American Roots Outdoors w/ Alex Rutledge
Join Alex Rutledge along with Co-Host Wayne Lach & Mike "Redbone" Crase as we cover a variety of topics from Deer Hunting, Turkey Hunting, Fishing and today's top headlines...... all while Sharing our Faith! We will also have Special Guest appearances from some of the Hunting Industry's biggest names and Country Music Stars you all love!
American Roots Outdoors w/ Alex Rutledge
Zeke Reynolds - Crappie Tips and Tricks from a Pro!
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Mike and Alex open the talking about their beloved Kansas City Chiefs and their win over the Bills and the upcoming Championship game against the Bengals…. Then touch base on some local High School Teams.
We are then joined by Professional Crappie Fisherman Zeke Reynolds who talks about his American Roots and how his love for fishing got started. Then Zeke dives into and shares his Tips & Tricks to landing those tough to catch Crappies! Information you will want to surely add to your Tackle Box arsenal!
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And I would try different depths and I'd count usually I would always throw a sixteen pounce jig head. It's usually about a foot a second. So if I'd count five to ten seconds and I'd bounce around until I'd get a a bite. And then I would stick at that at that depth. So if I caught a fish at eight seconds or roughly eight foot down, everywhere I'd fish after that, I would use that as a pattern, and that's where I'd work work my bait as far as depth goes. But just bouncing around from structure to structure to structure, if there's a lot in that area until you find a school, and you just stay there and fish with them until they'll close down.
SPEAKER_02Camel boots on my feet, bowing my head, walking in the early dawn decline.
SPEAKER_04Hey red bone, dear about that new deer feet. What new deer feet?
SPEAKER_01Hey, Buggritz, boys, you ain't heard of that yet? Buggritz, Bugrits.com. Well, Buggrits has got the protein that deer needs, it's got the fat it deer needs, it's got the amino acids, it's got the energy, it's got it all, brother. It's gonna bring them back after the rest, it's gonna put a rack on their head.
SPEAKER_04It's gonna help the lack tight though, that's them too after they have the phones.
SPEAKER_01That's right, keep the phones going and get them for the next crop.
SPEAKER_04Well, where can I get buck grits?
SPEAKER_01Buckgrits.com. You can get a sample, you can order it directly from the website, and we're coming to a retailer near you.
SPEAKER_04If you want to help a dear heart, use buck grits.
SPEAKER_05Wise buck grits presents American Roots Outdoors. Alex Rutley's calling in via phone. Redbones in the studio. Wayne Locke will not join us today. He has sickness in his family again. We need to lift him up and keep him in prayers. His mother-in-law-in-law and father-in-law are both sick with COVID. So he will not be on the show today. We've got a great show as always lined up, and in the studio, we've got Red Bone on the soundboards. And uh Red Bone, what about those Chiefs?
SPEAKER_00Well, I tell you, they gave us uh they gave us a roller coaster ride last Sunday evening. And and the things they did at the end were just absolutely amazing. 13 seconds to go in the game and drive from the 35, get in field goal range, and then take the uh the kick in overtime and just take it right down the field, score the winning touchdown. Absolutely amazing. I think they've got to be the favorite now to win the whole thing.
SPEAKER_05Well, I would hope so, but I still think that the Chiefs just got a game ahead of them with the Bengals. I really do. I I I'll be trooping with you, and I admitted it on Twitter, Instagram, every all social media avenues. I really was concerned about the Chiefs beating the Bills and the evidence is in the game, and as you said, you know, going into overtime. And uh I I believe we really witnessed probably one of the best NFL games ever in history.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, certainly in the top, you know, the top three or four, and and and we say the best ever because we're the Chiefs and we won. Now, if we would have lost, would we be thinking it's one of the greatest games ever? I don't know. But uh, you know, that's all the said and done, and that's all for history to decide on down the road. Because now it's time to take care of business, as you said, with the Cincinnati Bengals, and a really good Cincinnati Bengals team coming into Arrowhead on Sunday. But here's the thing, Alex, and and Joe Burrow, and I like this kid. You know, he's he's personable and he's a really good quarterback. But did you hear what he said earlier this week?
SPEAKER_05I did not, Redbo. What did he say?
