4-6-25 - Mark Menandez

Tonight's guest, Mark Menandez, 3- time Bass Master Champion, 5- time Classic Qualifier and one and a half million-dollar winnings tournament Pro talks springtime bass fishing.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:44):
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Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good evening everyone, Jim Straighter here and we have a
fantastic spring bass Fishing Special lined up with you for
you tonight, We're going to be talking with Mark Menendez.
Three time bass Master Champion, six time Classic qualifier, and
Mark has won over one and a half million dollars

(01:21):
as a pro. He's currently competing on the Elite Series
Tournament Trail, where he's been competing at the elite level
for thirty three years. Obviously a very impressive career. Mark's
always been one of my favorites because his consistency and
the fact he is from Paducah, Kentucky and always represented

(01:43):
our state very very well. Scott Cronin, I know you're
looking forward to this as much as I am. This
guy is the real deal and he's got a head
full of knowledge that he's willing to share.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Everybody likes to catch fish when they're biting, but it's
always good to have a bag full of.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Tricks or not biting.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
So hopefully the night, if folks find themselves going into
a fishing trip and things aren't going as planned, they
can learn something tonight that may put a few more
fish into live well or just up on the deck
of their boat.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yes, sir, and we're going to talk best behavior during
pre spawn spawn postspawn. The reasons that Mark selects certain
types of lures and fishes certain types of areas in
the lakes, and obviously since he's from Kentucky and fishes
the region, he has a ton of knowledge that again

(02:35):
he is more than willing to share. So we're gonna
roll him out after this break. The break is presented
by SMI Marine. Go see him that take great care
of all your boating needs, and remember you never get
soaked at SMI. All right, folks, we got my man,
Mark Menendez on the phone. He's taking time out for

(02:56):
his very busy tournament circuit to visit with us tonight. Mark,
thank you so much for taking time out to speak
to everybody.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Jim, It's always good to be with you. And we're
getting ready for the next Elite Series tournament in the
Albemarle Sound in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. So
I got a challenging week.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Ahead of me. Yes, you sure do, and I know
you're extremely busy, so once again, hats off to you
for taking time. Mark. What I'd like to just start
with is kind of set the plate for everybody to understand.
You know, what we're going to talk about. We're going
to talk about pre spawn, and I guess I'd like
to start out with prespawned behavior by the bass because

(03:38):
this is always a tumultuous period. You can have high water,
you can have a lot of fronts moving through, you
can have you know, just all kinds of things kind
of throw people a curveball. But after thirty three something
years competing as a pro, I'm sure you can help
solve some of those real So can we talk about
that and then then target areas that you like to

(04:00):
fish and pre spawn? Well?

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Absolutely, you know, the pre stphone is really late winter
gym and getting towards the days of spring. Not necessarily
I kind of look at that from December almost almost
attacked today, because that's when most of our lakes start
coming up. The corp of Engineers start bringing most of
our lakes up in mid April early May, and this

(04:24):
is the gathering of fish as they move shallow from
those deep water hunts they spent all winter in. And
there's a few things that I like to do that
It's made it a lot easier for me, Jim. And
one of the things that I really want to focus
on that time of the year is primarily mainla of
cover and structure, structure being the bottom composition how the

(04:48):
bottom falls, and cover obviously being rocks, brush piles, lay
down trees, docks, what have you.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
There.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
But what I always want to have, Jim, is a
flat spot, whether that flat spot is five feet of water,
ten twenty whatever that falls off to deeper water, that
little flat spots where those fish will come up in
position and get ready to feed during the day's time.
And then when they get them a bite to Ejim,
the first thing they do is ease off of that
drop and get out there over that deeper water, and

(05:17):
they spend their time out there digesting whatever they got
to eat. So those little corners of bluss, the tail
ends of blufs, long gravel points that come out onto
the main lake that fall abruptly into the river channel,
corners of rip wrap, things like that, where you have verticality,
but you have a place that's flat for those fish
to gather. Those are the things that I'm really looking

(05:39):
for in the early pre spawn.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Okay, you know, there's a lot of factors to talk
about here, but behaviorally, wind is always a factor in
pre spawn, I mean invariably, and it can be your
friend many people viewed as an enemy. I like for
you to talk to people about how that can help
position fish in trigger movements.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Well, you know, when wind can be just an absolute
pain in the neck to fish, but I look for
it most often than not, because what wind does is
move water, and when water moves, a fish is going
to position with his head into that water movement. So
I immediately have an idea how that fish is going to

(06:23):
be sitting on a piece of cover or a piece
of structure when the wind's blowing to him, and that really,
you know, that really helps me eliminate having to cover
a lot of water that time. That when those conditions
exist a corner of a point that's facing into a
north wind, which that's really going to probably be an
ugly place to fish. But now with the advent of

(06:45):
trolling motors that you can have anchor buttons or spot
lock buttons on, it really helps me position the boat
and make those casts casting into the wind and bringing
that back to the fish that are already looking into
the wind. So that really helps me cover that water
more efficiently. You know, in the early spring, when we're

(07:08):
coming out of winter, if we've had a really cold winter,
We've had a lot of ice. The lakes are real clean.
So a jerk bait cast into that wind, a suspending
jerk bait, like a like a KVD three hundred, which
is one of my favorites. I love it in any
kind of shad pattern that I can keep that bait
over one of those little flat spots in extended time
periods and those fish will will dress that bait move

(07:31):
up to it. The old jig and pig is a
good good I hadn't had a pig in a long time.
Gim I'm talking. I'm showing my age there, hadn't had
a port frog on a jig, but a jig and crawl,
a jig and plastic trailer when those fish really won't
chase and you have to get down to the bottom
or you're fishing fifteen to twenty five feet deep. That
jig on a corner of a windy point like at

(07:53):
Dalehalla or on Cumberland Man, you can rack up big time.
But when the wind blows, don't be afraid to put
that wind at your back and move down the bank
with it. Or if you find that corner or that
perfect flat spot, that staging area that's a perfect place
to fish. Get out there and and and cover that area.

(08:13):
You don't have to cover the whole bank. That's the
place they're gonna be because they're gonna they're gonna use
these flat places as gathering points as water temperature begins
to warm.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Up, Yes, sir, of course, as as spring progresses, and
we're moving into that situation here. Momentarily you get the
southwest winds and that's when my when my red alert
button goes off, especially in late afternoons, when that push
or warmer water is hitting those flats you're talking about.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
Yeah, you know, they're you know, daylight is getting longer
every day this time of the year, and that's really
the signal gym as much as a little bit of
water warming to tell these fishes it's time to start
thinking about moving shallow. It can even be a month
or so before where they get ready to spawn, but
they start moving up from the depths. They're ready to feed.

(09:04):
They know that the spawning activity is coming up soon,
and they know that it's going to take a lot
of energy out of their bodies. So they're actually pretty
good feeders and they're pretty hungry that time of the year.
So a big crank bait or a big spinner bait
rolled through those areas gets that bite. But this is
my favorite time of the year, Gym to fish, because
it's a chance to catch the biggest bass of the

(09:27):
entire season. You know, on Kentucky Lake and Green River
and Barren River and lakes like that, it's not uncommon
to catches seven seven and a half eight pounds large
amount fast or even a big six seven pounds smallmouth.
So this is why I love to spend those days
when that wind's blowing, when it's ugly and there's not
as many people out there. That's the real attraction to

(09:49):
me is catch the biggest fish that I can possibly catch.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Mark. All flats aren't created equal, if we both know that,
describe some that are very very key areas for you.
In other words, the difference between maybe rock piles and
stump rolls, you know, things like that that happen to
be on on those types of flats.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
Well, you know, as our lakes have gotten older, Gym,
you know, a lot of the wood is gone. It's
just it's just ascintegrated. It's it's it's not there anymore.
We still have a few stumps in a lot of
our lakes. But I'm really spending a lot of time
now on rock changes. And what I mean by that
is find an area. It's really easy to see on

(10:34):
the on the east bank of Kentucky Lake. Find an
area that's got let's say basketball sized rock, and then
all of a sudden, right there you go down that
bank and it changes size to say softball sized rock.
That changed right there in that transition zone where it
goes from bigger to a smaller that's a that's a
that's a real area that those offishal want to be in.

