Catfish Conference Team:
Posted on June 21, 2021
CatCon Nation,
The Catfish Conference 2016 proudly presents “Locating and Targeting Trophy Catfish” by Champions David Shipman and Brooke Wilbanks.
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Here is a transcript of the video as well for those who may need it. This is an automatically generated transcription which means it may contain errors and inaccurate language and/or sentences.
00:06
how’s everybody we were going to talk
00:11
and we will about some of the ways we
00:15
used to just working to catch big
00:19
catfish but we brought our live well
00:21
this weekend mmm we’ve had it set up out
00:24
here we’ve had a lot of people look at
00:25
it and so we’re gonna talk about that
00:28
just a little bit mmm
00:30
my boat’s a center console it’s got two
00:33
live wells and I can carry handle 15 or
00:36
20 pound fish in it fine but I can’t
00:39
even put 50 pound fish in it but we have
00:43
to curl them to get them in there so we
00:45
decided to make us all homemade live
00:47
well you know I just took some cardboard
00:52
I’m just reading I’m seeing this if you
00:54
got a boat that doesn’t have a live well
00:56
or a big enough live oil which I’m sure
00:58
a lot of people do because I see two
00:59
boxes and Rubbermaid tote better but
01:06
anyway we made this loud will it I’ve
01:08
got about four hundred dollars in it
01:09
it’s just eighteen or sixteen gauge
01:12
aluminum it works real good and we’ve
01:15
got the oxygen system on them which
01:16
we’re we’re really trying to get
01:19
everybody to try this oxygen if you’re
01:21
not using it already because you don’t
01:23
have to have a lot of water in your live
01:25
well you can fill it pull them full of
01:28
fish and you turn that oxygen on low and
01:30
they they will just fight you at four
01:32
o’clock at afternoon getting them out of
01:34
there it’s a real good system and it’s
01:39
about four hundred dollars if you don’t
01:41
have a liar you can take a toolbox I
01:43
guess and put the oxygen on it but we’re
01:48
gonna try to get everybody that fishes
01:52
these tournaments to to try to take
01:54
better care of the fish I mean we’re
01:57
doing a pretty good job but we still see
02:00
a lot of dead fish every year but it’s
02:03
just something we brought that so that
02:05
people can look at its homemade it’s all
02:07
me and Brooke made all that stuff and we
02:09
had a friend of ours welded up it’s not
02:11
it may look complicated but it’s really
02:13
nothing to it but
02:16
that’s what that’s what we want to try
02:19
to do with this catfish confidence stuff
02:21
as it’s helping improve though taking
02:25
care of these fish and stuff but I guess
02:30
so you don’t want me to tell no secrets
02:33
on how we find our big fish but what we
02:37
do we go to a special new lake we’ve
02:41
never been owner a new river we cover a
02:44
lot of miles we feel the boat up and
02:47
it’s nothing for us to go 40 miles each
02:50
way from the way in and we I’m not
02:54
called we use our side-scan most of the
02:57
time that’s all I’ll do a side scan and
03:00
no we try to find structure like he
03:04
showed we don’t have we don’t have
03:05
pictures like Carl had but we try to
03:07
find structure like he’s showed you want
03:10
to go you know and we’ll mark all those
03:13
spots and then we spent about half a day
03:16
one day just looking for that structure
03:18
and stuff and marking them then we’ll
03:21
take our we take our sonar after we mark
03:23
those spots and go over it and see if we
03:25
can spot any big fish and if if they’re
03:30
on it doesn’t mean they’re going to bite
03:33
but we like to have about 10 spots
03:35
before every tournament you know the
03:39
trial we don’t do a lot of pre fishing
03:41
either like Carl said we we we may put a
03:43
bait down there with no hook in it and
03:45
see what we can do but even if we get a
03:48
bite like that we don’t we don’t hit
03:49
nothing very hard because I’m a firm
03:52
believer that you can know where your
03:54
spot out or run the fish off before the
03:57
tournament but we I don’t know how much
04:01
water anybody else covers I’ve seen
04:02
calling them way upriver and downriver
04:06
along with a few of the other guys but
04:09
we try to cover a lot of water that’s
04:12
our that’s our biggest thing when we’ve
04:14
had a lot of luck too because I think I
04:16
think a lot of look and catfishing you
04:20
may see those big fish down there
04:23
and no and it takes a while to find them
04:26
and we’ve got it well I’ve got a lot of
04:30
experience in Brooke has two we know
04:31
what we’re looking at we can tell you if
