It's the Terrible at Fishing radio show on Gold
Country Radio. Here's your fishing expert and
host, Michael Raffino. Welcome back to Terrible
at Fishing, everybody. Well, I am officially
going to tell you that according to Terrible
at Fishing, and Michael Raffino, your host, fishing
season has officially begun. The lakes are thawed,
the lakes are getting stocked, and fish are getting
caught in a slow way, but they're getting caught.
Now, I can tell you a secret, you know, and the
nice thing is only the those listening to this
program are going to know how to catch a big,
giant German brown trout. And that is to understand
where and when ODFW is stocking legal size rainbow
trouts. German brown trouts, they're hungry right
now, really hungry. And these guys are huge.
I mean, they're 30 inches, give or take. They
got mouths like, you know, like a large mouth
bass in width, but I mean, they got jaws. That'll
probably outdo a great white or a large mouth
bass. And they got teeth. I would not suggest
putting your hand inside a mouth of a brown.
These guys are looking for a meal. right now.
And this is, I mean, spring fishing is an incredibly
rich, tough, strategic fishing. Now, how do you
catch a big brown? Well, first time at right,
which is usually within three days of the stock
of legal size rainbow trouts. So follow those,
go to ODFW to the fishing and follow where they're
putting in legals, not trophies, legal size.
Legal size are, you know, six to 10 inches, you
know, they're pretty, you know, but they're going
to put in thousands of them, okay? And that noise,
you know, fish do make noise. They speak. almost
in a clicking sound. And when they dump in thousands
of these fish, it's a ruckus. And we all know
sound travels in water. It magnifies sound, right?
So it doesn't matter where they're putting them
in. The predators are going to hear them in the
lake. I don't care if they're at the other end
of the lake, you know, two miles away, they're
going to hear it. This is an amazing ruckus that
happens and it gets their attention. So for a
few days, those big predators are going to be
coming up over to that area. Now, like the woods
last week, got a good stocking at the main ramp.
So if you've ever And they've got their marina
in right now and they've got some of the rental
boats in so great for them Jade the manager there.
She is probably the best man marina manager you'll
ever ever ever have so Hats off to Jade. Good
job girl So the marina is up now They stocked
over at the main ramp, right? Thousands of these
things, right? Those things are holding, a lot
of them are holding underneath the marina. If
you go to the marina, you'll see a lot of trout.
Now, do you want to catch rainbow trout? Yeah,
you might. Me? No. I don't want to catch rainbow
trout. I want to catch what's eating them. Okay,
so. Two things are going to want to eat these
guys German Browns and largemouth bass which
are super hungry right now, but water is pretty
cold so More likely you're gonna go for the Browns,
but if you grab a big largemouth, you know a
seven -pounder You're a happy camper and you're
gonna catch them on the same bait That's the
cool thing about it. So now what? What type of
bait are you going to throw? Well, you're going
to throw a swim bait. Sometimes a glide bait,
a swim bait, something big. I know, I know. But
I mean, you get, there's two ways of fishing
right now. You can throw a tiny one sixteenth
of an ounce, you know, spinner and catch rainbow
trout. You can catch those. That's easy. Put
a jig down there, catch it. Boom. Super easy.
So if you get frustrated and you aren't catching
the big babies, you know the big guys Go small
you're gonna have two rods you're gonna have
a super heavy and you're gonna have an ultra
light so those are your two rods you're gonna
take fishing and That's if you if you're gonna
get frustrated with not catching a big one now
You're going to throw this thing out. Yeah, now
the nice thing about Brown's they like to hit
it's sun up and sundown Those are it's that's
when they are most active So you could switch
your fishing technique, you know a couple hours
into your fishing day or a couple hours at the
end of your fishing day And you're going to you're
going to throw big and you're going to run that
in an injured pattern. So what do I mean by an
injured pattern? Let it sink to about six to
ten feet. Okay? Maybe even off the bottom. And
you're going to not give it a steady retrieve.
You're going to give it a retrieve then stop.
You're going to give it a few tugs to get it
to change direction on you, your swim bait. And
you're just going to you know, give it some erratic
motion. Let the predator see that this is the
weak link. They will go for the weak link. And
this is a common thing in the wild. I mean, lions
don't go for what's in the middle of the herd.
They go for the stragglers outside of the herd.
