Pro Tips to Catching More & Bigger Bass with the Free Rig

In this episode of the Serious Angler Bass Fishing Podcast, we break down the free rig for bass fishing with anglers Tyler Madden and Jake Maddox. You'll learn when to throw the free rig, the best gear and line setups, and the presentation tricks that make it one of the most effective techniques for catching more bass. Whether you're new to bass fishing or looking to sharpen your soft plastics game, this episode gives you a complete 101 style breakdown of the free rig. Tune in to level up your bass fishing skills and start putting more fish in the boat.

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Deps Barbute: https://tinyurl.com/4xstbznr
Geecrack Bellows Gill: https://omnia.direct/lsbzdfg'
Zoom Ol Monster: https://omnia.direct/thnhrhrt
Zoom Speed Worm: https://omnia.direct/hedeth

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

All right, welcome everyone to the Sears Tangler Podcast. For as always, I'm your host, Bailey Eigbrett, and we today are going to be talking about the free rig. As you guys know, our main course for you was always going to be talking and hopefully teaching you more about bass fishing. And we have that tenfold today is we have Mr. Jake Maddox and Mr. Tyler Madden coming on to talk about the free rig, some of the modifications you can make to it, setups, how you fish it, some mistakes you might be making with the free rig, and why you should be picking up the free rig if you've not already. We'll be diving into a bunch of that on today's show, but a couple things before we get into it. Unfortunately, no deacon for this week. He is on a barn burner when it comes to uh work. So uh but that is just for this week. So you guys are stuck with me. And with this episode, we'll be talking about the specific baits, rods, rails, line, hooks, all that jazz, uh, which will be linked down below for you guys to go grab some. Uh, and of course, as always, we will use links to Omnia Fishing where you can use code Sirius10, save 10% off your order, especially even more if you're a pro member. And right now, make sure you guys are checking out the new arrivals at Omnia Fishing because all the new baits and gear have hit the new arrivals page on Omnia Fishing. So make sure you guys are checking that out. With that, we'll get into some business from the bass boat, some industry buzz for this week. And as always, that is brought to you by our friends over at Rec Lending. If you guys are looking to get into a new boat or refinance your current boat, make sure you guys give the folks at Rec Lending a call. They'll be the best team to be able to help you out. And uh, with that, guys, huge congratulations to Angler of the Year of Major League Fishing BPT, Mr. Zach Burge. We're rooting for them all year long. It's it's always fun to watch guys defend their titles and uh seeing the race between Wheeler and Burge all year and to seeing how their different fishing styles uh and and how they approached each of each event and found success in their own ways was was pretty awesome to watch. And it came down to the wire. And again, congrats, Mr. Zach Burge, who's been on the show a couple times this past year, and uh looking forward to the next show with the 2026 AOI. And with that, too, the stage seven champion, the man, the king of Lake Erie, Mr. Justin Lucas, who his first win on Lake Erie basically was the man solely responsible for for blowing up the Berkeley Max sent flatworm. He basically said, Hold my beer, I'm about to do it again. Got the dub, so congrats to Mr. Justin Lucas, who will be coming on on the show here soon. And so, guys, we are going to be talking about the free rig. And I have a special guest right now trying to join the show here. Uh, my wife's cat is now about to walk across my desk. So apologies for my YouTube folks. Uh, but we're talking about the free rig. And I think this one is so overlooked, but it's gaining in popularity, but it's gaining in popularity. More people are talking about it. So we figured why not get two hammers with it to come on and talk about some 101, some sneaky stuff you can do with it, the best baits and setups to throw the free rig. And uh, we did just that in today's episode. And the thing is, guys, the free rig, you can't go wrong. And what I mean by that is you can throw a finesse free rig, something on spinning tackle, really lightweight, you know, like an eighth ounce uh cylinder drop shot weight, or whatever style weight you'd like. We talk about different ones in this show. You can make it as heavy and as power as you want it to, and throwing a three-quarter ounce to one ounce uh weight and very heavy line. The thing to remember is when it comes to your bait selection, there's so many different things you can do with the free rig and different places you can fish the free rig. And for people that are listening that might not have a visual component to this or don't know and this is your first time hearing of the free rig, essentially picture a Texas rig that is unpegged and instead of a bullet weight for obviously flipping that Texas rig, picture a cylinder drop shot weight in front of it. And so that drop shot weight can now free swing down the line, which what it does is when you cast it, your bait is going to be what I call late to the party. Your weight is going to hit the the ground first, and depending on what bait you're throwing, how heavy the weight is, you're gonna have a separation from the weight to the bait of choice. And so with that, what I like to do is I go a little bit heavier of a weight than normal in certain scenarios because even in shallower water is the heavier the weight, sometimes might be more of a pain to fish, but is always going to create more separation. And what I mean by that, so obviously the heavier the weight, the more distance you're gonna have from your lure of choice because that weight is going to fall much faster than whatever bait you're throwing, especially if your bait has a lot of drag. If you're throwing like a brush hog, um obviously if you're throwing like a koiky something along the lines of that, just throwing examples of things that have more drag. If you're throwing stuff like that versus like a Senko, you know, baits that have more drag are gonna have and a heavier weight is gonna have a lot more separation. And what that allows you to do is once that weight hits the bottom initially on your cast, you have a whole presentation you can use with your bait of choice being late to the party and and kind of manipulating that line slack and letting that bait fall free, hence free rig, and being able to work that. But once it gets, you know, you've shaken your line slack, things like that, held it in place. A lot of times I get my bites literally on that first fall because I can shake my line slack and let that bait dance on its own while the weight is on the bottom by itself hidden. But you can repeat that cadence by once that bait comes down and connects to your weight, you can do an aggressive rod lift, or as Tyler talks about in the show, two rod pops and really get a lot of fish's attention. But what that does is it gets your bait back up in the column and repeats the process all over again, and so that's where it's really effective. And these guys are gonna talk at length about all that with Jake Maddox and Mr. Tyler Madden. And so we have no segue in between these two guys. We're just gonna get right into it. We'll go start out with Jake Maddox and get right into Mr. Tyler Madden. Uh, we poke some fun at our pal, Mr. Ty Manarola, of course, in this show too, who will be joining us as well here future on another seriously western web, Mr. Manarolo. But we have Mr. Ty Madden, another Western guy hailing from Texas, who'll follow suit from Jake Maddox. Oh, and last thing before we get into today's show, I hosted a meetup this past weekend uh at Doc's Tackle. I put some stuff out on social that uh I was gonna be hosting a meetup and I was gonna be giving away a bunch of free tackle and was not sure what I was getting into. Had a pile of DMs of people saying they're gonna show up. Uh, but you just never know because a lot of times people say, Yeah, we'll be there, and you just really never know who's actually gonna show up. And uh, I just have to say thank you so much to everyone that came out because that was overwhelming. Uh, the amount of people that came out and uh was just an awesome sight to see all the the youth anglers and kids that are around the area come and uh get all excited about fishing, asking questions, teaching each other about fishing. That was one of the coolest parts is the kids talking to each other about it and asking each other questions about fishing. And seeing that riffraff was just an awesome site and um was uh uh a a deal that was awesome because I got to give back. It was a little bit of selfish uh of me because it helped me out because I have something coming down the pipe that just needed to get rid of a bunch of stuff, and um it helped me out by giving rid of it. But I figured if I get rid of it rather than sell it and try to make something off of it, I want to do something good with it. And so all those kids now are gonna go be putting those baits to work and hopefully we'll be getting a bunch of pictures of bass being caught. But it was uh selfishly an awesome event because my cup was full, headed home, and just had a lot of feel-good going on and was so cool to see all the kids getting excited about the baits. It was uh way cooler than any other Halloween. It was it was fishing tackled, you know, uh trick-or-treat. So uh long-winded, but thank you guys so much to all of you guys that came out to the meetup. It was it was awesome, and I can't wait to do another one. But that being said, uh appreciate y'all. We have and one more thing is Sunday. I'll be leaving for Wisconsin. We have the last bass master kayak event up on the Wolf and Fox River. Uh, so we'll be headed up to there. So we're gonna be trying to cranking out some shows so that you guys have shows while we're out next week. The socials might be a little bit low, um, but we will have podcasts for you guys in the next couple weeks, and uh, we'll have Starlink with us, so we will have internet so we can have no excuse for not getting a show up. But uh without further ado, let's get into today's show. All right, folks, so we're Mr. Jake Maddox, no stranger to Sirius Angler, that's for sure. Obviously, always coming on and dropping some juice, dude. And I was thinking we were putting together this panel for the free rig as it kind of felt like the free rig was known about a little bit, but like the word wasn't really out there and people weren't really putting the credibility behind it to actually fish it. Where which was nice because like the folks that were fishing it were having some fun with it, but now it seems like the buzz is kind of out there, so we figure with more people fishing it, let's uh help a little more folks to kind of get like a one-on-one sense of the free rig. Uh, but where does the does the free rig, is it usually tied on for you on the boat? Is it yeah?

