3-29-26 - World Bass Fishing Champion - Bass Fishing Hall of Famer Wes Thomas

On tonight's show, Jim and Scott interviewed World Bass Fishing Champion and Hoosier Bass Fishing Hall of Famer Wes Thomas. The conversation centered on tips and tactics for catching pre-spawn bass.

Episode Transcript

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(01:25):
Jim Straighter Outdoors right here on News Radio eight forty.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Whas good evening, everybody gent them Straighter here and welcome
a board to a special program tonight. We're gonna talk
bass fishing tonight with brother Wes Thomas.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
He's been on the show with us through the years
and always does a great job of sharing tips and technique.
He's the world bass fishing Champion. He's into who's your
Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, and he's got more than
fifty that's five zero you're experience chasing bass. So he's
got the knowledge and beyond any shadow of doubt. And Wes,

(02:05):
I always appreciate you having.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
Yawn, appreciate being here a gym, and like to try
to help the listeners without we can maybe somebody hall
learned a little something they can use to help them
catch a fish.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yes, sir Scott, I know you've been watching things down
in the western part of the state. It's the season,
these fluctuations in weather. What we're going to talk a
lot about about how to you know, fight the weather,
which is exactly what you got to do with what's
been going on. But Wes was telling me they had
a tournament at Petolkia here yesterday.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Yesterday and what was the bags?

Speaker 4 (02:41):
The winning weight was a little over twenty two pounds,
but I know a really good friend of mine was
six place and he had eighteen and a half pounds
and there was some other weight around eighteen pounds behind him.
There was fifty five boats in the tournament, so I
mean everybody said, there just a bunch of really nice fish.

(03:02):
Cog some four pound small mouth or weigh in. So
the fish are biting, man.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yep Scott. How about the western into the state.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Everything's going good.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
You know.

Speaker 5 (03:13):
It's that time of year where you've got to chase
these fish down and anytime that you get into pre spawn,
it means so many different things from just the staging
area where the fish are at and trying to be
ready for that constant movement. You know, they're always there's
always a step ahead of you, it seems like, except

(03:33):
for those days that you can get right in there
and dance with them, and it creates for what West.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Was talking about.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
You can get some really good bags of fish, but overall,
you can just catch a lot of fish because there's
so many different things and lures that will work. And
it's a great time of year because if you can
get start getting a little bit of suntan when you're
out on the water, then you can definitely get into
some hot pre spawn activity as well. And when the

(04:02):
weather is consistent and that water is not too stagnant
and there's not a whole lot of fluctuation going up
and down it, it's one of my most enjoyable times
a year to fish because of all the different ways
that you can change water depths and bait so quickly
and finding those aggressive fish and those feeding patterns. It's

(04:22):
just a lot of fun and it's productive when you're
naming it for a paycheck.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yes, sir, well, what we're going to cover the night
is all these weather patterns. What lows West recommends you know,
for sake, colder water the upper forties fifties, even with
all these fluctuations we've had, we're all of a sudden
now getting some warmer water.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
But then it gets.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Knocked back when I cold fronts come through. But we'll
go everything from dirt baits to a ridgs, you name it.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
We're going to do a real strong pre spawn program tonight.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
So in that reguard, folks, if you got a questions
for Wes, you can call us tonight. He's very amenable
to answer any questions you got about technique, tackle lures,
whatever is on your mind.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
The numbers to do.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
So were five seven to one eighty four eighty four.
That's five seven one eighty four eighty four are toll
free one eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty four. Again,
that's eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty four.
This break is presented by montil Properties Heart Realty. Check

(05:33):
out all the current listings at mop h R Trealty
dot com.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Wes.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
When it comes to fishing to pre spawn, sometimes a
lot of folks get confused on what's going on with
the fish coming out of those winter depths and starting
to move in towards the shallow flat areas prior to
spawning kind of tell us a little bit about what's
going on with our water temperature and the fish. When

(06:01):
this pre spawn movement begins to take off, well, I think.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
It has a lot to do knowing a little bit
about your lake that you're fishing, having some past experience there,
and kind of that you understand that particular lake, because
no two lakes are exactly the same in any part
of the country you go to. Back when I was
traveling all over the country fishing tournaments and driving New

(06:34):
York and Arizona, Texas, going to places I'd never been,
I had a mind set on how I thought I
wanted to fish, but not knowing anything about the lakes.
It took me several days to kind of get something
figured out a little bit. But staying around here, me
and Jim were talking earlier the way this weather is

(06:54):
warmed up so fast. We went from cold to eighty
some degrees for several these lake temperatures jumped up over
sixty at Potoka back in the river, and now at
tournament time yesterday it was back down to fifty two.
So that'll kind of set those fish back. But these

(07:14):
lakes that are drawed down lakes, I love to go
there with a jerk bait or an a rig and
I look for those little clay points that would be
underwater as soon as the lake comes up anywhere near
pool and fish out off the end of them, because
they are places that I think those first fish are
going to come to.

Speaker 5 (07:33):
Yeah, when it comes to people finding those points, kind
of go through the process of what you do when
you're actually in a creek channel and starting to look
for the points that are you're going to start to
focus on early on in the spawn rather than just
going straight up into the spawning flats.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Well, well, I'm a lot of these.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
I'll be in a creek arm, but a lot of
these little point places and some of the very first fish,
very very first places that some of these fish are
going to move in to spawn or some of them
are just little pockets off off of the creek. They're
not great, you know, They're not something you can run
your big motor in or not. And you just go
in with your troller motor and you just look for

(08:20):
those subtle points and fish out in front of those points.
If there's a breakout there where it's going to golf
into a small channel or something that's wonderful. But that's
where when you think those fish are starting to move,
that's where you want to find them, the very right
off the bat. And after they're there, then they'll be

(08:41):
back on the flats trying to spawn. Whether it be
an old grass beds or lay down logs or tree
tops or whatever, then they'll be there. But first of all,
they're going to be out behind you on these play
points where a lot of people don't even stop to fish.
But when I'm throwing a jerk bait, I thought so
at that time of year, I throw uh megabass one ten,

(09:06):
And the one ten means how is the for the
depth that it's gonna run. And when I'm really feeling
good about things, I can throw that jerk bait out there.
Maybe my boat sitting in I'm gonna say seven or
eight foot of water, and I'm gonna be throwing it
up there. Maybe a shallow is a foot or two.
But when I get done fishing that, I look at

(09:28):
the bill of my jerk bait and it will have
some of that old red clay stuck on the bill
of the crank of the jerk bait, then I know
I'm fishing that bait in the zone that I want
to fish it in the other the other bait is
a pointer, an old standard pointer seventy eight, a little

(09:48):
bit different kind of jerk bait. But if you start
with at like a pointer seventy eight and then this
one ten, those two jerk baits should be all you
really need. I mean, it can be a different brand,
but those are two different jerk baits that ran a
little bit different depth, got a little bit different look
to them in the water. But most of the time,

(10:10):
using those that two style of jerk baits, you can
find what depth you want to catch them at and
the fish we will react to them really well.