(10:56):
You know, bass are like any other predator, like a
cody or a big cat. They like edges, gim they
like to they like to travel edges, and then they
like to situate in areas of change like that where
they have the advantage. You know, they can hide in
those rock those big bowlers to small bowlers, they can.
There's there's crawfish in the area, always in those kind

(11:18):
of areas, and in the spring they're looking for the
best meal they can get, So that's why they eat
a lot of crawfish this time of the year. It
really bulks their bodies up in the quickest manner to
get ready to spawn here in another month or two.
So I'm looking for those rock change areas that have
that depth change close and with with that, you know,
being around rock I'm looking at multi multi types of fish.

(11:42):
I'm looking at large mouth, small mouths, and spotted bass.
So sometimes those fish will gather together in a group.
Sometimes they'll be segregated according to species in those groups.
But in those areas, but when I find that right
area where I find that little flat that drops ops
into the into the deeper water, if it's along the

(12:03):
on the main lake and along the river channel, it's
it's a chance to catch all three. So that's what
I like to do. I love it when I catch
a Kentucky grand slam and I catch a large mouth
of small mouth and a state state fish spotted bass
in the same day. Those are those are real successful
successful days.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Jim Uh talk about your lure selections during that period.
You mentioned the jerk bait, but what other lures are
your go tos and maybe what do you start with
to comb the area. In other words, maybe how do
you power fish to see a fissure actually there in
the receptive to your to your lure.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Well, one of the things I've done, Jim is is
I've really spent a large portion of the spree prestpone
with a crank bait in my hand. I want a
crank bait that has a round lip, kind of like
the shape of the end of your thumb, because that
bait deflects off of rocks so much much better than
a very narrow build bait that's a tight wiggling bait.

(13:04):
It's not really there's kind of a misnomer on cold
water cranking, and I'm talking about water temperatures from forty
two to forty eight degrees. They get the fish get
real particular. Sometimes we've always felt like a tight wiggling
crank bait and clean water is a great way to
go in some days it is. Those are the days

(13:26):
when you don't have a lot of winds, there's not
a lot of surface commotion. But you know, these early
spring days they can be windy and rough and blustery.
So I look for some other crank baits to define that.
One of my all time go tos is a little
video crank bait that dives five to seven feet deep.
It's a striking Series three and that bad boy has

(13:47):
landed me more bass and made me more money in
the springtime than anything else. Got that little round bill,
small body size, but it has a good vibration to it,
and it combs and deflects off of things really really well.
A deflection gym is when you're cranking that crank bait
and it hits the bottom and it darts off the

(14:07):
rock or the bottom left or right, you know, three
or four or five inches at one time. And when
when you get that deflection, that's an abnormal thing that
happens in the water. And bass are curious. That's they
know what a crawfish looks like going in the bank.
They know what a bluegill swimming boom looks like. But

(14:27):
when they see a bait that does something abnormal in
that deflection, nine times out of ten, that's when they
bite it. How many times have you been cranking that
crank bait and you feel it hit the bottom real
hard and the next thing you know, you're into a
big old large mouth or smallmouth. That deflection of the
bait really is important. So baits like the Series three
are really good and deflecting because of that Bill, and

(14:49):
I keep them on the bottom. Now, one of the
little tricks I do Jim with my reels is is
it seems like it's hard to find a reel that
is of a slower eu raiho. You know, I like
a gear ratio when the water's cold, of a five
to one, five four to one, But it's hard to
find that. And if you don't have one of those,

(15:11):
here's one thing you can do when you spool up
new line on your cranking riding reel is don't spool
it all the way to the top of the spool.
That way, if you have a six to one gear
ratio or even higher, that lesser amount of line on
the spool will allow you to crank that bait slower.
And you've got to remember, in this pre spawn time period,

(15:31):
we're looking at that cold water. That's forty two to
forty eight degree water. That's cold. So these fish are
not track stars at that time. But you want to
get the bait to the bobby, and once you get
it to the bottom, I tend to slow my retrieve
down and make sure that that bait is ticking off
the bottom. That's that's a very important thing that you

(15:52):
have to do. We recently had a bass Master Open
tournament on Kentucky Lake, and I jumped in that tournament
and the first day of the tournament caught fifteen pounds,
a good three pound average, But I could not get
those fish to bite that Series three. That Series three's
got up, got a little wiggle to it, a good vibration,
and I had to move up to its big brother,

(16:12):
the old Series four in the old green tomato color,
and that thing moved so much water gym relatively clean water.
The fish could see the bait well. I was using
that red and chartroose colored bait, but they wanted that
big lazy wobble. So that's what we have to do
as anglers, is figure that out each day what their
preference is. If it's a lot of wind or it's overcast,

(16:35):
that big lazy wobble comes into play. And I had
a good bucket of large mouth that day for the
first day of a tournament. The second day of a tournament,
they wouldn't bite that bait. I went back through those
same areas they wouldn't bite it. I made a little
move and ran across the lake and picked up that
Series three and loaded up with over seventeen pounds of
small mouth and it was an epic great gim I mean,

(16:59):
it happened so quick, it was so much fun. And
all these fish were in that three and a half
to three and three quarter pound range, and they were
just up in that shallow water pointing into a southwest
wind that was rolling on a gravel bar where the
rock happened to change from big rock to the little rock,
and they were right there in that crevice. So you

(17:20):
have to you have to really pay attention to the
water temperature to make sure you're not cranking your bait
too fast, and make sure you have the right wiggle
or the right wabble. And that Series three and Series four,
they're they're completely different looking brothers, but they do the
same job for me that time of year.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
And on your jig fishing, talk a little bit about
that for you got to go to this next break.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
Well, you know, I always have a jig laying next
to me when I'm doing the cranking. And one of
the things that I'll do is take a three eighth
ounce hack attack jig and put a real big playler
on it. And what I want, I don't want a
jig that has a lot of movement to it. I

(18:06):
want a jig that has a lot of bulk, so
I put a strip king rodent on the back of it.
There's no there's no curly arms, there's no curly tails.
So it falls in a very very slow and seductive
motion and that three a pounced combo with that roading
on the back of it. I always have it ready.
Is that when I come down the bank and there
is a stump, or there's a piece of wood, or

(18:28):
there's a lay down tree or a dock on a
corner of a point, that's where that jig will go
in there versus the crank bait, so that I can
slow down and let that fall right into that fish's layer.
And I don't get a lot of bites with that
because I'm wanting to cover a lot of water that
time of year. But Jim, when I get one there
generally but they generally got pretty big eyes and they're

(18:49):
pretty far between the eyes, and that's what a bass
fisher really wants to see.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
I call them bu guys. I know exactly what you mean.
It as look marbles look like marble sticking out.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
The all right, it's the whole weave that added bonus men.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yes, sir, absolutely. Incidentally here in the closing seconds, kudos
to you. You held the record for the largest bass
ever caught the tournament for many years, did you not?

