Bluebasser86

The River2Sea S-Waver 168 is a nice bait and is actually cheaper than the BBZ, Sebile 125, or Jackall baits you're thinking about trying. It is a little heavier but at just over 1.5 ounces most any flipping stick will handle it with no problem. I really like the 168 in bone color for both largemouth and smallmouth.

That's usually the results I get this time of year, not near the numbers as during warmer months, but the bigger fish happen much more frequently. Nice fish!

I had a great season, not all for bass either. For starters, this was the first year I ever caught 2 bass over 7lbs in Kansas. I started in January with a 7.51 on a SK Series 5. I also caught a 5.88 that same day on a Bandit 100. I topped that fish in March with a 7.76 pounder on a Spro Fat John, the second largest bass I've ever caught in Kansas. I got to go to the Bassmaster Classic at Grand Lake with a couple of my good friends and had a blast. Got to meet lots of legends of the sport and got to meet Big O, one of the highlights of the Expo for sure. Later in March I caught a new PB rainbow trout with a 6.5 pound fish. In April, a friend and I went on a combo trip to the White River/Bull Shoals/Beaver Lake where we broke a combined 6 PB's. I got the 2 that I was really hoping to get, first a 5.5 pound brown trout on a LC Spazz jerkbait from the White River. Got to watch him miss it 3 times before he crushed it. Then in the last hour of our trip at Beaver Lake I caught a new PB striper on an A-rig, 20.01 pounds. I've caught many other big and memorable fish this year but those were the best one. My wife didn't get out much but she made the trips she went on count. She fished the KC area get together tournament with me in April and we got second place and she caught her PB smallmouth with a beautiful 3.96 pound smallmouth on a tiny Luck E Strike crankbait. Then just 2 weeks later we were on vacation at a friends private lake in South Carolina when she broke her PB largemouth with a 4.59 pound fish that was also the biggest bass of the trip.

You can buy a casting spoon blank very similar to the Castmaster in 5 packs for next to nothing. Add your own treble hook and you can probably get them fro $1.50-$2 a bait I'd bet. http://lurepartsonline.com/Shop-By-Category/Casting-Spoons/MasterCast-Spoons.html

Thanks, it's a home made one that has become one of my go to baits for big fish since I started making them a few years ago. Bass should be relating to deeper water but are most likely still in relatively shallow water. I was at Olathe Lake on Friday for a few hours with water temps ranging from 45.6 to 50.2. The water was pretty stained but all my fish came from 3-8 feet of water, all but one of them was very near water 10' deep or deeper, oddly enough it was also in the coldest water I fished. It sounds to me like you're fishing the right areas, bass like vertical structure this time of year because they can quickly move out to deeper water or up shallower. I have no personal experience on Prairie Lee but if the water is stained to fairly clear I'd be fishing a finesse jig, shakyhead, jerkbait, wiggle wart, rattle trap and a double colorado bladed spinnerbait. Drag the jig and finesse jig around the deeper drop off areas that are close to shore. Parallel those shoreline drops with the jerkbait and fan cast it across points. I'd pull the wiggle wart across points and the top edge of drop offs. If there's water willow along the shoreline like there is in most lakes around here I'd parallel those weed edges if the water is at least 2' deep and fairly stained. Cast the spinnerbait to those weed edges and keep a slow, steady retrieve going. It's also a good option to toss at laydowns or docks.

When I was 16 I joined a bass club. Gave me the chance to fish out of the back of the boat with some more experienced guys and I got to fish lakes I never could have fished out of my boat. I learned a lot from that and even managed to win back to back tournaments my first year

Black and blue home made chatterbait is one of my go to big fish baits.

Chartreuse shad would probably be my pick if I could only have one pointer for all conditions.

Cold and/or clear water almost always calls for me to downsize. If my normal stuff isn't working in other conditions I'll downsize also.

I have dozens of LC pointers and have never had a single one take on water. Only thing I've ever had happen was break a bill off but that's always after a bait bounces off a rock or smacks the side of the boat. I'd probably drill the smallest hole you can in the belly to drain it then use a sealant over the hole, the seams of the bait, and around the hook hangers and line tie. Of course I'd do that after trying to contact the seller and filing a complaint if he doesn't try to make it right.