Speaker 5 (10:20):
Yeah, I was going to ask you do you notice
that and how you adjust your retrieve and how Yes,
the water can change quickly you start to find pockets
of fish like migration highways of fishman.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, you get the whole secret.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
And I fished with a lot of guys over the
years that couldn't catch on a jerk bait if they
jumped in the boat with them.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
They just didn't have the the field for doing it.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
They couldn't get the cadence down, and most people want
to fish with too heavy action rob Almost always I
fished with ten pounds has fluor carbon line on that,
and I'm fishing with a very medium action, light tip
rod because usually when you're it's you have a cadence

(11:12):
and you don't you don't jerk and put in line
wheel the line that you do it with the real handle,
so that a lot of times in between when you're jerking,
you make those slight pauses. The very next time you
go to jerk, your rot will just load up because
the fish already got it. And with that light tip action,

(11:35):
you don't have to set the hook because the rot
will do to work. And a lot of times you've
just got those fish caught with one trouble hook on
the back of a jerk bait. So I don't want
to heavy action rod. I want something let it ain't
swim around out the early wants to. But that that's
very important way I look at it is to get

(11:56):
the right rod. Don't try to go out there and think, well,
I'm fishing for big fish. I'm gonna jerk this thing
out here at twenty pound test line, because you just
kind of defeated yourself already ten pound test floor carbon line,
a light tip rot and I don't use the long rod.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
Six foot is the longest.

Speaker 4 (12:13):
I'll use jerk baiting because I want that rod tip
down into the water.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
And if you use too.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
Long a rod, you can't get your rod tip down
because it's gonna be in the water.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
You got it.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
You can do it kind of pointing out from me,
but it ain't the same as getting it down here.
You know. When I load that rod up and that
fish has got that bait, I've got him already, you know.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
And what's your second go to as far as a
jerk bait? You mean, no, on those kind of flats.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
Oh, probably a rattle trap, yep. And if it's not
got a lot of stuff there, crawl that thing on
the bottom almost.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
Don't. Don't think you gotta burn it back.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
Let the fish tell you once in a while cast
it out and burn it back. But if it's got
the right kind of stuff and you're not getting hung up,
just crawl it. I've caught so many good fish just
crawling that thing on the bottom.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
You can't believe it.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Then what I call beating the knock, Yeah, yeah, Hey, guys,
we got a collar on on here and again the
numbers tonight if you got questions or five seven one
eighty four eighty four or eight hundred and four four
four eighty four eighty four.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
Jim, we're on with you, buddy. What do you got
for us?

Speaker 6 (13:29):
Well, thanks for taking a call. I go ahead and
put it out there. I was that no land the
day before the full moon this past week. I started out,
I got down, I put in at eight thirty in
the morning. Water temperature upb bout the dam was around
the fifty five degree range. Anyway, I was crappie fishing.
I fish everything from the dam the Canalaway Creek. I

(13:50):
was marking fish on our grass about that fifteen eighteen
twenty foot range earlier in the day. As the day
went on, the water temperature warm day up. The pods
of bait fish started coming up, you know that six
to ten foot range. The suspended fish start coming up.
Vertical jig, standing timber and standing timber creeks. I fished

(14:12):
ledges at the mouth of the creeks and I absolutely
did not catch a fish. And I just wanted your
your thoughts on. I mean, I've got that there's more
to it than that, but that basically a suggest of it.
I was it was a good day to be at.
I was not disappointed, but it'd have been a whole

(14:33):
lot better if i'd had something in the boat.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, I understand something something distinct and skillet as I
like to say, no God, but were you there after
the high pressure the cold night?

Speaker 6 (14:48):
I think it was it got down into the forties.
I think if I remember right, I think the full
moon was probably on a two. I was there on
a Saturday. It's when I was, and I think the
full moon was Sunday, and I think the high pressure
comes through probably that Friday, Thursday and Friday prior to
me going.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, these fish have been finicky.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
There's no doubt they might have been a lot shallower
than you think, very well could be.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
I was down in Nolan fishing for bass and white
bass and a good lord, I never saw it laked
down like it is.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (15:26):
I think there's a big difference this time of year though,
finding fish on a graft versus finding fish that bite
or two totally different things. And sometimes when when you
find the fish, I think we've all gotten a little
bit spoiled with our electronics, and we think they're supposed
to bite because we can find them. But I've you know,

(15:47):
it's just that time of year that it's good to
get out and run your boat. And some days you
really get into them and some days you don't. But
are you seeing that where people are finding a lot
of fish on a and they don't understand why they're
not feeding and acting well?

Speaker 3 (16:04):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (16:05):
With the with everything that goes on now, with this
scoping that all these guys put these forward facing sonars
on their boat boat and I talk to these guys
a lot. I don't do it myself. I'm too old
to worry about doing that. I'll just stay somewhere where
I can catch one in a while, on the bank

(16:26):
or something. But uh, they tell me a lot of
times they see fish, see them fall as their bait
won't hit it, won't bite it, And the next day
they go and they can't keep them off of it.
It's just I think it's just the attitude of the
fish or something has got to trigger them to start biting.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
And I think if you're around a.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
School fish, so to speak, if you can get one
or two of them to bite, you probably can get
you know, some more of them biting, and that's what supporting.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
The species too.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
You know, croppies are a lot easier to catch than
bass and stripers and hybrids or they'll bite anything about
any time.

Speaker 6 (17:07):
So I was fishing. If you're familiar with no one
in luck, I was fishing the canal away area. Just
left there, went back up towards Red Rock. Fished all
that day through there, left there, went up. I fished
some points with some lay down timber. On the main lake,
I fished some I just fished various types of structure.
I just yeh, I just was lost. I have thrown

(17:32):
you know, sixteenth to eighth and sixteen now jigs. I
wasn't using minutes or nothing. I was using something like
cropping there but's and such, and it just was horrible.
I caught five eight maybe ten inch bass and that
was it.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Well, Jim, I will tell you when cropping get finicky,
I get really down and dirty with small baits, and
by small, I'm talking about thirty seconds sometimes either a
sixty fourth ounce g head with a little one or
one and a quarter one and a half inch type
of bait, Those little golt minas are deadly on crappies

(18:11):
that are loads the bite.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
That's the best advice I'd give you on that partner.
It sounds like you really were trying. Oh yeah, you're
you were in the right ball field. I just didn't
want to play.