Speaker 4 (19:16):
I did. I caught a big old fish downing Taxis
at Richards Chambers on a big old spinner bait in
a prestpawn period that weighed thirteen pounds and nine ounces
tim and that was the biggest bass ever caught in
the bass Master events for the first thirty one years
of the organization. So a lot of memories down at
the Classic this year talking to people. I relived that
story a lot down there in Texas. I bet it

(19:38):
was fine memories.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, sir, Well, that is a monster bass anywhere anytime.
All right, folks, we got to go to break here.
The break is percented by Massie Old Property's Heart Realty.
Paul Thomas is the broker. Check out all their listings
at mop h A r T Realty dot com.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Mark When it comes to that pre spawn bass fishing
time of the year, sometimes you'll find those fish that
aren't so wide between the front of their head and
their eyes, and you start getting into a lot of
those male fish kind of tell us from your experience,
what that's letting us know as an angler if we

(20:17):
don't understand fish biology real well, when we're getting into
good numbers of fish but we're just not catching any size.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
Well, there's one thing to think about, Scott, and I'll
ask you this question back to you. Why is it
that when you do find those fish that are the
same size, what is the mitigating circumstance that makes those
fish group according to their size? That's my question back
to you, Scott.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
It seems like a lot of times it's it's where
just the maturity of the fish and.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
Or what their food source is.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
Well, those are all factors, but fish basically school for
the most part, according to athletic ability, a one pound
fish when he's swimming down the bank on just a
normal little clip, is not as strong as a two pounder,
and a two pounder his clip is a little faster
than a one pounder, so the one pounder can't keep up.

(21:13):
So that's where a lot of times this time of
the year we'll find those little small fish together. We'll
find two pound fish together, we'll find four pound fish together,
and so on. So what it tells you then is
water temperatures are probably starting to rise, because the greatest
thing about the free spawn period is big fish are
still active in that period. Big fish are not as

(21:34):
effective by cold water as what little fish are. So
that's why when it's cold in that forty to fifty
degree degree range, you don't catch a lot of those
little guys. That you catch more of the big guys.
When water temperatures start creeping up over that fifty degree mark,
those little fish start to get active and they'll move
forward with the large mouth fast. Most of the time.

(21:56):
In all of our bass species, our male fish are
generally smaller than our female fish, and so we know
springs coming, We know what is on the mind of
most adolescent males, if you know what I'm saying. So
spring coming, water temperatures warming, water levels rising, those smaller
males will sprint to the bank because they know spawning

(22:17):
is just right around the corner. So they'll get up
there and get shallow, and that's why we catch so
many of those at that time. Perre, you have two choices.
God one is to go to a bigger bait that
is intimidating to those smaller fish that will be more
appealing to a larger fish that may be in the area,
or back up and utilize the same shallow water area

(22:41):
to deep area further in the creeks. Look for those
secondary and third points in the creeks where you're just
out in front of those spawning areas, and the males
will get up there in that shallow water, and those
females will make that migration, but they'll be just a
stop or two behind them. So a lot of time
on those days I'll move up shallow and realize that, hey,

(23:03):
I'm not catching but little fish. Then I'll start backing
up a little bit and go to the closest point
near deep water further back in the creeks, and that
generally puts me around more of those larger female fish.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Mark. We didn't talk yet about your favorites, and we're
going to talk about it in these multiple phases, I'm sure.
But spinner baits, when do you know, in pre spawn
start to ramp up and gear for that. The best
example I can give for that, and why I'm asking
it that way, when we start getting those southwest winds

(23:41):
and you've got dirty water along the banks on shallow flats,
that's when that spinner bay is one of my go
to for numbers and size of fish. And I know
Scott some questions about spinner baits in particular, but your
thoughts on that, well.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
You know, the thing called a vibrating jig has just
overtaken as a as a very productive bait. But a
spinner bait is most effective this time of the year.
And a spinner bait, Jim, if you've got a bigger
spinner bait on there with a bigger blade combination and
a big ribbon stale trailer on there, that really appeals

(24:22):
to big fish. So man, it's so effective this time
of the year. And it may be a bait that
I only get two, three four bites a day, it's
always going to be one of those big ones involved
in that. So when I start using it and start
catching more on it, it's when that water temperature starts
moving up from that fifty to fifty five degree range.

(24:44):
Activity is a little more of the fishery a little warmer,
They're a little more apt to move towards a bait.
Their strike zone is bigger, and they're wanting to move shallow,
which that always coincides with a little bit of a
rise in the water. We're starting to get spring showers.
We're starting to get water levels that are coming up.

(25:04):
And when we get those spring showers, yes, it does
exactly what you want for a spinner bait, and it
muddies that water up. I tend to use one of
my favorite common that blade combination, Jim, is a number
four Colorado and a number six Colorado. I want that
bait to move a lot of water, have a good
vibration on a half ounce bait or a three quarter

(25:24):
ounce bait, and then I take a big white or
Shartroo's ribbon tail and put on there to make the
profile of that bait even bigger. The other thing that
I always do, Jim, with a spinner bait, I do
it every spinner bait I ever throw, is I always
add a trailer hook on there. A number two aught
or a number three Domicotsu goes on there, and it

(25:45):
may get me hung up a little bit.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
The dog one, Jim.

Speaker 4 (25:48):
You know, those fish are slashing at that bait and
having that extra hook on that spinner bait on that
trailer of that Gomocotsu trailer hook, that's fish insurance. And
I catch a lot of those. They come up and
just nip it or slap at that bait on a
trailer hook. So I always use a trailer hook on
a spinner bait. And this again is temperature related. I'm

(26:10):
trying to keep the bait down closer to the bottom
and very close to that newly flooded cover, whether it's
a lay down, whether it's a stake bed, whether it's
a brush pile, and I roll that spinner bait through
there multiple times. This is a time that you almost
have to play cat and mouse with these fish. As

(26:30):
their positions in the brush pile, they may not be
catchable because you can't present the bait in a real
thick brush pile or a big thick tree top. The
multiple casts of that area, that fish will feel that
bait come by him a couple times, and you'll kind
of move towards it. It's almost like a magnetism, and
you may make eight or ten or twelve or fifteen casts,

(26:51):
but one piece of cover that time and getting he's
where he becomes catchable and out kind of to the
edge of that piece of brush, and then you catch
that big fish. I always make multiple casts to a
piece of cover this time of the year, and then
I actually will move my boat and use different angles

(27:11):
multiple times there too. So don't just run by a
piece of cover real fast, make one or two throws.
It's always best to throw that spinner bait, make that
thing shake right through the middle of his living room
multiple times.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yes, sir Scott, you had I think you know the
questions at that point.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
I think a lot of folks struggle with colors on
spinner baits, not just in the skirts, but also with
the blades and mark I'd like for you just share
you know why you would use, example, maybe a silver
or some type of brass.