04:33
they’re 15 or 20 pound fish or if
04:35
they’re 40 to 60 pound fish our
04:38
electronics is the main thing we go by
04:40
and I heard Carl say a while ago believe
04:43
in your electronics that’s the first
04:45
thing we do you may pull up on a on the
04:48
best section a river drop off full of
04:50
stumps if you don’t see any fish down
04:53
there there’s nothing there that that
04:56
electronics going to show them if
04:58
they’re down there now some days they’re
04:59
glued to the bottom and you’re not going
05:02
to see them I’m not saying you can’t
05:03
catch a fish on Oh on a spot like that
05:06
but most time when they’re glued to the
05:09
bottom you’re going to get about every
05:10
once and while you’re lucky to get five
05:12
fish but our electronics is our main our
05:16
main goal we’ve caught some big fish
05:19
we’ve had some big wins allow that’s
05:22
look the fish bit when we were there and
05:24
you know we found their spots but but we
05:28
fished Memphis last year we ran 42 miles
05:31
one way from the tournament from where
05:33
we feast and we didn’t get any monster
05:37
fish but we we did win but that’s that’s
05:41
about all our our secret is we’ve got a
05:44
lot of lakes that we fished for years
05:45
that we already know places to go and
05:47
know we’ll go check them out and see if
05:51
the fish are there we never would hook
05:52
we never drop a bait down and we’ll hit
05:55
three or four spots during a tournament
05:57
our tournament day but hmm we’re also
06:01
consider on one spot if we know what
06:02
we’ve done in the past we can set there
06:04
three hours back in December I fished a
06:07
tournament and I knew what I had caught
06:10
there before I knew there was big fish
06:12
there you know three hours and 45
06:16
minutes later I caught a 75 pounder and
06:18
it was a one way in tournament one fish
06:20
tournament so it took me three hours and
06:23
45 minutes to get one bite but it but it
06:25
was the right back I think patience has
06:28
a lot to do with catching big fish
06:30
sometimes you can just pull up and you
06:33
get bam bam a couple of big ones only
06:35
immediately
06:36
me personally I don’t I don’t have that
06:38
look like that very often but we have we
06:44
have the patience I can tell you this
06:46
girl right here can set there 8 hours
06:48
for one bat and she never complains it’s
06:51
95 degree weather so you’ve got
06:54
something you won’t tell them Brooke I
06:59
guess y’all have any questions we’ll
07:02
answer them but uh that’s about all we
07:04
we do is just cover a lot of water on
07:07
the river a few days we try to pre fish
07:09
a couple of days and no cover as much
07:13
water as we can the Mississippi River
07:16
always changes you know you you may go
07:18
to a spot you’ve never done anything and
07:20
everybody be oh you know some good some
07:24
good areas blow it out in that thing or
07:26
something we’re not we’re not a
07:29
experienced shallow water people now
07:31
some of these folks I think in Santee
07:33
Cooper catch them in 3 or 4 foot of
07:35
water
07:35
we’re not experienced at that we fish
07:38
about 25 feet and deeper up to 70 or 80
07:42
feet but that’s just where we look for
07:44
our fish yet but we do look for
07:46
structure we really liked to fish
07:47
structure we’ve caught them in flats and
07:50
stuff before but we keep going over
07:54
these places until we see those big arcs
07:57
and know we know they’re down there and
08:01
next morning we’ll go hit them and we’ll
08:04
give them a couple three hours we don’t
08:05
do any good we’ll go the next spot but
08:08
that’s just the way we do our big fish
08:11
looking that’s how we found them cover a
08:14
lot of water and look for them on the
08:16
sonar Bob you know about that
08:29
she pretty tough on them secrets now
08:31
I’ll say does I mean how many people
08:38
tournament fish here if that’s in here
08:40
everybody
08:42
I don’t think does being puts it on us
08:46
pretty regular well I think it’s I think
08:53
it’s a big deal for us to all and I’m
08:57
sure I hadn’t been listening to what
09:00
people’s been talking about in here we
09:02
may be covering the same things but I I
09:05
think it’s so a really important issue
09:08
to to make sure that the fish are taken
09:12
care of I really believe in that we
09:15
don’t we’ve had a couple fish die over
09:17
the years we had one as a ten pound fish
09:20
that he didn’t last thirty minutes in
09:22
that live well with oxygen on him and
09:23
everything quit fishing and worked with
09:26
him a couple hours but he just some of
09:30
them I think just go into shock or
09:32
