it is post spawn but it's already kind of fatting back up feeding up he thought he was going to get a meal this morning but we had a trick for him man what a fish for me the rod reeling line is extremely important number number one for making the cast number two for working the bait and number three for landing the fish the rod I use is a 6' 6 in medium action rod that's actually the smallest Rod I use in all of my fishing I use for top water fishing you need that shorter Rod because you're making short accurate presentations you don't need a lot of extra rod in the way to make those cast to work that bait back a 71 to one reel this is a fluger supreme X tea you want a pretty quick reel so when those fish bite you can take up that slight quick and let's face it you make more cast that you don't catch a fish that you just need to reel the bait back in to make another presentation so that fast reel allows you to do that but I use braided line Trine braided line 30 lb test and I use a a couple feet of monofilament leader I use a 17lb test Trine xhale monofilament leader I like that monofilament cuz it keeps the bait up high on the water and that little bit of stretch and little bit of clarity I think helps me draw more strikes that's the setup I use get away from a long rod for for this technique 6t to 6 and 1/2t medium action is what you want to go with we're out here on the Niagara River really just a few miles Upstream from Niagara Falls so man I hope we don't run out of gas today otherwise this E21 is going to become a Whitewater raft and go over the falls H defo getting it done on the Niagara River and the key word in their gang is River and I learned a long time ago fishing river systems and really whether it's in the north south east west you cannot get shallow enough in the summertime and one of the amazing things that I found about fishing river systems if there's enough water to get over their backs they will live there and not only that sometimes they can be enormous we're on the Niagara River in New York and we're catching small mouth and large mouth what we've got going on right now is that it's postpone it's early summer up here up north on the Niagara River the Niagara River comes out of one of the Great Lakes and of course that's where the Niagara Falls are but it's really really clear water it has a lot of current if you get out in the main system but those bass that are spawning and immediately post spawn they don't want to be right in that direct current where they're going to be later in the summer and then in the fall they want to be hid from it where they could spawn have a successful spawn to do that they need to find areas that are a little bit more broken up a little bit out of the current that's where I'm finding them today there's one he's following it he's following it oh oh got him got him dang I saw that fish and I thought he wasn't going to bite just the way he was acting he finally did that's a dang good one I was walking that bait and walking that bait and that's what you got to do to get those small mouth to bite and I'll show you the knot I'm using it really helps give that storm top Walker that great action dude that's a healthy one right there come here buddy yeah that is a nice nice small mouth and he ate that thing check that out right there man what a nice small mouth I saw that fish sitting in there made a good cast I actually thought he was going to turn shy away from it but he turned back around come up there and blasted it but the key was is is walking that bait slow and steady that side to side action is what got him to bite let's let him [Music] go that storm top Walker is a very easy bait for anybody to walk walk the dog with but one thing I do to make it a little bit easier is I tie a loop knot it's a really simple knot but that that loop knot makes it walk just that much easier it's it's a lot Freer there's no weight up there like it is if you add a split ring and TI and direct it's going to walk but man I can make it walk so much better and really stay in place good with that loop knot and that's what's getting those fish to bite today that bait has a great side to side action and with that loop knot you don't cover a lot of water every time you twitch the bait I'm not want it to travel a great distance I'm want it to stay in one area walk back and forth A lot of times really close together that's what's getting those fish to bite oh that was me on that one he didn't get it good either but he's still behind it got him that time took me a few tries but I finally got him to eat it that was so awesome you know most of these strikes that I've been getting on that top water bait today they're not what I would call feeding strikes they're much more of a defensive kind of strike they just they don't want that bait in there you know some of them it's late enough in the year that most of them are done spawning some of them could still be spawning but it's a defensive strike I really don't call it a reaction strike because I don't feel like that's what it is it's just a defensive strike that bait is in that fish's layer it's in his home and he does not want it there that's why they come up and take a swap at [Music] it that fish there was a prime example you know he swapped at it once I just kept working it slow and steady really trying to make it spit a lot of water but without going anywhere he come up again I got him that next time so that's a prime example those fish they really they aren't concerned with eating it it's most of the strikes aren't feeding strikes it's just really a defensive kind of strike is what that top water bait is and this clear water U real shallow around those targets oh come back and get it got him got him for this top water pattern to really be most effective I'm fishing around targets as I've said time and time again and those Shades those targets are all producing shade but to produce shade you got to have sunlight this pattern you know people always want to throw a top Water Bay the only first thing in the morning but for this pattern to work well you really want to have sunlight and it it's best in the middle of the day when that Sun's at its high the shades the smallest it really can finds where those basss are going to be see buddy so having that bright overhead Sun can really dial in that strike zone for you it keeps you from having to fish big broad expanses everybody knows top water can be good on points first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening or on a cloudy day but for fishing around targets that are producing shade you really want that bright Sun it makes their Strike Zone a lot smaller and makes you know exactly where that bass is going to be sitting before you ever make a cast got him that fish was really just kind of out in the middle of that pocket just cruising but I landed it right in front of him just a little bit and he grabbed it man that's a good one dang that fish is strong up in that shallow water he just don't want to give up he's bigger than I thought he was come here buddy open your mouth up there we go dude look at that beautiful thing big old healthy Northern large mouth that fish was just out there cruising you know I don't think it was guarding anything it was just looking for an easy meal I showed him one I caught him see buddy with it being a little bit cloudy as it is right now you know those fish will wander out from under that cover but it's always very important to keep your eyes open just look for that if you see one of those fish out through there there's no better bait to catch them on than that top Walker so just make a good cast make sure it lands softly I'm catching bass all day long on a top water bait don't ever put your top water down after an hour in the morning whether you caught fish or not wait till that sun gets up high creates that shade under those targets that's where you'll catch a lot of big [Music] bass you know we all have a lot of Rod laying on the front deck it's really important when you pick one up to know what pound test you're using you can just take a piece of tape and put on the bottom of the rod write the pound test that way when you pick it up you're confident of what size line you're using the carbon light Rod has a little feature that you can just turn the dial and put it on the pound test line that you have on the re so you always know what size line you're throwing oh don't you hate when they ignore you I know I do right I might have a tip that'll help us both out let's go in the [Music] zone you know one of the biggest lessons we learned when we were little kids is in the middle of summer when the water temp gets up and all the fish on all of our lakes that we fish and ponds and rivers well they have been pressured they have been pressured April May June July you kind of get in the dog days of summer and that lesson we learned when we were kids was downscale all of your lures your line Your Hooks baits like this baits that are as big as my pinky and that lesson well it's critical the reason why you're just going to get some action when they're not biting well I want you to think about that lesson and ignore it the next time you go out in the dog days of summer what I want you to do is go to the polar opposite end of the spectrum find the biggest bait you own the biggest bait in your tackle box I'm not talking something that's 5 in 7 in I mean Magnum baits 9 10 12 in Long the reason for that is you look at that bait like I look at that bait and you're like I would never throw something that big look at the size of these worms and it's it's almost like it's embarrassing you don't want your friends to see you throwing something the size of a tennis shoe right but everybody that thinks that way the fish never sees something this big and if you look at a worm that's 10 12 in long that is nothing for a big bass to inhale something like that so really when the water heats up next summer your Lakes have been pounded on think about that mentality tie on the biggest bait you own and ignore those little lures well something may happen you might get a couple bites and not only that you might get the biggest bite of the [Music] [Applause] [Music] Year hello everyone today we are deep inside the brand new wonders of Wildlife National Museum and aquarium in Springfield Missouri this is going to be one of the largest most immersive fish and wildlife attractions in the world you know every lake has that one spot that everyone loves to hit Timmy Horton is going to show us how to finesse bass out of those Community holes as he goes in depth then it might look like all jigs are created the same when we go to Bass Pro Shops shopping well nothing could be further from the truth stick around for that in the zone but first one of the best top water fishermen on planet Earth ish Monroe he's going to show us his three favorite top water baits Here Comes fishing in [Music] five today I'm going to show you three of my favorite top water lures the Double Buzz by river to Sea the Whopper plopper by river to Sea and the bully wall frog let's go have at it so number one is when I'm first starting out in the morning I like to get a fast top water bait such as the Double Buzz or the Whopper plopper and that's because I want to cover water and try to maximize my time of catching fish then once I've located them I'll slow down and throw the bully wall frog out there and work it a lot slower trying to capitalize on a few more bites and possibly that Big Bite got it right there at the boat oh yeah that's a good one oh right there look at that one oh Double Buzz broad reel line very important key in landing a lot of those fish as you saw that fish blew up on it right right on the boat so braided line no stretch heavy diameter I throw 50 lb test maximum braid when I'm throwing the Double Buzz Rod composite rod medium action Long Rod 7t uh 7 in di tattoo La rod highspeed reel 63 to1 di zillion reel um played a huge key in landing that fish he blew up on it and if you would had a graphite rod you would have probably missed that fish cuz you have felt him before he had it composite Rod slows you down allows you get the hook in that fish with the braid put him in the boat oh missed it sometimes you get bites like that having a follow-up bait ready to go you know the frog is one of the ones I like cuz it actually sits in place he didn't want it and fish get like that on top water they it's buzzing over the top of their head a lot of times they're not in the mood to actually eat it they're just trying to kill it and when that happens I'll switch definitely from the buzz to the plopper because of the big treble hook sitting on the bottom there's a grass bed out here with holes and when I'm throwing the regular Whopper plopper I'm trying to key in on those holes because it does have two hooks hanging off the bottom so you cast towards any grass it's going to actually hang up so I'm kind of just trying to cast it into those holes and work it through those lanes that right there is one of them cases where he's sitting in the lane and he tracked it from somewhere and just didn't get it bites like that is why you can't be f braid 73:1 Dillion reel and hammer on them with the bully wall big hooks in it so you want to add these three type of baits to your Arsenal a buz bait a big prop bait and a Frog when you're going out there keying in on top water fish it's going to help you catch some really big ones there's fish right up [Music] there you know Community holes take a beating throughout the year and a lot of times the fish live there but they're very hard to catch Tim Horton's going to reveal a couple naughty finesse tricks it's today's in depth I tell you we're out here and it's late summer these fish have been out on their summertime places for a while but when these fish have been on these Community holes All Summer Long the places get fished over and over they really get a lot of pressure I like fishing crankbaits spoons swimbaits fast moving lures but late summer schools of fish you really got to slow down we're going to talk about what you need to do to fish along the bottom we can literally idle over these places and see lots of fish there catching them is a different story we're going to show you some tricks today it's going to help you be a better late summer fisherman on these schools of fish this a good fish so what makes a community hole the reason we charm it a community hole that means it gets fished a lot it gets a lot of pressure places that get fished a lot there's a reason there's a lot of basss there year round and a lot of places that are offshore structure placees it's because of the bottom composition or it's because of how current hits it or the combination of both regardless of what it is the bait fish is always there and the bass are always there therefore the Anglers are always there but you can go to these schools that get a lot of pressure and still catch them throughout the summer by using the right drop shot set up know these places we fishing the the school of fish is usually sitting in an area about the size of the boat and and what it is is where the current comes in and and hits the corner of a river ledge and that's why those bass sit right there waiting on the on the Shad to get washed through or whatever it is that comes through it's like it comes up and hits and they sit on top and where it comes up they're going to get right on the face of it right where it hits it and comes up there we go dog days of summer you got to slow down and really scale down your line and everything and that's what the drop shot does you know the drop shot was more of a really a West Coast in the Mountain Lakes of California and also the the Northeast is really where really where it prevailed because the water was so clear but here on the Tennessee River on these Ledges it's really becoming a popular deal in the late summer like this [Music] hey we got out of the brutal heat getting here in the shade we're going to show you guys a little bit about a drop shot setup it's real simple basically the biggest difference is your weight is going to be on the bottom and The Lure is going to be up when I'm fishing these Ledges I like it a little bit longer than normal this is about 24 to 30 in somewhere in that neighborhood but what we've got is a half oun tungsten and I like tungsten because it's very sensitive Bass Pro Shops weight it's got a little hang tag that hangs on it I usually tie it on a little knot there makes it a lot better and we come up to the working end here what we got is just another Bass Pro Shops XPS hook a little number two drop shot hook with a clone 6-in straight tail worm this is actually called a little bear worm and I like anything that's a straight tail you can use a you know a zoom trick worm a Bass Pro Shimmy Shake worm any of those type worms that are really small straight tail is going to work really good now today we went with the June buug color and I just like it it's a great color it doesn't matter if you're in Florida here on the Tennessee River or in the Ozarks June bug is just a great color taking a look at the rot and