Speaker 6 (18:21):
Ball now I got put on the bench. Okay, I
was curious. I wanted to take your brain about it
and get your thoughts. I just outside of throwing hunger
in age or something I was.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Last I hear you, brother, thank you for calling break
This breakage presented by SMI Marine. Go get your boat
ready if you haven't already done so. They got all
kind of sales going on right now. Remember and never
get soaked by my friends at SMI went with these
temperatures in the fifties and fluctuating the way they are.

(18:58):
I know, you kind of changs a little bit as
it edges up right. Talk about the changes you make
with lures in or areas that you want to target.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
Let me go back and finish up just one thing
that just it's come into my head about when we
were talking about jerk bait and those little points and
places like that.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
You may do that in the morning.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
First thing, and the bite not be very good. Your think, well,
this ain't going to work today. Give that sun a
chance to get up and get that shallow water heated
up just a little bit, get those fish a little
bit more active. You might go back in the same
place at eleven or twelve o'clock and wear them out.
So don't think just because you do something for a

(19:44):
little while and you're you're mindful of the water temperature
and air trant, give it a little time to warm
up and you might go back and water fish is
moved up and you can catch them. But when it
gets starts getting beyond that, then I'd like to throw
a chatter bait. I'd definitely like to throw an a rig.

(20:04):
And when I really want to slow down and fish
maybe a little bit more on some points or trunk
rock banks, I'm gonna throw a bald headed hair jig
and real hair and then I'm going to throw a
small about a three eighths compact football jig. And by compact,

(20:27):
I mean the skirting is not going to be long,
just about to link the shank of the hook. I'm
gonna put a little bulky trailer on it, but it's
not going to be some big long thing out behind it,
flowing in the wind. It's gonna be something small and
compact bounce to those rocks.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
I've done awfully well on those babs. Break break that
down a little bit.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
What break down the line and the specific areas with
each of those base all right?

Speaker 4 (20:56):
When I was talking about the jerk baits, I was
talking about ten pound test line carbon. When I get
into the chatter bait and stuff, I'm gonna probably have
at least sixteen pound test line, sixteen eighteen pound test line.
With the A rig, it's gonna be fifty pound test braid.
Come on, boys, take it away from you, and then

(21:20):
look like with my hair jig and my football jig
there again, it's gonna be most likely fifteen sixteen pound
test floor carbon because you're gonna be fishing.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
In some heavier cover.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
And the reason I like, for instance, the football jig
and stuff in three eighths at that time, I may
not be fishing over four or five foot deep, but
I may be fishing ten or twelve foot deep. But
I want that I want that bait to stay on
the bottom or very close to the bottom the whole time.

(21:53):
My theories are on that early season fishing, when you're
throwing a jerk bait, I'm not trying to imitate a
crawdad or anything like that. I'm imitating a bait fish.
I'm gonna be throwing something that's kind of a shabby
pattern and it's gonna have a little sharp shouse on
it and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
When when I.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
Drop off a little deeper doing these jig baits, and
I'm gonna go to blacks, browns, green pumpkins, more of
a crawd deck because I'm gonna I want them to
think it's, you know, crawdad feeding on the bottom.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
And then there again with an.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
A rig, I always throw eighth ounce jig heads on it,
and I also throw a boot tail swim bait on it,
probably in the neighborhood of about three or maybe three
and a half inch maybe, And I always this little

(22:45):
bait that's in the middle hook. It's always just a
little bit bigger the next size up than what's.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
On the outside edges.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
I don't know why, but that's just what that's when
when I got rigged like that, and a lot of
times I'll take a little sharp juice pin and put
a little sharp juice on the tail of each one
of those drubs and places out Kentucky Lakes early in
the year, and you see all those exposed banks.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Well, that's that's what I'll be throwing.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
And like I say, you don't have to folk deep,
but if I want to let it fall down on
a little channel, I can. But I just thought of
her like you would be a spinner baton and retrieve
it back that way.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
I love to catch him on it.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
What what were you are your favorite target areas with
each of those lures.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (23:39):
There again, it's I'm going to be thinking about going
down chunk Rock for the most part.

Speaker 5 (23:48):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (23:48):
Something on the bottom that is gonna I feel like
warm up a little bit more. Uh something. I think
crawdads could be in there. And the hair jig and
the football jig. The reason I have both of those
in there at certain times, and I can't tell you why.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
At certain times.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
They love that bulky hair jig, the way it pulses
in the water and stuff.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
It's completely different than a rubber skirt.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
Sometimes they want that football jig, and I like the
way it stayed. Like I was telling you early, it
stays right on the bottom and I can drag it
along and maybe hop it a little bit. And with
those bas by being compact and not great big one
like I might dip into a brush pile with these
are compact baits, the fish and.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
They got it.

Speaker 4 (24:38):
I mean, you normally have a really good hookup ratio
on and if I don't think the fish are feeding
on the bottom, I can't. Then I'll throw that a
rig probably in the same area if I feel like
there's fish in that area where maybe I've saw some
bait fish run or I just got experience that area
and maybe it's got a lot of boat docks there

(25:00):
fish that a rig out in front of them, docks,
anything to get them to chase and stuff. So I
just I like to fish that way so much that
I have every bit of confidence when I when I'm
doing it, and if you don't, if you can't fish
without confidence, you're not going to succeed very many times.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Absolutely, Yeah, I'm surprised you hadn't messed ned rig well.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
I don't do ned rig very well. I thought it
something and I catch fish on it, but that's not
my I don't like to do it. Why, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
I just don't and I like to throw a spinner, right,
I thow a tube, stupid tube all the time, right,
and but I just don't I don't know why. I
probably miss missing the boat there. But if I'm going
to do anything like that, I think I think I
can take a stupid tube and catch the same fish
you can't catch on that ned rig.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
I think. Okay, very good? Good? Well? Uh.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
In terms of the a rig, it's definitely a big fish.
Oh yeah, can about that? I mean large fish, all right,
We're talking five six pound seven pound fish. Quite you know,
if you're in that area that's got those kind of
fish in it, that's the bait that can catch it.

(26:20):
But I've also caught caught them two or three on
the same bait, and they'd all be two or three pounds.
Oh yeah, you know. And on the ain rig you're
throwing heavy line. I'm throwing braid. I'm throwing at least
fifty pound test braid at.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
Least, and I'm that hay rig. I'm normally just launching
that thing because I want to.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
I want to cast it out as bad as far
as I can throw it, because then I'm just going.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
To relok back in along the structure.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
A lot of these other baits, even all the way
back to the jerk baits. Definitely the hair jigs and
stuff like that. You know, a lot of the times,
I'm very seldom ever overhand cast.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
I almost always underhand pitch.

Speaker 4 (27:14):
And when I do that, you know, twenty or thirty
foot pitches about what I normally drow. And I can
fish a lot of water quickly like that. I can
target whatever I see in the water how I think
I ought to be trying to fish, whether it be.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Tell you something else.