SPEAKER_00He said in an interview with NBC Sports, he said, well, he said all the stadiums in the Southeast Conference are louder than any NFL stadium. They were talking about uh how loud it is at Arrowhead. And he said he played in louder stadiums when he was in college than Arrowhead Stadium will be on Sunday. Now, here's what he must not realize. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City holds the Guinness World Book of Records for being the loudest stadium in the United States. And he just poked a sleeping dog and woke up the Chief Kingdom, and they are going to absolutely it'll be the loudest thing you've ever heard on Sunday. You could probably be over at Royal Stadium across the way and hear the crowd at Kansas City on Sunday. It's just gonna be amazing.
SPEAKER_05That was not very intelligent of him to say that at all.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, just one of those things. Like I said, the the thing about him is he's just like Patrick Mahomes, he's very young, and sometimes, you know, the those young guys, they say things that they probably sit back and and later and go, why did I say that?
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I've been there and done that myself. Hey, that being said, what about our high school teams? Uh, Cape Girada area, Pauper Bluff, Ava, uh, Arkansas, Thayer, Mama Springs, Hardy, Ash Flat, Mountain Home, uh, all of our schools and our listing areas and all the stations here. Who are the teams right now that's really standing out? And I and I must say one of them for sure is Thayer, but what about Willow Springs?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Willow Springs is really good. They're underrated, and and new rankings are coming out. We're recording on Wednesday. New rankings should be out on Friday, and I think they'll be there in class four. I don't know if they'll be at the top, but they should uh make some progress. Uh, they just continue to beat really good teams, including Thayer, and including uh, you know, a really good Mansfield team, and they've uh beaten some other I think they've beaten four state ranked. Yeah, I think they've beaten four state ranked teams now. And uh yeah, those Bears are good. And uh, you know, the Alton Comets are good. I mean, there are a lot of good teams around Alex. Uh you know, we're in the southeast part of the state, Charleston uh in class three is ranked up near the top. Uh you know, they have upgast for at least four ranked number one for multiple weeks. Uh I mean it's it's just Ava is really good. They're ranked in class four. Uh oh, yeah. I mean, there's a lot of good basketball all throughout the region. In Arkansas, the Mama Spring Lady Bears, and we don't talk about that very often. The Mama Spring Lady Bears are ranked number two in the state of Arkansas in the in the Class One basketball. So uh and then right down the road, Norfolk, Arkansas is ranked number one. And it's that is awesome. Yeah, there's a lot of great basketball right here in the Ozarks. Don't don't you doubt it one second.
SPEAKER_05Well, we appreciate each and every one of the listeners all across Southern Missouri, northern Arkansas, even in southern Illinois, western Kentucky, parts of western Tennessee. Uh we've got a lot of listeners, and we just appreciate each and every one of them. And uh that being said, we've talked about sports. Now let's talk about another sport, and that is crappie fishing, Redbone. Oh, yeah. And we've got a great guest lined up because everybody loves to eat crappie. And this guest that we got here is a professional crappie fisherman, and he is from Kentucky. He is a longtime friend, over 10 years, him and his wife. I met him through the NWTF uh doing uh seminars at the conventions, which I don't do anymore. Uh but that being said, we've become very good friends, and uh, his name is Zeke Reynolds. Zeke is a professional crappie fisherman, as I said, he's going to share with everybody his American roots, but he's also gonna share with everybody techniques, how to find these crampies and how to catch them. We've got a great show lined up, Red Bow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we do, and we need to take a break. Folks, you're listening to American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Rutledge and his friends. And we'll be back in just a moment.
SPEAKER_03Hey y'all, it's Tyler Farr, and you're hanging with me and my good buddy, Alex Rutledge on American Roots Outdoors.
SPEAKER_02Wishing on some love.
unknownI've been on a big boy for a while. I could load him in the back of my third.
SPEAKER_00I would say you're crazy.
SPEAKER_04There's no way to predict the five. You go to wild smart and dot com. I'm using you should make your head easier. Use a wild.
