Finding & Catching Giant Kokanee/Trout Eating Bass! (Juice)

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All right.
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Welcome everyone to the Sirius Angler Podcast, where as always, our main course video will be talking and hopefully teaching you more about bass fishing.
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And of course, some random rabbit holes here and there.
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Whether you guys are here to learn or just hear some bassin conversation, you guys are in the right spot.
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As always, I'm your host, Bailey Eichbrett, and with me is the stash of Idaho, Mr.
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Adam Deakin back for another seriously western show.
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But uh, how's things shaking in Idaho, dude?
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We we talked last week and it sounds like you guys are basically in uh almost past spring at this point.
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Man, yeah, we've got I set spoke a little too soon because we've got some some cold weather rain kind of coming this weekend.
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Um, however, yeah, it's uh it's warming up.
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Spring is definitely here, trees are blooming.
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It's uh it's a great time to be out chasing turkeys and chasing bass.
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So uh, dude, I thought of you at Clear Lake, and around here, I've just been seeing, I mean, Clear Lake was insane, and then here I've been out on some ranches where like you just see a strutter ripping, ripping across a field, or you just hear one going crazy down a hill.
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So uh if you were in Idaho right now, or if you were at Clear Lake, you'd be losing your mind.
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Um I don't mean to steer down the the hunting rabbit hole, but I know we do have a lot of hunters on this show that do uh enjoy the occasional tangent.
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But uh, when is your guys' turkey season open?
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Right now-ish.
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Like uh I want to say April, like right around tax day normally.
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Okay.
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Yeah, ours are starting to go off here.
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Uh my buddy and I, we went out fishing uh last week, and uh I got there an hour before sunrise and rigging up rods and everything, and dude, I'm just sitting there.
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I slammed my truck door, and I'll hear I'm like, oh like here we go.
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I'm sitting there rigging tackle for 45 minutes, dude.
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Here I'm going, and I'm just sitting there in my mouth, like I'm rigging tackle, and they're just going ripping back, and I'm like, I didn't want to launch, dude, because I'm just sitting there having fun ripping with two, like three different groups of turkeys that were up on this hillside, and I'm just like, they're going here, they're going there, going there, and they're responding to everything.
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And like my buddy pulls up and they went gone quiet for a little bit, and he pulls up and he does the whole line of like, hey you guys, and here and I'm just like, like, these freaking turkeys are so stupid, dude.
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And I'm like, our season doesn't open up for a couple weeks, so I'm just fiending.
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I'm like, if you guys, if we're seasoned right now, I don't think it'd be mattering what I'm wearing.
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I'd have a shotgun in the kayak right now just to sneak off and shoot one.
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But it's it's a fun time, dude.
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We got a couple lakes around here that don't have houses on them, and uh it's dude, my ADHD, I I severely enjoy just bringing a mouth caller.
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Sometimes you don't even really need it uh while you're going fishing and just play with them while you're bassing, catching smallmouth, largemouth, and calling the turkeys while you're doing it.
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It's it's that beautiful time of year.
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Spring is a wonderful thing.
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Dude, 100 100%.
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I am right there with you.
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I find myself less and less, unfortunately, turkey hunting just between ranch real estate and fishing, like my spring is jammed, but like I need to make it a point.
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Like it's there's too many around to just exactly that, find a hot bird, whether you're fishing or I'm on a ranch tour and there's public land nearby or have permission, like, need to just have the shotgun in the truck and decoy ready to rip.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's for sure, man.
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Uh it's funny how these seasons kind of go from us from like obviously fishing's always on the mind, but whether it's deer season, turkey, whatever, just like my my comfort content lately, like when I get home and you know, rip a coffee and try to like set the day.
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I'm always I got I've been having hunting public on lately, all their their turkey tour and just getting the the the feel going for it all.
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But um headed down to Louisiana.
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I well, as this show comes out, I'll likely be on Cato or Bistin O Lake in Louisiana for our Brass or Kyogner this weekend.
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But uh definitely wish I was chasing some turkeys around.
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But um man, we have an awesome show today, though, with Joy Walton talking to some kokeney eaters and uh a guy from your neck of the woods.
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Dude, yeah, really, really cool show.
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Great breakdown in a lot of ways.
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Um, to me, man, I think uh I think that there's some really cool stuff to be learned biologically, like I mean, from the biological biology standpoint that you mentioned, talking to some of the Idaho fish and game biologists, in addition to, I think there's a lot of real world world knowledge, right, from guys that are in and every day spending time on these kokini fisheries with these truly magnificent world-class fish.
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So it's cool to hear uh some general breakdowns.
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If you've ever considered chasing coconut eaters on a body of water, this is a great show to hear from one of the best guys doing it.
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Absolutely.
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And it's kind of cool that he's roped in with some of the state agent biologists and all that stuff and helping them with studies.
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And it's cool when you have that angler state agency connect.
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Um, I think that's where we're these states are most efficient.
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So cool to see that.
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We dive into that a little bit uh and a lot more.
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But I think, man, without further ado, let's get on with Mr.
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Joey Walton.
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Let's do it.
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All right, folks.
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Now we are joined by the uh the smallmouth king.
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I'll crown him as uh the Pacific Northwest.
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We got Mr.
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Joey Walton here joining us on the show.
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And Joey, we were talking a little bit offline.
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I think we've been trying to make the show happen for what seems like the past like year and a half, two years, and now we finally like, yeah, we need to talk about some kokies.
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And we're like, who better than to get you on?
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So I'm glad this finally came to fruition, man, to get you on here.
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Right on.
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Thanks for having me, guys.
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Yeah, to to kind of bounce off that too, guys.
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Uh send in shows that you requested.
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This all you know kind of revamped in our mind because some people were like, hey, we'd love to see on seriously western and serious anglers something related to coconut eaters.
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I mean, it's such a unique thing.
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And man, Joey, you and I had a conversation at the ramp one day that just blew my mind.
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I mean, your knowledge on on how these fish act and how they're just different in so many ways was like, I just we gotta we gotta dive into this a little bit.
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I think it's uh it's worth sharing and understanding how unique, pelagic smallmouth can be chasing coconut.
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They're definitely uh they're definitely a task to catch sometimes, but they're they're around.
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So yeah, that's for dang sure.
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Um yeah, D, kick it off.
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Yeah, man.
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I mean, I think the biggest thing, I think, I think coconut eaters are just known kind of in this or or thought to be super pelagic and uh overall just move so often and they're so big, and they get to this certain age where they're just kind of key in on that specific bait species.
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But what is, I guess, maybe in your mind the biggest uh things to think about when it comes to like maybe think of a new guy who's maybe fished for smallmouth their whole life, traditionally catching them on certain ways, and not to say that stuff doesn't work, but where do you go with a new someone new that's that's fishing a kokonie fishery for the first time?
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How do they go about thinking about how those fish do things differently?
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Yeah, so um, like you said, the main thing, the main thing about it is like understanding what the bait does.
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I mean, a lot of people don't pay enough attention to what the bait do in a fishery, like you know, Dorshack.
