February 2, 2025 • 50 mins
On Jim Strader Outdoors, Jim interviewed Steve Douglas, "The Catfish Dude" about his upcoming catfish and crappie conference and expo which will be at the west wing of the Kentucky State Fairgrounds February 21-22. We also interviewed professional catfish anglers Damian Clark and Jeremy Mattingly at Crappie Monster and owner of Ozark Rods.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good evening, everybody demonstrator here and we have got a
great show for you. Tonight we're talking with Steve Douglas.
A lot of guys know Steve from YouTube. He's the
catfish Dude, and most importantly, he is the main driving
force behind the Big Catfish and Crappie Conference and ex Bowl,
(01:22):
which is coming to the West wing of the Kentucky
State Fair Rounds February twenty first through the twenty second.
And we got some of his featured speakers coming on
here during the show tonight.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
To talk about catfish and crappie, right, Steve, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So Steve, folks a little bit about this is your
tenth anniversary, Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
We started this back in twenty fifteen, just kind of
way to sell some boats, pretty much because I was
sponsored by a boat dealership.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And it just turned into a larger event because people.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Are needing a space to go hang out with other
people that like catfish and cropping.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And this is a consumer show, yes, And you've got
more than one hundred and thirty exhibitors coming to the show.
And again it's February twenty first through the twenty second
in the West wing of the fair grounds. There and
tough folks a little bit about what they can expect
to see there, Steve.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Well, it's everything catfish and croppy from boats to rod
and reels, the sinkers, anything you can imagine.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
We won't.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
You won't find any bedding or windows or anything like that.
If they don't have anything to do with catfish and croppie,
it's not going to be there.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Very good sir, And I know you like to say
if you can't find it, it's your show. You probably
don't need it. That's right, that's right, Jim. Well, and
you've got great seven hours lined up. We're going to
talk the evening with two of your seven hour speakers.
We're talking to Damian Clark and he's with the rid
Ripping Catfish Tournament Trail White.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
A life story really yeah, Damien kind of coming from
a little rougher upbringing, but he found catfishing back in
twenty sixteen and that kind of changed his life and
he's really really done well. He's he wins a lot
of tournaments now, he's actually a tournament director. He's kind
of got his passion into the sport. He won the
(03:22):
WCC in twenty twenty three, which is a World championship,
and he's won a lot of the Cabellas Kingcats events,
so he's he's really did a great job in.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
The short time he's been doing it.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yes, sir, he's going to talk about fish for giant
catfish on the Ohio River, the Mississippi River and the
Tennessee River systems and goes through his techniques and what have.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
You that he uses. Yeah, he's a really good guy.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
He's very knowledgeable and he don't mind sharing what he's
learned because you know, he's he's looking to get more
people into the sport as well, Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And we're also going to talk with Jeremy madding Lee.
They know him as Cropping Bobster. He's also the owner
of Ozark Rods and Jeremies Kentucky Boys from Bereckridge County
and nationally known and he's another great speaker that you've
got on here.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, he actually has a TV show.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
I'm not sure what channel it is, but it's on
the hook fishing and he just he shows people how
to catch the crappie with the live scope and other
means of catching crappie.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And he's gonna talk to us tonight about of course
live scope and spiderig and vertical fishing. What the fish
are doing this time of year, moving into spring. So
we're really looking forward to talking to these individuals. They're
great guys. I've talked with them. I know who they are,
and uh, we're gonna have a great time with it.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
All right, folks, I'm gonna go quick break.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Coming back from break, we're gonna talk to David Clark
about catfish.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
So stick with us.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
We'll be back right after the break is presented by
SMI Marine.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Remember you never get soaked by my friends at SMI.
All right, folks, again, we're talking to night with Steve Douglas.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
He's having his big at Fishing Crappy Conference at the
West Wing in the Kentucky State Fairgrounds on February twenty
first through twenty second. And Steve, we got Damien Clark,
one of your featured speakers.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Here. Tell folks about a little bit about Damien, then
we'll go to him.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Well, Damien started at around twenty sixteen, and he just
learned really fast. He's doing this from a passion and
that's what I liked about Damien. When you start doing
things for money, it doesn't seem to work out right,
But Damien's got passion behind this and he's starting to
win a lot of tournaments. He runs actually a cat
fishing trail I think out of Owensboro, Kentucky, which is
(05:37):
the ride Ripping Catfish Trail. He's just put catfishing and
in part of his life, and it's the passion really
shows because.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
He's a really great guy. Damien, welcome and board. Can
you hear us? All right?
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Yes, sir, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Well, the pleasure is all ours actually, And there's kind
of a unique story here, and I know you want
to speak to it because you're about the Lord. Just
tell folks a little bit about yourself and they will
talk catfish all right.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Well, as a young age, I've always hunting and fished,
and as I've grown older, I started making some bad
decisions which ultimately led to me getting incarcerated. I spent
seven years in the penitentiary, and while I was in
the penitentiary, I gave my heart to the Lord. In
twenty thirteen and I got out and I realized that
(06:26):
idle time was the devil's playground, to say the least,
and I had to find a hobby and I resorted
back to my old childhood memories, the good memories, and
that was fishing. And I started catfishing, and I got
introduced to a guy that tournament catfish, and he asked
me if i'd like to go, and he took me.
And sometimes I want to thank him, and sometimes I
(06:48):
want to kick him because it's cost me a lot
of money and time to get his passionate about this
fort as I am today, and I'm just ultimately, I'm
just grateful that God's blessed me with catfishing. Man, It's
been a key to keeping me sober.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, Damn, you really burst on the scene in a
big way.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
You're a very focused individual.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You've won the Cabella's Kingcat, Little Josh Baton Tackle, you won,
as Steve mentioned, the twenty twenty three World Championship, and.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
It's two Yeah, I've won several big events. Man, It's just,
you know, the favorite of God on my life. And
I'm passionate. And if I could tell anybody, if anybody
asked me what's one thing that I could encourage them with,
it would be told tow time on the water. And
nothing can beat that. No electronics, no, no money, no nothing,
(07:47):
nothing can beat the time on the water very very well.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Said my friend. That's kind of my credo.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Actually, I tell people all the time, if you take
the biology out of fishing, if you take your knowledge
out water and what it does and how the fish
rack to it, you really all the electronics, all that
stuff ain't gonna hit you there.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
It's just I'll put it this way. You won't be
top notch by log shot.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
No.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
And I take a lot of pride in having a
seven thousand dollars boat winning national tournaments because it just
shows that, man, it's not the electronics and it's not
the super nice boat that wins the tournaments. It's the
dedication and you know, just being determined to win.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yes, Sir David, tell folks a little bit about where
you fish. I know you you know, chatted a bunch
about the Ohio River and the Mississippi River and Tennessee
River system. But talk about those fish reasons, where they're
at now, and what your thoughts are about where folks
should maybe turn their efforts for fish and what you're
(08:53):
seeing going forward.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Well, I will say this as a tournament director that
you know I have one the largest tournament trails on
the Ohio River and what I will say, thanks to
Steve Douglass and a bunch of group of guys that
have pushed this conservation. I have seen the Ohio River
improved over the past few years. I mean, I wasn't
a year before last a guy weighed in in five
(09:19):
fist way in one hundred and eighty five pounds bag
now and that's what slot limits. It's just two overs
and three unders. And I watched it excel And you know,
just you know, from my experience of fishing the Ohio River,
I can tell that the fisheries are getting better and
better and better. And that's thanks to the guys that
kept fighting and kept fighting and kept enduring because I
(09:39):
know that. You know, when you start pushing with them politics, man,
you get a lot of flying it. Man, it be
easy to quit. But them guys were determined. They paid
the weight to us. And man, we take our hats
off to Steve Douglas, Aaron wheat Lee and the guys
like that that have pushed for conservation.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
And I've done a lot of programs about that, yeah,
and the protection of the resource, and we were both
very involved in that political push, and thank you and
Thiss it bore some fruit. There are still things that
can be done, but at least just starting down the
right road.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
I started noticing the decline in twenty ten and kind
of did a little video on that, But it wasn't
about twenty thirteen that Kentucky started take a note to us.
But it really took a lot more years for him
to actually make some changes. But as Damien saying, the
changes were made are now.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
People are saying, the bigger fish is starting to be caught, Yes,
sir Damn. So what are your favorite waters that you target?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
And tell us a little bit about why, and then
when we come back from break, we'll talk about your techniques.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
But what are your favorite fish? Reason why?
Speaker 5 (10:47):
If I had one place to pick and I could
only fish one body of water the rest of my life,
it would be the Mississippi River. And the reason I
like that is I'm kind of adhd. I'm hunter mon
ire and I love current. I love the feel of
the fish hitting the rod and just smoking it. But
I fish the Ohio River, the Tennessee River, the Cumberland River,
(11:07):
I fished the Mississippi River. I fished the Red River
last year in Louisiana, I've enjoyed fishing any bodies of water,
and I take it as a I take it as
a challenge when I face new water, and my challenge
is to see if I can catch fish in water
that I've never seen before. But my favorite place of
(11:27):
all time would be the Mississippi River.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Okay, the big mighty moundy Mississippi.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
That's that's the funnest part about pet fishing is finding
new water and send if you can tame the beast.
I guess you want to say, find find the biggest
fish in that water and go.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Yeah, well, Steve, you're getting to the age now that
you probably done been on everybody of water in the
nation that has them whisker fish on it. I know
that you have videos from every I mean I could.
