Great video!!! Awesome tips, will try them out for sure!!! Congrats on a great finish at Lake of the Ozarks! Keep up the good work!!!!Stay Safe & God Bless!!
Matt I’ve been killing it on 2.4” 6th stroker craws and 2.4” eurotackle metacraws on #2 size ewg hooks not 2/0 and 1/16th oz tungsten’s. I’ve even went as small as 2” Great Lakes finesse snack craws on a #4 ewg. Dallas Fort Worth Lakes get as much pressure as anywhere and I’ve found tossing the smaller baits gets me bites like nothing else and doing it on ultralight bfs tackle is a blast. It’s really cool to see the pros are doing something similar 🤘🏽
Great advice. Long ago, like back in the days of VHS, Woo Daves made a video called “Wormin with Woo” that advocated drowning like this and doing so on a spinning setup to get a pendulum free, natural fall.
Really good tips on this video matt!!! I started fishing smaller baits around five or six years ago with compact jigs in clearer water and found that this works in all water colors with most all smaller plastic baits, its a winner for sure for me!!!
Co-anglers from the back of the boat have been doing this for years. 3/16oz is my go-to for the past 15+ years. In Indiana, if you can get a 5 bass limit, then you're in contention.
Hey Matt, you are dead on right about downsizing plastic for summertime bites, but you forgot about the most popular mini plastic and original little lure the 3.5-inch floating lizard, all types of bass love these lures, and I been catching them with this lure for over 40 years and they still work today!!!
Matt I fish on a highly pressured small body of water. I have been Texas rigging a finesse zoom trick worm on a 1/16 oz sinker and have upped my fish catches by 50%. It seems the smaller I go with the plastic the more bits I get. They are quality bites and not all small fish. Thanks for all your help
Thanks for the video. I've always fished smaller baits, just never liked big baits or heavy weights, with the exception of deep diving crankbaits. 1/16-1/8 oz worn weights and 1!4-3/8 jigs.
🍺My confidence go to bait is and always has been a 1/16th-1/8th ounce Texas rigged Yamamoto 5” THIN senko or a Yamamoto fat BABY craw. I fish it every time I hit the water. Works for me almost every time. If I could only have one bait/presentation that would be it.🤠
I have had a lot of success with the Max scent Super trooper on 12lb line and a 16th oz weight. Also the Bitsy jig 16th oz with a lil trooper trailer works very well. And of course the Baby Rage craw.
🍺My go to confidence bait my entire life and I fish it every time I go out is a 1/16th -1/8th ounce Texas rigged Yamamoto 5” THIN senko and or a Yamamoto fat BABY craw. It catches them almost always and many times some bigs.🤠
Good stuff bud. Don't overlook dying the tips of those beaver baits red. I've had good results with it. Same thing with dying about 3 inches of a Mag II or Ole Monster in red in the summer.
The 1/8 oz and 1/4 oz Texas rigs with a 3 inch osp dolive craw, keitech little spider, or roboworm curly tail with 1/0 lite wire roboworm rebarb hook are baits my son and I catch a lot of fish on. Good stuff Matt!
Yes, I have been fishing with more finesse baits myself. I keep my spinning outfits out of the rod lockers because they tend to foul things up. I now have a dozen outfits. I fished for years and had only one. Times are changing. 😂 I use finesse crankbaits a lot now, too.
Growing up I caught most of my 4+ lb fish doing exactly this. I used spinning setups to throw 6” worms on unpegged 1/16th oz worm weights and the bass almost always hit on the fall.
Some of my favorites for that tech is Z-man finesse trd, little General, Nikko Fishing Zazza Hellgrammite, baby Rage Craw, zoom tiny fluke, and smaillie beaver. Most of the time I am using a 1/0-3/0 Gamakatsu Aaron Martens G-Finesse Heavy Cover Hook because I land 95% of fish I hook with that hook type. Also I have a snell knot on the hook and just straight retrieve. If I try to jack the jaw with my rod on a hook set 50% of the time I loose the fish.