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Um the thing about it is people, like you said, people go do their traditional things, throwing Ned rigs, throwing jigs, Sankos down the bank, and that's a great way to catch fish.
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Don't get me wrong.
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I mean, that's and you can get lucky up on the bank catching a five, six, seven pounder up on the bank doing that.
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But truthfully, if you want to figure out how to catch the big small mouth, you have to follow that bait.
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And another key thing is where is that bait sitting in the water column?
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And then what size of bait of cooking are they chewing on?
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Are they chewing on the big stuff?
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They're chewing on the mid-size, you know, five to seven inch rain, or are they chewing on the baby fry?
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You know, all that stuff is super important when you when you when you come to a fishery like this, I guess.
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If you're chasing the giants, you know, they're not always going to show themselves as well.
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Um, like you said, they're very lethargic in a sense because they are big.
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They don't got to move a crazy amount if they don't want to.
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You know, they'll they'll tuck up in rocks and stumps and just wait for a big old ball of coconut to go by them, ambush off the bottom real quick, go right back to where they were.
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And like understanding and and watching that, you know, you can find a spot where there's a bunch of bait and you don't see any fish out there on the point.
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Oh, there ain't no fish here.
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Oh no, they're there.
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They're there, they're just not ready to eat yet, or you haven't put something in front of their face, you know.
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So understanding where they're holding up, you know, and honestly, the depth and the size of the bait is really the most important thing.
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I have so many questions.
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Dude, I know.
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That's the first one do I want to ask first.
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Yeah, go ahead, Bailey.
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Yeah, I I guess just stemming off of what you've already been saying is like the different size bait.
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Uh, obviously, it's no secret.
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If anybody follows you, you catch freaking megas, dude.
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And so with that, like, are you always throwing the bait, trying to catch the biggest one in the pond?
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Or do you find that the big ones are getting on certain size bait by the day, or is it like a seasonal thing?
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So that's that's really kind of like a seasonal thing for me.
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Um, like right now, you know, the coconut have matured over the winter, you know, like, and the good thing is a lot of them have made it because we had a very mild winter.
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We didn't get those harsh temperatures where a lot of that fry might die off because they just they just don't get the heat that they need.
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Well, you know, if they do make it through that winter time, they grow and you know they grow and they grow.
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So progressing in the spring, you kind of want to up it up a little bit and throw a little bit bigger profile because the bait has grown.
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But the farther you get in the year, the bait gets bigger, you know, you just follow farther the year, the bigger the bait you get.
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And then once you kind of dip off into that fall transition, you're starting with big and you start working your way back down.
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You know, so later in the year you go smaller, smaller, smaller, smaller, because by August, September, you know, your coconut already spawned, you know, and that larger class is that spawned is dying off, and all that fry is starting to make its way back from up north all the way down to the deep pool south.
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So it's like, you know, if you can follow that that wave the whole way from the upper lake all the way down to the the bottom of the lake seasonal, you know, it is a timing deal.
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Like you gotta be around those big fish to catch them.
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So right now, when it when it comes to finding that bait, is this something that you're gonna look for structure first and then see if bait is present, or are you out going and idling until you find the bait, then go look for the fish?
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Drop that scope and put the trolling motor on 10, buddy.
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Because you're gonna find a ball of coconut in a bay or on a point, and you can come back five hours later and they're gone.
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You know, it's it's it's desolate.
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So, like what the thing is, is like once you get on a pile of bait, I mean, you're gonna want to just follow that ball of bait around.
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You know, it don't matter if they go out over a thousand feet of water or five hundred feet of water, you know, there's a lot of times them smallmouth will pull up off the bottom just suspend on them, you know, suspend under them over 500 feet of water and they're sitting under them 40 feet.
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So, you know, there's a lot of probably shouldn't tell too many people that, but there's a there's a few little tricks, you know, that you gotta you like I said, you just gotta stay around their forage.
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If you stay around their forage, you got active fish.
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So got it.
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And it it is hard to find the bait though, you gotta realize because sometimes sometimes the coconut just is sparse and they're in a hundred feet of water, 120 feet of water, and that's no joke, they're down there.
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So you know, sometimes it's just a grind.
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But mainly thing is you gotta find that bait to get those big ones.
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Man, I and and I'm thinking of of all sorts of different I've only fished, I don't know, five or six maybe different bodies of water where like coconut is a real factor.
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Um and I have struggled with that because you find you'll find coconut, I'll find them sometimes, and the bass aren't there, right?
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And then you and then the opposite of like I've seen it too, exactly, like set up like the same way that I've experienced on say table rock watching bass sit under balls of shad.
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Um they'll do the same thing.
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Yeah, just tiny little little little specks out there.
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But man, it's interesting to hear the different thought process, but you're you're first finding that bait primarily, and then you're just gonna pay attention to that bait and then wait for bass to get on them if the bass are not on them, or are you just looking for structure after finding that bait nearby?
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Yeah, so I'll pull up a like say I pull up on a big flat.
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Like I got a couple flats right now that are just absolutely just chalked full of bait.
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I mean, there's bait everywhere.
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I mean, you don't matter if you're you're 120 feet out, 50 feet down, you scan the scope and 108, it's nothing but bait, you know, and you're just sitting there watching, you know, going through, scanning through, scanning through.
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Then all of a sudden you see something on the bottom, looks maybe like a rock or a piece of structure, just pop up just a little bit, just gets a little antsy, just enough.
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Like you're literally dialing in, finding those blobs on the bottom that are moving.
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You know, you you can't see them all the time because they're just sitting.
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But once you find that little clue that you know that tells you that they're there, usually if you can get a bait down to them falling, because that's really honestly what they're looking for is falling bait.
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Because they'll blast through these schools of coconut, they'll eat what they can, kill multiple more, they'll go straight down to the bottom.
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You'll watch on scope.
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All the kokiny just spread out, and then there'll be three or two or three left, and they're just floating super slow on the water column.
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Those bass just super slow come up, just go back down.
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So I think ambush they kill and they eat at the same time.
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So this is like to your point earlier, Bailey, pre-show, like talking about brown fin tuna.
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This is like, I think of smallmouth as like tuna or killer whales, like orcas, like they're just they're just blowing through stuff and then picking up the scraps after.
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Like it's freaking awesome.
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And that's important to key through, you know, is like when you watch them on scope, you know, and you watch them come blowing through bait.
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You necessarily you can cast on them and sometimes get a bite when they're blowing through that bait, but that's not when you're gonna get your bite.
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They're so keyed in on this stuff that they don't even care about your bait.
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It's when they, oh, the bait moved, and these guys are trying to follow the bait.
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When it's just like just chill out for a second, wait for that bait to move and watch that same spot where those fish blew through, and you'll see two little, three little dots sitting there floating.
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And when you start seeing them come off the bottom, that's when you make your cast.
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And you drop that right through those three little blind bait fish, and they'll come up and eat it instantly.
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Wow.
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So there's not really like you're shaking it back.
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It's a timing deal.
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I don't shake.
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No, no shaking for me.
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No shake, hover in place, hovering just holding it still and just right in the middle of that dead bait.
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And if there's any sign of life, like that bait's not moving because it's dead, but if there's any sign of life or your jig moving through there, they're gonna attack it right away.