SPEAKER_05From my home office on the phone in the studio on the soundboard is Red Bull Mike Grace again. Wayne Locke could not join us because his father-in-law, his mother-in-law both have COVID, and they've been around them, so they're under quarantine. Let's all please keep Wayne and his family in your prayers and their prayers and your prayers also. Uh but again, as promised, we've got Mr. Zeke Reynolds on the phone. He's from Somerset, Kentucky. He's an MT, works with the Somerset Fire Department, has a beautiful wife, Jess, and a 14-year-old child. Uh this guy is a turkey hunter, deer hunter, uh, loves to crappy fish. Welcome to the show, Zeke.
SPEAKER_06Thank you, Alex, for having me. It's uh good to be with y'all.
SPEAKER_05Yes, sir. So so what's the weather doing in Somerset right now?
SPEAKER_06It's uh it's been sunny. Of course, uh the sun's going down, but it's cold. Um upper twenties, low thirties is about what it's been, and getting down in the teens uh of the night and morning. So it's cold.
SPEAKER_05It's cold everywhere in the Red Bond.
SPEAKER_00It is cold and uh even more is coming. But one thing we know is this cold weather is uh, at least my experience, is pretty good for catching crappie.
SPEAKER_06Yes, it it is. Um you know, a lot of people you know deer hunt through the winter time and and and it's hard for me um to decide whether deer hunt or crappie fish because crappie fishing is is is really good in the winter time as well.
SPEAKER_05Well what we want to do on this show, Zeke, is is let's talk about your American roots in this first segment of the show. Uh where was Zeke Reynolds born?
SPEAKER_06So I was born in Dayton, Ohio. Um and my mom and stepdad we moved down to Kentucky, where I currently reside here in Somerset in ninety seven, I believe it was. And um of course I grew up here and um you know started a family and raising my family here and we we just enjoy it. It's a great place. Did you attend high school right there in Somerset? I did. I went to Southwestern High School. Um we got three three high schools here in Pulaski County. We got Southwestern High School, Pulaski County High School, and then we have Somerset High School as well.
SPEAKER_05Okay, now Somerset is also famous for the very famous Kentucky head hunters. They live in Somerset.
SPEAKER_06Um Be honest, I am real sure on that one. I know they're close to this area. Um about 30 to 40 minutes uh just north of us.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so Kentucky headowners, all of our listeners is out there all across the world. The Kentucky head owners, he lives right there in their front door, back door, so to say. So, so talk to you, Zeke. When you were in high school, did you play sports or you know, uh, let's talk about that. Let's talk about your first fish you ever caught, first turkey, first deer. Let's talk about all that.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, um, so I grew up playing uh we played a lot of backyard basketball, me and my brothers um growing up, and then I got into some Church League basketball um through through my high school years and played that. Um really got I've fished my whole life. I've been fortunate enough to have a dad and my grandfathers that both all three of them had me fishing at a real young age. Um fishing has been in my life pretty much my whole life. Um one of my grandpa's got me started hunting around 12 or 13. I um he had me out squirrel hunting with him, and that's kind of where my hunting side had all started. And and then um I I want to think probably around 14 or 15, I killed my first deer, and it was a little spike, and I was thrilled, you know, you know, the excitement of killing your first deer. And um I don't think it was too long after that I killed my first turkey. And then um when me and my wife got married, we for a hunter honeymoon, we actually went to western Kentucky and done a turkey hunting trip uh there and we doubled up on some jakes for a honeymoon. So that's probably the most memorable hunt that I've had.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Alex, that's the first time I've ever heard of anybody doing that. Going on a turkey hunt for their honeymoon, and then to top it all off, get a double. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_05That is cool. It just goes to show you how strong his roots is in the outdoors and turkey hunting and fishing and stuff. He's a great candidate to be on our show. Uh, everybody, if you just join us or listening to American Roots Outdoors, and our special guest is Zeke Reynolds. Zek Reynolds is from Somerset, Kentucky. Sharing with us is American Roots, where he was born, uh uh about his family, his first turkey, first deer, and how he how his ancestors passed it on down to him, and that's now why he's a turkey hunter and a fisherman. It's it's a pretty unique story, Redmone, like a lot of us here in America.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and you know, you say unique, and you know, I think unique to to country folks anyway. Uh it's kind of common for us country folks. And you know, uh, dad or grandpa took a squirrel hunting and that converted over to deer hunting, and that converted to turkey hunting, and then when there wasn't any turkeys and deer to hunt, we went fishing. And I mean that's just kind of the it's kind of the way we live in this part of the world.