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Staple for sure. It's definitely gonna be tied on. Um, I'm not gonna say year round. I like it more so in like warmer water. Um, but down south we really don't get a whole lot of cold water in general. Um, so it is like a nine months out of the year rig for sure. But that being said, um, I think that mindset that I've uh had behind it being more of a warm water bait is maybe just because of the baits that I have been throwing. Um, I do want to play around this winter, especially with spotted bass, um, playing with some, you know, different types of, you know, rather than creature baits, more so worms, you know, that's the beauty of free rig, is you can kind of put whatever bait you want, and each bait is going to kind of act different. Um, beauty behind the free rig, you probably talked to other guys about it, is it's just a um more efficient unpegged Texas rig. Everyone knows that flipping a Texas rig around gets a lot of bites, just you know, casting a Texas rig gets a lot of bites, but this kind of gives it more of a unique look where it has um the properties of fast sinking um bait that has the weight attached to it, and then once the weight hits the bottom, it goes almost to like a weightless technique, almost like a hybrid Carolina rig, hybrid Texas rig. Just gets a lot of bites, and the beauty of it is the bait that you put on uh the back of it. Um we actually have some videos coming out um either this week or next where it was me and Jacob Walker. Um, we were out on Gunnersville throwing a free rig, throwing this bait actually. It's the depths bar boot. Um really cool bait. I like it a lot. It has um almost like speed crawl arms, so it's gonna um vibrate on the paws, you know, flap on the way down. Um, but it kind of almost sways and flows almost like a tube does whenever it's you know falling down like spirals almost, but almost like a weightless spiral. So that's a really good bait, especially um around brim beds. That's what we were kind of fishing on Gunnersville, where offshore brim beds, shell beds, places inside the current, inside grasslands, that sort of deal. Um, the cool thing about a free rig is you can just fish it everywhere. Um, there's no wrong place to fish it.

SPEAKER_04 11:53

Yeah. Well, and I liked your point too of like the the bait options are uh are limitless when it comes to this. And what I'm excited with this is this this panel we have is everyone's gonna say something different, which is gonna be cool. It really is is when you can use your imagination when it comes to the free rig. You can really kind of put whatever you want. And it can be as uh heavy and as as power as you want it to be, with you know, 20-pound floral heavy weight, big plastic, or it can be as finesse as you want it to be. Uh I know that's that's kind of more of a western thing when guys are kind of throwing that on lighter line, lighter weight, kind of more worms like you're talking about. Yeah. Um but when it comes to obviously that's the that's one bait you like to go to. I know a popular one with the free rig that people talk about a lot, it's just like a either a cre like a um like a beaver style bait. That's one that's got a popularity up in smallmouth country, but like the G-crack bellowsgill, that's gotten pretty synonymous, I feel like, with the free rig. What other ones have you found that are just simple bite getters?