Every time I go on YouTube, I'm like, man, I
could the taping any lake in Steve Douglas's face pops up.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. But like I say,
the new water is the funnest. I think you can
always go back to the same old water and catch fish,
but the challenge is finding new fish in new water, and.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
I think it makes you a better fisherman, you know,
just definitely makes you a better fisherman by tackling new waters.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
There's no doubt, Damen.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
In terms of the Ohio, let's talk about it for
a minute, obviously, because it's.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Home turf for you. What do you target this time
of year?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Tell folks a little bit about that, because a lot
of people don't realize this is the time of year
when you catch those monsters because they're concentrated.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Absolutely, so I target. I'm a ledge fisherman most of
the time. Now that's not the role all the time,
but I try to find trees that are stuck on ledges,
hard ledges and anchor up on them. But right now,
like as the river's rising, I would be fishing more
shallow because I believe and from my experiences, them fish
(13:09):
as the water level goes up. They go to explore
new places that they they haven't been able to get
because the water's been low. And I try to target, like,
you know, creeks that are flooded. I've watched several people
catch fifty plus found fish out of little bitty creeks
up in them because you know they're falling the bait
up in them. But normally this time of year, I
(13:31):
target ledges with trees. Wood wood would this time of
year anchored up, and I look for wood.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Very good. And what is your favorite sister to fish
that would this time of year?
Speaker 5 (13:45):
Pray? I like Carolina rig and anchor fish. And what
I do with my electronics is I will mark the
tree drop a pin. I'll pull it up on my
maps and put my cursor on there and pull up
in between one hundred and twenty one hundred in between
hundred and one hundred and twenty feet above it and
cast back to it and try to get them fish
(14:05):
to pull up out of it. Because I've noticed if
I stopped right dead on top of it and I
cast my lines in it, I've had my heart broke
too many times doing that. So my technique is maybe
a little different than other people, says. I try to
pull the catfish out of it so they don't run
straight into that wood and I get wrapped up in
that tree and I'm not able to get them out
of there.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's great stuff. What's your favorite bait this time of year?
We got about a minute and a half.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Here, Shad and skip jack man. I do not like
leave this time of year. I do not like leaving
the boat ramp without either one of them. On the
Ohio River now the Tennessee River, it would be skip jack,
skip jack, skip jack. But Ohio River Mississippi River shad
skip jack this time of year.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
All right, very good sir.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Now, in terms of a tackle, give folks a quick
breakdown on what you I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
You're not out there hunt a little fish. What's what's
your go two?
Speaker 5 (15:01):
I use one hundred pound braid as my main line,
eighty pound Andy's mono. I use the Ichi hooks. I
use a chain swivel in between my three way and
I like to And honestly, this isn't something else I
would like to reiterate later on. It is that I
don't use the same rig on every ride. I let
(15:23):
the fish talk to me. And that's something I learned
from listening to other people that have been fishing longer
than me.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
All right, well we'll talk about that coming back from break, folks,
gotta go to new break here. Damn m being on
with us right after the break to tell us more
about his techniques. And the break is presented by Marcia
old Properties Realty. Paul Thomas is the broker all kind
of outdoor properties for sale. To be glad to list
your properties as well, check them out at mo O
(15:51):
p h A R T Realty dot com. Allright, everybody,
welcome back to Demonstrator Outdoors again. We're talking tonight with
several of the featured speakers at Catfishing Croppy Conference, which
is Steve Douglas's Catfish and Croppy Conference February twenty first
of the twenty second. It's at the West wing of
(16:14):
the Kentucky State Fairground. As we're talking with Damien Clark,
he's a professional cat fisherman. He's actually out his own tournament.
It's called rod Ripping Catfish Trail and David. Before the break,
we were talking about fish this time of year.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Talk a little bit about your.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Techniques and how you tailor those to what the water's doing,
and you know fast where folks can understand why you
do what you do.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Yeah, Well, before we took a break, I told you
that I do something a little different than other people.
So most people just rig up their posts all exactly
the same, and I don't do that. So I'll rig
up to say, Carolina, rigg the other two. I'll do
a three way the other two I'll use a sinker
(17:04):
slide kind of like a Carolina rig, and I will
shorten up my leaders, make some long, some short some
of the float, some of the rattle and whatnot. And
I'm gonna tell you why I do that, because anybody
that's been catfishing for any amount of time can tell
you that sometimes one rod catches all the fish. You'll
have six rods out there and it seems like just
(17:24):
this one rod catches all the fish. Well, I kind
of do that because I want to target to fish,
and whichever one is getting the most action, I'll change
them all over to that style, like with the three way.
The three way allows your bait to get up off
the bottom a little bit more, and I feel like
that the scent trail's better. Where when I feel like
(17:45):
a cofront has just happened and they're pushed in the mud,
I'll use a Carolina rig and the Carolina rig kind
of pushes it down towards the mud, and I just
do that. Like I told you the other day when
I had talked to you, that I usually let the
water tell me how I'm gonna fit. And you know,
some days you just don't know, you know, I've been
on the backside of coke fronts and had some of
(18:06):
the best days that I've ever had fishing, and then
there's sometimes on the backside co front it seems like
I can't catch nothing. So I always use, you know,
several different types of rigs on my rods and let
the catfish talk to me, tell me what they want
and how they want it.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
If you had to pick one method between bumping and
drifting and dragging that's your favorite, and that you would
point people towards to learn to fish for big catfish,
which would you pick and tell them a little bit
about how you would brig and what you would do.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
So, hands down, I would say bumping is my favorite,
back bouncing. It's my favorite just because I'm a hundred
mile an hour all the time and it's constant action
after action after action. But I'm not going to say
necessarily I've caught my biggest fish bumping, because.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I have it.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
I've caught a fish anchoring and dragging, you know, But
I've caught big fish doing all four drifting, dragging, bumping
and drifting, drifting, dragging, bumping and anchoring. But uh, I
like bumping the best because I feel like, you know,
it's just me and one rod, and I got all
(19:19):
my focus on that one roding and when them fish
hit that rod in your hand, it's exhilarating. There's no
feeling that. There's no way of describing the feeling you
get when that fish hits that rod. You really get
to feel how powerful a calffish really is.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I like bumping, Damon Taylor, folks racking. What bumping is.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Bumping is not really necessarily new, but it's kind of
newer on the calf fishing scene. But some people may
not know what bumping is. The kind of explain a
little bit to them how how it works in current
or not current.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
You gotta have current for this, Yeah, you gotta have
current for bumping. So what we normally do is that
we get out there and the royal thumb usually is
like you got two mile on our current, you cut
your boat in half, so you'll you'll move back at
one mile an hour and you'll drop a bait down
there and you'll use, you know, whatever weight is desirable
(20:14):
that you can use to keep walking that bait backwards
and slowly letting line out as you go. And what
it is is a natural presentation of a piece of
bait floating down the river. And that's why it's so successful,
because you're covering ground for one, and you've got the
natural presentation of a piece of bait floating down the river.
And when they drill it, they drill it, so the
(20:37):
roll thumb would be cut your speed in half. But
I don't always do that, so I would be a
liar if I said I did. A lot of times,
I just get out there and set my trolling motor
to whatever it feels right to me. But when I
first got into this bumping thing, the royal thumb is like,
if you're in two mile on our current or three
mile on our current, set your trolling motor to half
(20:59):
or whatever the speed is, allowing your boat to float
back and half the speed of the current and let
your line out. And you slowly let your line out
a little bit at a time, a little bit at
a time, while you're lifting up on your rod tip
and listening to that sinker up off the bottom. And
it's called walking baits down the river. You're just walking
on down and when they hit it, it is exhilarating.
Steve can testify there's no other message officion quite like it.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Now, if guys want to really start to do the bumping,
I would probably suggest them to anchor their boat and
then adjust their sinker and really get the hang of
it before they start moving in current. The best way
to do it is actually, like you said, cut your
speed in half and slip down the river as you're bumping.
(21:46):
But to get the hang of it, I suggest new
guys just anchoring current and kind of slip and let
the bait walk back that way.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Yeah, I'm glad you said that, Steve, because how I
learned was I went up to the dam in spot
locked with my troiller motor and I learned that way.
It'll take a little heavier sinker, but definitely you know,
walking it back and then you can get the feel
of the bottom. Because as soon as you lose the
feel of that sinker, you got to hurry up and
real because you will lose tackle bumping, especially on the
(22:19):
Mississippi River, and bumping the Ohio River is way easier
than bumping the Mississippi River where they got Revettina mat
and rocks. And you know, the current is just nasty
on the Mississippi River at all times. Where here on
the Ohio River. And that's what I love about the
Ohio River. And I do believe this wholeheartedly. Like if
Jesus was here, i'd tell him the same thing. I
(22:41):
think the Ohio River produces some of the best cat
fishermen in the nation because we get to use every
technique on this river. There's times that this river has
no flow, there's times that has fast flow, there's sometimes
it's got light flow. So you get to use every
technique on the Ohio River. And that's why I'm glad
(23:02):
that I got to cut my teeth on this river.
But also it produces the best catfishment because, like Stee
said man back in twenty thirteen and ten, they've seen
a drastic decline in trophy catfish and at times the
Ohio River can be tough. Can't it cease?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Gess, sir, Steve, You and I've done the bumping technique
on the on the Ohio several times, and it's, like
like David saying it, it's fun, but when that rod
tips down and you know what came on, it's a
egienerating experience.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, they start pulling drag and you don't know whether
you're gonna stay in the boat or not because they pulling,
but when if big fish hits in that heavy current,
you better have your hands on a ride than not
and be paying attention.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
No doubt.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Absolutely, absolutely, David.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Before we go here, what are some other tips you're
gonna be telling people about it at the conference? You'll
be there things obviously and be delighted to talk to folks.
Should be doing seminars. What will you be talking about
specifically in your seminars at the conference?
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Really? Why I think, and I'm grateful Steve. Let me
tell you something before we go. I would love to
say this, if you don't mind, Jim, Steve, you have
done a excellent job of getting so many different product
sponsors that are competitive under one roof in a harmonious event,
no drama. I mean it hats off to you for that,
(24:33):
see because I can see how much divisions in catfish
and I mean it can really destroy industry. It's in
every sport there is. But you do a marvelous job
of that and I'm grateful man that you put that on.
But I'm grateful that Steve asked me to do the seminar.
