Fred "Boom Boom" Roumbanis joins John Carroll of Mongo Fishing to show you how to fish a line-thru swimbait. Watch them smack some largies with Fred's signature Boom Boom Line-Thru Swimbait from Optimum Baits. Take these tips to the water and go catch yourself a MONSTERBASS!

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Video transcript:

John Carroll:

Hey, what's up guys, John, from Mongo Fishing. Today, I'm here in the MonsterBass channel fishing with the one and only, Fred Roumbanis. Say what's up Fred.

Fred:
Hey, what's up happening guys.

John Carroll:
So, today we're out here in the Monster Bass channel, here in Central Arkansas, fishing with Fred's signature series, optimum baits, four inch line through swim bait. So anyway, let's stick some lips.

John Carroll:
Hey guys, before we really get into the video, just want to let you guys know that Fred and I fished weather kicked up, kind of pushed us off the lake a little earlier than expected. And, I lost a lot of the audio. So basically, I'm going to have to finish off the stuff that Fred and I discussed and stuff like that on the lake, that I don't have on for this video now. I'm just going to have to reiterate it back here. So, what we're going to do is we'll get into the fishing part and all that fun stuff and then we'll come back and I'll reiterate some of the stuff Fred was talking about and then go from there.

John Carroll:
So, anyway guys, if you are new to the MonsterBass channel and you want to learn tips, techniques and procedures and how to catch fish, become a better angler, make sure you hit the subscribe button right down there, along with the bell notification button, so you get notified every single time MonsterBass puts out another video. My channel Mongo Fishing will be linked under the description below to primarily like tournament footage, decision-making process, stuff like that. But, it's honest tournament footage. So, if I suck, I still put the video out and it's not for everybody, that's for sure. So, come check me out, but let's get into this footage right here.

John Carroll:
What!

Fred:
We need to go over there?

John Carroll:
He said, we need to go over there. Look at that. Those have to be white bass. Oh man. That's sick.

Fred:
We need to be over there right now.

John Carroll:
That is sick dude.

Fred:
Oh my gosh. (silence) [inaudible 00:02:19]

John Carroll:
Fred's hooked up. Here we go. Good job dude. It was literally busting at the boat.

Fred:
It was crazy.

John Carroll:
Oh man. Oh, I just got smacked, but he didn't get it. So, Fred talk about the bait a little bit, like how you like to rig it, you know what type of rod, reel, line.

Fred:
You're right in front of it like a big one up there. So, honestly this little four inch version of swim bait, I like to go my square bill rod or like a seven foot, medium, heavy, you want, somethings got good flex to the tip. It doesn't necessarily have to be a stiff rod, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a parabolic rod either, it just has to have good tip. That way, fish grabs it, you're not going to just pull it out of its mouth. It is a treble hook bait. I do like to pin them pretty good. And, I've got my Dobyns rod. I'm actually throwing this one on my utility rod, which is basically a seven foot three power all-purpose rod. It's just great. All around medium action rod.

Fred:
The bait's pretty simple. You just slide your line through, you tie your treble hook on. This is a little trick. This is a Zappu Japanese lure company, you get them at Tackle Warehouse and Bass Mafia has got them, but you twist this on here and it adds a little extra weight. So, it keeps the bait down and you can move your bait a little bit faster if you do want to speed things up. So, these fish are obviously chasing a little faster rate of speed. So, it's good to have a little bit speed incorporated into just one bait. So, by adding that little weight allows that simple, just hook it right there, when you catch a fish, the bait slides up, you don't damage a bait, you're fighting just the fish.

John Carroll:
Awesome.

Fred:
And, I just put the point right back in the belly and that's it, right, there.

Fred:
And, I'm fishing on straight. I'm using 15 pounds. I'll go as light as 10 pound. I'll be honest with you in this situation right here, pretty clean water, open waters, nothing really get hung up on. The lighter the line, the deeper it's going to allow you to get the bait to go, but also it just works better. So, I won a tournament way back in the day at lake Shasta, fishing in just open water like this and, I was the one six inch swim bait on 10 pounds. So, some people forget that the line weight can actually help you if you cut down the size if you are in an open water situation, but you get around trees and stuff like that, you can, amp it up to 20 pounds, if you feel. I wouldn't go any heavier than that, you're going to really lose action to the bait, but I'm just throwing down the straight 15. And, here's the bait in the water.