Speaker 5 (27:49):
Color, whether it's.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Going to be gold or even painted blades, and what
your experience has been over the years, and kind of
tried and true spinner bates versus kind of gimmicky spinner baits.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
I play with with experimentation with with spinner bake blades
a lot, and I always like a spinner bake that
has two different color blades on it, whether it's a
silver and gold, a gold and copper, a copper and
a silver, whatever it is, I want the contrast of
a different colored blade. Painted blades is something I played

(28:23):
a lot with. I really like a painted blade. In
really ugly muddy water, particularly fresh mud where it's uh
where we've just had a good rise in the lake
and it's ugly and dirty. Painted blade can pay off
big dividends because it throws off a profile that that's
even better in this cold water. I want a double

(28:47):
Colorado with a smaller collar Colorado in front of a
bigger one. I like a Colorado Indiana combination. Sometimes Indiana
doesn't throw quite the vibration, but it does throw a
lot of flash. And then when I've got that water
that's just slightly stained, I'll use a Colorado will accommodation.
The thing about the willow, I may go up to

(29:09):
a five seven this time here, Scott to mimic that
gizzard shed. Those gizzard sheds start coming up out of
that cold water. They're not feeling very good, and they'll
want to get next to something, either up on a
rocky flat or around big stumps where they're eating a
little bit of algae of those stumps. And that big
number seven, which is a pain in the neck to throw,

(29:31):
I promise you in the wind, but it gets me
that big bite. The other thing with the spinner bat
I mentioned before. I always want a big trailer on there.
I'm a big fan of a ribbon tail trailer, big grub,
almost the grub that you would use to go striper
fishing with below Cumberland Dam or any of our striper
lakes in the in the in the state. I want

(29:53):
that bigger ribbon tail on there. And I may cut
it down to five and a half or six inches,
but that really mimics that gizzard shed. And those big females,
they're just like us. They're lazy, but they want the
biggest meal they can get for the least amount of
energy expended. That's why, Jim, when I go to the
buffet restaurant, you always find me closest to the buffet

(30:13):
because I don't want to I don't have to walk
a long way to give another plate of food. And
these those big females are like that. So that's a
that's a real good combination right there.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Very good, sir. Let me go to Breck. I got
another question about this prespawn that I think you'll you'll
have a lot of answers to a riddle that I've
heard a lot of people talk about. This break was
presented by SMI Marine that are eleven four hundred Westport Road,
just north of the Gene Snyder. Go see them. Tim
Addington and his staff are pros at troubleshooting any type

(30:44):
of problems you've got on your boat, from electronics to
the motor. And remember you never get soaked by my
friends at SMI mark. There's one thing we haven't talked about.
It certainly comes into play in this period and tapers
off actually a good bit while the water starts to
rise in temperature. But that's a rig and our swim baits.

(31:07):
Can you cover those two far us?

Speaker 4 (31:10):
Well? You know, Jim, an a rig is I can't
use that in tournament that I fish, So I really
don't have a lot of experience with an A rig
outside of early winter late fall using some on Kentucky Lake.
What I found about the A rig when I've played
with it some is that the Alabama rig as waters

(31:32):
warm up, I think it loses some of its potency.
I really like it in clean waters in the fall
and in the early winter because it really does hit
on a predatory instinct That is really cool how fish
react to it. Now a swim bait is something that
I can still utilize this time of the year, We've

(31:56):
got one called the Final Copy from Strike King. That's
a big swim bait that pushes a lot of water
around that I can slow roll on corners of points,
down gravel banks, headed towards those spawning areas and have
good success with it. That swim bait is a it's
a tricky bite jim. Some days those fish absolutely commit

(32:20):
to it and will knock the holy tar and feathers
out of one of those. And other days they do
the Nascar trick gym where they just get behind it
and follow it like the guy that's leads the NASCAR race.
So those are really frustrating days. And what I'll do
on those days, which seem to be more often than
not with a swim bait, is I will kind of
start and stop that swim bait. I'll be winded at

(32:43):
at a regular pace, and if I see a fish
follow it, I kill the bait. I speed it up,
I put a little twitch to it. I do something
to make that thing look that unnatural or almost like
that crank bait, getting that deflection, and I can convert
some of those swim baits into bytes. The other craze
that's kind of kind of started is what's called a

(33:05):
glide bait. Now, those are bigger baits that are in
that five to nine to ten inch range. They have
one break in the middle of them. Most of them
are made out of a plastic resin, and you actually
cast that next to a dock or over a tree,
and you kind of you kind of chop your reel handle.
You'll you'll reel a quarter of a real turn, then

(33:26):
another quarter of a real turn, and another quarter and
it causes that bait to walk side to side, much
like like the old top water bait, like a their
spook or a second dog or something like that order
the water. That thing will get some vicious strikes, but
it also has those days that they'll they'll aggress it,

(33:46):
get all around it and not eat it. So you
have to really experiment with those baits to get them,
get those fish to bite it, and you're really looking
at a bigger quality fish with that bigger bait most
of the time. So heavy equipment twenty five pounds one
seven and a half foot flipping sticks and in a
good quality reel are necessary to handle that big bait. Now, Jim,

(34:08):
the one thing that big swim bait does is it
wears me out. It's a lot of work to toss
that two and a half to three and a half
ounce bait arounds during the day, all day long, so
be ready to have some tired forearms, but a big
smile on your face. With a big glide bait or a.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Big swim bait like that, Well, you talk about different
baits there real quick, because so many people are not
fishing in a professional tournament setting.

Speaker 5 (34:39):
Are they better to be above the fish or below
the fish?

Speaker 3 (34:42):
No matter if they're fishing a big crank bait or
spinner bait in that pre spawn period, Is it going
to be an angler that Hey, I'd rather you keep.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
Your bait above the fish or would you rather?

Speaker 3 (34:54):
I mean, you want to be in the strike zone,
but where yet as far as in the water column
and to help the average guy.

Speaker 4 (34:59):
Out, yeah, you know, you know, bass are so much
more effishient as predators when they're feeding up. You know,
a crank bait is bouncing on the bottom and they're
looking down at that. But you've got a double set
of trebles hooks that when they come down on that bait,
you that help help catch that fish. You know, a
spinner bait. I'm bringing that by the cover, and that

(35:22):
fish is going to move up towards it. A jig.
I'm going to drop that bait next to the fish,
and he's going to move up as it falls in
his area. So I always want to try to make
those fish come up to me, if if at all possible.
Just you think about a large amount bass and how
that lower jaw extends way out, kind of out in

(35:45):
front of his nose. That helps that fish in his
feeding habits when he's feeding up in the water coolmn
a little better than when they're on the bottom.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
You know.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
The one thing about it, Jim, bass don't have hands,
and the other way they move your bait is with
their mouth. Let's make it easier for them to get
it into their mouth and keep it up in the
water column. Just a hint, yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
The swim bait phenomenon I call it. You know, there's
so many guys say, well, you catch fish on a
swim bait you're around. There's some truth to that, just
like you can catch some fish here around on a
jerk bait. However, there are just these little niche periods,
and I guess That's what I'm trying to impart to
people tonight, is you know, fish what's most effective. So

(36:33):
and I realized what you said about you can't use
the the A rig in the tournaments, but boy, there's
a lot of guys that throw them in this you know,
this early period. So I was just curious about what
your thoughts were about that.

Speaker 4 (36:48):
Well, you know, the A rig. The one thing that
I have noticed when I fish an A rig something
is I will have one of my swim baits. I
generally use the raid swimmer most of the time. When
I use that is I'll have one it's a different color,
and that's generally the furthest one back in the center bait.
I will either dip it in a shark trouse dye
like a dying to fish dye, or I will I

(37:10):
will use woman totally a different color. If I've got
four white ones on there, I'll put a fifth one
on there that the total shark trews are just different.
That's the oddball in the group and that would get
most of our attention. So that's why most of the
time is used that different color.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Good deal. Folks got to go to break breaks from
seven by also Property's Heart Realty check them out an
m P h A r T Realty dot Com mark
gets your secret that the spawn actually starts to trigger
somewhere around fifty eight to sixty degrees. It's a big shift.

(37:47):
The males move up, start to prepare beds. It can
occur a little early that water temperature, but in our
part of the country general, it's lad April starting into
you know, the very first part of me. Uh talk
about bass behavior then, and and if you would share
how you shift gears and what do you start to
look further, it's different and lures that you like to utilize.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
Well, you know, water water starts pushing on up into
the unindateed cover where it's been down all year. We
get reins of the court engineers starts raising our waters.
And there's two there's two different ways to look at it.
You've got to look at what the small mouth and
the spotted bass are looking for, and you got to
look look at what the old large mouth is looking for.