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Like, but you gotta wait like five to eight to ten minutes for them to come back up.
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You get what I'm saying?
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People rush themselves and follow that bait when they have no idea that when they leave that bait, they turn around.
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Those three fish or four giants that are coming off the bottom are coming to pick those, you know, pick the easy pickings.
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If you can catch those easy pickings, fish, those are the ones you want to catch.
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Yeah.
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They don't want to chase, they don't want to chase real hard for their food.
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They're big and fat, man.
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They're like a largemouth, they're like a lazy largemouth sitting under a log.
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That's crazy.
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I love to be in the boat watching that process happen, but I think trying to go do it right.
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I don't know if my ADHD could could do that.
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I think I'd be sitting there after like 10 seconds, you're like, all right, move on.
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It is a patient game, you know.
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Like when we're like I said, when we fish a derby and when the bait's dominant like that, it'll you know take us most all the day to catch five fish.
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Like, yeah, sure, we can go out and wreck two, three, four pounders all day if we want to.
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Like, but that's not what we're going for, you know.
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We may only get five, six bites in the tournament, but they're all big, you know.
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I mean, that's that's kind of how we approach that lake now.
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Dude, that's freaking sick.
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Man, I would love to to hear your because you've been fishing Dorshack and other Kokony fisheries pre-scope as well.
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Yeah, what has opened your eyes?
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I mean, one of my favorite parts about forward-facing sonar in general is just simply the learning, like you're saying, like watching this stuff happen is like to me, is the the top level would be clear enough water, like we were just at the super 60 and have to like watching stuff happen in real time.
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:28.640
I love that.
00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:34.799
Second best is watching it electronically and learning how these fish set up on bait and otherwise.
00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:49.599
But like, I'd love to hear some of the craziest things you've seen on forward facing and what was maybe a myth prior to forward facing that we all believed or you believed on that fishery that then changed your mind completely after seeing it firsthand.
00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:53.119
Um, the fish were always there.
00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:59.440
People sit there and go, oh, there's a down year, there's an up year, lottie day-da.
00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:04.960
In the past, before forward-facing sonar came out, people were like, Oh, they're not there no more.
00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:10.880
Or, you know, we're going through a cycle, you may catch a five or six pounder, somebody might get lucky, catch seven and eight throughout the year.
00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:16.640
But the thing that opened my mind was that spring we had a tournament up there and it was rough.
00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:18.160
It was rough bags, you know.
00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:26.319
And this was before forward-facing sonar, and I got I got it that summer, and we went into fall, and everybody was fishing this tournament.
00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:29.839
And then we hadn't touched the lake in months, and I got forward-facing sonar.
00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:34.960
I was the first one out there with it, and pulled up on this point, and I was like, let's just go out a little deeper.
00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:38.960
We went out deeper and I cast the A-rig over this point, eight-pounder ate it instantly.
00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.160
And the school of fish that I saw out there was unreal.
00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:46.240
We had that, we had that 35-pound limit in like an hour.
00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:47.839
Oh my god.
00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:49.119
An hour.
00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:51.279
It was just like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:53.039
And it was like 10 o'clock.
00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:58.960
And that's when it was like, you know, and that was pre like me knowing about fizzing fish and stuff like that.
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:02.319
I'll be honest with you, you know, I didn't know about catching deep fish like that.
00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:03.599
I had no idea.
00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.759
So, you know, we're cranking these eight and seven pounders and throwing them in the wells.
00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:10.880
And then in my mind, at 11 o'clock, I look in the well and they're not doing great.
00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:12.559
No, they're not doing great, you know, to be honest.
00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:14.079
And I'm like, yo, we gotta go.
00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:17.119
So we just skipped the whole rest of the six, seven hours of fishing.
00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:21.519
We went back to the ramp, grabbed ice, kept it, you know, tried to keep them healthy.
00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:26.000
But dude, the one thing that I learned is the fish are always there and they have always been there.
00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:29.440
And I just think they stage up differently at different times of the years.
00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:31.359
And before scope, nobody knew it.
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.000
Everybody went to the bank for bass fishing or 20 feet, you know.
00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:36.079
That's where everybody thought they were they were at.
00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.119
Well, that's not where they were at.
00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:40.240
Yeah.
00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:41.359
Yeah.
00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.160
Yeah.
00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:57.599
We were just diving into a little bit off off air here of the the seminar that I was uh I attended at the Black Bass Symposium uh in Texas this past summer, uh, which I think we believe the the guy's name that ran it was Eli.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:04.640
Uh at least who it's who you've been in in touch with that's putting some of the tracking stuff on these fish, and just seeing how far that they move.
00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:12.480
It's it's not like I imagine there's not very many areas, if any, that you pull up every time and there's likely gonna be one.
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:17.519
Yeah, it's especially when you got one fish that's willing to travel 52 miles in six days.
00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:19.599
That's that's insane.
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:23.359
Going back to the tuna name, that's a that's a freaking tuna.
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:26.720
And it's it's insane their movements, man.
00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:34.079
Yeah, and it's crazy because I've caught multiple fish up in the North Fork, up in the river arm that have been tagged, you know, with just orange tags, pit tags.
00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:38.000
And they, you know, you look them up and they're released at Dent or they're released down by the dam.
00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:46.880
You know, so it's not a it's not a it's a known fact that these smallmouth travel back and forth, back and forth, you know.
00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:48.480
They just follow the bait, you know.
00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:50.799
When the kokie starts going up, they follow the kokiny.
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.240
I mean, that's their food source.
00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:53.599
That's what the big ones do, man.
00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:56.480
They're gonna follow their food source, keep them fat and happy.
00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:57.920
Survival.
00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:58.960
So cool.
00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:05.920
I mean, I mean, we talk all the time, and it's interesting to see, like you said, a lot of this is public, public studies.
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:10.960
I mean, you can go and sift through the information that our our fishing game puts out.
00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:18.240
Um, and so it's interesting to because I've seen I've looked at some studies in Texas too, of like release fish, right?
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:29.359
Of like, okay, a guy catches an eight-pounder in a tournament at Sam Rayburn, and then like the relocation effect of these fish staying in a zone, or at least a portion of them staying, others going.
00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:37.200
But man, like you were saying with some of this tagged fish stuff, like they're able to track how far that fish moves in a day.
00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:41.119
Like, walk us through some of what these what these pelagic smallmouth are doing.
00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:54.480
Well, see, they it's crazy because when I was talking to Eli, and we were talking pretty good about the the tags, he said that he could tell temperature and he could tell they'd go up and down in depth.
00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.039
If they were close to a tracker and it was pinging them, he could tell the depth that they were going in and going back down.
00:21:59.200 --> 00:21:59.680
And he said that.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:07.279
They'd go up, they'd go up in the shallows for a half an hour, and then they'd go back down, you know, and like 45, 50 feet.
00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:09.920
Then they'd go back up and they'd do this three or four times a day.
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.000
They'd just go up shallow and then go back down.
00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:15.680
And he thinks, which I I kind of have the opposite.
