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00:00I'm Nick Honoshefsky. As a professional saltwater fishing journalist, I've explored the world's wildest fishing destinations.
00:07Now, I'm bringing you there, into the saltwater underground.
00:30Jake the Snake Roberts.
00:46Even if you've never watched a second of pro wrestling in your life, you've probably heard of Jake the Snake.
00:52The mere mention of his name struck fear into WWE wrestlers throughout the 80s and 90s and inspired millions of kids like me to sneak out into their basement to try and perfect the Snake's legendary finishing move, the iconic DDT.
01:09Striped bass had been blowing up in the Raritan Bay, hounding bunker schools and crushing topwater poppers.
01:15So hearing that the snake loves to fish, I put a call out to him, then gathered up some old friends to see if we could put some stripers into a submission hold.
01:24The question is, would we be able to get Jake to put the squeeze on some stripers, then get the bass to blow up topwater lures?
01:37Alright, I'm here in Raritan Bay, New Jersey, and today I'm amped up for two specific reasons.
01:42Number one, we're going to go target striped bass with Captain Erwin Heinrich on the scales and tails charters, and we're going to see if we can intercept these striped bass on their spring migration.
01:53But number two, and more importantly, I'm going to go fishing with WWE Hall of Fame legendary wrestler Jake the Snake Roberts, and we're going to see if we can put some finishing moves on some striped bass.
02:05Maybe even see Jake put the DDT down on some bass.
02:08So here we go.
02:09Let's see what we can find.
02:13Hey, Captain Erwin, how's it going?
02:15Good morning, Nick.
02:16Good morning to you.
02:17Good morning.
02:17All right, brother.
02:18It looks like we've got a beautiful day.
02:20What's the game plan?
02:21The game plan is, with the high tide, to go to the shallows, swim some light bunker, get the fish going, and throw some hard baits on the surface.
02:28Should be a pretty decent morning.
02:29Did you pay the bass ahead of time so you can make sure they clopper?
02:31I sent them the memo.
02:33I hope they read it.
02:34All right.
02:34Let's get on deck and get started, all right?
02:36Yeah.
02:37Good deal.
02:38Yeah, Jake the Snake, baby.
02:41Here we go.
02:41Mr. Roberts, good to see you.
02:44Good to see you.
02:45How you been?
02:46All right?
02:46Yeah, a little warmer.
02:48Yeah.
02:48A little warmer than last.
02:50A little chilly, man.
02:50Right.
02:51Oh, man, I'm stoked you're here.
02:52So we're going to go out for a striped bass today.
02:55And you ever caught a striper before?
02:56Yeah, but in Texas, man, everything's bigger in Texas.
02:59We're going to see what your stripers are like.
03:00Yeah, yeah.
03:01Those are the freshwater stripers, right?
03:02Yeah.
03:02Yeah, okay.
03:03Well, we're going to see if we can get some saltwater stripers and maybe put some finishing moves on them today.
03:08I have a DVD one.
03:11That's the plan.
03:12Well, I know you've got a busy schedule, so let's get you on the boat.
03:14Let's go get some fish, all right?
03:16I met Jake a few years back at a minor league baseball game where I found out Jake loves to fish.
03:22We put the smackdown on some fluke and small stripers over the years, but I wanted to show Jake what larger model stripers were all about.
03:31So I got in touch with the striper guru, Captain Erwin Heinrich of Scales and Tails, to get us dialed in.
03:37All right, Erwin, we got the call, right?
03:39You got some fish busting over here on this side of the bay?
03:42Yeah.
03:43My boy took me up over here.
03:45All right.
03:45We'll see what happens.
03:46Got some birds diving.
03:48Hopefully some fish busting.
03:49You can see all the boats are here, too.
03:51All right, let's get some bunkers in the water, and I'll throw some of those Island X and some of the Ron Zs.
03:56They're showing there's some fish in here.
03:58Yeah.
03:59If they want to play or not, we'll find out, but they're here.
04:02A lot of times you can't mark them because they're so shallow.