something and but as a general rule we
09:35
we don’t have those fish we don’t have
09:38
any trouble and I really believe it’s
09:39
the oxygen we’ve had it seven years now
09:42
we use it every tournament sometimes in
09:45
the winter you don’t have to have it but
09:46
you can you can open a live wolf those
09:49
fish are setting up you know looking
09:52
like normal then you don’t have any
09:53
problem but if they’re kind of rolled on
09:55
their side then you need to turn a
09:57
little oxygen element but we just hope
10:03
that it will help everybody eventually
10:04
gets the oxygen because I’m a hundred
10:06
percent believer that that’s the the
10:08
life of these fish and hopefully
10:11
everybody can start catching them big
10:13
ones keep looking and trusty dip
10:15
founders that’s what that’s what we do
10:17
the sonar I’m not real good on my side
10:20
scan it spotting a big fish but uh the
10:23
sonar I can I can find the structure and
10:25
then go over it with the sonar and I
10:28
know what they look like on that sonar
10:29
now so any other questions anybody want
10:34
to ask
10:41
brookey got something on side we got 20
10:43
more minutes or so
10:53
yeah the onus onarts a hundred pound
10:59
fish on my sonar I got to level 99 is
11:01
about the size of my finger it’s a big
11:03
arch and no but we see a lot of 50s and
11:09
60s there they’re probably about the
11:11
size of a pencil maybe about the size of
11:12
my it depends on the depth water too but
11:16
we’re usually 45 to 50 feet deep and
11:18
they’re about like my little finger fair
11:19
about sixty pound fish but you know I’ve
11:23
seen him on the side scan and a down
11:24
skin I know but it’s just I can’t I can
11:29
get within a few pounds of a big fish on
11:31
my sonar guessing it it you know if we
11:34
pulled up the spot about Memphis last
11:36
year and it was full of fish and I told
11:39
Brooke I said these are all 15 to 20
11:41
pounders well we caught 15 18 12 nothing
11:45
over 18 and no but it takes a lot of you
11:50
know we’ve got a lot of time on the
11:51
water I mean we spend days on the water
11:54
pre-fishing we don’t do any fishing
11:56
hardly we will troll or move from one
12:00
spot of the river to the next we spent
12:03
eight hours out there nothing but
12:04
reading the depth finder and know it’s
12:07
after two or three years of that then
12:10
you know what you’re seeing I have my
12:13
1199 for at least two years for I knew
12:17
what I was looking at on it and I heard
12:19
Carl talk about that it takes a lot of
12:21
time on the water
12:22
these depth finders are expensive but
12:25
they’re well worth the money if you’re
12:26
going to turn them a fish because I once
12:29
I learned what people kept telling me
12:31
look that’s a fish out there and I’m
12:33
thinking that now let ain’t no fish but
12:34
it was you just got to know what you’re
12:36
looking at the screen you’ve got on
12:39
whether its own side scanner or down
12:43
scan inside scan the further out your
12:45
scanning you know the smile of the fish
12:47
are going but you’ve got to know what
12:49
area water you’re covering and that’s
12:51
gonna tell you you know determine what
12:54
size fish you’re looking at it’s not
12:56
just what you see on the screen it’s the
12:57
settings you have on that screen also is
12:59
going to determine and I’m sure most
13:02
everybody probably knows
13:03
but but I didn’t it took me two or three
13:05
years to learn my how many I got a
13:07
hummingbird it took me two or three
13:09
years to learn how to use it and of
13:13
course I’ve got all the confidence in
13:15
the world in it I know what I’m looking
13:16
at I know the size tree it’s down there
13:18
how big around it is it’s great it’s
13:21
great this technology’s great now for
13:23
that searching for fish I don’t know how
13:26
they hide from us you know they don’t
13:28
have a chance
13:31
Brooks got something she won’t say I
13:33
know but now yeah
13:43
David bottom-dwellers our sponsor he’s
13:46
he’s got these tanks he’s got the
13:49
diffusers that goes in the lab well mine
13:53
I bought about seven years ago there was
13:56
two hundred dollars for the diffuser
13:57
that he’s got them out there for $49 or
14:00
$45 that’s stuff that’s you know for two
14:04
three hundred bucks you get this oxygen
14:06
put on your live well it’s cheap I think
14:11
if you if you can save one big fish
14:14
especially if you’re in a tournament
14:15
then it’ll you know if you watch the
14:17
place and that tournament something
14:19
that’d be worth checking into and
14:21
investing in it and now my good friend
14:25
it just left here don’t use oxygen I