(38:32):
And I think most of us have a tendency to
look for that old large mouth because it's it's hand
to hand combat most of the time. Jim, You're you're
you're using big flipping sticks, big heavy twenty twenty five
pounds uh floor carbon and and and you're and you're
flipping something big in and around buck brushes and buck
brush and willows. Those fish will get in those shallows

(38:56):
and you'll wallow them out a little place next to
a piece of cover, and then it's time to go
in there and start penetrating that cover with either a
texas rig on soft plastic or a jigging trailer combination.
And that's just so much fun. We've still got so
many good willow trees and buck brush on Kentucky and
Barkley Lakes. You can find them in just about every

(39:18):
lake in the in the Bluegrass State now gone. It's
just it's just a good way to catch them. And
what one thing I want everybody to do is is
when they get back there and they're flipping in that
cover in the back ends of pockets. I tend to
look at those northern pockets first, gym as they receive

(39:39):
more sunlight, and those water temperatures will be a hint
warmer than the rest of the lakes. When the water
gets up in the bushes. When I get a bite
in a bush gym. The first thing I do is
when I wrestle that fish out of there, my very
next cast goes right back to the very same place
I caught that fish. Remember it spawned season. There could

(40:01):
be one or two or three other fish around those beds.
So you get another chance if you put it right
back where you caught that first fish, get another chance
at another bath. And I do that with every presentation,
everything that I do. When I'm successful enough to catch
a bass, make that same presentation again. But you know,
when you're flipping baits into that heavy cover, I want

(40:24):
to bait to slide in and out of that cover
really really well. So on a Texas rig, I'm gonna
use a five sixteens to a half ounce sinker. I
want to get it through the cover and get it
to the base of that bush. That's where that bed's
going to be. So baits like a rage bug, a
strike king rage crawl. I'd love to know, Jim, how

(40:46):
many durn bass I've caught on a strike king rage crawl.
I could probably fill up two or three pickup trucks
and two of three skinter boats full of fish with
that rage crawl. Big ones two getting it because it's
a small compact bait and when you get in that
fish's bed, he doesn't want it there. It's not a
it's not necessarily a bite of hunger. It's a bite

(41:09):
of aggression to get that thing out of there. So
be a line watcher. Sometimes that line won't move. Sometimes
when you go to pick that bait up, it's just
a hint heavier than it should be. Hey, set set
the hook. Hook sets are free, uh, and you'll you'll
catch a few fish that you didn't know were there.
You know, as far as a jig, you know, a

(41:29):
three eighth ounce to a three quarter ounce jig, striking
jig pitch, the hack attack jig pitching in those areas,
that's a great way to catch big ones on the
large mouth side. Now, your small mouth and your spotted bass,
they're not gonna venture all the way back there to
the back ends of your creeks and pockets. They're going
to be in small side pockets where they can find gravel.

(41:52):
And I kind of use a different technique here, based
on an old technique, and we call it a pede rig.
My roommate that's staying with me this week, Bernie Schultz,
and I are great friends with old professional fisherman Peter
Philvers from Jacksonville, Florida, and Peter used to beat our
brains in with what we call a peed rig, and

(42:14):
that's nothing more than a Carolina rig with about eighteen
inches of line and a very light slip sinker dragging
on those gravel areas really really slow. And one of
the baits I really like to use is a is
a striking game hog. It's a it's a creature style bait.
It's got a couple of little arms on it, a
couple of long legs, and that bait has a lot

(42:36):
of action when you're dragging it really slow. And those
small mouths are going to be on that gravel, They're
going to be on pee gravel, They're going to be
on those little gravel transitions to hard rock transitions, and
the spotted bass will be just a hint deeper there too.
So the lakes that we have a lot of spotted
basses in the smallmouth in that's a great way to
catch them this time of year.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Yes, sir, what's your line of choice? And then do
you do that with spinning time for the smallest response.

Speaker 4 (43:03):
Now, I don't Jim I'll use a fifteen pound mainline
to a twelve pound liter this time of year. You
know they're they're interested in other things. They really don't
eyeball that bait that much. Even on clear water lakes
like Cumberland Dalehillo, I'll still use that fifteen pound line

(43:23):
because you're you're you're pulling it over a lot of
rock and a lot of abrasion. So that fifteen pound
in visits great stuff. Using a seven foot three inch
to a to an actual flipping stick of seven foot
six inch rod, I make long cast with it. I'm
covering a lot of water, and that longer rod helps
me make a better hook set on those long casts.

(43:45):
Not having to fish so deep. That three to ten
foot zone is what I'm what I'm looking at. So
I fish that peede rig with with a relatively light singer,
either a quarter or a five sixteen sous singer uh in.
That little fifteen to eighteen inch lee is all I
use on it. So pretty simple rig, pretty simple rig.
Just be patient, be slow.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
One of my favorites. I don't know if you've ever
fooled with it, and I'm not meaning to, you know,
over talk or overthink things, but for sponts and small mouth.
For me, I love swimming a jig. And but when
I say a jig, I'm talking about a lighter jig
like eighth ounce to maybe a quarter and just swim it.
In other words, don't left and drop it, just on

(44:29):
those p gravel points. Just swim that thing. And small
mouth in particular, as you know, they could be very
aggressive around the bed, much more so most of the
time to me than a large mouth, actually, and that
does well for me. Do you ever use that or
a curly tail? I like curly tails at that time.
You know, a three inch curly tail and a sharp

(44:51):
troose with a little sparkle in it does very well
for me. Or those anything you ever utilize or do
you recommend them?

Speaker 4 (44:59):
Well, I st do and I use them, especially when
I'm focusing on that. You know, sometimes you'll get in
those areas and it takes that smaller profile. Again, a
small mouth and a spotted bass on a bed, they're
relatively aggressive, small mouth being the king of aggression there
and they'll have a long way something gets over their bed.

(45:22):
So you know, that little curly tail. I've caught a
lot of big ones, some of The biggest small mouth
I've ever heard of from Kentucky Lake came by crappie
fisherman gym actually, you know, fishing the seven and a
half to eight pound range called on a little curly
tail grub swimming and over gravel where people were actually
targeting crappy and didn't realize that the crappie weren't there
and the bass were. So it's all in a fantastic way.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
I can attest to this with fishing with my wife
on Kentucky Lake particular. There's a lot of times that
she'll be throwing a like a four inch grub and
a green pumpkin or just a brown and there's a
lot of times at all pick up a spinning rod
and throw one too, And it's because she's in the
back of the boat catching a lot more fish than

(46:05):
I am, So it gets kind of comical.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
Lot.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
Sometimes the people in the back of the boat will
let you know what you need to be throwing, versus
maybe the expert ats in the front of the boat.

Speaker 4 (46:18):
Well, sometimes we think we're an expert and we may
not really be. And you know, that's the cool thing
about fishing, And I want to get back to one
other little point, Jim, that you were talking about. We
were talking about swim baits earlier, and my wife and
our youngest son were out last summer. And Sam is

(46:38):
a tennis player and a golfer more so than he's
a fishing but he likes to be out on the
boat with us. And I took a relatively small swim
bait at two point seventy five and a three point
two five rage swimmer and put them on eight ounce
heads and we got on a real hard spot on
a ledge last summer, and we caught white bass after

(46:58):
white bass. We caught small we caught large mouths, and
that little swim bait, that little profile that looks like
a minnow. What a simple technique that is to cast
and retrieve it, just swimming it up over the bottom.
And Sam was able to catch several small mouth in
the three and a half pound range. He even made
the comment, he goes, gee, Mark, this is not really

(47:19):
that hard. I don't know why you ever come home
complaining from tournament and you don't catch them any better.
So that was coming from an expert that caught several
big small mouth with that that little rig. Fantastic way
to catch them, easy for people to use, and and
you know, getting kids and your wife involved in fishing
or your girlfriend. It's about catching, it's not about fishing.

