Bluebasser86

I'm working on learning that end of the lake as well. The furthest east any of our fish we weighed in were from around Arrow Rock and out biggest was from Turkey Point. There really aren't any bad areas on that lake. I even caught a solid fish out in the middle of a cove by launching a trap as far as I could to try to clear a over run and was reeling very fast to make a cast. The numbers of fish in that lake are incredible.

I was out there Thursday before the tournament and that Saturday and tore them up on a jerkbait both days. French pearl RC STX is all you need. Toad whites were slamming them too.

I've had Chevy, Dodge, Ford, and Toyota. In order of my personal preference 4.Dodge, 3.Ford, 2.Chevy, 1.Toyota. guys on here talked me into a Tundra for my last truck purchase, couldn't be happier.

Zman has the copyright to the blades attached to the eye as far as I'm aware, along with the coffin shaped blade. If you don't alter the blade, you're right, it won't vibrate as much. If you manipulate the blade correctly you can actually get as much if not more vibration. Plus if you know how to do it correctly you can make them so they kick out randomly, much like the hunting action that is so popular with crankbaits.

I've tried, never had much luck with them. I prefer a jigging spoon.

Sure do, I have so much stuff up on the wall in there it's hard for me to remember it all

Are you sure it has a good connection? My Elite 4 used to do that but I cleaned the connections and battery terminals really good and it doesn't do it anymore.

The first two tournaments I won were unexpected. I was 16 fishing in an adults bass club and had never even seen either lake and had no idea what to expect it to take to win. I've won quite a few since, only once was I pretty positive I'd won it, I had 2 3's, 2 4's, and a 7 at Truman Lake in Missouri, blew that one out of the water Then we had 3 keepers on one of the toughest lakes in the area on a weeknight tournament last April. Only 4 other boats showed up because of bad weather. I've won at this lake a few times with 1 fish that didn't go 2 pounds, so 3 is almost always a lock. Wouldn't you know, one other fish weighed in but it was a little over 6 pounds second biggest bass I've ever seen from that lake and a quarter pound heavier than our 3 fish.

Always valued his opinion on reels, most anything else for that matter. Thoughts and prayers to his family, we lost a good one there.

My brother in law and I combined for an about $450 on June 1st at Grand Lake. He lost a Curado 50E/Veritas combo, I lost a brand new pair of Costa Fisch sunglasses. Not to mention all the jigs we broke off and plastics we went through that day.

Had a request for a little different shad color that would hopefully catch the winning fish at BBB at LOZ this past weekend. Unfortunately it didn't but it sounds like "Kicker shad" was a hit with the 2-4 pound fish My crappie color has been a big fish magnet this year for guys around here it seems. It already looks really good, but I decided to improve on it a little more. Not something I'd want to have to make a lot of, but it sure looks pretty

Academy Ethos rods go on sale for $40 pretty often, great rods even at full price though. I own 8 of them now

Do you buy them in the big tubs? I buy the minnows in the big tubs to save a little money by buying in bulk, plus I don't have to worry about if the bag is sealed up well or not.

Everything is up in the shallows chasing shad all over the place around here right now. Biggest smallies last weekend for me hit a rattle trap, 3 other keeper smallies weighed in, 2 on topwater, 1 on a swimming fluke type bait. So I guess it's safe to say it's on around here

The swimming action attracted the fish's attention, why stop? When a big fish is chasing a little fish they don't stop, they speed up or change directions or both . I've had fish eat swimbaits off my rod tip. Keep swimming it, if the fish follows to the bank and doesn't eat then take a page out of a muskie fishermans book and start figure 8's. Sometimes that change in direction will make them attack. A lot of times it seems the bass knows that your bait is running out of room to run and is actually waiting for it to get close to the bank so they can pin it against the bank.

Folks around here would have a cow if they decided to protect spoonbill so you couldn't keep them! I know guys who look forward to snagging season all year. I've caught 2 of them and, like you, was not fishing for them either time. Cool looking fish, neither was nearly that big though.

We have cold winters but power plant lakes make fishing a year round activity for me

An ultralight with a small curlytail grub or marabou crappie jig will catch anything that swims.

It's a rare trip that I don't catch the "wrong species". As an avid multispecies angler though, there really isn't a "wrong species" in my book 14lbs on a baby brush hog under a dock. Rattle trap wiper 20lb blue cat on 4lb test and a 2" power minnow. Monster pumpkinseeds on baby brush hogs and jerkbaits 13" jerkbait crappie. Big wiggle wart rainbow 15lb gar on a Mattlures trout Keitech wallys 25lbs on a finesse jig. My 2 biggest "wrong" fish. Neither got weighed, scale broke trying to weigh the flathead and it was too far of a walk to the truck for the carp. 6 3/4" S waver eating grass carp Hardest jig bite I've ever had.

A ned rig is half a stick worm on a small jighead, it catches about anything that swims. Smallies at Melvern will eat about anything right now, but the Ned will catch a smallmouth as long as you can get your line in the water. We caught a lot of ours on traps and jerkbaits Saturday.

The lower end Lew's are great reels for the money. I paid full retail for my Speed Spool when they came out ($100) and I beat the heck out of that reel and it's still going strong and one of the furthest casting reels I own, for sure my furthest casting stock reel.

Haven't seen one of those for years! I'm sure someone out there still has some, might not be willing to part with them though.

I prefer a floater with hardbaits. I think they appeal to big bass because they know that their intended target has fewer escape routes which makes their chances of catching it higher. With soft baits I like a slow sink and usually creep it along the bottom. Same principal as the floater, except the bottom eliminates one of the fish's perceived prey items escape routes, increasing the bass' chances of success.

I use a 200E7 Curado for mine, works great.

I haven't but I know guys catch pallid sturgeons in the Kansas and Missouri rivers in downtown KC occasionally. I've caught some shovelnose sturgeon but never a pallid. They're usually bright white because of the muddy water I guess.