Glenn: Hey folks, Glenn May here with BassResource.com, and I'm sitting here at the Livingston booth
with none other than Randy Howell.
We're talking about the new baits coming out from Livingston Lures, what do you got for
me today, Randy?
Randy: We got a couple real key baits that we didn't really go all out and try and introduce
a lot of stuff this year.
We just trying to make some of the things we got better, and trying to make some of
the baits that are traditionally baits that are hard to hook fish, and get fish in the
boat, trying to make those baits better.
And we actually introduced this Freddy B Frog at ICAST last year, but it was a little too
early because they didn't have the hook right yet.
The body was right on the frog, but the hook is a really big deal on a frog, and because
these guys are committed to excellence and doing things right, they let us fish with
it some.
And I told them right away, look we can't put this in a package and start selling them
because, you know, you can't hook fish and land 'em good with that hook.
So, we totally went back and they worked on it forever getting it right, getting this.
This is a 20-millimeter, custom-made 5/0 hook and you can like pull a grouper up off the
bottom with this, so stiff.
Glenn: That's a beefy hook.
Randy: Yes, a beefy hook and every frog at the ICAST show will get blow-ups and get fish
on and a lot of fish will get in the boat, but you'll lose more on a frog.
And you'll hear that amongst all the pros at the tournament trail, a lot of our pros
same way in the weigh in line are talking about, "Man, I lost 'em on a frog, I missed
'em on a frog."
And a lot of times it's just because the frog you're using doesn't have the right hook in
it.
I mean, I've been a study student over everything, but a frog fishing especially the last several
years.
And this year, I've weighed in probably more than half, or almost two-thirds of my fish
on the tournament trail this year have been on a frog.
And it's just, you know, seasonally how stuff happens.
We've had a lot of flooded bushes and high water at Rayburn and places, so it's been
a lot of frog fishing.
Glenn: Yeah, what are the best scenarios for fishing this little area, this frog?
Randy: Yeah, frog, you know, frog fishing, a lot of times people think frog fishing you
gotta be fishing around grass or, you know, heavy, you know, matted, you know, slime or
junk like that.
But really, I use a frog more in open water than people would ever think.
Glenn: No kidding?
Randy: Not just out in the middle of the lake, but in open water like we got a video running
in the booth over here, some footage from my boat throughout the year that I run the
GoPro on during the season and get clips from catchin' fish.
And at Rayburn, the fish were up in the flooded willows, and the bushes, and instead of flippin'
em and pitchin' em or throwing a Senko up in 'em a lot, like I normally would.
I was making long skip casts back into the flooded areas, because the water was so shallow
that the fish weren't comfortable staying in it.
So if you got too close, you'd see 'em swim out because it was really clear.
So, long cast with a white frog and a black frog, just instantly, soon as it would hit
up in there and you'd move it, they'd just smash it.
And then, when you'd reel one out of there, there'd be four or five more with it and they
were all 3 to 6 pound, big fish.
And I had 24 pounds the first day all on a frog.
So, anytime you've got, you know, cover that's hard to fish without hanging up on a regular
traditional bait, that's where a frog can excel.
And the Livingston Frog has sound, and that's the difference in the frog that we have versus
all the others.
We have the patented sound technology and all the sound in our crank base like my howler,
the one the classic on is a crawl fish sound, a shad sound, but a frog, this is actual frog
sound.
And it sounds like this it goes, "Re-er, re-er, re-er," don't make me do it anymore.
But I swear, I gotta do that, take one for the team, but that's what it sounds like.
And it's a real recording of a frog, so when you skip this frog up, it's got a hard nose
in it that has the sound cap, so waterproof sound cap, so right here.
And it still has a big area right here, so when the fish blows up and bites it, it'll
collapse and that big hook can still get the fish right there and that hook can pull 'em
out of heavy cover.
And so, when you skip it up in the bushes, or you throw it on top of a grass bed, or
by a tree, or a dock, or anywhere.
And you're walking, and I twitch it real lightly on braid, I throw it on 70-pound Daiwa Samurai
Braid, and you've got to fish a frog like this on braid to get the most effectiveness
out of the action.
Because you gotta snap, snap your wrist, twitch it almost like you're fishing a Walking Boss,
or Zara Spook type bait.
And I try to keep it in one spot as long as I can and make it walk side to side.
And this bait sloshes water and stays in one spot longer than normal, because it's heavy,
because of that sound capsule.
It keeps it nose heavy, so it'll sit there and slosh like that.
Glenn: So, why are using braid instead of, say, 70-pound Fluorocarbon?
Randy: Yeah, the braid is a big deal because braid has no stretch, and it's a just a instant
reaction time.
So when you're twitching...when soon as I...if I cast 40 yards or 50 yards with that frog
and I twitch my wrist one time like that with, I use Ishman Rose Daiwa Frog rods mades of
7'4" Heavy Frog Rod, and when you twitch that bait, it immediately reacts.
If you have Fluorocarbon or any another line, it's a delayed reaction so you twitch it,
it takes a lot more effort to try to make that bait move.
And Fluorocarbon sinks, so it'll pull the bait down and you can't make it work.
So, braid floats, and it's limp and very tight, and that 8-Strand Samurai Daiwa Braid is real
responsive.
So, not only for the action in the bait, but also when the fish hits it.
You set a hook and you got an instant hook up and you pull 'em out of that heavy cover.
