Bluebasser86

I'm a bit of an addict when it comes to bladed jigs. I agree with aavery, fish them as slow as you can while keeping the blade moving. They'll work on a faster retrieve, but when they really shine is during a slow retrieve. I've had very good luck as of late with a lift, drop retrieve, sometimes really ripping it off the bottom. The odd thing is versus most baits that they hit on the drop they seem to strike on the upswing a lot of the time. I can't stress the importance of buying a quality bait enough either. I had lots of problems with hooks and skirts falling apart and poor quality hooks and components, so I started making my own. Lots of other good quality baits out there but I like being able to build them exactly to my specifications. I use about anything for a trailer, lately it's been a Pit Boss or Rage Menace, both rigged sideways. Havoc Subwoofers and beat shad are both good, 2/3 of a 5" stickworm is one I use a lot that I doubt fish ever see. My biggest bladed jig fish to date hit a black and blue 3/8oz with 2/3 of a BPS Stick O.

I used to be a straight fluoro guy until I tried a good quality braid on my shakyhead rod, don't think I'll ever go back.

I have way more than I hope my wife ever finds out I own. I carry a few hundred hardbaits in the boat with me, then there's the 20 or so 3700 boxes full of "backups" in the garage and almost an entire wall of pegboards full of extra plastics, hooks, sinkers, line, and lures still in the boxes.

If it isn't hitting anything I like to use a stop and go retrieve instead of a straight retrieve. Ticking the tops of weeds with them is a killer way to fish them too.

I've been very pleased with them so far. They work great with a beaver style bait or a baby or full sized brush hog on the back of them. I've made some small ones for personal use and put trick worms or finesse worms on the back and had good success too. I've even caught some good fish with them with a 10" worm on the back The hook is much longer than a standard jig hook so a really large, bulky trailer isn't a issue with them. Seems like with the swinging hook and head the fish have an almost impossible time throwing them. I had one tournament that I had a hard time hooking fish with them but at weigh in everyone reported having difficulties hooking up with fish so I'm chalking that one up to the bite being a little off.

For anyone that wasn't at Mondo's Thursday night, this week we'll be at Miola/Paola City Lake on Thursday night at 6PM for the weeknight deal.

Drew and I fished Leavenworth State Lake in the beautiful weather yesterday afternoon. I got on the water about 2 and Drew got out there around 3:30. Took me a minute to start to figure them out but we ended up on a really strong pattern by the end. Bluegill colored moving baits were far and away our best colors and water 6' or shallower was where they needed to be at. Backs of any pocket and the backs of the major arms were for sure our best spots. Water has come back up a lot but still a few feet low. Lots and lots of shoreline vegetation in the water but very few fish out of that stuff, just on the edges of it. I was doing most my damage with a Baby Gill Big Head Wobbler with a lime purple passion Pit Boss rigged sideways on the back, Drew started slow and then set them on fire with a KVD 1.0 in bluegill color. I also caught a few on a spinnerbait and Duo Realis Popper 64 and quite a few on a XRK50 also. No monsters but lots of very healthy looking fish, many of them had very large craws in their throats but we couldn't hardly get a bite on a jig. I also caught about a 3 pound wiper and showed Drew how to bass fish for catfish using a chunk of a bluegill he caught and caught 7-8 pound channel cat. We didn't keep track of numbers but there was well over 50 fish brought to the boat before we called it a night.

Probably headed out to Leavenworth State Lake this afternoon, empty back seat if anyone is interested. You'll probably have to meet me out there is the only bad thing.

yep

I saw that. It's funny how they'll freak out at bath time or about the garden hose then do something like that. Kind of like blowing in their face versus sticking their head out a moving car window?

I've always been what most people probably consider to be shy. In reality I like to listen to people to try to get a feel for them before I speak or attempt to talk to them. I couldn't be shy in my line of work, it's just impossible, but talking too much can certainly get you in trouble. It's a lot like talking to a girl, you can't let yourself be completely silent and hope the situation works out, but you don't want to go rambling on like an idiot either. I think you have kind of the right idea, girls love compliments, but maybe not quite as strong as "you're beautiful". Compliment her clothes, if she's reading ask her about her book, if she's listening to music ask her what she's listening to. Have a plan after the ice breaker too, you can't just ask what books she's reading and if it's any good because if she just says "Yeah" and nothing else it going to get awkward really fast. Opening with a tasteful joke or a neat trick to make her laugh or impress her would be good ideas too. I liked a girl in my senior year of highschool and waited until I had almost graduated before I told her. Turned out she'd liked me the whole time but was too shy to tell me. You never know unless you put it out there.