(47:40):
So that little rig either be a grub or a
small swim bait. What a great way to catch a
lot of fish.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
I want to add one little twist to that before
I go over to break. One of my favorite things
to do is use a white or a glitter type
and treat the tail with shark truth where looks just
like a thread fins shed because everything will hit it,
but those smallies and Kentucky's boie baby, it's pretty poisonous

(48:10):
all and you won't catch the giants normally, but you'll
catch a lot of numbers. And that's what I hope
folks can enjoy out there. Let me go to quick
break here. This break is presented by SMI Marine. There
are at eleven four hundred Westport Road. Go see them
and take great care of all your boat he needs,
and remember you never get soaked by my friends at SMI.

(48:35):
Mark continues this discussion about spawning bass and when they
start up on the beds, making the beds. It's no
secret that there's big females cruising those areas many times
on the outer edges, and it's harder to target them
than it is fish that are actually up in the

(48:55):
brush in some regards, But some of these big souls,
they're the home run of the many fishermen season talk
about basis you utilize outside of those actual nest areas
that can target some of these bigger fish, indoor fish
that are staging, you know that perhaps have it set
up on the bed yet.

Speaker 4 (49:17):
Well, one of the most important things for that female
to come in there and find her partner up there
is stable water. So I spend a lot of time
Jim watching the reports from the corp of Engineers on
lake levels and watching for stability. That water gets up there,
gets in the bushes, and then it drops just an

(49:39):
inch during a day's time. That's enough that she's going
to back out from being cruised around in those bushes
and she's going to be out off those bushes a
little further. So when I get those conditions, when I
see a tenth or two tenth drive that pulls a
lot of fish out of those bushes, they really want
to stay up there because they're spawning and they don't
want to leave unless it's major drop, but just a

(50:01):
couple of inches, we'll spook those bigger fish back there.
So what I'll what I'll do is I'll take either
a striking game hull or a striking lizard, and I'll
position the boat about a cast away from those bushes,
and I'll cast toward those bushes and work that bait
out from those bushes five to ten to fifteen feet.
That's going to be the zone she's cruising around in

(50:24):
waiting for that water to come up. That can be
an hour to hour condition where the corp of engineers
decides to pull some water, or it can be an
hour decision that they let that water cruise on up
there a little higher. So you know, if you've gone
and you've spent some time and you found some fish
in the bushes and then you're ready for a tournament
day on Saturday morning and all you're catching are a

(50:46):
smaller bucks, it's time to back out. Your boat is
probably on top of the area that those females are in.
That's a hard thing to recognize when you're catching a
lot of those bowning buck bass up there in the
buck brush or the bushes or whatever. It's hard to
back up, but I always do that and I tend
to find that when I catch those fish out from

(51:08):
those bushes, those are always better quality fish.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
Gym.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
Those those big females, they want some depths near them.
And it doesn't have to be a big difference, Jim.
If they're up there in two putting a half to
two ft of water around those bushes and then the
outside of those bushes is in three to three and
a half, that's a big difference and that provides a
lot more security. So that's one thing that you always
have to watch is the stability of the water that

(51:33):
time of the year.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
And as far as.

Speaker 4 (51:34):
Lures, we're wanting bottom bouncing baits that time of the year,
whether that's a Texas rig, a jig, whatever it is.
I'm concentrating on soft plastics and a jig that time
of the year.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
Okay, very good time of day fishing on a spawning
fish can be a big factor as well. Can you
speak to that.

Speaker 4 (51:57):
Well, absolutely, And what happens early in the morning, the
sun's not up, it hasn't come over the hill, and
there's not any sunlight on the water. That that really
makes that that buck bass move around a lot because
he has to defend a bigger area. He's having to
defend it from bluegill or whatever's trying to come in

(52:19):
the bed to get the eggs or get in his area.
So he has to, uh, he has to you know,
cruise around there and keep those fish away from the bed.
So with that having been said, the time of day
is very important. As the sun gets up high, that

(52:39):
bass really backs up and starts defending a relatively small
area he can see better. So I really won't go
to those bushes until I get sunned on the bushes
and that fish sets up a little higher. I was
fishing to tournament down in Texas one time, and I
found some bedfish gym in a corner of this little
creek way up the creek, and I had trees all

(53:01):
around me, and I could see moving in the water.
I had seen a couple of really big fishes there
the day before in practice, and I kept casting. I
kept making one basic cast, and when I got the
first bite, it was a five pounder. I got the
second bite on a fish I didn't even know when
I made the second cast to it, it was a
seven pounder. And then I caught the buck later in

(53:21):
the day. It was a three pounder. So in one
cast I had three big fish and was way up
in the standings real quick. But that all happened when
that sunlight hit the water and they all cruised right
back to that bed and protected it the whole circumference
of the bed instead of the entire area. So I
really like days when the sun is up because that

(53:42):
fish is going to be in his bed, protecting that
bed only.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Yeah, Scott, you had a couple of questions Mark here.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
Well, that was kind of one of my questions earlier
and the show was I think sometimes we get a
little too aggressive on that trolling motor and we get
into tight on fish, and sometimes we can blow fish
out of an area, whether it's pre spawn or post spawn.
And I think too, it's really important for people to

(54:11):
understand how important visual or sight fishing is when it
comes to having a good pair of sunglasses and the
ability to drop right into that target strike zone as
lightweight as you can without disturbing that water. And what

(54:32):
I was telling Jim before the show was I love
when I can fish some type of plastic where I.

Speaker 5 (54:40):
Don't have to use any weight and I'm kind.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
Of stealthy and just picking that vegetation, especially that woody
brush apart, and how much that can change as even
vegetation sits in on some of those cypress.

Speaker 5 (54:54):
Trees or buckbrush or whatever it is.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
You have to finesse fish and and those spawning areas
that man, you can just come out with a load
of fish, whether you're in fiberglass or linenum boats when
they get in that pattern.

Speaker 4 (55:08):
Well, you know, we live in a high tech society.
We've got cell phones and computers and we want the
answer right now. We're an absolute society that wants instant gratification.
But this time of the year, if you'll back that
trolling motor down to where you're just crawling through those
areas where you can make real good presentations, where you

(55:31):
can use your sunglasses to see just a difference in
the color of the bottom. You may not see the fish,
but you may see a light spot on the bottom
that's probably a bed. Fishing slow this time of the
year is more important than buzzing down the bank at
ninety miles an hour. Those fish are going to protect
that little bed area. They're not going to leave it.

(55:53):
They may come up and flash at a moving bait
like a spinner bait or a top water or a
buzz bait, but they're probably not going to connect it,
wanting to push it out of the area. So like
you mentioned's got, you know, a weightless worm, a wacky worm,
or a weightless stickworm in those areas mayn not a
better way to catch them because it falls in there naturally,
it gets in that bed and it becomes a predator

(56:16):
in their bed, and they're going to move that out
of the way. So why not why not just slow
down and fish the bottom as efficiently as you possibly can.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Yes, sir, all right, folks, gotta go to break here.
This break is presented. I'm also Property's Heart Realty check
them out m O P H A R Trealty dot
com mark where we're on this spawn and we're gonna
move this post spawn here in a moment. But I
think it's important to quiet down your electronics when you're

(56:49):
fishing close and tight. Guys today have so many different
pulses coming out of these different types of electronic devices.
And or you made a point about quieting down your trolling. Lord,
can you speak to that and how important are unimportant.
Do you think that is?

