It's the Terrible at Fishing radio show on Gold
Country Radio. Here's your fishing expert and
host Michael Ruffino. Welcome back to Terrible
at Fishing everybody. Well, I hope you've had
a great week. Now last week, I talked a lot about
topwater fishing in the different manners. I
kind of ran out of time towards the end, so I
really wanted to focus on Lily Pad Fishing this
week. And Lily Pad Fishing is one of those types
of fishing that, well, you really, really, really
are surprised by what's inside the Lily Pads.
Lily Pad Fishing, there's a lot of life hiding
inside the lily pads. And you're thinking, how
do I get a hook without getting snagged on every
single cast over into the lily pads? Well, we're
going to talk about that. But this right here,
we want to imitate sort of what the fish are
eating, right? So the fish, they love eating
little fish, of course, that are hiding in the
lily pads, but also frogs, rats, bulls, all sorts
of things that will...birds too, believe it or
not. The fish, they'll see movement up on top
of the lily pads and then they break surface.
We talked about that last week. And they break
surface and they hit them. Now, Again, if you
go to my Terrible at Fishing YouTube channel,
you'll see this video. And behind me right now,
I've got a lot of footage of fish hiding in what
we call cover. And lily pads offer the best cover.
It allows freedom of movement. It allows good
cover for the fish. And there's a lot of fish
down there. There just is. It's just the trick
of enticing them to come up and break surface
so you can catch them. And there's tricks to
catching fish with what we call soft bodies or
frogs. And frogs are, well, it's one of those
things that they eat. We're going to talk about,
you know, how to get baits to swim in between
the lily pads to swim or to jump on top of the
lily pads and how to and what are the best baits
for it. So, let's start with frogs. Start with
frogs. Now, last week I went into it a little
bit on frogs, but my favorite brand of frogs,
which has the best hookup rate, which is really
important, you're going to find out when you
fish with frogs, your hookup rate goes way down,
because there are tricks that you're fighting
your natural inclinations. in order to set the
hook better. You're just fighting yourself more
than the fish. So this brand is called Toad Thumper.
I'll put a link down below for on my YouTube
channel. Toad Thumper. And Toad Thumper does
something a couple things very, very different.
Toad Thumper takes those upturn hooks and they
mold them. The tip into the body itself. Now,
typically, with a frog, they will stand up above,
and then you've got to sort of bend them down,
which I do. I do bend them into the body, but
the problem about that, sometimes it hooks its
own body, and then you just don't get a hookup
at all, and that's what ends up happening. Then,
with a good soft body, you want it to be soft.
So, some plastics are thicker and they don't
crush as easily as some. And there's a Goldilocks
in the making of this rubber. And Toe Thumper
seems to have found the Goldilocks. So when the
fish bites down, they hook themselves much easier.
That's why your hook -up rate is better. Also,
if that wasn't enough, they don't fill up with
water as fast. And there are some, you know,
like these spiders, they fill up with water all
the time. every third cast I'm always squeezing
them and you squeeze them and you squeeze the
water out. The problem about them filling up
with water is that they sink and you don't want
them to sink. You want them to stay on top of
the water. The spiders are really fun. They just
don't last very long. They're fun though and
like I said last week it's fun to toss them towards
you know swimmers and let them freak out. But
with the Toe Thumper Frogs, these guys, I could
go, you know, 15 -20 casts with these without
squeezing them. And they have a little, you know,
valve on them that when you squeeze them, it'll
squirt it out any kind of water that they take
in. They're actually really, really good at not
taking in water. And those are really the three
keys to why I like this brand, Toad Thumper.
And so, you know, check them out online. See
what you think of them. But they are, they do
make, I do get better hookup ratios with these
than I do with other brands like Sixth Sense
or Drawing a Blank. I got a lot of them up there.
I can't remember all the brands, but you get
my head. Now, last week I talked about the two
types of frogs. Now, there's the popper and then
there's the walker. Okay, I prefer... Well, actually,
you know what? I don't really lean one way or
another. I'll usually start with a popper and
then maybe advance to the walker. Now, Poppers
splash more. They splash more. Walkers are more
subtle, and depending on the disposition of the
fish, one's going to work better than the other,
and that's what's going to end up happening.
