Bluebasser86

Lucky, none of the DSG around here carry anything but Bomber and Rapala and very few of those. I guess that's what happens when there's 2 BPS, 2 Academys, and a Cabela's within 30 minutes of each other.

I know of quite a few guys in Minnesota that fish swimbaits and catch lots of fish on them. You don't have to have 10 pounds to be successful with swimbaits. I do 90% of my fishing in Kansas, not exactly known for it's big bass potential. Our state record is just shy of 12 pounds but a 10 pounder is extremely rare here. Still, I catch my share of fish on swimbaits. I feel a lot of my success is due to the fact that fish rarely see these types of baits, but that doesn't change the fact that the fish here will still eat a big shad or bluegill if one presents itself at the right time. I think my biggest concern where you're at are things with teeth. We have almost no pike and zero muskie in KS to worry about stealing my baits.

It's a very tasteful outfit, really accentuates the handlebar mustache he's sporting in the picture Austin's in Olathe at 6 it is. 2103 E 151st St, Olathe, KS66062 (913) 829-2106

Yeah, start him out right! My dad skipped the push button stuff with me. When he bought me my first rod and reel that was actually mine when I was 6 it was a spinning combo. He taught me to tie a knot and turned me loose.

My favorite carp bait is a fiberglass arrow with a barbed tip flung out of a compound bow When I'm catfishing I'm targeting the big ones so I never used prepared baits, either live or fresh cut bait for me. Not that you can't catch big ones on prepared baits, it's just far more likely with natural baits. My uncle used to leave shad in a glass jar in the sun for about a week and then use them for channels and blues, nothing that stinks much worse than those things did.

I like their plastics but not their hardbaits. If you're looking for cranks and other hard baits that are cheap yet effective I'd be looking at the Academy H2O line up way before I'd consider the BPS cranks. I've had some of their baits and they're always a pain to tune, the finish stinks, and you have to change the hooks out which negates the price a little bit right there. Just my opinion though, I know some guys that love them and fish very few other baits.

Easiest way to do it. Nice thing is that if you change sinkers you can just push them up the line, retie, then slide them back in place. Even if I switch to a jig I'll just push them down to right above the knot. Doesn't bother the fish, acts as a buffer for my knot from sharp objects, and I don't have to break out a new one next time I put on a T-rig. Of course if you're not a cheapskate like I am you can always just replace it instead.

S waver, the 6 3/4" version 7" MS Slammer 5 or 6 inch Bull Shad slow sink or floater Hardgill The BBZ is a popular bait and effective for some but I had very lackluster results after lots of hours on the water with it.

Twitchtail minnow Zman finesse worm Meathead worm

Nope, I catch way more largemouth on topwaters than smallmouth and largemouth usually seem more willing to hit topwaters than smallies. I really wish it wasn't that way but that's how it seems to work out for me. It does depend a little bit on the bait though. If I'm fishing buzzbaits it's probably 95% largemouth but if I'm fishing a walking bait or popper I'll get a better mix of the two. To me, spotted bass seem the most predisposed to hitting topwaters, probably because they tend to school so much so you get the competition strikes.

You'll probably want to check this out http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/41662-st-louis-area-fishermen/

I was still in diapers the first time my dad took me fishing. He has an old picture of me sitting on a sand bank in my diaper holding a push button rod and watching a bobber, it was about a week before my first birthday. Now I have a son of my own that's not even 2 months old yet and all I can think about is when I'll be able to take him fishing

Bring her out so she can meet some of the delinquents that you talk to on here and fish with sometimes. Unless she decides she doesn't want to be there, my wife and baby will probably be there. Might not be a bad thing, maybe if some of you guys brought your significant others they'd become friends and give everyone more time to fish?

Snaps are fast and some baits benefit from the added room to move versus tying directly. Snaps are can also kill the action in some baits. I get lazy if I'm using a snap and don't retie as often as I should, which results in lost fish and baits. If you lose a bait and snap it's just cost you that much more. Most wire baits can't be fished with a snap without some tweaking. If fish are skittish it's just one more thing that may turn them off.

He must have thought he was fishing saltwater. Even the cheapest, bronze fishing hook isn't going to rust out in a couple days. I think it probably depends a lot in how the fish is hooked on if it should be removed or not. If it's hooked in a way that you're going to do more damage removing it than it's currently doing then you could leave it. Also, if someone isn't very adept at removing a deeply set hook then they should probably leave it. That being said, I'm going to remove it 100% of the time. I like a fishes chances a whole lot better even it's bleeding a little over having a hook still stuck in it's throat. With the right tools and an understanding of how to remove a deep hook, it's really not much more difficult or damaging than it is to a lip hooked fish.