04:04Huh, yeah.
04:05The boat, they stay away from the boat.
04:07About eight, nine foot right now, too.
04:09Oh, yeah, look at the boomerangs.
04:10Okay.
04:10What have we got going on now?
04:11So I got a 10-0 circle, 30-pound floral leader.
04:15I'm going to hook a bunker in the back, just above the dorsal fin.
04:18Send it out, let the fish swim.
04:19And the rest is up to the bunker, and the pick.
04:23All right.
04:24Good feeling, man.
04:25He'll, like, snap it like a slingshot.
04:27I'll be like, boom.
04:29Nice.
04:30Got him, Ronnie.
04:32Get your bait in.
04:33Get him from here.
04:35I'll tell you, who is it?
04:37What are you doing, fish?
04:39If you had a fork and it was on your plate.
04:42Gary, you got him?
04:43Let me do this thing.
04:46Get re-on a little bit.
04:48A little bite a little.
04:51Keep your rod tip up.
04:53There we go.
04:54All right.
04:56There's one.
04:56I've got to show that to Jake.
04:57Nice work, Gary.
04:59All right.
04:59First bass on the bunker.
05:01See if we can get some more.
05:03Bring us up to Jake here.
05:04Show him what it looks like.
05:05We got a perfect circle hook set, too.
05:08Got the first bass here.
05:09Gary got that one.
05:10But, yeah, beautiful line siders there.
05:12It's a Jersey bass from Raritan Bay.
05:14So, we got this one now.
05:16Let's get a few more in and get those bunker baits working again.
05:20All right?
05:21All right.
05:21All right.
05:21So, Jake is a Hall of Famer, right, in the wrestling ring.
05:25How did you get into fishing?
05:27Oh, man.
05:28I've been fishing since I was a kid.
05:30Oh, yeah?
05:30Oh, yeah.
05:31My grandfather used to take me to work with him.
05:34He's building fence.
05:36So, we'd go to these farms and stuff, and they'd have tanks.
05:41Yeah.
05:42And we'd fish those tanks, man.
05:44You could pull out some shit on them, man.
05:46What did you fish for?
05:47Oh, catfish and crappie.
05:52Oh, yeah?
05:52Bass.
05:53Saltwater Underground with Nick Honoshefsky is brought to you by
05:57at Nick Honoshefsky on Instagram,
06:00Yozuri, Bubba, Island X Lures, Fisherman Supply,
06:05Grumpy's Tackle, Brundon's, and Ron Z. Lures.
06:10Saltwater Underground with Nick Honoshefsky is brought to you by
06:13at Nick Honoshefsky on Instagram,
06:16Yozuri, Bubba, Island X Lures, Fisherman Supply,
06:21Grumpy's Tackle, Brundon's, and Ron Z. Lures.
06:29Bottom rigs are working now, so we got like four or five ounces
06:32on fish finder slide rigs with the circle hooks.
06:35They were coming up on top on the surface for a second.
06:37Now, they're all feeding along the seafloor here,
06:40and that's where we're getting our hits.
06:41So, when you start fishing,
06:43what's one of your most memorable catches, you think?
06:47I think you have to be fresh water and fishing for crops.
06:50Oh, yeah?
06:50Yeah, yeah, we got into some crappie one time, man,
06:54and, you know, we used the electric knife on them
06:57and put them in the fridge,
06:58and when I came home, my stepfather was still awake,
07:01and he took me into the kitchen,
07:03and he opened up the fridge,
07:05and he got the fish out,
07:07and he said, you see that fish right there?
07:08Yeah.
07:09I said, yeah, he goes,
07:10that's worth a damn boat.
07:12I'm like, what are you talking about?
07:14Huh.
07:14He said, there's a fishing contest.
07:17Right.
07:17The biggest crappie in the winter got a boat.
07:21Right.
07:22And mine fillets was as big as the one they think.
07:25It won.
07:26It was like $30,000 crappie, right?
07:28Yeah.