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Yeah, so probably my other favorite one is gonna be bullflat um from Depths 2. It's bluegill profile. It's it's one I fish typically more, you know, your largemouty lakes, um, places with grass, places where bluegill school up um bed offshore, like you fall is one of those places, Gunnersville is one of those places. Um, one that I see kind of trending that people don't talk about that's not a sponsored bait, is that uh D style gillacanth. Um, it's just kind of a similar to that bellows gill, just a lot of action. Whenever it's like a lot of secondary movement, and that's what the beauty of these two baits are that I just showed, and the Gillacanth and the Bellows Shad Bellows Gill is there's a lot of secondary movement on that bait whenever you're not actually imparting action on the bait. So um that's a really cool one. And they both also have every one of those baits has a very unique fall that's you know synonymous to its own kind of presentation. Each one of those things you've throwing in the pool, they're gonna do different things. So that's super, super cool. Um, it just depends on the bait you're throwing. I know even guys throw a tube on a on a free rig, which is really cool. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

So you really can throw anything you want.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

You really can throw everything. Like I just went fishing. Um, I've been fishing with a with a guy that um I think he's been in the boat with a lot of West Coast guys, and I've all I've only ever thrown it on a um bait caster up until about two weeks ago. Um, fishing with a guy, he was nose rigging a prism shad robo worm on a nose hook on a spinning rod and outfishing me. Um, and he wasn't even the guy on the scope on Lake Lanier. So, and then we've taken it to some other places, and it just gets a lot of bites, and that's gonna be something I play with. This that's what I was saying this winter, I want to play with uh just because we are very, very down here at Lake Lanier, very Nico rig heavy, and they just see a lot of Nico rigs, they see a lot of shaggy heads just presenting a bait slightly different. It's the same bait, like it might be the exact same worm we throw on a Nico rig, but it's just a little bit different presentation, and that's on these pressured fisheries, that's what seems to really, you know, get you a couple extra bites, catch you a lot of big bites at that.

SPEAKER_04 15:11

Yeah, something a little bit different, something a little bit more subtle, especially on a place as pressured as Lanier seems to be.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 15:19

Yeah. Now walk us through like when it comes to fishing a free rig from a because obviously you can you can basically just take it and replace a Texas rig, but there's also different cadences that you can do with a free rig that gives it you know the advantage of having the free rig over, say, a Texas rig. So yeah, kind of walk us through a cast.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Yeah, so for me, um I like the free rig a lot just because I'm not a very patient guy. Um, I like my bait to be moving a lot. I like I'm a winder more than anything, I would say. I'm a spinnerbait guy, I'm a chatterbait guy, a crankbait guy. So this allows me to fish a slow, typically what you would think a slow moving bait, bottom bait, a lot more aggressively and fashion. That's why I kind of said it was more of a warm water bait for me. Um and like you said, you can put as heavy a weight or as light as a weight as you want. For me, a good starting point is like a quarter ounce weight, and I'll throw it all the way up to like an ounce, um, depending on how deep I'm fishing. Um but I'm gonna throw the bait out there, I'm gonna let it hit the bottom, and then I'm gonna kind of pull the bait to where the bait catches back up with the weight, and then I'll do like short little hops. Um, and then me and Jacob Walker both we like longer rods for sure for that. Um, so I'm throwing them a little bit longer rod than I typically would with just a normal casting a Texas rig around. We're both using 7.5 to 7.6 rods. Um, it's more of like a medium heavy, just your typical jig rod, just a little bit longer. Um, helps you get a little, you know, cast out there a little bit further, too, um, which is really, really nice. And then one of the biggest kind of mistakes that we've had like when we first started throwing Texas rig or a free rig at that, is instead of setting the hook like a typical Texas rig, you need to line your slack up a little bit more. A lot of times they'll bite the bait and they'll be running off with it, and you need your weight to connect back to your bait to be able to get a good hook set. Um, so that's where that longer rod really comes into play as well. Um, but I'm gonna fish it basically the same way I would throw a Texas rig, but I'm just gonna give it a few more aggressive hops. Um, probably I would say every like you know 15 seconds or so, I'm gonna do like kind of a quick like pop like that. Um, which is I'm not gonna I don't want to lift the bait super, super high out of the water. Um, but I want it to, you know, basically build a gap between my weight and my bait. Um and we were talking about this on Gunnersville. One of the best baits ever made for ledge fishing is a you know a preacher jig, an old school um like a shuttlecock, like hair jig. Um, and that bait goes up and you know super super fast and then falls super super slow, and that's what that what they bite. And kind of the same thing as that free rig, it kind of does the exact same thing, but it's more of a finessey, you know, soft plastic, soft plastics in general just get more bites. So it's kind of almost like a hybridized technique.

SPEAKER_04 18:16

Yeah. It's that's where I found I've gotten a lot of bites and being able to obviously have forward-facing sonar to see exactly what's happening, but that that aggressive lift, you know, once you can because you you nailed it on the part, and that was one of the things I wanted to drive home for people, is like being able to have something sensitive enough rod-wise, so that you can feel when when you're first starting to pull that line slack and it feels light, it's because your your bait is catching up to your weight. That's an important part. And then I can't say how many times, like when you talk about that aggressive lift, getting that that bait and the weight up, and then what I call it is the the weight is ditching its friends so that it's friends now coming late to the party. That is all the time when I see fish chase it aggressively when you lift, and the weight goes on the bottom, but then they're like, Oh, there's just this, there's this beaver right here. I'm just gonna keep this thing floating. Yeah, that's uh do you feel like that's when you get your most bites too? Is right after that lift.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Yeah, 100%. And they they hit it way harder than like a Texas rig for whatever reason. Like they want to kill it, it seems like. Um that's the biggest, like, kind of it's almost like a jig by the old school jig by where it's like dong, you know, um, which is super, super cool and different, and you know, you know you got the right thing tied on when that happens. Not just mush. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

Now, with uh with the two baits you mentioned, um, are you gravitating more towards an EWG straight shank? What kind of hook would you use when with the the kind of hooks that you need with the free rig?