re setup this is a 7ft rod I like a little bit of a longer Rod when I'm making these long cast on these Ledges Ducket micro magic rod with a 62 to1 team loose Pro spinning reel this is a 200 series with a 62 to1 gear ratio works really well now on our line This is 10 lb shooter floor carbon tied to 20 lb test braided line I like about 10t of a liter to be on the floor carbon but that braided line on those long cast is really going to make for a a situation where you can get a you know a good hook set one thing about these deep ledge fish I mean they stay here you they'll get out here in June and they'll stay there we go that's a good one there that's a better one it's a good fish I mean it's a giant you know a lot of people tell you in finesse fishing that well the lure is the most important thing right not all the time one of the most important factors in finesse fishing line size dropping from 10 down to 8 8 down the 6 lb line a lot of times it'll save the day and here's the thing when you drop down in line size well you're going to get more bites I feel that headshake you know when you when you get a bass on and you feel that head shake and a fish is backing up this is a heavy fish right here guys I think about a spinning rod you just got to take your time it's a big oh look at this fish but these fish will get out on these Ledges in the summertime and they'll stay I mean it's not a morning deal it's not an evening deal they live out here all summer long in these big schools that is a nice one right there leaving close to the boat you want to take your time I like when you see that hook on the outside of the mouth too man that is a tub right there I mean he was hook good too look how thick five pounder drop shot man ain't nothing like catching a big one on light tackle but that's what you got to do you know fish like that will smoke a crankbait all day long when these fish first get out but later in the year you got to use the technique that you can slow down and be real subtle 6in June bug worm on a drop shot and what a drop shot is it's actually where you have your weight below the worm and it's just subtly up off the bottom and when it comes by them they can't hardly turn it down it's just a great technique you know the one thing about this lure you really it's really just keeping contact on the bottom trying to slowly move that weight and and the worm which is up above it is going to move around with the current that's really what's moving it what current is actually flowing along the bottom of the of the river Channel there we got a little window that's about 20 yards here that these fish are on you want to try to be bringing your lure Downstream with the current if you can so we're getting it a little bit of an angle where we can do that I don't want to get up on the ledge completely and parallel it and do that because there could be fish up on this part too so I don't want to spook them so what I'm doing I'm sitting out here in 40 out in the deeper water and throwing up at an angle so that my lure slides down with the current there's another one right there I mean right when it come over that's another good fish right there coming up that's a large M oh I love it I love finding these Mega schools like this slowing down with this approach felt big but he's not the spinning tackle makes him feel really big cool and basically all you're doing on the hook set is just reeling into the fish it's not a it's not a reel down and pop your rod with the spinning tackle is just go to reing real fast and lay back at the same time all in one motion like this right here that's all you're doing and that drives that hook home every time that's the cool thing about that light wire in those hooks is it really you know just the the least amount of pressure that you use I mean just all it takes is a fast Reel with your reel I mean you're actually sitting the hook with a highspeed lose reel driving at home you know once you hook a fish on a drop shot you're going to land them most of the time there's just something about that hook that they can't throw and it doesn't create a big hole um and there's not a lot of weight and resistance there that they're slinging around the weight is way behind them so once you get them once you get them hooked up you're going to land them most of the time unless your line breaks that's why you got to really take it slow once you get close to the boat one thing that's important constantly check that drag you I like to keep it a little bit firm on while I'm fishing and once I get a fish on I'm going to reach down and just loosen it up a little bit so braid is really really what's happening with spinning reels right now now I can leave this on here I'm not going to get any line twist look when I open that Bell when that when that line gets done coming off gets done falling the breeze is actually keeping it on going but there's no bailout there's no uh you know kinking of the line and braid allows you to do that it really takes a lot of the frustration out of fishing a spinning reel and but the thing about it is you want the transparency on the end that's why we've got about 10t of fluorocarbon lader on there it really makes for a great setup you know one thing about a place on on how long you fish it I think that's the biggest decision we all make whether we're out fun fishing or fishing a big tournament but with me the logic is if I've caught a big one like we did that one I'm going to stay a little longer especially when I graph that many because when you see a school this big and and they're still not firing really hard you know we've caught we've caught several here but we've made a lot of Cs where we didn't as well and that goes to show the technique that is so important you almost have to slowly put it in front of one you know we're here in early August but in June when they first get out they're a lot more aggressive this time of year not so much so you've almost just got to set and work a spot a little bit longer than normal to try to get those bites oh man this is so cool you can take a look on this graph even back here and see when you come up on the table that's where these fish are sitting at oh yeah boy you can see these fish right here this is textbook when they're sitting up on the table they're feeding that's when they're catchable this goes to show there's a lot of them here just like a big school getting out in the first of the year what I tell people all the time think about a a car a sports car commercial where they're in a wind tunnel and and the wind comes up over the hood and doesn't touch it that's what current does you know when it comes up over that Ridge the current flow goes above the table where those bass are sitting and and that's where they're going to sit and feeding waiting on the Shad to come up a lot of people think that basss are going to get on the downside where it falls off that's not true they're going to get right on the face of it right where hits it and comes up that's where they're going to sit and feed and this is textbook that is a lot of bass we're seeing on the screen right there there we go oh that's a good one and he is thck man I love oh yes look at that that's what I'm talking about another stud right there good one gorgeous hey I'm going to tell you highly pressured areas scale down it's about the light line the small lure and even more importantly fishing really slow go to those places get a lot of pressure use the right technique you're going to find you can still catch those fish there we [Music] go here's a fast fact for you you know when you're fishing soft plastic one of the things I found is these belly weighted hooks this is a little mustad grip pin hook here it's got a little keeper on it so it keeps your bait from sliding down you know if I want the bait to run a little bit deeper you know I'll use a belly weighted hook um it changes the whole dynamics of this bait it it makes it wiggle when it falls and it makes it fall directly horizontal so this is a really great option I've caught lots of fish by using these belly weighted hooks it's something you have to have in your Arsenal so a jig is a jig is a jig right they're all created the same no no no let's go in the zone [Music] you know a lot of people would say one of the best baits in the history of planet Earth for bass fishing well it's a jig and there's a reason why the aisle at Bass bro shops for jig fishing is this big a lot of people think you know what when I go bass fishing just give me a jig they're all the same how untrue that absolutely is there's two things to look at on a jig okay number one I I don't pay attention to a lot of the colors cuz they're either white brown green or black black there's a reason for that either Bait fish you want it to look like a Crawdad but the two most important things look at the line tie and look at the hook size to match your style fishing number one if you fish a lot of vegetation okay a lot of grass narly grass use a straight eye jig the reason for that is if you throw a swim jig or a shallow water grass jig you want that straight line tie to Slick through the vegetation on the polar opposite side you'll see a flat eye jig a flat line tie the reason for that is you want that flat eye to roll over cover maybe Rock and wood and stuff like that if you throw a flat ey jig in grass it's going to get hung up if you throw a straight eyee jig in hard cover it's going to get hung up more okay and the second thing and this is very critical match the hook size to your style fishing if you fish a lot at 8 and 10 lb line use a finesse jig with a lighter hook if you're one of them gnarly bass fishermen in shallow water grass use one with a big beefy hook and really the middle ground is what I call a deep water jig like a football jig it kind of has a a little stouter hook on it little bit bigger hook on it but you can penetrate a fish on a long cast so do me a favor the next time you grab a jig remember they're not all created equal and match it to your style fish [Music] hey everyone this is the granddaddy of all outdoor stores the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Springfield Missouri what a great vacation destination you have to see this for yourself and today we have all-time great Kevin vanam doing what he does best finding fish fast in the fall as he goes in depth then are you not catching numbers of fish on a crankbait the way you want well you might be suffering ing from low speeed presentation syndrome that's going to be today's in the zone but first AO is going to show us what he uses when post spawn fish decide well it's time to eat here comes fishing in five 1 [Music] we go I thought I was on a thought it was on the end of that lamb right there but it was a fish had a hold of it fishing a plastic worm is something that's been around for a long long time man a lot of people have just quit doing it but I'm going to show you today why it's so important to keep this bait in Your Arsenal especially in the early summertime a plastic worm such as the Berkeley Power Worm this is a 7-in model and I fish the 10in model a lot too in the early summer once those fish are are postponed they're starting to move out and they want a meal they want something that's got some action to It Like That Power Worm does so feeding them something like that and the way that I rig it up is really important I like to fish it on a jig head most of the time I'll fish it on a Texas Rig especially when I'm fishing that submerged grass a lot of vegetation I'm going to fish on a Texas Rig the head I'm going to be fishing that on is a vmc rugby jig head I like a/4 3/8 half o size jig head just depending on the amount of current the bait that I'm fishing and those different things there we go that's a good oh yeah that's a nice one right out there on that point oh yeah that's a real good one look at here that fish there lock that worm oh yeah it's a good old school worm eater right there 7in Berkeley Power Worm pumpkin seed of all colors not even a fancy color the old Power Worm pumpkin seed color catches a nice one man that was cool you know in the summertime I really like fishing a worm and I don't mean a straight tail worm I mean a curly tail old school Berkeley Power Worm whether it's a 7 in like this is or 10 in and dude I can't tell you how many bass I've caught on a pumpkin seed one you know there's a lot of other colors out there but pumpkin seed and Plum are pretty much the two colors I use in the summertime for summertime bass it really pays a lot of times to go old school through a [Music] worm my technique for fishing the 7in and the 10-in power worm is very similar I'm going to throw it out there let it go to the bottom on a totally slack line if it's deep you want to push your button and actually peel line off you want that bait to get on the bottom as quick as possible the way I fish it most of the time is to let it rest on the bottom lift the rod tip up a little bit to where you can imagine imagine you're picking that worm up 8 in to a foot off the bottom and then give it slack again and let that worm fall all the way back to the bottom and always be watching your line number one it's going to tell you indication of when that baits on the bottom but number two if a fish bites it on the fall if you don't feel it you'll actually see your line jump so always want to make sure that you're paying attention to that line as your bait's falling but throw it out let it go to the bottom and then lift it up just a little bit and let it fall back the only way that I'm going to from this is if I know those fish are suspended then I'm actually going to snap it up off the bottom kind of give it a double snap and let it fall back and again always pay attention to that line as your bait's falling there we go got one on the 10-in worm man he thumped that thing whenever he grabbed it man that 10-in worm he thumped that out on that point that fish was probably 12 or 15 ft deep if I'd been throwing that smaller worm little chance that fish would have found found it with that Big Worm he's able to he's able to find it pretty easily That 10in Power Worm that's a pumpkin seed half oun head when I'm fishing that 10in worm you really need a little bit more weight to get it down there on the bottom and keep it in the on the bottom especially if you're fishing over 10 ft deep in real shallow water I'll go down to a/4 ounce but if I'm fishing over 10 ft deep it's going to be at least a half sometimes even 3/4 ounce on that vmc rugby head there we go have me hung up for a minute come herebody fish was right in that brush pile you know for fishing a worm I like the same setup basically for both of my my 10 in and my 7in worm see buddy I like a 7t to 7' 3 in medium heavy action the only difference that I do on the 10in worm when I'm making those long cast I like to fish it on braid with a leader try braid and a triline fluorocarbon leader for the 7in worm on that lighter head around shallow cover I fish it with straight fluorocarbon I'm used it making a shorter cast shallower water I like straight 15lb test Berkeley TR in Flor carbon for that 7in worm setup same rod and reel for both 79 to1 fluger reel 7 to 7'3 in finwick rod medium heavy action that's all you need for that worm fishing in the fall of the Year fish scatter everywhere shallow mid-range deep you name it in fact it's almost hard to know where to even start well here today KVD is here to dial Us in as he goes in depth you know anytime you you've got a fish you know in that in that early fall all late summer transition period it's just typically almost always a really tough scenario you know in the fall like this when you know it's just starting to to transition from Summer it's a tough time of the year you know I've got you know 10 12 rods out on the deck with all different types of baits and I was just going down this flat bank and I've been throwing you know a red ey Shad crank baits spinner baits just trying to get a sign of what's going on looking for some ity you know it's all about finding the bait and and anything that you can kind of narrow down where the fish are at they just scatter out over these flats this time of the year so um you can see we've got a good early start and early in the morning is usually you know a great time you can get get out here and get a few active fish early and then and then it's going to be a grind after that but so we're going to kind of go through the fall transition today and andh see what we can put together you know in the fall it's all about the shed I mean I didn't know if I was going to have to fish deeper or shallower um to start with so I had a lot of rods rigged with a lot of different type baits that you can trigger fish with and you know caught a few small fish got it a little guy a start though nothing chasing nothing moving nothing going on and um you know I I knew then that it was going to be a challenge I'm just a keeper but I know I'm going to have to work for it today you know one of the things that I really focus on this time of the year is flat you know you got to find the Bait A lot of times the Shad are going