simplejoe

Love the show Mike. I have the dvr set to record your show for a couple years now.

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum. My kids race their quads out in Malvern. I'm usually there at least once a month. Don't lurk around the board, join in.

To catch fish a fish quickly so your kids don't get bored, I use trout magnet baits. They look like colored maggots. Any color really doesn't matter. My daughter picked pink and my son picked red when they both started. I hook it up to a float and there's days they out fish me by 40-50 fish to my 4 or 5. They'll catch any species then.

Suspended jerkbait would be my first choice, just to see if there's some activity. Then I'd switch over to a jig or just a craw and drag it across the bottom with some twitches in between.

I have so much fishing stuff already, I asked for gift cards. So when something new comes out this year I can use those cards that I have stored away. To me, its like money in the bank. But these the wife can't touch. Lol

The bait monkey must of been bugging you to go. Bass pro is about 4 hours from me also, I heard for a few years now they're putting one here in Pittsburgh. So far no luck. I have a cabela's about 2 hours away. Glad to see you fight the snow to get out there.

Welcome to the forums kyle.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forums. Only thing I can say about learning to fish with youngins around, is take him with you. When she has your baby, she's going to need time with just the baby. That's your chance to get out and do some fishing with your first born. Hell both of my kids were fishing at 3, the attention span isnt there that long if they're not catching anything though. So I used to go for a ride on the boat when they got bored. If no boat, go to a park that has a pond or something. Kill 2 birds with One stone. You fish and when they get bored go to the park and play for a little and go back to fishing when he's ready. As far as techniques, I started with cranks and soft plastics. My first bass ever came off a heddon torpedo.

Smallies are a great looking fish, I think their sexier than a bucketmouth. Lol. Pound for pound the smallie is better fight. I've caught big largemouth and had no fight all the way back to the boat.

Last week I was fishing a River and water temps were 42. I started in about 6' of water and ended the day in 35', I caught 3 smallies that day. All my fish came from about 18' and all off a rage craw working it slowly between large rock. I would hit a Boulder and hop it up and over. It seem like as soon as the craw fell off the rock, BOOM fish on. Rocks were the ticket that day, I tried lay downs and bridge pilings. Nothing.

Welcome to the forums

Count me in too, I was mad I missed out on last years. Back to Kentucky Lake I see. I had a blast down there with everyone back in 09, Hopefully we have a good turnout like then too.

Great video Big O and thanks Mrs M for putting it together.

This dude must of ate a whole bag of shrooms, all of that over a freakin rainbow. ;D

I caught this one off of a Rage Space Monkey around 3 in the morning. ;D

Wayne, they have a great customer service department. On my last boat, my powerdrive pedal broke. I called them up and they had a new one in the mail the same day. Two days later my new pedal arrived by Ups at no charge to me. I'm a Minn-Kota user for life.

Glad to hear all went well. Now the road to recovery begins.

That's awesome Catt. Tell him good job.

5 hours isn't to bad. Definitely worth the trip.

Nice Smallies Wayne! It must of been nice up there, the lake doesn't to bad. How long of a ride from your way?

Carry extra lugnuts, you never know if you'll need them. For the couple dollars it would be, it's nice to have them. Remember your truck also, go get the oil changed, make sure everything is topped off. Just look it over, it's also going to be making the long haul pulling the boat.

If it was me, I would start throwing topwater and shallow diving crankbaits first thing in the morning. As the sun moves up higher in the sky, you move further down the water column. Try to locate any structure around spawning areas, like the backs of coves or spawning flats. I know it's going to be hard from shore, but if you find these areas then you might find the big girls of the lake.

I would look at the current conditions and that would tell me if their in deeper water or shallow. First, I'd try burning a Rat-l-trap, if that isn't working then I'd try a black Senko or a Dropshot setup.