00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:20.559
He thinks that they were going up there into the warmer water to digest and just up there.
00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:24.960
And that's why, you know, maybe you don't catch those big ones shallow as much because they're just up there digesting.
00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:27.440
And then they'd go back down and they'd eat deep.
00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:29.759
Then they come back up and digest again.
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:36.880
And I thought it was the other way around because certain times of the year in the winter, you can catch them dirt shallow.
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:41.839
I mean, dirt shallow, two feet of water in 48 degree water.
00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:43.279
And I think they're up there.
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:52.160
I honestly think they go up there and feed, grab them, grab them a nice little eight juvenile trout, coconut up there swimming in the shallows, and then head back down deep and chill.
00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:54.480
You know, and personally that's what I think they do.
00:22:54.559 --> 00:23:03.200
I and they just it's crazy how much they move because you will pull up on a spot and think that you caught big ones here before.
00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:06.799
Yeah, there's gonna be other big ones there, but they ain't the same fish.
00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:07.839
You know what I mean?
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:12.319
Like I think there's certain areas in the lake that big ones like to hold up on.
00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:13.839
They move to other spots.
00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.079
And I'm talking they m they'll move from Bay to Bay.
00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:29.200
I had a school of fish that was on one side of the lake, it would go sit on this, it would go sit on this rock, rock pile on this side of the lake, and then it'd go half a mile, you know, a mile to the left, and go sit up on another.
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:35.759
And this was these were the only fish in this area, and they would transfer back and forth, back and forth from creek to creek.
00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:39.359
And you just follow them, they'd be on one spot, and then I'd go, oh no, they're not here.
00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:40.400
Let's go to the other side.
00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:41.279
Yep, they're here.
00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:42.160
You go to that side.
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:42.799
No, they're not here.
00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:44.480
You go to the other side, yep, they're here.
00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:50.720
Like, I think they use multiple areas as their homes, like, and they they're all wired differently, you know what I mean?
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:59.920
Yeah, that's freaking sick, especially them like groups of them behaving completely different, but all have the same goal in mind to eat the same thing.
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:02.079
That makes things interesting.
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:12.160
Well, and it's crazy because certain times of the year you'll get you'll pull up on a point, and there's I'm not even kidding you, thousands of them, thousands in the summer.
00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:16.640
Like you throw top water out, like you got 80 of them coming up and trying to eat it.
00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:18.880
You know, it's hard to get a big one in the summer.
00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:22.799
Like, you can, like, as we've seen, Milliken got a big one there in the summer.
00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:27.839
Like, it's possible, but it's so hard because there's so many fish that want to eat, you know.
00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:30.559
And it's a pretty cool place, though.
00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:32.640
Yeah, no kidding.
00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:40.160
I like uh my mind, I've always kind of viewed and and I'll be the first to say, like, I don't I don't know that place very well.
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:47.519
I've been there maybe maybe I've had a week or week and a half amount of days on the water on that on that place.
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:51.279
I caught my PB there this last year while you were up there, which was sick.
00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:55.039
But like, dude, that place is hard.
00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:56.000
I mean hard.
00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.359
I struggle my tail off there most of the time.
00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:00.960
And it's interesting.
00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:11.839
I've always viewed it, and Bailey and I have this conversation a lot, just because based he's based in the northeast, a lot of time on the Great Lakes, otherwise, and I've spent some time out there as well.
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:22.960
And it's like, man, these these fish, there's just like I think there's, in my opinion, in the Pacific Northwest, we have less smallmouth per body of water in comparison.
00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:30.720
Like you look at like the Great Lakes, and like you're saying, in the winter, you can literally look at a school of 800 together, like it's insane.
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:34.799
But we have these freak giants, right?
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:49.920
That like are consistent in that six to eight pound range consistently, like, and it's in my opinion, a lot of it has to do with this forage base that we're talking about, but like, man, it can be so hard.
00:25:50.079 --> 00:26:00.960
Why do you think it can be so difficult on that body of water and other and I'll tell you exactly the straight reason why it's so hard on there is because everything looks good.
00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:07.599
People don't realize when you go there, the bass, the whole lake is habitat, you know.
00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:18.880
It's not like you're going to, it's not like you're going to a you know, some southern lake where you're out there side imaging looking for a rock pile or a brush pile, you know, or looking for standing trees or stuff like that.
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:25.200
Like people don't realize, like you can literally drop your trolling motor at the ramp and get on a rock bank.
00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:29.039
These fish, it does not matter where you go on the lake.
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:32.559
These fish have a stump, a rock, a flat to sit on.
00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:34.640
So it's like and they use them all, you know.
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:35.599
Why why stop?
00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:43.519
When they're when these fish move so much, they can just swim in their little house, you know, around the whole lake and just eat kokini constantly.
00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:50.000
They don't have to, they don't have to stop, you know, unless the bait stops and pulls up, but people don't realize that coconut move a lot.
00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:55.119
Kokini don't stay in the same areas like for a long time, you know?
00:26:55.359 --> 00:27:02.480
Yeah, maybe like maybe like a week, you know, you'll get them piled up in an area, but they're gonna all scatter out.
00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:07.039
They're gonna go deep, they're gonna go push out this way, push out that way, go find banks.
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:09.119
I mean, they're constantly following the coconut.
00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:18.720
So it's just honestly, it's pulling up on the right spot at the right time, and it's knowing it's knowing the feeding windows of the spots, I guess is what I'm saying.
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:20.799
Like this afternoon's always good.
00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:27.359
This spot's always good in the afternoon because the kokini pull up here, soaking their backs, lottie dotty, you know, there's fish behind them all the time.
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:31.920
Like, I mean, that's it's really picking your spots at the right times, you know.
00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:38.240
Yeah, because there are spots where in the morning, yeah, fish eat a lot better than other ones do.
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:44.720
And then in the afternoon, you know, in the midday, like when everybody thinks the bite's tough, there's areas on the lake where it ain't tough.
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:48.720
You know, there's biters everywhere at all times.
00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:49.359
Yeah.
00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:54.559
You mentioned getting on the trolling motor, putting it on 10, and just burning ground.
00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:55.119
Yep.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:28:01.839
At what point or what signs do you need to pull up the trolling motor and buzz to a different area of the lake?
00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:10.000
Like, is there a telltale sign of like, okay, I've gone 30 minutes and I haven't seen anything, just buzz a different area, or do you have a process for that?
00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:11.599
Turn around.
00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:15.519
Turn around straight up, dude.
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:17.279
You go down a bank.
00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:23.200
Just because, say you you stop there at 8 a.m., you go down this bank and you spend two hours on the bank.
00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:28.160
Well, by the time you get back to the starting spot that you wanted to fish at the end of the day, it's gonna be noon.
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:29.200
You know what I mean?
00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:30.960
Like these fish are down a bank.
00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:40.559
Like, if I know there's a bank that's got them, I'm gonna stay in that bank for the whole day, and I'm gonna beat them up until those five fish turn on.
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:44.319
Because once they turn on, if you get into the like I said, it's timing, man.
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:47.839
Once you get in the right area, you can get on them fast and quick.
00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:49.680
And big ones.