SPEAKER_05It sure is, Red Bone. And uh, you know, that's one of the reasons why I focused on Zeke, you know. Uh those of you that just joined the show, maybe uh Zeke and I met over ten years ago at the NWTF National Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife Jess. And uh he's got a uh testimony to share with you all uh in segment two coming up here after, or segment three after we go to a break. I think it's gonna really touch it. I want you all to stay on here. Don't go away. We'll be right back with more American Roots Outdoors, and you're gonna love this part coming up. Hi, everybody. This is Aaron Tippin, and you're listening to my old buddy Alex Rutledge with American Roots Outdoors and good break.
SPEAKER_04Come on. How many of you are tired of your batteries running out of energy, out of power? Let me tell you about an app outdoors. Oh, you'll have an hour. Lost any energy. Go to F outdoors if you want to be successful. Not run out of power.
SPEAKER_02Around your heart.
SPEAKER_05Eagle Seed presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors at segment three of our show. And again, our special guest, Mr. Zeke Reynolds. This guy is an extra extraordinaire in the outdoors. This guy has fished Crappie USA, uh, the crappie masters. He's one of the crappie masters invitational. He got qualified to fish the the national championships, didn't you? Zeke?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, um, we we qualified and we fished the uh crappie USA championship this past season. And um uh two seasons ago we quali or uh got invited to fish the Mr. Crappie Invitational that was held on uh Tobolock Lake.
SPEAKER_05That's pretty cool, Red Bone. He gets to travel over the country and uh fish these tournaments, you know. If if anybody's ever followed crappie tournaments, they are a different breed. It's different than bass fishing. It it's it's it's called com it's there's things that are very uh comparable to bass fishing, but it's a little bit different. But before we go into that, I want to talk about Jess. You know why. Let's talk about how God has used Jess and how she's American.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so it was um two September third of two thousand thirteen. Um just to give a quick history prior to that, we were engaged and scheduled to get married September twenty-eight. And uh September third, I was actually out uh bass fishing here on on Cumberland. Um it was one of my days off of work from the fire department. And um I got a call from my puck, would have been soon to have been father-in-law then, and told me that Jess was involved in a bad wreck. Um so they had to fly her to UK, where um she was in a coma for a month, and the doctors were not for sure um if she was gonna make it or not. Um she came through her coma on grade. She was at Cardinal Hill Rehab Center where she had to learn to walk and uh talk and everything pretty much all over again. Um she went through it, she got to come home on December 4th of 2013. And um we were lucky enough to have her wedding on April 26th of the following year, and uh like I mentioned in the earlier there, we've got to go on a honeymoon, uh, a turkey hunt. So Jess and of course my daughter Riley, they're all just as involved in the outdoors as I am. But you know, with with prayers and and with the good Lord they brought Jess through and she's been able to go around to some different churches here locally and give her testimony of uh you know, of her uh journey through all this. And uh, you know, it was prayers that's that's brought her through.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a pretty amazing story, and uh man, I I I I I can't imagine uh going through something like that at at a at a young age. And uh I do a lot of work with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and I know that a lot of families, you know, that they go through those kind of things. I just can't imagine. That's why we do it. But anyway, well, uh you know, thank God that she is okay now and I mean, gets out in the outdoors and fishes and hunts and all that stuff, right?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah. She's uh uh you know, made a a tremendous recovery through all this and um she she gets to get out and enjoy um deer hunting and and turkey hunting and um she gets she fishes with me quite a bit when when the weather's nice and um still just just enjoys life and um you know gets to go around and talk a little bit and share with others about about it as well. So I mean it's it's really neat experience.
SPEAKER_05Didn't didn't the doctor say that she might not ever walk again and maybe not even be able to to talk, possibly. Didn't they say that one time?
SPEAKER_06Right. They um at first they didn't think she was gonna make it. Um they weren't giving her um like high hopes, I guess, uh, of of pulling through that. And they were, you know, just kind of warning us if she does come through, they didn't know what kind of state that she was gonna be in because she had a uh traumatic brain injury. Um some some direct.