Speaker 4 (27:36):
I know I'm kind of jumping around here, but like
I'm fishing one of these bits down the bank, and
there's been a weed line there, but the weeds are
pretty much not up yet for the early out in
the water. You see dark spot now then, and you
know it's an old clump of weeds. That's definitely where
you want to be fishing. Those dark spots on the bottom.

(27:57):
I think they warm up a little quicker by being dark,
and that those fish.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
Are coming there early and sit on those around those
dark spots.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
And that's if I get into stuff like that, and
I can see maybe a little stick sticking up out
here away from it, am big as my finger or
big as nothing. I'm gonna slow down, but I'm gonna
fish fast. I'm not gonna put my troller motor on eight,

(28:28):
you know, shoot down the bank, just fire and cast
after cast. Most of the people I know do that
don't normally don't catch too many. I'm gonna slow down,
I'm gonna fit. I'm gonna pick everything a part that
I come to. And once you get to do that
and you start catching fish, it's just just your second

(28:50):
nature almost. And I was telling you there earlier break.
I don't know how many times I've come to a
place that just to me there had to be a
fish there and make repetitive cast in there, and it
might be the tenth cast.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Or could be the twenty boom.

Speaker 4 (29:08):
You catch him. Now, why what's happened to him? All
those times? He just didn't I aggravate him. I just
didn't get the bait for him looking at it and
to make him react to it.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
But that's that's all.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
Done with experience and kind of getting your confidence level going.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yes, sir, all right again, Folks will take calls from
you tonight if you'd like to talk to West about
any of the bass fishing techniques or tackle or what
have you. The numbers are five seven one eighty four
eighty four or eight hundred four four four eighty four
eighty four. This break is presented by most old properties
Heart Realty. Check out their current listings at mp H

(29:48):
A R T Realty dot com. All right, folks, again,
if you have any questions for Wes not about bass fishing,
you will reach us at five seven one eighty four
eighty four or eight hundred four four four eighty four
eighty four. West talk about color selection. I know a
lot of that's personal, but you have a pretty simplistic

(30:11):
approach to it that it's done well for you, and
it's not really it doesn't lot cross green with what
most guys you know.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
Uh, well, if i'm gonna I think I mentioned there
earlier with the colors of a jerk bait, I'm gonna
be throwing but on a chatter bait, one of the
most effective baits we got out.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
I don't know how many people are throwing them, but
you need to be throwing them if.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
You if you're not, But early on, I throve three
basic colors, and a lot of this stuff that I
talk about is just colors that I've simplified, and I
don't try to get caught up in Oh man, if
you don't have this pinkuin with orange dots on it,
you know you won't catch anything. But the chatter baits

(30:54):
I thought, white and chartreuse, black and blue with a
black bade are green pump green pumpkin with a green
pumpkin blade on it. With those three chatter baits, you
should be able to go about any lake that you
want to fish and fishing in scattered grass around. It's

(31:16):
a lot easier to fish around scattered grass and stuff
than it is wood. It'll have a tendency to hang
up with you trying to throw it in very much
brushy wood or anything like that, but it'll work. And
then when I'm throwing spinner baits earlier in the year,
it's either going to be a single bladed colorado spinner

(31:36):
bait or it's going to be one with a colorado
and willow blade on it. Most likely it's going to
be a quarter ounce, three sixteenth or a quarter ounce.
If I feel like I got to get a little
a little bit deeper and slower retrieved, I will go
up to a half ounce, but I don't really like to.

(32:00):
And there again, those colors on the spinner bags are
going to be chart use and white, and for the
most part, on both both spinner baits, I usually run
a trailer, not a trailer hook, but I run a
trailer on the on the spinner bait to give that
little bit more action on the back.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
And if I want.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
To slow the spinner bait down, make it stay in
the water, cool them when I'll put a bulk your trailer.
If not, I'll use something pretty slender and stuff, so
it'll just I can speed it up. And still, with
any of these baits, you have to vary your retrieve

(32:44):
and the way you fish these. You can't do it
the same way every time because some way, some days
they want it a certain way and some days they
want it retrieved a little bit different. And you just
got to make yourself keep trying that stuff and finally
it'll it'll click with you. You'll you'll learn a lot
more about it. How about the jigs, what are you colors? Black, black,

(33:08):
and blue are a real dark green pumpkin this time
of year, I want the bit slow. I mentioned earlier,
I wanted to be more Minican a crawl dadd or
something on the bottom, and they're going to be compact
in siyes. The little the hair jig is going to
be oh five sixteenths ball head with bare hair on it.

(33:37):
And the football jig can have rubber, but it's small
diameter rubber, not the big heavy duty rubber skirting.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
It's the more.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
Flexible, more flexible what a little bit cooler water and
on the back of that can be. Sometimes I'm still
using some pork because the pork really has the really
good action with the tails and stuff. But a lot
of people don't use it anymore because it's kind of
a paint in the butt to keep using it for

(34:11):
official to eat it, man, I tell you what, every
time I go somewhere and I find an old tackle
shop or a flea market, I hunt for old spring
lizard pups.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
That was my goal to that was I probably taught
in my lifetime more pass over seven eight pounds on
a spring livers pup. Yeah with I'm a black and
blue guy just like you are, And sometimes I'll go with.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
An orange yeah, black of the little orange yeah to it. Scott.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
You and I've talked about that how people have forgotten
pork and.

Speaker 5 (34:45):
I like I like Wes until he said he was
going in these baked stores and buying up.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
But they've got left this.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
We didn't get away all.

Speaker 5 (34:55):
The cigaretts or people won't think that we can catch
fish those part you know. When we come back from
the break, I want to spend a little bit of
time about the diversity of these baits, especially around boat
docks and structures off of these big swing creek channels,

(35:16):
because I think boat docks are really overlooked by a
lot of people in the right places in the pre spawn.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yes, sir, no doubt about it. Okay, we'll do that.
Come back from break. This break is presented by SMI Marine.
They're great friends.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
Go see them.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
They'll take great care of you. Remember you never get
soaked by my friends. It is somebody.

Speaker 5 (35:36):
Well, it's the only thing better than talking about prespawns
fishing is actually fishing during that pre spawn. And you
were talking about temperature in different baits and areas to
find these fish to key in on. And over the
years I've tried to learn lakes a little bit better.
But one thing that changes a lot is man made

(35:59):
structure that is not dumped in the lake. And that's
just these jet skis and pond tooons and walking piers
and all of these things. You start getting around the
residential side of a lot of lakes, and man, there's
a lot of really good, man made structure that does
generate heat. A lot of times they're coming off of

(36:21):
big swings out of the channels. What's really set up
really nice and and uh, I was gonna just pick
your brain whether it's swimming a chatter bait or swimming
a jigging with a little pork as you're coming back
on a retrieve and and hitting around what I would
consider these residential areas on lakes. What what's been your

(36:44):
patterns on this pre spawn bite when it when it
comes to that type of structure and in the bait selection.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
Well, the.