07:29Because you and I have fished twice already,
07:30and unfortunately, we've both had really crappy seas on both times,
07:34but the funniest quote,
07:36we were out there in six to eight-foot seas,
07:38and, you know, basically on our knees,
07:41all puking and stuff,
07:42all of us, right?
07:43And the greatest thing is you look over at me,
07:45and you go,
07:46I've been body slammed by Andre the Giant,
07:49and I've never felt this bad.
07:52And I was like, oh, man, great.
07:54I made Jake feel worse than being put in.
07:56Every one of us.
07:56Every one of us, we just heave him.
07:58Yeah.
07:58Oh, that was a brutal, brutal day,
08:00but we got through it, you know?
08:02Barely.
08:05Look at this.
08:06We're starting to see bass blowing up everywhere.
08:09Look at it.
08:10Look at it.
08:10Look at it.
08:11They're chasing.
08:12Here we go now.
08:14Just reel in slow and steady.
08:17Erwin, grab that net.
08:20All right.
08:21Now Jake is on.
08:24Oh, boy, it's a big one.
08:27This is a hog.
08:32Oh, yeah, boy.
08:34Oh, yeah, brother.
08:36There he is.
08:37Nice, Jake.
08:39Nice fish.
08:40That's a fanboy, too.
08:42That was double teamwork there, man.
08:44Look at that beautiful circle hook set here.
08:47Beat that bunker.
08:49Circle hook right in the jaw.
08:51Look at that.
08:54Snake gets a striper, baby.
08:57The snake and the striper.
08:58Here we go.
08:59Beautiful fish, you guys.
09:00Yeah, boy.
09:05Jake got into some stripers, but he had to head back to dock early to catch a flight to Atlanta
09:10to punish some jobbers in the ring later that day.
09:13On our way in, I got a call that there was a thermonuclear bass bike going off on the other
09:19side of the bay.
09:20Stripers absolutely crushing bunker schools on the surface, blowing up plugs and poppers
09:26in a mad frenzy.
09:27I made a call to some buds, hopped a new boat, and, man, did it pay off.
09:33All right.
09:33We're going to do a little bit of back-to-back bass, and I'm going to meet up with my buddies,
09:37John Bender and Mike Drew.
09:38And we're going to hit off Sandy Hook here to see if we can catch some of these bass on top
09:43waters and jigs.
09:44All right.
09:53Let's go.
09:55All right.
09:58All right, Bender, man, what are we looking for?
10:21Let's go find some birds, right?
10:22We're going to look for some birds and find the fish, hopefully.
10:26Let's go get them.
10:27Let's go get them.
10:28Let's go get them.
10:34You don't want to mess when he's coming through, dude.
10:37Oh, my God.
10:40They're right here on your starboard.
10:45Oh, birds told us where they are.
10:47Mites are fish.
10:51Yeah.
10:52You can't really whack that right on the surface, dude.
10:55Yeah.
10:56Nice work.
10:57Look at that, man.
10:58Look at that.
10:59Right on the island next.
11:00Nice little bone color there.
11:01Worked it right on the surface.
11:02First one down.
11:03Plenty more to go.
11:04There you go, boss.
11:05Oh, good job.
11:06Oh, good job.
11:07Get up right there, boy.
11:08Get up right there, boy.
11:09We're all over here.
11:10There you go, boss.
11:11Oh, good job.
11:12We're all over here.
11:17See the net?
11:18Right, brother.
11:19Yeah, boy.
11:20I'm loving that.
11:21Great species, great size.
11:24Yeah.
11:25Nice work, Mikey.
11:27Yeah, boy.
11:28I'm loving that.
11:29Great species, great size.
11:32Nice work, Mikey.
11:37They're blowing up all over.
11:42Start casting.
11:43Here we go.
11:52There we go, boys.
11:53Oh, I'm getting banned.
11:54Oh, you got him?
11:55I hit him in the side, you know?
12:00Oh, you got him?
12:02Yeah, I hit him in the side, you know?
12:05There you go.
12:11I thought it was bigger.