Great tips! Have several of those and plan on using the 3/64 or 1/8th Hover Rig vs. Texas. Also, going to experiment around with placing the Hover further away from the front/head. A 3/64 should be light enough to place in the middle of a General or Zoom/Z-Man floating worm to emulate a wacky rig. Same rigging towards the middle of a flatter style bait should give it an even slower, more erratic fall. May be a bust but will keep you posted.
3/16 has been my go to for over 30 years. In Florida I’ve gone to 1/16 on a lot of techniques as long as wind allows and I’m not needing to punch the real heavy stuff when I may have to go 1 oz or more
I usually have 1/8- 3/16 tungsten weights on my texas rigs, also been using #2 split rings or a ringed hook for more movement. I'll have try out some of those baits for sure!
I've been throwing 1/8and 3/16 all the time on my ikas worms and craws nad I've always seen people flipping much heavier weights and thought that was the way to go but never switched over so I guess I should stay with what works for me.Thanks for the information
I've figured out how to turn a Texas rig into a totally weedless wacky and I have just been killing the bass on it. Probably close to 100 fish so far this May on my little rig. The bait reminds me of a piece of paper as it floats down and wiggles. It's all I've been talking about lately and I know people are probably tired of me talking about it at this point.
I always start with a 3/16oz, maybe I need to try the opposite and upsize. I personally like the ultra vibe speedcraw and 5” Senko’s. Has to be Yamamoto lol
Been using lighter weights for awhile to give a slower fall, but if its not a creature bait its still a standard senko size. Might have to use the smaller bait you suggested.
The ika is a magnet! Especially in highly pressured water. I run it on a 3/0… 90% of the time,no weight. Super rare for me to add weight at all… creeks, rivers, lakes … does not matter
Take a 3” tube and put a couple of bb size split shot in the hole. Then stuff a piece of worm in it with a drop of super glue. Now you have a solid tube like the Ika but weighted in the nose. Rig it backwards in an EWG and it will kind of glide away from you when you cast (think the flying lure)
On the same page as the downsizing in Central Florida I've been upsizing to huge 8 to 10 inch swimbaits and 5 hook umbrella rigs and have discovered a new addiction. That is if u really enjoy hunting for giants
Get yourself some 5" thin Senkos. Texas rig it with a 1/32 or even a 1/64 bullet weight and a #1 offset worm hook. I use a bobber stopper to peg it. You Will catch both Largemouth and Smallmouth in big numbers.
@@MattStefanFishing I'll even tell you the secret color I used for years because for some reason they quit making it last year. 301 touched with a little Spike It garlic chartreuse at the tip. I'm not a pro or even a tournament fisherman. Just a 69 year old guy that loves to fish. That exact set up and color has caught more fish for me then any other bait in my entire life by far.
I would have liked to see the hooks and weights for texas rigging those small plastics. pegged/unpegged/weights used, boyancy/salt/scent/weight of the plastics... Personally, I like the heavier/salted soft plastics weightless. The actual formula, or content of the plastic baits - their 'secret'' ingredients is especially interesting.
While u can still catch a 4+ lb'er on smaller, finesse baits...im still convinced big baits= big fish....if u are going for a limit of 5, 1-3 lb'ers in a tourney, then no doubt smaller finesse baits are the way to go....my .02, is bigger natural type baits for the bigger bass, with the increased fishing pressure......looking for a large meal to last, and spending less time taking risks with a bunch of small meals....i've had great luck with bass 4+ lb's this year on 7-9" soft jerkbaits...trying 10-12" plastic worms & big rats this weekend...Tight Lines!
Go smaller than 4Inch? Oh yeah, the Susie Rig. use a 2 O EWG with a screw keeper and any small stick or other short (use old left over baits) baits. Da money!
@@MattStefanFishing yes … it seriously slows the fall. It has more time to linger in the whole water column instead of making a beeline for the bottom. If I could take a picture of my terminal tackle container you would see the proof!
I guess I've just always done this, a 3" pit boss was the first bait I ever used for flipping, I've caught fish on the bigger one since then but I still generally have a rod with a bigger/heavyer Texas rig and one with a smaller/lighter one and the smaller one is generally the more productive one. It doesn't seem to sacrifice size for quantity either but I guess you can't ever be sure with that.