SPEAKER_05Well, God has used her, and I I encourage everybody to go to Z Grill's Facebook page and follow him and uh follow uh Jess. And I I think you'll find that these this couple is a wonderful couple, and they'll become friends with you for sure. Uh we've got just about three minutes left here before we go to another break, but what I want to touch on with you now, and and I want to thank you for sharing your testimony about your wife, but uh what made you get into tournament fishing? We got about two and a half, two minutes, 45 seconds. Talk about that.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so um I I kind of got into some local bath tournaments and and fished a lot of the local stuff around here for a few years. Um started fishing some of the FLW, they had a BFL series. I fish a few of them in the mountain division. And um, of course I've always enjoyed crappie fishing, and uh I want to think it was maybe 2017 uh Crappie USA had a um tournament here on Lake Cumberland. And uh my tournament partner, uh Justin Creech, he he's a actually a police officer that works for uh Somerset Police Department, but um we decided to get into that one and we had a blast and realized uh you know just what how fun the crappie series and tournament fishing is and just kind of went with it and uh last year I think we were in three or four different states going around competing in the crappie USA and uh it's just seeming uh to grow every year and of course our passion is just keeps growing as well for it.
SPEAKER_00So we don't hear as much uh you know about crappie fishing tournaments, especially here in the old parts as uh the crappie fishing is something that uh it's catching on, I think, and and uh more than that. But it's kind of catching on especially the the tournament fishing for crappie. And uh as a sport, it's really great, it's something that everybody can do.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's um uh they've come a long way with uh the crappie tournament fishing. They they got three national um series now. They got the crappie USA, they got a crappie masters, and then they have the American Crappie Trail, and um you know they go all over. A lot of them is more Midwest and Southern lakes. Um, but they like I said, they're traveling several different states and and hosting these tournaments, and it's becoming a really big thing now. So you're seeing uh uh several of the uh professional bass anglers are fishing in some of these uh larger crappie events as well.
SPEAKER_05Well yeah, it's becoming very popular, and uh I mean uh just real quick here, tell our listeners when you went and fished the crappie USA national championships at Table Rock, how many boats was in that time?
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah, we um on Table Rock we fished the uh Mr. Crappie invitational and it was invitational um but it was a hundred and six boats um there wow that year, and uh I think it's it's usually between a hundred to a hundred and twenty. Um and like I said, it it's it's an invitation-only event, and uh it's usually the best of the best in the country.
SPEAKER_05That is awesome, Red Bull. Yeah, you gotta feel pretty close. USA and uh his career. When we come back in segment four, we're gonna talk about how to get started in crappie fishing, what you need to become a crappie fisherman, and how he's catching fish. Don't go away. We'll be right back with more American Roots Outdoors with Zeke Reynolds from Somerset, Kentucky, professional crappie fisherman. We'll be right back with more right after this. Hey, this is Eddie Salter, and you listen to American Roots and Outdoors with Alex Rutland and friends.
SPEAKER_02Around your heart. So you never gotta worry what the wind might do. American Roots.
SPEAKER_05And Outdoors Presents. Welcome back to segment three of American Roots Outdoors. Again, our special guest, Zeke Reynolds of Somerset, Kentucky, a professional crappie fishman, has been talking about his American roots and talking about the crop USA tournaments and talking about crappie USA and about his family. And what we're gonna do in this segment here is Zeke, to our listeners out there, if they never crappie fish, how can they get started crappie fishing?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, there uh there's several ways. I mean, uh you can you can go uh go to your local tackle shop and you can buy buy minas and find you some usually some brush and most all your lakes or lay downs and and you know drop minas. Um and you generally catch crappie. Um but you know some of my favorite ways is I like to cast for them using jigs. Um and uh I also use uh what they call it one pole jigging now. Um but you're you basically using a a long pole. I got the um a Genko X13, it's a 13 foot rod that I use wow with with that. And you know basically you're going through with your live scope and you're looking for individual fish and kind of reaching out with your jig and and dropping it at them and um trying to get them to bite.