12:12It was hooked in the side.
12:14Non-stop so far.
12:15We've got to still chase the birds.
12:17Chasing the birds.
12:18This is running and gunning at its finest.
12:21Let's do this.
12:22We're moving that way.
12:24Slow it down.
12:25Slow it down.
12:26Look at him crushing it out here.
12:28Look at him.
12:29Watch out there.
12:30Watch my own lawyers.
12:32He's swinging like it.
12:33Look at him.
12:34Keep swinging at it.
12:35Ah!
12:36All right, you need help?
12:38Oh, I'm on.
12:39Oh, that looked like a blue fish.
12:41Look at it.
12:42Look at the thing.
12:43They want it fast and erratic.
12:45And Bill Bender was hooked up.
12:47Ah!
12:48Here we go.
12:51They're whacking these things, man.
12:52I'll tell you what.
12:53Yeah, they are.
12:54Whoa!
12:55He just went down.
12:56Nice.
12:57There we go.
12:58That's a better pass there.
12:59Yep.
13:00Hook off?
13:01Yeah.
13:02Yeah, that's right.
13:03Throw him in.
13:04We're not, we don't have the birds like we had a second ago.
13:23So, there's no visuals of the telltale sign that those bass are here.
13:28But you cast where the birds were like even 5, 10, 15 minutes ago and these bass still stick
13:33around.
13:34And as soon as you get like a nice commotion working with the popper, it'll come right
13:39up and hit it again.
13:40Like I said, you may not see them, but they're there.
13:59Oh!
14:00He's on there.
14:01I'm the mag popper.
14:03Nice beauty little fish.
14:05They're not too big today, but they sure are fun.
14:10Whew!
14:11Bunker color on the mag popper right there.
14:14That's money.
14:15Whew!
14:16All right.
14:17Go get some more.
14:18Want to push back where we were?
14:20Just keep looking.
14:21You know what I mean?
14:22Just, there's no real rhyme or reason.
14:23Just look for the birds.
14:24I think there's a lot of birds over there.
14:26Drew Dogg, I think we've got the birds working between the channels out here.
14:30Yeah.
14:31I think there's going to be bigger fish out there.
14:33Let's go get them.
14:34All right.
14:35Let's make it happen.
14:36Tell Bender to make the move.
14:37Bender, let's go.
14:38Let's do it.
14:39Bender, Drew Dogg, and I got the striper party started.
14:45Now it was time to crash the party with some insane bass action.
14:51Saltwater Underground with Nick Honiszewski is brought to you by
14:55at Nick Honiszewski on Instagram, Yozuri, Bubba, Island X Lures, Fisherman Supply, Grumpy's Tackle, Brunden's, and Ron Z Lures.
15:12Look ahead!
15:14Once again, here we go.
15:20Same pattern.
15:21Same recipe.
15:22Birds chasing the bait that the bass are blowing up from below.
15:26Like your dream dog is up in front in the bow waiting to cast.
15:30Look at all these birds, man.
15:31Just everywhere.
15:32But we're on them right now before the whole fleet comes in.
15:35Two Raritan Bay Jersey fish in Alex's finest here.
15:38Wow.
15:39It's everywhere.
15:40Look at that.
15:41Cut it back and we'll just start casting.
15:44They'll be here.
15:45Just cast.
15:46They're going to be all around.
15:47Dude, that's crazy out there.
15:48They're going to be all around us.
15:50Might get a bird out of the sky.
15:55There he is.
15:56Look at my plopper.
15:57Watch my plopper.
15:58Oh, they're on Mike's.
15:59Yeah, they're on Mikey's.
16:00Where's that?
16:01No.
16:02No.
16:03No.
16:04No.
16:05No.
16:06No.
16:07No.
16:08No.
16:09No.
16:10No.
16:11No.
16:13No, no.
16:14Mikey's up.
16:15Mikey's on.
16:16Yeah, Drew dog.
16:17Bend him, baby.
16:18Bend him.
16:19Nice little dude.