🍺B.A.S.S. Open. JT Thompkins 11th, Kimura 15th, Bobby Lane Jr 31st…Milliken only caught 7 pounds today and fell from 13th to 64th🫣. He is going to find himself out of the top 8 spots when the points come out. Everyone around him finished top 20’s ish. Garrett is Fishing awesome.🤠
I was using the pit boss probably 6 years ago. Loved it as a trailer on jigs
its one of my favorite plastics
The 3” Pit Boss in Junebug has been great for me the past few years here in IL. This is a great video, thanks!
aawesome!
Great video!!! Awesome tips, will try them out for sure!!! Congrats on a great finish at Lake of the Ozarks! Keep up the good work!!!!Stay Safe & God Bless!!
Thanjks!
Matt I’ve been killing it on 2.4” 6th stroker craws and 2.4” eurotackle metacraws on #2 size ewg hooks not 2/0 and 1/16th oz tungsten’s. I’ve even went as small as 2” Great Lakes finesse snack craws on a #4 ewg. Dallas Fort Worth Lakes get as much pressure as anywhere and I’ve found tossing the smaller baits gets me bites like nothing else and doing it on ultralight bfs tackle is a blast. It’s really cool to see the pros are doing something similar 🤘🏽
im going to check them out!
@@MattStefanFishing th-cam.com/video/G5rP9baK4ew/w-d-xo.html here’s a vid of a few of those baits in action 🤘🏽
Great advice. Long ago, like back in the days of VHS, Woo Daves made a video called “Wormin with Woo” that advocated drowning like this and doing so on a spinning setup to get a pendulum free, natural fall.
ill check it out!
Really good tips on this video matt!!! I started fishing smaller baits around five or six years ago with compact jigs in clearer water and found that this works in all water colors with most all smaller plastic baits, its a winner for sure for me!!!
yes! love this!
Co-anglers from the back of the boat have been doing this for years. 3/16oz is my go-to for the past 15+ years. In Indiana, if you can get a 5 bass limit, then you're in contention.
sounds good!
Hey Matt, you are dead on right about downsizing plastic for summertime bites, but you forgot about the most popular mini plastic and original little lure the 3.5-inch floating lizard, all types of bass love these lures, and I been catching them with this lure for over 40 years and they still work today!!!
thanks!
Matt I fish on a highly pressured small body of water. I have been Texas rigging a finesse zoom trick worm on a 1/16 oz sinker and have upped my fish catches by 50%. It seems the smaller I go with the plastic the more bits I get. They are quality bites and not all small fish. Thanks for all your help
sounds good!
Thanks for the video. I've always fished smaller baits, just never liked big baits or heavy weights, with the exception of deep diving crankbaits. 1/16-1/8 oz worn weights and 1!4-3/8 jigs.
thanks for watching!
🍺My confidence go to bait is and always has been a 1/16th-1/8th ounce Texas rigged Yamamoto 5” THIN senko or a Yamamoto fat BABY craw. I fish it every time I hit the water. Works for me almost every time. If I could only have one bait/presentation that would be it.🤠
hard to argue with either of those proven fish catchers!
I have had a lot of success with the Max scent Super trooper on 12lb line and a 16th oz weight. Also the Bitsy jig 16th oz with a lil trooper trailer works very well. And of course the Baby Rage craw.
its a good little bait!
Love your videos and the views we can see on the lake! Great quality and content to keep us engaged in your video.
Glad you like them!
🍺My go to confidence bait my entire life and I fish it every time I go out is a 1/16th -1/8th ounce Texas rigged Yamamoto 5” THIN senko and or a Yamamoto fat BABY craw. It catches them almost always and many times some bigs.🤠
i dont think enough people use the thin senko. its a staple in northern waters, but the southerners dont ever use it
Good stuff bud. Don't overlook dying the tips of those beaver baits red. I've had good results with it. Same thing with dying about 3 inches of a Mag II or Ole Monster in red in the summer.
awesome!
The 1/8 oz and 1/4 oz Texas rigs with a 3 inch osp dolive craw, keitech little spider, or roboworm curly tail with 1/0 lite wire roboworm rebarb hook are baits my son and I catch a lot of fish on. Good stuff Matt!
awesome!
