Bluebasser86

Big, dark colored jig or a black and blue bladed jig. Pretty much all I fish in dirty water.

Crank that thing as slow as you can, even bumping bottom when possible.

I like black better in heavy stained to muddy water because it provides a more defined target for the fish. I've had excellent days in clear water with black baits too though. It's possible that the fish aren't sure what it is so they strike out of curiosity, or maybe they think it's a portion of a prey item and the rest is hidden. I'm sure they don't see black in clear water often either, which probably doesn't hurt.

Big swimbaits are great in clear water. You don't need heavy line to fish big worms or jigs either. I fish them on 12lb fluoro in clear water if I feel the need. Another thing to consider about the heavy line is the fact that fish in very clear lakes will hit something like an A rig. I'm thinking if those wires and snaps don't bother the fish then heavy line isn't going to either.

Whatever bait I'm using. If I lose confidence in a bait I won't be fishing it anymore.

If you're really worried about it you can always add some Megastrike or other scent to your bait after applying sunblock. I wear sunblock all year long and don't have any problem catching fish.

Would you let him grab something out of your tacklebox and walk off? Your money pays for public waters. In my mind it's not only poaching, but it's stealing from me and all the other folks that follow the rules. Call the game warden, they might not get there in time but at least you didn't just stand by watching it happen.

Grab them behind the head if you can. Even if you lip them where the hooks aren't, one quick flop and there's a good chance your fingers and the hooks will be much closer than you'd like.

I don't know what all the excitement is about, I've done hundreds of searches at work and never enjoyed it, but I've never been on the receiving end so maybe I'm missing something

I think that's just if you're living in OK. I didn't have to do anything with mine last time.

Upper end is muddy but the lower end is pretty clear. Last time we were there the dam had probably 4-5 feet of visibility. Of course if they get a ton of rain that may change it. I think Chris and I are going to launch from Honey Creek State Park unless it's really bad on Thursday, then we may try somewhere down by the dam. Honey Creek is right in Grove, OK and it's a free ramp.

Grand Lake O' the Cherokee's in Oklahoma, where the 2013 Bassmaster's Classic was held. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/129650-kc-spring-get-together/

Wish I could claim it, but that fish is 2 pounds bigger than our state record

Not the smallest bass but one of the smallest smallmouth I've ever caught. Little guy slammed the bait. That's a massive KVD 1.0 (2" 1/4oz) crankbait that he decided to try to tackle. Had a pretty similar sized one knock the fire out of a 78 pointer on the same lake a couple years before.

A cheap flipping stick would be another option. I picked up a 7' 6" H/F Ethos rod from Academy for $40 as a stand in swimbait rod until my custom is done being built. It's worked pretty well so far, especially for what I paid for it.

I make a color I call "baby gill" that is mostly watermelon blue color with a few strips of blue lavender, orange black flake, and solid chartreuse. I put a lime-purple passion pit boss with the tail dipped in chartreuse JJ's Magic on the back of it, rigged sideways. It's one of the best looking juvenile bluegill colors I've ever seen, and the fish like it too

I wouldn't hit the lake without an assortment of jigging spoons in the boat, especially late fall through early spring and again during the heat of the summer. I like the white and silver War Eagles.

Nice! I have the exact same one I'm hoping to get a monster on before long.

Zman baits are awesome on a SS rig because they float off the bottom

I have no idea what my best numbers day is. A couple buddies and I hit the smallies just right a couple years ago and caught 256 of them in a day. A couple years ago when I kept track of every fish I caught I broke the 100 mark a few times. I'd rather catch bigger fish though and would have to say my best day was the day I caught a 30lb 2oz limit, in Kansas, in February, all on swimbaits. On top of that monster bag of largemouth, I had over 30 wipers from 4 to a little over 8 pounds. I was exhausted from fighting fish by the end of the day.

Are you sure there's bass in this creek? We have some of those large creek/small rivers around here but there's very few bass in them if any. Tons of asian carp in several of them now too. I'm sure what bass there are probably gorge on the YOY carp though since they're really similar to shad.

Posted on FB by Cliff Pirch during the Elite tournament at Lake Dardanelle, cracked me up.

Might want to check your local Academy if you have one. Ours have all Rage baits for $3.99 and Zoom for $2.99!

I've fished Bull Shoals a few times, Table Rock a bunch, but never been on Kentucky. With that said I'd go to Kentucky Lake. You can catch some big fish at Bull and Table Rock for sure, but you can just as easily strike out completely. Last day I was on Table Rock, I was out there for 5 hours and worked my backside off for 4 fish, 1 was a 20.5" largemouth on my very first cast of the morning, the other 3 where smallmouth that you could have put end to end and they wouldn't have been as long as that first fish. Personally I feel you have other very good options for big fish closer but if you're set on one of those 3 I'd go to Kentucky.

I wouldn't fish a swimbait on it, even the small ones you're talking about fishing. Are you going to fish it on a jighead I assume? If you really want to try it I'd probably go with braid and a high speed reel to try to compensate for the slower action rod.