14:27
don’t hey gets by faster Carl he’s got a
14:31
big pump on his live oil and the sprays
14:33
and moves a lot of water and changes his
14:35
water pretty regular but I would not
14:37
ever go back without it myself I
14:40
absolutely love it we do change out our
14:45
water we we’ve got a pretty good-sized
14:46
filter over there it depends on the fish
14:49
it depends I think if the rivers rough
14:51
they tend to throw up what they’ve eaten
14:54
in the last little while
14:56
that creates ammonia so we try to get
14:59
all that out and if we keep a check on
15:01
them if it’s calm day they’d do pretty
15:04
good but you can see that stuff they
15:06
spit up in there and that all needs to
15:08
come out and of course we’ve got this
15:11
thing rigged for this this just comes
15:14
loose and you fold it over the side of
15:16
the boat and it pumps
15:17
out you know and we actually fill this
15:19
with a five-gallon bucket we had a pump
15:21
on it and it it was it worked okay it
15:27
worked fine but you had that extra hose
15:28
that extra pump in the boat so we about
15:31
five or six five-gallon buckets full and
15:33
it’s got all the water and it needs so
15:34
we just fill it with a bucket now but we
15:37
got it rigged we could drain it here but
15:39
we got it rigged for that pipe we’ll
15:41
just swing over the side of the boat in
15:42
about five minutes it pumps itself out
15:45
have to clean the filter out we have a
15:49
sprayer inside and when it slows down
15:51
you’ll know your filters kind of getting
15:54
clogged up so it just unscrews we’ve got
15:56
a water hose on the boat we just wash it
15:58
out and stick it right back in yeah
16:01
that’s it I think it’s as equally
16:02
important to all to get that ammonia
16:06
filled water out because that filter
16:09
catch a lot of that stuff but we’ve got
16:11
a screen inside nothing beat can get in
16:13
there so the big pieces of fish that
16:16
they’ve eaten and stuff they’ll spit
16:18
that out in the lab well we have to get
16:20
that out with pair of pliers or
16:22
something but we don’t usually change
16:24
our water over once or twice in an
16:26
eight-hour tournament but we do change
16:30
it and I think it helps but this is you
16:38
know what this is just a rigged up live
16:41
well but it that thing works so good if
16:44
you know I’m just kind of proud of that
16:48
lab well to be honest with you because
16:49
uh we just kind of built it as we went
16:53
along it works great and no that door
16:57
came from a camper supply place where
17:03
you know I guess they buy those doors to
17:04
put on the side of those campers you
17:06
know it was like thirty bucks I mean
17:08
it’s just oh it’s something that can be
17:10
done it’s it’s a neat look it looks
17:13
complicated but it’s not complicated at
17:15
all we put the carpet on it
17:17
so we’re in the summertime we wet that
17:19
carpet just in case it gets hot we do
17:22
have a top on our boat to keep the Sun
17:24
off of it but you can wet that carpet
17:26
and keep it cool on the sides because
17:28
it’s aluminum
17:29
but it just we just have no problems at
17:31
all with our fish and I’m proud of that
17:34
fact that we don’t and I’m just hoping
17:37
everybody in the future you know either
17:41
gets oxygen or upgrade upgrade their
17:46
live well if they don’t have a real good
17:48
one most of the boats you get now is got
17:51
a big live weld in them these boat
17:53
companies are started making them more
17:54
they’re sufficient for a big catfish
17:57
tournament but we got proof here that
18:00
you whatever kind of boat you got you
18:02
can have a decent live wheel in it that
18:04
works good you know for four or five
18:06
hundred bucks this is a ninety five
18:10
gallon I had to have a friend of mine
18:12
figure that I don’t know how to figure
18:14
it but he measured it’s just the 95
18:16
gallon would just not be huh now he he
18:23
knew how to calculate it somehow length
18:26
width and but it’s right at ninety five
18:29
gallons most of the sea art boats have a
18:31
hundred gallon live oil in them now I
18:33
think are bigger so this is not a great
18:36
big live well but it’s big enough you
18:37
know you can put two sixty s in there
18:39
and you three small fish and they’re
18:40
fine it looks crowded but it’s not but
18:46
we kind of proud it it it works good we
18:50
plan on using it a lot this year but we
18:55
fish a lot of tournaments and we have
18:57
fun we’re so proud to be a part of this
18:59
thing here we fished 17 or 18
19:02
tournaments last year she’s got us down
19:05
for 20 this year and no we’re just we’re
19:10
real fortunate to be a part of this