Speaker 4 (36:55):
If I if I'm in an area, and I'll just
relate to this. For with Kentucky Lake, be down to
Kentucky Lake early in the year, the water's not up yet,
it's still drawed down. And some of those coves have
got a lot of really nice docks in them post
way out in the water to take care of whatever

(37:17):
the fluctuation of things. But almost all of them have
a sea wall, almost all of them do.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
If they don't have a sea wall, they've got at
least rip wrapped down through there.

Speaker 4 (37:28):
Yes, sir, it's been my experience that if they're not,
if those fish aren't hanging on the post of.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
The dock or the some.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
Places I've caught more fish than you can even think about,
is off the walkway braces where the posts come down, relatives,
all they'll have something crossing under the water. Great place
to catch them. But the next place if I can't
catch them there, and instead of instead of backing out

(38:00):
thinking that they're still back out here deep where I
don't really want to go, I'll go down them seawalls.
You know, you can take that jig, you take, chatter bait,
take an a rig, whatever, and throw it right up
there against that seawall. And most of those seawalls have
got rocky stuff on the bottom for a little ways,

(38:23):
perfect place for them to come set up, let the
sunshine get on them. And you can even where the
cables from the docks go down. A lot of times
those have anchored to a poured concrete slab or something
that's down in the water. Just pay attention to where
those cables, go in the water, fish down, throw something

(38:45):
in there.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
You can feel that bottom with.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
That's the kind of little subtle things that will take
it a bad day and make it a good day
all the years that I've fished and did a lot
of seminars and stuff, and get up front of the
ground and say listen, I don't want any one of
you to sit here and think that if you listen
to me here for the next two hours, you're going

(39:08):
to leave here and all of a sudden, hundreds of bass.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
Are going to jump in your boat.

Speaker 4 (39:13):
But I said, try to pick out two or three
things that can go help you get two or three
more bites a day and tournament fishing, if I can
get two or three more bites a day than you
do most generally, I'm gonna beat you. So that's what
I try to do, is key on just a few

(39:34):
subtle things. It's not that I'm going to run up
to this bank and make five casts and say, well
they ain't here, We've got to go out here. I'm
going to try to pick that apart and learn how
to make real subtle cast in there so that you
don't spook a fish if he's there. Don't just bombard
him with a bait. Let it, you know, a big

(39:55):
splash in the water. Just put it in there so
it looks just like it. Hardly makes a rippler on
the water or anything. Can't believe how you can catch
more fish like that than just whole house just wildly casting.

Speaker 5 (40:09):
And you find yourself putting your boat more in a
parallel position in the pre spawn to get more of
that shallow water bite.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
Yes, I do, sure do, trying to keep trying to
keep my bait in the in the water column that
I think.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
It's going to be the conducive to fish. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:31):
Rick Klun told me once years ago he's probably the
greatest ones at there fish. He said he tries to
figure out how to condense the fish the shallowest so
that if he's fishing two foot of water, he can
fish two foot of water really easy, but eight foot

(40:53):
of water takes.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
More to do it.

Speaker 4 (40:55):
But he wants he wants to condense the fish where
he likes to learn how to fish in the best cats.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
While we're on the subject with docks, yeah, uh, this
is very very important. There's docks, there's good dogs and
drink dots. They break that down. Well, you know what
what makes you think?

Speaker 3 (41:16):
All right? Uh?

Speaker 2 (41:18):
In the hours of the day, and this especially I
think illustrated because you're a tournament guy. You got to
get it done fast. What what how do you say?
Those are docks? I'm gonna hit.

Speaker 5 (41:28):
I'll start wonder the many of those docks that you
can get that are running length wise close to the
shoreline in the early spring, you've got more structure and
shallow water. And what I'm getting at if if people
were to walk down onto a dock instead of walking
out where you would be going what you would think

(41:49):
too deeper channels of water what you typically do from
the bank going out, but you want those really, really
really long docks. And it just seems to be that
with metal and colors.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (42:02):
And I'm talking everything from roofs on docks and everything.
And when you get into a lot of these structures
of these residential areas, it goes into exactly what Wes
was talking about, and and that is it tends to
be not all the time, but it tends to be
that a lot of that bank has got that good

(42:23):
clay in that that area in which those fish are
wanting to come up in to to spawn as well.
And when you can find those areas where the bank's
being protected with erosion control, you know that you've got
a softer, more erodable bank. And it puts you right
into dirt, and that dirt puts you in the money.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
I like to I like to hunt for docks or
where there's more, you know, strung out of docks and
just look at them and tell you.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
I can just tell their old docks.

Speaker 4 (42:54):
They just didn't stick them in there the year before
or something like that. They've had a chance to get
logs sunk around them or something stuck to And I
mentioned these walkways a lot of times. The post that
hold the walkways up were poured in concrete twenty years

(43:15):
ago when they built a dock. And when the water's
clear enough and you look down there, you can see
it's all erode it away, and here's this big chunk
of concrete out of the ground with six or eight
inch like a shelf underneath of it. And that's where
the fish is gonna be. It's gonna be on that
edge of that concrete down there, versus a place where

(43:37):
it just built a dock a year ago. It's all
still new and stuff you'll catch somewhere. But I'd much
read a fish old docks that I was new ones.
Much rather the algae's on the bottom and the fish
will get under the out under the floats and stuff
like that a lot of time, even though it's still
pre spawned. One of my favor things to do, because

(44:02):
those fish do get pound a little bit of it.
I like the fish a wacky sinko. I mean I thought, religiously,
just a black and blue wacky sinko five and a
quarter inch one and just hook it, hook it. And
I like to throw a hook that's got a little

(44:22):
weed guard on it. So if I'm throwing it on something,
it's not going to stick up on every you know,
stucking gets stuck on the post. It's not gonna get
stuck on a little limb. It's hung up, hung up
on the doe or around the cable. And pretty simple
to do. I mean, hell, it'll just sometimes you don't
even feel the bite. You just pay attention to your line.

(44:43):
And here's a post over here, and I pitched this
sinko over there twelve inches past that post. And time
I locked my reel up and my partner says something
I look back and my lines over here three feet
well that sinko. Don't swim by self. I mean I
love to do that. What's side line? And what kind

(45:04):
of line do you throw this?

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Good? Uh? There's a lot of discussion.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
Yeah, well, if I'm throwing it inn't pretty heavy cover
a lot of wood off on eighteen or twenty okay,
but open kind of semi open docks and stuff like that.
I'll bring it down to no less than fourteen to
about sixteen.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
And I fish.