I been throwing finesse texas rigs for years. I won a tourney where only 2 people got a limit last year using a tiny texas rig on a spinning rod.
nice!
Yep Yep
I have been down sizing hooks and hanging good luck.😊I’m using 6” lizards but just ordered 3”pit boss and going to try 2/0 ewg hooks.
nice!
I love this technique. I’ve always used the baby brush hogs and baby z-crawls on a 1/8th oz and have great success. Great tip for sure
Nice!
These "pointers" videos are really useful, good stuff!! 🤘😎🎣
thanks!
Yes, I have been fishing with more finesse baits myself. I keep my spinning outfits out of the rod lockers because they tend to foul things up. I now have a dozen outfits. I fished for years and had only one. Times are changing. 😂
I use finesse crankbaits a lot now, too.
sounds good
The zoom double ringer is a awesome bait I have caught alot of heavy bass using it
nice!
Growing up I caught most of my 4+ lb fish doing exactly this. I used spinning setups to throw 6” worms on unpegged 1/16th oz worm weights and the bass almost always hit on the fall.
awesome!
ive done pretty good on Guntersville with just a weightless stick bait. either the Berkley general or the strike king equivalent.
hard to beat a weightless stickbait if you have patience!
Some of my favorites for that tech is Z-man finesse trd, little General, Nikko Fishing Zazza Hellgrammite, baby Rage Craw, zoom tiny fluke, and smaillie beaver. Most of the time I am using a 1/0-3/0 Gamakatsu Aaron Martens G-Finesse Heavy Cover Hook because I land 95% of fish I hook with that hook type. Also I have a snell knot on the hook and just straight retrieve. If I try to jack the jaw with my rod on a hook set 50% of the time I loose the fish.
awesome!
Great tips! Have several of those and plan on using the 3/64 or 1/8th Hover Rig vs. Texas. Also, going to experiment around with placing the Hover further away from the front/head. A 3/64 should be light enough to place in the middle of a General or Zoom/Z-Man floating worm to emulate a wacky rig. Same rigging towards the middle of a flatter style bait should give it an even slower, more erratic fall. May be a bust but will keep you posted.
let me know how it goes!
I’ve been doing t-rigs with 1/16 to 1/8 oz. For
40 years
awesome!
3/16 has been my go to for over 30 years. In Florida I’ve gone to 1/16 on a lot of techniques as long as wind allows and I’m not needing to punch the real heavy stuff when I may have to go 1 oz or more
awesome!
Love this tip Matt! I’m definitely going to try this out, thank you🎣
Awesome!
Looks like good stuff , hope the river gets down to fish next week.
it back down!
I use the two smallest bullet weights for my softbaits in river current here in Fredericton
sounds good!
@@MattStefanFishing Thank you
I usually have 1/8- 3/16 tungsten weights on my texas rigs, also been using #2 split rings or a ringed hook for more movement. I'll have try out some of those baits for sure!
awesome!
I thought I was weird for throwing light weights on my Texas rigs. I’ll only ever throw 1/16 to 1/8 oz MAX. Thanks for the tips!
you bet!
It's crazy you mention this, I'm flipping a grub with a 1/8 oz weight, with great success getting them out the grass and around trees.
Love this!
I've been throwing 1/8and 3/16 all the time on my ikas worms and craws nad I've always seen people flipping much heavier weights and thought that was the way to go but never switched over so I guess I should stay with what works for me.Thanks for the information
nice!
Great tips!! Thanks Matt. Hey I remember that fish !! 🐟🐟🐟🐟
haha
Thanks for the tip. Do you ever use a lighter wire hook when you are not throwing around cover?
all of the time!
Matt, what hook are you using for the 3 inch pit boss? Congrats on your success so far this year. A lot of folks rooting for you.
3/0 berkley fusion 19 EWG
I’ve ripped em on a 3 inch with a 1/0 ewg in my home Lake.. definitely a confidence bait
nice!
I’m gonna need to try some of these, I’ve always fished bigger profiles. Keep up the great content. Good luck in your next tournament!
awesome!