00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:53.359
Like it don't take nothing to find a school of six to eight pounders.
00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:05.599
I I'm curious, these fish, like when it comes to obviously very specific time of year, but like when they go to spawn, well, will you find a lot of them will spawn deep, or they will they come up in the shallow and do their deal?
00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:11.200
See, and that's the then that's another issue up here is usually during the spring when they spawn.
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:16.480
I think I think they do it a little early up here sometimes because they know that the water comes up.
00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:21.200
If their beds get too deep, the sun doesn't penetrate, doesn't incubate, incubate the eggs.
00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:22.000
They know that.
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:24.000
I mean, they're smart, you know, it's their house.
00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:25.920
I mean, it's their they're a wild animal.
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:28.400
I mean, they do it, that's what they do.
00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:41.200
So what I think what happens is if that wave, you know, early April, like I think it had already happened, you know, the water was getting into that 54-55 range out off these flats.
00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:47.920
Well, when it's muddy and up in there, we don't know how, you know, that could be 60 degrees up in that muddy water in this much water.
00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:51.839
You know, males could be baking beds up there, what females go up, dump them.
00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:55.440
She could dump them in five hours and be done.
00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:57.759
And then the water starts going up, you know.
00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:01.359
I mean, people don't realize that the water can come up six feet in a day.
00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:07.279
So it's like you always get just waves of spawners, and I think some big ones do it early.
00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:13.279
Like some of them, you know, may have been up there sniffing the shallows already.
00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:14.799
But that's cool.
00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:26.720
It's it's super interesting to me, and I and uh again, I've just always chatted with people as far as like, okay, what does the spawn look like on on places like that?
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:54.400
But it's it's not as cut and dry as a lot of smallmouth, you know, spawn fishing that you think about, or like because you have this crazy water fluctuation and muddy water generally, because it's all the stuff coming in in timber and and all this mess that we kind of get in a lot of these highland reservoirs when it comes to kokony places, like it's where it's they're normally in very steep reservoirs that fill up a lot with snow melt and otherwise.
00:30:54.559 --> 00:31:06.880
And so like it's it's interesting, it's not it doesn't make sense to me that they do so well spawning because it's not it's not like they're dealing with so many variables to make babies, like it's brutal.
00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:14.400
Like and the thing is, is you know, they'll they'll spawn all the way from mid-April, they'll spawn all the way to all the way to July.
00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:20.400
Like all the as the water comes up, you know, there's certain points that when the water gets over, they're nice and flat.
00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:26.319
And when the water gets full, they're in four feet of water the whole time after that, four to five, six feet of water.
00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:30.400
And then when the water comes back down, the top of those points will just be littered with bends.
00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:33.200
I'm talking, it just looks like dots, you know.
00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:40.160
And it's so it's like, you know, you get waves of of spawners definitely in these high lo highland reservoirs.
00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:47.119
So it's just it's a matter of, and right now with our water being so high, we might actually get a bed fish this year.
00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:48.160
Don't tell them.
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:50.640
Okay, that's cool.
00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:56.480
You're saying uh it came up 28 feet in what you said it was six days or something like that?
00:31:57.119 --> 00:31:59.440
Seven days, yeah, it came out in just that roof.
00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:02.720
That's so absurd to me, dude.
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:13.680
Because I was fishing all my my winter stuff, and then I let I didn't fish it because it got nasty that week, and then I went back the next week and I was fishing all my postball and stuff.
00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:16.799
So that I usually fish in June.
00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:37.680
Yeah, I mean, obviously it they're they're not the same, but it sounds similar to what uh talking with anglers that are from like the TVA, you know, on the Tennessee River where there's certain lakes like uh like Chicken Mauga, for example, that can the spawn could be so weird because they can drop the lake level five foot any day or rise it five foot where it can throw off.
00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:41.039
If they're in the spawn, they rise or drop it, it can fluctuate things.
00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:51.200
Where it sounds like it's pretty similar here in regards to any rain melt, snow melt, whatever that decides to go can fluctuate things and decide on which waves want to push up and which one don't.
00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:52.960
It's that's super interesting.
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:56.160
And it sounds like you just have fish all over the place that way at some point.
00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:58.000
Yeah, I mean, there's fish everywhere.
00:32:58.160 --> 00:32:58.880
I mean, it don't.
00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:01.200
I mean, you're right at the dam, dude.
00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:03.279
You can pull up and catch an eight-pounder off the dock.
00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:05.119
Like that's and that's no joke.
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:08.480
I mean, people, you know, there is a lot of little ones in there.
00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:14.720
I will say you can catch the snot out of the rats, but I'll tell you, just as many big ones in there as there are little ones.
00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:20.960
So, yeah, you drop you drop forward facing down, and you're like, I mean, it's like it's like looking at the zoo, man.
00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:22.960
It reminds me honestly of like Clear Lake.
00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:25.680
Like, Clear Lake is so frustrating because of that same thing.
00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:30.480
You look down and you're like, I'm looking at 40 pounds, like right now, with my eyeballs 100%.
00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:34.799
I've caught enough to know there's 40 pounds in front of me, and I can't get him to turn.
00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:39.839
And this is like every spot too, like every good point up there.
00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:44.640
There's 30 of them, got 35, 40 pounds of small mouse sitting on.
00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:46.799
That's absurd, dude.
00:33:47.039 --> 00:34:01.039
This is why, like, the whole I I kind of push back on some of the forward-facing argument because I dude if it was as easy as making a cast at everyone that we see, it would be a completely different world.
00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:02.880
Like, it is so hard to get them to eat.
00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:07.839
I can't I just find the I find it funny, like forward-facing sonar whole gig.
00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:09.679
Like, I mean, come on, guys.
00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:16.559
Like it's like you guys use side imaging, you guys are down imaging, 2D, and you know, it's like, what's the difference?
00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:22.079
I mean, come on, yeah, you can see them in real time, but honestly, I think it's made the fishing harder, you know?
00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:26.960
Yeah, you always sit there and be you want an honest truth and you want the honest facts about it.
00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:32.880
Forward facing sonar, you're in a disadvantage if you're using it out on some of these highland clear reservoirs.
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:36.239
Second you put it in the water, pew, gone.
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:40.000
So there's been a lot of times that I've been up there fishing without it.
00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:47.679
Like I just know where the fish are sitting, and it's just I turn it off, you know, because those fish are definitely feeling the ping now.
00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:55.679
We were just talking about that with uh shoot, who was it we were just speaking on this with?
00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:05.840
Um we were just talking about this uh a couple weeks ago, but they say that, yeah, for sure that they think the bass can feel this or feel or hear the sonar.
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:14.960
Uh and then we were talking about how like on lanier that some guys they'll find them and then basically find them, see the distance, and then pan away and then cast.
00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:19.360
That's if that's not telling enough.
00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:25.519
Like it's I mean, if if it was as magical as some people let it on to be, then we would have had world records by now.
00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:26.400
100%.
00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:34.000
Like it's not, you know, and trust me, like like Adam was saying, dude, I look at I look at eight, nine pounders every day.
00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:35.679
Doesn't mean you can catch them.