to move into the backs of these creeks and pockets and things but the bass just like to to you know to push Shad up in there to run those Shad up in those shallow areas so if I go into a a shallow pocket like this I'm looking for those little transitions but I really want to focus on those flatter sides and definitely there's always an early bite you know there's going to be a little flurry activity right at Sunrise you know you know until that sun gets up and then a lot of times especially as the night starts to cool you're going to have a window where the Shad come up to the to the top and start getting active and the bass will uh will will chase [Music] them I really couldn't get anything going super shallow I knew I needed to look at that next Zone and that's why you have all those rods rigged you know different crankbaits for different depth zones and I started fishing in that mid-range Zone caught a good fish immediately had another bite caught another good fish like that and and that tipped me off that hey these fish are not all the way in the backs of The Creeks they're not all the way shallow so just being aware and seeing all of those signs told me that I needed to fish out just a little bit further I mean this fish probably just is starting to move in from from deeper water and I can feel that there's some a little bit of you know rock or clay or something out there and it's not very deep you know I'm just I'm totally focused about the backs of these creeks in the fall that's where the are going to end up but you just got to figure out where they're at in that transition you know from the main lake so if you can find some cover you know isolated cover on them whether it's underwater or not it can be really good so I I will do a lot of you know graphing with My Side Imaging looking for looking for stumps and things like that I mean one or two isolated stumps on a flat Point like this can be gold but those Shad will come to the top and the bass will follow them too they know you know that when the Shad get active then it's a lot more conducive for them to chase him around these basss are just staged here on this point probably waiting for PODS of shed to come in and as they do they'll move towards the backs of these pockets and start chasing them oh yeah right here perfect there's right here A bunch of bait this there's just a just this right off the side of this little flat points 5 foot of water so I mean this is what you're looking for right here you see there's some brush there you can see there's fish there's some bait around it too um you're trying to find activity I'm not seeing it on the top but I am seeing it right here down below so I mean that's just that's a great brush pile right there you know I said earlier that crankbaits are are kind of key for me so you know I'm going to have um crankbaits to kind of cover all the depth zones you know everything from a series 5 which this will get to about 10t deep or so and you know a 1.5 a 1.0 both of those you know that's that two to six foot Zone a little Series 3 that'll get me to that 6 to 8ot Zone A lot of times for me it's the small body baits you know this time of year I mean the Shad they the chaseing the are typically small so I'm going to have a mix of those baits to try to cover all the depth zones and then hopefully I can can find one of those zones where the bass are really at it's very visual fishing you know I'm I'm always I'm looking all directions I'm trying to find you know see some Shad flipping or you know look for herin on some shallow points anything that'll tip me off to some activity in the area that you're in so I'm just basically fan casting around as I'm moving back into this Creek and Bam I catch one on a square [Music] Bill hey one thing I want you to do next fall when you hit the lake just don't start fishing use your eyeballs and become a bird watcher one of the times a year where fish really really congregate on bait well it's in the fall and the one thing that can tell you where that bait is at is when you start to see birds diving trust me next fall when you find the birds you find the bait and return well you're going to find find the bass that early fall transition can be a tough time but if you have all your stuff ready to go you can be [Music] successful I'm just wandering around it's just a flat Bay here and you know I was throwing a series 5 caught a couple on the point on the outside of it coming in and just caught this one on a 1.5 so and again as I'm looking back here I hadn't seen anything this morning you know Shad wise now we got Shad moving with these shads starting to to flip you know anytime I'm getting in an area where I know there's bait and and there's bass that HydroWave can be a real trigger so I've been running a finesse pattern I'm going to change it to a to a delayed schooling pattern and one of the big things people ask me when I'm using that hydroid is how do you know one to one what sound pattern I want to just try to increase the activity level if you you know I want it to be the trigger that sound of you know another bass eating shed and that competitive Instinct in them will trigger him to school so I've got it on a 30 second delay you know delayed schooling action it's it Shad sounds mixed with an occasional bass attacking a Shad the Shad are there the bass are there they're just waiting for a reason to Chase and and the HydroWave a lot of times will be that reason so it's been really really successful for me especially under these type types of circumstances one thing I like to do is is just kind of sit sit here you know put those power poles down don't touch the trolling motor let that Hydro wave work and let you get those Shad active you know where there's no trolling motor starting and stopping nothing at all just just be real quiet Fan cast around I mean and watch and you'll see that bait get real active bait's here throw out the bass now all I'm doing is just following this there's a little point right here going back and it splits these two little creeks and there I'm seeing a lot of Shad got the hydro wave going with school and I haven't seen anything Chase yet but he's there there's a lot of bait here here you know a small square bill is one of my favorite baits this time of year cuz it's just so efficient you know I mean you're fishing shallower water and this thing is very erratic in action you I've got a summer sexy Shad color right here and and that's the real key is if you got stained water in the backs of some of these Creeks the basss are going to be shallower if it's clear I know I'm going to have to fish out a little further and I'll use different baits you know I'll use a swim bait a jerk bait of top water but as the water gets stained you know my favorite bait is is a kbd one .5 a cavd 1.0 and a Strike King red ey Shad typical fall pattern Vass I mean you can see he's he's he's kind of skinny they're they're getting you know focused on those shed and as the water cools down they're going to fatten up and get ready for [Music] winter you know there there's a difference in the in the types of reservoirs you're fishing in the fall you know lowland reservoirs you know places like bugs island or Lake Murray you know that that are that are flat you know in the East these fish relate to real subtle depressions and and ditches and things like that you know you go to a place like Dale Hollow or Table Rock these Highland reservoirs you know there's lots of rock there's lots of Channel little swing Banks there's lots of regularities and there's a lot of shallow cover for the fish to get on but the same thing really applies you know you got to find the bait um and you got to find those areas where those bass got some there's one got some shallower cover and that's really what it's all about you know and you're going to cycle through a lot of fish in these places you know you're going to get into a lot of small fish we haven't caught a big fish yet today but that's what you have to do you know I mean you're this is a numbers game and eventually um you're going to run into them you know that's why I keep covering water and keep moving it's all about finding you know the bait and the bass cuz they're constantly on the move this time of year you know so this um little fork in the creek where I ended up finding the bait and the bass it it's just you know a subtle ditch or a trench in the middle really that had a nice taper to it but it did have some cover on it had a few stumps had um a little bit of brush along it and it was really just a subtle flat out to about 4T and then it had a little bit sharper drop to it down to about 6 foot and then it tapered up onto the flat on the other side and those bass were kind of on the the top of that ledge and along the edges right there and it's just that was the deepest water leading into that big flat Bay but what you're really hoping for is that instance where you you find that one little area and you can catch some quality fish and that's what finally happened today there there's a good one there he is that's the one it's a bass early fall fishing can be really tough but if you go out there with a positive attitude have a lot of different options ready to go on the deck you can be successful the biggest thing is is you got to cover enough water to find the bait if you find the bait you're going to find the bass look at that big old bass giant that's the one we've been waiting for right there look at there all those oh he's barely hooked all those small ones oh I got him good look at that there like a seven pounder how about that that 1.5 I mean slick calm I have fished the fire out of this area and just keep throwing time and time again I mean that fish is solid probably just moved up in here and uh that's what you're looking for you know you're trying to make it happened you know go covering as many uh of these points and things like that as you can trying to find where the fish are at they're in these ditches like like you know we found today ended up starting with a series 5 and uh followed them back with a red eyes shad and kbd 1.5 that's fall fall fishing at its [Music] best oh that's a big [Music] oh there he is yeah here's a fast fact for you when I pull up to an area I like to find multiple targets I've got a shade dock right there I've got a rock wall right there and wood pilings right here and that gives me an opportunity to fish all different types of structure to figure out which type the fish are on is going to help you catch more fish so you throw the same exact crankbait as KVD same color same size and you just don't catch him as good as him it's time to go in the zone [Music] you know growing up I heard the term that throwing a crankbait well it's an idiot bait right we've all heard that term it's been around for like 40 years you tie a crankbait on you throw it out and you make it rain bass it's as easy as that no no we all know no it's not here's one of the things that I've learned over the years sure you need to find the right crankbait for your depth you got to find the right depth crankbait not only that you got to find the right color right pretty critical the number one thing I've learned from learning from the best speed let's look at a couple guys that are well they're really the best crankbait fisherman on planet Earth Edwin iers if you watch him fish a crankbait it's exhausting it is truly exhausting to watch Edwin iver's fish a crankbait not only that how about Rick Clon I have covered ricklen in tournaments for over a decade and I'm like how do you sustain that all day long fishing a crankbait at the speed of light the reason why reaction reaction bite throughout years I think we've all thought you know what a largemouth bass he's just an old sloppy joe sits down there on a rock pile in a lay down eats chicken wings doesn't get around a lot a largemouth bass is a lot faster than we all think then we all give him credit for we don't want him to see that crankbait real well we just want him to react and trust me he's a lot faster than we all think the next time you go out you're throwing a crankbait you're kind of crawling it around down there I want you to think of Edwin iers I want you to think of Rick Clon and the speed in which they power wind on a crankbait well there's a reason why it's not to get exhausted it's to knock their lights [Music] out hello everyone and welcome to the brand new wonders of Wildlife National Museum and aquarium in Springfield Missouri and trust me you have to see this place with your own eyes today ishman R targets pre-spawn bass right before they go to spawn as he goes in depth then one of the most asked questions in bass fishing what is the strongest and easiest not to tie we're going to visit that today in the zone but first Edwin iers shows us a few of his favorite top water lures why and when and here comes fishing in [Music] five it's really fun for me frog fishing in Clear grassless Water you know so many so many people think you got to have grass and mats to frog fish I love fishing a frog in Open Water really quick as a Search tool you know you may not know sometimes I've had tournaments where they don't actually get the Frog but they'll show me where they're at I'm going to fish it really fast like you would a spinner bait really short jerks in a short Strike Zone make another cast and I'm going to go really really fast and I use this this bait as a search bait and it can be right in the middle of the day sunshine you don't have to have clouds uh nor grass it's a lot of [Music] fun that was the most awesome frog bite I've ever had in my life life holy smokes that fish literally jumped kabo I mean it was so close to the boat look at that you can't even see my frog holy smokes that was so much fun look at that it's gone that's one thing about frog fishing I'm using it a 8 to1 gear ratio reel I like to fish it super super fast I'm not giving them an opportunity to say hey do I want to bite that or do I not want to bite it I am fishing it really really fast just pause pause and it's just going to be a reaction strike I can cover a lot a lot of water with it and uh man it's fun I love it it's one of my favorite things to do in [Music] fishing oh I got him one of my other favorite top Waters is a bait like that that is a wake bait I love this bait when I need to call Fish up from really really clear water when I need to call them up from the deep when it's calm it's got a propeller on the end it's got a really obnoxious rattle you hear how loud that thing is it's just really loud and you can catch great big fish on [Music] it gosh oh mighty that's a cool strike [Music] what I love about this top water this megabass Diamante is that I can sit there and I can almost walk that thing in place it's got three hooks so you really Hook Fish really really good with it and it's got I've got a silent version and I've got a loud rattling version to choose from so when I'm trying to call fish from the really deep water I want a really loud one like that it'll just sit there and aggravate them you know I've got now where the wind's really really picked up and and you know there's not a lot of top water lures that are going to work in the wind one of them is a big you know popping style bait I've got a pop Max on right here and it's a bait that I can just make a big loud sound throw a lot of water yet keep it in one spot so those fish can find it in these windy conditions that's a better one oh yeah look at him jumping oh yeah man it's F top water fish this doesn't get any better oh he engulfed it engulfed it awesome my third favorite top water I really like that one that's a pop Max I use that to in s certain situations when I got a little bit more Chop on the water when I uh am not catching them on the others you know when they're just wanting it a little bit slower I use that pop Max just like that bait right there that is fun fun [Music] funly that look like a big oh it is a big good night any chance I'm going to get it through all that Holy Smokes he come up from behind it and hate it oh wow fish got an attitude and then you get him up here and he's not near as big as I thought he was still a big one but man that braid is such a key in all three of my top Waters I've got braid on all three of them and the reason is when you throw way out there like that you don't have any line stretch when I set the hook you know I'm making a long cast in this clear water that braid makes your baits that much easier to work if I had to narrow it down to my three favorite hard top Waters it'd be the Diamante which is a walking cigar style Bait A wake bait you know like the the ick or the ey loud or a popping bait like the pop Max you know the balls pop Max the baby pop Max there's certain situations they're all three completely different lures and there's going to be certain situations when one's definitely better than the other or another's better than the others pre-spawn basss can be hard to get dialed into and ishman R is going to reveal how he knows just before they're getting ready to lock on the beds that's today's in depth there it is let come off this edge of