senile1

Lots of great suggestions for baits here. As for bottom baits it looks like you have a finesse jig and a rage bug type bait there. I would add a light weighted tube and Ned rig.

Yeah, wasn't the idea prevalent that it turned to gray very quickly with depth? It seems I have been seeing research showing bass cones are more attuned to green and red now. Indeed.

Fishing in lowland reservoirs, there are times when the fishing is hot near the bank and maybe sonar doesn't seem necessary, but it can often provide understanding as to why the fish use a particular shallow area. On the other hand, it is difficult for me to fish deep, clear highland reservoirs without using sonar. For a lake such as Table Rock shallow water is often considered to extend out to 15 feet (some anglers claim even deeper) and fish will spawn at 10 to 15 feet in certain places on the lake depending on the water clarity. A few weeks before and after the spawn I usually catch the majority of my bass in 15 to 25 feet of water there, and again in mid to late Fall. In summer and into early fall, fish will stage on gravel points, etc at 35 to 45 feet of water which is typically at the thermocline and are often caught on dropshots. I don't think I would find very many fish in this lake without my sonar. I use sidescan and downscan by the way and haven't felt the need to go to FFS yet. As for the deepest water in my lowland reservoirs around Northwest Missouri, it can be 25 feet all the way to 55 depending on the lake. The thermoclines vary from as little as 8 feet to 20 feet on these lakes. Even if I am not using the sonar to find actual fish like with FFS it still allows me to learn the structure and cover in the lake and helps me find fish away from the bank.

For a while now I have been catching a few 5 to 7 lb Missouri fish each year on Siebert Outdoors half ounce Grid Iron Brush jigs with Rage Tail Craws. These are almost always caught on two color combinations: Green pumpkin jig with watermelon red flake craw, and black/blue jig with black/blue craw, although sometimes the black/blue with the okeechobee craw color is the ticket. A few are caught in the winter on green pumpkin or black/blue Siebert finesse jigs with the same color finesse trailer. These jig fish aren't always the biggest for the year, but most years they are. I have to go with one of these jig and craw combinations based on the probability indicated from past years.

Wikipedia states it was 2012.

Thanks for jogging my memory with that. I had forgotten about it. LOL. It isn't an easy job to keep up with elite athletes.

I told my wife the other night you would need one official for each of 22 players on the field to get all the calls right. There is just too much going on for them to keep up. I agree that it is part of the game and missed calls are often human error. But there are those occasional calls that seem to defy explanation. I suspect many of you have seen them. Probably one of the most egregious examples was the no-call on interference in the Saints versus Rams playoff game on January 20, 2019. And once in a while you will see a game where the preponderance of bad calls are called on one team. It just makes one wonder. Going back to my earlier post though, I do think the NFL needs to work diligently on consistency in making calls across the spectrum of officials. With consistency comes acceptance by fans, instead of people thinking they were robbed of victory. As a Chiefs fan, I am happy they won the Superbowl. As an NFL fan I can see why Eagles fans might wonder why the calls were a little more loose in the first half, but then were called more strictly in the second. Consistency in calls would help to eliminate disgruntled fans. Of course, some fans will always think their team was shafted.

True. The point is one obviously affected the catch and the other did not and it was inconsistent to call the last one if the first one wasn't called. The first should have been called. The second one is debatable to many fans. I will go out on a limb here and say that I have been questioning the officiating for some years now. This is speculation but it seems the officiating is designed to keep games close to perpetuate the idea of parity in the NFL and keep every city's fans hanging on the edge hoping their team can pull out a win. We all see questionable calls that happen to the team we favor, but it happens across the board and typically, I see calls that help bad teams stay in games with good teams. Once in a while, those calls end up affecting the final result. How many times have you seen a few questionable calls early in a game affecting one team, and then later in the game it seems the officials attempt to make up for those calls by calling a few questionable ones the other way. Could it be the NFL wants to keep everyone interested in their games so some of these calls are made to try to keep games close? ? Ah, but I digress.

The officials already missed a blatant pass interference by Bradberry in the first half where he grabbed and turned Smith-Schuster. That non-call ended a Chiefs drive. They should have called that one and maybe have let the last one go. In my opinion, the issue isn't the call at the end because by the book it was pass interference. The issue is the inconsistency in how officials call these penalties and it happens to all teams across the NFL.

Eh . . . . not a complete comparison. Is there a comparison of the defenses? Also, the Chiefs haven't had a losing record since 2012 and only one season of less than 11 wins since 2015 (10 wins in 2017). They have had to work harder for decent draft picks than the Eagles over the past few years. I think both of their GMs do a pretty good job with the draft.

Unfortunately as a big Chiefs fan, I am afraid this may be so as well. Expecting Mahomes to heal much from a high ankle sprain in one week would be verging on the miraculous. The likely way for the Chiefs to win this is if Mahomes is hot for four quarters, but he can't even plant his back foot to throw. The rest of the team will really have to step up their game. I hope I am wrong, but without him performing at a high level I think it unlikely. Still . . . . hoping for a win.

Good topic. The only time I really concentrate on hitting bite windows is when the water is very cold in the winter. Cold blooded creatures require much less sustenance when the water temps are 30s to low 40s and they aren't as active. In most cases, it is quite obvious when they are active and when they are not in the winter. In other seasons if they aren't actively feeding, one can often trigger them to bite by fishing the proper presentation. If I have learned a lake and know some spots where bass congregate during the different bass seasons, I can often find the fish and make them bite.