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Yeah, I still play around with it. Um, my favorite kind of all-around Texas rig hook um for more of like the creature style baits is the infinity. Um that's the right infinity. That's a four-odd. I'll use a three-odd even on some of those smaller, smaller baits. Um, and I'll throw you know a bigger one on those bigger baits. Um, if I'm gonna throw something more like a worm, I'm gonna throw the limit, which is more like your standard just kind of worm hook, not an EWG. Um, one of the bigger, most important things to use is some sort of rubber keeper, and that just protects your knot. Um and then also a lot of not a lot of people talk about this, but is having a really uh quality weight. Um you want a the swivel eye to not have any um burrs, no bad spots on it, because that will really damage your line if you use kind of like if you cheap out on your weight a lot of the time. Like I'm not saying you can't use lead. Um tungsten is very, very hard to find now. I'm you know, just kind of stockpiling what I have.

SPEAKER_05 20:54

Hard on the weight. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

But um, you really it's important to find a really quality um weight. And you know, I I recommend the Ryugi one. Um, I have no affiliation with Fuji, um, but I know a guy over at Fuji, uh Jackie sent me some really cool um the same instruments they use on a lot of the you know guides produced on a lot of these fishing rods. They actually have a free rig specialty guide that goes on your line that clips to whatever weight you want, so you can get away with throwing you know a cheaper weight, um, or you know, even adding just a little bit more free movement with that specialty eye, which is really, really dialed. Um, I actually need to call him after this this podcast and get some more. But that is a really sneaky one. I don't know if those are even out to the US yet, but they are coming, I know.

SPEAKER_04 21:43

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SPEAKER_02 22:23

Yeah, for sure. I think we're getting some. Um, I think he said he sent me them last fall, and now I want to say he was trying to get them over here. Um which I think they're on the way. So I need to call him. I haven't called him in a little while.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

So they're dialed, they're dialed for sure.

SPEAKER_04 22:47

Yeah. Well, dude, uh, as we as we wrap this up, um, I guess one of the things I didn't mention either was like real speed. Now you mentioned being able to catch up to these fish that line slack and then set the hook. I'm assuming you're gonna go towards a faster gear ratio when fishing this year.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Yeah, for sure. Um, I use the XGs from Shimano, they're the fastest ones they make. It's like an 8, 2 to 1, I believe, in the Metaniums. It's all you know different. You know, if it's Karada, I think it's like an 8-3 or something like that. Um, but yeah, it's just gonna be the XG, which is gonna be the faster of the gear ratios for sure. Just want to catch up those fish and I want to hammer them hard, that's why I'm using the longer odd, the fast reel. Um, and then line size, you know, it pretty much depends. Um, then playing around a lot with braid deleter. Um, I think just added sensitivity helps on that.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Um I still throw it on for or traditional.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

What's that?

SPEAKER_03 23:41

Sinking braid or traditional?

SPEAKER_02 23:42

I'm I'm just a traditional guy. I'm I'm not a big sinking braid guy, even on spinning rods.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

Um, the only time I use sinking braid is um is throwing a dice, is the only thing I think I like it for. Minnow, I think it dulls the action. If you throw a minnow on sinking braid and you throw it in a pool 20 foot deep, it's not gonna stroll like you think it does. But I think it's great for dice, getting a little bitty OSP dice down there.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Um to them weightless, you know, or barely no weight.

unknown 24:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

But or baby coid, you know.

SPEAKER_04 24:14

Yeah.

unknown 24:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:15

For sure. All right. Uh last thing, dude, uh before I let you go here is like you mentioned a little bit about some mistakes that you guys learned from with the free rig, but what was one kind of like glaring thing that either you've seen people do wrong or get mistakes, uh a mistake in with the free rig, uh, or kind of one like learning curve thing that you've seen with the free rig?

SPEAKER_02 24:36

I would definitely say like um when it's hot summertime and you're just like dragging along, you know, you you're kind of going through the motions, almost fishing it like you would a Texas rig. Kind of just remember what you're actually fishing. Um, make sure to do those you know, hops, be very intentional with every single cast. And then when you do get a bite, don't set the hook like it's a football jig or like it's a you know big worm and a brush pile. Make sure to reel down, get all the slack out of the line, and really hammer home with that hook set. That's the biggest thing I can I can say. Um, even fishing with Jacob, you know, like sometimes you're out of position. You know, make sure to like take your time, reel down all your slack and set the hook and you know, drive the hook home.

SPEAKER_04 25:18

Yeah, that's the biggest one that I want to nail nail down in this show is because like just like the Carolina rig, can't say how many times like the fish will grab the bait and start swimming towards you. You don't realize it until you go to like lift the next time. Yeah, where did all my line go? And then you've reeled you realize they're like under you. Yeah, so it's it's yeah, uh, it's a great point there. Um, and uh dude, always, always dropping juice on this on this platform, man.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

What we're here for. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's been been a minute, and and uh I look forward to headed up to your neck of the woods and eating some wings. That's what we're fired up to go catch some big brown fish and get some some wings where it all started, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 25:55

Yeah, it was funny timing reaching out to you for this show and you texting me asking about some wing recommendations for both people. Yeah, we'll we'll put you on the juice, brother.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, no doubt.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

Well, appreciate it, man, and uh we'll be talking to you soon.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Sounds good. Appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

You need gear that works as hard as you do. That's why Amped Outdoors is the official power solution of the Sirius Angler Podcast. From unmatched battery nerd customer service to performance that thrives in extreme winter cold or summer heat keeps you on the water longer. Click the link in the show notes to get you powered up with Amped Outdoors. Now back to the show. All right, folks. Well, we are with the better of the Tyler's that uh frequent this show. Uh, and that's that's a shot across the bow to Mr. Time Manarola. Totally undeserved. We have the better Tyler, Mr. Tyler Madden joining us uh talking about the free rig. And uh, dude, I guess to start, has the free rig been playing for any big old giants down there in Tejas?

