5-3-26 - Springtime Tutorial with Bass Pro 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 (00:02):
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(01:06):
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Speaker 2 (01:21):
Good evening, everyone, Jim Straighter here, and we have a
fantastic spring bass fishing specially lined up with you for you. Tonight,
We're gonna 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 as a pro.

(01:44):
Mark's always been one of my favorites because his consistency
and the fact he is from Paducah, Kentucky, and I
always represented 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 (02:04):
Everybody likes to catch fish when they're biting, but it's
always good to have a bag full of tricks when
they're not biting. So hopefully to 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 (02:24):
Yes, sir, and we're going to talk best behavior during
pre spawn, spawn post spawn, 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 he is more than willing to share, so we're

(02:47):
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 his very busy tournament circuit to visit with us tonight. Mark,

(03:12):
thank you so much for taking time out to speak
to everybody.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
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 ahead of me.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
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 gonna talk about pre
spawn and I guess I'd like to start out with
prespawned behavior by the bass because this is always a

(03:49):
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 target areas
that you like to fish and pre spawn? Well?

Speaker 4 (04:12):
Absolutely. You know, the prestpone 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 is the

(04:34):
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 year is primarily mainly of cover and structure.

(04:55):
Structure being the bottom composition, how the bottom falls, and
cover obviously being rocks, brush piles, lay down trees, docks,
what have you.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
There.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
But what I always want to have, Jim, is a
flat spot. Whether that flat spot is then 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

(05:26):
they spend their time out there digesting whatever they got
to eat. So those little corners of bluss, the tail
ends of bluff, 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

(05:49):
for in the early pre spot.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Okay, you know there's a lot of factors to talk
about here, but behaviorally, when there is always a factor
in pre 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 and trigger movements.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
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

(06:32):
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

(06:55):
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 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,

(07:17):
when we're 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

(07:39):
will dress that bait move up to it. The old
jig and pig is a good good I hadn't had
a pig in a long time, Jim, 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

(08:01):
corner of a windy point like at 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. You don't have to cover

(08:24):
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 up.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
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 (08:54):
Yeah, you know, they're you know, daylight is getting longer
every day this time of year, and that's really the
signal gym as much as a little bit of water
warming to tell these fish it's time to start thinking
about moving shallow. It can even be a month or
so before they get ready to spawn, but they start
moving up from the depths. They're ready to feed. They

(09:14):
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

(09:36):
entire season. You know, on Kentucky Lake and Green River
and Barren River and lakes like that, it's not uncommon
to catch a seven seven and a half eight pound
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

(09:58):
me is catching the biggest fish that I can possibly catch.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Mark All flats aren't created equal. If we both know that,
describe some that are very very key areas for you.

Speaker 5 (10:11):
In other words, the difference between maybe rock piles and
stump rows, you know, things like that that happen to
be on those types of flats.

Speaker 4 (10:22):
Well, you know, as our lakes have gotten older, Gym,
you know, a lot of the wood has gone. It's
just it's just disintegrated. 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

(10:42):
an area. It's really easy to see on the on
the east bank of Kentucky late 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

(11:03):
real area that those fish will want to be in.
You know, bass are like any other predator, like a
coyote or a big cat. They like edges, Jim, 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

(11:25):
there's there's crawfish in the area. Always in those kind
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, Uh
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,

(11:48):
being around rock I'm looking at multi multi types of fish.
I'm looking at large mouth, small mouths, and spotted bass.
So sometimes those fish will gather together in a gri
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 draps tops into

(12:10):
the into the deeper water, if it's along the 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 at State fish spotted bass in the
same day. Those are real successful successful days.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Jim Uh, talk about your lures 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 lure.