35 yards is further than I see any need to cast with anything other than maybe a deep crank or C rig. Better have braid or a hookset will be almost impossible that far out

Wow you guys are organized. I've got 400-500 jigs in 3 3700 boxes. They're separated by type, football, finesse, brush, and that's it. They're kind of in a round about way separated by color, but not really.

War Eagle and Booyah

Of course not...

Seriously almost nothing for bank fishing in the KC area on the Kansas side. You have a couple decent options on the Missouri side but even those are just okay on their best days. Kill Creek has good shoreline access, but you have to buy a JOCO permit to fish it, same with Shawnee Mission and Heritage parks. I guess knowing what you're hoping for would help a little? If you just want to catch some fish or if you're hoping for lots of fish, a shot at a big fish, whatever. Only thing that's very good to bank fish in the KC area on the KS side is trying to catch a big catfish on the KS river. You could look at a FISH atlas but I've fished most all the ponds on the list and most of the SUCK! Like I don't even think there's bass in them kind of bad. The ones that do have bass have so few it's a complete waste of time to fish them. I guess if I was going to suggest one it would probably be Springhill City Lake but you'd better be ready to get wet because you have to wade past 20' of water willows to get to the open water, and you're not supposed to wade in the lake according to the sign but I've never had anyone say anything to me. You're not going to set the world on fire out there but usually the ones you catch are solid to big fish.

Dates are finalized, October 11th and 12th. I just wanted to make sure that if we moved it to a different lake it wasn't going to screw someone who had already reserved a hotel or cabin for Perry.

If you find a good bank fishing spot in the KC area that isn't private, let me know!

Super Spook Jr in bone color outproduces everything else for me in that situation. Once the school sounds a Keitech Swing Impact on a 1/8 or 1/4 ounce jighead will pick up a few more fish also.

For all of us that have furry family members. The more I watch it the funnier it gets.

Fished Olathe for a couple hours this morning after work. Wind was howling about twice as strong as they said it would be, which is fun in a johnboat. Was trying to test the KVD 8.0 and a new Duo Realis Popper 64. Liked both, only caught 1 fish on either, but it was a very nice fish on the Duo. She just came up off a log and sipped it down. I was taking my time fighting her when she dove into a brushpile I had no idea was there (off the side of the beach???). Had some tense moments trying to position the boat where I could reach a limb while I could feel the line rubbing on the tree. Thankfully the fish was in one of the top branches and I was able to pull her and a bunch of Cajun red line out of the tree (shocker I know). The bait. And the fish! Flipping the weeds was pretty much the only other thing working. Had some hits on a bladed jig but never hooked up and caught 1 on a shakyhead. Water was much clearer than I expected after the heavy rain we had last week. Water temp dropped all the way down to 77 degrees already! The shad are feeling it, lots of balls of shad halfway back in the big cove on the east side and some wipers chasing them. Chris?? Sean??? You guys know what that means

That's the plan

I fish the KVD 1.0 and 1.5 often and have no problem launching either on a supertuned Curado 200E5. I can actually cast them further on my E5 than I can with my 50E Curado, which is also supertuned.

I think you mean #4, a 4/0 treble hook is a monster! I use Owner ST36s in #4 on the front and back of my Super Spook Jr's and they work perfectly.

I have muskie rods but it really isn't big enough to warrant using one. I do have a St. Croix Classic Cat composite glass rod that I seriously considered fishing it on, but it's a very heavy rod to use very long. I fished the 8.0 for a little while today. I was on a local lake with very few big fish so wasn't expecting any bites and they didn't let me down. Bait cast very easy and cranks easier than I was thinking it might. Bounces through rocks and cover just like it's smaller relatives and it does have a little slower roll than the smaller baits, which is to be expected. It looks good in the water and it really wasn't much larger than the shad I was finding schooled up either. Excited to give it a true test on a big bass lake later this month.