And I'm gonna tell you why because I think that
(24:53):
people that are just now getting into the sport will
benefit from it. People that have been in the sport
for a little while will benefit from it, and the
people that's been in the sport for a long time
will benefit from it. Because I'm like, like Stee said,
I'm selfless. Man, I'm trying to grow the sport. And
when I first got into sport, didn't nobody want to
tell me nothing? And if I wasn't so hard headed,
(25:15):
I wouldn't know nothing as to this day because didn't
nobody really want to share no information with me? And uh,
I want, you know, I want to share and tell people. Man,
if there's no if you have, if you show up
to a spot and you have no confidence in it,
leave You have got to have confidence in your gear,
your tackle, in the place that you're fishing in order
to catch fish. And I know that sounds weird and
(25:37):
you think, oh, you can catch them just anywhere. Man,
confidence plays a big row in my success is me
being confident and tackling these big fish and signing them.
And uh, I think that I could offer you know,
a multitudes of things from gear to electronics to any
of that, and uh, I'm just blessed that that See's
(25:59):
asked me to give this seminar.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Well, I know Steve's religive life. You're going to be there, obviously.
The reason I had you on the show was to
give people a little flavor of who you are and
what you can do.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
And we're really looking forward to that again.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
That Catfish and Crappy Conferences February twenty first twenty seconds
in the west wind the Kentucky State paragrounds and David
looking forward to seeing here Everyboddy. It's a life journey,
and hey, hats off to you for what you've done
to turn your life around and come to the Lord.
(26:37):
I don't think we talked about this, but you actually
attended seminary when you were in prison, and you preach
now and very.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Very proud oft in church in Lewis forour Kentucky. I
passed a church in Lewis for Kentucky. Yeah. I mean
God does amazing things, man, he really does, and I'm
grateful that he changed my heart. Man.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yes, sir, well, we look forward to being with you again.
We'll have you back on the program here sometime and
in their future.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Enjoy visiting with you and God.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
Bless buddy, God, bless you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Damen.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
All right, folks, gotta go to break here. This break
is presented by SMI Marine. They're eleven four hundred Westport Road,
just north of the Snyder. Go see him. They got
some twenty twenty fours for sale. There was great incentives.
The twenty twenty fives are rolling in and they've got
some sales items on them as well. And remember you
never get sold by my friends at SMI. Why folks
(27:36):
again tonight we're talking catfish and croppy. I've got Steve Douglass,
who's the main man behind the cat Fishing Croppie Conference,
coming to the Fairy Rounds February twenty first to the
twenty second.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Steve.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
We got another great guest here, Jeremy Manning Lee. He's
a young man from down there in Bregridge County, Kentucky
and burst on the croppy shene in a big way
in twenty eighteen. Croppy Monster on yea one of Ozark
rides rolling out first a little bit.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Well here, in the last three years we've added croppy
to the Catfish Conference. It used to be the catfish
Conference only, but I kind of searched for the some
of the top guys out there, and he was a
hungry YouTuber. I liked his attitude and he's like to say,
he's a promoter and he's a go getter. So we've
got him on several of the seminars in the last
(28:32):
couple of years. And he's very knowledgeable and he likes
to share his techniques and other things to help promote
the sport of crappie fishing. So Jeremy maddingly is let's
he started fishing about twenty eighteen. He's like to say,
he owns croppy Monster, which baits, you know, crappy baits.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
And he has a TV show.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
He's a host of the TV show off the on
the Hook Fishing. So that's Jeremy in the nutshell, good
old country boy.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yes, sir, Jeremy, welcome aboard, sir.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
I'm glad to beer hope y'all doning all right this evening.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yes, sir, finding froud here as I like to say, So, Jeremy,
tell folks a little bit about yourself, and let's start
talking about live scoping and spider rigging and vertical fishing
and all the techniques you enjoyed.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
Well, I gotta tell you, I started before Livescope came out,
so I had to learn the habits and the tendencies
of the crappie before Livescope, and I instituted all kinds
of techniques, from throwing crank baits, a long line, small jigs,
(29:49):
spider rigging out the front, just throwing down a bank
with a barber. And then Livescope came around and I
started you it, and it took me a pretty good
while to get good at it, but then it let
me figure out one thing, being able to study these fish.
Everything that I knew about croppy prior to Live Scope,
(30:11):
I was wrong, And ninety eight percent of all crappy
anglers out there were wrong. So that just not that
that's the only way out there to catch fish. Being
able to study these fish, but watching them makes me
better at spider rigging. It makes me better at trowing
(30:35):
crank baits or long lining jigs. Being able to see
exactly what it is that they do and how they
react to a bait. Too much movement, too slow of movement,
and they won't bite you do a spider rigging From
now on me, spider rigging. I've got two speeds. I'm
setting exactly still hovering over a brush pile that I
(30:56):
found with sidescan and marked with a booy arker throwing
up the side the same way that everybody did for
twenty years. So I'm either hovering with spider riggings or
I have got a big weight like a one ounce
on air and I am trucking at two mile and
I are better power trolling for them.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Well, that is a way to add on to spider rigging.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
Those two different techniques of spider rigging are something that
I didn't learn until after I was able to use
live scope.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Well, if you're like me with live scoping taught me
and I kind of tend to think this way. It
has taught people, and I think this is perhaps what
you want to impart. The folks. Crappie are more like
a white mass or some of these pelegic fish than
most people realize. They follow the beta round. You know,
(31:54):
everybody thought they were on a brashpileer they were on
the bank, and that ain't the way it rolls them, joker.
They roam the lake and that's one thing livescoping I
think has really opened people's eyes to it.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
But one thing that I always point out in my seminars.
Speaker 7 (32:13):
Before you hear this story, you've told this story. Every
crappy fisherman out there has told this story. Well, I
was weeding through the small ones to get to the
big one, and then all of a sudden, boom, I
caught the big one. Well, there's a truth to that,
and it expands on what you were just saying. Those
big fish are predatory fish. They'll be out in open
(32:35):
water because they're big enough to be there. So when
you're on this brush pile and you're catching nine and
ten inch crappie, then all of a sudden, boom, you
catch that fifteen incher. That fifteen incher was never on
that brush pile. That fifteen inches was in open water,
out away from that brush pile. And they'll come in
every few minutes and circle that brush pile once or
(32:57):
twice to pick out any fry that got out outside
of the cover, and.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
Then they will eat it. Yes, sir, they are predatory fish.
Speaker 7 (33:07):
And that's one of the biggest things to understand is
that it wasn't start casting away from it exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
All right, we'll get into that and it's more depth.
Coming back from this break. Jeremy but very well said
that they're not afraid of the bass and other predatory
fish because they got big enough, and that's that's kind
of the key to it. All right, folks got to
go to This break is presented by Mosshell Properties Aren't Realty.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Paul Thomas is the broker there.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
He's got all kind of outdoor properties, farms and vacation
homes for sale. Check out their listings at mop h
r trealty dot com.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
All right, Fuker Tom with Jeremy Manningly.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
He's one of the guest speakers that the cat Fish
and Croppy Conference in Louisville February twenty first through the
twenty second Croppie Monster on Facebook and owner of Ozark Rides. Jeremy,
you were giving us some tips about spider rigging there
at the start, and we can go into that somemore
(34:08):
we talk about live scoping, but also talking about what
the crappi you're doing this time of year, if you would,
and maybe some of your favorite lakes and your techniques
going into to the spring spawn, if you would. Okay, well,
right now, the water tamps a little bit lower. The
black crappie as well as the white crappie are getting
(34:30):
out on the main channel ledges. So I have fished
three different lakes today, and I fished around the dam
on all three of them close to the deep water,
because that's where the fish are schooling at. We're actually
doing some filming right now, and that's why we've been
jumping around to a lot of different lakes today. And
(34:53):
the very first place that I'm going to go right
now is the deepest water closer to the dam, and
then I'll hit the main channel and start running the ledges,
and if you're spider rigging, get on one of those
main channel or secondary channel ledges and just spider rig
the mouth of it to no more than halfway back.
(35:13):
Right now, they're going to be out towards the front.
As the water temp starts to rise, they will start
transitioning to the bike. That's where you'll find them mid
creek and then going into the spawn. Once that water
temp hits fifty five to fifty six, you'll start seeing
the black crappie will go in first and spawn, and
(35:34):
then the white crappie will follow them in. So as
soon as it's mid fifties up to low sixties, the
spawn is on, and that's when you're gonna be looking
for the little twig sticking out of the water close
to the bank and throwing a bobber on.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
It with a little bitty jig. The smaller the jig
right now, the better.
Speaker 7 (35:56):
And it's because the water temp is cold and they
don't want to expend the energy that it takes to
eat a larger bait fish. So the smaller the bait
right now, the better.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
You know, I'm de lighted you talked about the difference
in the spawning temperatures between black and white crappy, because
it's amazing to me how many folks who grew up
with the white crappie, which were predominant in many of
our lakes here in Kentucky and Indiana and around our region,
didn't realize that the blacks come in and spawn a
(36:32):
lot earlier than the whites.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
There's actually a two.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Stage spawn there, and it's very pronounced different actually, And
talk a little bit more about that in the target
areas where you pursue each little species a little differently,
if you.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
Would, Okay, well, black croppy, they have a different diet.
They eat a lot of larvae and micro planting type
stuff in the water, so they stick closer to rock.
So if there's a rock pile where you would normally
find large mouth, that's you're going to find the.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
Black crappy act.
Speaker 7 (37:17):
Now, white crappie go more to wood, but black crappie
absolutely go more to rock. A lot of times. If
you see the channel line, people call it rip wrap
down the bank. Even with live scope sidescan any type
of imaging out there, you cannot see those black crappy
because they're blending in with the rock. That's where you
(37:40):
start with a jig only six inches under a cork
and throw all the way to the bank and start
working it out across those rocks, this intact that you
did back in a john boat back in the seventies, eighties, nineties.
You're just throwing at the different cover that you see.
And channel line is great fo crappy. It holds the heat,
(38:01):
it heats up quicker, so that draws the bait fish
in air.
Speaker 6 (38:05):
That draws the croppy in there.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
And that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I know. Black rock is I tell people all the
time to go to the black rock, especially that's catching
a sunlight, you know, all afternoon war uh that is.
