Latest / Sac-A-Lait Talk / Reeling in Giant Sac-A-Lait with Manuel Roque- Hot Lips Outdoors
Transcript
- speaker-0: Welcome back to Slide Bikes, the quick hitting segment here on Sacklay Talk, where we bypass the small talk and get straight to the tactics that put giant Sakalay in the cooler. Cyber's knees. Today we're locking in with the mastermind behind Hot Lips Outdoors. He is a hammer on the water and a top-tier guy. He knows exactly how to track down heavy limits when the bike gets tough. Manual, welcome to Sackle Talk. speaker-1: I appreciate it man. I I appreciate you having me on, man. speaker-0: My pleasure, man. Thanks for joining us for our slab bikes heading today. speaker-1: No problem. I appreciate being here. I appreciate being fine. speaker-0: Hey Manuel, tell tell our listeners the backstory behind the hot lips outdoors. speaker-1: It's gonna be a funny story. I had a guy on the boat with me one day, and we were actually badge fishing instead of crappie fishing. And we were going down this stretchy bank, you know, flipping jigs, and he pitched in the spot, had a bite, missed it, and then he looks at me and he says, man, that fish is angry off of now. I'm like, Okay. Well, I'll see if I can catch it. So I flip in, fish bites I miss. And when I looked at him, I said, I bet that fish won't put his hot lips on that bait again. And he looks at me and he says, That's the name for your God service there, Hot Lips. I was like, well, let's see if he puts his hot lips on it again. And I pitched right back off in there, man. That fish latched down on that jig and I set the hook. I put an eight-pound guard in the boat on a bass bait. And that's how hot lips, the name came around. now the guide service is just I love to have people on the boat with me. I love to like teach people new techniques and new ways to catch fish. And it's all about getting somebody else out there in the outdoors and letting them enjoy what I've been enjoying for I'm not trying to tell my age, but for over forty years now. speaker-0: I love the name. It's it it it works. speaker-1: yes. Especially when the fish are biting. Now yes, fish are not biting good, that name kinda goes out of the window then, you know. speaker-0: Right. Yeah, I know. Hey Manual, where are your primary home waters that you fish for? Fish acclaim for? speaker-1: My primary home waters are gonna be Kane River, right here in Naggadish, Cedar Lake, right here in Naggadish. But I also like to travel. I also like to travel to Toledo Bend. I like to travel, that's out there in Manny, Louisiana, which is about 45 minutes away from my home. I like to travel to Grand Bayou in Cashalo, Louisiana. That is my go-to lake for catching these big Big Sokolate. I also like to travel to Black Lake and catch some of those great fish there. And man, it is just if you have Sokolate, crappie, white perch, specks, whatever you like to call them, and you're having trouble catching them, and you're within, I'll say a three-hour drive, call me. I will come out there and help you catch those fish. speaker-0: That'll work. what type of structure does the lake home speaker-1: On the home lake, man, we have a lot of laydowns, a lot of tops. We have it's they call it Cane River Lake, but it's 33 miles long. It's a river pretty much, and it holds great fish. It's fed by the Red River, which everybody knows the Red River has great fishing. And we mostly fish, you know. Like I said, lay downs, tops, and boat docks. speaker-0: Right. Now, what's the what is the primary bait fish that the sackland are feeding? speaker-1: We have we have Shankman. Very seldom, you'll find the big schools of Shad. We've been starting to see over the last couple years with Live Scope that the Shad has started to make a real good comeback in in my home lake. And we've gone from seeing if you finish live scope, you're gonna know what exactly what I'm talking about. We've went from seeing a quarter-size bait ball. To probably almost like a half dollar size bait ball on your live scope. And if you think about that in terms of fish, you're probably going from maybe five to eight thousand shad to maybe close to forty to fifty thousand in one. Okay. And that's been one of the best things for our lake. speaker-0: Now, what is your favorite technique for for catching Sackle in the fall? speaker-1: I love having that jig pole in my hand. I love it. Yeah. speaker-0: Jigging. speaker-1: Yes, I love having that jig because I have a saying, when those sock lay hit, you have a hand grenade go off in your hand. Right. You can feel it. You can feel it from the tip of that rod all the way to the base. And man, that's what I love about it. speaker-0: Let me ask you this, manual. What is your signature setup that you're using right now? what is your setup? speaker-1: My setup is going to be a 12-foot softest jigging pole in the Frank