the grass here that's where a lot of your pre-spawn fish are going to be sitting nice pre-spawn fish what we have here is a edge of grass that starts out where the channel breaks off into and then you've got your big spawning flat out there in the pre-spawn these fish are basically setting themselves up to start here and then they're going to spawn back there and so we're going to sit here on the pre-spawn spot and work up this edge of this grass where they're staging they're feeding up a little bit and then they're going to move out into that flat and uh do their spawning right now we're in the pre-spawn mode you know pre-spawn starts at different times of year in different parts of the country you know we're in Alabama right now so it's middle of March pre-spawn is going on water temperature pre-spawn usually starts somewhere in the ranges of 54° up to about 61 62 before they really start making that push to the bank to start spawning there he is oh good fish good fish oh man just good fish God nice pretty healthy fish right there we nice fat belly on her I mean you see the tail she's getting ready to get up there and start her spawning these fish what they do is they're going to get set up and staged up on the places right before the spawning Flats that'll be the ditches leading to the spawning Flats the creek channels the main channel that have big flats that are right on top of them it's all the stuff leading to where that they're going to spawn so those are the type of places that we're going to fish today there he is big it big it oh yeah big it oh big get right off the point oh oh man he freaking just didn't even bite it good just kind of walked up there swam up there and ate it and he didn't even hit it that hard but still nice fat chunky fish I mean this is what pre-spawn fish look like you know just healthy good-looking fish what your looking for is anything that has a flat it has a hard bottom where the fish have spawned in previous years they now you're looking for places that lead to those you're looking for the points you're looking for the ditches and so it can happen anywhere on the lake that has a spawning flat accessible to the fish here's another thing that I pay a lot of attention to on my laurance gen 312 is the temperature and I've watched a 3° temperature drop the further I go back in this Creek even though it looks really really good with that temperature drop that tells me that the fish probably have not moved in because they do like the warmer water in the pre-spawn it gets them a little bit more active so me moving my way out of here is definitely going to be something that I'm going to do because of paying attention to those little things the bait that I'm using is a ChatterBait um it's kind of a cross between spinner bait and a crankbait it has a blade on the front that gives it a lot of wobbling action but it's not a crankbait and it's really not a spinner bait but people refer to it as a bladed jig and then I've got it teamed up here with a uh missile baits twin turbo uh gives it a lot of action as you can see this one's been chewed up here a little bit by these fish it's just one of them baits that you can fish through grass and rock it has a great presentation for imitating you know crawdads or bluegill and especially in the pre-spawn the fish want a lot of protein and those bluegill and those croats provide that for them chose green pumpkin cuz it's a real natural natural color I like real natural colors at this time of the year sometimes I switch up to a Shad pattern or a white or even a black and blue you know for when the fish get really really heavy on the bluegill pattern but the twin turbo gives it a lot of action double kicking legs just looks realistic like a fish been chatter baiting all morning think I'm make a switch fish a jig underneath some of these docks with this shade then fish will hang out there on the old jig you know a lot of things happen here in the pre-spawn is these fish start staging out here on the edge of these docks and they're getting ready to move up move to the back of the points or the back of the pockets so they'll sit here on the last couple of pilings out here on these docks and as they start going they'll start working their way back to those pockets and that's where they're going to spawn at and so you can get out here and throw a Shaky Head throw a jig around uh sometimes you can catch them on a jerk bait or an Alabama Rig out here on the edge of these docks these fish real get really really active um and feeding up before they move to the backs of the pockets the spawn oh come off good one that's a good one oh come on two in a [Music] row keep done hooking that fish oh whoa quick release folks this tells you there's a something that's got them setting up right here on this spot you know that's four bites between this section here and this section here so that tells you that they're sitting up here they're staging waiting to move up right in that spawning pocket right [Music] there go that's [Music] good nice chunky fat good pre-spawn fish there on the jig I mean you really can't go wrong God fat healthy fish look at that belly on him they're sitting there in the mud you can see the mud that's sitting there on him he's just sitting there laying in the mud getting ready I mean soon as he gets a couple more degrees that fish is going to definitely be ready to [Music] go say oh yeah you know we've all heard that a crankbait is a reaction bait you have to hit something to get a bite well this year I want you to think of a swim jig or a bladed jig the exact same way make sure that bait hits something piece of wood a patch of lily pads submerged grass the next time you go out think of your bladed Jigs and your swim jigs as a reaction bait I'm here today in the middle of Alabama in the middle of March on some pre-spawn bass want to go out and show you a few techniques that I use to go out and catch these fish you can apply these techniques all over the country when you're fishing in the pre-spawn oh fat man that one's fat when you're fishing down through areas you know paying attention to your graph is huge seeing where the channel swings in whether the Lance Insight Genesis tells you that or your depth finder shows it to you it's paying attention and working those areas where there's just a little bit of depth there's having those highways and the channel is the highway to the spawning flat and somewhere that Highway they make pit stops to eat and so if you're there and they're at that pit [Music] stop boom that one was sitting right there on the outside edge of the dog basically The Jig is a very compact jig it's called I Mini flip made by missile baits and I teamed it up with a new bait by missile baits called the crawf father and it's just it has a lot of kicking legs I'm fishing it in a half oun size which I really like but it's a small you know you're thinking half ounce it's a heavy weight but it's a small compact jig with a little bit heavier gauge hook in it than a finesse jig would normally have in it then the craw father itself is basically a crawdad with good kicking legs and I like to have some action in my jig when I'm fishing it in the prea [Music] spawn isolated dock pulling into a spot isolated dock you got you know 50 yards that way 50 yards that way it's the only dock around you definitely got to make a cast to it especially on once again the points like we've talked about moving into the spawning pockets and during this time of year you want to change you know the way that you're working the bait you see me doing hops with it at time sometimes you see me dragging it if I find a brush pile on one of these points or underneath one of these docks I'll let it sit there and soak in there and hopefully to get that big female in the biting saw that skip underneath there that's what a compact jig allows you to do is Skip way back up underneath those docks and those places where those fish sometimes sit especially when that sun pops out a lot of times in the pre-spawn these fish will sit way back up underneath these docks in that shade and so having a compact jig allows you to skip it way back up underneath there along with the right rod and the right reel and the right line size that's a bigot that's a good one oh got that one right off the point that one right there was dragging it like I've said before when you're fishing in the prespawn you got to change up your way you're fishing sometimes sometimes you got to drag The Jig sometimes you got to hop The Jig and that one right there was dragging it on the point and that one ate it I rigged it on a 7' 1 in di was AGS rod that's a heavy action rod for getting those long hook that's and horsing those better average fish from underneath that dock then I teamed up with an 8 to1 di reel which for me you're not really moving the bait with that reel you're actually just taking up slacking the line and you want the fastest reel you can for that and being able to pull those fish out of that heavy cover so the 821 reel helped with that and this is pretty much my setup for The Jig and the pre-spawn if you hold on to it oh oh man oh has a jumper [Music] a nice fish holy smokes look how fat that thing is if you apply these pre-spawn techniques you're definitely going to catch more fish especially when you've had that cabin fever so give it a [Music] try when I'm choosing blades for cold muddy water spinnerbait blades this is what I'm going to choose I'm going to keep it kind of simple I'm going to have Indiana blades as you can see or Colorado blades I really like copper blades in that muddy water on sunny days I like the white Colorado blades on cloudy days and the water's a little less stained maybe a little warmer I like that red kicker up front with a with a gold Indiana chartreuse chartreuse and white col saww those would be the spinner bait trailer colors but these blades to me are the important I have the painted ones on cloudy days the copper ones on sunny days to catch one of these true River Monsters you're not going to need a good knot you're going to need a great knot and that's today's in the [Music] zone hey gang I learned this knot uh about 10 years ago and I'm not going to lie it is the easiest and strongest knot I have ever used in my life in fact I've actually passed it on to my teenage boys and said this is the one you need to use the rest of your life and the key to this Knot Just practice it about 10 times and you will knock it down it's real simple we are going to go through the eye of the lure or the eye of the hook and we're going to make a giant Loop the bigger the loop the bigger the loop the easier this knot is going to be so we're going to have a loop then we're going to have our line going to our rod and a big tag end you're going to hold those in one hand hand okay I'm actually going to make that a little bit longer and you're going to spin the lure or hook five to seven times while holding all of your lines together after you spin your lure take the loop take the loop right there and drop it through the bottom lines and here's the key don't cinch this Loop just let the loop hang there okay let the loop hang there hold your lure or your hook take the two top lines your tag end and your line to your rod and jam it down as hard as you can on to that lure now what we're going to have right there is we're actually going to have three tags when we're done with this we're going to have the loop tags you're going to cut those and you're going to cut this top tag and the beautiful thing is it'll actually act as a bait keeper when you snip those it will hold your lure in place trust me if you learn this knot a lot of people call it a shark knot is what I've heard here and there if you learn this not good luck breaking it your next time out trust me strongest one I've ever [Music] used hello everyone and welcome to the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Springfield Missouri we have a great show in store for you today so let's Jump Right In just because Bass are gorging on Shad in the fall and I mean big time but doesn't mean they're easy to catch unless you're well KVD and he's going to show us exactly how to catch him as he goes in depth then are you getting the most out of your electronics in fact are you using them to F fish fast that's today's in the zone but first don't overlook the power of small at defo is going to show us how to catch giant small mouth on a tiny maribou jig Here Comes fishing in five [Music] 16th oce maribu hair jig man it's such a simple bait it's something a lot of people don't even think of using for bass but I've caught some really big fish on this just in the last few years it's a technique I want to show you today and really help you understand the ins and outs of it and how it can help you catch more and Bigg or small mouth especially in really shallow water oh yeah I seen that bed over there and I thought man that looks like a smallmouth on it and he came right up and grabbed that little black fly when those fish are up shall small mouth spots when they're up there in shallow water spawning post spawn pre-spawn a 16 oun Marabou hair jig is so tough to beat it doesn't look like much but dude it really gets those big fish to bite when they won't bite much else yes look at that that little bitty hair jig and that big old smallmouth bass that fish right there was in this little small Edie when those fish are spawning or post spawn they're going to be in places that are out of the current you know that are a little bit more protected they don't want to be right out in the middle of that main flow it doesn't have to be a big Edy doesn't have to be something huge it just has to be protected it has to be still water that's where they're going to set up at this area appears to be kind of a man-made Reef of sorts you can see all these Little Rock islands that are you know they're not natural you can just tell by the way they're building stuff it really makes for some great cover it breaks the current they're allowing a little bit of current through here which is good for those small mouth they don't want to be spawning right out in the middle of the main current but they do like a little bit of current and it's really just got some great cover some great features and some great fish living right around in here that was a fish on a bed I saw on my way in remembered exactly where he was made a long cast over there with that hair jig and caught him you can do that a lot of times you see those fish spook them off the bed mark them remember exactly where they're at go back make a long cast catch them another beautiful fish it was on that bed I saw it on the way in could see it from a long ways off made a long cast cting the retrieve with that hair jig is really very simple I throw it out I let it hit the water I click my reeling gear and I steady wind it the only time I'll ever move the rod tip at all is when I feel like I touch something you know whether it's grass or the bottom or if I feel like I got a bite it's just about a slow steady retrieve you don't want to add any action to it that Marabou even though it doesn't look like it's doing much if you watch it close in the water you can actually see it kind of breathing and moving a little bit and I take just a little bit of a worm usually just a piece of Berkeley bottom Hopper worm just about an inch of it I just want to slide it up on the hook and that really makes that hair flare out in the water gives it a much bigger profile and that 16, head isn't much that little piece of plastic worm on there actually helps you cast that bait a lot further so it does a couple things it helps you cast further makes that bait look a little bulkier in the water and really makes that maribou swim really really well I want to show you the setup that I'm fishing that hair jig on the Reel it's a fluger supreme XT size 30 it's a little bit smaller diameter spool and that makes it take up less line every time you turn the handle if you use a real big diameter spool spinning reel it just makes it hard to slow down to fish that hair jig as slow as what you need to be winding it I like 10 lb Berkeley nanofill line with a 8 lb Trine fluorocarbon leader that Nano fill is really important it's so small diameter and it's so soft and so Supple that you can really throw that small jig a very long ways the rod is also very important I like a 7 to 7 and 1/2 foot medium light action Rod that light action Rod just when those fish bit you don't have to have a really hard hook set having no stretch in that Nano fills so you just load that Rod up it puts a Big Bend in it and it keeps that bait pegged in those fish's mouth so medium line action Rod small diameter spinning reel 10 lb Berkeley Nano fill put your fluorocarbon leader on there from trolene you'll be good to go to catch some really big small mouth it's not a really hard bite they just swim up to it and put it in their mouth you know it it doesn't have a lot of action doesn't have a boot tail so they're not really going to slam it don't expect that just expect the rod to load up so the next time you're out fishing for Smallmouth