And I can't overemphasize that, especially to your point about
the black croppy. They to your point, they love rock
and the rip wrap or or even rip wrap around
(38:34):
the areas where there's docks or areas where there's launching pads. Folks,
a lot of times they don't think about tat and
man they're up there, that's that's their preferred habitat when
they come up, dude.
Speaker 7 (38:49):
Man, one of the best places that you can ever
find black croppy are gonna be underneath one of those
jet ski lifts, one of the solid plastic ones that
they run the jet skis up on one those crappie
will be underneath that, dude.
Speaker 6 (39:02):
And just about every lake I've ever been to.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Don't tell all the secrets.
Speaker 7 (39:07):
Now, hey man, now those are gonna be your eater fish,
those picture fish. Yeah, we'll save that one for next time.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yes, sir, Yes, sir, I totally get it.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Uh, Jeremy on on the lakes around here, speak to
which ones you like the best in life? If you
don't mind it, and I'll I'll throw something at you.
You may not have fished. There's a sleeper in Indiana
that's got giant croppy in it, and that's lakeman Roe.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Let me throw that one at.
Speaker 6 (39:43):
Well. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 7 (39:45):
If you'll go over and follow our YouTube, you'll end
up seeing some footage from Lake Monroe. Because I am
down here with a boy right now that has made
hisself moderately famous fishing Lake Monroe. He actually caught a
three point nine out of there eighteen months ago, almost
four pounds.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
That's a monster anywhere USA.
Speaker 7 (40:09):
Yes, sir, you've got Monroe. You're fishing for white crappie
in Monroe shallow stump fields. Whether you have electronics or not,
you can go out there and just vertical jig whatever
you see.
Speaker 6 (40:24):
And if that's not your cup of tea.
Speaker 7 (40:27):
Lemon is twenty minutes from Monroe, and it actually has
some submerged house foundations out in it and it is
a spider riggers dream at Lemon. Now notable. Green River
Lake has been a sleeper lake. It has always been
known for its numbers, but it has had a ton
(40:50):
of over three pound crappie caught over the.
Speaker 6 (40:53):
Last year there.
Speaker 7 (40:55):
It is absolutely turning into a trophy fish.
Speaker 6 (41:01):
Rough River Lake. It is.
Speaker 7 (41:05):
Not what it was prior to twenty twenty, but it
is on its way back right now.
Speaker 6 (41:11):
There is a.
Speaker 7 (41:12):
Ton of fish in it. It's just you're going to
be catching a lot of nine to ten inch fish.
Speaker 6 (41:18):
Now.
Speaker 7 (41:18):
My personal pick for the state of Kentucky, that's no
End Lake right there in Grayson County. It had a
giant white crappie and giant black crappy in it, and
a good a good population of largemouth fast as well.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yes, sir, it's it's one of my favorites in to
your point. When I'm fishing there, especially safe from mid
March up through April, I never know whether it's gonna
be wide or back, but but there's good ones in there,
there's no doubt.
Speaker 6 (41:48):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 7 (41:49):
I actually fished my last tournament there and uh that
was officially my last tournament to ever be fished. And
we set up. I was tied to a tree throwing
a slip cork and a mina on a tree top.
Speaker 6 (42:05):
And how did I find it.
Speaker 7 (42:07):
The tree trunk was sticking out of the water, as
basic as you can possibly get. And that's how that
we fished it. And we weighed in nine pounds, and
up to about a year ago, that was about the
biggest psychocraphy that had ever been weighed in off of
that lake, and it's turned into a twelve to thirteen
(42:27):
pound lake that fast.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
What do you think behind that? Honestly, it causes me
to scratch my head. I just know it's that way,
and I kind of think it's got a lot to
do with the shed populations and how they fluctuate. But
there's something going on with there in green that it
kind of mystifies me. Do you feel like you've got.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
To hell on that? Yes?
Speaker 6 (42:53):
I do.
Speaker 7 (42:54):
And this is going to be the answer that a
lot of people don't want to hear. Its life scope
and the use of the live scope catching the fish
during tournament hours is what that you see in those
drastic differences. It's the knowledge that the fishermen now have
that they need to get out there in that deep
water because well, the other day I caught a crappee
(43:18):
of fifty seven foot deep.
Speaker 6 (43:21):
I knew it's what it was.
Speaker 7 (43:23):
Now we were catching them to eat fifty seven feet
deep in sixty two.
Speaker 6 (43:28):
Foot of water.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
Oh no kidding, I've seen them that deep before. But
sitting in twelve foot of water in over that sixty
foot of water.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
So this fish was all the way down.
Speaker 7 (43:41):
Yes, Dell Hollow is notorious for fishing. I'll be fishing
fifty five feet of water. Those crapie will be twelve
to fifteen foot deep, just suspended over fifty five feet
of water.
Speaker 6 (43:52):
But these fish were actually all.
Speaker 7 (43:53):
The way on the bottom and they can live there
and they can survive so in a condition that they
don't like, they just go to the bottom.
Speaker 6 (44:01):
That's her number one line of defense is to go
to the bottom.
Speaker 7 (44:07):
So they can go to the bottom, and we just
think that they ain't there. Well, it's just we can't
catch them and because we ain't fishing deep enough and
we can't see them because we ain't looking deep enough.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
So the live scope has really taught angler's word to
look and how they're going to approach them. Because of
the livescope, it's kind of real time stuff. You can
actually see the tails of swishing and all that.
Speaker 6 (44:32):
Yeah, you know how.
Speaker 7 (44:33):
They react to your bait if you're not presenting that right.
If you have a bait come by a fish and
it takes off to the bottom, you know you did
something wrong. You need to downsize, and that is the
very first thing. That's my line of defense. When crappy
ain't bating, I get small. I get super small at times.
Me and my wife were in California two weeks ago
(44:56):
and we caught just under sixty crappy over three pounds
in four days. Oh my goodness, And our total length
on that bait was one inch. That's jighead and all.
And every single fish we caught out there came off
of a crappy monster outbreak and one of the croppy
(45:17):
monster jigheads in a sixteenth and the total length was
under one inch long on that bait. And that looks
so odd seeing a three point four pound crappie eat
that little bitty old bait.
Speaker 4 (45:31):
It's that time of year. It's time to get small.
They match the hatch. I guess you got. You gotta
fish with what they're actually feeding on. You don't want
to throw something huge that they're not.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
Used to seeing. Very good, Jenny, let me let me
go to a quick break here.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Coming back, I want to talk a little bit more
about that because going small is something that most folks
just quite frankly don't understand, and they need.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
To get that.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Type of application in their arsenal if they really want
to turn at some of these bigger fish. All right, folks,
got to take this break. It's presented by S and
my marine.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Go see them.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Remember you never get soaked by my friends at SMI.
We were talking about the spider rigging, the lipscope, but
vertical fishing for these crappie, whether they're suspended out in
the middle of lake or around timber in creek mouths
and what have you, has really come on in a
big way. What can you share with folks about that.
Speaker 7 (46:35):
It has actually dominated the way that people fish. And
I hate to keep on going back to that old
dirty word of lipscope, but it has got people buying one.
Speaker 6 (46:49):
Rod and fishing out in the middle of the channel.
Speaker 7 (46:53):
And the vertical gigging is my second favorite way. My
favorite way is throwing a bobber, casting a bobber, the
same way everybody did growing up, the same way that
I started when I started in twenty seventeen, especially in
the winter time.
Speaker 6 (47:11):
You all got well, I guess I'd say we.
Speaker 7 (47:15):
Have all kinds of upland reservoirs up there where they
drop the bottom out of the lake. Every winter, and
a lot of people walk the banks and throw bobbers
on the banks, and anytime you can get close to
a bend that has a straight stretch, they will load
(47:38):
up in there. And this goes for both of you,
whether you're a bank fisherman or if you're in that boat.
You can get out there in those bends. And no
when is notorious for this. After we all figured it out,
that's when you started seeing those big eleven and twelve
pounds bags of crappee come out of no end. Is
(47:59):
that when they're not pulling current, those fish are roman
out in these outside bends all the way across to
the inside. They're out there everywhere. So you can get
out there and actually vertical jig one rod in hand
out in these bins and have an outstanding day. Back
before Livescope, we would get out there and have one
(48:20):
rod in each hand and I'd be going down the
ledge that they called it Texas two step for crappie fishing.
You dig left hand, you jig right hand, You dig
left hand, you dig right hand, yes, sir, And you
just walk down these ledges like that and cross out
in the center of the channel in these bends and
those crappie will.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
Be there, There's no doubt real quick. Being a Brecker's
catty boy, a lot of really.
Speaker 3 (48:51):
Good crappie fishing in the creeks on the Ohio River.
Speaker 6 (48:54):
And this is a sn I love the Ohio River.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
And it's crazy me. Most people don't think about it
or targeted. Give a real quick overview of that if
you will.
Speaker 7 (49:07):
Man, Ohio River is one of the untapped resources in
crappie fishing, and I'm gonna throw some creeks out there.
Sinking Creek has got crappy Town Creek is my pick.
It has a ramp in the back of it so
the wind is up. You don't even have to get
on the river. I actually did a show with Kentucky
(49:28):
a Field there in August. It was August six. The
water temp was eighty seven degrees in the back of
Town Creek. We were spider rigging in three foot of water,
fishing one foot deep and that's how we shot that show.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
I know, folks again, Jeremy's going to be one of
the speakers at the cat Fishing Crappy Xpole again. The
danks or February twenty first three twenty seconds the west
winding of the fairgrounds, and you'll be there the whole time,
Jeremany be well to chat with folks all day long.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
In addition to Sentinars. Correct.
Speaker 7 (50:07):
Absolutely, I've got about ten people that's gonna be in
my boot there. My wife, Miss Brittany, will be there too,
and we'd love to sit down and talk to you.
Speaker 2 (50:15):
Yes, sir, Steve, thank you so much for their freeing
this venue to the folks out there.
Speaker 4 (50:21):
And it's gonna be a lot of fun. It's gonna
be a lot of fun. Like say, remember it's a
consumer show. Come out and spend time with like minded.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
People and learn some stuff and have fun, yes sir,
And they check you out and Catfisconference dot com. Very good, sir.
