Bluebasser86

Very few throw big baits around here and I get looks and laughs all the time when I'm tossing big baits, and I'm just fine with that. I did a big bait seminar at a tournament last year while we were all waiting in the parking lot because of a fog delay. Someone spotted my 7" Slammer tied on a rod and asked if I was joking with that thing. I broke out my camera and big bait box and started showing them why they should be fishing them. A lot of the pictures were at a lake where everyone fishing shakyheads and drop shots all summer long, while I'm catching fish on a Slammer I caught one of our keepers that day on my Slammer and we ended up in 4th place for the weekend.

I took my tackle bag as my carry on when we flew to South Carolina last year. Didn't have any problems. When I flew to Mexico in 2004 I had one of those fishing hook hat clips. I wore it on both planes down and then the first one on the way back, they made me throw it away at Dallas Ft. Worth on the way back, even though they'd let me onto a plane once at the same airport. Really seems to be no set guidelines on hooks.

I worked in the fishing department of Cabela's in KC for 5 years, I wouldn't recommend it but it was a pretty good paying job for a high school and late teenage kid. Now it just looks like I work for a tackle shop

Great bait, but make sure you have the gear to fish it, it's not a light weight. They come with a very sharp hook and are ready to fish right out of the package.

I had all my gear stolen once and a 2 man stolen another time, both were stored in a shed at the lake under lock and key, didn't matter. That gut punch feeling of knowing everything is gone is one that no one should have to go through. All my gear goes in the cab of the truck if I have to go in somewhere or even better I'll go somewhere with a drive through so I don't have to leave it unattended.

When do you guys fish a swim jig? I can't ever figure out when I should try one over a bladed jig. We have very little vegetation except for water willows and that seems like most of the time guys are using them around vegetation. I've been fishing a 1/2oz with a Havoc Subwoofer with a 6' 10" MH/F rod paired with a 200E7 and 40lb braid. I haven't given them a fair chance I'm sure but it's hard to do when I'm catching fish on a bladed jig and the catching stops as soon as I pick up a swim jig.

I like spinning reels for what they're good for and baitcasters for what they're good for

My biggest topwater strikes have been on buzzbaits. The biggest was by one that was in the 8-10 pound range, unfortunately she had whiskers . Buzzbaits do get my most aggressive bass strikes too though.

I love it when my wife outfishes me Looks like you both had an outstanding day on the water!

Those guys are nuts! I couldn't believe they drove to El Salto. Places on the way there they could have disappeared and never been found again. I caught a 4.5 pound largemouth on a popping fly a long time ago.

Caught snapping turtles on almost every type of bait. Got spooled by a goose that flew through my line and got snagged by my spinnerbait. I've got a Decoy Hydratail swimbait that's almost cut in half from the bill of a blue heron that I never saw hiding in the weeds I was paralleling and had them chase my bait many more times. Had an osprey dive on a swimbait and barely miss it. Caught a seagull freelining live shad. A wiper was in hot pursuit but when it blew up on my shad it knocked it out of the water and a seagull caught it out of the air and swallowed it before I could do anything. They're surprisingly docile while you're trying to unhook them. Worse was an owl that actually got my bait. Night fishing with a muskie jitterbug when I heard a huge explosion on my bait. Set the hook, tons of weight, line started coming up so I buried the rod best I could since I was shore fishing. Line keeps going up, what the? See the owl fly in front of the full moon and realize my line is following it It crash landed in some blackberry bushes and the hooks got tangled and ripped out and he flew off. I'd like to never repeat that.

I used to troll a buzzbait out of my 2 man all the time, caught a lot of fish doing it. Sometimes those little green fish that give us fits aren't all that smart after all.

Most states are terribly short on Game Wardens, they simply don't have the man power to check some spots often. I fish and hunt a lot and only ever get checked a couple times all year and rarely is that in the field or on the water.

I prefer the baby brush hog for T rigging and the full size for C rigging. If I'm after a big bite I'll fish the full size on a T rig though.

Long Shoal on Truman? I know there's no way Chris or Jon would go back there and I don't think I would want to go back to fun fish either. Leavenworth Bass Club is a good group of guys though, I used to fish in their club when I was a teenager.

Zman makes a couple different frogs that are way more durable.

Yep, it's. Officially called the sizzlefry.

It's true, except for the super secret part, at least I wasn't keeping it super secret but I guess I wasn't really telling anyone either. I've actually got a few new colors. Kind of hard to do an exact copy of the Rodney but I was really happy with how it turned out. A copy of War Eagle's Coleslaw color, one of my favorites for smallmouths on cloudy days. Black and chartreuse with a chartreuse blade, should be a killer in muddy water. Funky Chicken, got a bump on it's head from bouncing off a rock already. I've caught some really good fish on this one already, including our biggest yesterday.

Milford is great in the fall and we could rent a cabin or two and do a 2 day again. The strip pits would be fun and there's also a cabin down there that's $70 a night I think and sleeps 6-8 people. Perry can be really good in the fall. Wolf Creek would be fun but the odds of getting 2 fishable days on the water out there are really slim. We had the fall fishoff for Wyco in the Osage River of Lake of the Ozarks last year and that was a pretty good time. Mozingo could be fun but that lake isn't real big and it gets packed on weekends. We could do a state lake if we only wanted to do a 1 day but I'm not sure how well a 2 day would go unless we didn't have much of a turn out.

I think almost everyone on here that used to fish it has stopped because of the small average size of the fish out there. I know I'm not buying the permit and driving all the way out there when I can go to Douglas County for free and catch a bunch of dinks with a slim chance at a bigger fish.

Yep, that was Jon (basshunter0731) and I. Was a tough day out there. Had a lot of follows on a swimbait and was a little quick on the trigger with a 5+ that ate it at the boat. Most of the fish we caught were on wacky rigs and much smaller than the last times, but still very healthy at least. I did catch one in the 3-3.5 pound range on a Funky Chicken colored Big Head Wobbler and another one around 3 on a Pit Boss flipping the water willow. It's a pretty nice johnboat, and other than the fish in bigger lakes getting a break I'll still be out there after them.

Sold it a couple months ago. Got to pay stuff off if I ever want to be able to afford a real boat. Hard part for me is having week days off when most people are at work. I've got a 15' johnboat with a 15hp tiller drive and 43lb bow mount motorguide that's going to have to get me through for now. If you ever have a Thursday or Friday off let me know and I'd be willing to weigh the back of your boat down for you.

You might also check out the MS Slammer if you haven't already. The Mini or 7" are both great wake baits that can not only catch a kicker fish, but can fill a limit in the right conditions. Never fails to amaze me how many 15" (and even smaller), fish will smack my 7" Slammer. 20lb copolymer is what I toss most of my swimbaits on.

A jig trailer made of pork I'm a believer that bigger fish will often prefer it over plastic. Last much longer than a plastic trailer too. http://www.unclejosh.com/P/PORKFROG/414

I've got several buddies that are firefighters. Try to get in good with any current fire fighters you can and become a volunteer fire fighter if you can.