Speaker 4 (57:08):
I think it has a lot, a lot of importance.
In my boat gym, there's many times that I will
either turn off my grass or pause them so that
the transducer is not making making that constant tick tick sound.
As fishing a popularity is going up and we're all
back there in the back of the creeks and boats

(57:28):
are coming in and going out. I think it's of
the utmost importance to be very very quiet, So I
will turn those off. The other thing I will do,
I'll go to the other directions sometimes. Jim and I
have a device on my boat called a hydrowave that
produces natural fish feeding sounds, and that kind of covers
up the noise on the boat. It sounds those fish

(57:51):
are used to hearing the water bass, you know, feeding
on sad, crawfish noises, all these different things, so I
think it kind of masks that oat sound, and I
think that's very very important. The other thing that I
always a really a stickler for this gym. Never slam
a lid on your boat. Always just ease that lid

(58:11):
back your rod box or your tackle box area. You know,
don't be slamming lids and be very cautious about dropping
a slip sinker in the bottom of the boat. That
makes a lot of noise. Fish care from a long way,
and a lot of times I'll get marshals in my
termins and they'll get there and they'll get a little
restless and they'll start tapping their fingers on the side

(58:32):
of the gundle of the boat. Boy, that gets my
attention real quick. I'm like, well, WHOA, let's be quiet.
Health is always important when you're hunting a predator, whether
it's a coyote or a big cat or a bass
or whatever it may be. Yeah, you need to be quiet.
And in shallow water, there's not a lot of room
for that noise to go, so that fish is gonna
find it and hear it.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Yes, sir, Yes, sir.

Speaker 3 (58:53):
Mark a little bit too on on how long those
fish will actually they stay up in some of that
brush of vegetation, because I know a lot of times
folks will kind of give up on that technique or style.
But I've I've personally found that, especially up in Barkling,

(59:15):
Kentucky light, that I can catch fish all the way
up until early June that are still up in that
butt brush and pretty good size.

Speaker 4 (59:24):
Oh absolutely you can. And you know when those fish
move up the water gets up in those bushes and
they move in there. They are efficient predators. They are good.
It's they can set up on a bush and ambush.
Ambush points are everywhere back there. And so when these
fish finish ups pawning, they a lot of them don't
leave a lot of them will get back there in

(59:45):
the shade and just cool out and recuperate. The blue
gills start moving into to bed and they'll they'll ambush
those blue gills. But male bass will stay back there
when the let when the eggs are laid, they will
stay there until those eggs hatch. Once those eggs hatch,
the fry each the individual fry, they will school together.

(01:00:05):
And those large mouths, those male large mouth will guard
those fry. So a lot of times, even though they're
finished spawning, they'll stay back there because that's good habitat
for those fish to be recruited into size and become
fingerlings and then larger bass because they're away from all
the predators. But when I can see a cloud of fry,

(01:00:27):
that's an awfully good time to toss a wacky worm
or a weightless ocho over there and aggravate those fry
and that and that little male bass he's going to
he's going to attack that because he doesn't want anything
to get his babies. Now, small mouth and spotted bass
they're not as good appearance as large mouths are. Those

(01:00:48):
large mouth will stay back there with their babies, you know,
ten days to two weeks after they've they've hatched most
of the time. But a small mouth will hatch, uh,
will will spawn, lay those eggs, watch that bed until
those fry hats and then a lot of times those
small mouths and spotty bass they're off to the races
and they're gone back out into the deep water and

(01:01:08):
just leave those young of the year on their own.
But that old large mouth will stay back there in
that buck brush for a long long time.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
And I think it's portant mark to point out to
people because bass spawn earlier then the bluegill on what
have you. That there tends to be. They're the only
bottles of fry that you really see much of at
that time. And if you see that rush, you see
that glimmer of that cloud of of fry, more likely

(01:01:39):
there's a male bass there regarded them correct.

Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
Most of the time. It depends on how big they are, Jim.
You know, after those fry then in the water column
for a couple of three weeks, they grow really fast
and they kind of almost have a little bit of
a reddish tint to them. So I'm always on the
on the loop. Just find that little that that that
darker color of red that you'll see amongst those. But
when they get to be about three quarters of an

(01:02:04):
inch to an inch long, at that point that mail
bass will go on about his way and there they
have to find for themselves that ball of fry does.
So yeah, you've got about a ten day window after
that fish spawns that those those males stay in that
area to guard those fry. So it's a top water

(01:02:26):
you know, a popping style bait, a buzz baits a
real good bait this time of the year because you
may not be able to see those fry and indvertently
drag it close to them and then you get your bike.
So a top water really comes into play in this
early post spawn.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
I'm glad you mentioned that because top water fishing is
my favorite. You know, I just hands down, I'm that guy.
I'd rather catch one for five, you know, on top.
I'm happy with that one because I love to watch
them come up hit. You know. That's to me, that's
a large mouse style. That's his character. That's who he is,

(01:03:03):
you know, or she is, and that's so cool to me.
Talk about your favorite top water baits during that period.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
Well, a popper is really a good one. I'm really
fond of a KVD splash in the half out size
because I can make that bait, Jim, walk side to side,
not just pop and come forward. I can get it
around a buck brush and twitch it and make it
go left, right, left, right, and keep it close to
that sponing bed or where that spaoning bed was. I

(01:03:35):
like that bait really well. A buzz bait. I love
a skipping buzz and I'll put a big toad on
the back of it. It seems like over the years
that soft plastic toad on a buzz bait, I'm getting
more of my fish in the boat, Jim. If there's
one thing I'm not good at is buzz bait fishing.

(01:03:57):
I get so damn excited when I see that fish
come and get it. I take it away from him
nine times out of ten. But with that toad, those
fish get a better eye on a soft plastic toad
like a rage toad, that they can they get the
bait better versus just a plain skirt. So most of
my bus bait fishing now I've gone to that skipping

(01:04:18):
buzz with a toad on the back of it. But
that's something I still need to work on, even after
all the years of fishing. I get excited with a
top water bait and I miss a lot of fish
on a buzz bait. I mentioned something earlier about fish
like to feed up, and that's why big fish like
a top water because it's an easy meal form. So

(01:04:40):
when you get these fish that are starting to move out,
before they move out into the mouths of the base,
popwater can be deadly, especially if you get an overcast day.
Those fish are really moving looking to feed. They're finished spawning,
they're hungry, they're ready to feed up and and get
over what they use the most energy in the year's

(01:05:03):
time for of spawning, and that top water bate's just
an easy, easy bite for them.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
I'm trying to brag on something on strike king because
you've brought it up two or three times and it's
not for the commercial purpose, but when you get into
catching a lot of fish and it gets into a frenzy,
the rage line of plastics is unbelievable because of how
many fish you can just reset that plastic.

Speaker 5 (01:05:33):
And get right back in the fish.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
And I hate.

Speaker 3 (01:05:36):
To talk about how you have to be stealthy and
then get into how fast you need to get right
back on the fish, but that amount of time that
it takes to rehook plastic or get a piece of
plastic out, to me, it can be very important on
whether or not you're getting into fish that are biting
or not biting. And it's no different than fishing later

(01:05:57):
in the year when fish get into that eating frenzy.
But it's just a it's a phenomenal product, especially when
it comes to all of the rage line that does
have the ability to have flotation behind it, and if
folks have not fished with it, it's not uncommon to
catch ten, fifteen to twenty fish on the same piece

(01:06:17):
of plastic, where in years past you'd be changing out
some of these cheaper plastic lures every fish that you catch.