Morgan signature series. I'm fishing with 12-pound fluorocarbon. I'm also using, I've just started using this. Now, this might be a great tip for some of you guys out there. I found these in Walmart, and it's actually a bass jig head. I actually use these for bass fishing. It's called the Z-man micro shad heads. Now they come in different sizes, quarter ounce, sixteenth, one eighth, and three sixteenth. Now with my live scope, I've been using the eighth ounce and the three sixteenth because it just shows up better. And it gets down there on those fish a whole lot quicker. And you know, like I know, if you get down on those fish really quick. You're gonna have a good reaction bite and they're gonna have that hand grenade go off in your hand. speaker-0: Right. When you're jigging for those accolade, how are you working the jig? Are you are you bouncing it up or down? Are you just leaving it stationary? speaker-1: It all depends on the fish. If if I drop it down on the fish and that fish, you know, comes up and he actually interacts with that bait, he reacts to it, I'm gonna go on with the next fish with the same technique. But if I drop down on that fish and I have to twitch it just a little bit to get in the go ahead and bite, I kind of get in my mind, okay, on this next fish, I'm gonna drop it down and I'm gonna twitch it just a little bit to see if that works. If it works. That's gonna be my whole routine for the rest of the day. Now, speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: one thing that I've noticed here lately, since we're in this fall transition, I've had to drop that jig down there in front of that fish. And as soon as that fish would turn on that jig, I would have to slowly start raising my arm. Like that jig was trying to get away from that sock-a-and that sockole would follow it. And when he would start following it really aggressive, I would stop it. He would run right into it, hand grenade. speaker-0: Okay. All right. Hey Manual, when you have a client in the boat who has never fished a brush pile before, what is the number one thing you teach them to prevent snags? speaker-1: The number one thing I teach them is patience. Patience is key. Don't just, you know, let that jig drop down really slow. That way you can feel if you're going over a limb, over a branch, or anything, and wait on the bite. Don't anticipate the bite, but all because you're looking at the live scope doesn't mean that you're you're gonna see the bite before you actually feel the bite. Right. So I tell if you're in down deep in that in that top, wait on that fish to bite. That way it's a whole lot easier to get the jig out, a whole lot easier to get the fish out. speaker-0: Okay. All right. Manual, what is the biggest mistake you see everyday anglers make trying to target giant Sakhalai? speaker-1: The biggest mistake, and I do it myself. I will admit, I do it myself. And I have to I have to catch myself. I I'll find myself rushing up there to the fish thinking, I have to hurt and get on this fish really quick, you know, and get down on them really quick. When if I would just turn that trolling motor down just a little bit and ease up there on that fish. Drop the jig down, he's gonna bite. speaker-0: Okay. All right. Hey, when the when the bite is brutally tough, how do you keep your clients motivated and confident on the water? speaker-1: When it's really tough, man, I like to I'm a I'm a joking person, so I like to joke around with the client. I like to, keep interacting with me. Because if you're just if you're just out there and the fish are just really not cooperating with you that day, you have to have another way to keep that client in the game with you. I might sit there and tell a joke. I might sit there and ask a crazy question, And or I I might sit there, if their head is turned, I might reach around and just tap the back of the rod, you know, when they're not paying attention and be like, man, you just missed that fish, man. What's going on? You know? Because you know, as soon as you tap the back of that rod, they're gonna set the hook, you know. Right. It it it's just finding different ways to keep that client in the game with you. Because that this crappie game, some days It could be really, really, really, really tough. speaker-0: Yeah, that's why it's called fishing, not catching. speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly right. speaker-0: Hey, let me ask you this. When you are styling a new body of water for hot lips outdoors, what is your what is the first depth contour or structure type you'd look for? speaker-1: My first, if I'm on a a new body of water, if I can find standing timber, I'm gonna go check out that standing timber. And that's just gonna be, you're gonna find, no, throughout the year, you're gonna find crappie on standing timber. Throughout the year. if you think