All right, folks, that's a wrap. God bless everybody.
News Radio eight forty whas welcomes you to Jim Straighter Outdoors,
the area's leading authority on hunting and fishing. Jim Straighter
Outdoors is brought to you by Massioak Property's Heart Realty.
For the outdoor home of your dreams. Call Paul Thomas
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(00:23):
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(00:44):
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Outdoors on news Radio eight forty WHAS.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good evening, everybody demonstrator here and we have got a
great show for you. Tonight we're talking with Steve Douglas.
A lot of guys know Steve from YouTube. He's the
catfish Dude, and most importantly, he is the main driving
force behind the Big Catfish and Crappie Conference and ex Bowl,
(01:22):
which is coming to the West wing of the Kentucky
State Fair Rounds February twenty first through the twenty second.
And we got some of his featured speakers coming on
here during the show tonight.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
To talk about catfish and crappie, right, Steve, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So Steve, folks a little bit about this is your
tenth anniversary, Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
We started this back in twenty fifteen, just kind of
way to sell some boats, pretty much because I was
sponsored by a boat dealership.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And it just turned into a larger event because people.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Are needing a space to go hang out with other
people that like catfish and cropping.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And this is a consumer show, yes, And you've got
more than one hundred and thirty exhibitors coming to the show.
And again it's February twenty first through the twenty second
in the West wing of the fair grounds. There and
tough folks a little bit about what they can expect
to see there, Steve.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Well, it's everything catfish and croppy from boats to rod
and reels, the sinkers, anything you can imagine.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
We won't.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
You won't find any bedding or windows or anything like that.
If they don't have anything to do with catfish and croppie,
it's not going to be there.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Very good sir, And I know you like to say
if you can't find it, it's your show. You probably
don't need it. That's right, that's right, Jim. Well, and
you've got great seven hours lined up. We're going to
talk the evening with two of your seven hour speakers.
We're talking to Damian Clark and he's with the rid
Ripping Catfish Tournament Trail White.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
A life story really yeah, Damien kind of coming from
a little rougher upbringing, but he found catfishing back in
twenty sixteen and that kind of changed his life and
he's really really done well. He's he wins a lot
of tournaments now, he's actually a tournament director. He's kind
of got his passion into the sport. He won the
(03:22):
WCC in twenty twenty three, which is a World championship,
and he's won a lot of the Cabellas Kingcats events,
so he's he's really did a great job in.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
The short time he's been doing it.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yes, sir, he's going to talk about fish for giant
catfish on the Ohio River, the Mississippi River and the
Tennessee River systems and goes through his techniques and what have.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
You that he uses. Yeah, he's a really good guy.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
He's very knowledgeable and he don't mind sharing what he's
learned because you know, he's he's looking to get more
people into the sport as well, Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And we're also going to talk with Jeremy madding Lee.
They know him as Cropping Bobster. He's also the owner
of Ozark Rods and Jeremies Kentucky Boys from Bereckridge County
and nationally known and he's another great speaker that you've
got on here.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, he actually has a TV show.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
I'm not sure what channel it is, but it's on
the hook fishing and he just he shows people how
to catch the crappie with the live scope and other
means of catching crappie.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And he's gonna talk to us tonight about of course
live scope and spiderig and vertical fishing. What the fish
are doing this time of year, moving into spring. So
we're really looking forward to talking to these individuals. They're
great guys. I've talked with them. I know who they are,
and uh, we're gonna have a great time with it.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
All right, folks, I'm gonna go quick break.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Coming back from break, we're gonna talk to David Clark
about catfish.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
So stick with us.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
We'll be back right after the break is presented by
SMI Marine.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Remember you never get soaked by my friends at SMI.
All right, folks, again, we're talking to night with Steve Douglas.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
He's having his big at Fishing Crappy Conference at the
West Wing in the Kentucky State Fairgrounds on February twenty
first through twenty second. And Steve, we got Damien Clark,
one of your featured speakers.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Here. Tell folks about a little bit about Damien, then
we'll go to him.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Well, Damien started at around twenty sixteen, and he just
learned really fast. He's doing this from a passion and
that's what I liked about Damien. When you start doing
things for money, it doesn't seem to work out right,
But Damien's got passion behind this and he's starting to
win a lot of tournaments. He runs actually a cat
fishing trail I think out of Owensboro, Kentucky, which is
(05:37):
the ride Ripping Catfish Trail. He's just put catfishing and
in part of his life, and it's the passion really
shows because.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
He's a really great guy. Damien, welcome and board. Can
you hear us? All right?
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Yes, sir, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Well, the pleasure is all ours actually, And there's kind
of a unique story here, and I know you want
to speak to it because you're about the Lord. Just
tell folks a little bit about yourself and they will
talk catfish all right.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Well, as a young age, I've always hunting and fished,
and as I've grown older, I started making some bad
decisions which ultimately led to me getting incarcerated. I spent
seven years in the penitentiary, and while I was in
the penitentiary, I gave my heart to the Lord. In
twenty thirteen and I got out and I realized that
(06:26):
idle time was the devil's playground, to say the least,
and I had to find a hobby and I resorted
back to my old childhood memories, the good memories, and
that was fishing. And I started catfishing, and I got
introduced to a guy that tournament catfish, and he asked
me if i'd like to go, and he took me.
And sometimes I want to thank him, and sometimes I
(06:48):
want to kick him because it's cost me a lot
of money and time to get his passionate about this
fort as I am today, and I'm just ultimately, I'm
just grateful that God's blessed me with catfishing. Man, It's
been a key to keeping me sober.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, Damn, you really burst on the scene in a
big way.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
You're a very focused individual.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You've won the Cabella's Kingcat, Little Josh Baton Tackle, you won,
as Steve mentioned, the twenty twenty three World Championship, and.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
It's two Yeah, I've won several big events. Man, It's just,
you know, the favorite of God on my life. And
I'm passionate. And if I could tell anybody, if anybody
asked me what's one thing that I could encourage them with,
it would be told tow time on the water. And
nothing can beat that. No electronics, no, no money, no nothing,
(07:47):
nothing can beat the time on the water very very well.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Said my friend. That's kind of my credo.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Actually, I tell people all the time, if you take
the biology out of fishing, if you take your knowledge
out water and what it does and how the fish
rack to it, you really all the electronics, all that
stuff ain't gonna hit you there.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
It's just I'll put it this way. You won't be
top notch by log shot.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
No.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
And I take a lot of pride in having a
seven thousand dollars boat winning national tournaments because it just
shows that, man, it's not the electronics and it's not
the super nice boat that wins the tournaments. It's the
dedication and you know, just being determined to win.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yes, Sir David, tell folks a little bit about where
you fish. I know you you know, chatted a bunch
about the Ohio River and the Mississippi River and Tennessee
River system. But talk about those fish reasons, where they're
at now, and what your thoughts are about where folks
should maybe turn their efforts for fish and what you're
(08:53):
seeing going forward.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Well, I will say this as a tournament director that
you know I have one the largest tournament trails on
the Ohio River and what I will say, thanks to
Steve Douglass and a bunch of group of guys that
have pushed this conservation. I have seen the Ohio River
improved over the past few years. I mean, I wasn't
a year before last a guy weighed in in five
(09:19):
fist way in one hundred and eighty five pounds bag
now and that's what slot limits. It's just two overs
and three unders. And I watched it excel And you know,
just you know, from my experience of fishing the Ohio River,
I can tell that the fisheries are getting better and
better and better. And that's thanks to the guys that
kept fighting and kept fighting and kept enduring because I
(09:39):
know that. You know, when you start pushing with them politics, man,
you get a lot of flying it. Man, it be
easy to quit. But them guys were determined. They paid
the weight to us. And man, we take our hats
off to Steve Douglas, Aaron wheat Lee and the guys
like that that have pushed for conservation.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
And I've done a lot of programs about that, yeah,
and the protection of the resource, and we were both
very involved in that political push, and thank you and
Thiss it bore some fruit. There are still things that
can be done, but at least just starting down the
right road.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
I started noticing the decline in twenty ten and kind
of did a little video on that, But it wasn't
about twenty thirteen that Kentucky started take a note to us.
But it really took a lot more years for him
to actually make some changes. But as Damien saying, the
changes were made are now.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
People are saying, the bigger fish is starting to be caught, Yes,
sir Damn. So what are your favorite waters that you target?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
And tell us a little bit about why, and then
when we come back from break, we'll talk about your techniques.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
But what are your favorite fish? Reason why?
Speaker 5 (10:47):
If I had one place to pick and I could
only fish one body of water the rest of my life,
it would be the Mississippi River. And the reason I
like that is I'm kind of adhd. I'm hunter mon
ire and I love current. I love the feel of
the fish hitting the rod and just smoking it. But
I fish the Ohio River, the Tennessee River, the Cumberland River,
(11:07):
I fished the Mississippi River. I fished the Red River
last year in Louisiana, I've enjoyed fishing any bodies of water,
and I take it as a I take it as
a challenge when I face new water, and my challenge
is to see if I can catch fish in water
that I've never seen before. But my favorite place of
(11:27):
all time would be the Mississippi River.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Okay, the big mighty moundy Mississippi.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
That's that's the funnest part about pet fishing is finding
new water and send if you can tame the beast.
I guess you want to say, find find the biggest
fish in that water and go.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Yeah, well, Steve, you're getting to the age now that
you probably done been on everybody of water in the
nation that has them whisker fish on it. I know
that you have videos from every I mean I could.
