Bluebasser86

I have one main item on my wish list for next year, a H17 Xpress with a 115 on the back and side imaging front and back

Pretty similar color, little different style.

He wasn't big in gator terms but he was plenty big enough to put a serious hurting on what would have been a very surprised fishermen! http://blogs.kansas.com/outdoors/2010/01/28/alligator-found-in-kansas-lake/

Biggest bass I've caught from Wabaunsee was on the coldest day I've been out there. Post cold front during the spring and we whacked them all day on jigs. The report is on page 41 of the KC area thread if you want to check it out. Might even get a close up look of my "Wabaunsee special" jig color

Smallmouth will hit a slowly retrieve spinnerbait but some of my best days with a blade for smallies it seemed like I couldn't have reeled it too fast. If the water is clear a double willowleaf spinnerbait burnt under the surface will get slammed if the conditions are right.

I too first dipped my toe into bass fishing with a roostertail. 1/8oz red roostertail was my magic bait. Now when I throw a inline spinner it's almost always a #3 Mepps, they seem to catch much better sized bass than the roostertails for some reason.

Bass Pro Extreme 7' 10" H/F. That's the rod I use and you can get it on sale for $80. I've caught lots of A rig fish on it up to a 20lb striper and it handled them all with no problems.

It happens to everyone. I lost or broke 4 $20 swimbaits in a day last year. A guy I was fishing with lost 6 LC pointers to hard pulling wipers and bad line a few years ago. Sounds to me like your retrieve is a little too slow and allowing the bait to roll into the rocks and logs. When it hits bottom if you lift the rod then start your retrieve it should keep it just off the bottom if that's where you're catching most of your fish at.

I had a difficult time hooking fish with them. It wasn't that they were throwing it on the way to the boat, just not hooking up in the first place.

7-7.5. I had a 24.5" fish in February that went 7.51 and it looked a little thicker than that one. Very nice fish regardless of the weight though.

We caught some stripers casting Arigs in early April this year. No monsters but up to 20lbs. Also had lots of largemouth to 6lbs, smallmouth to 4.5, 3lb spots, wipers to 6.5, and some of the biggest white bass I've ever seen. There was some brief topwater action while we were there but this cold spring seemed like everything was behind schedule.

I've had most of my baitcasters supertuned (polished bearings mainly). Like others have said some reels it helps a lot, some not so much. The old Curado B is a long distance casting freak when it's supertuned and smoother than when they were brand new. I have noticed that several of them are a little noisier on the retrieve so if that would bother you then you might want to reconsider. A proper cleaning and greasing will help performance a lot also.

I've had 2 Supreme XT's in the 35 size I used for shakyheads. I loved how light and smooth they were but both of them failed on me in less than a year. Both cases were almost the exact same, I'd get a bite, set the hook and hear a terrible grinding noise while the reel slipped badly and would continue to make a terrible grinding sound and continued to slip when I tried to fight the fish in. They were unusable after that. Last one I returned and got a C14 instead and like it very well after a solid year of use. I also have 2 Supreme MGX and like them as well. They don't feel quite as nice as the XT but they are solid and have handled lots of fish for me.

I only use a trailer in dirty water when I want to bulk up my offering to make it more visible and so I can retrieve it slower. A 5" Grass Pig makes a good trailer with lots of bulk and thump. I've also used pork frogs for trailers.

It isn't just largemouth either, the smallmouth fishing has improved greatly in a couple of our smallmouth lakes. I hate fishing around the things because they'll cut any line just as good as a pair of scissors and I hope they find a way to get rid of them or at least stop the spread still.

It's a very popular technique to catch walleyes during the spawn at night at the reservoirs around here. Fishermen use very long rods and shallow running minnow baits like an original rapala and just walk along the riprap. I've done something pretty similar while fishing off docks or rock fishing piers.

Yeah guys looks like the weather isn't going to cooperate very well (you're all shocked I'm sure). Looks like it may even be close to freezing in the morning Plus 15mph winds from the NW, so make sure you have plenty of warm cloths with you! I'll have a thermos of coffee I'll be willing to share if anyone needs it out on the water.

Yeah, probably better off to bring brats or we'll only have burgers and we have a couple side items already. I can have Chris grab some chips and desserts since he offered to bring whatever we need It's $20.50 for the boat permit for a day and $2.50 for a day fishing permit.

They look like they could really be a contender with a couple more key players, could be really interesting next year. The Donkeys and Manning are going to bury us though I'm afraid. If we finish 8-8 we'll be doing pretty good but if they keep forcing turnovers and not giving the ball away like they did today they could screw around and beat most anyone.