about it, even during the spawn, you're gonna have those fish that's still staging, and they're probably still staging on standing timber. So I'm gonna go look for standing timber. If I can't find standing timber, I'm gonna start like yesterday. I went out, and my first depth that I started at was 20 foot. And I had in my mind I wanted to stay around 20 foot. As soon as I popped up in 20 foot, start seeing fish, start dropping down on them, start catching them. As soon as I moved out of that 20 foot depth range, and I moved, I think it was like 11 foot. man, the fish just disappeared on me. And I I told the guy that was in the boat with me, I said, uh-uh, let's go back to that 20-foot depth range. Because that's what I'm I'm kind of feeling that you're gonna have more fish, more bait. So let's try to stay around that area. And we went back to that 20-foot range, started right back to catching it. speaker-0: Right. Okay. Hey, manual, let's have a conversation about live scope, okay? speaker-1: yeah. speaker-0: Ha ha. Highly controversial to a lot of people. speaker-1: Yes. speaker-0: how heavily do you depend on live scope? speaker-1: That this is gonna be a great question because I know whoever watches this podcast is gonna laugh at me. In the beginning, I was diehard against it. Die hard against it. And it was like, you know, I would go out and fish these tournaments and everything. And I went from being able to to cash a check in a tournament to not even finishing In the top 10. It it was like, well, what in the world happened? And that's when live scope scope starts coming along. And I'm sitting there, I'm fighting it, I'm fighting it, I'm fighting it, because I'm like, man, I know I can catch these fish without live scope. I know I can do it because I've been doing it for years, you know? And I was like, man, I'm not fixing to spend thirty five hundred to five grand on a setup to go out here and try to catch a fish that I know I can catch without it. Well, after a few years of getting my butt kicked by everybody else that was using LiveScope, I finally broke down and I was like, well, okay, I'm gonna go ahead and get a setup, put it on my boat, figure out how to use it. After I done that, I I figured out I was one of the live scope haters, I will admit it. I will admit it. But now I will not go soccer fishing without it. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: And that's just being totally honest about it, totally transparent, because having live scope on your boat cuts out fish in a lot of dead water. Where you think fish are or where you think fish should be, you can actually see if they're still there or if they've moved on or whatever. speaker-0: How has Live Scope changed the world of Sackolade fishing? speaker-1: It's it used to be, I know with myself, I would pull up on a top that I knew was there, and I would fish around that top for probably ten, fifteen minutes, and if I didn't have a bite, I was on to the next one. Or I would pull up to a bridge pylon and I would fish around that bridge, you know, for a few minutes. If I didn't catch anything, on to the next structure. Well, with live scope. I can pull up there, drop my troll motor, scan, see if it has fish. If it has fish, I'll fish for If it doesn't, I'm pulling that trolling motor and I'm hauling tail to the next spot. speaker-0: Okay. All right. Hey Manual, how has life scope impacted the way you use the way you use your classic jigging techniques? speaker-1: Live scope has helped me learn a lot about fishing, about the Shock Lake. Because when I wasn't using LiveScope, I would drop my jig down there. I might do the classic Twitch, the classic two-hop or or whatever, you know, whatever was working for me at that time. But now I can actually see when I drop that jig down there, I can watch that fish and how it reacts. And The guy that I had in my boat with me yesterday, he still had that classic two hop, And I was like, wait, wait, just just just hold it right there in front of him. Right. Don't move it. And as soon as he didn't move it, that fish bit. And I was like, that's what I had to get used to. Yeah. And if it was just something that you've done for years, you're just used to doing it, Right, right. It just, it totally goes out of the window with live scope. speaker-0: Right. Hey, manual. What would you have to say to the live scope haters that say, Hey, you couldn't catch fish without live scope? speaker-1: Come hop in the boat with me. Come hop in the boat with me. I will turn that live scope off and I will show you. I can still catch fish without that live scope. Right. It might not be the big, two, two and a quarter, two and a half pound crappie, but it's still gonna be a socket. I can still catch it without that live scope. speaker-0: What have you learned using Lyscope that's made you a better Sacklade fisherman? speaker-1: I've learned, I've learned patience. I've I've had to sit there and and think to myself, okay, let me slow down because I'm used, like I said, I'm used to just dropping down there, you know, having my little two hop game going, you know, and if they didn't bite, you know, I'd fish around, go around to this side, the top, go around, you know, all that kind of good stuff. And LiveScope has shown me those fish are there. I just need to be patient. Right. And that's that's all it boils down to is, you have to be patient. some people will tell you, yeah, live scope will show you the fish, but it it won't make them bite. Okay. Well, that's where you have to get in your mind, what am I doing wrong? Okay, is my color right? Or are they wanting to bite this color today? Or what what is it? Is my jig falling too slow down to Do I need to go to a heavier jig so I can try to get a reaction bite? Or what it is that I need to figure out in my mind to help me catch these fish today? speaker-0: Right. So the number one thing is taught you is just to be patients, right? speaker-1: Just to be patient. Yes, sir. speaker-0: Okay. Now let me ask you this. Your trolling motor goes out, you're on a tournament, you're fishing a tournament, your trolling motor goes out, your live scope goes out. What are you doing? speaker-1: Mm-hmm. This actually happened to me three weeks ago in a crappie tournament. I I didn't have a spare prop to my trolling mode, and I hit a stump on Black Lake and broke my prop. And what I done, I went and tied to a bridge pylon on Black Lake, and I sat there for the rest of the tournament and fished. speaker-0: Okay. You got a choice. You you can either continue fishing or go or or go to the landing, right? speaker-1: I I'll go load it up on the trailer. And I'm sorry, I'm not a quitter. I'm not a quitter. I'd rather take my loss swinging than take my loss with my tail tucked. speaker-0: Hey, I I understand that completely. speaker-1: I'd rather go down swinging than than go down my tail tuck. speaker-0: I interviewed Jeffrey Owens, Texas crappy assassins and he he he told me the same same story on one of his tournaments. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: You know. speaker-1: it it's just some freak accidents that you can't plan for. Right. It's it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. And it's just, it was, you know, I posted it on Facebook and everybody was like, but why didn't you have a spare spare prop? Why didn't you keep a spare prop? Well, when I first bought my boat, I I had it with another trolling motor, a whole nother setup. And I decided to go with the Minkoda Ultrex, and I wasn't thinking. get a spare prop. I was just thinking, I I got a brand new trolling motor or I'm good to go, you know. Right. And well Black Lake kinda taught me something else, you know, you you can't live scope is good, but in certain situations, and some people, you know, will understand this, if you have a lot of pollen in the water, or if you have Salvania, which I figured this out. Like I said, three weeks ago in a tournament. That Sylvania it was kinda like throwing a shadow on this stump that I couldn't see. And I ran smack into it, broke that old propeller, and I was done. I was done. I had to go tie up to the bridge and and tough it out. yeah, man. It's it's it's kinda painful and kinda it kinda got me down for a minute. And I was like, man, come on, man. You can't be serious. It's it's last tournament of the season. The last tournament. Come on. But I mean, it's it's all good, man. yeah. speaker-0: yeah. Let me ask you this, Manual. If if you pull up to a brush pile and your electronics show fish, but they won't commit, how long do you stay before moving on? speaker-1: I will normally stay around 10 minutes before I just completely give up. And within that 10 minutes, I'm switching out my jigs. I'm going through different colors. And the reason I'm doing that is because I might have just left a brush pile over here that they were on that color that I was using. They were on it, on it, on it, on it. But I might move maybe 100 yards to a different brush pile. might drop that jig down and I might just sit there look at it. mm, like, what's that? You know? So then I normally keep in in tough, if I know I'm fixing to have a tough day, you'll see me, I have probably about five or six different jigs in my hand. And I go ahead, when I pick up, I swing the jig over to me, I switch out the jig body real quick, drop it right back down there. If that jig isn't, if that color is not working, swing it back up there to me. Switch it out with another one, drop it right back down there. If I go through all five or six of those colors and they don't bite, I'm definitely moving. Because something is definitely not right with those fish. speaker-0: What are your four or five go to colors that that