Every time I go on YouTube, I'm like, man, I
could the taping any lake in Steve Douglas's face pops up.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. But like I say,
the new water is the funnest. I think you can
always go back to the same old water and catch fish,
but the challenge is finding new fish in new water, and.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
I think it makes you a better fisherman, you know,
just definitely makes you a better fisherman by tackling new waters.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
There's no doubt, Damen.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
In terms of the Ohio, let's talk about it for
a minute, obviously, because it's.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Home turf for you. What do you target this time
of year?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Tell folks a little bit about that, because a lot
of people don't realize this is the time of year
when you catch those monsters because they're concentrated.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Absolutely, so I target. I'm a ledge fisherman most of
the time. Now that's not the role all the time,
but I try to find trees that are stuck on ledges,
hard ledges and anchor up on them. But right now,
like as the river's rising, I would be fishing more
shallow because I believe and from my experiences, them fish
(13:09):
as the water level goes up. They go to explore
new places that they they haven't been able to get
because the water's been low. And I try to target, like,
you know, creeks that are flooded. I've watched several people
catch fifty plus found fish out of little bitty creeks
up in them because you know they're falling the bait
up in them. But normally this time of year, I
(13:31):
target ledges with trees. Wood wood would this time of
year anchored up, and I look for wood.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Very good. And what is your favorite sister to fish
that would this time of year?
Speaker 5 (13:45):
Pray? I like Carolina rig and anchor fish. And what
I do with my electronics is I will mark the
tree drop a pin. I'll pull it up on my
maps and put my cursor on there and pull up
in between one hundred and twenty one hundred in between
hundred and one hundred and twenty feet above it and
cast back to it and try to get them fish
(14:05):
to pull up out of it. Because I've noticed if
I stopped right dead on top of it and I
cast my lines in it, I've had my heart broke
too many times doing that. So my technique is maybe
a little different than other people, says. I try to
pull the catfish out of it so they don't run
straight into that wood and I get wrapped up in
that tree and I'm not able to get them out
of there.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's great stuff. What's your favorite bait this time of year?
We got about a minute and a half.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Here, Shad and skip jack man. I do not like
leave this time of year. I do not like leaving
the boat ramp without either one of them. On the
Ohio River now the Tennessee River, it would be skip jack,
skip jack, skip jack. But Ohio River Mississippi River shad
skip jack this time of year.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
All right, very good sir.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Now, in terms of a tackle, give folks a quick
breakdown on what you I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
You're not out there hunt a little fish. What's what's
your go two?
Speaker 5 (15:01):
I use one hundred pound braid as my main line,
eighty pound Andy's mono. I use the Ichi hooks. I
use a chain swivel in between my three way and
I like to And honestly, this isn't something else I
would like to reiterate later on. It is that I
don't use the same rig on every ride. I let
(15:23):
the fish talk to me. And that's something I learned
from listening to other people that have been fishing longer
than me.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
All right, well we'll talk about that coming back from break, folks,
gotta go to new break here. Damn m being on
with us right after the break to tell us more
about his techniques. And the break is presented by Marcia
old Properties Realty. Paul Thomas is the broker all kind
of outdoor properties for sale. To be glad to list
your properties as well, check them out at mo O
(15:51):
p h A R T Realty dot com. Allright, everybody,
welcome back to Demonstrator Outdoors again. We're talking tonight with
several of the featured speakers at Catfishing Croppy Conference, which
is Steve Douglas's Catfish and Croppy Conference February twenty first
of the twenty second. It's at the West wing of
(16:14):
the Kentucky State Fairground. As we're talking with Damien Clark,
he's a professional cat fisherman. He's actually out his own tournament.
It's called rod Ripping Catfish Trail and David. Before the break,
we were talking about fish this time of year.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Talk a little bit about your.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Techniques and how you tailor those to what the water's doing,
and you know fast where folks can understand why you
do what you do.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Yeah, Well, before we took a break, I told you
that I do something a little different than other people.
So most people just rig up their posts all exactly
the same, and I don't do that. So I'll rig
up to say, Carolina, rigg the other two. I'll do
a three way the other two I'll use a sinker
(17:04):
slide kind of like a Carolina rig, and I will
shorten up my leaders, make some long, some short some
of the float, some of the rattle and whatnot. And
I'm gonna tell you why I do that, because anybody
that's been catfishing for any amount of time can tell
you that sometimes one rod catches all the fish. You'll
have six rods out there and it seems like just
(17:24):
this one rod catches all the fish. Well, I kind
of do that because I want to target to fish,
and whichever one is getting the most action, I'll change
them all over to that style, like with the three way.
The three way allows your bait to get up off
the bottom a little bit more, and I feel like
that the scent trail's better. Where when I feel like
(17:45):
a cofront has just happened and they're pushed in the mud,
I'll use a Carolina rig and the Carolina rig kind
of pushes it down towards the mud, and I just
do that. Like I told you the other day when
I had talked to you, that I usually let the
water tell me how I'm gonna fit. And you know,
some days you just don't know, you know, I've been
on the backside of coke fronts and had some of
(18:06):
the best days that I've ever had fishing, and then
there's sometimes on the backside co front it seems like
I can't catch nothing. So I always use, you know,
several different types of rigs on my rods and let
the catfish talk to me, tell me what they want
and how they want it.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
If you had to pick one method between bumping and
drifting and dragging that's your favorite, and that you would
point people towards to learn to fish for big catfish,
which would you pick and tell them a little bit
about how you would brig and what you would do.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
So, hands down, I would say bumping is my favorite,
back bouncing. It's my favorite just because I'm a hundred
mile an hour all the time and it's constant action
after action after action. But I'm not going to say
necessarily I've caught my biggest fish bumping, because.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I have it.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
I've caught a fish anchoring and dragging, you know, But
I've caught big fish doing all four drifting, dragging, bumping
and drifting, drifting, dragging, bumping and anchoring. But uh, I
like bumping the best because I feel like, you know,
it's just me and one rod, and I got all
(19:19):
my focus on that one roding and when them fish
hit that rod in your hand, it's exhilarating. There's no
feeling that. There's no way of describing the feeling you
get when that fish hits that rod. You really get
to feel how powerful a calffish really is.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I like bumping, Damon Taylor, folks racking. What bumping is.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Bumping is not really necessarily new, but it's kind of
newer on the calf fishing scene. But some people may
not know what bumping is. The kind of explain a
little bit to them how how it works in current
or not current.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
You gotta have current for this, Yeah, you gotta have
current for bumping. So what we normally do is that
we get out there and the royal thumb usually is
like you got two mile on our current, you cut
your boat in half, so you'll you'll move back at
one mile an hour and you'll drop a bait down
there and you'll use, you know, whatever weight is desirable
(20:14):
that you can use to keep walking that bait backwards
and slowly letting line out as you go. And what
it is is a natural presentation of a piece of
bait floating down the river. And that's why it's so successful,
because you're covering ground for one, and you've got the
natural presentation of a piece of bait floating down the river.
And when they drill it, they drill it, so the
(20:37):
roll thumb would be cut your speed in half. But
I don't always do that, so I would be a
liar if I said I did. A lot of times,
I just get out there and set my trolling motor
to whatever it feels right to me. But when I
first got into this bumping thing, the royal thumb is like,
if you're in two mile on our current or three
mile on our current, set your trolling motor to half
(20:59):
or whatever the speed is, allowing your boat to float
back and half the speed of the current and let
your line out. And you slowly let your line out
a little bit at a time, a little bit at
a time, while you're lifting up on your rod tip
and listening to that sinker up off the bottom. And
it's called walking baits down the river. You're just walking
on down and when they hit it, it is exhilarating.
Steve can testify there's no other message officion quite like it.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Now, if guys want to really start to do the bumping,
I would probably suggest them to anchor their boat and
then adjust their sinker and really get the hang of
it before they start moving in current. The best way
to do it is actually, like you said, cut your
speed in half and slip down the river as you're bumping.
(21:46):
But to get the hang of it, I suggest new
guys just anchoring current and kind of slip and let
the bait walk back that way.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Yeah, I'm glad you said that, Steve, because how I
learned was I went up to the dam in spot
locked with my troiller motor and I learned that way.
It'll take a little heavier sinker, but definitely you know,
walking it back and then you can get the feel
of the bottom. Because as soon as you lose the
feel of that sinker, you got to hurry up and
real because you will lose tackle bumping, especially on the
(22:19):
Mississippi River, and bumping the Ohio River is way easier
than bumping the Mississippi River where they got Revettina mat
and rocks. And you know, the current is just nasty
on the Mississippi River at all times. Where here on
the Ohio River. And that's what I love about the
Ohio River. And I do believe this wholeheartedly. Like if
Jesus was here, i'd tell him the same thing. I
(22:41):
think the Ohio River produces some of the best cat
fishermen in the nation because we get to use every
technique on this river. There's times that this river has
no flow, there's times that has fast flow, there's sometimes
it's got light flow. So you get to use every
technique on the Ohio River. And that's why I'm glad
(23:02):
that I got to cut my teeth on this river.
But also it produces the best catfishment because, like Stee
said man back in twenty thirteen and ten, they've seen
a drastic decline in trophy catfish and at times the
Ohio River can be tough. Can't it cease?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Gess, sir, Steve, You and I've done the bumping technique
on the on the Ohio several times, and it's, like
like David saying it, it's fun, but when that rod
tips down and you know what came on, it's a
egienerating experience.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, they start pulling drag and you don't know whether
you're gonna stay in the boat or not because they pulling,
but when if big fish hits in that heavy current,
you better have your hands on a ride than not
and be paying attention.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
No doubt.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Absolutely, absolutely, David.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Before we go here, what are some other tips you're
gonna be telling people about it at the conference? You'll
be there things obviously and be delighted to talk to folks.
Should be doing seminars. What will you be talking about
specifically in your seminars at the conference?
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Really? Why I think, and I'm grateful Steve. Let me
tell you something before we go. I would love to
say this, if you don't mind, Jim, Steve, you have
done a excellent job of getting so many different product
sponsors that are competitive under one roof in a harmonious event,
no drama. I mean it hats off to you for that,
(24:33):
see because I can see how much divisions in catfish
and I mean it can really destroy industry. It's in
every sport there is. But you do a marvelous job
of that and I'm grateful man that you put that on.
But I'm grateful that Steve asked me to do the seminar.