Speaker 4 (45:29):
I know there's all kinds of line, and I'm not
telling you there's good bad, But I've fished nothing but
Sunline for years and I just I don't see any
need to change. I know it's expensive, but I just
don't have any line issues early ever.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
What do you like about Sunlight? I fished myself because
in some of their products to smaller diameter than you know,
other line.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
I don't know. I just I met those guys several
years ago and they had a bunch of Japanese anglers
over here fishing, and I got to meeting them and
they give me some of the line to try, and
I like the not.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
Strength on it's good.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
Uh, it doesn't have a lot of memory at some
floor Carbon's's got and I just I don't hardly ever
break it off on a fish.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
You know. Sometimes I pull my boat around with it.
It's so good. You know.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
It's not a gimmick. It's just a better overall product.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
It it's just a good line.

Speaker 5 (46:30):
Had to see a lot of change over the year.
Do you look at the other line companies. They've had
tons of change every other year.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
They have other good lines, don't.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
I'm not trying to down anybody's line, but uh, you know,
if if you wear Levied Book blue jeans, it's because
you like them. I feel good. That don't mean they
lee jeans and all them in the same way with line.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
To me, sun line works and ain't gonna need a change.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
All right, boys, I got to go to break here again.
If you got a question for Wes tonight, the numbers
are five seven to one eighty four eighty four or
one eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty four.
This break is presented by SMI Marine. They got all
kinds of new boats, some really good deals on used
boats right now, and they're ready to get you ready

(47:20):
for the season. If you hadn't already done, so go
see them. You never get soaked by my friends at
SMI well, it's uh before we move off the docks.
I want to fletch that out just a little bit more, okay, because.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
I think it's important.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
It never ceases to amaze me how a lot of
anglers overlook the angle of the sun in the time
of day in early season best front.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
Here's what I mean by that. Look north. Yeah, go
to the north banks.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
If you've got that opportunity where it's got the kind
of structure of Scott was talking about right there, because
that's going to receive.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
You've the maximum how sunlight.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
You know, It's like you go along when snow's mounting
off right, you look north, which obviously that's getting the
southern light and it's uh, it's very important. Other things
that I think is important to talk about is docs
that have deeper water close by, especially if there's a
channel swing right which tes to concentrate bait. And then

(48:27):
you've got a shallow dock because got what you were
talking about, then you've got a real magnet.

Speaker 4 (48:32):
Ye the uh that just falls into jim sometimes And
I'm speaking now more for tournament fishing. Sometimes when you
go someplace for tournament and you know there's pending weather
coming in or it's really changing fast. A lot of

(48:54):
times you practiced where you think they're going, where they're
where they're coming to, but they're not there that day
you're fishing. What you're doing is you're just laying some
ground where, finding out what the structure is, how it
lays the angles of some of that stuff.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
Is that a little private boat rent running in there?
Does it get broke off? Break off? On the end
of it, you know you're.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
Trying to you know the fish are coming there, but
they're not there today, But Thursday they'll be there, so
that's part of it. And then when you go back
and they're still not there, then you can bring out
here and get out in front of this deeper water
because they should be staged out there before they go up.
So a lot of guys practice where they think they're

(49:42):
coming to and not where.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
They're really at.

Speaker 4 (49:45):
Because if you use to come out here deeper and
find them, by Thursday and Friday, they may have moved
away from you.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
Found them and be up in these docks.

Speaker 4 (49:53):
So they if they pay attention to the weather, the
bright sun or whatever, and they think those three you're
going to be up there, and it may only be
a hundred yards, but that'd be the biggest, be a big,
huge difference. You might fish out here deep and still
get a bite or two, but the majority of fish
are going to be moving up because the bait will
be moving up, the fish will be moving up, crawl dads.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Will get active.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
That's where they're going to be, you know, Scott, I
want you to chime in on this, because we've talked
about this a lot, and West I'd like your thoughts.
I love especially for big fish, pre spawn big fish.
Let's talk big fish here. For me, I'm of the
opinion that the number one thing a big old salth

(50:38):
bass will eat without any qualification is a crawfish.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
So what am I saying here?

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Even though spinner breaks can be effective, even though these
other bases we're talking about can be effective, if I'm
wanting to hang my head on a biggin a good
old bigion here, you know, big old bug eye sal bass,
I'm a mimica crawfish.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Scott. I think you concur with that, don't.

Speaker 5 (51:03):
You, Big baits, big fish you know, and and and
sometimes uh. You know, the best part about listening in
the West through the program is not getting too fancy,
you know, sticking to those colors. That's really important, sticking
to the presentation of the bait.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
And people have to.

Speaker 5 (51:26):
Understand too, you know, pre spawn goes on at different
stages and for different amounts of times because fish have
a pecking order and they have it. If you understand
the biology of bass and small mouth, large mouth Kentucky
all of them, and those those fish they have kind
of compete and cherry areas. But the biggest part of

(51:50):
what I'm hearing you'll talk about is when the fish
really get into that of aggressive feeding and pre spawn
it sometimes it can get really hot, have you real quick.
But when you're looking for that big bite, Dad used
to always say, you've got to set it on the
nose sometimes and and and they just couldn't turn it down.

(52:11):
It's too too sixy, and it looks too good and
it's too natural not to bite it right. And so
if you can put it right on top of them,
a lot of times you can just absolutely you know,
just I mean catch a pig. I mean that's where
that you know, those fish and and where they're at

(52:31):
and the structure of their body and everything. It's just
such a unique time to catch them because of the
condition that t're in and and they you know, there's
a spectacular, spectacular species when it comes to large mouth.
I know smallmouth get a lot of credit, but it
doesn't better than big bass, big big large mouth this

(52:51):
time of year.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Yes, sir, that's that's kind of what line's my watch.
I'm on big fish during this period.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
All right.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
I got to go over here again, folks, if you
got any questions for Wes. The numbers are five to
seven one eighty four eighty four or eight hundred four
four four eighty four eighty four. This break is presented
by Paul Thomas. He's the broker at heart Heart Realty
and montrel Cartrealty is down there in Montfordville and he's

(53:20):
got all kinds of vacation homes, farms and wildlife properties
for sale. Check them out at mop H E r
T Realty dot com. Well, it's uh, there's a couple
of lures we hadn't talked about yet. Yeah, and uh
one of the shaky head and on fifty five degree

(53:42):
plus water and it really lower than that, but it
really comes into play, especially on some of these breakoff
points secondary points with official moving back in the creeks.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
What's your thought about that, Uh?

Speaker 4 (53:57):
I thought a shaky head, not a lot, but enough
to catch. You know, we catch several fish on it.
I like to throw it out in.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Front of a weed line.