Living in Kansas my whole life I'd never get to go if I wasn't willing to fish in 20mph winds. Best day I had all year a couple years ago it was blowing straight 30 with gusts to 45 and never got much over 40 degrees. I just stick to small lakes and try to play the wind best I can. It was a straight north wind so I picked a lake with good fishing on the north side of the lake and it paid off.

Nice job man! I missed a few on a S-Waver a week ago fishing it slowly just below the surface. Might have to toss a Slammer at them if I make it back to that lake this week

Have you guys ever tried a chatterbait down there? Either with a skirt or with the fluke like you rig the scrounger? Or both I suppose? I would be more than willing to supply a couple chatterbaits built on a 1/2 or 3/4 ounce football head to try down there. Seems like that would work great if a scrounger head works well also.

I just had it T rigged with a 1/4oz pegged bullet weight. One of the best days for big fish I've had this year, especially in Kansas. In fact, next to one day in January when I caught a 7.51, a 5.88, and a couple 3-4 pound fish, it would have been my biggest bag of fish of the year in Kansas.

A Shimano Calcutta TE DC 250 is the furthest casting reel I've ever cast with, never owned one though. I have a stock Lew's Speed Spool that casts further than any stock reel I've ever owned other than maybe when my Curado 200BSF was brand new. I have a super tuned Curado 200B that casts farther than any other reel I own right now.

Man, once our son gets here and we get used to having a baby in the house and our schedules figured out I'm going to start saving to make one of these trips. Sounds like you guys are having a blast every time!

I'm not sure what the water temp was at this pond but I took my boat out to a small, local lake the next day and I saw water temps from 45.6 to 50.2. 2/3 of a 5" BPS Stick O, about the only thing I ever us for a chatterbait trailer. I don't know what it is about them but they are a killer on the back of a chatterbait.

Crawfish will live and feed in weedy areas and burrow in the mud or sand bottoms.

Next to bass catfish are probably my favorite thing to fish for and we have all of the big 3 (channel, blues, and flats) readily available in several lakes and rivers all around here. Blues and channels both bite pretty well in cold water, even through the ice at times. My old PB blue (42 pounds) was caught in October several years ago. I broke that PB a couple years ago in July or August with a fish that bottomed out my 50lb scale. The good thing about cold weather cats is if you find them they'll often be very grouped up, which sounds like was the case for you! Good job on the nice catfish, and channels from cold water can be very good eating.

I had the 35 size on my shakyhead rod and loved it. The reel is so light and I found the larger reel easier to handle and not cumbersome at all like some larger reels I've used.

I actually learned how to watch my line while bluegill fishing. I used to cast a small baitholder hook with a piece of nightcrawler and no weight or bobber to likely areas and let it sink slowly. Whenever I saw that telltale twitch of my line, I'd set the hook.

None of these are exceptionally rare but they certainly aren't common, at least not in our area. Shovelnose Sturgeon from the Kansas River on a piece of cut shad. Paddlefish from the outlet below Hillsdale Lake, KS on a slab spoon. Goldeye from Milford Lake, KS on a live shad Piebald blue cat from Milford Lake, KS on a Gulp Minnow Not rare at all but the circumstances I imagine are. A large grass carp that crushed a 6 3/4" River 2 Sea S-Waver as it was slowly sinking.

Bone and clown are good options in stained water.

1/2oz homemade Texas craw brush jig 3/8oz homemade black and blue chatterbait

I got hooked once in the back of my calf on a floating Rapala when the rod fell off the spot it was leaning at and the bait caught me on the way down. Pushed it through and clipped the barb. My dad drug a deep diving crank across the top of my head on the backcast. I had 3 bloody, torn up streaks all the way from the front of my hairline to the top of my head but thankfully the force of his cast ripped it all the way out. That one stung like crazy. Worse one was in the side of my left index finger. My buddy was fishing with an original Rapala (seems like they hook a lot of people?) when my half grown mutt decided he wanted to try to bite it. Well he caught it out of the air and got the hook in his top lip. I jumped on him because he was pawing at the bait and I didn't want him to get the bait deeper. I got him between my legs and tried to grab his collar but he threw it reverse on me and buried the front hook in the side of my finger. So not only did I have a hook in my finger but it was attached to 50 pounds of panicked dog. He got a couple real solid pulls on it before I tackled him and just laid on top of him. The hook on him was through his top lip so my buddy just clipped it off with the pliers real fast and his ordeal was done. I ended up at the hospital and after a considerable amount of yanking the doctor was able to rip the hook out.