19:11
catfishing organization or whatever you
19:16
called it we just we just have a ball
19:17
that ever tournament we go to we don’t
19:20
get to go to some that we’d like to go
19:21
too far off but we’ve had a lot of
19:25
success we’ve been lucky and we’re we
19:28
consider our surf pretty decent
19:30
fishermen to you but but we have had
19:31
some look well
19:34
her daddy had her on the water since she
19:36
was about that high I’m glad he did I
19:38
took her fish you know
19:41
she wanted to catch her a big fish I
19:43
took her fishing and it was 95 degrees
19:46
that day it was on wheeler
19:48
I always caught a 60 or 50 or 60 or 70
19:51
at with her every time I went and that
19:54
day we caught three fish the big ones
19:56
about 30 pounds that was hot and I
20:00
thought man I’ve learnt this young girl
20:02
you know she’ll never gonna go back in
20:04
another boat but she never said a word
20:06
all day long never complained to be at
20:09
next Saturday I said we’ll go try it
20:11
again if you want to I’m ready so she’s
20:13
she’s a die-hard fisherman for sure and
20:17
she’s she pretty good at it except when
20:20
she gets hung up by we’re on the
20:21
Mississippi River
20:22
she’ll I’m hung David I’m hung so I’ll
20:26
I’ll crank the big motor and start
20:28
upriver and of course she can’t break
20:30
the line it’s hundred-pound line and
20:32
she’ll take the steering wheel and I’ll
20:34
get her boat I met her a rod and a tile
20:37
or something to break I’ll pick up on a
20:39
rod first and it goes and I had to hand
20:42
it back to her you’re not hung you got a
20:44
big fish that’s happening about three
20:46
times so far so she’s hanging when she
20:49
gets home you can get the net because
20:51
she’s got a big butt yeah we’ve done
20:56
that quite a few times it he Madrid your
20:59
before last and you Madrid up there she
21:02
hung up one there no I was gonna break
21:05
her off I think she got it in it was 66
21:08
something but she was hung on the bottom
21:11
first I think it I think she hung a
21:13
bottom first encounter fish but she’s a
21:17
good partner she I’m really proud to
21:19
have her started when she was I had no
21:23
idea I’d be fishing with her she’d like
21:24
these tournaments or nothing but when we
21:26
first started fishing was just strictly
21:28
trying to get her a big fish we finally
21:31
did get her a pretty good one but she
21:34
likes this catfishing better than most
21:36
men do and she’s really good at it she’s
21:38
a great partner she just won’t tell no
21:41
secrets that’s the only thing about her
21:49
bait secretly I’ll tell you that we was
21:53
at Memphis year before last and water
21:57
was high and we were suspending and you
22:02
know I know how to fish to you and I’m
22:05
up barrel running a trolling motor and
22:07
I’m actually going suspend drifting and
22:12
I’m going through where the fish are
22:13
supposed to be at first and then she
22:15
catches another and I said what are you
22:17
doing back there well she’s turning
22:19
around cutting bait where I can’t see
22:21
her and she doesn’t have three fish in
22:26
the boat that’s the tournament – I know
22:28
I finally looked over his shoulder and
22:30
saw what she is doing
22:32
will you skipjack and I don’t call talk
22:35
a lot about you know the bait different
22:37
types of bait and stuff were you shad
22:39
every once in a while – chefs good but
22:41
you wouldn’t think a skipjack about 12
22:44
inches long the way you cut that bait
22:47
means a lot and we’ll use heads
22:51
sometimes but this is why she was
22:54
cutting this bait she caught it all she
22:56
would have caught all the fish that day
22:58
but when I saw her cutting the way she
23:00
was cutting that bait I pulled my two
23:02
poles up got me some new bait cut them
23:04
that way and I put a 40 in the boat and
23:06
a 20 something immediately so do you do
23:10
that Bob you cut different I won’t tell
23:22
you how she cut it she you just have to
23:24
get mad she cut the tail off as a
23:26
skipjack about 12 inches long she cut
23:29
the tail off and filleted one side of it
23:32
off so she had to head half of a foot
23:37
one side half filleted off and the tail
23:40
cut off that’s how she was doing it
23:42
I’d never I never tried that but see
23:45
what two hooks yeah we use it we use a
23:48
double hook rig I really like a single
23:50
hook but when you’re fishing especially
23:53
in current or the Mississippi River
23:54
you need something that fish’s mouth to
23:57
keep him headed upstream no
24:00
you can’t have him back there flopping
24:02
and no so we we hook him through the
24:05
