Bluebasser86

Do you have areas to hunt? We have quite a bit of public land in KS but I just don't trust other people enough to deer hunt it. I've had enough problems with people stealing stands and equipment from private land, can't imagine it's any better on public. Plus, I'm afraid of those shoot first, ask questions later types that I've occasionally heard of. Get a bow that is comfortable for you to shoot and shoot it a lot. If you can go to a store and handle and shoot several then I would highly suggest doing so. It's expensive to get into, all the equipment needed for the bow, then the arrows, broadheads and practice tips, stands, harnesses, cover scent products, cameras if you want them, and a ton of other equipment that you can buy if you want. Once you have most the equipment though it isn't so bad. If you have a local bow shop I'd try to go pick the brain of one of those guys to help you select the correct bow and arrows for you, the bow you choose, and your shooting style. I love bowhunting deer and would highly suggest it. Unfortunately, it's a lot like bass fishing in that a lot of what you're going to need to know will be learned through trial and error. Scout a lot in the off season, I prefer to set up cameras to find highly traveled areas and try to note most used times so I know when to be there. Don't just throw a stand up because you find scrapes or trails, this is when a camera is extremely useful to find out if they're still using the area or not. Deer are like bass in the sense that if you find the cover and the food you'll find the deer, and they'll often use cover and edges to get to and from their food and bedding areas. Buy comfortable stands, you'll be spending a lot of time in them, unless you're uncomfortable, then you'll be less willing to sit and wait. Make sure you hang your stand correctly and buy a harness, we lose too many hunters each year to falls from their treestands with so many quality safety harnesses around. Practice shooting as much as possible so you can make a quick, clean kill, it's your responsibility as an ethical hunter. Try to get access to private land if you don't already, lots of farmers are willing to let you hunt and remove deer that eat a lot of their crops, but it's probably going to take a little more work than knocking on their doors and asking. Offering to help out on their farm a little or at least letting them get a know you a little bit will often get you access. Read up and learn as much as you can about hunting in your area. Find a friend to go with if you can, it will help to be able to compare observations and, for me anyways, it's more enjoyable to have a buddy to share the experience with. If it's something that you're interested in I would certainly suggest giving it a try. It's about the only thing I look forward to when it gets cold out each winter I'd especially suggest giving it a try if these pictures get your blood pumping!

I PM several members back and forth on here all the time as well as having several phone numbers of other members to help each other out with figuring out a lake, sharing where a hot bite is, or filling an empty backseat when I have one. IMO, if you want to talk to someone outside of posting on the boards than send them a PM or get their phone number and give them a call or text. Any of the fishing chat rooms I've ever seen are just stomping grounds for trolls it seems.

Heard on the news tonight they're expecting a colder than average winter with above average amounts of snow. Yay! Global Warming!

Same thing I was thinking, sounds like a cranking rod instead of a fast action. I fish my spinnerbaits on a 6' 6" MH/F and have no problem with 1/2oz spinnerbaits on it. I can't seem to find a rod matching that description (7' MH/M) on their website but that doesn't mean they don't carry it, possibly something they got in special at some point or a rod they only carry at a few stores and therefore don't offer it online. I've fished with a couple of the Ethos rods and they feel very nice. They aren't as sensitive as my LTB rods but I didn't expect them to be. I plan on buying a couple when they go on sale in the spring so I have rods for a couple reels that I just have laying around right now.

Very nice work! I don't think I'd have the patience to do that, I get antsy if it takes too long to tie a jig

I've had 2 70lb Maxxums, one with variable speed, one with 5 speeds. If I had to do it over again I wouldn't have bought the 5 speed, even though it saved me about $70 at the time, the difference between 4th and 5th speed is way too big. I'll go from barely moving into the wind to moving way too fast in one speed. I loved the variable speed one and wish I had kept it. I got the a good deal on the 5 speed and sold the other one to a friend to put on his boat. My old motor is still going strong 6 years of hard use and abuse later, and so is the newer one. I probably put more miles on a trolling motor through a fishing season than a lot guys put on an outboard in a season so they were getting some serious use. You'll probably want to make sure your plug on your boat is a 24V instead of a 12V also. My boat had a 12V when I bought it so I had to switch it out when I mounted the motor. No idea about the holes lining up but I'm guessing they probably won't.

