Through top water. And got absolutely Slaubernock, one of my best top water bites of the year. I've said you guys missed it. Four pounder. Look at that. That's good times. All right, goodness. All right y'all, for today's technical Tuesday we're going to look at walking in the dog and top water walking baves. How do you do it efficiently? This was something that bugged me when I first started bass fishing. This technique is money in the summer when it's hot. You're trying to drive fish up from deeper water and into the fall when fish start to school. They're out on points. But it's also great in small waters. Ponds, for example, caught a lot of fish and ponds in the summertime. Just throwing out in the middle over things that you don't even know over there. Maybe a little hump. Maybe a long point, something like that. Or if you see a bass that's just chasing a bait fish, this is what you want to throw for top water bait. But getting it to walk aggressively, it can be tricky. So the whole key with getting these baits to walk side to side is you have to put slack in your line. So with my rod tip, I'm working the bait and then I'm making sure that I let the bait come back, basically go backwards before I move the rod tip again. I'm moving the reel in between those strokes. So it's a cadence that you just have to get down. Twitch reel, Twitch reel, Twitch reel. You work it with the rod tip down. It helps if you have a rod that's not very long. So I'm about 5'11". And I'm using a 7'2 right now. It's about as long as I can get away with. This is our Gold Series reaction rod. I like it for throwing this because it's the perfect action. And a little extra link helps me get those longer casts. But instead of working it straight down, which I would with a 7' 7' great. I'm just holding it a little more to the side. So I'm not hitting the water with my rod tip. When you're on land, if you're fishing on a dock, you're going to notice that even more. So it helps being on a bass boat having a platform. But if you get out on the edge of a dock, you can do it that way. But if you're on land, you just want to hold it to the side. And the whole key is getting that bait to rebound back. You can use two different types of line for this. You can use braid or you can use monofilament. Both of those float. But I'm going to tell you why I like using braid. It's because it's low stretch, very, very low stretch. So you're getting more reaction, more direct tenacity, if you will. I like that word to your bait. Whereas monofilament, it's got more stretch. It's a little tougher to get that rebound effect. You can definitely still do it. I would go with at least 15 though. The higher pound line, you just have one. The higher pound line that you have, the more it's going to float. So I'm using 30 pound braid, which I love for casting. It still floats. But this clear water right here, I would go with 15 pound mono. If you get below that, your bait, it'll still float. But you don't get that, that nose up, that real nose up effect. A lot of times what will happen when you're working this bait is you'll get a fish that gets on it, sees it. You might see a swirl behind it, or maybe they just miss it because of the erratic action. Don't stop the bait. Just keep working it. Oftentimes, it's even better if you speed it up. And they will come down and chase it. If you don't want to let them look at it for too long, you want them just to think it's a bait fish. Don't let them stare at it for too long. And I would consider this just a medium retrieve. One, two, one, two, one, two. That's the cadence that I'm using. I'm using a medium power rod. So medium power fast action. If you use a real heavy rod, it's going to be tougher to get that bounce back. A medium power has that give, and it just acts as like a spring. And I especially love the medium power with braids. It's basically perfect for this. Now on your reel, you can basically use whatever gear ratio that you want. I would stay away from the fives. I would say seven is good. Higher, possibly even better. Just because if you see a fish that is busting, you could reel it in real quick and cast over to that fish. You usually have just a few seconds, like two or three seconds. If you see a fish swirling to get over there, throw it just past that area and twitch it over the top of them to get that fish to come up. Five, six seconds is usually they're already down and they're looking for another bait fish. So it helps to have this thing ready to go. A lot of times what I'll do is I'll just keep about a foot of line out on my top water bait and I'll lay it on the deck over to the side. If you're fishing on the bank or on a dock, you can leave it just like that. I can throw something out like a swim bait. Maybe get those fish that aren't quite coming up to the top yet. Then have that ready. Not hooked onto the reel. Not hooked onto the rod. Definitely not at the rod tip. Just with like a foot of line out. That's the perfect way to just grab. Oh, see you busting. Pick it up. Fire. Now what's great about the walking baits is like this lake, you know, I'm sitting in 50 feet of water right now. Clear enough visibility where these fish will come up, you know, 10, 15 feet and come charge this bait. Doesn't have to be up in the shallows. For any all that like to lake fish, if you've got a lake that has pluffs, like the one I'm fishing, this is a really good place to fish. But also those long points anywhere that bass or pinning fish up against something or running them up on a ridge. Shelf, anything like that. Sometimes it's in the middle of the lake. In the fall, you'll see them out in the middle of the lake. Chasing shad, they'll get away from all sorts of covering structure to chase around shad. And this is one of those baits. I just keep tied on from hot summer all the way into the fall. Another tip for fishing these is to have a backup bait. If you just keep getting misses, you can follow that up with some sort of weightless bait. And I showed you guys last time my setup for throwing weightless rigs. So if I'm getting misses, I close up this at fish. Just leave the top order out there and I'll pick up the weightless bait and throw it. The exact spot where that bass just missed it. And just let it sink. Whether it's, you know, a flukes halbate or it's a wacky rig or whatever. Throw that out there, let that sink down. And then wait for that thump. And that's another bait to keep about foot or two aligned. Keep it over the edge. These conditions are just perfect for this right now. Just a little bit of chop. This is where a pop and style bait usually gets bogged down in the choppy. And a walk and style bait will go through a little bit of chop pretty easily. One more tip I'll give you guys for this is if you do have a bluff wall like I have right here. Or maybe it's a marina dock. And you see bass that are using that edge to push fish to drive them up that wall or the dock or whatever it is and eat them real close. Is it really helps to get your bait all the way up to that wall or that structure, whatever it is. And then start working it. If they're used to seeing those fish right up against the bank, then you want to kind of change your boat position to change your angle to where you're fishing that straight next to that wall. Cast it all the way up there, work it out or get up close where you can make a longer cast and keep it real close to that edge. But lastly, if you're fishing a bait that it just isn't walking the best, you can tie a loop knot in the front. This is kind of an old school thing. But you can use this on jerk baits and you're walking top order baits. But a loop knot is just, it allows you to have that swing, that extra swing side to side. And it's not adding any weight to the front of the bait. So like a split ring, it'll allow you that side to side but it's adding that extra weight up front. And those are all my tips and the technicals for throwing walking style baits guys. If you want to see more, subscribe to the channel. We're doing these every Tuesday and then don't miss my other videos during the week where I'm doing other outdoor activities. Smash that like button if you're learning something. God's beating the grand outdoors. We'll see you. I'm the next one. Bye.