you can see them up in that shallow water but you can't get them to buy something make sure you've got some black maribou hair jigs the 16th ounce is what I use the vast majority of the time if it's really windy or a little bit deeper I may go up to an eighth but that 16th a little bitty piece of worm 10 lb Berkeley Nano fill an 8 lb fluorocarbon Berkeley Trine leader dude you're going to be set up you're going to be ready to go to catch some really big small mouth giant schools of shad and bass feeding for the fall what better time than the grab a buddy and try two different presentations at the same time dve D and Dave height are going to show us how it's done in today's in-depth fish good one a b a bass got the right species when you're chasing these schoolers like this you just uh it's a lot of fun I mean we're catching some hybrids and stripers and things like that it's a nice little spotted bass but you know here on on Clark's Hill you it's everything it's large mouth spots U stripers hybrids white bass but they run around together and you can see them they're busting off the that spot right there you know Davey and I have been rooming together for about 10 years or so on the Bassmaster Elite Series and um you know we fished Clark Hill multiple times in May I was here actually when when Davey won here and you know it's a legendary Lake for for schooling fish and I had to be in the region anyway so he said man let's we ought to do a show down there now in the fall of the Year especially these fish are spin they roam around the hybrids the stripers the spots the large mouth everything is out roaming around uh chasing these hering and these these sheds oh he jumped off they're all over here it's a fun way to fish because it's very it's Visual and we can kind of give them that two-pronged approach too you know well we're not fishing against one another it's fun to two-prong approach and get to catch stripers High hybrid spots large mouth a whole n yards have fun the the key is figure out what the large mouth and the spots want that that's what we've got to try to figure out but there's always a little something you can figure out it's always a certain bait a certain retrieve a certain speed and you can try two things at once this way you know I mean I love a jerk bait for schooling fish you know I mean it's just cuz you can you know not only get the ones that are up on top but those ones that are down a little bit but but with no wind like this it seems like you got to have something moving pretty fast here these fish because of the water Clarity they're suspending over 20 30 foot of water and they're out in the main Lake and they're pushing these PODS of Shad up you know in the early mornings and the late evenings and if you're there at the right time it can be awesome the bass especially are mostly over some of these long clay points that come out where it's got 15 20 foot of water or maybe even a little shallower there and the stripers in that are typically up there outside of that even yeah here we go gosh Yep they're relating to to those bars you know it might be 30 40 ft deep but they're relating to them these Shad uh they'll actually spend the summer out on the main Lake and the hering too especially the hering they they really need to to spend the Summers out in that 70 to you know 100 ft of water and uh they start moving in these Creeks uh as the fall progresses right now what we're seeing is a lot of like small shad and they they're really selective and what they want to bite so I've got a deep diving jerk bait on he's got a a soft plastic jerk bait and he's hooked up they're just every direction right here I mean there all around the boat that you know the big thing we saw right away is that these fish were really selective with no wind even though it was getting lower you know evening light they're really skittish and right away we could kind of tell that you know jerking a jerk bait real fast was was one way to trigger some of these fish into biting and we caught you know a handful of bass and a lot of stripers hybrids there's another one of them hybrids found what the hybrids are reacting to God D everything's out here body there you go you know right now it's dead calm and that helps us see where they're at but if the wind was blowing they would be a lot less selective I think we could catch them a lot better but you got to know where they're at too so and those bigger fish have just seen more baits get a lot of pressure people are out here every day after these fish and there's bigger fish here that's just hard to trick them I mean there's there is not one direction right now where there's not something coming up see another cool thing about the two-prong approach I can sit down and have me a little uh sports drink a little hydration and I got a pretty good prong still fishing there that's really cool there's nothing better to me than being around a bunch of fish like this that are hard to trick into biting than than figuring out what it's going to take cuz they're eating a little bitty bait but the problem is is you if you throw a little tiny jerk bait or crankbait you just can't cast it far enough to get to any of them so you got to have something heavy something you can move fast and something that looks natural know we were out for a couple hours got into a lot of action saw a lot of schooling fish found an area that you know definitely had a lot of bait in it we said you know what let's just uh let's shut it down and come out here in the morning when hope hopefully the stripers are out in the deep water and it's just the bass up on top these homes yeah we just need to find some bigger fish you know we had lots of fun need a few less stripers a few less hybrid and a few bigger spots and large Mount yeah we we'll get after it again in the morning we've all heard the term matching the hatch in fly fishing right well what's that have to do with bass fishing a lot in the fall when bass are feeding on Bait fish whether it's thread pin shed gizzard shed perch bluegill they are so in tune with what they're eating pay attention to that size and exact color to what they're eating trust me if you match the hasch in the fall you're going to catch a lot more bats got it we got a start about 9:00 or so and immediately caught a couple of fish right away and you know we started to get a little wind and we're thinking man this is going to be a a really good day there we go they're still around today today we're going to try to figure out what we got to do to catch them you know when they're not busting and hopefully they will start again cuz it's fun when it's like that but you know this is a lake that they set up on a lot of offshore deep uh you know humps and points and things like that you know not really typical for fall schooling fishing if you're there at the right time it can be awesome so we started out in the morning with basically the same two baits that got things going best the evening before the soft plastic jerk bait and the hard jerk bait good spot l oh yeah baby oh chunk okay I want to show everybody I'm fishing today with Kevin vanam we were out here yesterday for just a couple hours and uh we got it going on this morning babe they're they're round here and and the stripers are not going to be in our way like they were yesterday in them hybrids So Good [Music] Start you know Kevin's throwing a a hard plastic jerk bait it's got a lot of lot of action and you know he's he's the king of jerk baits that's for sure and I I throw those type jerk baits too but I like uh soft plastic jerk bait a lot and uh you know we're we're trying to throw different baits see what those fish want here where we're fishing over you know some of these deeper you know points and things like that a lot of times you know you're going to hold your boat in 30 40 foot of water and you're fishing over 20 so if you got a bait that can get down a little bit deeper and has really good action um it's going to help and you know that's why this is a really good you know bait right here I mean it's this is the straight King KVD deep Di and jerk bait and you can work it real hard I'm working it you know snapping it real fast the key is is getting that bait closer to where the fish are at you know I'm throwing a soft plastic jerk bait and I really like to to throw it out over these deeper points and the the bait's moving around so fast that so I just I just reel the The Reel really fast for about five or six turns of the handle and and stop it and give it a twitch or two and then reel it again and stop a couple of twitch so the the fast movement really makes those fish want to Chase and then when you stop it uh with a weighted hook it just has that falling dying action and it's it's just really really good uh I throw it on 12 or 14 lb test uh bash Pro XPS fluorocarbon you know I I use 7t medium action Johnny Mars carbon light Rod when I kill that bait that's when you usually get the bite so when I right before I start back I'm just kind of trying to sense uh that that light lines tight instead of slack and when it's tight then I just pull kind of swing set into the fish we had to work hard but you know slowly but surely we we kept catching fish you know I haven't been here since I've seen this lakeem mapping on here and it is it's unbelievable I mean how detailed it is and you can kind of see now um like where they were schooling it's typically not just some straight Long Point there's a little corner on the side and I mean that detail is it's just incredible it's amazing that that once you see the whole lake mapped out like it is places that you just caught fish on you see why because there's it's you know sometimes it's because the the bottom flat where they want to be sometimes it's because of a Sharp break or rock you know all those things that that are just so important to be able to find fish offshore that's what I love in the fall is to be able to fish things that you don't physically see nice he's not a real big one but he just been eaten you know that one there was just there's a long underwater point and it's it's like 20 foot on top and I I threw it out there oh Davy's got one on the drop shot just I know that I've got an activity Zone here where there's a lot of bait and there's definitely some bass there so now it's just a matter of figuring out um the little intricacies of that exact area and and trying to catch as many as I can showing them some different baits but you know there's bait in the area when you know and there's bass and catching little bit everything you know I'm a good friend when when it's your show and I shake off all those nice two or three Pounders at bite and I only catch these little [Music] runts they set up on offshore deep humps and points and things like that and they're pushing these PODS of shed up over 20 30 foot of water and they're out in the main Lake you know swimbait going we had jerk bait going we knew we'd have to have a drop shot ready ready the key is is figuring out what stage they're in and and what sections they're in and then you can run that pattern all over the lake Kevin and I had a two-prong approach going into this show and it really was good to have good one some days it doesn't take as many fish or as big a fish to have a good day that was kind of the case and we ended up getting it done I mean look at that God good one oh that's the kind you want yeah old fatty deal there was another one just as big with them too I mean slick calm and and there's some little ones busting around here just jerking that jerk bait and he got it and there was another one every bit as big if not bigger with him too I mean and look at the belly man they're just you got to you mean you just got to keep working at it but keep yourself where they're at good one [Music] golly oh it's a big look at that fish open up look at that one it's a good fish anywhere you're at in the country right there one thing I always think about is the current coming through the the giv any given body of water and I want to present my bait with it and against it I'm going to always always try to think about that how I think those fish are positioned they're always going to be facing up current and I want to bring my bait naturally right to them but there's times I might want to bring it across them or against them always think about your angles think about the way the current is coming through the given body of water and try to present your bait different angles every time in every every spot you go to are you getting the most out of your electronics in fact are your electronics helping you catch more fish every time out that's today's in the zone [Music] you know when you come into Bass Pro Shops and you come up to the electronics counter oh it's a little bit intimidating okay you're looking for a new unit for your boat and you want a unit that can do anything in fact if you look at these units you have got down Imaging Side Imaging 360 Imaging really depth finders now they could find ET but one of the most critical things about a depth finder these days it's simple it's the mapping chips that you can get to put in these units if you look at all the mapping chips that are out on the market right now it's amazing the detail that you can get for your home Lake in fact you can find out a lot of things about your home Lake that you never even knew you know a couple weeks ago and this is no joke we were on Falcon Lake and I fish Falcon Lake now for about 15 years I slipped my mapping chip in and it was a whole new Lake to me in fact we were able to find rock structures just by looking at the mapping real real tight tight Contours that I never knew were there it was like opening up a new book so this next year when you get out on the lake check out one of these mapping chips okay and here's the beautiful thing about this they are so detailed now you'll hear a lot of Anglers say they're almost too detailed they're showing Anglers things that we never could find looking at those old just paper maps really if you look at it from a safety purpose from a safety standpoint these are so deadly accurate when you put a mapping chip in you can run on a lake and not be scared anymore that is a big thing about mapping chip so check this out one of the things in bass fishing finding those little baby Contours well mapping ships for depth finders will show exactly where they're [Music] at hello everyone and welcome to Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World in East Peoria Illinois what a store if you have not seen it you have to come check it out hey today former classic Champion Chris Lane is going to show us a great way to use shallow swimbaits during the spawn as he goes in depth then choosing the right soft plastics for your fishing when there's so many colors to choose from that's today's in the zone but first seven time angler of the Year Kevin vanam is here to show us his top secrets for Slow Rolling a spinner bait in 5 minutes or less Here Comes fishing in five 2 1 [Music] this one good [Music] too I love Slow Rolling spinner bait on Timber man it just really and there's a lot of baits you can fish on Timber but when you got you stand in Timber deep brush there's just you know there's not many baits that you can control the depth of like you can a spinner bait like this so good good fish right there [Music] Slow Rolling spinner bait is just a great way to be able to fish through that brush you know it's pretty darn weedless you know it imitates a shed a Blu Gill a lot of different you know a lot of different Forge um species and and again what I love is just the feel and the control that I can get what I try to do is just kind of keep that keep that bait kind of moving through there and hit hit that Limb and then let it let it flutter let it sink on the other side but not with a slack line so just a nice medium type retrieve and and uh let that spinner bait do the work for [Music] you so a lot of people think different things when they think of Slow Rolling a spinner bait really all it means to me is that I've got a a spinner bait uh blade and head combination that allows me a much slower retrieve so I can really let it stay in the strike zone and work and thumb when I'm going to slow roll a spinner bait I always try to do it where I know that bait is over the top of some type of cover so you know right here I'm just basically fishing along this off from this point here and there's some isolated uh Timber along here and you know the Lake's a little bit low and I'm just trying to feel my way with that spinner bait down through it you know you never know if the fish are going to be down near the bottom or suspended up in the tops of the trees and that's why a spinner bait is so good because you can really control the depth of that lure the bass still relate to the structural depth changes and the the is just the cover on it you know so a lot of times the sun is a good thing you know it's going to put those fish and position them right in the branches of those trees that's why it's important to make sure it you know it bangs off those Limbs and you let it flutter down