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 finally got out
to Lake of the Woods this week. If you go to
my YouTube channel you'll actually see the trip.
And a buddy of mine actually came with his trailer,
so we put my boat in his trailer, and he took
us up there, and us being him, his son, and me.
And his son, Carr, actually, was in my boat with
me. Carr just graduated high school, so I went
to his graduation ceremony, and we're his party.
Carr did one of the most important things when
it comes to fishing a bait, and that's learning
the bait. So when you throw a bait, especially
a new bait, you have to understand the motion
of the bait, the speed of retrieve, what it will
do when you pop, you know, twitch the tip. And
so he threw it in the water. It's very impressive.
because obviously he watches my videos so he
was just pop pop pop and he was looking at the
different speeds this way when you throw it out
there you know what the bait is doing it's very
very important we were fishing for smallmouth
bass at lake of the woods we caught i think we
landed 14 or 15 into the boat and uh we lost
a few coming up to the boat And so, probably
a total of, I don't know, 17 to 20 smallmouth
bass. And we had a great time. We really did.
It was a beautiful day. A little windy. I almost
fell out of my boat because my seat became practically
unbolted. I know. So I had to do a little repair,
you know, while we were out there. But I didn't
fall out of the boat. And we had a really good
time out on Lake of the Woods. Lake of the Woods
is probably our best fishing hole because you
cannot not catch something out there if you're
doing it semi right. And we were using small
little hard baits that I painted. Little jerk
baits and topwater baits. And we were just putting
it in and we sometimes used a very small jig.
It'll just catch more and more stuff. So, I mean,
nobody goes out with me and doesn't catch a fish,
so that can't happen. When I started catching,
he still hasn't caught one. I was like, okay,
we got to switch it up. We got to put something
on his line that actually would catch a fish.
And I really was appreciative for them to go
through all this effort to get me up to the lake.
and it was such a friendly atmosphere up there.
People hugged me, they missed me. People who
live on the lake were happy to see me. A family
was visiting somewhere and I set their rod up
to catch fish and told them where to go and so
they subscribed to my channel and thank you very
much. and we took pictures together. Well, they
took pictures. I didn't take any pictures. But
it was a lot of fun. It was really a great day.
I usually don't go on Saturdays because it's
so crowded, but it was really fun to see everybody
and to mingle again and see old acquaintances
and people that... you know genuinely you know
I'm fond of and so anyway that was we caught
three species mostly smallmouth bass and he did
catch a perch and we did catch a few small dinks
of largemouths and we were using smaller baits
so anyway we had a good time And most of it was
caught between the Marina and Aspen, right along
that shoreline. Really, that's the best part,
best place to catch Smollies. Alright, this week,
now last week we focused a lot on topwater. But
this week we're going to focus on fishing soft
baits. And, you know, what is a soft bait? A
soft bait is basically, it feels like rubber.
But it's, you know, it's a plastic, it's called
plastisol. And I do make my own. This is a dead
-on plastic plastisol. And plastisol, when you
actually heat it up to 350 degrees, yeah, you'd
really do. Microwave. And then you add coloring
to it, you add flakes to it, then you pour it
into a mold or inject it into a mold. And these
things really can imitate a fantastic live bait
out there. Now one of my favorites you can buy
in a store is made by Berkeley. It's called a
Berkeley Power Bait. this is the the champ craw
I think that's what it's called champ craw anyway
it looks like looks like crawfish and you know
power bait does scent it it works it's all I
can say is that it works I'm not much for scent
because you know just doesn't work for me now
You can, even in fresh water, fish a soft bait
shrimp. And shrimp work! You can go ahead and
use a shrimp soft bait and run it on the bottom,
or even swim it. And we'll talk about techniques
and how to hook these up. and matching them to
a jig head. Now, I mean, at first, you don't
have to use a jig, but you can use what I enjoy,
weighted hooks. Weighted hooks basically give
me a Texas rig, if you ever know what a Texas
rig is, but technically that's pretty much what
it is. And when I make a bait, I can go ahead
and put it on this big old, you know, this hook.