SPEAKER_06 26:54

Uh yeah, honestly, it's I mean, I don't I don't go fishing without it rigged up right now. Um, this is like the prime time for me to throw it like all through the summer and into the fall. So yeah, I think I caught uh what eight-pounder the other day on it and then consistently fish over six on it. So I mean it's been it's been good, but I'm not throwing like just a regular little free rig. I'm throwing like 10-inch worm on free rig.

SPEAKER_04 27:18

So oh yeah, yeah. Everything's bigger in Texas, so yeah. Go big or go home. Yeah, uh that's sick, dude. Uh so I take it Texas has been treating you well, at least judging by your social media, it seems like it's been treating you well.

SPEAKER_06 27:31

Yeah, I know it's been awesome. I like I've loved the area, and we're in Grand Prairie, so we're just out to Dallas, in between Fort Worth and Dallas. And it's a good area. We live right on uh right by Joe Pool Lake, it's like a mile down the road. I was out there this morning for a couple hours and caught one just under seven, so that's fine. And then um small one for Texas. Yeah, just a just a decent one.

SPEAKER_04 27:53

Like we're like, ah, it's probably even seven, screw it.

SPEAKER_06 27:57

A little bit spoiled, but um yeah, I've been I've probably fished like seven different lakes uh since I've been here and just trying to fish as many as I can to figure out what's cool, what where I want to guide, you know, like just checking it out. I was at I went to Fork three days ago, four days ago. Yeah. That place is insane. It was my first time never there, and I had like 28 pounds with a two-pounder. So I mean what it was pretty fun. I caught a nine nine and nine and a quarter, like the second fish.

SPEAKER_04 28:30

Oh what was that consistent of? Is that like the typical summer, like the cranking and big worm type stuff, or is it yeah?

SPEAKER_06 28:39

I mean, no surprise there. I caught them all in a koiki.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

Oh, yeah. Why didn't why didn't I think why did I think anything else? Oh, that should have been just the assumption nowadays is everyone's catching them on that. I mean, dude, this is this is totally off topic because we're talking about free rigs in the show. Uh so sorry for the derailment, folks. Uh we just had a kayak event on the Susquehanna River, and this is like a like an event. Literally, there's a rule that where you're allowed to wade, like literally fish wading because it's so shallow. And people literally thought the guy was winning it off of a koike because he put a koiki in his picture of submitting fish. But the amount of people that had koikies rigged up for this shallow water river event was absurd. I bet people are just trying to see where they can win on a freaking koiki, the most absurd places. But um, I guess with that, are you free rigging the koiki at all?

SPEAKER_06 29:38

Um not technically, no. I'm not I'm never just like letting the weight free fall like that. Um sure it would work, honestly. Yeah, it probably would work, but no, I haven't done that yet.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

I'm sure someone's been someone's been dabbling.

SPEAKER_06 29:52

Someone's had to. I'm sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:55

You can set it up the same way, like a free rig with your drop shot weight, and just put a peg, and then it's the same way you can rig it.

SPEAKER_04 30:01

It's the same weight system as yeah, I guess so free rig 101 here. I guess kind of walk us through. Of course, you can go as as heavy or as finesse as you want when it comes to a free rig. There's a whole lot of options, obviously, in regards to style of baits and ways to fish it. But um in general, what are you leaning towards typically when it comes to setup? Uh, and then maybe a bait or two of choice that you lean towards?

SPEAKER_06 30:30

Uh yeah, so I have a couple different setups that I like right now. Um throwing a heavier setup, obviously, here in Texas in the summer. And I'm throwing that on a Western Angler Rod 7.4 medium heavy. And that's been my favorite rod for this. It's a great jig rod, koiki rod. Anything offshore like that that's been great. And then I'm throwing that on 20-pound, so I want that heavy line, um, fishing around brush piles and um standing timber and stuff like that, especially down here. And I'll throw a quarter ounce weight if it's if I'm fishing a little deeper. Um, even heavier sometimes to get a bigger distance between your lure and your weight. And then I'll also downsize to an eighth ounce if I'm fishing real shallow with it. So that's kind of the weights I throw, and then as far as the like worms go, I mean, just your standard zoom, um like your magnum trick worm, like I think it's an eight-inch bait and whatever color you like. Or this is one I got, it's just a big speed worm and red bug. That's the magnum speed worm. So it's the same size just with a little bit more action. Old monster works as well, just your big curly tail worm.

SPEAKER_05 31:40

Oh monster.

SPEAKER_06 31:41

And I just throw those on a five-off, five-off BKK hook, and I mean lock your drag down and just reel them in a sassy camp.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

Are we talking EWG, worm hook, flipping hook?

SPEAKER_06 31:54

Um, mostly worm hook, but uh, there's a couple baits that I do like to throw on a EWG hook just because they're the profile. That's that's more like my finesse setup though, so I can talk a little bit about that now. So, like when I'm throwing a free rig, say on like Hartwell, Lanier, I like I really like to throw it on those lakes um when I'm fishing the brush piles. So anywhere I'm fishing spotted bass brush piles or um or big rocks or something like that, I love to throw a free rig. And the bait I really like to throw there is uh the Koiki shrimp. I don't know if a lot of people have thrown that, but that's kind of I've had been throwing that for a while.

SPEAKER_04 32:31

You might be getting some angry DMs after this one.