Speaker 4 (54:10):
That's you see the weed line out there, and it's
kind of a vertical drop, but then at the bottom
there's still a few weeds sticking out, maybe six eight
inches up off the bottom. I like a hop a
shaky head out there through that, or swim it through
some of that of the other weeds. And I like

(54:31):
to fish it in places that's got that gets a
lot of pressure. I think it'll they'll work really good
in areas and a lot of people, you know, a
lot of people are fishing bigger.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
Baits and beating around. You can go and do a
shaky head.

Speaker 4 (54:46):
Uh. I kind of like to do it. I'm not
that great on spinning rods. I mean, i'd rather when
I get one on, I don't want to mess with him.
I want to get you in the boat. But it's
very effective. I mean I would I could. I would
recommend people to do that. And you mentioned like ned
riggs and stuff, Well they're numbers bakes yeah for me, yeah,

(55:08):
you know.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
And in other words, if I want to get down
and dirty and I'm wanting some numbers there, yeah, some
go to for me.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
But everybody's different.

Speaker 4 (55:16):
And I know we fish a few tournaments that been
in Annapolis at the City Water Lake up there called
Geist and it's got weeds and points and stuff like that.
And we've caught six pounders on shaky heads up there
on some of the points and stuff like that. So
I mean it makes it pretty exciting in the boat
for a little bit, hope, you know.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
Trying to get that fish in. But uh, there's not a.

Speaker 4 (55:41):
Thing wrong with and you know the old zoom finesse
worm and stuff like that. Of course they make all
all brands of them stuff, but that's just as good
as they make it. They bit that thing twenty five
thirty years ago and they still bite it.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
Oh. Yes, yes, we've left that crank base more aggressive.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
It's you know, Scott and I talked a lot about
crank baiting. Scott, you got any particular questions about tots
or anything you want to thow it west about that?

Speaker 5 (56:13):
No, I just I think folks need to truly understand
different types of wood and in how different wood can
react and slimmer crank baits is my go to and
the pre spawn I mean, I tend to. I tend
to like a bait that crank bait that I can,

(56:35):
I guess, work a little slower, if that makes sense. It's,
you know, it's faster than that jerk bait, but uh
I can uh. And And there's times too where over
the years different things have kind of changed. I don't
even know if anybody still does it. I don't see
it much other than just in my boat. But sometimes

(56:56):
I'll even put a little piece of lead tape on
on some of them crank baits, as long as I
can tune them and get them to run so that
they'll have a suspend there, you know, and and stay
in that pocket of what I consider the strike zone.
One of my I guess one of my biggest problems
with crank baits sometimes is is I get going too

(57:18):
fast and I'll and I'll catch some fish, and sometimes
I won't go back and fish those areas again. And
I would definitely say that if folks are finding especially
when it comes to those secondary points and some areas
that your water depth is really getting into some characteristics,

(57:39):
especially around like stump beds and rock where it comes
up really shallow. Sometimes it's good to maybe not keep
bouncing on down the lake and hit those places two
or three times. I tend to fish really fast and
pre spawn, and I guess the reason I catch myself
doing that is I'm not making a living like west

(58:03):
is on tournament fishing. But I feel like there's so
many fish that haven't got the pressure yet that I
can get that more aggressive bite. And that's where you
can just really just slam them on a crank bait,
you know, like it going back to your rod linked
and everything. Ain't nothing any better when that jerk bait

(58:23):
you get them with one hook and you're lucky, right,
That ain't nothing any better than having to get your
plyers and keep them in your pocket instead of just
keep them there on the side of your seat all
day because and when they crush and they crush them,
you know, good sharp hooks is really important. Uh, drank
baits too, yes, sir.

Speaker 4 (58:42):
Yeah, something type of There's a lot of different brands
that are good, but seven foot rod there again, I'm
gonna throw the line as light as I think I
can get by with without causing me to lose my
crank bait or lose the fish or something. And when

(59:04):
I'm when i'm setting out the crank bait fish I do,
it's kind of like I do on jerk bait fishing.
I've got two to three crank baits tied on different variety,
maybe a little bit different than the color, but a
different bill on them and stuff, and want to run
a little different than another, a little deeper.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
But some of the old crank baits that are hard
to find anymore, or.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
You take a lake that's full of rock, you better
have a wiggle wort man, I'm telling you. And I've
been fortunate enough to get a bunch of those gathered
up over the years. But when I'm somewhere and i'm
gonna throw a crank bait and I think I can
crank that thing from about four to eight foot of water,

(59:52):
me and mister wiggle Wart's gonna go at it, because
that's a fish catching this little crank.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
Bait I've seen.

Speaker 4 (59:57):
But a lot of the newer square bill cr baits
are good too, And that that wiggle ward a new
version of the wiggleward. They call it the rock crawler.
And that's because I think a crawl through rocks and
deflect off rocks and stuff, and that's what there's there again.
We're talking about crawdads and stuff, and that's what that

(01:00:18):
thing looks like scooting around.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
I got that clear.

Speaker 4 (01:00:20):
Bill on them, and uh, they got a red crawdad
and a green crawl dad, and I mean it's on
the money.

Speaker 5 (01:00:28):
Yeah, what's your opinion on it? On a rattle in
your crank bait West as far as in the pre spawn,
do you like a little extra sound you're getting your
wiggle in your vibration. But I found that I found
that I try to go more off of the natural
movement of the bait and try not to get.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
To If I want something, I'll just pick up a
rattle trap and throw it. After I mentioned earlier about
fishing it real slow and chunk rock and stuff like that,
and and and maybe hopping it, just getting on the
tight line and just rip it for maybe a couple
of feet let it kind of fall back down.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
That can be deadly.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
And then uh, if you're around old grass lines and
got little stuff on the bottom.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
Well, then just burn it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:18):
I've seen guys, and I've done it myself early in
the year, cranking that thing as hard as we could
with the seven to one reel.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
And they still can't out. You can't out on the fish.
He's gonna get it if he wants. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:01:31):
I do have a question for you, Wes when it
comes to crank bait fishing, and it's really happened more
so in recent years. In the last ten years, I've
noticed it more. That's that's bass busting shad uh in
in the pre spawn. What are you seeing this or
have you seen this? Is it just because we've got

(01:01:53):
a lot of a lot of bait fish or is
it just the right place right time? But it just
seems like fish are a little more aggressed and it's
not as long.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
It's not them a school bust of.

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
Them or are you talking about a shed bomb down
the bank or something.

Speaker 5 (01:02:09):
No, I'm talking about like they'll go in and kind
of blow up on a on a big bunch of shad.
You'll find bass like that, but they don't stay active long.
I notice that they them up. You get all excited,
but it's but if you get down below them a
little bit. A lot of times that crank bait you
can catch them, but it's just it's really short lived, right.