um you know for a split second that's what triggers them to bite when they're real neutral like this this depth Zone you know when I'm fishing you know 6 to 12T of water is this um you know Strike King KVD scorcher spinner bait you know this is a bait that we sell just a Bass Pro and it's designed as a a fast retrieve spinner bait and what I mean by that is is one that you can reel pretty fast and it's going to stay down what that does when I'm fishing it slow and deep is it keeps it in that deeper uh strike zone so this is a 3/4 ounce bait it's got a little heavier wire to it comes you know equipped with a trailer hook which is critical to me but the main thing is it has these two smaller Willow razor blades on there they're a little narrower than a regular Willow blade they have less lift a little less vibration so this bait right here runs deeper than a standard 3/4 ounce spinner bait and uh it's my favorite for fishing Timber like this you know I'm throwing a 74 you know my own signature Quantum Tour kbd uh spinnerbait rod and it's a medium heavy action a 66 to1 reel a little slower gear ratio I don't want a highp speed and I'm throwing 20 lb Bass Pro XPS Flor carbon you know you want a graphite Rod it's got a real fast tip to it so you can feel that bait as it's coming through those Limbs and and uh feel those blades turning out there when you're slow rolling it down through the cover a lot of times like this when the water's dirty I'll uh I'll cast out there and let the bait sink to the bottom you know but anytime you're going to let your bait sink make sure that you have tension on it don't let it just helicopter down you know with dead slack line you know especially in this Timber you want it you know you want those blades turning you want to feel it going to the bottom I'll let it get down to the zone and then just start my retrieve oh God there's a good one [Music] finally you know that's right there is why you slow roll a big spinner bait in that Timber it holds big fish and he got it I mean you really I think that's that's what you're looking for sometimes that's all it does is it takes just a little bit of uh change in the conditions you know we've got no wind we had bright Sun all day long Slow Rolling spinner baits just a great way to be able to fish through that brush you can catch a few fish with these with these spinner [Music] baits you know there's times during the spawn where a large mouth becomes very aggressive in fact at times he can leave himself open to over Harvest well I can go on and on about that but I'm going to leave it up to my good buddy Chris Lane as he goes in depth [Music] this is typical Springtime on Lake Gunnersville we have beautiful trees they're just now changing beautiful aelas that have been blossoming dog woods and what's going on right now is the fish are coming in they're getting ready to spawn this is the time of year that the bass really push you up into these pockets and what we're doing is we're covering a lot of water water a lot of depths of water from from real real shallow all the way to four or 5 ft trying to catch the bigger pre-spawning back we're catching fish on the bed we're catching fish off the bed going up to spawn coming off to spawn there's just a lot of things going on right now this time of year Lake Gunnersville big bass fat bass and just a lot of area to cover and a lot of area of fish you know one of the neat things about throwing a shallow water swimbait this time of year is you can throw it over scattered grass scattered wood um on the edge of these mats Cattails you know all over the place and right here we have grass you know it's only about 4T deep right here and you have grass that's probably about this far off the bottom and one thing about is that swim bait's just coming through there you know just slow rolling it down you got sticks and a hard bottom you know one thing this time of year you want is make sure you have a hard bottom quite a few fish in here and they're just getting ready to set up spawn feed just kind of enjoy their time up in the shallow waters before summer hits there he is little guy nice little bass right there there you go fishing in this area right here as you can tell we've got a very slow retrieve and the reason is as I'm sitting here looking it's about 4T deep right off of some points that are coming out some Channel swings that come in and there's some grass down there about a foot above the bottom I want to make sure that that fish sees that bait the entire time or keeps it right in his Strike Zone if I'm up too high the fish is going to watch it Go by at 6 2° water temp but if I'm down right in front of him or right over that bed or right by that piece of grass and it gives that fish long enough to follow it boom he's going to eat it there's another one right there I mean this fish probably hit it two or three times we're not even up to where we lost that big one earlier this was just one that you know I think I had a bite or two coming around this point and I mean that time it got look how pretty these fish are just a beauty this time of year with the water being cooled down you want that slow retrieve so a 62 64 gear ratio you don't want a 71 right now I think it's just a little bit too fast and of course a 73 72 76 something like that Medium heavy titanium rod something you got a lot of power fast tip but you want to be able to feel and this is just a shallow water swimbait that's a live motion one here but uh tro car three o weighted hooked with a weighted swimbait and shallow water you'll be able to cover a lot more water and it's going to swim a lot better for you at a right speed that's a good one all right man what a beauty and see how fat she is just full a row what a beautiful fish we'll let her go go let her do thing make plenty [Music] more see you girl fishing this time of year as you can see the fish we're catching are fat they're beautiful they're up here some are spawning some are getting ready to spawn they're full of eggs this time of year is crucial this is the reproduction time of all of the Lakes you know around this country you know in a place like this especially on Lake Gunnersville it's such a great lake to fish it's beautiful it's a great place to come and catch a lot of fish but there's so much pressure here on this Lake right now this is the time of year come catch fish have a blast but make sure we let them go so they can reproduce so that our kids and grandkids can continue to come back and catch plenty of Big Lake Gunnersville bass hey you know one thing to always remember about keeping bass there's nothing wrong with catching a few Keepers for the dinner table right but when you really think about catching a bigger bass like like the alpha dogs 3 lb and up well those are the ones you definitely you want to let those go number one you want those genetics in your Lake for years to come after the spawn and number two if you really sit and think about it eating a big bass well they just don't taste that good shallow water swimbaits Lake Gunnersville Alabama during the spawn check it out as it warms up as the as the sun gets a little bit higher and as you know the fish I think are going to slowly push up and become a little bit more aggressive you know we're going to kind of go with them and as you can see we got a lot of lily pads right here and when you get into heavy cover like that a lot of the times your opportunities of catching a really big bath are are in these lily pads so I'm going to switch up I'm going to change it up a little bit same bait and everything but with line and line I'm going to throw a braided line compared to the Fluor carbon that we've been throwing the water's been real clear it's a little bit dirtier in here but for the most part I'm going to do it because the strength of the fish that are possibly in these lily pads I'd rather them pull on braid than Fluor carbon when I'm in here so we're going to stretch up to a strand 50 lb braid and see what happens one question that you know we get asked a lot is what what type of knot do you tie with braid is it a cinch knot is it a pmar knot is it a double s knot you know I always use a double palar knot I'll run run it through one time because this line is so silky or you know slick what happens is if you only tie one or if you tie that cinch knot one thing that'll happen is it slides through so you run it through twice and then you pull it apart right there just like a normal poar knot run it through take your tagline and pull your tagline tight and voila [Music] fishing in this area where there's a lot of lily pads what you see is long casts that we're making and the reason we're making long cast is because it is pretty shallow in here water's fairly clear we don't want to Spook the fish so making that long cast with 50 lb braid the one thing that's so important with it is when you get that bite that line goes whether that fish goes left or right your line is around that lily pad and to get that hook set with no stretch in your line helps you catch more fish there's one see all through those lily pads all right little adjustment that fish hit it way back in those lily pads wow floor carbon I think or mono would have had me tied up but look at that another Gunnersville Beauty you know when you're fishing in these thick lily pads with this braided line one thing with braid is it floats Fluor carbon sinks so you can keep that real steady retrieve with Fluor carbon but in these lily pads where we're at you know throwing this this heavy braided line and making really long cast it's pretty shallow in here but you want to make sure that you go slow enough to where that Tail's still kicking but that bait is down in front of that fish and a quick release there she goes but throwing that you know as you could see coming out of that real green stuff right there I mean that fish hit me and was going straight that way so by the time I set the hook if I was throwing any line than this strand braid I would have missed that fish obviously the hook still wasn't in her that good but you know bringing it through there getting the no stretch getting that hook set was able to get that fish to the boat here on Lake Gunnersville we thrown the braid and we thrown the flu carbon and it's really paid a big dividends on both sides in in the areas that we were fishing now as you get further south down into Florida down into lily pads and Cattails and that's all you have it's 100% braided line the entire time for me and then we move up to say Smith Lake up in Virginia or Smith Lake over here in Coleman Alabama the shallow water swimbait is still going to work and it's still going to catch just the same amount of fish but you're going to be throwing more fluorocarbon than you are braid because you don't have near the vegetation here on Gunnersville we got it all so when you're sitting there and you're fishing and you look at the situation that you're in you look at the Cove that you're in just think to yourself what's going to give you the best opportunity to get the fish in the boat if you got a lot of vegetation nasty gnarly stuff you're going to want to throw braided line if you're up on these Rock lakes that don't have a lot of grass throw the floor carbon have fun catch a lot of [Music] fish oh yeah look at that come here don't Ah that's what I'm talking about right here beautiful fat look you can see how she's red on the tail like that just a beautiful Gunnersville bass right there let this one go and catch another one so shallow water fishing in the spawn one of the biggest things is to make sure that you have some shallow water swim baits you want to fish pretty slow you know we haven't been very aggressive today the water temperature is around 62 63° so the bit's a little slow but they still bite and you just want to make sure that you keep that bait just above the grass or the shells or whatever it is you're fishing and just let that thing swim around and they come up and get it whether they're coming up to bed or whether they're on a bed this is a great way to catch a lot of fish pull in an area and a mat like this there's no holes in it and I see frogs hopping across it most likely there's not a bass there they know that there's danger there they will not go past a point I've had it where I've actually watched a frog follow the frog out and stop at a certain spot and then I move my frog past that bass eats it where that frog stopped so pay attention to the simple little things like that can actually help you maximize your fishing time because he knows if there's danger he's not going to come back so many colors of different soft Plastics at Bass Pro Shops you ask yourself well where do I start I'm going to show you today as we go in the [Music] zone hey gang I want you to be honest with me are you a soft plastic junkie look at that person sitting next to you right now you can can admit it I know I could admit it if you look in my Tackle Box my tackle Barn the trunk of my car there are soft Plastics everywhere and a lot of times you ask yourself what is what is the right color to use there's so many colors to pick from well a lot of times you can live by that old old rule on Dark Days use dark soft Plastics on lighter days use lighter soft Plastics and while that works I want you to try something this year I want you to go to your lake or your pond and I want you to just stare at the bottom of that lake or Pond just stare at the bottom real quick okay then I want you to match your soft Plastics to the bottom okay look at this guy behind me right here look at the size of him look at his camouflage around him there's a reason he got that big and when you talk about preditor and prey especially the prey their number one defense from big guys like this or a 10 lb bass it's their camouflage they have to blend in with their surroundings or I got news they're going to become lunch all right whether you're a cwad whether you're a bluegill you have to blend in with your surroundings so what I want you to do get a soft plastic that if you drop it down to the bottom of the lake you're like wow I can barely see that Z train I how is a fish going to see that I got news the Predator is conditioned to kill anything that is camouflaged in its own environment in fact right now I want you to look at this worm right here and pretend that's the bottom of the lake see how it Blends in with that wood well I got news if there's a 10 lb slaunch sitting next to it game over my friends this year look at the bottom of your Lake and most of all match the bottom of your Lake guaranteed you're going to catch more Bass [Music] hello everyone and welcome to the Bass Pros the show that is teaching more Anglers to fish than ever before and do we have a great show for you today Bassmaster Classic Champion Randy Hall is going to remind us that crankbaits are not just for shallow and deep water he's going to remind us about that middle ground as he goes in depth then are you one of those Anglers that just you want to catch more fish on a drop shot but you're not well you're going to learn how to on today's in the zone but first former classic Champion Davey height is going to show us his two-step process first fine fish then catch fish Here Comes fishing in [Music] five you know one of the questions that I get asked and an awful lot is what do you do when you go to a new lake or a body of water that you you haven't been on in a long time and you where do you start what do you do we're up here somewhere in Minnesota and this is going to be a great example of what I do when I go to a body water that I haven't been on in a long time I haven't been here for over 2 years instead of going to the local tackle shop and asking for uh information and a lot of times they're just trying to sell you a bait I I come out here and I trust my El ICS and my instincts uh and what I start doing is I start looking around as you can see here there's there's a lot of bait and some fish and area we're at find an area that's got some fish find the Contour that you're trying to stay on and look for and just cover water then after you do that and you start catching a few fish that's when I'll slow down and use soft Plastics and that sort of thing I always start out throwing baits that I can cover water with I got a dt10 on here and uh just covering water trying to get around a school fish I think a big mistake that a lot of people make is they come out to a place maybe they've never fished before or hadn't been there in a long time and they start fishing slow and uh you just don't cover water and heck it it may be time to go in before you actually get around some fish so I like to know that I'm around the fish there's one see I like to know that I'm around them I'm around them look he going to jump nice you know we can't use Nets fishing bassm tourament I don't have one with me now so I'm going to have to get back there get this one I'm using 12 lb test and don't want to swing these fish if you don't have to there we go that's the way you want to St the morning H beautiful small mouth love it [Music] [Music] you I caught one on dt10 but I know these