SPEAKER_06 32:34

I've been throwing that for a couple years now, probably on a free rig. And it's definitely my favorite bait for like clear water spotted bass. And I haven't got to fish a lot of smallmouth with it, but I'm sure it would work good there too. And that's that's normally a quarter ounce weight just because that bait floats so much more than like your standard worm.

SPEAKER_04 32:52

Yeah. Yeah, and that's really you mentioned the smallmouth, that's really, and I was talking to the folks about this, this is where it's kind of originated for me anyway, was the free rig for us up here was more of a Great Lake smallmouth sort of deal versus for just for largemouth. Yeah, and that was uh it was like a heavy, like a max cent creature hog type of deal. But granted, on the Great Lakes, you're throwing like a three-quarter ounce to an ounce on the free rig because you're fishing 30, 40 foot of water. Yeah um, but I can't even imagine now having with you know with scope the the difference in the weight hitting the bottom and your bait, your bait's probably still 14 feet up there by the time your weight hits the bottom. Um, but it's crazy how it it's kind of gotten a lot of buzz. And what do you think scope is a big reason for that, or do you think the JDM craze is a big reason for the increase in popularity of the free rig?

SPEAKER_06 33:51

Um, I'd probably say the JDM craze, honestly. Uh you can throw a lot of stuff at the fish on scope, which I do scope like solos a lot with a free rig. Um, it's one of my favorite baits just to like go to a new lake and put it on 10 and just go scan and try to find fish that are gonna bite. Because I mean if you can find a school of them, especially with a free rig, you can catch some on it pretty good. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:13

Is it more bottom-oriented fish that you're for like solos or they suspend?

SPEAKER_06 34:18

Yeah, I mean some of both. Uh, I haven't really thrown it on any floaters or anything like that, but anything like within 10 feet of the bottom is what I'm a ton with that. Yeah. And I mean, I think honestly, it's so popular just because it's so versatile. Like, I mean, anyone, anyone who wants to bass fish can throw it. It's no different than a Texas rig as far as rigging it up. Um, right. And it just gets bites, like people go out there and try it and it gets bit.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

Well, yeah, and it's very easy to rig. Like, it's honestly easier and quicker than a Texas rig. Yeah. Like to be to be honest here, uh, it's just I think overlooked. I think I think the only lag it might have is skipping. Yeah, probably I don't think uh skipping, punching, that might be your two areas of weakness, but otherwise brings in a toll new alternative when it comes to presentation. Um now for you from a cadence standpoint, because I've seen a lot of people that just go and they fish it like they would a Texas rig. They already start trying to drag it by before they even hit the bottom, and like don't take advantage of the full strength that a free rig has in being able to create distance mid-cast from your bait to the weight. Uh, so I guess with that, kind of walk through your your cadence, if you will.

SPEAKER_06 35:44

Yeah, so I mean I think the biggest mistake you can make with a free rig is just dragging it like uh a regular worm or a creature bait or something on the bottom. Um, I think the the way I get most of my bites, at least, whether it's spotted bass or it's largemouth here, is kind of hopping it up almost the way you would like hop a koiki, like back to the boat, kind of. So it's pretty hard. Like I'm hitting this bait hard, I'm getting it to move like four feet, and then that weight's going back to the bottom, and that bait's just floating right down in front of that fish. So that uh it's almost like a reaction bite. They're like, What was that? And then it sits right there in front of their face and they'll bite it.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

Yeah, it's like this violent motion, and by the time they actually pay attention, the weight's on bottom, and the bait's just sitting there like yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:33

Late to the party.

SPEAKER_06 36:34

You hop it by that fish, especially if it's like on scope, it lands behind or it's going behind him. You hop it like by them, they're gonna look up. That weight's gone, and that bait's just gonna be sitting there and they're gonna swim over and bite it, I think. That's that's how I spend 80, 80 to 90% of my bites on it.

SPEAKER_04 36:52

It seems like that's why the either the know-nothing worms or the crazy of creature craziest of creature baits are the the popular trend when it comes to free rigging because of that fact, because of when it's when they're looking up and all there is just a soft plastic floating there, they either want no zero movement or a lot of movement. Yeah, it seems like there's no in-between. Yeah, but then again, you can throw anything on the free rig, but yeah, no, I agree with that.

SPEAKER_06 37:22

And then I mean, I also do like to flip it shallow um on like the California Delta or something like that, just flipping it around like you would a Texas rig, but that bait a Texas rig, at least in the grass on the Delta, can bury in that grass and when you're flipping. Instead, this free rig's gonna sit up top where they can still get to it. It's a little bit different than what a lot of people are throwing.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Now, is that one because you know, like a lot of people, especially like when they're flipping grass, they're punching. You know, it's basically almost as soon as you feel that thump, these people are cracking the whip on that thing. Now, when you're flipping in that scenario with the free rig, is that more of a reel down and then set when you have tension, or are you slack lining them?

SPEAKER_06 38:07

Um, I'm almost, I mean, almost always reeling down uh on a free rig because they're they're not feeling that weight like they would on a on a punching rig or uh you know any really any other bait. Any other bait with a weight, they're gonna feel that weight pretty pretty instantly, especially like a Texas rig or something with like a half ounce weight. Um but with the free rig, your line's just they're just pulling your bait and your weight's sitting right here until you reel up and actually actually hit them. So I I always like to reel down on them and and get them for sure.