Speaker 4 (01:06:25):
Well, the rage line is really cool in that it
has a flange on it and it creates a lot
of water movement in any of the style baits. There's
one bait in particular that does not get a lot
of play. And I hate to give this away. It's
called a rage shad and I'll rig that with a
off ewg Golikotsu hook a five ought. And this thing

(01:06:47):
is basically a cross between a spoon and a buzz bait.
This thing comes across the water, it has that left
right left right movement of a spoon, and then it's
got this big giant grub style tail that is as
out as a half ounce buzz bait. If you want
the most devastating strike to that you've ever seen, pick

(01:07:07):
up a raid shed right in this post bomb period.
It comes through cover, it's relatively weedless. You can throw
it around the bushes, you throw it around the yellow
flowers we have on Kentucky, lay any grass down the bank, whatever.
They will absolutely stomp this thing. And then that rage
line has has has put a lot of money in

(01:07:28):
the bank from me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
Yeah, that big snakehead on that raid shed.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Also, the way you can rig it, it makes it
almost bulletproof as far as getting hung up. And that's
that's important to get in and around that cover.

Speaker 4 (01:07:41):
And I was from my television show a couple of
years ago. Jim and I had one hit at about
six feet from the trolling motor, and my cameraman jumped
when this three pounder just exploded on that dead I mean,
I'm surprised. I'm surprised I didn't lose the Roden reel.

(01:08:02):
But it was an amazing bite, one of the most
devastating bites I've ever seen in my life, and it
was just a three pounder.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
Yeah, that is cool. You touched on something I want
to return to after this quick break. This break is
presented by SMI Marine eleven four on the Westport Road.
They'll take care of all your electronic or problems with
your motor, your boat, etca. Go see them. Remember you
never get soaked by my friends at SMI Mark. You

(01:08:29):
touched on something that I think is very important to
talk about during the post spawn, and that is the
emergence of some of this shoreline vegetation, especially the mustard
flowers are by cause of the yellow flowers that are
often in the water, and of course all kinds of

(01:08:50):
debris that's been brought up during that period when the
lake comes up the course holding the stable talking about
some of your favorite baits then and I got another
before we close out, But speak to those because man,
I love throwing a spinner bait or swim and worm,
a weightless worm through the yellow flyers. It's crazy good.

Speaker 4 (01:09:10):
Well, well, it can hold large numbers of fish. We
don't have a lot of cover left in Kentucky Lake.
And and when those yellow flowers grow up, that old
mustard grows up, the bass just goes straight to it.
And a spinner bait can be good, but if you've
got other debris in the water, it gets all on
your blades. It becomes kind of hard to get through there.

(01:09:31):
But so one of the things I use gym an
awful lot that time of year is a swim jig.
And a swim jig is a jig that's a lighter jig,
generally a quarter to three eighths of an ounce. It
has a bullet shaped nose or a V shape in it,
so it has a lot of lift. And I'll put
a rage crawl on the back of it, or maybe
a rage bug on the back of it, something with

(01:09:53):
a lot of movement on it. I throw a white
one an awful lot, so I can see it, and
I will just cast that gig and really through the
top of that those yellow flowers and that new vegetation,
and when I get to the outside edge of it,
I'll let it fall. I fish it on braidy line exclusively.
I like that quarter out size really really well, so

(01:10:16):
it kind of gives you that spinner bait ability to
get in and around that cover, but it's very weedless.
I have to have the braidy line because the strike
is really really violent because the fish coming from a
long way to get it. A swim jig in vegetation
like that is one of the best techniques I've ever

(01:10:37):
learned on tour.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
Is exciting.

Speaker 4 (01:10:40):
It catches big ones and you catch most of them
because they bite it so good. So that's one of
the things I like to do. And if you've got
a high bluebird day that you don't have a lot
of wind, I love to take a wacky worm. And
a wacky worm is a six inch finetse worm with
a small hook hooked in the eggsack of the and

(01:11:00):
I'll cast that thing and twitch it as it falls
weightlessly towards the bottom and those fish will come up
and address it, and a lot of times it's a
violence strike, but a lot of times it's just the
fishes comes up there and just almost kisses it. You'll
see them suck it in and man, that's another good
way to get a young fisherman, your wife, your girlfriend,

(01:11:22):
your youngest child cooked on fishing, because it's a way
that they catch most of them as well. So that's
two really good ways to fish. The old yellow flowers
on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes, twim gy again and a
weightless worm.

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
Yes, sir, now this will sound like a funny question,
but I think you'll appreciate it. Blue yell start bedding
right about that towards it into that postpar or sometimes
in the spawn and depending on the water temperature and
what's going on. But I seldom, if ever observed blue
yeo beds without bass around them. Why are they there?

(01:12:00):
Because they've come back up they need to feed up
after the spawn, and they know there's young bluegill and
young shell crasher and long ear sunfish and everything else.
They're feeding on those bluegill eggs. That is a killer
place to catch the bass. And if you know where
they are, I love throwing what I call just small

(01:12:21):
surface lures, whether it's like a small rapala ac shiner,
whatever the case may be. But you throw plastics as well.
Your thoughts on that, do you ever pay attention to that?
Because bluegill are big on their menu, there ain't no question.

Speaker 4 (01:12:37):
Well, I mean, heck, I like to eat blue gill too, Jim.
So I'm around those blue gill beds as much as
I can be too. It's a lot of fun to
catch them. And you know, those big females of blue
gill is a a big meal for them, and it's's
the busseet, you know. It's they're really easy to find. Visually,
it looks like a looter landscape with all these little

(01:12:59):
holes in the bottom of the of the lake. It
can be on the sides of little small pockets that
have gravel or a good firm bottom that's getting a
lot of sunlight. And you know, as water clears up
and we stop having a lot of rain showers and
lake levels get stable, the blue gill come up and

(01:13:20):
they start spawning it and there's always predators around those
outside edges. I've had many days that every blue gill
beds you come to there's two or three or four
or maybe even more than that big large mouth around
those those blue gill beds. And I mean, I'm hearing
North Carolina this week getting ready for an a lead event.

(01:13:40):
And remember a tournament in North Carolina that I could
not get bit Jim unless I was around the blue
gill bed. So I took a blue gill colored popping bait,
a popper with a little feather tail on it, and
moved it across those beds, and those large mouth came
out of nowhere to kill it. And I had a
very successful tournament doing that. Always look for those blue

(01:14:02):
guild beds because that is a big source of food
for big large mouth. I'm not talking just about keepers.
I'm talking about four five and six pound largemouth will
will stay shallow until those blue guilds disperse from their
spawning and leave the spawning bed. So dog gone, you
can catch a big one around a blue guild bed.

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
Well, we just kept. We just gave it one one
one of my well kept secrets. But You've been kind
enough to share a bunch of years, so I thought
i'd reciprocate. Mark. Tell people how to follow you.

Speaker 4 (01:14:33):
Well, you can find me on YouTube at m M
Bass TV. That that's where we put most of our
markemt into this Bass TV television shows after they've aired
on my local station here in Paducah. You can find
me on Instagram at market Indez Bass and that's where
you can do most of my see most of my
social media U but MM bass TV at YouTube, please

(01:14:55):
like and subscribe and get to see a lot of
phishing techniques and we're teaching a lot of people how
to catch more fish with our television show.

Speaker 2 (01:15:04):
Thanks so much, Mark, and best of luck to you
on the trail. I know you're gonna hit a home
running folks. Hope you enjoyed this. We're out of here.
Be careful out there. God bless everybody.