It's got a weight on it to keep my fish, you
know, orientated just fine in there. And the
tip of the, the tip of the point, I can do what's
called a skin hook to it. So now I just pull
on my bait and I put the tip in there. And that
is a completely weedless bait. I could throw
it into the lily pads. I could throw it into,
well, any kind of cover, any kind of weed bed,
whatever I want. This is a great way of fishing.
So, I mean, this is a six inch swim bait. So,
you know, I love painting these. As soon as I
mold them, then I can paint them with an oil
base. um paint which doesn't come off and it
can I could get lots of different coloring like
this one I put sort of um veins red veins on
it and it kind of looks like a a kokanee that
is just starting to spawn you know so they get
into that red now there are I'm kind of introducing
you to the options right now. And then, in the
second part, we're going to talk about how to
fish them, okay? So, just like every week, we
have two 15 -minute segments. So, for a 15 -minute,
I tell you about all these different things.
So, that's a weighted hook on a big swim bait,
or even a small swim bait. So, I like small swim
baits too, and I like making them. Then there's
Ned Rigs, all right? Ned Rigs are fantastic.
Actually, last weekend I was using Neds and caught
a few fish on them. When I met that family, they
didn't catch anything on a spinner, which usually
a spinner is a all -purpose. It's just all -purpose.
So I gave them some Neds that I made. And Ned
rigs use a jig called a mushroom head. Now there's
two hooks. There's an extra wide gap and then
there's just a straight. So a mushroom head sits
on the bottom of the lake on the head, but straight
up. So this actually is one of the easiest ways
to get the fish's attention. when you're fishing
the bottom of the lake. Now, why would you use
an extra wide gap? Well, an extra wide gap allows
you to skinhook it. And again, making it very,
very weedless. So, and as the little worm, a
Ned is kind of like a half a Senko. You know,
it's a little short guy. Did I not put one in
front of me? Well, I didn't put one in front
of me. But we'll talk about that later in the
next segment. But if you use an extra wide gap
and skinhook it, you could toss it anywhere without
worrying about the hook catching on debris. And
as it sits on the bottom, it will wiggle. It
wiggles like a little itty -bitty worm. And that
little bit of motion is really good for catching
just about anything. To be honest, if they can
put their mouth over the hook, you will catch
it. Ned Rigs are a reliable thing. So, if all
else fails, you use a Ned, alright? Ned Rigs
require patience, which most fishermen you would
think have patience. No, we don't. A lot of fishermen,
especially bass fishermen, don't have patience
because we like to work our jigs and our rigs
and our baits. We like to be in touch with them
at all times. Well, a net rig, you throw it out
there and you don't touch it. Now, there are
what we call skirted jigs. A skirted jig, there's
lots of different kinds. There's lots of different
kinds. There's hinged ones, you know, and there's
non -hinged ones, some with weed guards, which
are a joke, and some without weed guards. But,
you know, they say that we... whatever. But these
right here are very, very nice because they get
the skirt gives off the impression of the flashing
or the reflection off of scales. So when you
do put something on here, you want it to be in
the same color range. So the soft plastic has
the same color range as the skirt. You want it
to look like it's one thing Does that make sense?
So if you've got a white skirt, you're gonna
put a white bait on there If you've got sort
of a bluegill or a purple you're gonna put like
You know something that has blues or greens purples,
you know in the bait So that's real important
because it's kind of look like a fish or a bug
or something And so the trailer, what we call
the trailer, that's the soft plastic we put on
it. The trailer has what we call primary motion.
Primary motion. And then that primary motion
is going to flap the skirt. That's our secondary
motion. So our trailer is our primary. Our trailers
are primary and as it moves, it's going to move
the skirt. The skirt creates that sparkly emotion
and the scales are shiny. Scales are shiny. They
change with light. That's what the skirt does.
So it imitates the image. a scaled creature.
So, you want to match them. Very important. Do
not put a white bait on a dark skirt. You just
don't do that. It won't work, alright? Alright,
so we're going to take a break. Now, in our next
segment, we're going to talk about how to fish
these things. That's real important. So, now
you know what they are. You know how to match
them. You know why you use different ones Next
we'll talk about how to use them So be right
back and stay tuned and thank you for supporting
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back to terrible at fishing everybody. This is
take two. You know sometimes I uh I start talking
and I forget to hit record. That probably never
happens to anybody else. But the nice thing is,
I mean, I could tell you anything. I'd say, oh,
I just caught a 10 pounder. Oh, sorry you missed
it. Sometimes. But I wouldn't do that to you.