SPEAKER_05So but again let's talk about this 13-foot ginkle rod. Yeah. Is it a medium action? What action is it, and what count test line and what kind of reel are you using?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so my my current setup that I like to use on it is uh I have a bait casting reel that I use. It works really well for me. Some people use bait casters on them, some will use um um spinning reels, and it's it's the preference thing, but uh I'm using uh 10-pound canine braid and it's a high viz. I like to a lot of times with this wintertime fishing, um, these crappie bite really light and you don't feel them a lot of times, and you can see your line twitch. So it's important to be able to have that uh visibility of your line using a high viz to uh to sometimes see the bite before feeling it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I and I would assume if you're gonna you'll head out on the lake or and I know most lakes are are kind of marked for the uh uh where they where they've dumped the brush off the points and things like that. So I mean just anybody pretty much can get out on the lake and oh there it is. But it's really not that simple. I mean you can you can find where they're supposed to be, but they're not always there.
SPEAKER_06Right. And and uh you um here on on Cumberland we got a little bit of uh everything. We got brush piles that that's been uh put in. We've got lay downs that's uh um trees that fell over, and we've had some we got some standing timber in places where they had dropped a lake to work on the Zam. And then uh it was down for several years and when had watered or brought the water back up, of course, all that underbrush and growth. Um you know, they they used it a lot. Most generally crappie tend to stay to structure.
SPEAKER_05So so my question to you, we've only got about uh three minutes left here in this segment for uh for those out there that don't do not know what a live scope is, let's talk about live scope, but a lot of people can't afford a live scope. So it's important for them to know where the structure is at, Red Bowl.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And if they can't afford a live scope, how can they find the structure?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, uh a lot of these lakes, if the the core or some of your state fish and wildlife has put uh brush piles or some put some artificial structure in, um, they they post coordinates on on a lot of their websites. And you can get on there and pick that up. Um a lot of stuff that I look for on lakes, especially the steeper bank lakes, is is uh if you know trees have fallen off off the banks, you can see slides or or um or stuff. Most generally you can find a a tree that's uprooted and fell in the water. Um or a lot of times you can see them laying down or but it's it's a lot of for me a lot of moving around. Um I can like I said earlier, my favorite way is casting for 'em. And uh I use a it's a seven foot Genko trick stick and um I usually in the wintertime I'll downsize to an inch and a half jig. Um because the fish tend to like smaller baits in the winter. So this inch and a half jig, what is the weight of that inch and a half jig? Oh, uh I change weight. Um usually I Jinto would come out with uh this year it's uh a 1.5 mermaid, and it's a little uh split tail jig and it's it's a great bait. But if looking at my live scope, and most of the time here um on Cumberland, your fish are in five to twelve foot of water. If it's not windy, I'll go with a lighter jig. Sometimes uh most of the time I'm fishing a 16th, but if I need a slower fall, I'll go down to a 24th ounce or even a 32nd.
SPEAKER_05Oh no, what do you think of that? Light bait, rainbow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's that's really light. Hey no, Alex, uh I think I'll be fishing on like a couple different types. You can be on the lake, and there's a there's a big fine. There's a there's a number there that actually uh tells you where the brush powers are located when you're on the water and you can uh think that was on the bank. That's a pretty cool thing because it's gonna help.
SPEAKER_05Yes, it does, Red Bone, and that's another great thing that uh Corps of Engineers and uh some of the conservation uh in several states will do that to help the the fishermen and fisherwomen. So uh, you know, you've been a great guest so far, and we'd love to have you back on here again, and we're about to wrap up the uh last segment of the radio show. But we do have a bonus segment coming up after this, everybody, as you all know if you follow us. And what we're gonna do with Zeke is Zeke is gonna tell us how he finds these crappie and tell us about what how and he uses the live scope. And the live scope, talk about that for one minute, what the live scope is.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so uh Garmin come out with uh what they call live scope, and it's actual live sonar um that we have on our graphs now that we can actually see fish moving in real time and actually see our baits falling in in real time and being able to get to the fish and and actually see how they react and respond to to the baits as well. So um, you know, technology has come a long way, especially in the fishing industry. Um it seems like it wasn't too awful long ago. People was using flashers and stuff, so uh to go from that to live sonar is is really neat.