The biggest, 7 lb 5 oz, was caught on a Booyah white/chartreuse spinnerbait with willowleaf and Indiana blades. Second biggest was 6 lb 15 oz on a 6 inch T-rigged black culprit worm. Over the last 15 years, I have caught most of my 6 to 6 lb 14 oz fish on black/blue and green pumpkin Siebert jigs using similarly colored Ragetail craws, and other trailers. A few in that 6 lb range have been caught on Brush Hogs, Rat-L Traps, and soft baits on swinging jig heads. These are the baits that have worked for me in my neck of the woods. Any bait can catch a big fish when properly matched to the conditions. If the OP is seeking higher percentage big fish baits, the jig and craw would be my first choice where the average big fish are 5 to 7 lbs.

@basspro05, welcome back, buddy! I still use older reels. For baitcasters, the Curado 200e7, Citica 200E, and Citica D models still adorn a few of my rods. I also have a Chronarch from the same era as the E models. The newest reel I have is a Revo STX that is maybe five years old. For spinning rods I use Shimano Symetres. I have always been one to use an item for its entire life if it still functions properly. The Chronarch and E series models are awesome reels, while the Citica D may be a bit shorter on casting distance and then of course there is its higher weight. But the D is a tank. I have had to replace parts here and there that typically need replacing, but otherwise these reels have no issues. I will buy newer reels when needed, but I don't buy them just because I can. If your reels are in good shape, they will still serve you for years to come.

Great point! See my signature.

You can go to your settings in your profile and set the visibility of different elements, such as your birthday, to "Only Me." Then FB will no longer notify your friends or anyone else about your birthday.

The last two years hiking 13ers and 14ers has become a big hobby of mine though it hasn't replaced fishing, of course. I am now doing class 3 climbs and hope to move into class 4 next year. The following link provides a chart showing the oxygen percentage you are taking in at different altitudes. For example, at 7000 feet you are getting about 76 percent of your regular sea level oxygen (16%/20.9%). At 14000 feet you are getting only around 63% (12.3/20.9). As some have said, altitude sickness can affect anyone and there is no rhyme or reason as to who falls victim to it though all of us flatlanders have to be aware. Typically, most people aren't extremely bothered by 7000 feet so you should be fine. However if you, or one of your partners' get dizzy and goofy go lower immediately. HACE or HAPE are rare but they can kill you. (Google them. ?) I don't notice it until I get to 8 or 9000 feet but that is me. At 13000 to 14000 I definitely notice it. After a few days you acclimate to it and I generally start with an acclimation hike and increase my highest elevation by a couple thousand each day until I reach 14000 and above. https://hypoxico.com/altitude-to-oxygen-chart/

I find that if I periodically clean my live wells it is extremely rare for a fish to go belly up. For the bass I catch they are only in the live well long enough for me to take a pic. For other fish that I plan to eat such as crappie, white bass, or hybrids if I see them going belly up it has almost always been because I was not on top of keeping my live well pristine.

I have the Ultrex with the option to use the cable steer and I do use it a lot in tight places, but you might be surprised how often a jog of 5 feet is just what you need. An example would be if you are moving fast with the trolling motor and come into a spot a little too hot and when you hit the spotlock it isn't exactly where you intended to be. The spotlock allows you to adjust and continue fishing at the same time without worrying about fighting the wind and current with your foot on the pedal. Once a productive location is found it allows you to move only slightly between trees and brush to hit another spot on the other side of cover, etc. Jog doesn't cover every situation, but it is useful in many where you need to pick apart an area. I have found it useful around docks, whether it was to pick apart each stall or to move out to the side to get an angle where my cast would go behind a back corner. If I didn't use the jog for this, I would be doing one of the following: Using the cable steer, or shutting off spotlock to move and then resetting spotlock. If I am just moving to make one or two casts or on a continuous track then maybe using the cable steer is the way to go, but if I am in a productive area or I need to make quite a few casts to cover a small area, then pressing one button to move 5 feet, or pressing it two or three times to lengthen the move while staying in spotlock seems like a better option to me. If I need to move a great distance, then yes, I will shut off spotlock and move without using the jog. YMMV

This is my view as well. I fish alone for the most part but when I take others along with me I want them to catch fish. When I played in competitive sports I always thought winners should be humble in victory and those who lose should be gracious in defeat. Showing respect all around is never a losing proposition. Of course, we have all had friends we could needle once in a while and they would return the favor. I just never thought it was a good thing to make into a habit, but each to his own.

I have spots, but I can't say whether or not they are secrets. If other anglers fish them when I am not around, I would never know, right? The key thing is the proper presentation for specific conditions at those spots. Unlock that, and you have yourself a spot. Fail to unlock it and you may fish it and move on, not realizing you were sitting on a gold mine.

Awesome! Congrats on the new PB.

Those are some awesome smallies! I understand the idea of not posting every fish one catches but it looks like you definitely caught quite a few that are worth posting. You've got some trophies there. Sounds like an amazing trip!

Same here. At times I will do a weekend if I haven't been able to get out at other times, but for the most part, I avoid the heavy traffic nowadays.

The first artificial lure I used to catch a bass was a Rapala Original Floating Minnow. I caught quite a few early ones on the Rapala Countdown Sinking Minnow as well, but the floating minnow was the first. Before that, my first bass of all was on a cane pole with a night crawler.