Bluebasser86

I actually have some pretty consistently productive spots at Hillsdale now after fishing it a bunch last year. They've had a very aggressive 5 year stocking program for largemouth in Hillsdale (and Melvern) that is in year 3 I believe and they seem to be doing pretty well so far. Still, out of all the fish I caught last year only 1 was a keeper and I caught 5 keepers in 2 days at Truman so take that for what it's worth. Either way, I'll probably stay home if everyone wants to go to either of those lakes Are you looking for a club to fish as a boater or a team format? East Kansas Bassmasters fishes some good lakes and is a team format which I personally enjoy a lot more than getting paired with someone I don't know.

We stayed at Andy Meyers Lodge and they had a replica of a 57 incher on the wall in the dining hall. This was back in 2000 and I was only 13 and my muskie gear consisted of a 7' MH Abu Black Max rod with a 6500C3 Ambassaduer with 50lb spiderwire and the 2 bucktails I was able to buy with lawn mowing money. We didn't get to muskie fish a lot because my dad was a walleye guy and since he obviously paid for most of the trip that's what we fished for. At one point I had what I'm pretty sure was a monster muskie follow my bucktail to the boat but it was very cloudy and windy so I couldn't tell for certain if it was a big fish or just the way a wave rolled but it sure looked like one to me at the time and it looked like it stopped by the boat then just sank out of sight like big muskie are so famous for doing.

I got bit by the same bug several years ago, and I live in a horrible area to want to catch a muskie. The closest lake with muskies is 3 hours away, so I don't get to fish for the often. I went to Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota and Eagle Lake, Ontario chasing them, never caught one either trip. After several trips to the lakes with the best populations in Missouri I caught a 36 incher on a 1oz Teriminator spinnerbait. The next 2 years I caught 1 each year, an 11 incher on a crappie jig and a 32 incher on a bucktail. Then last year I went with my brother in law to bass fish one of the muskie lakes. In 3 days of bass fishing we boated 9 muskies up to 42 inches. My brother in law caught 1 on a tube and 2 on buzzbaits and had one chase a worm to the boat. I caught 3 on squarebills, 2 on spinnerbaits, and 1 on a bucktail. I also had 1 chase a deep diving crank to the boat and one explode on a muskie chopper topwater. It was the craziest thing I've seen to have that many muskie coming to the boat in such a sort amount of time. The 42 incher was a big accomplishment for me because I really wanted to catch a legal muskie in Missouri.

I like more realistic baits in clear water and with slower presentations. Tell your mom how much you paid for them, you could spend money on a whole lot worst stuff.

If you like the Luck E Strike/Megabass style jerkbaits they now offer a similar bait in the H2O lineup that works very well. Also a big fan of their prop bait (similar to a LC Kelly Jordan prop bait) their walking bait that's similar to a Sammy and their hybrid walker/chugger that's like a Gunfish are both really good baits. I also like their frogs really well and they come in a variety of sizes and colors. Of you like Zoom or Big Bite Baits it seems like they carry a ton of that stuff for way cheaper than anywhere else. I buy all my Ol Monsters, Mag Worms, brush hogs, and trick worms I can from them because they're sometimes 2 dollars cheaper than anywhere else around here. If you like jigging spoons they have really good variety of those. They always seem to have lots of discontinued gear also that you can get for a steal. I bought 2 filler spools of PP braid for 4 dollars a spool last time I was at one of the ones by me.

I forgot they had 2 cabins, we just used the one because it was cold and they had to re-winterize after the classic. I'm real confident that some guys aren't going to want to pull their boats down those nasty dirt roads either though. I can't remember if the one cabin had access right off the paved road though??

I imagine it will end up looking like a rusty, brown color if it turns out to look like orange spike it does.

Member Goose52 did an in the field test on the Rapala digital scales a couple years back and found them to be surprisingly accurate. I use one and it seems pretty accurate to me.

Havoc Pit Boss, Netbait B-bug, YUM woolie bug, and Zman Palmetto Bug for me.

I'd be looking towards Guntersville if it were me. I did a fishing trip on my spring break also, good times

Because it's much larger than a trick worm, bulkier and attracts much larger bites. Hold a 5" stickworm next to a trick worm, the stick worm is much thicker and almost as long. Compare a 7" stick worm to a trick worm, the trick worm looks tiny. I don't use the GY Senkos with a bullet weight, way too fragile. I've tried and it's easy to go through baits without ever catching a fish on them just because they get shredded by the cover and won't stay on the hook anymore. The knockoffs like the YUM and BPS Stick O (my personal favorite) are plenty durable for this type of fishing and are extremely effective fishing t-rigged with a bullet weight. It works a lot for the same reason a trike worm works, it looks like a lot of things a fish would eat and it looks very easy to catch and pretty defenseless, just like a bass likes it's food. If you seriously think that weightless is the only way to fish a senko you are missing out big time.

Great big fish bait rigged with a 1/4oz bullet weight. Lots of bulk with a very subtle action and it gets through heavy cover very easily with no appendages to catch on anything as it sinks.

Mattlures hardgill or ultimate bluegill would both be great options. I'd think a MS Slammer around the docks and shorelines would get them also.

They will often find the fish for you because they'll follow them quite often, so in that sense, yes I would consider them a search bait.

They are much less dense so they will sink slower and the wobble will be less pronounced. They will still catch fish and will outproduce the original Senko at times also. I prefer the YUM and BPS versions for pitching into cover with a pegged bullet weight because they're much tougher than the original Senkos are.

Swimbaits, a large version of the predominate forage at the time you're fishing. Since she's hanging around docks I'd be leaning towards a bluegill imitator.

The State Park at Melvern is but you can reserve COE camping spots so it just depends on where everyone stayed. Obviously I think everyone would want to stay close by each other for the cooking and BSing afterwards.

So it looks like the 31st works for everyone that's chimed in so far? We'll go with that for now, so need to work out the location next I guess.

If they work for the majority. That should be far enough out there that everyone should know already if they have something going on one of those weekends or not.

It's hard enough to get one person into a mummy bag, couldn't imagine trying to fit two. I would have to be careful about the 3rd week of May because that's our anniversary.

Oh come on, Jon and I camped at the White River in 20 degree weather It really wasn't that bad in good mummy bags and on an air mattress so we weren't directly on the cold ground. I'm thinking maybe sometime in May? Hopefully we won't have any snow in may again this year and that leaves pretty much anywhere an option. If we do it later in the month any of the guys with older kids that may want to go would be on summer break for anyone who wanted to get a younster in on the fun.

We could do a 2 day at Melvern, Milford, or the strip pits if we want to keep it closer. Or just stick with the 1 day deal but I think it would be a lot of fun to do a 2 day so we could do food and BSing afterwards on the first day. Most trout stuff doesn't start until the end of February/beginning of March. I'm hoping I'll get to make it out there a time or two but that's yet to be seen.

Fine by me, any suggestions on where? This far out maybe we could try to do a 2 day somewhere? Maybe LOZ, Table Rock, Grand, something like that? My parents just got a vacation home/time share on Table Rock so if anyone is interested it's possible we could have free lodging at Table Rock, just a thought. Of course 2 days in the spring on Melvern or Milford would probably be a good time too.

My current favorite is the Spro Bronzeye but I had good success with the H2O frogs last year also. I like any color, as long as it's black.

I've been using Gamakatsu and H2O EWG hooks without a problem.