SPEAKER_05You know, red bone and we're gonna wrap it up here, but uh it's amazing what technology has done for hunting and fishing, and uh it's gonna be pretty neat this bonus thing. You want to join us because he's gonna tell you how to use a live scope and how to find these crappie with a live scope and without and how he does it. Again, thank you, Zeke Rills, for being on the show. Everybody follows Zeke on his Facebook page. And Zeke, I know you work with Ginkko rods and Ginkko lures, and tell us about them real quick.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, um, of course, Genko uh has uh a wide variety of of rods and reels and both uh sorry of rod and baits both in crappie and bass fishing stuff. Um they have everything from the ultralight all the way up to they have an uh X series of 15 foot crappie rod too to reach out there and be able to drop. Um have several different plastics and different sizes and colors for for crappie fishing and um uh gig head, uh you name it. Um it just uh you can check them out on their website at jinkofishing.com and uh uh get some of their some of their stuff. Their rods are phenomenal.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Well awesome. Redbone, thank you for helping us uh run the soundboard and being my co-host today. And uh again, Zeke, thanks for being on the show and our same here at American Roots. And y'all stay tuned if you're gonna you're a podcast listener, stay tuned for the bone segment. And when you do go to the bone segment, you listen to it, leave us a review. We're gonna give something away from Ginkgo this coming week. Again, thanks, Zeke. And remember, when your roots run deep and strong, Zeke.
SPEAKER_00There's no reason to fear the wind.
SPEAKER_02So you never gotta work.
SPEAKER_00Alex Rutledge.
SPEAKER_05Welcome to the bonus segment, everybody. Alex Rutledge calling via phone to the studio again. Redbone Mike Grace is on the soundboards at K Country 95 Studios. And again, our special guest is Mr. Zeke Renz from Somerset, Kentucky, a professor of coffee fisherman. And man, what a great show we've had, Red Bone, and all the knowledge he's given us in history.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's been a lot of fun and learning lots of stuff, but uh it's time to kind of get down to some of the brass tacks now uh with Zeke. And uh and one of those uh Zeke, and I think let's just kind of start with uh and we mentioned during the radio show, wintertime is always a good time to go crappie fishing. Why is that?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and uh like I was saying earlier, it it's been such a difficult time sometimes deciding whether to do your hunt, do you fish, um, because the fishing is just as good as as the deer hunting in the winter time. Um these crappie like to school up in big schools generally and and they're feeding up for the winter. So they're they're chasing shad and and they're eating, and um you can find these big schools in the brush and and around structure and stuff, and you can you can limit out really quick if you if you come across the right schools of fish.
SPEAKER_05So so this winter fishing, this cold weather, uh, we're gonna talk about techniques here. We've got about six minutes left here in the bonus segment. Uh what is your technique without using a live scope? Say if somebody didn't have a live scope, you're gonna pay attention to the markers, you're gonna go find a map of the lake, and it's gonna show you where these this brush is, and that's a way you'll find the fish. So once you know the areas where they're at, how do you choose what baits you're gonna fish?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so um most generally I I keep uh two colors in my boat. Um, and Genko makes a dirty milk and they make a smoke show, and that they're my two all-time favorite colors. Um they're more of a a clear, clear water lake bait, and I fish a lot of clear water here in my area. Um but I can take them to and I keep usually some to spike it marker pins. So if if lake gets a little dirty, I can use that chartreuse pin or an orange pen or pink with um and I can brighten them baits up if I need to to you know to encourage the the fish to strike. But usually, like I said, these fish are moving up in the creeks of of the lakes and most generally they're about mid-creek um this time of year, chasing shad and they're they're feeding up for winter. Um they uh they they always usually around brush that you can you can find these fish. And and um prior to my live scope days, I would look for trees that's laying down, or I'd find some um standing timber, and I would just start working it and I would try different depths and I'd count. Usually I would always throw a sixteenth ounce jig head. It's usually about a foot a second. So if I'd count down five to ten seconds, and I'd bounce around until I'd get a a bite, and then I would stick at that at that depth. So I caught a fish at eight seconds or roughly eight foot down, everywhere I'd fish after that, I would use that as a pattern, and that's where I'd work work my baits as far as depth goes. But just bouncing around from structure to structure to structure, if there's a lot in that area until you find a school, and you you just stay there and fish with them until it slows down and you move on to the next spot. Red Bull, that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00That is pretty cool. And and a great way to find those fish without having uh the technology in the boat. Very often, it's produced crappie. So what is the what's the heaviest crappie you ever caught?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so uh last spring here on Cumberland, we was fishing a little local tournament. It's the Kentucky Crappie Trail, and I'd actually caught uh a black crappie that weighed 274.