I've figured out how to turn a Texas rig into a totally weedless wacky and I have just been killing the bass on it. Probably close to 100 fish so far this May on my little rig. The bait reminds me of a piece of paper as it floats down and wiggles. It's all I've been talking about lately and I know people are probably tired of me talking about it at this point.
Nice! catch any wacky rigging a horny toad yet?
I always start with a 3/16oz, maybe I need to try the opposite and upsize. I personally like the ultra vibe speedcraw and 5” Senko’s. Has to be Yamamoto lol
sounds good
The smallest dean Rojas fighting frog is an absolute killer! And the zman fattyz is incredible on a light weight Texas rig.
thanks for sharing!
Great information I will definitely give it a try.
go for it!
Been using lighter weights for awhile to give a slower fall, but if its not a creature bait its still a standard senko size. Might have to use the smaller bait you suggested.
go for it!
I slayed it yesterday on smallies. 1/8oz ned head with a 3' twin tail hula grub. I catch way more smallies on fineese!
Nice!
🍺MLF BPT. Wheeler 2nd, Thrift 5th, Lee 7th, and Lee 14th so all 4 advance. I have 8 going into the knockout round.👍
DANG!!!
The ika is a magnet! Especially in highly pressured water. I run it on a 3/0… 90% of the time,no weight. Super rare for me to add weight at all… creeks, rivers, lakes … does not matter
awesome!
Great video mat
What setup do you use for light Texas rigs
a 7'3" light MH fast action bait cast rod, 15 lb fluorocarbon
Take a 3” tube and put a couple of bb size split shot in the hole. Then stuff a piece of worm in it with a drop of super glue. Now you have a solid tube like the Ika but weighted in the nose. Rig it backwards in an EWG and it will kind of glide away from you when you cast (think the flying lure)
awesome!
On the same page as the downsizing in Central Florida I've been upsizing to huge 8 to 10 inch swimbaits and 5 hook umbrella rigs and have discovered a new addiction. That is if u really enjoy hunting for giants
sounds good!
Small baits in general. I've caught a ton of bass over 4lbs on 1.0 size crankbaits and 1/4 lipless crankbaits.
Nice!
Love the content and love all of these baits. All of them are staples in my bag. I feel validated 😂
awesome!
Most of the time 3/16 oz weight is the one I use, works great
nice!
Do you use a jig head or a particular hook for the 4in general? Trying to figure out best way to rig it. Thanks for your tips sir......🤘🤘✌️🖖
just smaller EWG
Matt,how much pressure does your river get,just curious,liked video,will give a try
A LOT! Like tuesday, wednesday and thursday nighters with a weekend derby almost every summer weekend.
Thank you Matt.
you bet!
For us newbies can you show the bait and hook youre using being put on to the lure?
Will do
I've been catching number's on a small ugly otter or putting it on a finesse jig water temp 44 degrees
Awesome
Get yourself some 5" thin Senkos. Texas rig it with a 1/32 or even a 1/64 bullet weight and a #1 offset worm hook. I use a bobber stopper to peg it. You Will catch both Largemouth and Smallmouth in big numbers.
thanks for sharing!
@@MattStefanFishing I'll even tell you the secret color I used for years because for some reason they quit making it last year. 301 touched with a little Spike It garlic chartreuse at the tip. I'm not a pro or even a tournament fisherman. Just a 69 year old guy that loves to fish. That exact set up and color has caught more fish for me then any other bait in my entire life by far.
not surprised I have dove well on weightless T rigs for years
awesome!
I like a 1/8 on tex rigged zoom fry, brushhog, sweet beaver
nice!
I would have liked to see the hooks and weights for texas rigging those small plastics. pegged/unpegged/weights used, boyancy/salt/scent/weight of the plastics... Personally, I like the heavier/salted soft plastics weightless. The actual formula, or content of the plastic baits - their 'secret'' ingredients is especially interesting.
thanks for the feedback
Do you seperate the tail on the Smallie Beaver?
generally no
Roboworm zipper grub comes to mind to give a try.
i like it!