you that you use? speaker-1: I have it it's a a color that's it was made by me for me. we call it it's called the green gorilla. Shannon Eli makes it. Okay and we we came up with the color and it's just been a great jig on everybody of water I fished. It's gonna be the green gorilla. of course it's gonna be black and short truce. That's it. speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: It's gonna definitely be that monkey milk. speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: And Blue Thunder is a great, great bait this time of year. And one of my absolute favorites, now I've been fishing it for years, is gonna be Double Silver by Bobby Garland. speaker-0: what is your go to strategy for finding crappy when when they move completely off the wood and suspend in open water? speaker-1: Me, I'm gonna turn my trolling motor up. I'm gonna let that live scope, you know, I'm gonna stretch that live scope out there to about maybe 50, maybe 60 feet. I'm gonna get on that troll motor, I'm just gonna be scanning, scanning, scanning. The whole time I'm moving, I'm scanning. And after, hopefully, after, you know, I scan a couple times, I'll spot one, I'll go ahead and slow down, ease up there on him, drop down, and hopefully. the add quotation marks, hopefully catch it. speaker-0: What is your favorite jig profile in color combination when the water gets muddy? speaker-1: My favorite jig profile is gonna be that that Z-Man Minnow style head. It's that minnow style head. And I'm either gonna go with that double silver. Or now those crappie can trick you sometimes because they can pick up some colors that you wouldn't think that they could pick up. Right. That that jig that I have made, it's kind of like a translucent green jig. And they tend to pick that jig up in different colors of water. I mean, it's kind of it's really quite crazy, you know. It's just like Red River, is is called Red River for a reason. Right. And I've been out there and I've caught fish in some of the dirtiest of water on that same jig. But some days I can go out there with that jig, they won't even touch it. And I'm like, uh-oh, here we go. Right. Let's figure out what color they're fixing to bite today. So then I either go to my double silver or I might slide in a black and chartreuse. With the pinky. Slow or far right, I'm gonna go hair, G. I'm gonna go hair every time every single time. speaker-0: Okay. What size or do you normally use? speaker-1: If I'm fishing a head jig, it's gonna be a 132nd ounce jig head on that head jig because that's gonna give you your slowest fall rate. Cause a 64th ounce, I've had some 64th ounce jig heads just sit right there on top of the water, like I'm fly fishing. Right. And I'll sit there and look like, okay, here we go. Do I need to add a split shot to get it down there in front of those fish? So what I've done. in the past is I've just strictly stuck with a one thirty second ounce jig head on that hat jig. And that's been, a a good combination for me. And it's really worked. speaker-0: What size jig head are you tying on most days to maintain control in the wind? speaker-1: In the wind, I'm going heavy. here lately, I've been going with my three sixteenth ounce jig head. And I've even on one day on Red River, we had a 15 mile an hour wind. And I mean, it was pushing that. I have a 21 foot sketer and it was pushing me around pretty good. I had to tie on a quarter ounce jig head just to keep that jig down there in front of those fish long enough for. For them to bite. speaker-0: Okay. Let me ask you this. are you a fan of adding scent or crappy niblets to your jigs? speaker-1: I do it every single time. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: you will always find a jar of crappie nibblets in my boat. Always. speaker-0: can make a difference. speaker-1: yes. you will find me with two different colors though. I always keep the pink or the chartreuse in my boat. speaker-0: Okay. Why do you keep two different colors? speaker-1: Because I always use a pink jig head and that's gonna let me know if I need to change the color of my jig. Because if I'm dropping that that pink jig head with that pink nibbet down there and I'm still not getting a reaction, but then I turn around and I put that short truth nibblet on there and I drop it down and then I get a reaction. They're starting to key on short truths. So then I'm gonna switch my jig color and I'm gonna go to that black and short truth. speaker-0: That makes a lot of sense. that's a good tip for everybody. speaker-1: yeah. speaker-0: How do you adjust your debt in target zones when a massive cofront rolls through right before a guided trip? speaker-1: When I from fishing over the years, I've kept a mental note of what time of year, right now, I know I can go to maybe eight foot of water on Cane River and catch crappie right now. I know