SPEAKER_05Whoa! That's a big crappie. What about Lake Sardis and Grenada Lake in Mississippi? They're catching down there three and four pounds.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, there's lots of three-pounders in in Granada, and I'm hoping to uh we're looking to try to plan a trip down there maybe around the end of February to to try to catch some of them three pounders.
SPEAKER_05Do you know I've got a friend down there that works with a Corps of Engineers on uh Grenada Lake, and uh we got a place to stay, and those guys are huge crappie fishermen, so we can go down and stay with them and fish with them. We'll probably need to go sometime in early March.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, if uh if we can make that work, I'd be more than happy to to come down and and and try that lake. It's been on my bucket list to get to for for a long time. And now that we're seeing these larger fish, I I just um encouraged and and trying to get down there as soon as I can. Hey, real quick, we've got about two and a half minutes left here.
SPEAKER_05Talk about the live scope. The live scope, how how do you find fish your live scope? So you get your foot on your troll motor, and uh I don't know what kind of batteries you use, but I'm gonna give amped outdoors a plug, the lithium batteries. If you've never used that amped outdoors battery, you you've been missing out. I I run the 24 volt on my river jet boat, and I've done two trips, Redbone and Zeke, uh, a total of 20 hours and never had to charge it, and I fight current the whole day with it. So that's a huge statement. Amped outdoors lithium batteries. So check them out. But how do you use the live scope?
SPEAKER_06So uh I'll find an area that I I I want to fish, and um I still I'm still looking for structure, you know, visible structure or I'm Checking maps and looking for if there's standing timber, I I may um, you know, I'm gonna go check it. And um when I get to the area, if there's a a lay down, um I'll I'll get to it and then I'll drop my trolling motor and I'll start scanning that tree um with my my live scope. I have it hooked up to my trolling motor and it moves um you know the direction that I have uh that my trolling motor's pointed. So I I'll scan it if there's you know fish there, I'll kind of move in and then uh I will um you know again my favorite technique's casting for 'em. So I I'll start out a little bit of a distance if there's fish in there that I want to fish for. Um and I'll start casting and and getting them fish, you know, pick a few up that way, and I'll just kind of keep moving in. And sometimes I have to sit on top of them and drop it right on their face. But with the live scope, you know, you can you can see if there's fish there, um, what size they are, how many's there, and how the most important thing to me is how they respond um to your bait. And it's uh there's a such um a lot of stuff that you can learn from you know how how they react to your bait. And you a lot of times them fish will move up and you think they're gonna eat it and then they'll just turn back away and go back down to where they come from. It can it can uh it can mentally, you know, mess with you too and and and discourage you i if you if you let it, but um you just gotta keep keep fighting after them and you'll eventually um get them to react to your bait.
SPEAKER_05So it's kinda like playing an arcade game, isn't it?
SPEAKER_06It is, it is, it it it's a lot of fun and you know you hear a lot of people talk good about it, you hear some um that's talks bad and and thinks that it's kinda hurting the industry because the people's catching more more fish. Um but just because you have live scope doesn't mean that you're gonna go out and catch fish. There you still gotta have technique and and you know, being able to to work them fish to get them to bite because just because the live scope's on there doesn't mean the fish are gonna eat your jig or minnow or whatever you're throwing at them.
SPEAKER_05Great information. And again, Zeke, we're gonna wrap her up here. Uh man, you've been a great guest and and what wonderful knowledge you you've shared with all of our listeners all over the world. And uh we'd love to have you back again to do a part two down the road. And I look forward to maybe turn out any crop decision with you this spring. And uh, Red Bull.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I just want to encourage folks to make sure you leave a review when you're done listening to this podcast. And uh by leaving a review, you never know when you might win a little something from the game at American Roots Outdoors Radio. Alex, that's always time to wrap it up. When your roots run defense, defense.