mouth of the top hook which we catch a
24:07
lot of fish off that top hook majority
24:09
absorb Atum we use a 5 out on the top
24:12
hook and a 7 out on the bottom about 80
24:14
inches apart but I’ve seen also on days
24:18
where we she’ll try everything she’ll
24:21
try ahead she’ll try and filet she’ll
24:24
just cut the gut out of that fish and
24:27
try that she’s gonna try it all she
24:29
finds out what they bite and then she
24:31
might she might tell me and she might
24:33
not but well she’ll find out what
24:35
they’re biting but but I’ve seen it you
24:37
know you think of skipjacks a skipjack a
24:38
skipjack but the way you cut that does
24:41
have an effect i i’ve been proving that
24:44
several times
24:48
i’m gonna say with fish about an hour
24:50
now depends on the water if you and a
24:53
lot of current you know where it’s
24:54
working your bait mower then you might
24:56
change more often if you’re in steel
24:58
water you pick that bait up it’s still
25:00
drifting blood it’s in my opinion is
25:02
still good unless it gets on the bottom
25:05
now when I’ve had people mike mitchell
25:08
here he fishes a lot of these
25:10
tournaments he’ll throw his bait out
25:12
there on the bottom in the mud when my
25:14
bait gets mud on it I cannot get about
25:17
he says he does I believe him he catches
25:20
a lot of big fish but if my bait gets on
25:23
the bottom like if we come up a hump or
25:25
something and it rubs the bottom if it’s
25:27
got mud owner that’s gone I just don’t I
25:30
just don’t like my bait to be dirty I’ve
25:32
never had any luck with it like it I’ve
25:35
also but no Clarksville Tennessee one
25:38
time several years ago we were we were
25:40
fishing up there to the steam plant
25:43
and I had to fillet those skipjacks and
25:46
then I had to mica just a little one
25:48
each strip of a fillet that’s all they
25:50
would bite we had heads we had whole
25:53
skipjack we had cut bait everything and
25:56
all they would buy it was about a six or
25:58
seven inch strip of a fillet not the
26:00
whole fillet it had to be just like a
26:02
straight line so huh
26:07
two hooks yeah we I wish we had some
26:12
line because she’s so she’s the pro with
26:14
that if we had a hook and some line I
26:19
tell you what if you won’t come by that
26:21
booth in a minute she could show you
26:23
your if you’re gonna love this most
26:26
people uses what we use I think Bob uses
26:28
it now don’t you
26:29
it’s not a knot it looks like a snail
26:32
but it’s not it’s the finest it’s like
26:36
snail not but it’s not but it’s the
26:38
finest way to tie a hook there is you
26:41
cannot break it
26:42
we have never broke we use sixty pound
26:45
monofilament we use Berkley big game
26:49
leader because I’m just a firm believer
26:51
in that big game I’ve tried the
26:53
fluorocarbons and everything and I
26:55
always go back to the Berkley big game
26:57
will use 60 sometimes 80 on the leader
27:01
and a hundred pound braid mainland but
27:03
we have never broke at the hooks ever
27:05
even when we hang the structure and have
27:07
to we have to wrap a towel around her
27:09
hand you know to break that right it’ll
27:11
either break up everywhere though or the
27:14
leaders tie down or it’ll we’ve never
27:16
broke at the hook and that’s just
27:17
amazing to me because it’s it’s wound
27:20
around that hook but it we’ve never
27:22
broke there that’s an amazing not it’s
27:25
not really not but she’ll show you a lot
27:29
of people use it I think most everybody
27:30
uses that now but you can you can use a
27:37
single hook most of the time but if you
27:40
use them just a piece of cut bait or
27:42
something but if you’re in the
27:43
Mississippi River or a river with a lot
27:45
of current in my opinion you you need
27:48
that bait kind of aerodynamic or
27:51
whatever you call it you know where you
27:52
flows through the water good we use
27:55
those chain swivels also we use about a
27:57
two foot leader you know that helps with
28:01
the land twist you know because that
28:03
that baits going to cut it up no matter
28:05
what you do to it and we’ll we use our
28:08
six ball chain swivel in our leader land
28:10
you use those you know the chain swivels
28:15
is a lot more about four times as many
28:18
places for that to turn its as regular
28:20
soil
28:21
okay we got them run up her you’ll like
28:25
them and they’re 175 pound test so we’ve
28:30
never broke one but there’s you know we
28:36
fish mostly like everybody else we hold
28:39
our own we do good in most of these
28:41
tournaments but we we cover a lot of
28:44
ground we don’t fish as hard as a lot of
28:46
these fishermen do you know we we relax