And I'm gonna tell you why because I think that
(24:53):
people that are just now getting into the sport will
benefit from it. People that have been in the sport
for a little while will benefit from it, and the
people that's been in the sport for a long time
will benefit from it. Because I'm like, like Stee said,
I'm selfless. Man, I'm trying to grow the sport. And
when I first got into sport, didn't nobody want to
tell me nothing? And if I wasn't so hard headed,
(25:15):
I wouldn't know nothing as to this day because didn't
nobody really want to share no information with me? And uh,
I want, you know, I want to share and tell people. Man,
if there's no if you have, if you show up
to a spot and you have no confidence in it,
leave You have got to have confidence in your gear,
your tackle, in the place that you're fishing in order
to catch fish. And I know that sounds weird and
(25:37):
you think, oh, you can catch them just anywhere. Man,
confidence plays a big row in my success is me
being confident and tackling these big fish and signing them.
And uh, I think that I could offer you know,
a multitudes of things from gear to electronics to any
of that, and uh, I'm just blessed that that See's
(25:59):
asked me to give this seminar.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Well, I know Steve's religive life. You're going to be there, obviously.
The reason I had you on the show was to
give people a little flavor of who you are and
what you can do.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
And we're really looking forward to that again.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
That Catfish and Crappy Conferences February twenty first twenty seconds
in the west wind the Kentucky State paragrounds and David
looking forward to seeing here Everyboddy. It's a life journey,
and hey, hats off to you for what you've done
to turn your life around and come to the Lord.
(26:37):
I don't think we talked about this, but you actually
attended seminary when you were in prison, and you preach
now and very.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Very proud oft in church in Lewis forour Kentucky. I
passed a church in Lewis for Kentucky. Yeah. I mean
God does amazing things, man, he really does, and I'm
grateful that he changed my heart. Man.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yes, sir, well, we look forward to being with you again.
We'll have you back on the program here sometime and
in their future.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Enjoy visiting with you and God.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
Bless buddy, God, bless you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Damen.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
All right, folks, gotta go to break here. This break
is presented by SMI Marine. They're eleven four hundred Westport Road,
just north of the Snyder. Go see him. They got
some twenty twenty fours for sale. There was great incentives.
The twenty twenty fives are rolling in and they've got
some sales items on them as well. And remember you
never get sold by my friends at SMI. Why folks
(27:36):
again tonight we're talking catfish and croppy. I've got Steve Douglass,
who's the main man behind the cat Fishing Croppie Conference,
coming to the Fairy Rounds February twenty first to the
twenty second.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Steve.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
We got another great guest here, Jeremy Manning Lee. He's
a young man from down there in Bregridge County, Kentucky
and burst on the croppy shene in a big way
in twenty eighteen. Croppy Monster on yea one of Ozark
rides rolling out first a little bit.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Well here, in the last three years we've added croppy
to the Catfish Conference. It used to be the catfish
Conference only, but I kind of searched for the some
of the top guys out there, and he was a
hungry YouTuber. I liked his attitude and he's like to say,
he's a promoter and he's a go getter. So we've
got him on several of the seminars in the last
(28:32):
couple of years. And he's very knowledgeable and he likes
to share his techniques and other things to help promote
the sport of crappie fishing. So Jeremy maddingly is let's
he started fishing about twenty eighteen. He's like to say,
he owns croppy Monster, which baits, you know, crappy baits.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
And he has a TV show.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
He's a host of the TV show off the on
the Hook Fishing. So that's Jeremy in the nutshell, good
old country boy.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yes, sir, Jeremy, welcome aboard, sir.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
I'm glad to beer hope y'all doning all right this evening.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yes, sir, finding froud here as I like to say, So, Jeremy,
tell folks a little bit about yourself, and let's start
talking about live scoping and spider rigging and vertical fishing
and all the techniques you enjoyed.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
Well, I gotta tell you, I started before Livescope came out,
so I had to learn the habits and the tendencies
of the crappie before Livescope, and I instituted all kinds
of techniques, from throwing crank baits, a long line, small jigs,
(29:49):
spider rigging out the front, just throwing down a bank
with a barber. And then Livescope came around and I
started you it, and it took me a pretty good
while to get good at it, but then it let
me figure out one thing, being able to study these fish.
Everything that I knew about croppy prior to Live Scope,
(30:11):
I was wrong, And ninety eight percent of all crappy
anglers out there were wrong. So that just not that
that's the only way out there to catch fish. Being
able to study these fish, but watching them makes me
better at spider rigging. It makes me better at trowing
(30:35):
crank baits or long lining jigs. Being able to see
exactly what it is that they do and how they
react to a bait. Too much movement, too slow of movement,
and they won't bite you do a spider rigging From
now on me, spider rigging. I've got two speeds. I'm
setting exactly still hovering over a brush pile that I
(30:56):
found with sidescan and marked with a booy arker throwing
up the side the same way that everybody did for
twenty years. So I'm either hovering with spider riggings or
I have got a big weight like a one ounce
on air and I am trucking at two mile and
I are better power trolling for them.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Well, that is a way to add on to spider rigging.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
Those two different techniques of spider rigging are something that
I didn't learn until after I was able to use
live scope.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Well, if you're like me with live scoping taught me
and I kind of tend to think this way. It
has taught people, and I think this is perhaps what
you want to impart. The folks. Crappie are more like
a white mass or some of these pelegic fish than
most people realize. They follow the beta round. You know,
(31:54):
everybody thought they were on a brashpileer they were on
the bank, and that ain't the way it rolls them, joker.
They roam the lake and that's one thing livescoping I
think has really opened people's eyes to it.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
But one thing that I always point out in my seminars.
Speaker 7 (32:13):
Before you hear this story, you've told this story. Every
crappy fisherman out there has told this story. Well, I
was weeding through the small ones to get to the
big one, and then all of a sudden, boom, I
caught the big one. Well, there's a truth to that,
and it expands on what you were just saying. Those
big fish are predatory fish. They'll be out in open
(32:35):
water because they're big enough to be there. So when
you're on this brush pile and you're catching nine and
ten inch crappie, then all of a sudden, boom, you
catch that fifteen incher. That fifteen incher was never on
that brush pile. That fifteen inches was in open water,
out away from that brush pile. And they'll come in
every few minutes and circle that brush pile once or
(32:57):
twice to pick out any fry that got out outside
of the cover, and.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
Then they will eat it. Yes, sir, they are predatory fish.
Speaker 7 (33:07):
And that's one of the biggest things to understand is
that it wasn't start casting away from it exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
All right, we'll get into that and it's more depth.
Coming back from this break. Jeremy but very well said
that they're not afraid of the bass and other predatory
fish because they got big enough, and that's that's kind
of the key to it. All right, folks got to
go to This break is presented by Mosshell Properties Aren't Realty.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Paul Thomas is the broker there.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
He's got all kind of outdoor properties, farms and vacation
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r trealty dot com.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
All right, Fuker Tom with Jeremy Manningly.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
He's one of the guest speakers that the cat Fish
and Croppy Conference in Louisville February twenty first through the
twenty second Croppie Monster on Facebook and owner of Ozark Rides. Jeremy,
you were giving us some tips about spider rigging there
at the start, and we can go into that somemore
(34:08):
we talk about live scoping, but also talking about what
the crappi you're doing this time of year, if you would,
and maybe some of your favorite lakes and your techniques
going into to the spring spawn, if you would. Okay, well,
right now, the water tamps a little bit lower. The
black crappie as well as the white crappie are getting
(34:30):
out on the main channel ledges. So I have fished
three different lakes today, and I fished around the dam
on all three of them close to the deep water,
because that's where the fish are schooling at. We're actually
doing some filming right now, and that's why we've been
jumping around to a lot of different lakes today. And
(34:53):
the very first place that I'm going to go right
now is the deepest water closer to the dam, and
then I'll hit the main channel and start running the ledges,
and if you're spider rigging, get on one of those
main channel or secondary channel ledges and just spider rig
the mouth of it to no more than halfway back.
(35:13):
Right now, they're going to be out towards the front.
As the water temp starts to rise, they will start
transitioning to the bike. That's where you'll find them mid
creek and then going into the spawn. Once that water
temp hits fifty five to fifty six, you'll start seeing
the black crappie will go in first and spawn, and
(35:34):
then the white crappie will follow them in. So as
soon as it's mid fifties up to low sixties, the
spawn is on, and that's when you're gonna be looking
for the little twig sticking out of the water close
to the bank and throwing a bobber on.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
It with a little bitty jig. The smaller the jig
right now, the better.
Speaker 7 (35:56):
And it's because the water temp is cold and they
don't want to expend the energy that it takes to
eat a larger bait fish. So the smaller the bait
right now, the better.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
You know, I'm de lighted you talked about the difference
in the spawning temperatures between black and white crappy, because
it's amazing to me how many folks who grew up
with the white crappie, which were predominant in many of
our lakes here in Kentucky and Indiana and around our region,
didn't realize that the blacks come in and spawn a
(36:32):
lot earlier than the whites.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
There's actually a two.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Stage spawn there, and it's very pronounced different actually, And
talk a little bit more about that in the target
areas where you pursue each little species a little differently,
if you.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
Would, Okay, well, black croppy, they have a different diet.
They eat a lot of larvae and micro planting type
stuff in the water, so they stick closer to rock.
So if there's a rock pile where you would normally
find large mouth, that's you're going to find the.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
Black crappy act.
Speaker 7 (37:17):
Now, white crappie go more to wood, but black crappie
absolutely go more to rock. A lot of times. If
you see the channel line, people call it rip wrap
down the bank. Even with live scope sidescan any type
of imaging out there, you cannot see those black crappy
because they're blending in with the rock. That's where you
(37:40):
start with a jig only six inches under a cork
and throw all the way to the bank and start
working it out across those rocks, this intact that you
did back in a john boat back in the seventies, eighties, nineties.
You're just throwing at the different cover that you see.
And channel line is great fo crappy. It holds the heat,
(38:01):
it heats up quicker, so that draws the bait fish
in air.
Speaker 6 (38:05):
That draws the croppy in there.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
And that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I know. Black rock is I tell people all the
time to go to the black rock, especially that's catching
a sunlight, you know, all afternoon war uh that is.
And I can't overemphasize that, especially to your point about
the black croppy. They to your point, they love rock
and the rip wrap or or even rip wrap around
(38:34):
the areas where there's docks or areas where there's launching pads. Folks,
a lot of times they don't think about tat and
man they're up there, that's that's their preferred habitat when
they come up, dude.