SPEAKER_04 38:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:40

Also, I think your your line can get at such an angle. So like your weights your weight is 40 feet from the boat, your bait's 50 feet, and that fish is swimming the other way, your bait, your line's gonna be like this, and your fish is gonna go this way. I don't think that that adds up to a good angle for setting the hook.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

Yeah. That was one of the things I was telling people was with the free rig, it's you need to pay so close attention, especially if you're not using scope. So when you're fishing the free rig and you're fishing at say offshore, even just in cover where you don't have great visibility into it. If you're just looking around and you know, this is not saying like don't enjoy being outside, and you know, there's a bald eagle or whatever flying over, but like I can't tell you how many times I'm sitting there not paying attention or I'm talking to a buddy and I go to reel in my line and I'm like, where did all my line go? And then the fish is below the boat. Yeah, and I never felt it because they're grabbing the bait and running to you. Yeah. Um I guess with that being said, too, how important do you think the shape of the weight you use for your free Aegis? Hey guys, real fast, if you're a fishing guide trying to book more trips and spend less time chasing DMs, you need to check out the Bloodknot app. Bloodknot lets anglers find, book, and pay guides all in one place. While you manage your schedule, availability, and clients from your phone. So it's less administrative work, more time for you on the water, more trips booked. If guiding is your business, blood knot is a no-brainer. Best part is it's free to use, extremely easy. Check out the Bloodknot app at the link below. Now back to the episode.

SPEAKER_06 40:17

Um, I think it depends. Um, so I throw, it's kind of weird, but I throw this it's a first gen drop shot football head weight a lot. I don't know if you're, but it's a football head and it's got a swivel on there. That's what I throw probably 60% of the time on a free raid. Um, especially like offshore dragons, like throwing out fish like on schools and stuff. I throw that football head weight. And I mean, I maybe it gets snagged a little less, I don't know. And it falls a little bit slower. Um, I do throw the teardrop weights, like the long skinny ones. But normally I throw those when I get to a heavier weight. So these are just lead. Um, I mean, it's probably pretty old school, but ones that you're not too worried about losing. No, yeah. I I I like to throw the when I get to the heavier weight, the the teardrop like tungsten style. Um to I mean it gets down a lot faster, especially when you're fishing 20 or 30 feet deep.

SPEAKER_04 41:17

Yeah. Did you say that those football ones had uh a swivel on top of it to where the line tie is?

SPEAKER_06 41:25

Yeah, so let's see if I can show you. Like the line tie swivel.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

That's pretty nice.

SPEAKER_06 41:33

Yeah, they're pretty cool. I don't know if you can see it, but this whole thing moves.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Little bit, a little bit, there you go. Oh, okay, yeah. That's nifty. This this can turn. Yeah, that's smart.

SPEAKER_06 41:51

Yeah, so I mean, I don't know if it helps or not, but uh it it seems like it would it would make sense. And that's what I've been throwing.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

So yeah, and I've seen that on the teardrop in the cylinder, but I've never seen that on a football style, which yeah, yeah. That seems very logical.

SPEAKER_06 42:06

They're pretty cool little weights. I I've been liking them.

SPEAKER_04 42:08

Heck yeah. Uh I might have to text you for the link for that to put, and I'm sure because I know if I don't put a link in that in this description, I'm gonna get yelled at by 30 comments.

SPEAKER_06 42:20

Where do we find this? Uh it's nice. They're they're pretty cheap being lead, and I don't think you need a tiny little profile, especially because they're not looking, they're never gonna eat that bait really when that that weight's right next to it, anyways.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

So yeah, not when you're in Texas and you're throwing a 10-inch worm on it. It's there, yeah, they're gonna be a little bit distracted.

SPEAKER_06 42:40

Yeah, they're not looking at this right here.

SPEAKER_05 42:43

No, no, no, they have something much larger for their attention.

SPEAKER_06 42:50

Yeah, I do I think it might make sense uh a little bit. I don't ever throw the the stainless color. I'm not sure if that makes a big difference, but I like something natural.

SPEAKER_04 43:00

Something that's less flashy, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 43:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:05

That's this is why I like doing these panel shows because you can get conflicting opinions. Because that there's people saying too that they like the stainless because it uh gets more attention. Uh so draws the flash when you rip it, and they see the bait and then the weight's out of the picture. But I also can see why the flash, because they can just be distracted by the weight, because me, my ADHD, I would be shiny and then I would forget all about the Senko that I'm dragging with it.

SPEAKER_05 43:34

Uh especially knowing how fish are nowadays.

SPEAKER_04 43:37

But yeah, it's almost interesting to see like if you had both and to see from that scenario. But I think uh regardless, natural is probably a better go to pressured fisheries or not.

SPEAKER_06 43:49

Yeah, and I I think like I've had it happen. Like spotted bass will eat your weight on a free rig.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

We've had it with smallmouth up here that eats it. That's why a lot of guys up here, when they're especially fun fishing, they use a Ned rig for their weight.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:08

Which that's to people if you've not tried that yet. I highly encourage you to. It's a grand old time.

SPEAKER_06 44:15

That's like on Shastley, you can throw a double drop shot with like two drop shot hooks.

SPEAKER_04 44:20

Like a sabiki rig type of deal.

SPEAKER_06 44:22

Yeah, yeah, and it works. Works good. You can catch two at a time.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

I need to check the legality of that here in New York because I need to do that. Yeah. I don't know why I haven't thought of it. Because we're allowed to use donkey rigs, so I feel like Yeah, it's the same idea. Wow. That's actually really smart.

SPEAKER_06 44:41

I caught a little random off topic, but I was fishing a local lake I used to live by in California, and I caught like I didn't have a scale, but it was over eight pounds on a double robo worm drop shot.

SPEAKER_05 44:54

Double robo worm?

SPEAKER_06 44:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:57

Now, did you have this is total anti-free rate conversation here? Same color robo worm, or did you have conflicting?

SPEAKER_06 45:06

I had, I think it was a pink and chartreuse and then like a brown.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

Bro. That's actually amazing.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:15

That's incredible. Now I wonder, now it's got me thinking like, can you because there's absolutely, you know, there's line through jig heads. Can you go throw freaking two minnows and just like bobber stop the line through one? Just shake two minnows. I guess we got like the minnow rigs now you can use.