28:49
on the boat I’m old my back’s hurting
28:51
right now we don’t we don’t find it hard
28:53
but we have look now we’re fishing for
28:56
five or six bites a day that’s all we’re
28:59
fishing for we don’t care if we go two
29:01
or three hours without about if we know
29:03
what we’re on we can wait you know we
29:06
sometimes we don’t get five fish but if
29:09
we do get our five bites that we’re
29:11
fishing for that day even we’re gonna be
29:13
in contention you know we’re gonna be in
29:15
the top ten if we get our bats we’re
29:19
never not fish I’ve got some places I’d
29:22
love to set up at night
29:23
but I’m one of them guys I’m 58 I have
29:28
to have my rest if I stay up all night
29:31
I’ve got a you know takes me a couple
29:33
days to get back into I’ve always got up
29:35
early in the morning I wake up five
29:37
o’clock and go to bed no matter what
29:39
time I go to bed five or six o’clock I’m
29:41
awake
29:42
I’ve just saw was I worked you know from
29:44
morning to a three or four o’clock and
29:46
all my life I’m just used to that again
29:48
but I love tonight I would love to not
29:51
fish a few of these places where I’ll
29:53
know these big fish are hanging out in
29:55
and I probably will but it’s gonna mess
29:59
me up with everything
30:05
you fishing that Bible in the river out
30:07
there any yeah Bob Bob downer on the
30:15
Mississippi River Don I’m like am I even
30:18
in these tournaments we fish the blast
30:21
off sometimes before daylight and Brook
30:24
and I we may get out there and idle
30:26
around but we’re not gonna run that
30:27
river I’ve seen personally two or three
30:29
people hit those sandbars or trees or
30:31
something myself and no we just don’t
30:34
we’re not gonna take no chance of that
30:36
number one she’s she’s young and no I
30:40
wouldn’t want to hire my boat up or her
30:42
either so but don’t fish in the fog I
30:49
don’t get out there in the fog either
30:52
mr. John you fish it not anything I know
30:56
the catfish was supposed to feed at
30:58
night you know oh you’ve never fished
31:03
during day well I’ve talked to those
31:06
boys from Arizona they probably done
31:07
gone now
31:13
they probably bite more tonight I don’t
31:15
know did you catch a bunch in that
31:18
flathead I’ve spent three nights all
31:22
night long on Pickwick like a parallel
31:24
Tennessee River years ago all night long
31:27
I was gonna catch them in that I never
31:29
got it back I’m sure I was doing
31:31
something wrong I think I was out there
31:33
on those river ledges where I fishing
31:34
the daytime
31:36
40-foot date 50 foot deep and they’re
31:38
not they were they’re not out there and
31:40
that I don’t know if they move shallow
31:42
I’m not a I’m not a shallow water
31:45
fisherman either although we’re going to
31:46
experiment with that this year but they
31:50
run to the bank sitting out or something
31:51
because there’s well I catch them out
31:53
there I was like I said I stayed three
31:55
nights I was going to find them but I
31:57
never did get a back and that I’m sure I
32:00
was in the wrong place but you had a lot
32:03
of people fishing that a lot of
32:04
tournaments in that I don’t know how to
32:06
catch them at night but flatheads I
32:09
think I probably could figure that out
32:10
and he’s still getting a brush on after
32:12
him like that still getting the brush
32:14
piles
32:17
yeah but they’ve got they’ve got a few
32:21
tournaments at that I think they’ve got
32:24
a couple this year we we might track but
32:27
I’m a daytime guy I like I like my
32:30
daytime fishing walks see what’s coming
32:32
down the river we fish mainly blues we
32:36
go we’ve got some places sir well we
32:46
don’t flathead fish a lot we catch some
32:48
flat heads and some timber and stuff
32:49
that we catch blues out of 35 or 40 foot
32:52
deep I got a lot of my friends that
32:54
strictly flathead and no because they
32:59
like they like to just sit up I grew up
33:01
above a brush pile or something the way
33:03
I understand it and throw some live bait
33:05
back in there we catch a few flat heads
33:09
every year on this cut skipjack you know
33:11
– but it’s always around timber though
33:14
you know not holding the river ledges
33:17
and things like that you don’t hard to
33:18
get them flat heads but if we found a
33:20
tree or a brush top or something out in
33:22
40 foot of water you’d like to get a
33:23
flathead off of it as well as you are
33:26
blue especially Lake Guntersville
33:29
Alabama huts
33:30
that’s full of timber in deep water and
33:33
that’s where we count some flat heads
33:35
there – Pickwick’s got some table but