00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.079
Dude, they're you're you're literally throwing something into their house.
00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:43.599
Do you think they, you know, you think they don't know if it's real or fake?
00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:46.239
I mean, that's the whole goal is to trick them, you know.
00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:46.559
Right.
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:49.679
And those are yeah.
00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:57.199
I think if you're against forward facing, you're not allowed to use berade line, you're not allowed to use power poles, no spot lock.
00:35:57.440 --> 00:36:01.039
Because you can't you can't half-ass the argument, you know what I mean?
00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:04.400
You can't you can't complain about tech and then use use most of it.
00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:04.800
Right.
00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:06.559
Same thing, you know.
00:36:06.800 --> 00:36:07.119
Yeah.
00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:21.599
Well, man, I think to kind of wrap things up, I'd love to hear your take on just baits and techniques, maybe your three like guaranteed bite getters when it comes to kokony eaters.
00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:27.679
What are the three things that people can reach for when it comes to kokony, Chaser?
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:32.559
Gotta have the minnow, you know, anywhere from a five to seven-inch minnow.
00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:34.559
I've been throwing the Shindo a lot.
00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:39.519
Obviously, a glide bait and some sort of big Huddleston swim bait, buddy.
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:40.159
Okay.
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:45.039
So a boot tail, a glide, and a and a big minnow is what it sounds like.
00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:45.679
Yep.
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:50.320
I mean, you can you can get fancy and stuff with the koikis and the dice, you know.
00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:56.320
I play around with that stuff too, but that's like that's really windowy type stuff, you know.
00:36:56.960 --> 00:37:03.440
Like, but if you're fishing a kokie fishery, I mean you're looking you're looking for a big one, you're looking for a big one to chase, you know.
00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:06.480
Like when a big one wants to eat, she's looking for a big meal.
00:37:06.559 --> 00:37:12.559
She ain't looking for, you know, unless time of the year, but like a big one's always gonna need a big bait.
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:14.639
It sucks, you know.
00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:21.119
Like if you if you're about it and you want to go out and huck it all day, sometimes it's very, very, very rewarding.
00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:23.280
You gotta be patient with it.
00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:24.079
Yeah.
00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:35.199
Well, dude, if you don't mind me asking, on the on the middle stuff, because you mentioned you don't shake it, you know, you kind of want that bait to hover, you kind of with the trout that are dazed and confused and knocked out.
00:37:35.360 --> 00:37:39.199
Uh, what kind of jig head do you do you lean towards when throwing that?
00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:48.159
I pour a little uh it depends on what I'm doing, but I pour at a 16th and a 8th ounce little dinky ball head.
00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:51.920
Uh it's got a tiny little short shanked size one.
00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:56.639
Um it's basically like a crappie style jig, but it's got a steel head hook in it.
00:37:56.880 --> 00:38:00.000
And that's what I throw all my baby little minnows on.
00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:05.199
And I'll even throw my five-inch, my five-inch stuff on those little baby baby heads.
00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:17.519
Because the thing about a minnow, personally, with me, is if I'm throwing a six or seven-inch minnow, I don't care if the head's this big or the hooks this big setting up at the front, because usually your big ones are headshoting stuff, anyways.
00:38:17.760 --> 00:38:23.360
You know, to me, I want the most action out of my minnow.
00:38:23.599 --> 00:38:26.880
I want the less hook shank in my bait as possible.
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:31.679
And there's ways that you can play with play with your minnows to make them float differently, you know.
00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:36.960
Earplugs, remember that, dude.
00:38:37.199 --> 00:38:40.320
That is some juice because I I totally agree.
00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:55.519
I have found and I have boxes of three and four-ought, five-ought giant big minnow hooks on small jig heads, and my hookup ratio is so much better the smaller I go.
00:38:55.679 --> 00:38:59.199
I want a big because, like you said, they're eating it from the the head, anyways.
00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:07.360
I want them to be on a small hook, and that's such a good point with the the action, additional action that you're getting by just having that little baby.
00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:13.199
And like you said, it can be a strong hook, but you want it to be small in the front of there because it gets them anyways.
00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:23.840
You know, and like the thing is, like people call me crazy, but it's it's like I, you know, for some smallmouth, like sometimes up here, I'm throwing four-pound braid to a five-pound leader with a seven-inch minnow.
00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:29.280
But you have to realize the size of the hook that I'm using.
00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:31.199
I don't care about the bait, you know.
00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:34.239
That's not what's driving, that's not what's driving the hook.
00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:36.400
Like, I'm just looking to get the bite.
00:39:36.480 --> 00:39:40.159
If I get the bite, then we worry about landing the fish later, you know what I mean?
00:39:41.039 --> 00:40:08.960
Well, yeah, and because it's not like well, a lot of shaking, you know, when you're shaking or hovering a bait, it's typically those fish are tailing it from behind, whereas these fish are you're they're they're shark weaken it, you know, they're coming from above, and that goes to like where originally I was thinking I was watching all these guys that would you know not nose, you know, go through the nose when it's roping their their baits on, but they like give like half an inch and then rope it on so that it was like your front of your minnows kind of tailed over.
00:40:09.199 --> 00:40:16.159
And it I'm sure it definitely helps with like the rolling action, but it's more so they're doing that to hide as much of the jig head and the hook as they can.
00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:20.239
When I learned that and that clicked, that changed a lot of things too.
00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:25.280
It's you know, so especially coming from up from below, like, yeah, they can't see that, at least not in the world.
00:40:26.159 --> 00:40:33.440
I will give one more tip about the minnow here on herring fisheries, coqueney fisheries.
00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:36.880
The depth in which they eat.
00:40:37.360 --> 00:40:37.679
Okay.
00:40:38.480 --> 00:40:52.320
If you got smallmouth, any fish sit down 45, 50 feet of water, and you think that you got to get your minnow all the way down to them to eat it, you know, and they you get it down to them and they can pop off the bottom and you're you're fishing them in 35 feet and they're not eating it.
00:40:52.559 --> 00:41:01.760
Don't think that if you throw minnow out and you work it in five to ten feet of water and they're still sitting in 45 feet, that they won't come shooting up and try to eat it.
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:06.559
Find the zone where they eat the bait and you will find the big ones.
00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:09.360
I just love that, dude.
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:11.039
Dude, go ahead, D.
00:41:11.519 --> 00:41:18.400
I was just gonna say, I mean, that's something that I think Joe, you and I have talked about before at a ramp somewhere at a tournament or something.
00:41:18.480 --> 00:41:25.199
But like, do you relate herring fisheries similarly to to kokany fisheries?
00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:25.760
100%.
00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:26.800
100%.
00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:28.719
Pelagic bait fish chasers.
00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:33.360
You gotta realize, you know, if fish is if they're sitting on the bottom, that don't mean that they're eating stuff on the bottom.
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:35.840
That could just mean that they just want to be down there, you know.
00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:42.079
I'll be over 50 feet of water and I'll cast a minnow and I'll work it in eight feet of water, and I'll watch them just slowly come up.
00:41:42.320 --> 00:41:46.000
All of them start slowly coming up, and then one out of the group just beelines it.
