Bluebasser86

Fished Prairie Lee today from 9-2. Didn't set them on fire or anything but we did alright. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40 fish but nothing over 3 pounds. I'd probably go back but the fact that they don't open the gates until 8am is really a major deterrent to me going out there.

Sounds like a buffalo. We catch a bunch of them on jigging spoons during the winter at the power plant lake (usually snagged). They're a blast to bowfish too and can grow very big, well over 50 pounds. Lots of the ones we catch are about this size.

"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country." George W. Bush

They'll eat any of them but the 1/2oz and larger sizes are going to be your best option. Make sure to upgrade the hooks or you'll be lucky to ever land one bigger than a few pounds. The Strike King Red Eye Shad would probably be my pick, either the 1/2oz or 3/4oz sizes in Sexy Shad, chrome sexy shad, or chartreuse sexy shad.

Do any good? We're going to try to fight the wind and dodge the storms this morning to see if we can do any good out there. Finally got my custom built swimbait rod and a couple new Real Prey swimbaits to give a test run out there.

One of our local stores everyday price on Avids is at least $20 below normal price, sometimes even more. Same thing with all their Shimano reels too.

The BPS by you guys must be much friendlier than the one by me. I had to take back a BPS Extreme rod last year that broke during the cast. They gave me all kinds of grief about exchanging that rod for the same rod. I figured since it was their house brand rod and less than 6 months old that it would be a pretty easy deal. They called a guy from the fishing department, who looked over it like he was trying to solve a crime, and thoroughly quizzed me on about when I'd bought the rod and what I'd bought it with. They kept saying they couldn't find any proof of me buying it searching my points card purchase history (occasionally forget it in the truck and not concerned enough about it to go out and get it). What confused me the whole time was that I was returning their brand of rod! Anyways, rant over, if you take it to BPS I hope they treat you better than they did me.

We used to use whatever we could find to catch the bluegills and chubs out of the creeks when I was a kid. Wasp and ant larva made great bait, big millipedes worked well, grasshoppers of course worked great, water beetles caught fish, probably the oddest was large dog ticks that were always abundant on our mutts that ran wild. The fish loved those things and the skin on them is surprisingly tough so we could catch several fish on them.

I can skip a Spro Bronzeye a long ways with braid and casting gear.

Savage Gear 3D line thru trout is a very nice bait near the top of that range that doesn't break the bank.

I like the JR anytime I'm fishing where there's smallies, but usually go with a full size spook if I'm after largemouth, but if it's working I would have stuck with it too.

I've killed a couple dinks when the hook point went through their brains or spines on the hookset, but never one that size. You must have just hit the exact right (or wrong) spot. I wouldn't let it bug you too bad though, occasionally a fish you catch isn't going to make it no matter what you do.

I'd probably go with a medium and switch to mono or copolymer if the main things you're going to be fishing are jerkbaits and cranks.

Mine was caught on an 8" Zoom Magnum lizard in watermelon seed. I was actually reeling in to make another cast and saw her closing in on it quickly so I released the spool and let it sink, only went about a foot back towards the bottom when my line stopped sinking. Didn't have a depthfinder on the boat but I'd guess we were in the 15-20 foot range.

I have a 12' jonboat that I promise is less stable than a SOT kayak. I'd much rather have a nice kayak but they cost more than a new jonboat.

Check out ultimate bunk boards. I had them on my last boat and they were great. Just make sure you don't pull your boat out of the water before the bow strap is on, your boat will shoot off like a wet bar of soap.

Pro slider head

And if the bass doesn't eat those jigs or big worms?? One of the lakes I fish often they ignore jigs and worms for the most part, especially the larger fish. However, run a swimbait through those same haunts and areas that seemed dead before prove to be full of life, and much larger fish than those that fall for other techniques. It doesn't take any real specialized gear to fish some of the mid ranged baits like a 6" Hudd, mini or 7" Slammer. Those baits move lots of fish and can easily be fished on a flipping rod like I started out doing, then I saw how effective they can be, my custom built swimbait rod just showed up in the mail yesterday

That reminds me of this one.

I've wanted a kayak for a few years now but a jonboat is the closest thing I have.

The Avids are one of the best rods out there for under $200 IMO.

I make my own, prefer the brush jig head.

100 series Bandits catch fish everywhere I go and don't break the bank.

I never stop moving a spook, I do vary the speed greatly though. Sometimes I fish it so slow it almost stops, but not quite.

I used to hop them, lately it seems like they've preferred the drag though, at the least the bigger fish have and that's what's important.