Speaker 4 (12:51):
Well, one of the things I've done, Jim is is
I've really spent a large portion of the spree Prestpond
with a crank bait in my hand. I want a
crank bait that has a round lip, kind of like
the shape at the end of your thumb, because that
bait deflects off of rocks so much better than a
very narrow build bait that's a tight wiggling bait. It's

(13:14):
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 when you

(13:36):
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 landed

(13:57):
me more bass and made me more money in the
springtime than in 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
rock or the bottom left or right, you know, three

(14:19):
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 when
they see a bait that does something abnormal in that deflection,

(14:41):
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 I keep
them on the bottom. Now, one of the little tricks

(15:02):
I do Jim with my reels is it seems like
it's hard to find a reel that is of a
slower gu ratio. 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, here's one thing
you can do when you spool up a new line

(15:24):
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 sixty 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 pretapa On time period, we're
looking at that cold water. That's forty two to forty

(15:44):
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 retreat down
and make sure that that bait is ticking off the bottom.
So that's a very important thing that you have to do.
We recently had a bass Master Open tournament on Kentucky

(16:05):
Lake and I jumped in that tournament, and the first
day of the tournament, I 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 a
little wiggle to it, a good vibration, and I had
to move up to its big brother, the old Series
four in the old green tomato color, and that thing

(16:26):
moves so much water. Jim relatively clean water. The fish
could see the bait well. I was using that red
and charsrouse 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, that big
lazy wobble comes into play. And I had a good

(16:49):
bucket of large mouth that day for the first day
of the tournament. The second day of the tournament, they
wouldn't bite that bait. I went back through those same
areas they wouldn't bite it. I made a little move
across the lake and picked up that Series three and
loaded up with over seventeen pounds of smallmouth. And it
was an epic, great jim. I mean, it happened so quick,

(17:11):
it was so much fun. And all these fish were
in that three and a half to three and three
quarter pound raised 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 little rock, and they were right
there in that crevice. So you have to you have
to really pay attention to the water temperature to make

(17:35):
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 (17:48):
And on your jig fishing, talk a little bit about
that for you got to go to this next break.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
Well, you know, I always have a jig laying next
to me when I'm doing the ranking. And one of
the things that I'll do is take a three a
pounce hack attack jig and put a real big prailure
on it. And what I want, I don't want a
jig that has a lot of movement to it. I

(18:16):
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 pounce 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

(18:37):
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 they've got they generally got pretty big eyes, and

(18:58):
they're pretty far between that, and that's what a bass
fisher really wants to see.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
I call them bu guys. I know exactly what's meaning
there as look, marbles look great marbles sticking out the.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
All right, we gets the whole weave.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
That added bonus men, 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 (19:25):
I did. I caught a big old fish downing taxi
at Richmond Chambers on a big old spinner bait in
a prestphone period that weighed thirteen pounds and nine ounces
kim 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. It I bet

(19:47):
it was fine memories.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yes, sir, Well, that is a monster bass anywhere anytime.
All Right, folks, we gotta go to break here. The
break is percented by Massie Old Property's Heart Realty Paul
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Speaker 3 (20:06):
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 malefish kind of tell us from your experience, what
that's letting us know is in angler, if we don't

(20:27):
understand fish biology real well, when we're getting into good
numbers of fish but we're just not catching any size, well.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
There 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 (20:54):
It seems like a lot of times it's it's where
just the maturity of the fish and.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
Or what their food sources. 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,

(21:21):
so the one pounder can't keep up. 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
pre spawn period is big fish are still active in

(21:42):
that period. Big fish are not as 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

(22:04):
the large mouth bast most of the time, and all
of our bast 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

(22:25):
to the bank because they know spawning is just right
around the corner. So they'll get up there and get shallowing.
And that's why we catch so many of those at
that time period. 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

(22:47):
up and utilize the same shallow water area 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

(23:07):
two behind them. So a lot of times on those
days I'll move up shallow and realize that hey, 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 (23:27):
Mark. We didn't talk yet about the favorites, and we're
going to talk about it in these multiple phases, I'm sure,
But spinner baits, when do you know, boy and pre
spawn start to ramp up and gear for that. The
best example I can give for that, and well, I'm
asking it that way. When we start getting on southwest

(23:50):
winds and you've got dirty water along the banks on
shallow flats, that's when that spinner bay is want to
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 (24:10):
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

(24:32):
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 or 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.