I'd say it was 9 .5. So we talked about different
hooks. different jigs, how to match jig skirts.
Very important to match the skirt to the soft
bait. Now, when I make a bait, the bigger the
bait in soft baits, the stiffer I want to make
the Plastisol. So, I don't want this big one
to do what you know, my smaller baits do, because
it would flop all over. It wouldn't swim true.
So I actually have a stiffer formula that I could
do with this, and then smaller baits I can soften
that formula. So when you think about when I
make a bait or you buy one of my baits, I give
it a lot of thought. I really do. you buy one
of my swim baits, then you will get not only
a beautiful swim bait, but it's hand -painted.
I mean, because you really, really can't get,
you know, veins and stuff like that by just pouring
the the plastisol into the mold. I mean, I've
tried different variations of techniques, and
maybe I'm just not very good, but that paint
doesn't come off, so you're good. And then adding
the eyes. So, a swimbait on a weighted hook.
Now, these six inch swimbaits, I use an 8 -Ot
monster. And, uh, or not monster, but, uh, anyway,
8 -Ot. Oh, beast. Monster, beast, whatever. It
works. Or my Gamakatzas. So, I always try to
get a Gamakatsu, but if not, I go with a Beast.
But I think these are Beast hooks. And yeah,
and then my three aughts, those are Gamakatsus.
So know that I use really good hooks because
a good hook catches fish. It just does. It also
catches your finger, or leg, or your neighbor.
So these right here, you're going to skinhook
it and throw it anywhere you want. Throw it into
the lily pads and drop it down. Oh, sorry. Drop
it down. Let it drop in between the lily pads.
Just let it drop. And then move it a little bit
in between those holes. And then pop it back
up. You know, jump it over the lily pads and
let it drop again. Get it into a hole. Let it
drop. All right, frogs are hard to to to catch
with because you have to have that delay Right
that one one and a half second delay in order
for them to close their mouth this baby This
baby's a hook These are great Really really good
now if you were to get one of my um smaller ones
my three four inch three inch four inch i don't
know i can't remember these have the the same
hook except gamakatsu and you can do the exact
same thing with it now um ned rigs we're going
to save ned rigs towards the end um because The
Ned is the most reliable out of the bunch. Now,
we can go with a skirted jig. And with a skirted
jig, it's got all these danglies on it. All right,
it's got danglies. And you have to match the
trailer, which is what we call it, the trailer,
which is a soft plastic on this. And, you know,
here's a green pumpkin trailer. And I got a green
pumpkin bandito bug by Google. Google. Google.
Now, these are actually kind of long. That's
too long for that. It's just too long. You want
the trailer to be able to move the skirt. It's
called primary action. And this is the secondary
action. what you do is what I do I just bite
it off okay I just bite the head off and measure
it I want the the legs of this to move the skirt
so as I swim this and you're going to swim these
uh these jigs through the water the trailer is
going to you know swim It's going to swim. And
as it swims, that's the primary motion, it's
going to move the skirt. That's the secondary
motion. And between the primary and secondary,
it looks like a fish or a bug or something like
that. The more it moves, the more it swims. That's
why the, you know, we'll talk a little bit about
the dancing bones, but bandito bugs work really,
really well too. This right here will catch you
fish. And I like to bring them through the water
in sort of a, you know, bring them up, let them
drop. Bring them up and let them drop. And you
could drop it right down to the bottom of the
lake or just keep it at any part of the water
column. Now, because motion is very, very, very
important, what I do. Motion is very, very, very
important. You want a trailer that has a lot
of motion to it. One of the soft baits that I
make, which are the reason I bought the mold,
because these things are expensive and I could
only afford a single mold, you know, so know
that I have to do it over and over and over and
over again to make a package for you. But a dancing
bone is basically a vertebrae with ribs that
stick off of it and a tail on it. And it looks,
well, it looks like a skeleton is what it does,
but it has so much motion to it. A ton of movement.