16:25All right.
16:26Whew.
16:27Get that sidewinder nice for you, Mikey, huh?
16:30I'm welcome.
16:31Little guy.
16:32So you sure love that little on the neck sidewinder right there?
16:35Nice work, Drew dog.
16:36Nice work, Drew-Dog.
16:39All right, let him go right back in.
16:42Seems like these bass, like this really erratic action.
16:46It's not like a slow pop or like a slow retrieve.
16:49It's like really fast, and it just
16:52seems to trigger their aggression strike,
16:56hitting really fast, working the lure fast.
17:03What, you got one?
17:04Yeah, it's been tough.
17:07What's up, county board?
17:27There we go, brother.
17:29Rockin' and rollin'.
17:33Beautiful.
17:33Woo-hoo.
17:35Number like 77 bass today.
17:37Woo!
17:39Yeah, Doug.
17:40Woo!
17:45There he was.
17:46He just hit it.
17:50Just hit a hit.
17:51There you go.
17:52Keep going.
17:53There he is.
17:54Yeah!
17:56There's so many behind this, he said.
17:58Look at it.
18:00That's awesome.
18:01Yeah, that's awesome.
18:02You know the beauty little schoolie like that?
18:05Perfect little fish for Raritan Bay hitting the top orders.
18:08There he is.
18:09Oh, boy.
18:10Look at that.
18:10There he is.
18:11There he is.
18:11There he is.
18:12Oh, boy.
18:13Look at that.
18:14Oh.
18:15Oh, boy.
18:17Look at that.
18:18Oh.
18:19Biting this one, man.
18:23That took the easy way there.
18:24That was beauty.
18:25Pull that little paddle tail right out, drop down the bottom.
18:27Look at the beautiful green colors, this guy.
18:29He's got some really striking greens and that purple hue in there.
18:33These are such, such, such beautiful migratory fish right here.
18:34Look at that.
18:35Man, that is a beautiful Jersey bass.
18:36He's going to do what he wants to do.
18:37Whoo!
18:38All right, boys.
18:39Woo!
18:40That's best fishing in New Jersey right there.
18:43Little bit of an fish in there.
18:45And you can take a look at the deep dive.
18:47Get a little.
18:48That's all right.
18:49I'm going to keep the right way there.
18:50Get it.
18:51I'm going to keep the rightea.
18:52Take a look.
18:53Let's get a look.
18:54Put it right here.
18:55See, he's just throw it right here.
18:56And, come on, look at the bottom.
18:57It's just a very big, big, big, big, and big, big, and big.
18:59I'm trying to throw that out.
19:01All right, boys.
19:02He's got a beautiful green color to this guy.
19:03Got some really striking greens and that purple hue in there.
19:06New Jersey right there lit them up a little bit we had lit them up with Jake
19:10before got Bender and drew into it man striper fishing jerseys just too
19:19MWO
19:23life can be really funny with all its surprising twists turn back the clock to
19:29the 1980s where every Saturday morning I was glued to the TV set watching pro
19:34wrestling tuning in to see Jake the Snake Roberts mercilessly DDTing his
19:39opponents Jake's tactical wrestling and memorable character inspired countless
19:44days of fun and laughter in my youth fast forward to today and now I'm bailing
19:49striped bass with Jake funny right though I still hold old-school pro wrestling dear
19:55to my heart most of my time nowadays is spent chasing down striped bass and
20:00other saltwater species with good friends like Bender and drew dog creating
20:04memories and sharing good times on the water it's always a big win when you hit
20:09the Jersey striper run head-on with good friends especially when loads of bass
20:14cooperate for some incredible action but to share some striper memories with Jake
20:18the snake himself to give him something back for creating so many good memories
20:23in my youth that was solid I think it's a fair trade I get Jake into some Jersey
20:29stripers and in turn I get to hit the arcade with snakes personal authority to
20:35use his signature DDT to win my title matches
20:39you hate snakes I'm terrified of Jake the snake hates snakes he says because I'm
20:44terrified of them
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