Bluebasser86

I love the minnows, haven't really fished with much else. The catfish do love the them. Make sure the bucket doesn't get tipped over because the stinky liquid will leak all over.

Very nice buck man! They're all exciting but it's always a big bonus when you get one you've been chasing for awhile and make a clean kill like you did. Now you got me pumped to finally get in the stand for the first time this week!

In Kansas it's illegal to harass any person engaged in a lawful hunting or fishing trip. I think I'd be feeling real harassed if I had someone buzzing me with one of those, and I hurt my neck looking up at it every time it buzzed by

I fish 10lb Sunline Super on a 2500 Stradic C14 without any problems.

My swimbait rod is only rated to 3 ounces and I fish a ROF5 8" Hudd on it that's 4.2ozs without any problem. I just make sure not to do any fast, snap cast so the rod can load slowly and evenly and lob cast it. Worst case, it doesn't work and you have to buy another combo

This fall has been tough for me also. The hot fall bite just hasn't happened at all yet. At least you still got one quality bite.

They're illegal to posses alive in Kansas or even use for live bait in the lakes that they already exist. It must be working fairly well as they haven't been found in but a couple lakes in the state. I wish I could say the same for the zebra mussels that are popping up in a few new lakes every year it seems

If he's not breaking any laws there's nothing you can really do about it. If one guy is seriously hurting the fish population in a lake though I'd be really surprised. You may just address the lack of walleye to the powers that be of your community about possibly restocking the lake with walleye. Some lakes they don't reproduce naturally very well and need supplemental stocking to maintain a fishable population or they'll disappear even if everyone is turning every one they catch loose.

That was a heads up, gutsy play by Stafford to win the game. Of course if it hadn't worked everyone would be talking about how dumb of a move that was by him.

You run those on the front and back on the Baby Hardgill? I swapped for just 1 large hook on the belly but I've missed some fish that I think just hit the back of the bait but I haven't found a hook I liked that didn't foul on the cast.

They're a great bait to pitch into vegetation since they have very little to catch on the weeds.

I wish they would have kept rolling in the second half like they were in the first half, looked like two different teams. Doesn't matter, they could win the Super Bowl and people would still be talking about their weak schedule and lack of impressive wins. The second half of the season is going to be tough though, they may still finish 8 and 8

I have a couple Spros and have never had a problem with them filling with water, sounds like you got a bad one to me.

I started fishing in a bass club when I was 16. Actually took a lot of time for them to decide if they were going to let me in because of my age. Overall it was a great experience and I learned a lot as I was still pretty new to most bass fishing techniques. It was also really nice to be able to go fish some of the big lakes that I couldn't get on with my little plastic boat. I met mostly nice people that were willing to teach me but there were a couple that had no concerns other than them catching fish and how much money you were giving them for gas. A couple things to consider, don't plan on making money in a bass club, even if I'd won everything there was to win each year I still would have been losing money because they're mostly an excuse for everyone to go fishing. Make sure you discuss beforehand with your boater about gas money and what/how much gear to bring. Most times 50-100 dollars in gas was enough depending on how long the drive/run was but a couple guys had it figured out to the nearest dollar how much they wanted and it's best if you're prepared. Most everyone I fished with told me to bring as much gear as I wanted but a couple times it was a huge deal that I was bringing 6 3700 boxes and 5 rods. Pay attention to what your boater is doing, most likely they'll be more experienced than you since you're just starting and you can really learn a lot by watching them. Like I said, overall it was a great experience and if you're interested in it I'd suggest giving it a shot for a season at least and see if it's something you like.

If it's warm out I'm wearing Frogg Toggs. Once it gets cold and starts raining/snowing I'm going with my BPS 100mph suit.

Almost all my rods are St.Croix, mostly LTB's but I have a few Mojos, an Avid, and a couple Premiers. I also have a BPS Extreme, a couple Shimano rods and an Abu Vendetta.

Bass will behave differently between lakes also, depending on cover and prey species. One lake I fish a lot the largemouth are the ones that cruise in schools over open water chasing baitfish, while the smallmouth stay on the banks chasing bluegill and craws. Some places they act very similar. I've had trips at Table Rock where I've caught all 3 off the same spot on the same bait. Largemouth seem to be the only one I've ever caught in any real numbers in portions of lakes that stay very muddy. Smallmouth are probably the fastest and I'd argue the most aggressive, when they are actively feeding.

Sunline Super or Seaguar Red Label. I like the 12# Vicious for finesse jigs and T rigs but heavier than that has too much memory for my likings.

No hurry but I'd probably add some 8" Hudds and a couple MS Slammers to that list What reel you planning on throwing them on? Welcome to the addictive world of big baits

Yep, that looks about right. No wonder it's so hard for me to find, it looks like a pretty small tree/pile. I've caught some really nice smallies off of it though.

A lot of them have either the outhouse style toilet that's just a hole in the ground or the Johnny on the spot. In either case you'll be lucky if they have TP in them. Some of the lakes don't have any bathroom or sometimes people apparently get a kick out of knocking the Johnnies over at which point a tree is a lot more appealing to me. It's not just for using the bathroom either, if someone gets stuck or cut it's good for covering a wound or stopping up a bloody nose that I seem to get fairly often. I had a boater have a full on emergency on the water that grabbed onto the big motor and the ladder and hang it and shoot a roostertail off the back of the boat, I hope I never have to see/hear that again

I never fished a topwater Thursday but I did catch a couple on a spinnerbait. Not knowing the lake very well I'd suggest sticking to the dam. We didn't do any good around the marina or the south side points. Don't be discouraged if it takes awhile to figure them out, we didn't catch much of anything for the first 3 hours Thursday until we started to catch them.

I actually caught a solid keeper at Gardner last time I was there a week ago pitching a black neon tube to the weedline towards the south end.

I didn't know they stocked trout in Kill Creek? Do any good at Kill Creek other than trout? I almost went out there instead of Olathe but Olathe has been good in the fall for me before. I watched an eagle for a long time while I was fishing yesterday, he was being very vocal while he was up in the tree watching over the lake. The bass were biting really well when I fished for them, but it was hard to pull myself away from those big saugeye and potentially big wipers.

Went out to Olathe for awhile today. Spent most of the day pounding the same spot for saugeye, whites, and wipers. Ended up with no whites or wipers but I did get 3 saugeye, 19.5, 19, and 17 inches. Also had a half dozen bass that were all less than 12". Each one of the saugeye I cleaned had eggs in it already.