(24:53):
Activity is a little more of a 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 shalla,
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.

(25:13):
And when we get those spring showers, yes, it does
exactly what you want for a spinner bath, 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

(25:34):
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 base, I do
it every spinner bait I ever throw, is I always
add a trailer hook on there, a number two ought
or a number three don The cootsu goes on there

(25:54):
and it may get me hung up a little bit.
The dog one, Jim. You know, those fish are slashing
that bait and having that extra hook on that spinner
bait on that trailer of that Gomakosi trailer hook. That's
fish insurance, and I catch a lot of those fish
as they come up and just nip it or slap
at that bait on a trailer hook. So I always

(26:14):
use a trailer hook on a spinner bait. And this
again is temperature related. I'm 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

(26:35):
a time that you almost have to play cat and
mouse with these fish as they're 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

(26:57):
like a magnetism, and you may make eight or ten
or twelve or fifteen casts, but one piece of cover
that time and get him where 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.
So 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 multiple times

(27:22):
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 baby, make that thing shake
right through the middle of his living room multiple times.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yes, sir Scott, you had I think you know the
questions at that point.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
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 color, whether it's going to

(28:00):
be gold or even painted blades, and what your experience
has been over the years, and kind of tried and
true spinner baits versus kind of gimmicky spinner baits.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
Yeah. I play with experimentation with spinner bake blades a lot,
and I always like a spinner bait that has two
different color blades on it, whether it's a silver and gold,
a gold and copper, a copper and silver, whatever it is,
I want the contrast of a different colored blade. Painted

(28:32):
blades is something I played a lot with. I really
like a painted blade in really ugly muddy water, particularly
fresh mud, where it's 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.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Even better.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
In this cold water. I want a double Colorado with
a smaller collard 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 Willow combination. The thing about the willow,

(29:18):
I may go up to a thigh seven this time
of here, Scott to mimic that gizzer shed. Those gizzer
sheds start coming up out of that cold water. They're
not feeling very good and they don't 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,
ato stumps and that big number seven, which is a

(29:39):
pain in the neck to throw, 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 that bigger

(30:03):
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 because I
don't want to I don't have to walk a long

(30:25):
way to give another plate of food. And these old
big females are like that. So that's a that's a
real good combination right there.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
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 Eddington and his staff are pros at trouble shooting

(30:53):
any type of problems you've got on your boat, from
electronics to the motor. And remember you never get 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 once the water
starts to rise in temperature. But that's a rig and

(31:15):
our swim baits. Can you cover those two far us?

Speaker 4 (31:20):
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 played
with it some is that the Alabama rig as waters

(31:42):
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

(32:06):
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 is
a it's a tricky bite jim. Some days those fish

(32:29):
absolutely commit 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

(32:49):
will kind of start and stop that swim bait. I'll
be winding at 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 bait fish into

(33:10):
into bikes. The other craze that's kind of kind of
started is what's called a glide bait. Now, those are
bigger baits that are in that five to nine to
ten inch range that 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

(33:32):
kind of chop your reel handle. You'll you'll reel a
quarter of a real turn, then 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, or ever the water. That
thing will get some vicious strikes, but it also has

(33:54):
those days that they'll they'll aggress it, get all around it,
and not eat it. So you have to really experiment
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 line, seven and a half foot flipping
sticks and in a good quality reel are necessary to

(34:15):
handle that big bait. Now, Jim, 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 big swim bait

(34:36):
like that.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Well, I hear you.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
Talk about different baits there real quick, because so many
people are not fishing in a professional tournament setting. Are
they better to be above the fish or below the fish,
no matter if they're fishing a big crank bait or
spinner bait in that pre spawn period.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Is it.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Going to be an angler that Hey, I'd rather you
keep your bait above the fish or would you rather
I mean, you want to be in the strike zone,
but where yet? As far as in the water column
to help the average guy op?