You did better than I did. I saw a ton of turkey during deer archery season but in all the times I went out I saw a grand total of 1 deer, a little 6 point buck. It didn't help that I started late because I wasn't sure I'd even get to go with my son being due this winter and then it got cut short when he came 3 weeks early but still doesn't usually take that much work to get a doe or two at least. Hoping the herd around here hasn't been effected by one of the deer illnesses that seem to be doing a number in some areas.

5" BPS Stick-O on a homemade 1/16oz shakyhead in about 15' of water.

Spinnerbait/jerkbait/topwater rod for sure. I'd suggest something in the 6' 6" to 6' 8" M or MH/F or XF action and a reel with something like a 6.2:1 gear ratio. I know you said you aren't a jerkbait fisherman but that kind of rod would fish the spinnerbait and topwaters fine and then would handle the jerkbaits if you needed a rod to fish one.

Anytime you need to fish a little deeper than you can fish a 1/2oz bait. Late fall when you're trying to fish over deep grass or even winter time when you're trying to find the last clumps of live grass in deep water are both good times.

I'm one of those guys that owns some of those baits that cost as much as a lower end baitcaster. Why? because I enjoy fishing them, I appreciate the craftsmanship that went into those baits. Maybe it's because I've built baits myself, I understand the blood and sweat that goes into making even what may seem like the simplest thing. Am I scared to lose them? sure, I'm more scared of losing my favorite crankbait they no longer make though, even though it only cost me 5 or 6 dollars. How much is a bag of Senkos now? 7 something dollars for a bag of 10? That's 10 fish per bag of baits, maybe 15 on a good day. How hard is it to go through a 10 pack of senkos in a day of fishing? I've gone through multiple bags in a day, probably $25-$30 worth a day. So in 4 trips I'm looking at having spent $100 on Senkos that I can maybe, MAYBE, catch 2 fish apiece on. You go into that knowing without a doubt that you will lose those Senkos, and we think nothing of it. Now if I don't do anything foolish with it and I retie when I need to, my swimbaits will last me years and years and potentially catch hundreds of fish and I may never lose it. You wanna know something really silly? Spending tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours to chase a little green or brown fish around that you aren't going to do anything but put back in the water after you catch it. It's all about perspective

I use a 4/0 EWG for most of my tubes. If it's a little Bitsy Tube I may have to drop all the way down to a 2/0 EWG, or go up to a 6/0 if it's a big flipping tube.

It's always nice when you figure out that little trick that catches the right fish on any given day. The best one I can think of was a tournament I got paired with a very good jig fisherman in the club I was in. He said he was on some jig fish in standing timber and that's what we'd be doing all day. We started really slow, neither of us getting a bite pitching to the standing trees. Then one cast instead of reeling in right after I dragged my jig away from the tree I kept dragging it very slowly along the bottom. I could feel my bait crawling over limbs that couldn't be seen from the surface when my jig just slowly started moving towards deeper water, keeper number 1 of what would eventually be a limit was in the boat shortly after that. For some reason the fish weren't holding on the standing trees, but on the laydowns that were the result of limbs falling into the water or trees blowing over. Since we were fishing in about 8' of water these laydowns couldn't be seen, but by dragging my jig very slowly back to the boat I was able to find them and catch fish off them. My boater never did figure out what I was doing and ended with only 1 keeper pitching the trees. I never got a kicker fish so I didn't win it but I did get 4th and this lake usually beat me bad so I felt really good about how I ended up on that day.

I used to troll when all I had was my 2 man. When I was moving from one spot to another it was a way to pass the time and occasionally revealed deep water holding areas to me. Now that I have a boat with an outboard I can't stand the boredom of trolling, although it can be extremely effective at times.

I was thinking somewhere in Olathe, probably the most centralized we can get for the guys that are going to attend. Probably a bar and grill/sports bar type place would be best, maybe like Austin's off 151st or somewhere like that? I'll try to let everyone know but if any of you guys read this and talk to any other members in the next day or so you might ask if they read it. A weeknight would probably work best so it hopefully won't be as packed, Thursday would work fine for me, around 6 or 7 I'm guessing would work best for most?

War Eagle Finesse in 5/16oz.