Depends what size bait you're putting in them. I store all my jerkbaits in one from LC 65 pointers to Perfect 10 Rogues and probably have around 50-60 baits in it.

Lucky Craft only had the Rick Clunn crankbait series. The only signature series jerkbait they have currently is the Stacey King baits. The Luck E Strikes are great jerkbaits and they do look almost exactly like a Megabass Vision 110. They're slightly different but I've had much better luck with my Luck E Strike baits, probably because I'm more willing to fish with them than I am my Megabass baits. They're $9.29 at our BPS, $1.30 more than they were just a little over a year ago. They're still $7.99 everywhere else, no idea why they went up at BPS, but they'll price match local competitors so I still pay $7.99, just have to go through the hassle of getting them to price match them.

You have to wonder how many times that fish may have been caught and released throughout her life? If that isn't a glowing example of why catch and release of larger fish is important, I don't know what is.

I pour my own.

I normally get at least one deer every year, but this year I have yet to even SEE a deer from one of my tree stands!

I was asking about the new ones. I really haven't gotten to play with one yet (mainly because it's such a hassle to have someone get one out of the case at BPS). I guess I'll have to flag someone down next time and mess with one a little bit, not looking to drop $200 on a reel that doesn't feel solid.

I think some of the older Nitros were pretty slow to get up on pad also, at least the ones I've ridden in. I had a '92 Ranger 451V for a couple years, motor never ran right for more than a few hours the entire time I owned the dang thing. I would have traded it for a Nitro that ran in a heartbeat.

Bad thing is the more you fish the more it will happen to you. I lost one several years ago in a smaller lake in Missouri that may have challenged the state record. Did everything right and the fish still beat me, it's what keeps you going.

Good point, the bigger the fish the more damage you can do wrenching their bottom jaw down too.

Colder water like that is good water for a suspending jerkbait without much action, baits like a Rogue or Erratic shad have produced well for me in those conditions.

The Silver Buddy is the old stand by. I've never had much success at all on one other than for white bass but I've probably never given one a real fair chance and for sure have never fished one for smallmouths.

I store mine is a Plano 3740 waterproof box.

Anyone fished with one of the new ones yet? It's a slick looking reel and I've tried a couple of their spinning reels and really liked them so thinking I might try one of their casting reels. Doesn't hurt that it would look great on one of my LTB casting rods

White River fleece fingerless gloves from BPS work great for me. $5.99 a pair and very warm, not slippery when they get wet either. I usually carry a few pairs so if one gets wet I can switch it out. Pretty much the only gloves I wear even when it gets down in the teens some of the mornings I fish during the winter.

Havocs make up a large portion of the soft plastics I carry anymore. The pit boss, juice worm, sick fish, flat dawg, rocket craw, beat shad and deuce are all great baits and very affordable.

They work fairly well, probably have to mess with the hooks, or add a suspend dot or two to get them to suspend right. For that money I much prefer the Smithwick Rogue over the Husky Jerk.

What about it do you like? The action? head design? hook quality? I'm really looking forward to being able to mess with the size/brand/style of hook a bit once I start pouring them. Seems like I should be able to make some to fit pretty much any of my favorite plastics.

Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone! No turkey here, the wife is under strict orders by her doctor to do as little as possible to stress her out right now, so we stayed home and relaxed. I made a hashbrown casserole, some green bean casserole, and a caramel apple pie though so we didn't go hungry

Never been Black Friday shopping, hope never to have to. I really hate what it all stands for and I really don't think I could keep walking the tight rope of sanity I'm balanced on around all those idiots.