Next, when it comes to frogs, you're going to
see lots of colors. Lots of colors. Some will
look like frogs. Some will look just like a real
frog. And you're thinking, wow, isn't that what
I should buy? Some will be white. Some will be
black with a little bit of, like, chartreuse
on it. So, you're thinking, well, which one do
I buy? Well, I can tell you from my experience.
I can tell you from my experience, at least here
in our area, no one color is going to be foolproof.
But black ones, strangely enough, a black frog
works really, really well for me. And it might
just be me, I don't know. But black frogs do
very, very well. In fact, strangely enough, black
baits work very, very well for me. So, typically,
and I've taught you guys this on my show before,
dark baits for dark water, light baits for light
water. What's it like underneath the lily pad
area? It's dark, right? The lily pads are shading
it, right? So this is actually a dark environment.
But when you come out of the lily pads, like
at Lake of the Woods, it's nice and clear. So
it's weird that you can have dark water next
to bright water. Maybe, maybe that's why the
black baits work better. in the lily pads. But
one thing about a frog, and this is why I told
you that this is the hardest form of fishing,
but it's very, very rewarding because of the
challenge it puts upon the fisherman. The challenge
is fighting your instincts. So what you do is
you're going to toss this baby okay toss it over
to on top of the the lily pads you're just gonna
toss it over there as far as you can they fly
pretty far and they're kind of heavy you know
relatively speaking and when you pull it back
you're just gonna walk it or pop it depending
on which one you have, and then all of a sudden
a big wake is going to happen and it's going
to push, the fish will push it up out of the
water and bite on it. What's your instinct? You
got it. You know, pull really, really hard right
when you see the splash, right? What ends up
happening? Well, largemouth bass have big mouths.
What you're going to do is you're going to pull
it right out of their mouth, and you're not going
to catch your fish. Very frustrating because
normally that would work. But with the topwater
bait, they've got a bite down on it. So if you
try to set the hook, If you try to set the hook
when their mouth is still open, you're just going
to pull it right out of their mouth, right? Because
they got to bite down and crush the body, and
then you can set the hook. Then you can set the
hook. So when the fish comes up out of the water,
their mouth is open, right? Their mouth won't
close until they dive back down into the water.
That's when you set the hook. This way, when
they're going up, you pull the hook right out.
You pull the bait right back out of their mouth.
You gotta wait. They bite down on the bite, and
now you can set the hook. That entire motion
typically takes one to two seconds. I know. You
have to fight. every instinct in your body to
not react to the splash. Because what you need
is that fish to dive. And at that point, they
close their mouth. That's when you set the hook.
Otherwise, just pop it right back out. And you're
thinking, man! You know immediately what you
did. You reacted on instinct. You have to delay
your set. So when they jump out and hit this,
then they, then they dive. And you got to think
1001, 1002, you know, right in that area 1001,
1002, right? That one plus second area to set
the hook. Sometimes I take a deep breath. So
as soon as they come out, I go, and then I set
the hook. I take a deep breath as soon as it
comes out of the water and then you can set the
hook. That makes this the toughest form of fishing.
It really is the hardest form of fishing because
every fisherman sets the hook immediately. Because
that's what we do, right? We throw it in the
water, we fill it, and then we set the hook.
Well, on frog fishing, or soft body, this, you
have to take a deep breath, wait one, maybe two
seconds, depending how big the jump is, and then
set the hook. But you cannot set the hook until
the fish starts to go down in the water, dives
down. that's when they bite down onto the soft
body and now the hook is exposed. Otherwise,
the hook won't be exposed and it's just going
to slip right out of their mouth. So if you're
wondering why soft bodies and frog fishing, to
be honest, frog fishing is really rewarding because
of the life that's underneath those. So, okay,
we're going to take a break because we're also
recording this for our radio show on Friday nights.
I want to thank you guys. Please listen to our
sponsors and we'll be right back. We're going
to talk about more about swimming baits in the
lily pads and what type of gear we need to have.
So we'll be right back. This is Dave. Dave makes
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I turn in the radio from my old car Go country
radio on Friday night terrible at fishing, but
it feels just right Okay, welcome back to terrible
at fishing. Well, I'm very happy that you guys
found my show Friday nights here on 103 .3 our
community channel here in Klamath Falls. You
can always find me. But here on also A Terrible
at Fishing on YouTube is another great place
to find me. So, plus you get to see the video.