Speaker 4 (35:10):
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

(35:32):
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 at all possible.
Just you think about a large amount bass and how
that lower jaw extends way out, kind of out in

(35:55):
front of his nose. That helps that fish in his
feeding habits when he's feed up in the water column
a little better than when they're on the bottom.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
You know.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
The one thing about it, Jim, bass don't have hands,
and the other way they move your bait is with
their mouth. So let's make it easier for them to
get it into their mouth and keep it up in
the water column.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Just to hint, yes, sir, 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 you're around on a jerk bait. However, there's just

(36:34):
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, and I realized what you said
about you can't use the the A rig and 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.

Speaker 4 (36:55):
That, well, you know, the a rig. The one thing
I have noticed when I have fished in a rig
something is I will have one of my swim baits.
I generally use the raid twimmer most of the time.
When I use that is i'll have one that's a
different color, and that's generally the furthest one back in
the center bait. I will either dip it in a

(37:16):
shark trouse dye like a dying to fish dye, or
I will I will use one that's 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 will get most of our attention. So that's why
most of the time is used that different color.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Good deal. Folks got to go to break breaks fer
sent by also properties Heart real Tea check them out
an m O P h A R T realty dot
Com mark gets you. No secret that the spawn actually
starts to trigger somewhere around fifty eight to sixty degrees.
It's a big shift. The males move up, start to

(37:59):
prepare beds can occur a little early that in water temperature,
but in our part of the country general, it's lad
April starting into you know, the very first part of
may uh talk about bass behavior then, and if you
would share how you shift gears and what you start
to look further, it's different and the lures that you

(38:19):
like to utilize.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
Well, you know, water water starts pushing on up into
the unindated cover where it's been down all year. We
get rains of the cort engineers starts raising our waters.
And there's two there's two different ways to look at it.
You 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.

(38:42):
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

(39:06):
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 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

(39:28):
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

(39:49):
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 spawning season, there could

(40:11):
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

(40:34):
to bait to slide in and out of that cover
really really well. So on a Texas rig, I'm going
to 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,

(40:55):
how 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 skeeter boats full of
fish with that rage crawl. Big ones too 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

(41:18):
a bite 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.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
You know.

Speaker 4 (41:37):
As far as a jig, you know, a 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

(41:58):
small side pockets, uh where they can find gravel. And
I kind of use a different technique here based on
an old technique, and we call it a pd rig.
My roommate that's staying with me this week, Bernie Schultz,
and I are great friends with the old professional fisher
and Peter Philvers from Jacksonville, Florida. And Peter used to

(42:20):
beat our brains in with what we call a peed rig,
and that's nothing more than a Carolina rig with about
eighteen inches of lime 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

(42:41):
style base. It's got a couple of little arms on it,
a couple of long legs, and that bait has a
lot 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 pea 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 in smallmouth. Then that's a great way to catch

(43:02):
them this time of year.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Yeah, sir, what what's your line of choice? And then
do you do that with spinning tackle for the smallest.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
In sponts No, 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

(43:32):
line because you're you're you're pulling it over a lot
of rock and a lot of abrasion. So that fifteen
pound in visit 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.

(43:55):
Not having to fish so deep. That three to ten
foot zone is one when I'm looking at so I
fish that peedie rig with a relatively light singer, either
a quarter or a five sixteen ounces singer in that
little fifteen to eighteen inch leader is all I use
on it. So I'm pretty simple. Rig pretty simple rig.
Just be patient, be slow.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
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 spots 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 lift and drop it, just on

(44:39):
those p gravel points. Just swim that thing. And small
mouth in particular, as you know that 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 tales at that time.
You know, a three inch curly tail owner a shartroose

(45:01):
with a little sparkle in it does very well for me?
Or those you never utilize her? Do you recommend them? Well?