Smallmouth love jerk bait so I'm going to try this I can still cover water not quite as much as I can with the crankbait there's another one water they Fighters come on in here big guy woo yes you know it doesn't get much better than this I'm a southern boy but these brown fish you you just fall in love with them they're they're just so aggressive and they're such good Fighters I'm going to go catch another one so I've had a couple bites on moving baits crank bait and jerk bait uh right here on this one Rocky drop and most of the time my big fish come on soft Plastics but I don't like to do that all day long I get around a few fish and you know I caught several nice ones but then I pick up a a soft plastic bait something like this a jig and uh a lot of times I can catch the biggest fish of the day just like that you know I think I was probably like everyone else grew up fishing the bank you know casting to the to the Shoreline itself but now with the electronics that we have you can you can come out and you're you're essentially fishing the bank because you're I'm fishing deep water when it comes up uh shallow I'm targeting 10 12 ft today and you just have to trust your electronics and have good maps wow it looks like I'm taking an easy with him but he's just that strong a don't you do it I want you to do it look at that baby that's a football it's football season wow I've won the bassm classic the FLW championship in couple anger years but my heart's pumping this never gets old awesome you know I love it when a plan comes together it doesn't always happen that way but you know I'm I haven't been here in several years and you know it's what I do everywhere I go I get moving baits I get in this case a dt10 jerk bait a Shad rrap Shad I'm loving it and uh just search and find find a depth range and you know pretty early on I figured out that a lot of these bigger fish are out there you know 10 12T which is a long way offshore on a lake like this and uh just follow your lakeem map uh just like it's your Shoreline uh find that Contour range that they're at and catch big ones you know we always hear about shallow cranking deep cranking deep her cranking but what about that middle Zone Randy H's here today to remind us about that forgotten area as she goes in [Music] depth fall fishing has always been the most puzzling and the most frustrating time of the year to try to consistently catch bass always know that there's always multiple things going on and you just got to put the puzzle together throughout the day and by the end of the day if you're catching bigger fish consistently you've done the right thing first cast I was trying to get the First cast outed the way so I can talk a little bit eat the brim right off the bass a little one got one anyway First cast well we're out here today trying to do this show to show you guys how I like to fish the mid depth crankbait range let me throw that little guy back middepth cranking and that's something you don't hear a lot about anymore you know all the guys on tour we all fish shallow a lot Square bills a lot that works very effective but everybody does that and then the Deep dive in the crankbaits when the fish get out deep but a lot of times those fish are in between and they're roaming those edges kind of up and down in that 6 to 10t Zone and that's the zone that gets overlooked a lot with a lot of crankbait depths but this Livingston howler this is the bait I won to Classic on 2014 at Lake Gunnersville but I like to throw this bait in that 6 to 10t Zone it Dives about 9 ft deep on 12lb fluorocarbon line so that's what we're going to Target today I'm going to show you all about every little key detail that I do to help catch fish on these tight baits and that depth zone so y'all stay tuned fall is a really difficult time of the year to catch fish on any Lake that you go to in the country a lot of times it's because they're suspended and they're not up there where they're usually sitting at they're not up there on the dock or on a stump or lay down tree and they're not out on a brush pile or a shell bed in the 15 20ft depth but you still can make them bite when you target that 6 to 10t Zone with a good hard vibrating reaction bait like this crank bait here oh yeah come on up here big boy when that bait is diving it's kind of diving down that Shore and it's bumping the bottom for the first 8 ft 9 ft deep most of the fish that bite it that are suspended they're out there in that same 8 or NT depth Zone but they're sitting over top of 12 ft 15 ft of water and they're suspended so when that bait leaves the bottom at 8 or 9 ft it continues to track the same depth and the fish are looking up at the shore and they see the bait coming and they just track in behind it and get it as it's going back up and that's where you catch a lot of those suspended fish and you just really a lot of times it just looks like simple bank beating but it's not you stay out usually I keep my boat in 15 ft of water and that bait comes down to drop it comes right out in their face and that's where they follow it up and get [Music] it and right here this is a prime fall Shoreline right here we just went around the point we've got another little turn and we've got a little small Channel Point sticking out right here and it's a creek Channel bank and these Creek Channel Banks you just look for all those little irregularities and turns it's where you want to bring that crank bait off the bottom and it quits bouncing a lot of those times they'll hit it right on that edge like that there he comes up look at that be careful look how skinny he is and that's a typical fall fish that big head skinny body you see that a lot on all these Southern Lakes right now heard that sound saw the vibration and Boom come up there and slapped at it and he got caught that's a nice one there you have to make real conscious effort when you're fishing these Channel Banks to make sure you make the long cast at the right angle like a kind of a 45 degree angle or as you throw straight into the bank and you reel it down it's not going to dive as fast enough to stay on that bottom all the way down but at an angle like that the bait gets to kind of climb down that drop off as it's as it's coming back to the boat the boat and it keep it in that Strike Zone a lot longer and then when it leaves that drop off at the 10 12T range and it starts running into that area where the fish Su spend that and that's where you get a lot of your bites so super long cast 45° angle gets a lot more bites than straight into the bank little little small keeper but Shad is what they're on right now we're seeing so many Shad on the graph I changed from a brim color to the chartre Shad or chartre sexy Shad color and we caught the last two and lost one on that that on that Shad color so Shad in the fall seems to be more dominant just like crawfish in the spring so Shad is always kind of the first thing I look for in the fall pattern fish start transitioning from brim to Shad a lot more in the fall months as the water gets out of the 90s and 80s and gets down into the 70s and 60s that's when the Shad color picks up a lot so let the fish tell you what they want that's the best way to figure it out I believe how deep the water is down through here there's one that one hit it right off the drop feels like a pretty good one man they're pulling so hard today these fish got the Red Hook look at that he eat it that's how you want him to eat that thing that way you know you got the right color on right there he was right off the drop right as my bait quit hitting the bottom once again I you you noticed that about 2/3 of the way back to the boat that's why you never quit reeling it you just keep on whining it steady and stop go just a little bit give it just a little break little pause Here There and sometimes those fish that are falling it key in on and grab it before it starts going up back up toward the [Music] boat hey you know one of the things to really pay attention to when you're crank baing whether it's shallow deep or mid-range like Randy is today is pay attention to the rattles in your crankbait if you go through an area and you knock their lights out if you just plaster them with a rattling crankbait don't be scared to go to a silent one trust me you'll be surprised you might get a couple extra bites you otherwise wouldn't know hey we're catching big bass today in the late fall on Livingston Lures Hower plus crank baase this time of the year I'm big on having a fast retrieve reel I use a 73 to one gear ratio that's a fast reel that way you can keep that bait moving quick without working so hard and when I and I I'll pause a little pause a little and give it kind of give it it that little stop and go stop and go like this every once in a while that gives that bait a chance to kind of kind of looks like it's it's kind of dancing on the bottom bouncing off stuff especially when a fish is falling and they're suspended if it's erratic like it's trying to get away from that fish and it's kind of stunned a little bit that's when you'll get a lot of those bites so pair it up with a fast retrieve reel in the fall and you'll do a lot better with it you see I fished that side of the creek there for a little bit and all of a sudden it's slick calm all afternoon pretty slow and then the wind starts blowing it's picking up on this other side I imediately switch sides of the creek made a cast across this point it's an obvious Channel point but that wind I believe really turns those fish on sometimes it breaks up that surface when a lot of those fish are just sitting there suspending just swimming around kind of LAX daysy cool not really into biting anything the wind turns on and everything kind of comes to life there's a big the wind is your friend that's the cliche that we all always say and it's true in the spring and it's true in the fall for sure they come up behind it that's a nice one ain't big as I thought but boy he's bad 8 n ft deep I'm diving and all of a sudden it hits that 10 12T water and all those fish I'm seeing on the lant that are suspended that's the ones that chase it up and bite it that's a good three three and A2 lb tournament fish I love fall fishing when nobody else is catching them and you figure out the right depth Zone and you start going in the these places and you start catching one here one there and all of a sudden you put together a good five fish limit you come in and you win some money Livingston lure you know the sound is not a computer generated sound it's an actual recording of an actual bait fish underwater so we've got the distressed Bait fish sound which is the original sound which is the number one sound second sound you hear at click two is the Crawfish clicking sound that's a defensive crawfish sound and then the third sound of the cycle 2 is the Shad sound electronic Bait fish shad and that's a frenzy feeding type sound that a Shad gives off that's my favorite sound during the fall and that's the one we caught them on here today really feel of that bottom if you if you ever get contact with the bottom when you're offshore like this like right here it feels like it's a little high spot I feel my bait starting to bump the bottom so I really stop move it a little bit and it backs up a little bit and that's when a lot of them fish will AB abouted it they're kind of sitting there watching or following it that intense shade sound is pulsing down there on the Livingston the last one a lot of those fish commit you know out of a reaction strike and just hit that thing as we worked our way around these Creeks today I found later in the day the fish seem to be holding on the little inside turns of the creek Channel bank so they're kind of suspended right here because that's where a lot of bait fish are hanging so I've started targeting that throughout the day trying to make that crankbait run through those schools of Shad on those drop offs on those little creek Channel turns and that's been the ticket to catch the bigger fish fish later in the day there he is that's a nice one there yeah oh baby that was Ste come [Music] here oh there we go that's the way the end of day right there boys nice fish right here at the end that'll help cull that last little fish I've got if I was in the tournament today you just got to be creative you got to get in that 6 to 10 foot range fall fishing at its best go try it in your Aira guarantee you going to have a good time just like we have [Music] [Music] today hey here's a fast fact for you if you're not catching them on your favorite B in the grass or around the edges of the grass what you need to do is put it down and pick up a crankbait you need to pick up something different if they're not biting what you're throwing throw something else usually that [Music] helps you know one of the most asked questions I get about drop shotting is what is the Right leader length well might be a little more complex than you think and that is today in the zone [Music] you know the great thing about a drop shot is it is a bite getter when everything else kind of slows down you throw a drop shot you're going to get a lot of bites and really when a drop shot headed east from the West Coast that's kind of where it originated it was thought of as only a deep water technique you kind of got to be in you know 15 to 20 ft of water or more to get bites very very untrue a drop shot will catch them from 6 in of water down to 60 ft of water but probably the most asked question I've got over the last 15 years about a drop shot is what length do I want my leader in fact that's probably the only asked question I get about a drop shot is and look if you want to stay very simple just make a 1T leader if you look at this drop shot right here it's standard about 10 to 12 Ines long but if you really want to break it down and get phenomenal when you're fishing a drop shot here's the best way to put it if you look at this leader right here and as I dangle that worm gets a lot of action well that's the liter length that I want when the water is warmer okay you see that right there ton of action out of that dream shot now as the water cools down and it gets down into the mid-50s mid 4S that's when I'm going to shorten that leader way way up in fact this technique right here is is called a zero shot my leader length is only at about 2 in long so the next time you rig up a drop shot and you go out remember this simple principle when you are in real real warm water I want you to go to a longer lader 10 to 20 in it's going to give that worm a ton of action as it gets colder shorten that leader up because your worm is going to be well it's going to be dull it's going to be kind of neutral looking in the water column trust me shorter liter colder water longer liter warmer water and you will catch a ton more fish on a drop shot this next [Music] year hello everyone and welcome to well the best bass fishing show on TV and what a show we have for you today former classic Champion Edwin ERS he's here to show us two ways to rig giant swimbaits in Oklahoma as he goes in depth then have you lost your rhythm with a jerk bait do you ever have any rhythm with a jerk bait that's going to be today's in the zone but first we asked Rick Clan how does he know when fish are heading in the spawn heading out from spawning pre-spawn posts spawn Here Comes fishing in five 2 1 [Music] [Music] you know here we are in the South miday the spond should be well over and all these fish should be now be moving out to their summer areas where you be deep crank bating them but it's not happening why I want to show you here on the actual map the little bit of this movement I'm talking about from you know the pre-spawn spawn and then posts spawn you've got this blue that's the creek Channel and you got it out here in the deeper part where it intersects another Creek that let's say it would be where they're staying in the winter and then as it starts to warm and they go into that pre-spawn stage they start moving up these Creek stand channels and one of the key areas that they stage in it's where that Creek Channel cuts by that point the closest they'll stage right there what are they staging flers are CH staging to move into these pockets and spawn okay that's where they stay and spawn through this through the spawning cycle and then when they finish and go into post Pond they will normally move back to that staging area and then move on out eventually in in the early summer to where they're going to spend the summer in the deeper water this is really what the normal [Music] movement you know there's a there's some mathematics to this this time of year and the math is about how many fish or where you're fishing what you're trying to understand are you fishing around most of the fish in the lake are you fishing around just a few fish in the lake if you come out there and fish shallow like we're doing now in the winter you're fishing around less than 5% of the fish in the lake the other 95% are behind you but in pre-spawn now that starts to change they start to move up but then when you get really close to spawn now you have a hard wave moving toward