Fish do the same thing. This is exciting, all
right guys? So you gotta get their first thing,
you know, sun up. And you got to get there at
sundown. And the beautiful thing about Lake of
the Woods, Lake of the Woods is a lake that is
open 24 hours a day. 24 hours a day. So you can
fish at midnight if you want. And it's gorgeous
at midnight. It really is. Lake Serene. The stars
are abundant above you. They're reflecting off
of the water. I can't tell you how beautiful
it is at night, although most of you know that.
So, but if you do night fishing, make sure that
you abide by, if you're on a boat or a kayak,
make sure you got your indicator lights, all
right? Very, very important. So if there's another
boat out there, they can see you. Or if you're
in trouble, you can you can go ahead and signal
a distress. So real important. So. Where was
I? Oh, yeah, time of day. Brown trout first thing
in the morning. We're looking, you know, sun
up half hour before sun up to hour and a half
after sun up in the morning. So I mean, you're
going to go out, you're launching in the dark.
OK. You're going to launch in the dark. And while
you're trolling, and you're going to be trolling,
you're going to troll Rainbow Bay. You're trolling
Rainbow Bay around the lodge point up to Aspen.
And you're going to come back around. So you're
going to go up and you're going to come back.
Trolling speed is really important. Do not. Troll
too fast. All right, it's just that You know,
you know, I'm talking You know dial a one if
you've got a you know, my boat is a sea eagle
fold cat Which I have a story to tell you about
that this week. I was all excited It's an inflatable
pontoon boat that's 12 a little over 12 feet
and I have a 40, you know what do you call them
40 for uh i don't know what it is anyway it's
a it's a it's the it's a trolling moulder by
newport my brain's a little broken this week
had what we call a uh an episode so my brain
is broken um i get it when i get excited i can
talk fluidly but if i have to think um i i can't
so anyway it's a newport it's the it's the biggest
12 -volt You know trolling motor and I put it
on a one Okay on my boat and I'm going slow one
and a half miles an hour. All right It's pretty
much what I'm doing and at one and a half miles
an hour I get a good action on my swim bait without
pulling it up. All right, I pause my boat Every
once in a while in order to work an area now
What areas do I work? Good question! Because,
you know, that's really a good question. They
stalked at the marina, right? They're holding
under the marina. If you're going to do some
pausing and play injured on your bait, you need
to do it in front of the marina. Alright? That's
where you need to go. Okay, so you're going to
you're making this this this this this route
and I do apologize if I start Stuttering this
week because of my brain injury But anyway get
back to this you're going to come around And
you're going to you're going to be in nine to
ten feet of water, okay? That's where you want
to be. Nine to ten feet of water. You want to
be fishing in that lower third of that water
column. Okay, so you're going to be working six
or seven feet deep down to the bottom. That's
where you want to work. Now why put so much effort
into catching a brown trout? Well, because brown
trouts are amazing. fish. Technically, you can
keep one, okay, from Lake of the Woods, but please
put it back. You know, you're gonna get excited,
and if you go to my YouTube channel, Terrible
at Fishing, there's me catching a 27 -inch, 9
-pound monster out of Lake of the Woods. These
things fight like you've never had a fight. If
you... There's a lot of people in Klamath Falls
that ocean fish. And so we go over Brookings
or wherever, Newport, and we go out on a boat
and we go ling cod fishing. Have you ever caught
a ling cod? If you've caught a ling cod, you
understand a German Brown. They have very, very
similar fights. These guys play tug of war with
you. They do not. you know, do what a rainbow
trout does or a bass does. Bass will shake your
hook out of their mouth. A rainbow trout will
break surface and fly through the air, shaking
their mouth in order to create slack and kicking
the hook out of their mouth. Not these guys.
They think they're Hulk Hogan or the Rock. You
know, they think they can play tug of war with
you and they are just pulling on you and you're
pulling back. This is real important to understand
your line and your drag. So set your drag to
just under your line's tolerance. All right.
So you're throwing I mean, you're throwing a
two ounce bait, maybe six ounce bait. Now I've
got, you know, 30 pound test on my heavy stuff.
And I've got a 30 pound test leader for a carbon.