So you get to see it. Now, what gear? We'll take
a break from the baits. What gear do you need?
Now, this is Lillipad fishing requires what we
call a heavy or extra heavy gear. Or else you're
just going to break a rod. Extra heavy gear can
handle a lot of pull. These fish are big, but
also you can pick up a lot of what I call salad.
This particular rod that I have in my hand is
made from a company called iRod. Now normally
I use Cajun rods for everything but they don't
make an extra heavy. So my frogging rod is an
iRod. It is the only Chinese made rod I have.
I tried to call and try to get a hold of some
American made companies but It's really hard
to get companies online or on the phone. So this
particular rod is a Genesis II Junior Swim. But
it is a heavy rod and it can handle lures up
to four ounces, which is pretty heavy, and is
seven foot eight inch. It's actually a pretty
long rod for a frogging rod, but it does very,
very well. I love using bait casters. Now, you
can use spinning reels if you want, but I enjoy
bait casters. And you're going to, with your
drag, you know, this is an Abu Garcia Max Pro.
I love this, only $80. It's an $80 reel, but
it's a really good reel. I have them on my heavy
and my extra heavy rods and they don't backlash
easily, so they do very, very well and they have
a really good drag on them. So these right here,
I've put on there a Power Pro line, a braided
line. Now, Why do I use braid? Because braid
does not stretch. Okay, braid line does not stretch,
and it's very, very strong. So on this I've got
a 40 pound test braid on here. Put this down.
I'm trying to, you know, it's a very low ceiling
in my basement. So, but a 40 pound test. Now,
You do not have to put a liter on your frogging
rod. Now typically you would put a liter like
a fluorocarbon liter on your line. You don't
have to do that when you're doing top water.
You just don't because the lung is not visible
to the fish. Everything's on top of the water,
right? I don't find it necessary to put a leader
on my topwater, my frogging rods. So, this right
here is my, this is my frogging setup. It works
really, really well. The Yabu Garcia Max Pro
is fantastic, or Pro Max, I don't know, I switched
the names on them. The drag, I mean, if you like
bait casters, bait casters, I have a really good
tutorial on Terrible at Fishing on YouTube that
will teach you how to use a bait caster. Also
my book, Terrible at Fishing, which you can get
on Amazon, I have a really good section on how
to use a bait caster. Bait casters can drive
you nuts when you first get it because you get
a lot of backlashes. But there is a method to
learning them that in 30 minutes I can have you
casting a bait caster without backlash. You're
always going to get a backlash once in a while.
Nobody's foolproof. And I have reels that are
$500 and the, you know, it can backlash and it
does. so it happens sometimes you just stop paying
attention or something and it's just you just
get it so that's kind of you need a heavy rod
really strong line okay really good reel that's
what you need to go lily pad fishing and this
time of year you cannot go wrong with lily pad
fishing right now that's why we're talking about
it because lily pads are very abundant and they're
very productive. At Lake of the Woods you got
three sets of lily pads pretty much. You got
them on the north end, just north of the Boy
Scout area. You got it in Rainbow Bay and the
best is the very southern end of the lake. It's
just huge and it's really, really a lot of fun.
There are other lakes like Dog Lake. I mean if
you don't mind driving a couple hours. Dog Lake
is a beast of lake for lily pad fishing and big
bass. Really, really, really, really good little
lake. They do not allow motors, gas motors on
the lake. They don't allow it. So if you actually
If you have a boat, you can only use a trolling
motor, but it's a great kayaking lake, small
boat, float tube, anything like that. It's a
great lake, and boy, you will catch some big,
old, nice, beautiful bass on Dog Lake. They got
a lot of chewy chubs in that lake, so you're
going to get a lot of those too. So, no big deal.
They actually talk. They're kind of weird. Then
you just toss them back. Kind of weird. But that's,
you know, another really, really good lake in
order to hit. Thompson Reservoir, not bad. Right
along the shoreline there you can find some nice
ones. So now we're going to talk about swimming
a bait. swimming a bait. Now, how do you swim
a bait in between lily pads? I mean, you're thinking,
okay, well, don't you? That would be really,
really hard to do, but it's not. So, I actually...