that. And it's crazy because I can go to eight foot of water on Cane River and catch crappie. But on Sibley Lake. I have to go to twenty-five and thirty-five foot of water to catch crappie. And it's just over the years I've just been keeping mental notes. And I I know it's gonna fade when I start getting up there in my in my sixties and seventies, but hopefully it don't fade that much, you know, to when I stop enjoying what I'm doing, you know. speaker-0: I'm telling you, maybe. speaker-1: And it's just just over the years I've been trying to keep track of it. And live scope is starting to help with that now. So when you get out there and you drop down on the area where you know you've taught crappie in the past, and you get up there and you start scanning and you don't see you're like, okay, well let me let me turn the troll motor up. Let me go over here to where I know it's a little bit shallower. Let me go over here and scan. you might go over there and scan. Up and that over here. Well, let me go to where I know it's deeper than that that 20 foot mark that I started in. Let me go over here and see if they're in twenty-eight, twenty-five, twenty-eight foot of water. And that's what has helped me here lately. speaker-0: What is your your favorite weather condition for catching the biggest slabs of the year? speaker-1: I myself personally And it's just it's a middle thing for me because I love cold weather. Right. me, let me let me give you two sides of it. Let me give you the non-live scope side of it, and let me give you the live scope side of it. Okay. The non-live scope side of it, I used to love. I'm talking about 19, 20 degree weather. I used to love that. Cause when that water was really, really, really cold, let's say low fifties, high forties, man, I knew. I I just I I knew it in my mind I was going to catch me some apple absolute donkeys that day, And that was non-Live Scope. Well, here with Live Scope, when Live Scope came into play and I started using Live Scope, I can go out there now. in a hundred degree heat and scan around and find that one big white crappie that's sitting out there in open water by itself, you know, and go out there and pick it off and it might be a a 219 or or a a two, you know, 50 something. And I'm like, man, it it's it's 100 degrees out here, you know. Even my rod is sweating out here. So like, what in the world is going on? But it's just preferably I would love colder weather like we're fixing to start getting. But i if my if my clients or the people I have in the boat with me, if they can't take the cold weather, whatever they're comfortable with. speaker-0: Okay. Hey Manual, what is the number one piece of advice you give to someone trying to trans transition from a weekend warrior to a to a consistent crappy angler? speaker-1: Time on the water. Time on the water is your biggest, biggest friend. The more time that you can spend on the water, the more you you, get a chance to see, okay, what the crappie you're doing. are they hanging out, staging? Are they chasing bait balls? Or, you know, are they getting ready to come up and spawn? Or it's just time on the water is the biggest thing you can do. speaker-0: last question. Where where can the Sacolade Talk community follow you and book a trip with you? speaker-1: You can always find me on social media. I'm on Facebook at Hot Lips Outdoors. You can find me on Instagram at Hot Lips32 Outdoors. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: It it's pretty easy. You can either find me or find just me, my my personal page, Manual Rock. And you can just hit me up on Facebook Messenger. And I'll be glad to take you any day of the week. Especially now, I'm fixing to start having a lot of time off from work. So I I'm ready to go fishing. speaker-0: Well, Manuel, I can't thank you enough for jumping on with us today and sharing your insights and expertise with our listeners. We we definitely need to do this again soon. speaker-1: I will definitely be back if you would have me. speaker-0: I absolutely. You any t you have an open invitation, man. I'd I'd love to have you again. give me some some winter fishing reports. speaker-1: I gotcha. I definitely gotcha. speaker-0: All right. All right, manual. till next time, I'll t I'll talk to you soon. Bye bye. speaker-1: All right, man. Have a great day. speaker-0: And that wraps up this episode of Slab Bites on Sacolade Talk. A huge shout out to Manuel Rock from Hot Lip Outdoors for dropping some serious knowledge on us today. If you want to see these tactics in action and watch us put some massive slabs in the line well, make sure to head over to YouTube and search for Sacolade Talk. Hit that subscribe button, smash the notification bell, and leave a comment on our latest video. Until next time, keep your lines tight, watch your electronics, and we'll see you next week on Sakurai Talk.