So I set my tension at 25 pounds. So when I set
that hook, I can set it hard and keep that line
tight while I'm not breaking my line. Real important
to set your drag properly on this. Set the hook
and just play tug of war with him. When he turns
reel him in. When he wants to take it out let
him go. This is really the trick for any fishing
but These guys think they can out muscle you
and this is one of the best best Fish for you
to catch locally. All right, we're gonna take
a break We're gonna be back. We're gonna talk
more about fishing season Out in the backwoods
under the stars I turn in the radio from my old
car Go country radio on Friday night Terrible
at fishing, but it feels just right. Plus, we
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locally and beyond. Welcome back to Terrible
at Fishing. Boy, in our first segment, I get
all excited. So we're talking about catching
the big ones. And you know, big ones is what
we want, you know? I mean, we want to catch fish,
right? And we're starting to see some lakes start
to perk up a little bit. And you know, the stocking
schedules are in full swing right now. Dog Lake,
you know, somebody caught a four -pound largemouth
bass over at Dog Lake. Now, I will tell you one
thing, that's sort of a secret lake, Dog Lake.
I know it's like two hours away, but if you go
over to Drew's Reservoir and pass it, there's
a little lake called Dog Lake. Dog Lake does
not allow motor, you know, gas -powered motors
on the lake. It's a great kayaking lake, really
good kayaking lake, or canoe or whatever. It's
not a big lake, but if you look on a map, Dog
Lake, it has a great bass population. And you
can catch some incredible monsters out of that
lake, and it's easy, easy to fish. It's a very
simple fish in lake. You know, one thing about
cold water fishing for warm water fish. Warm
water fish are hungry, but they do get shocked
with cold water. So they'll come up and they'll
go back down deep. They'll come up and they'll
go back down because the warmer water is still
on the bottom of the lake. It hasn't had what
we call an inversion. And inversion is where
the cold water and warm water, they trade positions
in the lake. And this thermocline, which is a
separation, you know, sort of like a dead zone
between warm water and cold water, that is a
barrier that keeps these species from mixing.
But, just like in Italian, when we get hungry,
just stay away from our plates. They'll come,
you know, the largemouth bass will come up, they'll
hit, you know, they'll get what they want and
they'll go down. They usually do this on points,
okay, on points near a drop off. So, you wanna
find, if you got a fish finder or just go online
and look up a map of a lake, they're all free.
and you can just do it online and see where their
deep points are and their high points. Our lakes
are spilling over right now, okay? Our lakes
are spilling over. They are at max capacity.
So it doesn't matter where you are, you got good
water, okay? And we're starting to see some really
good fishing right now, but it's slower, okay?
We're catching them, but you gotta be more patient.
in cold water, because cold water fish, they're
lethargic. I mean, we just finished ice fishing
season, and we fish with a 30 inch rod that's
super, super flexible. Why? Because fish are
lethargic in cold water. You can barely feel
or see their bite. So it's important to focus
on your line. and the tip of your rod. I usually
have my index finger on the line, so I can feel
subtleties on the bite, so I can just feel it.
These are little tricks. When you feel that change
of tightness on the line, that's a nibble. That's
when you want to give it a quick flip. with your
wrist and try to set that hook. Don't expect
that these fish in cold water bite and run. They
don't usually. Now they can, but they don't usually.
So it's real important to feel that change in
tenseness on your line. And you do that by looking
at, you know, you've got a lightweight rod with
a fast tip or a moderate tip. The slower the
rod in action is, the more flexible the rod is.
So never buy a slow rod. It's like a wet noodle.
You can't set the hook and you can't keep the
hook in. So you want moderate to a moderate fast.
I mean a moderate fast to a fast. moderate fast
to a fast rod. You still want some stiffness
in your rod, but you want to see that tip move.
With your cold water fishing, this is how you're
fishing. Like I said, I usually have my index
finger on my line. I use a bait caster most of
the time, so it's important when I'm using a
bait caster. There are some really nice reels
out there that can launch very lightweight. I
use a Shimano Aldebaran BFS, which stands for
bait finesse system. Shimano is the only company
that can legally use the term BFS. BFS is trademarked
by Shimano. If you see another brand using BFS,
all three letters, and they're not Shimano, don't
trust them. That means they're already breaking
the law. And so would you trust anybody that
makes a bad first impression? No, you don't.
Now there are other companies that use bait finesse
and stop. They stop it and they don't use the
term bait finesse systems. So bait finesse tackle
is a term that is not trademarked or bait finesse
is not a term that is trademarked. So it's real
important when you're shopping for a quality
brand and with a good reputation that you kind
of look at do they honor the industry. And bait
finesse systems, BFS is only a Shimano, period.
Now other brands make bait finesse reels, but
reputable companies like Daiwa, Append, or whoever
else, they're not going to use bait finesse systems.