00:41:46.159 --> 00:41:54.000
And like, if you get one out of the group from 45 feet, 30 feet of water to beeline it to your minnow that you're working in five feet of water, she's gonna eat it.
00:41:54.159 --> 00:41:55.599
Yo, that's the best feeling in the world.
00:41:55.679 --> 00:42:05.920
When you're seeing, you know, I'm just waiting for one to come out, and if she's coming out, then I start working a little bit faster towards the surface, I'll get ones to eat it off the top of the water, 44 degrees water, man.
00:42:06.159 --> 00:42:11.440
Like you gotta present the bait where they want to eat the fish, you know.
00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:14.800
If they're not eating fish on the bottom, you're not gonna get bit on the bottom.
00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:25.280
Like, I love that because uh the one example that really like I'd always assume the fish can see better than we give them credit for see or feel, whatever it is.
00:42:25.360 --> 00:42:33.199
But like I really saw it shine when I was in Lake Fork last year, you know, and people like all the water's dirty, whatever, like you got to put it on their nose.
00:42:33.280 --> 00:42:38.800
Well, dude, I was throwing that giant full cast koiki, and I had a fish on bottom in 20.
00:42:38.960 --> 00:42:41.840
And as soon as it splashed, starts coming up.
00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:43.280
And I'm like, what?
00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:45.440
And then so that changes things.
00:42:45.519 --> 00:42:51.519
But I was given this one line about uh from my buddy that fishes up here, who's a hammer uh Great Lakes smallmouth guy.
00:42:51.599 --> 00:42:58.159
But when he was talking about the same thing where he'll have fish deep that he keeps it super high up in the water column, he's like, You gotta think about it.
00:42:58.239 --> 00:43:03.599
He's like, To your point, they might be there on bottom, but that doesn't mean that they feed on bottom.
00:43:03.679 --> 00:43:08.880
Where he's like, You might be most comfortable in your bed, but it's not far to go 20 feet to the kitchen to grab something to eat.
00:43:09.039 --> 00:43:09.440
Damn.
00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:12.960
I'm just like, all right, say less.
00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:14.880
Like, man.
00:43:15.599 --> 00:43:17.039
Yeah, I love it, dude.
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:18.960
That's that's some sneaky stuff, man.
00:43:19.199 --> 00:43:24.000
Yeah, like you just find the zones, you know, that you know where those fish want to eat.
00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:29.840
Like, you know, you'll find a zone up there sometimes where it's like 15 feet, man.
00:43:30.159 --> 00:43:36.880
It don't matter if you're over 100 feet of water, it don't matter if you're in 15 feet of water, but 15 feet of water is where they're eating.
00:43:37.119 --> 00:43:40.400
Like it's just and it just shows true.
00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:42.239
You just gotta pay attention to that stuff.
00:43:42.960 --> 00:43:43.840
That's juice.
00:43:44.559 --> 00:43:47.760
Well, man, this has been like super informational.
00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:49.679
Appreciate you taking the time out.
00:43:49.760 --> 00:43:51.519
We'll definitely have to get you back on.
00:43:51.599 --> 00:43:59.280
But I know everything you've got going, people have if you're on have or living under a rock, this dude catches absolute mega smallmouth.
00:43:59.360 --> 00:44:02.159
Uh Puts a lot of people on their personal best.
00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:07.840
How do uh how do folks follow along with you and how can they book maybe a guide trip if they're interested?
00:44:08.079 --> 00:44:08.480
Yep.
00:44:08.559 --> 00:44:09.760
So we're starting back up.
00:44:09.840 --> 00:44:12.320
I'll be starting back up on the 22nd of April.
00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:15.199
Uh Stotts Fishing Adventures out of Orfino, Idaho.
00:44:15.280 --> 00:44:19.519
If you check them out, you know, um, I got the link on my Instagram as well.
00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:24.480
Um but yeah, call, get a hold of Lisa or Mel, and they'll hook you up with me.
00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:27.760
We'll go out for a good day of fishing, see if we can't get you a giant.
00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:28.480
Love it.
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:28.960
Yeah.
00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:33.679
Well, dude, it is your first time on this show, and everyone's first time.
00:44:33.840 --> 00:44:36.800
We'll always like to pitch them with this as the last question.
00:44:36.960 --> 00:44:43.599
Um, but if you can pick three different people, they don't have to be fishing related if you don't want them to.
00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:46.000
They could be alive a thousand years ago, alive today.
00:44:46.239 --> 00:44:49.519
You were to invite three different people, have a beer, have a steak, pick their brain.
00:44:49.679 --> 00:44:50.880
Who are you gonna invite?
00:44:51.360 --> 00:44:52.400
Man, that's hard, dude.
00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:53.920
You put me on the spot with this one.
00:44:54.159 --> 00:44:56.239
Yeah, we're horrible about prepping people for our shows.
00:44:56.559 --> 00:44:57.519
No, we don't ever prep.
00:44:57.599 --> 00:44:59.440
Yeah, like didn't let me think about it.
00:44:59.519 --> 00:45:00.800
Can be fishing people, though, too.
00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:02.800
It certainly can be fishing people as well.
00:45:02.880 --> 00:45:05.360
Yeah, well, one, I won't build dance for one.
00:45:05.519 --> 00:45:06.000
Let's go.
00:45:06.400 --> 00:45:08.719
Old Nance, you know, can't go wrong with him.
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:11.199
You gotta make me think about these other two.
00:45:11.920 --> 00:45:15.199
You know, man, I don't know.
00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:17.519
I'm thinking about somebody like way in the past.
00:45:17.760 --> 00:45:19.039
Yeah, you know, okay.
00:45:19.280 --> 00:45:22.239
I I always love this question while you're while you're pondering your other two.
00:45:22.320 --> 00:45:29.280
I always love this one because you can see a little bit into the mind of your guests, because you'll have guys that go straight, like, I don't care about anything but fishing.
00:45:29.360 --> 00:45:37.440
Then you got guys that'll do like I want Kobe Bryant, or this like you can tell there's guys that are a little bit nutty that will bring up some wild characters in the past.
00:45:38.480 --> 00:45:40.800
Like Chris Farley, dude.
00:45:44.239 --> 00:45:49.360
And then uh you know, maybe Ben Stiller.
00:45:49.519 --> 00:45:52.320
I know that sounds weird, but dude, I dig it.
00:45:52.639 --> 00:45:59.039
Kind of kind of those would be my my guys to we got some some actors in the boat and Bill Dance are all at dinner with you.
00:45:59.280 --> 00:46:09.840
The only reason why Stiller is because I loved him on heavyweights, if you've ever seen so dude, that might be one of my favorite three of that that's ever been given on this show, especially Chris Farley.
00:46:09.920 --> 00:46:11.280
I'm a giant Chris Farley fan.
00:46:11.440 --> 00:46:15.119
Oh man, talk about an entertaining dinner, that would be insane.
00:46:15.840 --> 00:46:16.480
Yeah.
00:46:16.960 --> 00:46:19.440
Well, as long as you woke up alive, right?
00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:21.519
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:23.679
Yeah, yeah.