33:42
the guy right back here that I’m with
33:44
David Ashby catches them out of three
33:46
foot of water 70 pound blues when you
33:50
when you go on that shallow water with
33:52
your boat you’re not gonna see them fish
33:53
they’re going to run out from under your
33:54
boat if to me if it’s 30 foot or
33:56
shallower that boats going to spook them
33:58
so I can’t see them in there I’ve never
34:02
tried to find them in on side-scan in
34:04
shallow water you probably could but
34:06
we’re so used to we’re so used to
34:09
getting over the top of our structure
34:11
and seeing those fish that’s what we’re
34:13
used to we’re not we don’t know how to
34:15
fish that shallow water we really don’t
34:17
know how to fish it I don’t know how you
34:18
sneak in there if you’re in 10 feet of
34:20
water now Paul was here that one that
34:23
winter blues last year he fishes shallow
34:26
water all the time
34:26
I don’t know if he’s just eases up in
34:30
there and anchors and throws
34:31
Rod’s out oh how I don’t hate does it
34:34
we’re just not experienced that much
34:36
with it but they’re in it I saw I hear
34:40
about them being caught all the time in
34:42
shallow water we’re going to try to do
34:44
some experimenting with it ourselves
34:46
because in some cases it it’s got to
34:48
help us because they’re they’re not
34:50
always out there who are we fished where
34:52
we’re used to fishing for them but
34:57
that’s something I’d like to learn in
34:59
the shallow water you know Mississippi
35:02
River a little sandbars they catch them
35:05
shallow sometimes don’t they yeah I’ve
35:10
caught them about 20 feet deep on the
35:14
Mississippi River about as shallow as
35:15
I’ve ever caught them and I think they
35:18
were they were a certain type of current
35:20
then when we caught them is it no yeah
35:29
we
35:32
we’ve just saw what grew up on Pickwick
35:36
broken-out both dead and the fairest
35:38
your do you know the cat fishermen just
35:40
started 30 feet deeper deeper and
35:43
Pickwick’s hard to catch a big fish on
35:45
that’s full of them full of big monster
35:47
blues but maybe we need to go shallow to
35:51
find those big ones we don’t know which
35:54
you know if you go to Pickwick try to
35:56
catch a 30 pound blue you you better be
35:58
prepared to stay two or three days and
36:00
no but even though it’s full of them
36:02
full of big fish but maybe the shallow
36:06
water might be the ticket to that I
36:07
don’t know but I’d like to take all
36:12
pointers on shallow water fishing
36:13
anybody notice I got to be willing to
36:15
listen we just not experienced that with
36:18
it at all we got to sneak up on them
36:20
fish don’t know if they’re shallow or
36:22
you got to sit there and wait on them to
36:23
come in to where you’re at if you’re in
36:25
seven or eight feet of water because but
36:29
wheeler I’ve seen guys on Wilson lake in
36:31
Alabama go in the back of those hollers
36:33
and anchor up or tile up and they just
36:36
throw out at eight or nine feet of water
36:37
sit there and they’ll catch 40s and 50s
36:39
in the springtime I’ve never seen that
36:42
in the summer but I’ve seen people catch
36:45
them in shallow water but to think about
36:47
Wilson you might move 10 feet and you be
36:49
in 10 feet to 50 feet because Wilson is
36:52
a deep lake you get on a big shout of
36:55
flat like those hollows it on wheeler
36:58
Lake you know I don’t know I don’t got
37:02
to be some kind of difference in it but
37:05
we’re gonna try to learn some more about
37:07
shallow water fish and we need to and
37:10
these in these lakes up here Mississippi
37:13
River I don’t want to get too shallow in
37:16
that thing but anyway if we’re gonna
37:20
take this live low back out there if
37:21
anybody wants to look at it or asked any
37:23
questions it’s it’s it’s complicated
37:28
looking but it’s real simple to make and
37:32
no or some of the you know some of the
37:36
auction or some of the pumps and stuff
37:38
that we got on it could be put on a lab
37:41
wheel it’s already there or a toolbox or
37:43
something whatever whatever people is
37:45
using
37:46
but we just brought it because we
37:48
thought it’d be something it’s something
37:50
we homemade we’re proud of it it works
37:52
good
37:53
it may look funny to everybody but it
37:55
sure performs good
37:57
so that’s why we brought it up here and
38:00
I guess we’ll about all books gonna say
38:05
oh thanks so I guess we’ll go but anyway
38:10
we’ll take your slide well back out
38:11
there the bottled waters if anybody
38:13
wants to look at it or asked any
38:15
questions about it I hope y’all enjoy it
38:29
you