the bank and then these waves can be multiple waves over two 3 or 4 months and now in that spawn you're going to have 60 70 80% of the fish up here where you're fishing shallow then when the spawn starts to slow down and we go into that Poston you'll slowly start to have those fish lead you'll have 70% up there 60% up there now 40% out there and that just keeps progressing and the whole hard part about that is how fast does it progress and uh nature gives you signals when that's speeding up okay if the lake is low and the water's getting hotter then that's going to speed up what we're fishing now right now though we're fishing a high lake and a high lake is the number one thing that slows that down so right now we still probably have 50 60 to 70% of the fish up here shaow where normally if the lake was low that number of fish would be deep and now your your fish are leaving you up here shallow the other signals would be be you know that again seeing that Shad spawn and knowing that's that that's where their food is and another one is the fish himself you know look at him is he fat like he hadn't spawned or is he long and slim is he kind of beat up long and slim and that means he just finished spawning or is he long and slim but starting to look healthy means we might have been an early spawner but now he's fattening up on all these shed but the fish will kind of tell you too you know hey you know what stage they're in now look at this fish okay it's thin he's he's spawned out but he probably respond a while back cuz his body's got he's really healthy and what he's doing he's standing up here shallow getting all his energy back feeding on these shad and stuff and so that's a real pretty fish already he may have been an early spawner like in we're in may he may have been spawned in March but he stayed shallow with this High covering stuff to get all his weight back if you don't have high waters where you have that grass for the spawn there shed normally use docks to spawn on uh especially docks that are older that have a lot of algae on them and stuff normally they also use these floating docks because they always stay in the water and that algae like it's the water drops off from this it algae dies but floating dot goes with the water and when they lay their eggs on it they the eggs never go dry so again awareness tells you and can give you all these little signals and for example you know uh even though looking at the fish we've caught you haven't seen any of them real fat so you know that most of them look like theyve finished spawning there probably a small amount still spawning but they're slim uh they they're not too beat up it looks like they were early spawners and they're feeding on the shed and they're getting healthy again as long as that the Shad are up here as long as this water's High they're going to keep feeding on the shad and eventually the brim will spot so these are all signals to tell you where you should be fishing to put yourself around more fish you know swimbaits are deadly for catching big bass today classic champ Edwin iers is going to show us his two favorite ways to rig them as he goes in depth you know over the last 10 15 20 years you know swimbaits have just grown exponentially and they're just they've become an everyday part of my Arsenal and today I'd really like to explain to you the soft swimbaits the plastic swim baits how I rig them how I use them when where and why you know some of them are going to be really good for shallow water some of them are be good for deep some of them are going to be good in between and today I hope to dive off in that and show you some different ways I rig them and catch fish on them so right now I'm throwing the paddle tail just with a belly weight the reason is I am really really shallow I'm sitting in a foot and a half of water right here so I want that belly weight there's all kinds of Little Brush and grass up here it's going to keep my bait from getting snagged I can reel it pretty quick to get that reaction strike I can throw it right through these trees right next to them I can bump them uh but it's it's the right swimbait for up for in a situation like this when it's this shallow I choose braid on this setup because it's a shallow combat deal you know I need to get a really good hook set you know with fluorocarbon a work and I love fluorocarbon but I like fluorocarbon more with an open hook situation U this is a lot like swimming a jig something like that I don't want any stretch I want to get a really good hook set a lot of times I'm throwing in in really heavy cover with this outfit so I'm going to use like a 30 or 40 lb braid and a 7 and 1/2t heavy action R there's one right there oh he come off why you need braid I still didn't get a hook in that fish golly that was a big one look at that took my zoom swimmer it's completely gone dang it really important to be dead center in that bait right there everything in all your swimbaits whatever it is it's so important for everything to be straight and in line because if you're not that way it's going to roll it's going to sit to the side so I want to make sure that's right in line with the eye of my hook I'm going to set that hook on the side and I'm going to line it up to where that goes right up through the very middle of that that bait that bait's Hollow in the middle and you need to be sure you get in that Hollow portion you can kind of feel it and then I bring it all the way out make that hole a little bit bigger then I'm going to set it right there on top so this is my shallow heavy cover swimbait rig right there oh there's a biging golly literally slack lined me I mean I'm reeling that thing in and it's like somebody just cut my line holy smokes look at that one can't even see my bait come here fish look at that he ate that thing that is so fun that's what I was talking about you know when they hit those swimbaits they just literally just it's like they get a 100 yard running start and it's a middle linebacker tackling the running back and just de that's what I love about this it's super weedless it's a great alternative and it area where you might be swimming a jig I can reel it really fast trigger a bite awesome bait right there and this is where I use it I use it with braid big 7ft pole and I cover a lot of water with it in shallow water situations next one I want to show you is this bait right here this is a magraft a mega bass magraft completely completely different action completely completely different bait it actually has a harness you tie on right here has a treble hook has a magnet in it that'll hold that hook against the belly right there if you'll see there's a magnet and it holds it up against the belly or if you want to make it a little bit more weedless you can tuck that hook in there to make it a little bit more weedless this is going to be a slow retrieve bait it's got a big kick to it just a big wide tail kick to it you can see how thick the tail section is um it's a completely different presentation this is where it so critical to have that bow in your line if your line is tight between the end of your rod and the bait you're reeling it too fast if you can look out there and you've got a bow in your line that's the perfect speed if if there's one thing you guys remember from what I'm trying to teach you today on this style bait keep that bow in your line uh really really important to get the right retrieve rate when a fish are a little bit more sluggish I go to this bait when I can't get them to react I go to this bait in dirtier water I go to this bait or in colder water I go to this bait um I've got it on a 76 cranking Rod um I got it on a slower gear ratio reel to help me slow it down you know if you're going with a big one put it on a 710 cranking Rod or 76 something that that'll take the weight of the bait but uh you don't want on a Great Big Stiff Rod because again it's a it's a treble hook bait what I really like about this bait also is I can get this bait down deep you know I can let this bait oh there's one right there holy smokes I just let it get was trying to talk to you guys about getting it deep good night look at the size of this fish oh my goodness it's a biging I was trying to explain to you guys I love this bait for getting it down deep it's a it's a great alternative to a crankbait or or or fishing Bridge pilings something along those lines because I can get that bait down deep man that's a good one that is a good one isn't that fun look how that dorsal finan pops up right there beautiful fish thank you girl made my day oh yeah a couple things to help you catch more fish on a swimbait number one commit to it A swimbait is for catching big bass you got to kind of throw it more than standard lures and number two just tell yourself there's one behind it a lot of times fish just follow swimbaits if you tell yourself this year there's one behind it every single cast you'll catch a lot more fish this is another bait that I've got to have in my Arsenal I'm taking the same Zoom swimmer that we had the belly hook on but I'm putting a lead head on it this is a bait that a key component to one of the baits I used to win the Kentucky lake bass Fest a few years ago caught all those giant bass on a bait just like this I've got it rigged right now on a half o mustach lead head I'll go up to a 3/4 oun some and sometimes a 1 oz most time it's a half or for a 3/4 ounce fluorocarbon lines a key component Your Rod slow gear ratio reels a key component this bait here I'm going to use when I need to get below that 10t range you know I can use that magraft when I'm when I'm you know I can get it down to 10 12 feet but when I get past that it takes too long I'm going to go to a bait like this that I can let it sink all the way to the bottom and then start slow winding it in I'll throw this bait out 25 30t of water at times but uh let's go see if we can catch a few fish there's a hump right up here about 15 20t of water let's reel that thing across that hump and see what happens so I'm going to throw that bait out there a long ways you know I'm throwing this on 17 PB test I'm letting it go all the way to the bottom and then I'm just slow reeling that in you know when I when I saw those fish they're on the bottom so I just I'm bringing it right on the bottom when I get it back from the boat you know when I reel it a little bit I'm going to pause it and let it fall back to the bottom till my line goes slack oh golly I got it to the right there and one clobbered it I don't know what I got oh it's a biging golly look at the size of that one reminds me of Kentucky Lake all over again come here that's what I love about that bait man you generally you hook them you got them hooked really good you know so many times with with crank baits I'm so worried about losing them you you know this bait right here you're going to hook them good I say that my bait just fell out man that's a fat old fish good one key component of this is super glue you know you can make one of these baits last a long time keeps it straight keeps everything where you want it to be by squirting a little superglue right there in the head and and and pushing that bait right up on the the front of that and that's going to keep it up there keep it all straight I use the gel type super glue and I'm going to let it dry just you know good 30 40 seconds and it really is a key key deal you can't do it without superglue the great thing about this bait is it's very subtle very silent this is a bait that I'm going to have tied on when I'm out structure fishing you know and a lot of times I'll start out with a crankbait maybe a worm football jig Carolina rig but then I'm going to follow it up with this swimbait it's just a bait that's quiet subtle those big fish eat it it's a great way to mop up what's left on those spots after you fished it with your other baits another bait I've got in my Arsenal are the big ones you know and and you look at these baits this is a 10in 9 in 8 in you think there's no way but I've caught three two three lb bass on this 10in swimbait guys don't be afraid to throw them there's going to be days when they're feeding on big gizzard Shad that that's not too big a bait for them to bite and I've caught them on fish on Fish many fish on these baits these big ones you know it's you think about it you know bass get conditioned to us fishermen you know we throw so many of the same size baits at them how many of us have had them spit up a big six seven 8 inch gizzard Chad in your live oel or spit it up when you're out there catching them so don't be afraid to throw these this one here's a little bit different this is the mag slow it's got a lot thinner tail action if you look at the difference uh it's going to have a lot more tail kick uh no head wobble this is going to be a lot bigger tail kick and a head wobble so two different in is there you might look at you know one for colder water one a little bit faster than the other one's going to displace more water you know the the the magdraft is going to displace more water I'll use it more in a dingy water situation this in a more pressured or clear water situation but uh let's see if we can catch one on these um there's going to be days that these really really work so we're going to give it a whirl when I go to throw these bigger baits I upssize my reel I I moved it to a size 20 reel 63 to1 for the line capacity to throw a bigger bait you need a bigger spooled reel one to hold the bigger line to be able to make the longer cast but to handle the weight of that bait so go up in in a real size uh that wider spool it makes all the difference in the world I still have a lot of line left on there when I make that long cast if I had a size 10 reel you don't have any line left on there so your gear ratio is going to be way out of whack you're going to be turning it a lot faster than you need to cuz you're down to the bottom of the spool so I always upside my reels when I go to these bigger baits there's one right there on the First cast and it's little there's a prime example that a little a little a big bait that's an 8 in swimbait just to give give you a size you know that's a 8 in swimbait and a 2 and 1 12lb bass so those big ones will definitely catch smaller bass man he red it look at he did to my tore my bait up that's good they'll bite [Music] it oh there you go when I'm fishing top water in the fall I always like to make a long cast so I throw 70 lb braids 7 and 1/2t pitching or flipping type rod and so you can cast it 50 to 60 yards out far as you can and then your boat so far away the fish aren't hearing you when they're suspended and they're real spooky like that that's what it takes sometimes to make them buy put it on braid and a Long Rod and throw it at Livingston walking boss as far as you can and that's when you're going to get them big ones just like this you know the beautiful thing about a jerk p is it catches them in every season winter spring summer fall the number one key to jerk baay fishing is Cadence that's what we're going to talk today about in the zone [Music] hey the great thing about these jerk baits right here if you walk through Bass Pro Shops there are very few lures in our tackle box that catch them all year long freezing water warm water a jerk bait can catch them all year long but the thing to live by with a jerk bait is rhythm and Cadence My Friends trust me on this when you find the right Rhythm and Cadence per the time of year you generally can duplicate that all day long and here's kind of what I've lived by my entire life is when you see guys jerk bait number one the number one key to jerk baiting is you have to throw your rod and this is just a sample right here trust me I don't use a rod this short it's a sample I took off the Reel counter is if you notice what I'm doing right here I'm throwing line back at that jerk bait to get it to come to a complete stop okay it's almost like when you stop at a stop sign real quick and a car might bump you from behind that's what you want to happen with a jerk bait to get bites it has to come to a complete stop now the next thing is in the middle of summertime if you watch guys like Edwin iers Kevin vanam heck when I've tape Zona shows you can get really aggressive when you're jerk baiting with shorter pauses more action keep it going right but as the water cools down in fact when the water gets downright cold longer pauses all right so if you go out this year and the water is in the low 40s the longer you can pause your jerk bait the more you are going to catch them as we get into Springtime summertime start getting more aggressive live by this one rule warm water short pause cold water long pause and you're going to catch a lot more fish this year jerk bait [Music]

Channel: Bass Pro Shops

Views: 1,505,825

Keywords: bass pro shops, bass pro, bass pro shop, bass pro fishing, bass fishing, fishing classic, adventure starts here, cabela's, cabelas, bass pro shops pyramid, bass pro club, the bass pros, bass pros, fishing, school of fish

Id: hDNOGaY0RSo

Length: 226min 53sec (13613 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 18 2020