But because it has this vertebrae, it doesn't
really last like something big and wide like
a bandito bug. And these things, if you bought
them, are four or five dollars each. I know.
So, I bought the mold. Because I can't afford
four or five dollars each. the Lake of the Woods
does have some of these couple packages of these
in stock and I do put a hook in there for you
so you can you know you have a really good hook
a Gamakatsu. So these right here you're going
to swim these and these things have so much primary
motion these the secondary motion the skirt goes
nuts so there's a lot of action and that's why
People spend four or five dollars each for these
now mind you that's not me. Okay. I'm half that
and These things right here work really work
just swim these up and down the water column
and Dancing bones, I mean look it up on the internet
dancing bones soft bait You'll see how crazy
it looks But I actually make these I actually
have a mold and I make them so they're fantastic
Okay, so oh my goodness Now, you know some of
these have you know weed guards I don't I don't
believe in weed guards. It just doesn't work
for me. Maybe I I still get it stuck. I still
pull up wheat so Alright, so there is, and I
told you in the first seven, Ned Rigs. Ned Rigs
come in two different ways, a straight hook or
an open, a wide gap hook. Now, which one do I
prefer? All depends where I'm casting it, to
be honest, because with a wide gap I could skin
hook it, and skin hooking it, I can punch it.
right through a canopy and just let it sit on
the bottom. And what it does, it just wiggles.
It just wiggles. Now, with this, I do not have
a Ned Rig mold. I always thought about buying
one, but never did. And still, you know, one
of those things, because Neds... These aren't
very expensive. They're just not expensive. And
so, you know, I might want to do it just for
me. But with swim baits, I'm just dropping stuff.
So swim baits, the swim baits are expensive and
I want to do stuff with it. So that's why I did
that. And then I, you know, I bought the dancing
bones because I can't afford five dollars of
plastic. I don't think most of you would want
to do that either. Then there's a straight hook.
I prefer using straight hooks because it just
sits down on the bottom of the lake and it just
stays there. If you're confident there's fish
around that area, they'll find it. send it down
to the bottom and let it sit. This is why a lot
of bass fishermen don't do nets. Because we like
to swim our baits, we like to work our baits,
we like to do stuff. So, you know, the two most
popular ways to catch fish that usually almost
always works is a drop shot and a net. And you
would think, you know, they're the two least
expensive ways to catch bass, too. And a Ned
rig will catch everything. It'll catch a brown
trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, any trout.
It'll catch catfish. Because they're bottom feeders.
They'll just run across this thing and eat it.
They'll catch anything that can put their mouth
over it. any bass, largemouth or smallmouth,
striped bass, whatever. This is probably the
most affordable and the most effective, yet it
is the least used technique out on the lake.
Now, that's the good thing. A lot of fishermen
do not use nets. like last weekend I did and
it worked and so when I gave my neds to this
one family which you know is again a custom it
actually is a paddle tail which I do have a mold
for and it works great because you can just leave
it on the bottom or you can swim it through the
the water column so the neds are effective and
what color It all depends. Now, we've talked
about color. So, go with dark baits in dark water.
Dark baits in dark water, because the profile
is very, very important. Go bright baits, really
bright baits, you know, white chartreuse in clear
water. So, if you are at Lake of the Woods, that's
clear water. If you are You know in upper Klamath,
that's not I mean, that's yucky water It's really
stained So depending on where you fish your color
choices are very important So dark colors in
dark water in stained water, you know Milky and
just doesn't you can't see very far and if you're
in a clear water lake like Lake of the Woods
You can see 12 feet you're going to use brighter
colors. And the reds, the chartreuse, the whites,
even purples, like lavender. Lavender works really
good at Lake of the Woods. So that's kind of
how you choose color. And as for your baits,
lighter works best. lighter works best. Heavier,
bigger fish typically, but usually we throw heavyers
through canopies, some punch through it, and
bigger hooks for bigger fish. I hope this helps
you this week. Thank you for tuning in to Terrible
at Fishing. I am recording this and it will be
also posted on my YouTube channel, Terrible at
Fishing. And thank you very much for supporting
Community Radio. Take care everybody and tight
lines. We'll see you out there. 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.