Speaker 4 (45:09):
I certainly 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,

(45:31):
so you know, that little curly tail. I've caught a
lot of big on. Some of the biggest small mouth
I've ever heard of from Kentucky Lake came by crappie
fisherman gim 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 (45:53):
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 that all pick up a spinning ride
and throw one too, And it's because she's in the
back of the boat catching a lot more fish than

(46:15):
I am, so it gets kind of comical.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Lot.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Sometimes the people in the back of the boat will
let you know what you need to be throwing versus
maybe the expert that's in the front of the boat.

Speaker 4 (46:27):
Well, sometimes we think we're an expert and we may
not really feed. 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

(46:48):
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, put them on eight pounced heads,
and we got on a real hard spot on a
ledge last summer, and we caught white bass after white bass.

(47:09):
We caught small mouth, 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 mouths in the three and
a half pound range. He even made the comment he
goes gee mark. This is not really that hard. I

(47:30):
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 little rig. Fantastic way to catch them. Easy
for people to use, and you know, getting kids and
your wife involved in fishing or your girlfriend. It's about catching,
it's not about fishing. So that little rig either be

(47:52):
a grub or a small swim bait. What a great
way to catch a lot of fish.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
I want to add one little twist to that before
I go over break. One of my favorite things to
do is use a white or a glitter type and
treat the tail with sharp truce where it looks just
like a thread fins shed because everything will hit it,
but those smallies and Kentucky's boie baby. It's pretty poisonous.

(48:20):
All that, 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.
They're 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.

(48:44):
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 hard enough to target
them than it is fish that are actually up in

(49:05):
the brush in some regards, But some of these big
sous 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.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
Bed yet 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

(49:47):
drops just an 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 when I'll see a tenth or two tenths
drive that pulls a lot of fish out of those bushes.
They really want to stay up there because they're spawning

(50:08):
and they don't want to leave unless it's a major drop.
But just a 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 hug or a striking lizard,
and I'll position the boat about I cast away from
those bushes, and I'll cast toward those bushes and work
that bait out from those bushes five to ten to

(50:29):
fifteen feet. That's going to be the zone she's cruising
around in 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

(50:50):
some fish in the bushes and then you're ready for
a tournament day on Saturday morning, and alls you're catching
are a 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.

(51:11):
It's hard to back up. But I always do that,
and I tend to find that when I catch those
fish out from those bushes, those are always better quality
fish gym. 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 half to two
ft of water around those bushes, and then the outside

(51:32):
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 at that time of
the year. And as far as lures, we're wanting bottom
bouncing baits that time of the year, whether that's a
Texas brig, a jig, whatever it is. I'm concentrating on

(51:54):
soft plastics and a jig that time of the year.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Okay, very good time of day fishing on a spawning
fish can be a big factor as well. Can you
speak to.

Speaker 4 (52:05):
That well, absolutely, And what happens early in the morning,
the sun's not up, 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

(52:26):
defend it from bluegill or whatever's trying to come in
the bed to get the eggs or get in his area.
So he has to h 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

(52:49):
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 sun on the bush
and that fish sets up a little higher. I was
fishing to turn it 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

(53:10):
all around me, and I could see movement 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

(53:31):
the day and 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

(53:52):
that fish is going to be in his bed, protecting
that bed only.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Yes, Scott, you had a couple of questions Mark.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
Here, 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 trollo 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

(54:21):
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

(54:42):
I was telling Jim before the show was I love
when I can fish some type of plastic where I
don't have to use any weight and I'm kind of
stealthy and just picking that vegetation, especially that woody brush apart,
and how how much that can change as even vegetation

(55:02):
sits in on some of those cypress trees or buckbrush
or or whatever it is. You have to finesse fish
and those spawning areas, but man, you can just come
out with a load of fish, whether you're in fiberglass
or linanon boats when they get in that pattern.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
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

(55:40):
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.

(56:03):
They may come up and flash it a moving bait
like a spinner bait or a top water or a
buzz bait, but they're probably not going.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
To connect it.