SPEAKER_06 45:34

Yeah, like the Berkeley one.

SPEAKER_04 45:36

Yeah, that's what three?

SPEAKER_06 45:38

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_04 45:40

Yeah, tree. Now you got the now you got the wheels turning. I think that's the one thing the free rig brings is it gives you kind of the room for creativity. It gets the wheels turning a little bit.

SPEAKER_06 45:49

Yeah, if you like throwing a certain bait or a certain style hook, you can make it happen with a free rig. I mean, you can throw I've caught fish on a free rig, but there's a lizard behind it as well.

SPEAKER_04 46:01

Yeah, I think the options are endless. Like you can throw a finesse rig and have a dang flat worm on the back. You can throw whatever you want.

SPEAKER_06 46:10

Yeah, I I do think um either something with a with a good amount of drag is important to just separate that weight in the bait, or something that floats. So I think you need to look for obviously this has a lot of drag, the tail keeps it up in the water column a little more. And then that uh Koiki shrimp also has a lot of drag, it has a bunch of tentacles, but it's also that TB TB kind of formula plastic, so it'll float as well.

SPEAKER_04 46:38

Yeah, this is where the Elastec type baits shine.

SPEAKER_06 46:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:43

Is on this rig.

SPEAKER_06 46:46

A lot easier to present it the right way.

SPEAKER_04 46:48

Yeah. And that's where you can add in some sneaky modifications, like from my saltwater folks. I believe it's called a pompadour rig or something like that, where they have like the floats on them, like the the rig, so it actually literally it's almost like a I even know how to best describe it. It's almost essentially like two little mini buoys on the rig to keep it up. So whatever your live bait is, is up off the bottom. Yeah, I mean I've heard of guys shoving those inside of their baits and making them do that. So that could I'm just offering the invitation for creative services for you guys on your free rig now is open your mind. It's not just uh you're drop shotting a robo worm. This is a whole whole different world. You can get a little bit crazy with it. But um what do you think the biggest mistake people make with the free rig?

SPEAKER_06 47:41

Um, I'd say 100% the biggest mistake you can make with a free rig is just throwing it out there and letting it go to the bottom and then just dragging it the whole way to the boat. You need to be getting that bait off that you need to be getting the weight off the bottom and the bait off the bottom so it can react the same, it can get apart again and float down.

SPEAKER_02 48:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 48:02

I almost treat it like a reaction bait in a way, like with especially with scope, because yeah, I can obviously you can see those fish sitting there. You can treat it just like a reaction bait. Like if he's on a stump here in Texas, throw it out there, get it to the base of the stump where he didn't see it, rip it up right in front of him so that bait will stay here. And normally they'll swim over and either check it out or bite it.

SPEAKER_04 48:24

Hmm. That's that's some juice, dude. You've you've you've unleashed some some good stuff in this man. I'm not sure. Heck yeah. Uh well, dude, as uh as we let you go here, obviously we'll link your rod company down in the the video description for folks that are looking for the setups that he uses talking about that 7-4 medium heavy. Uh we'll link that down below. But uh anything coming up for the folks, uh, you know, how can they get in touch with you if they want to go catch a freaking eight to ten pounder down in Tejas for you?

SPEAKER_06 49:00

Uh yeah, so it's Team At Fishing Guide Service. I'm on Fishing Booker and my website is dfwbassfishing.com. And my phone number and email are on there, so you can reach out that way. And then my next tournament is the Ultimate Angular Championship on Gunnersville. So that should be fun. Probably gonna throw a free rig there offshore a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 49:23

So here we go. Heck yeah, dude. We'll be looking forward forward to it. Obviously, you know we'll be rooting for you. We'll uh we'll get the maybe we'll get the watch party going for the for the Madden fam. Uh, but uh always appreciate the time, dude. And uh was glad to have the the better of the ties uh on this show.

SPEAKER_06 49:42

Yeah, no, thanks for having me. It's always a good time.

SPEAKER_05 49:44

Absolutely, man. We'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_01 49:46

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SPEAKER_04 50:15

All right, and that is going to do it for today's show, guys. Hopefully, you gained a lot of knowledge on the free rig, different baits and techniques and setups on how to fish it. Uh, and of course, everything we talked about will be linked down below for you guys to go and purchase an Omnia fishing. You can use code series 10 as always, as we mentioned to save 10% off and a lot of juicy nuggets in this one. If you're on YouTube, comment below your favorite bait to Free Rig, what you think of the free rig. And uh, folks, if you guys are listening, let us know uh in the DMs or an email or in Spotify comments what you guys thought of the show and what you'd like to hear about next on the next panel. We're putting together like six to eight more of them. We just DM'd a bunch of people trying to uh schedule these things and get more of these panel shows out for you guys uh because we enjoy making them. It always brings in a lot of knowledge and a lot of um uh interest in regards to conflicting opinions, which can really spark a lot of creativity and imagination and in people that want to fish a bait a certain way. So uh love them for that aspect and uh appreciate you guys for uh always taking time out to listen to these shows. It means the world to us, and uh, we appreciate you taking time out of your day because time is the one thing that money can't buy, and the fact that you guys spend it won't listen to this show means the world to us. So that being said, next week's episodes, we'll have a Sears Lee Western coming up on Monday. Uh, we'll be back with Deacon for that one, and we'll have a great show for you guys next week. Uh, this Sunday, I actually leave for Wisconsin uh for the last Bassmaster kayak series event. Uh so I'll be in Wisconsin all next week. You can keep that over on my personal social, and uh we'll try to get some episodes out for you guys while I'm away in Wisconsin. I'm actually staying on a houseboat, so but I will have Starlink. So we'll have Starlink so we could be able to do shows. Either way, we'll get it all figured out and hopefully up and ready for you guys uh while we're away. But uh hopefully you guys enjoyed today's show. Appreciate y'all. We'll see you on the next one.