Speaker 4 (01:02:30):
Uh. Most of those that are doing that are corraling
those bait fish up to get them to come to
the surface or close to the surface, and then they
want to run through and like you're saying, you're seeing
them blow up and stuff like that. But once that
happens a little bit, bait fish disperse again, and then
that's why it takes a while for them fish to

(01:02:52):
get them things gathered back up, and they may do
it some more, but it might be one hundred yards
away or something. Those are hard fish to chase down
and catch because they're always just at a crafting distance,
and then they do it again somewhere after you you
go crazy trying to catch them.

Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:03:09):
And the other thing on a crank bait this time
of year when you're fishing's pre spawn. I've always noticed
that if if you'll bump your crank bait size up
just a little bit, sometimes you don't have i'm not
gonna say crappy or a pest because they go right
they can go on the liwell when you're not fishing
a tournament. But I have found that there's that little
merge there where the crappie you're in their cycle, the

(01:03:31):
basher in their cycle. If I throw too small of
a crank bait, a lot of times I'll be catching
quite a few crappy And that's not necessarily that's not
a problem, but it's not the targeted fishing I'm wanting
to go.

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
After the only rule of thun for me to be
against that.

Speaker 4 (01:03:47):
If I'm fishing the river, the Ohio River or something,
and I'm fishing in some of the embayments up in
the creeks, I'm going to be throwing a pretty small
balsa crank bait.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
H they call them wi baits.

Speaker 4 (01:04:05):
They're hard to come by too, but that's what all
the river rats thro is crank bait, but they're not
very big.

Speaker 3 (01:04:12):
And also that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
You know, yeah, yeah, okay, guys, I got I gotta
catch a quick break here.

Speaker 3 (01:04:20):
Coming back.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
I want to talk about fronts and how they affect
fish movement, your thoughts about how to adjust to take
advantage of that. This break is presented by SMI Marine.
They'll take great care of your boat. He needs got
new boats and use boats for sale. Remember you never
get soaked by my friends at SMI. We's uh, we
got the last few minutes here. Let's talk about fronts

(01:04:43):
and how they affect fish. And one thing that this
is going to sound a little bit crazy because of
how crazy our weather's been.

Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
Okay, I do want to give.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
That caveat before I take off on this, but generally
speaking west by southwest winds or your friend during the
pre spawn in a big way, it want stack bass
on clay points around docks like Strip was talking about.
You got that push of that warm water it's running

(01:05:15):
against that bank, especially in the late afternoon period. That's
a big key, right, Muddy water, dingy water warms up
faster than clear water. A lot of people don't know that.
Talk a little bit about that in frontal conditions and
your thoughts.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
Well, I think in this springtime fishing and stuff, the
biggest thing that can hurt you is.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
A major coal front.

Speaker 4 (01:05:42):
H It's if you're trying to fish, if you're trying
to fish shallow like we've been talking about, basically shallow
and you get that major coal front last of dine
or two or that shallow water is definitely going to
cool off, get cold, and then fish won't like it.

(01:06:03):
They'll back out and normally they'll go semi dormant or
something and they don't want to eat because it's kind
of shut them down.

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
That's the worst.

Speaker 4 (01:06:13):
That's the worst thing to try to overcome. The Uh
A barometric pressure, a major barometric pressure change, I think make.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
The fish bike better.

Speaker 4 (01:06:26):
Uh, there's the sun coming up and getting hot on
a day when you know the sun get makes temperature
gives up to seventy five or something like that. Look
for those rocky banks and if the wind's blowing in
on it, that makes it that much better. So it's
just the idea of putting in enough time and enough

(01:06:49):
effort until you get some of that stuff figured out,
and then it'll then it'll be a lot easier for
you to figure out the next time you go. There's
no one magic key that I can tell to do that.
It's just get out there and learn how to do
it well.

Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
One of the things that's so fascinating about bass fishing
to me is there's not any one way to do it,
no exactly. It's and we've pretty much tonight centered on
shallow water techniques and guess what in proofbawn, that's the
where the fish want.

Speaker 3 (01:07:25):
To be, right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
You know your active feeding fish are going to be
on that shallow water. Why because that's the one time
of year that they have to come up and fatten
up to get ready to procreate it.

Speaker 4 (01:07:37):
And that's not to say somebody at their fishing twenty
five foot breaks ain't going to catch them some fish
because will or somebody doing something else. But overall, percentages
are gonna be in your favor. If you get up
on the places we've been talking about, and so some
of the baits that we're talking about, you'll catch some fish.

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
I mean you just will.

Speaker 5 (01:08:02):
If you will shallow water as your best friend for
that pre spawn. If you can figure out those two
things right there, and and don't you know that collar
earlier in the program, it's amazing how you can go
out onto a lake and sometimes during pre spawn and
find just two or three degrees difference in the water
and run.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
The whole lake.

Speaker 5 (01:08:24):
I mean, you're talking about a time to be trimmed
up and running long. It ain't pre spawn that that
Just take and utilize your road structures and realize that
there's data and reports out there that you can track
what areas of the lake warm up the quickest. That
from the core's information to all the different dams and

(01:08:45):
how the lock systems work. Try to find that water
that's getting you know, worm first, because it's it's just
one of those things that the early bird catches the worm. Well,
the warm water catches the fish too, and those bats
are going to be where those bake fish are at,
and those bake fish are going to be in areas

(01:09:06):
where that water is warm and conditions are right for
them too. And it's if you.

Speaker 4 (01:09:11):
Get out to you get the fishing, and you catch
a fish or too, whether it be on a chunk
rock bake bank or in front of the docks or something,
you may be onto a pattern. Go try that same
thing on another part of the lake and see what
we'll work there and stuff of it. If you can
get that to work two different places, you're you're almost

(01:09:33):
home then because you got something that you can go
do other parts of the lake and it should work.

Speaker 3 (01:09:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:41):
Uh, we were talking about spinner bake. Yeah, and part
of what we.

Speaker 3 (01:09:47):
Talked about tonight. You catch the southwest with on Claypoint
with deep water close.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
By you or hold hunting. Yeah, there's yeah, there's a
big You've been a big fish to take advantage of that.
Push the water, yeah, more likely than not, have a
little color to it. Yeah, and man, that's one of
my favorites for early seasons, one of my favorites.

Speaker 4 (01:10:12):
We've covered a lot of ground and I just hope
we helped a few people figure something out too, and
maybe they can have as much fun as I've had
for fifty years.

Speaker 3 (01:10:22):
They already have it. Well, Wes, you're a great guest.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
I always enjoy talking to you, and folks, it's great
having you with us. Tonight, get out there and start slaying.

Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
It's time. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
That's a wrap for tonight. God bless everybody.