Speaker 4 (56:09):
They're just wanting to push it out of the area
to like you mentioned, it's got you know, a weightless worm,
a wacky worm, or a weightless stickworm in those areas
may not a better way to catch them because it
falls in there naturally, it gets in that bed and
it becomes a predator in their bed, and they're going
to move that out of the way. So why not

(56:30):
why not just slow down and fish the bottom as
efficiently as you possibly.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Can, Yes, sir, all right, folks, you 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

(56:58):
when you're fishing close in time. Guys today have different
pulses coming out of these different types of electronic devices.
And are 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 (57:17):
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 is, popularity is going up, and we're all
back there in the back of the creeks and boats

(57:38):
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 sounds those fishery used

(58:01):
to hearing them, water basss, you know, feeding on shad,
crawfish noises, all these different things. So I think it
kind of masks that boat 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 back your rod

(58:22):
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. Fishing ear 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 of

(58:42):
the gundle of the boat. Boy, that gets my attention
real quick. I'm like, well, whoa, let's be quiet. Shelf
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. That fish is going to
find it and.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Hear it, Yes, sir, yes, sir Mark.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Can we talk a little bit too on on how
long those fish will actually 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 personally found that, especially up in Barkling,

(59:24):
Kentucky l eight, 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 (59:34):
Oh absolutely you can. And you know when those fish
move up the water gets up in those bushes and
they move in there. There 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 fawnie, a lot of them don't leave,
a lot of them will get back there in the

(59:55):
shade and just cool out and recuperate. The bluegills start
moving into to bed and they'll they'll ambush those bluegills.
But male bass will stay back there when the let
when the eggs are laid, they will stay there until
those eggs hatch. And once those eggs hatch, the fry
each at the individual fry, they will school together and

(01:00:15):
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 in the 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, that's

(01:00:37):
an awfully good time to toss a 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 large

(01:00:58):
mouth will stay back there with their baby, you know,
ten days to two weeks after they've they've hatched most
of the time. But a small mouth will hatch, will spawn,
lay those eggs, watch that bed until those fry hatch,
and then a lot of times those small mouths and
spotted bass they're off to the races and they're gone
back out into the deep water and just leave those

(01:01:19):
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 (01:01:28):
And I think it's important mark to point out to
people because bass spawn earlier then the bluegill and 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 a fry, more likely

(01:01:49):
there's a male bass there regarding them correct.

Speaker 4 (01:01:52):
Most of the time, it depends on how big they are, Jim.
You know, after those fry ben in the water column
for a couple of three weeks, 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 loof 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 inch

(01:02:14):
to an inch long, at that point that mail bass
will will go on about his way and there they
have to find for themselves that ball 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 you know,

(01:02:37):
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 invertently drag it
close to them and then you get your bite. So
a top water really comes into play in this early
post spawn.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
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
him come up hit. You know. That's to me, that's
a large mouse style. That's his character. That's that's who

(01:03:13):
he is, you know, and or she is, and that's
so cooled me. Talk about your favorite top water baits
during that period.

Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
Well, a popper is 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 sponing bed was.

(01:03:44):
I like that bait really well. A buzz bait. I
love a skipping buzz and 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 I'm getting more of my fish in the boat, Jim.
If there's one thing I'm not good at is bus

(01:04:06):
bait fishing. 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

(01:04:27):
skipping 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.

(01:04:50):
So 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 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 get over what they use the most

(01:05:12):
energy in the year's time for of spawning, and that
top water ba is just an easy, easy bite for them.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
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 and get

(01:05:43):
right back in the fish. And I hate 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 It can be very important
on whether or not you're getting into fish that are

(01:06:04):
biting or not biting. And it's no different than fishing
later in the year when fish get into that feeding 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

(01:06:24):
catch ten, fifteen to twenty fish on the same piece
of plastic, where in years past you'd be changing out
some of these cheaper plastic lures every fish that you catch.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
Well.

