Bluebasser86

I'm going to try to be there provided it's at a time my work schedule allows. Brent is very personable and takes time to answer everyone's questions anytime I've been around him. Haven't ever really talked to Casey but always good to meet a hometown pro.

Sounds to me like pulling the plug would be the right thing to do for everyone. I know that doesn't make it any easier to do though.

About a quarter of the way through my 28th year.

Mondo Tackle is going to have Brent Chapman and Casey Scanlon there on July 10th doing a meet and great and answering questions. Not sure exactly what time but just in case anyone is interested in stopping in there to meet them.

#1 looks a bit like a Log Perch Darter

Drum are fun to catch, but man they're disappointing when you're fishing for and hoping for something else. I sight fish for them occasionally with light spinning gear and live crawdads. As close as you can get to saltwater flats fishing in Kansas A big drum is very wary but when you get one to crunch a craw they put up a heck of a fight. I've heard they're pretty good eating too.

What are you going to use it for the most? I'd pick a rod that was suited for that technique then make it work for the others.

Sunline Super fluoro is the only fluoro I use anymore, zero complaints with it.

Hard to beat a Pfluegar President for the money.

I prefer heavier or standard wire hooks. Thin wire hooks are for finesse fishing only.

A little info on the waters you're fishing would help a lot

I would be willing to bet most folks that don't catch on bladed jigs and buzzbaits are fishing them too fast. Those are 2 of my biggest confidence baits, but I fish them as slowly as I can get away with to get my bites. For me it's a Rapala Rattling Rap. I do great with other lipless baits when that bite is hot, but even white bass don't want to eat that thing. A flutter spoon would be another. I understand why it works and have confidence enough in it to fish it pretty often, but other than hundreds of white bass and wipers, it's completely struck out in the bass department.

Goose always has great pictures of his fish, especially for fishing by himself. I hate the pictures of fish that look like they were dipped in a mud batter before being rolled in a dirt and grass crust.

Just be glad its only the bait monkey, wait until you're carrying the boat gorilla around like I am

We did pretty good the day that we fished Wabaunsee together, way better than I did at the fish off not long after that.

Wow, you guys are lucky, or maybe I'm just clumsy. I've had a hook in the back of my calf that had to be pushed through and cut off. My dad drug a deep diving crankbait across the length of the top of my head on his back cast, I had 3 bloody streaks torn in my scalp that burned like my hair was on fire. Worse was when my dog grabbed my buddies bait as it was swinging from the end of his rod. He got hooked through the lip but when I tried to grab him, he shot backwards between my legs and buried the front treble into the side of my finger, so I was connected to 50lbs of panicked mutt via an Original Rapala and a #6 VMC treble. I had to tackle him and lay on him until my buddy could cut the hook that was through my dogs lip then go to the emergency room myself. Probably the funniest was several years ago at a golf course pond. There was a terrible drought that year and all the fish in the golf course pond were confined in one deep pool that was left and we were out there trying to snag the monster grass carp after dark. Of course lots of fish were succumbing to the shallow, stagnant, overheated water and littering the bank. Unbeknownst to me, there was a large carp or catfish dead right on the edge of the tall grass I was walking through that a very large (and apparently territorial) raccoon had laid claim to. I popped out of the grass and immediately my headlight flashed on one of the biggest raccoons I've ever seen, and my the growls and teeth flashing, he wasn't happy. We had a stalemate that seemed like an hour but was probably 15-30 seconds before he dropped his head and charged and I wheeled around and ran as fast as I could towards the way I came from. I didn't know the pond well but there was a thick stand of bushes that blocked my escape route but it was clear on the other side. My game plan was to dive over them and hopefully roll and get back on my feet before I had an angry raccoon in my lap. I dove, didn't quite clear the top of the bushes that turned out to be blackberry bushes (stickers galore), and continued running for a bit until I realized the raccoon must have either figured that was good enough when I jumped the bushes, or he was rolling around on the ground laughing at me back there. I was bleeding pretty bad from the inside of my thigh where the stickers tore me up through my shorts, good enough I still have the scars. My biggest regret of the whole situation was that my buddy that was with me had no idea what was going on. He said he heard all kinds of growling and yelling before he saw the light from my headlamp moving really fast back down the bank before it bounced up in the air and landed on the ground. We were at the same pond the next night when I stepped on a ground hornets nest, I quit fishing that pond after that night.

The article that Glenn posted is the exact reason I no longer throw plastics in the lake. Hooks and plastics in a fishing gullet or digestive tract may not kill it, but they aren't going to do it any good either.

That is a really close match. Might have to order a few tabs of it next time I have to restock if that color is popular. Thanks for the heads up!

Found a Top Knocker at a garage sale this weekend, there's still some out there.

I was requested to copy a bait by another member, I was pretty pleased with the turn out An imitation of War Eagle's Coleslaw color, right down to the white blade. Love this one for cloudy day smallies. Chartreuse and black with a chartreuse blade. Should be a good muddy water bait and was getting slack lined with it night fishing last night. One that has really surprised me. Already beat some paint off the head it's been hit and banged off rocks and docks so many times. The fish have really been loving it, much to my surprise.

Walleye are the only freshwater fish I ever eat anymore. Love some seared ahi steaks though.

I love chasing these guys when I have the time.

I've snagged gizzard shad close to 2 pounds on jigging spoons in the hot water discharge at the power plant lakes during the winter. That one is about the average size we see during the winter there, and bass will surely eat them that size.

Braid is the only way to go with a frog too. That improved my hook up ratio with frogs more than anything else. You'll give up on fishing if you ever try to put a Zman bait on a twistlock I use a regular 5/0 EWG for toads.

The Ugly Stick Lite is a pretty decent rod really. I don't use them for bass but I have 2 MH spinning rods paired with small baitfeeders I use for channel cats and wipers, they're pretty bulletproof and you can feel pretty light bites the rare time either of those types of fish are biting lightly.