Do you recommend lighter line and rod?
i use 15lb fluoro and a light medium heavy fast action. a little lighter than normal flipping stuff for me
Do you use lighter line? And less power in your rod ?
i use 15lb fluoro and a light medium heavy fast action. a little lighter than normal flipping stuff for me
How are you rigging that 4in general? Thanks for these videos as always
i use a 3 inch EWG
@@MattStefanFishing are you going weightless then?
Thanks Matt ,
You bet!
Great video buddy
thanks!
What hook would you use with this size baits?
i like the berkley fusion 3/0 EWG hook
It looked like you were only 9 feet from the bank catching that bass, what was the water clarity ?
dirty
Down here we are shallow so 1/8 and 1/16 I’ve fished here plus a split shit rig up about 6 to 12 inches
thanks for sharing
Awesome stuff ! Do you prefer spinning gear ????
nope i pitch these on 15 lb fluoro on baitcaster
@@MattStefanFishing thanks
While u can still catch a 4+ lb'er on smaller, finesse baits...im still convinced big baits= big fish....if u are going for a limit of 5, 1-3 lb'ers in a tourney, then no doubt smaller finesse baits are the way to go....my .02, is bigger natural type baits for the bigger bass, with the increased fishing pressure......looking for a large meal to last, and spending less time taking risks with a bunch of small meals....i've had great luck with bass 4+ lb's this year on 7-9" soft jerkbaits...trying 10-12" plastic worms & big rats this weekend...Tight Lines!
thanks for sharing
Was doing this 20 plus years ago
awesome!
Go smaller than 4Inch? Oh yeah, the Susie Rig. use a 2 O EWG with a screw keeper and any small stick or other short (use old left over baits) baits. Da money!
thanks for sharing!
Spot on love it
thanks!
nice tips, Matt! I’m starting to prefer the 4” stick bait over the 5” myself. and love using that smallie beaver on a small wobblehead too. 👍
awesome!
I’ve never used heavier then 3/16th.
really?
@@MattStefanFishing yes … it seriously slows the fall. It has more time to linger in the whole water column instead of making a beeline for the bottom. If I could take a picture of my terminal tackle container you would see the proof!
gear for this?
i use 15lb fluoro and a light medium heavy fast action. a little lighter than normal flipping stuff for me
@@MattStefanFishing nice, thanks
Missed Baits-BABY D BOMB, Gp Color,Smallmouth killer
good one!
Why wouldn't these baits work well on the Hover rig?
they do!
Good tips
thanks!
I guess I've just always done this, a 3" pit boss was the first bait I ever used for flipping, I've caught fish on the bigger one since then but I still generally have a rod with a bigger/heavyer Texas rig and one with a smaller/lighter one and the smaller one is generally the more productive one. It doesn't seem to sacrifice size for quantity either but I guess you can't ever be sure with that.
the little pit boss is so good!
You’re sharing some juice, hammer!
thanks!
When did it ever cool down, Larry Nikon bread and butter since forever
thanks
Fish Landing Violation!
haha
Why did MLF go away from catch and release?
its still catch weigh and release. they just count the biggest 5 from the day
Great...now I have to buy more tackle? OK, twist my arm!
Can never have to much tackle!
👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks for watching!
😀😀😀😀
thanks for watching!
The 4 inch fat body robo is all that
awesome!
Poo-che!😂
haha
Dang ur just giving up all good stuff lately, I mean I no it's ur job but do u have to tell the whole world
sorry haha
Keep it coming Matt, this is why you have one of the best fishing channels out there brother
Also Matt, check out the Osp dolive beaver on a free rig. Deadly
Yes sir Collin definitely the best
🍺B.A.S.S. Open. JT Thompkins 11th, Kimura 15th, Bobby Lane Jr 31st…Milliken only caught 7 pounds today and fell from 13th to 64th🫣. He is going to find himself out of the top 8 spots when the points come out. Everyone around him finished top 20’s ish. Garrett is Fishing awesome.🤠
THere is already some seperation happening after 4 events. Gonna be a lot of drop outs starting
They are going to rig it where Bobby lane and ish Monroe make it back in watch
@@PHATBASSASSASSIN😂 just watch 🤦♂️ that's complete foolishness
🍺That can not happen in fishing in my opinion.
New here , but is there a beef with Milliken or his channel ? You seem happy that he only caught 7 pounds.