But other Chinese companies are going to do it,
and they do a lot of it. So... buyer beware just
buyer beware so Put your finger on your line
Keep an eye on that tip because they're going
to hit nice and soft now We talked about big
game fishing in the first segment now. We're
just going for any fishing In the segment, so
what do we what do we do? What do we do for?
Fishing right now. There are several different
things that we can do. All right, there's there's
Ned rigs and Ned rigs are a sort of a Half length
Senko worm and we put it on a mushroom headed
jig. So when it falls, the worm stands up on
the bottom of the lake or on the bed. Ned rigs
are a secret, okay? So you're learning another
secret, all right, right now. This is a really
good show. You really got to tell your friends
about this show. A ned rig is seldom used locally.
people, even advanced bass fishermen, they understand
the value of a net. If all else fails, we throw
the net. Because nets require patience, but they
always pay off. They always pay off. Everything
will hit a net. I've caught crappie on nets,
I've caught rainbow trout on nets. I've caught
the biggest bass, as you can imagine, and everything
else in between. Everything hits a net rig. It's
a small little worm that wiggles its little tail
at the bottom of the lake. And you're going to
drop it down, and the lighter the net rig, the
better. So don't go heavy. Don't put throw. you
know, a quarter ounce or on it. Okay. Just don't
throw this time of year. You're going to be throwing
the lightest Ned you can buy. Those Ned rigs
are cheap. They really are very cheap. You can
get one sixteenth of an ounce. Um, I wouldn't
throw more than one eighth of an ounce and put
a Ned on it. Now, what color Ned? All right.
This is another secret. Okay. Are you ready?
Trout see blue better than any other color. They
see blue better than any other color. I mean,
their eyes, their cones in their eyes, are tuned
to blue better than any other. Now, bass, okay,
they don't even have blue cones. So they can't
see blue, but they see it differently. All right,
so a lot of guys they they go blue and black
Okay, black and blue black and blue. Remember
that black and blue black and blue This is the
colors that you want to go to this time of year
black and blue now why go so dark because Typically
as spring progresses inversions happen remember
that thing where warm and cold water change positions
in the lake what ends up happening is that it
gets cloudy when that happens in a lake and they
can't fish cannot see color so they're going
to see profiles black and blue black and blue
dark baits work best this time of year all right
they just do And I people see me make and you
could see me you could buy my baits over at the
marina at Lake of the Woods Or just send me an
email and stop by my house here in Glamath and
but And I'll be in a secret to I'll be at the
gun and knife show this weekend the gonna knife
show I'll be there so yeah, you could talk to
me and my booth and you can You know, say hi,
see what I got. Tell me what you want. I make
it. No big deal. We'll make it. But black and
blue is really my colors for spring. You guys
have seen my show on YouTube channel and then
my show here. Six cents makes a hard bait called
black magic It is my favorite and my my the one
bait that I always catch my personal best on
Yeah, you know that that color scheme, which
is black and blue You'd be shocked Really really
shocked at how good a dark bait works in water
a Lot of people think okay. Well, how are the
fish seeing it? Well fish see profiles in this
time of year, okay? Now, in the summer, we may
switch it up and start going with some brighter
colors, you know, some shad designs, some white,
some silver, some pinks, and some lavenders.
Lavenders is one of my favorite. And as water
clears up, we will go ahead and change that.
Bubble gum, it's amazing. The bubble gum color
works really good in the summer. you know, it's
crazy, okay? So, I do love to switch up colors,
but this time of year, I'm going dark. You're
just going to go dark with black and blue. So,
look through worms that are black and blue, ned
rigs that are black and blue, and baits. If you
want to use a hard bait, black and blue. Darker
swim baits, okay? We want darker swim baits.
You might even want to go with a, well, with
swim baits you might want to go with a rainbow
trout design, but a darker rainbow trout design.
It's actually a lot of fun this time of year.
So, if you have time, stop by the fairgrounds
this week and say hi to me. I'll be there. at
the um in the swap meet area and when you get
out there be patient be patient but the big ones
follow the stocking schedule of legal size trouts
follow them okay work it within three days of
that stock and work early early morning late
late late in the day and work a swim bait in
that lower water column controlling it slowly
with pauses. Do that and you'll have a great
time fishing. Have fun. Tight lines everybody.
We'll see you guys out on the water. That was
Terrible at Fishing, the radio show with fishing
expert Michael Raffino. Check out Terrible at
Fishing on YouTube and tune in next week for
the next episode and more great fishing tips.
Terrible at Fishing, Fridays at 7pm on Gold Country
Radio.