Glenn: Now, is that 70-pound, is that braid, is that leader?
Or is that...you have braid on the reel itself?
Randy: You try just straight braid, I spool up full line up, full braid, full spool of
braid, 70-pound Samurai and I put it on a 8/1 retrieve, the super fast retrieve.
It's real important too when you're in cover because the faster you can set the hook, and
get the leverage, and get the fishes head up and coming out of the cover, the faster
you can line 'em out.
Usually, when we get done and we look at some of the video from the fish I was catching
at Rayburn.
It's amazing when I go back and watch myself fishin', and see how hard and fast I'm reeling
that fish.
Tryin' to keep his head comin' to me without him turnin' left or right, to get hung up
in a bush.
Because it's just little small alleys you throw up in and you hook 'em, and they go
left or right and you're just winchin' 'em.
So, havin' that braid, havin' a fast reel, a long stiff rod puts you in control of that
fish and you're able to bring him to you.
And that's what makes the frog fishing be successful and having the right hook.
Glenn: One last question here is that, to get that action out of it, are you tieing
a loop knot on it, or you tieing directly to it like a polymer, or how you tieing to
it?
Randy: Tieing straight to it and I just tie a polymer knot straight to it.
And a lot of people ask me a question about braid, does a polymer knot work on braid?
And I've heard, even pros, it amazes me how many pros I even hear say, "You can't tie
a polymer knot on braid or you need a double polymer."
Because I've tied a straight polymer all my life on every brand braid I've ever used,
and I've never had it slip, never had a problem one time, ever.
And with Samurai Braid, its 8-trand braid, so it's more tightly woven than an average
braid.
It's more expensive, but it's more high-quality, you can use it one spool all year.
But it will stay tight, and it won't slip, I'll even cut my tags short and it won't,
you know, nothing will slip on it.
But that's all you do, you don't want a leader, you don't want nothing but that straight braid.
And 70-pound Samurai's a smaller diameter than, say, 70 or 80 pound of another brand.
It has a real small, it's like a 12-pound diameter I think on there, so it's not too
big and it's easy to cast.
So, that's a big key for me and havin' that real big stiff hook, when I said the hook,
and it sticks to the fish.
And he's in cover, I can pull him as hard as I can to get him out, and I don't have
to worry about my hook messin' up.
So... [crosstalk]
Glenn: Perfect, perfect.
Well, what else do we have here?
I see you got one other bait here.
Randy: Yeah, real quick we got a new bait this is called a Diablo.
And for the people who like, that love the old Vintage Wiggle Wart, which, you know,
any of the eBay guys, guys like you too.
You know how much these baits are online on the eBay, they're 50 or 100 bucks for a good
Vintage Wiggle Wart.
And even Wiggle Wart, the group, have even tried to make a bait that's as good as the
old one, but we still don't seem to have a bait as good as the old one.
And so, we got Livingston to try to make one without copying it, but makin' it with the
same inspiration of how the action, but it has a flared belly side.
But that lip on ours has a deep channel right here, so it's immediately scooping like...
[crosstalk]
Glenn: Yeah, it's curved.
Randy: Yes, its curved inside, so it's scooping like a shovel.
So that it dives really quickly down to 9, or 10-feet deep on a 12-pound Gannel Fluorocarbon
is what I throw it on.
And it has the battery sound chip inside just like all the bait.
So, it's a lot of weight in this bait and the central, you know, like the Lake of the
Ozarks, Table Rocks and, you know, Arkansas, Missouri Lakes, especially.
The Wiggle Wart bait is a hard bait to beat, it always has been.
It's a regional bait.
So this bait, from what I've seen, we're testin' it in the last four, five months.
It has the same get down quick, stays flat on the bottom, not like this, but more flat.
And it has that hard, side-to-side motion where it covers a lot of water.
And it's like a crawfish scooting across the bottom, running out of the rocks.
And it's very deflective, it deflects off rocks really good because of that lip.
Glenn: Now, when would you reach for that in your tackle box?
Randy: This bait would be kind of all around, year around, depending on what water column
your fishin'.
I'm usually gonna fish this type of bait in clean water, anywhere from really clear to
moderately stained, but not muddy water.
But it's more like a clear water style, specialty bait.
And I would, you know, usually February, March, April, right around the pre-spawn time, early
in the year.
And then during the spawn, when they move up obviously a little shallower, you move
up to the bank, but then as it gets off the bank again, the fish move back off.
May, June, July, and even to the fall, you can change colors from shad color, crawfish
color to a shad color when they're chasing shad.
So it's a regional bait a lot, but it's also a very versatile bait that, I think, will
work anytime just because of that action.
You know, because there's places that I'll throw my Howler and I'll throw, you know,
a different bait here or there, different style baits that we have at Livingston.
And sometimes, one bait's totally outfishes another in one lake or another, and we never
know why, but whatever works you throw it.
Glenn: Right.
Randy: And that's how this bait is too and I think when we fish the Central and Western
lakes, it's gonna be a real big ticket.
So, it's called the Diablo, it's really heavy, you can cast it a long way.
And I think that's gonna make it a real deal in clear water, especially.
Glenn: Awesome, awesome.
Well, thank you for all your tips, Randy, really appreciate that.
You guys gotta check this out when they come available, I think they're gonna be real winners,
what do you think?
Randy: I think so too, I'm ready to go throw 'em somewhere.
Glenn: All right, thanks guys.