John Carroll:
Here we go. It's going to be fish. Feels decent too. Feels like he's a fish. Huh? Maybe a two pounder. Oh, he's not even a two pounder, but they got it.

Fred:
Awesome.

John Carroll:
See that's what he got, Nosy is what it was. Cause he's got it outside the mouth. There you go guys. Fred's hooked up. There we go there's another one.

Fred:
Can you go on that mono on the back?

John Carroll:
No, I have fluoro on here. There we go.

John Carroll:
All right guys. So like Fred was saying some of the, aspects of the bait. How to rig it? Super simple rod, reel, line, all that fun stuff. Seven foot medium, fast action. You want something that's got some tip to it. He prefers 15 pound fluoro, but he'll drop down to 10 and some occasions and up to 20, but 15 seemed to be the fluoro that he was using the most. I was running it on 12 pound fluoro that day and this is super simple to rig.

John Carroll:
So, I will show you right here.

John Carroll:
Pull one out of the box, show you exactly how we do it. Take your line through swim bait. You want to run the line straight down through the nose. There's a little tiny hole in the nose and you run it right through there and it'll pop out in the belly. There you go, like that. Right.

John Carroll:
Take your line. Take your hook, that comes with the bait. It's a size two, not two up but a size two. So, if you have to replace it for some reason, it gets damaged, bent out, whatever, which should be pretty hard to bend this out. It's a pretty stout hook. But, if for some reason it gets bent out or dole somehow, size two treble hook is how you replace it. Tie any particular knot that you prefer. Me personally, when I verified this with Fred, make sure he didn't have a specific knot that he preferred over any other knot, when it comes to tying this and he said, no, just, whatever, knot you like. So me personally, Palomar knot super simple, run it in, run it back out. So, you are left with a loop, like that. Make an overhand knot and then take this tag in and loop it around your treble hook so that everything ends up on the top side of the treble hook.

John Carroll:
Now, because this is fluorocarbon, regardless the knot you choose, make sure you get it wet, so that, when you send it down, you don't burn your line. Clip off your tag end and you are good to go.

John Carroll:
So, one thing Fred likes to do, is he takes one of these hook points and he buries it in the belly of his swim bait. What that does, is it keeps the hook, pegged up against the swim bait so it can't be like free drifting and floating out there underneath it. It's pegged right, there tucked right on the bottom. When a fish bites this, it will pull free, and your swim bait will slide up your line and you're just fighting the fish on the hook itself. One thing Fred and I had done that day is a chartreuse marker to the side, just kind of use a little marker to highlight the side of it. It gives it a little more pop, if you will, in the water, might help it stand out, in a cloud of bait so, the fish see this over one of the other minnows. And then, something else I did, is, I added an underspin to it by putting a screw lock on a small Willow leaf and screwing it into the belly, right there.

John Carroll:
Now, I did that because if we're fishing in giant clouds of bait, I want my bait to stick out a little more than all the other shad. And, it's just something, I always like to do whenever I'm around schools of bait, I prefer to throw an under spin over any other type of a swim bait, but screw that little screw lock in on the belly, right there and now you have an underspin. Regardless, how you rig it, OG style or with that little underspin, doesn't really matter, it's a killer bait. Get out there, use it. The fish are chewing man, it's starting to fall, transition is starting. You will get bit on this, that is for sure.

John Carroll:
Anyway guys, thank you very much for watching. Again, if you're new to the MonsterBass Channel, please hit the subscribe button right down there, along with the bell notification button, so you get notified every single time MonsterBass puts another video. Again, my channel Mongo Fishing, be linked in the description below. Dig it, if you came over and checked me out, also. Getting, guys thank you very much for watching. As always get out on the water, be safe and go catch a monster bass.