You guys know I make my own baits. So, I pour
baits. I paint baits. I do all sorts of things
with baits. I like making baits. And so one of
the things I pour is basically it's a swim bait.
It's a three inch, four inch, six inch, all sorts
of sizes of a swim bait with a paddle tail. A
neat thing about this is that when you get, I
use a weighted hook. I use a weighted hook. It's
got a weight on the hook itself. And then when
you put it through the bait, the tip of the hook,
the very tip of the hook, I do what I call it,
I skin hook it. So on the back, as this hook
comes up out of the bait, I push the tip into
the bait itself. It's a soft bait. Now it's completely
weedless. It's completely weedless. I throw this
on top of the the lily pads, and then there are
gaps in the lily pads, right? There's gaps. What
this does is that it'll jump on top, you know,
sort of flop on top of the lily pads, and then
when I get it to a gap, I let it sink, and it's
going to swim down, because it's got a paddle
tilt, and it's going to swim down in between
the lily pads, and then I'll pull it back up
and it's going to swim back up, get on top of
the lily pads until I drop it down again. This
method of using a soft swim bait with a weighted
hook, all right, skin hook it. This method works
very, very well also and you get a higher hookup
rate. So, you're fighting your instincts with
a hollow body, right? Because you gotta wait.
But the beautiful thing about it is that they
break surface. They push themselves up through
the lily pads and it's like it's an explosion.
Don't tell me that ain't fun to watch, because
it is fun to watch. With a swim -bait skin -hooked
with a weighted hook. This will go down and they'll
bite it. You don't see it. But I'll also tell
you too, even though this is very, very effective,
they're underwater inside all of that vegetation.
And you've got, this is why you have very strong
line and a strong rod. because these fish are
going to shake and travel. If they wrap themselves
around some of that vegetation, it's going to
take you a while in order to get that fish out.
With a soft body, you have an advantage. They're
going to be above the water line and when they
dive, you're going to set the hook and you're
going to try to keep them on top of the lily
pads, on top of the water. And if they dive too
fast, and they dive too deep, the odds of landing
it is minimized because they can swim around
and wrap that line around all that vegetation.
Another advantage to braided line. Braided line
is sharp, okay? It can cut the vegetation better
than mono or fluoro. So plastic lines just don't
have the abrasive quality as braided lines. Now,
I use a four -braid line by Power Pro, or yeah,
Power Pro, and four -braid works best for me.
You'll see lots of other lines out there with
8 braids, 10 braids, 12 braids, and you're thinking
more is better, right? No! More is not better.
It's just not better. You know why? It's because
in order for them to wind 10 or 12 or 8 lines,
those are smaller. They have smaller diameters.
strands are thicker diameter, so I've just had
much better success, especially working in environments
like this, with a knot breaking. I've had a lot
of 10 strands break on me. It drove me nuts,
but when I started researching it and thinking
about it, it's because they're smaller diameters.
So each strand is more fragile than a four strand
because those strands are thicker. I hope that
makes sense to you. One of my most successful
videos on my YouTube channel is, you know, lines
breaking. And it also was the reason that Casking
and I separated. we went our separate ways, because
I was affiliated with them at one time. They
make a lot of fishing line, and a lot of it you
can buy over at Sportsman's, but they can't make
a good line. They just cannot. They're just terrible
lines, and when it came down, you know, push
come to shove, I wasn't going to change my story
when they wanted me to change my story. And it
wasn't going to happen because I was losing baits,
I was losing catches, I was losing all sorts
of stuff on what I thought was a poorly made
line. Buying good line is worth it. You gotta
buy good line. If you don't buy good line, then
you're just going to lose a lot of stuff. So
I use floral, I use braided. Power Pro braided
4 strand and the color I use is moss green. Now
a lot of people, there's lots of colors and but
I use moss green and that seems to work really
really well for me. But I hope this week we've
helped you out on lily pad fishing. And then
go to my YouTube channel. I have videos behind
me right here and you can see some underwater
footage of what the fish look like in these thick
habitats. But anyway, thank you very much for
tuning in. I appreciate it very much and so does
our radio station. So thank you. Tight lines
to each and every one of you. Hopefully I'll
see you guys out on the water. That was terrible
at fishing the radio show with fishing expert
Michael Ruffino 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 7 p .m.. On gold country
radio