Speaker 7 (38:49):
Man, one of the best places that you can ever
find black croppy are gonna be underneath one of those
jet ski lifts, one of the solid plastic ones that
they run the jet skis up on one those crappie
will be underneath that, dude.
Speaker 6 (39:02):
And just about every lake I've ever been to.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Don't tell all the secrets.
Speaker 7 (39:07):
Now, hey man, now those are gonna be your eater fish,
those picture fish. Yeah, we'll save that one for next time.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yes, sir, Yes, sir, I totally get it.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Uh, Jeremy on on the lakes around here, speak to
which ones you like the best in life? If you
don't mind it, and I'll I'll throw something at you.
You may not have fished. There's a sleeper in Indiana
that's got giant croppy in it, and that's lakeman Roe.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Let me throw that one at.
Speaker 6 (39:43):
Well. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 7 (39:45):
If you'll go over and follow our YouTube, you'll end
up seeing some footage from Lake Monroe. Because I am
down here with a boy right now that has made
hisself moderately famous fishing Lake Monroe. He actually caught a
three point nine out of there eighteen months ago, almost
four pounds.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
That's a monster anywhere USA.
Speaker 7 (40:09):
Yes, sir, you've got Monroe. You're fishing for white crappie
in Monroe shallow stump fields. Whether you have electronics or not,
you can go out there and just vertical jig whatever
you see.
Speaker 6 (40:24):
And if that's not your cup of tea.
Speaker 7 (40:27):
Lemon is twenty minutes from Monroe, and it actually has
some submerged house foundations out in it and it is
a spider riggers dream at Lemon. Now notable. Green River
Lake has been a sleeper lake. It has always been
known for its numbers, but it has had a ton
(40:50):
of over three pound crappie caught over the.
Speaker 6 (40:53):
Last year there.
Speaker 7 (40:55):
It is absolutely turning into a trophy fish.
Speaker 6 (41:01):
Rough River Lake. It is.
Speaker 7 (41:05):
Not what it was prior to twenty twenty, but it
is on its way back right now.
Speaker 6 (41:11):
There is a.
Speaker 7 (41:12):
Ton of fish in it. It's just you're going to
be catching a lot of nine to ten inch fish.
Speaker 6 (41:18):
Now.
Speaker 7 (41:18):
My personal pick for the state of Kentucky, that's no
End Lake right there in Grayson County. It had a
giant white crappie and giant black crappy in it, and
a good a good population of largemouth fast as well.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yes, sir, it's it's one of my favorites in to
your point. When I'm fishing there, especially safe from mid
March up through April, I never know whether it's gonna
be wide or back, but but there's good ones in there,
there's no doubt.
Speaker 6 (41:48):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 7 (41:49):
I actually fished my last tournament there and uh that
was officially my last tournament to ever be fished. And
we set up. I was tied to a tree throwing
a slip cork and a mina on a tree top.
Speaker 6 (42:05):
And how did I find it.
Speaker 7 (42:07):
The tree trunk was sticking out of the water, as
basic as you can possibly get. And that's how that
we fished it. And we weighed in nine pounds, and
up to about a year ago, that was about the
biggest psychocraphy that had ever been weighed in off of
that lake, and it's turned into a twelve to thirteen
(42:27):
pound lake that fast.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
What do you think behind that? Honestly, it causes me
to scratch my head. I just know it's that way,
and I kind of think it's got a lot to
do with the shed populations and how they fluctuate. But
there's something going on with there in green that it
kind of mystifies me. Do you feel like you've got.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
To hell on that? Yes?
Speaker 6 (42:53):
I do.
Speaker 7 (42:54):
And this is going to be the answer that a
lot of people don't want to hear. Its life scope
and the use of the live scope catching the fish
during tournament hours is what that you see in those
drastic differences. It's the knowledge that the fishermen now have
that they need to get out there in that deep
water because well, the other day I caught a crappee
(43:18):
of fifty seven foot deep.
Speaker 6 (43:21):
I knew it's what it was.
Speaker 7 (43:23):
Now we were catching them to eat fifty seven feet
deep in sixty two.
Speaker 6 (43:28):
Foot of water.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
Oh no kidding, I've seen them that deep before. But
sitting in twelve foot of water in over that sixty
foot of water.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
So this fish was all the way down.
Speaker 7 (43:41):
Yes, Dell Hollow is notorious for fishing. I'll be fishing
fifty five feet of water. Those crapie will be twelve
to fifteen foot deep, just suspended over fifty five feet
of water.
Speaker 6 (43:52):
But these fish were actually all.
Speaker 7 (43:53):
The way on the bottom and they can live there
and they can survive so in a condition that they
don't like, they just go to the bottom.
Speaker 6 (44:01):
That's her number one line of defense is to go
to the bottom.
Speaker 7 (44:07):
So they can go to the bottom, and we just
think that they ain't there. Well, it's just we can't
catch them and because we ain't fishing deep enough and
we can't see them because we ain't looking deep enough.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
So the live scope has really taught angler's word to
look and how they're going to approach them. Because of
the livescope, it's kind of real time stuff. You can
actually see the tails of swishing and all that.
Speaker 6 (44:32):
Yeah, you know how.
Speaker 7 (44:33):
They react to your bait if you're not presenting that right.
If you have a bait come by a fish and
it takes off to the bottom, you know you did
something wrong. You need to downsize, and that is the
very first thing. That's my line of defense. When crappy
ain't bating, I get small. I get super small at times.
Me and my wife were in California two weeks ago
(44:56):
and we caught just under sixty crappy over three pounds
in four days. Oh my goodness, And our total length
on that bait was one inch. That's jighead and all.
And every single fish we caught out there came off
of a crappy monster outbreak and one of the croppy
(45:17):
monster jigheads in a sixteenth and the total length was
under one inch long on that bait. And that looks
so odd seeing a three point four pound crappie eat
that little bitty old bait.
Speaker 4 (45:31):
It's that time of year. It's time to get small.
They match the hatch. I guess you got. You gotta
fish with what they're actually feeding on. You don't want
to throw something huge that they're not.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
Used to seeing. Very good, Jenny, let me let me
go to a quick break here.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Coming back, I want to talk a little bit more
about that because going small is something that most folks
just quite frankly don't understand, and they need.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
To get that.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Type of application in their arsenal if they really want
to turn at some of these bigger fish. All right, folks,
got to take this break. It's presented by S and
my marine.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Go see them.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Remember you never get soaked by my friends at SMI.
We were talking about the spider rigging, the lipscope, but
vertical fishing for these crappie, whether they're suspended out in
the middle of lake or around timber in creek mouths
and what have you, has really come on in a
big way. What can you share with folks about that.
Speaker 7 (46:35):
It has actually dominated the way that people fish. And
I hate to keep on going back to that old
dirty word of lipscope, but it has got people buying one.
Speaker 6 (46:49):
Rod and fishing out in the middle of the channel.
Speaker 7 (46:53):
And the vertical gigging is my second favorite way. My
favorite way is throwing a bobber, casting a bobber, the
same way everybody did growing up, the same way that
I started when I started in twenty seventeen, especially in
the winter time.
Speaker 6 (47:11):
You all got well, I guess I'd say we.
Speaker 7 (47:15):
Have all kinds of upland reservoirs up there where they
drop the bottom out of the lake. Every winter, and
a lot of people walk the banks and throw bobbers
on the banks, and anytime you can get close to
a bend that has a straight stretch, they will load
(47:38):
up in there. And this goes for both of you,
whether you're a bank fisherman or if you're in that boat.
You can get out there in those bends. And no
when is notorious for this. After we all figured it out,
that's when you started seeing those big eleven and twelve
pounds bags of crappee come out of no end. Is
(47:59):
that when they're not pulling current, those fish are roman
out in these outside bends all the way across to
the inside. They're out there everywhere. So you can get
out there and actually vertical jig one rod in hand
out in these bins and have an outstanding day. Back
before Livescope, we would get out there and have one
(48:20):
rod in each hand and I'd be going down the
ledge that they called it Texas two step for crappie fishing.
You dig left hand, you jig right hand, You dig
left hand, you dig right hand, yes, sir, And you
just walk down these ledges like that and cross out
in the center of the channel in these bends and
those crappie will.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
Be there, There's no doubt real quick. Being a Brecker's
catty boy, a lot of really.
Speaker 3 (48:51):
Good crappie fishing in the creeks on the Ohio River.
Speaker 6 (48:54):
And this is a sn I love the Ohio River.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
And it's crazy me. Most people don't think about it
or targeted. Give a real quick overview of that if
you will.
Speaker 7 (49:07):
Man, Ohio River is one of the untapped resources in
crappie fishing, and I'm gonna throw some creeks out there.
Sinking Creek has got crappy Town Creek is my pick.
It has a ramp in the back of it so
the wind is up. You don't even have to get
on the river. I actually did a show with Kentucky
(49:28):
a Field there in August. It was August six. The
water temp was eighty seven degrees in the back of
Town Creek. We were spider rigging in three foot of water,
fishing one foot deep and that's how we shot that show.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
I know, folks again, Jeremy's going to be one of
the speakers at the cat Fishing Crappy Xpole again. The
danks or February twenty first three twenty seconds the west
winding of the fairgrounds, and you'll be there the whole time,
Jeremany be well to chat with folks all day long.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
In addition to Sentinars. Correct.
Speaker 7 (50:07):
Absolutely, I've got about ten people that's gonna be in
my boot there. My wife, Miss Brittany, will be there too,
and we'd love to sit down and talk to you.
Speaker 2 (50:15):
Yes, sir, Steve, thank you so much for their freeing
this venue to the folks out there.
Speaker 4 (50:21):
And it's gonna be a lot of fun. It's gonna
be a lot of fun. Like say, remember it's a
consumer show. Come out and spend time with like minded.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
People and learn some stuff and have fun, yes sir,
And they check you out and Catfisconference dot com. Very good, sir.
All right, folks, that's a wrap. God bless everybody.
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