Speaker 4 (01:06:35):
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 Ewgen
GOLICOTSU hook, a five ought. And this thing is basically

(01:06:58):
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 loud
as a half ounce buzz bait. If you want the
most devastating strikes to that, you've ever seen. Pick up
a raid shed right in this post bomb period. It

(01:07:20):
comes through cover, it's relatively weedless. You can throw it
around the bushes, you can throw it around the yellow
flowers we have on Kentucky Lake. Any grass down the bank, whatever,
they will absolutely stomp this thing. And man, that rage
line has has put a lot of money in the
banks of me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:39):
That big snakehead on that raid shed. 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 (01:07:54):
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 quoted on that. Dad, I'm surprised. I'm
surprised I didn't lose the Roden reel. But it was
an amazing bite. One of the most devastating bites I've

(01:08:15):
ever seen in my life. And it was just a
three pounder.

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
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 in Westport Road. They'll
take care of all your electronic or problems with your motor,
your boat, et cetera. Go see him. Remember you never
get soaked by my friends at SMI Mark. You touched

(01:08:39):
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 debris

(01:09:01):
that's been brought up during that period where the lake
comes up the course hole that's stable. Talk about some
of your favorite baits then, and I got another before
we close out, but speak to those, because man I
left Throwing a spinner bait or swimming worm, a weightless
worm through the yellow flyers, it's crazy good.

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
Well, well, it can hold large numbers of fish. We
don't have a lot of cover left in Kentucky Lake.
And when those yellow flowers grow up, that old mustard
grows up, the bass just goes straight to it. And
a spinner bake 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. But

(01:09:41):
so one of the things I use Jim an awful
lot at 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 race crawl on the back of it, or maybe
a rage bug on the back of it, something with

(01:10:03):
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 jig and really through the
top of 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

(01:10:26):
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

(01:10:47):
learned on tour. Is exciting. 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 finesse worm with a small hook cooked in the

(01:11:08):
eggsack of the worm, and 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 violent 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,

(01:11:30):
your wife, your girlfriend, 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. A
whimsy again and a weightless worm.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
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 end of that post bar,
or sometimes in the spawn. It on the water temperature
and what's going on. But I seldom, if ever observed
blue yell beds without bass around them. Why are they there?

(01:12:09):
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 blue gill eggs. That is a
killer place to catch these bass. And if you know
where they are. I love throwing what I call just

(01:12:30):
small surface lures, whether it's like a small rapalla 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 that bluegill are big on their menu? There
ain't no question.

Speaker 4 (01:12:46):
Well, I mean, heck, I like to bluegill 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
it's the busfet, you know. It's they're really easy to find. Visually,
it looks like a lunar landscape with all these little

(01:13:08):
holes in the bottom of 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 as water
clears up and we stop having a lot of rain
showers and the level lake levels get stable, the blue

(01:13:29):
gill come up and they start spawning, and there's always
predators around those outside edges. I've had many days that
every blue veial beds you come to, there's two or
three or four or maybe even more than that, big
large amount around those those blue gill beds. And I mean,
I'm here in North Carolina this week getting ready for

(01:13:49):
an e lead event, 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 uh hopping 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

(01:14:11):
look for those blue gill beds because that is a
big source of food for big largemouth. I'm not talking
just about keepers. I'm talking about four five and six
pound largemouth. We'll we'll 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 gil bed.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
Well, we just kept. We just gave him on one
of my well kept secrets. But you've been padding enough
to share a bunch of years, so I thought i'd
reciprocate Mark, tell people how to follow you.

Speaker 4 (01:14:43):
Well, you can find me on YouTube at m M
Bass TV. That that's where we put most of our
Markman Indos Bass TV television shows after they've aired on
my local station here in Paducah. You can find me
on Instagram at Markman Indez Bass and that's where you
can do most of my see most of my social media.
But mmbass TV at YouTube, please like and subscribe and

(01:15:06):
get to see a lot of fishing techniques and we're
teaching a lot of people how to catch more fish
with our television show.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
Thanks so much, Mark, and best of luck to you
on the trail. I know you're gonna hit a home run, folks.
Hope you enjoyed this. We're out of here. Be careful
out there. God bless everybody.