00:46:23.760 --> 00:46:27.679
We we emphasis on the uh we say have a beer.
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:32.559
I think it might you'll need multiple if you got Chris Farley, Bill Dance, and Stiller at the table.
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:38.320
Maybe back in my old days when I still used to drink, but we yeah, we don't get any idea anymore.
00:46:38.639 --> 00:46:40.239
So yeah, that's awesome, man.
00:46:40.320 --> 00:46:43.039
Well, seriously again, uh like Deke said, appreciate the time, dude.
00:46:43.119 --> 00:46:45.119
And uh obviously appreciate the knowledge.
00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:48.239
I know we appreciate it, and uh the listeners definitely do too.
00:46:48.400 --> 00:46:52.960
But um good luck going forward, and obviously we'll be in touch and hopefully get you back on here, dude.
00:46:53.599 --> 00:46:54.239
Appreciate it, guys.
00:46:54.320 --> 00:46:54.559
Thank you.
00:46:54.639 --> 00:46:58.639
Catch them catch them up at Clear Lake, and we'll see you at Brownley Super 60.
00:46:58.719 --> 00:47:03.119
Bailey's also coming along to film some content and otherwise coming to Brownley, huh?
00:47:03.280 --> 00:47:03.840
Oh, yeah.
00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:06.800
Oh boy, we're gonna have such a fun time.
00:47:07.039 --> 00:47:09.679
All right, and that is gonna do it for today's show.
00:47:09.840 --> 00:47:21.440
Hopefully, you guys got some knowledge out of that because I know I definitely picked up a couple things uh from that that I'll be applying to my game and experimenting with here in the northeast anyway, or wherever my travels take me next.
00:47:21.599 --> 00:47:24.639
But uh, Deke, any any big takeaways from this one?
00:47:25.199 --> 00:47:28.079
Man, uh appreciate Joey's openness, man.
00:47:28.239 --> 00:47:29.920
Definitely gave some juice.
00:47:30.719 --> 00:47:51.920
I think in general, just how much the coconut eaters move, like understanding how big honestly, most coconut body of bodies of water are like to think of a smallmouth traveling 50 miles in the matter of a couple of days is insane.
00:47:52.800 --> 00:47:57.840
And uh, so just understanding that and then some of the key takeaways around the minnow, man.
00:47:57.920 --> 00:48:01.519
I mean, that's that uh that that was some juice.
00:48:01.760 --> 00:48:02.639
Absolutely, yeah.
00:48:02.719 --> 00:48:31.679
It's I'm still it it's burned into my brain that seminar from Idaho fishing game they did at the symposium where they were showing literally the trackers that they put on some of these fish that were caught supposedly by the anglers up on the north side of the lake, were tagged and released back at the ramp in the south end, returned back to where they were caught in the north end, which is like 50 miles or whatever the hell it is, and then also returned all the way back down to that ramp within two weeks.
00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:44.639
And so basically it just kind of extended their hunting ground, which is just as an angler, like if you don't nerd out on that kind of information, that is that is super sick to find out, and just how much some of these fish move.
00:48:44.719 --> 00:48:48.320
But it's what's cool though, when you look at obviously this is a different breed.
00:48:48.400 --> 00:48:58.639
This is you know, what Deacon was calling them orcas and tunas, and there's so many different cool little uh innuendos we can we can put out there, but like different fisheries change completely.
00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:04.639
Like, if you know there's been largemouth studies, I'm like you follow where like you let a largemouth go and it doesn't move more than a mile.
00:49:04.800 --> 00:49:17.280
Uh, but so it's it's when people say a bass is a bass, I think that's in general terms where like coconut eaters that a bass is a bass, I don't think applies in something like this, where it's they're completely different in how they behave anyway.
00:49:17.599 --> 00:49:18.960
Dude, so true.
00:49:19.199 --> 00:49:24.880
I just in in awe are thinking about how how these fish attack, right?
00:49:25.039 --> 00:49:27.760
And blow through these big bait fish.
00:49:27.920 --> 00:49:29.679
I mean, it's uh it's cool.
00:49:29.840 --> 00:49:39.840
It's cool to think about and see and massive protein source to get some really, really big smallmouth and spotted bass in other coconuting bodies of water.
00:49:40.079 --> 00:49:44.960
Yeah, that's the thing, you know, applying this to the herring stuff too can definitely be an advantage uh for some folks.
00:49:45.119 --> 00:49:47.760
But uh man, I we have brown fin tuna apparel.
00:49:47.840 --> 00:49:50.639
That's you know, this is exactly the kind of thing that we've marketed this towards.
00:49:50.719 --> 00:49:55.920
But I think we might need to make something out of orca because I think calling a big smallmouth an orca is pretty badass.
00:49:56.159 --> 00:49:57.519
Dude, they're orcas, man.
00:49:57.599 --> 00:49:58.159
That's what they are.
00:49:58.239 --> 00:50:00.880
They're freaking big old killer wells playing with seals up there.
00:50:02.559 --> 00:50:04.719
The seals are just koking salmon.
00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:08.559
Yeah, unless mobile, that's what I think sure.
00:50:08.719 --> 00:50:10.800
Yeah, but uh, dude, great show.
00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:14.480
Uh, anything to add for the folks before we wrap this sucker up?
00:50:15.599 --> 00:50:16.320
No, man.
00:50:16.400 --> 00:50:20.960
Uh, one one neat thing here we've got coming down the pipeline a little bit.
00:50:21.199 --> 00:50:26.559
Tease a little bit of what's to come with rec lending, some neat programs they are rolling out.
00:50:26.639 --> 00:50:30.239
So pay attention to some future shows on that.
00:50:30.719 --> 00:50:34.159
Uh, and then, like you're saying, we're both wearing some apparel right now.
00:50:34.320 --> 00:50:40.400
Go get you some serious angler apparel uh on our website and links below.
00:50:40.719 --> 00:50:41.360
Absolutely.
00:50:41.519 --> 00:50:44.639
We have an awesome episode coming up Wednesday with Logan Parks.
00:50:44.880 --> 00:50:50.159
He actually comes uh comes in literally from he's on Santi Cooper idling and everything.
00:50:50.239 --> 00:50:51.679
So he was on the water for that episode.
00:50:51.920 --> 00:50:52.400
So fun.
00:50:52.719 --> 00:50:54.400
So you have that to look forward to.
00:50:54.480 --> 00:50:56.480
But uh folks, appreciate you guys tuning in.
00:50:56.559 --> 00:51:01.199
If you are listening on Apple or Spotify and you haven't yet, leave us a rating and review.
00:51:01.360 --> 00:51:03.599
Actually, you know, DM us or email us too.
00:51:03.679 --> 00:51:10.480
If you do leave one with a screenshot of the review, and we'll we'll send you guys out uh some some serious angler stickers and things like that.
00:51:10.639 --> 00:51:11.679
Helps us out big time.
00:51:11.840 --> 00:51:15.840
Um, same goes for the folks that you know uh subscribe on YouTube, do the same thing.
00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:22.079
But appreciate all you guys tuning in, taking time out of your day to listen to this thing, and uh we'll see you guys on the next one.