It doesn't and that's what the sickening part is. Suspend this guys license and he'll be back out there tomorrow.

It's almost impossible even in the power plant lakes if they ever shut them off for cleaning or service like they do the ones around here because as soon as they stop generating the warm water stops running in and the water temps drop rapidly. We had a 6' alligator found dead a winter or two ago in one of our power plant lakes. Pacu is a close relative of the Piranha and sometimes considered to be a kind of Piranha and of course the news stations are looking for ratings and saying someone caught a Piranha at a local lake will get a lot more people tuning in than saying someone caught a Pacu. I'm sure people turn Piranhas loose in lakes too, but I think a lot of them are Pacu.

$1 Wal Mart spinnerbaits are your friend in pike waters. Titanium Terminators are another good option in the areas with the toothy critters.

I have the LTB rod you were asking about and it fishes a drop shot very well. I have the 6' 8" ML/F Shimano Cruical drop shot rod and it is almost too soft imo. I've never fished the Cumara though.

If you haven't seen it, please read the above post from my last trip to Wabaunsee. Are you still bringing brats and buns too? Check out my post from the 19th. Mona (the daughter of oldest gal that works out there, the one most of you have dealt with) said that if I spread the word to keep our boats off the water for 7 days prior to our fish off, don't call it a tournament, and ask everyone to take their boats to the car wash before we come out there, that she would be out there at 7am to help her mom check us all in so we can get on the water faster. The original plan was 7-1 so if everyone is alright with that we'll probably shoot for those times.

Kanasbassfisher08, basshunter0731, and I just got back from the Wyco fish off at Lake of the Ozarks/Truman, man it was tough! Jon and I got down to the lake Thursday morning and fished way up the Osage (tournament launched from Drake Harbor) and managed to scratch 2 keeper, one being a 12" spot. If the current hadn't started and we didn't happen to be at the right place at the right time when a school of whites and spots started blasting shad we would have had fewer than 10 bass on the day. Friday prefishing Truman was better than expected. Jon struggled badly all day, catching 1 short spot and a crappie and finding a spinnerbait in a tree (a very important spinnerbait it turns out) but I was able to boat 15-20 with 3 keepers all on a 1/2oz brush jig. So we were going into the thing thinking if we could just stay in it Saturday we'd have a shot on Sunday. Around 3pm we needed gas in the boat and we had a good idea what to do on Truman so I suggested we go fish the Ozarks for a couple more hours so maybe we could figure something else out a little bit. Jon tied on the spinnerbait he found which was chart/white with tandem, hammered blades that were both half silver, half gold, split right down the middle. Probably less than 5 casts he catches a solid keeper. I put on the closest thing I had and stuck by far the biggest fish we'd seen all weekend. A couple more fish in less than 100 yards so we called it a night and were pretty excited about the next day. Saturday we made the 20 minute run to our area, confident we'd have it to ourselves. It was pretty tough to take when we were greeted by a boat from the tournament sitting right at the mouth of the cove. We motored straight to the back of the cove and started fishing. I think Jon caught one on his first cast and within a half dozen docks caught our first keeper and several shorts. I struggled to find a bait they would eat after I lost the blade off my spinnerbait. We had a pretty good lull in the action until the monsoon rains came, in 3 docks Jon caught 2 more keepers. It was about 9:30 then and I was positive we'd be culling by the end of the day. By 3:30 we had those same 3 bass and no more Lots of close ones but no keepers. We saw 6 other boats from the tournament in our "secret" spot, twice had solid keepers caught behind us by flippers, just a frustrating head scratching day but it was for most everyone I guess because we were sitting in 6th after day 1. Sunday at Truman felt almost like punishment. We launched an hour and a half late because of thick fog under strict orders to stay off plane until it cleared up enough to see. So we idled for 15 minutes to our first spot. I caught 2 short largemouth on a spook, then a barely keeper largemouth on a Slammer. It cleared up enough to see so we ran to our second spot. Chris broke off on the hookset, I caught a short on a 10" worm and one on a 1/2oz jig (seemed like the best pattern was to catch a fish on a bait and then switch to something else). We kept covering water, Chris caught a short on a spinnerbait, then some fish started chasing shad on a 1' deep mud point and I caught a chunky keeper on a spook. One more short on a Zoom mag finesse worm and we bounced around a couple spots, I caught a short skipping marina docks with a flat dawg. In a final move of desperation we fished the trees by the boat ramp and I started swinging for the fences with a 7" stick O on a 1/4oz Texas rig. I was shocked at about 20 minutes to weigh in when I got thumped hard next to a tree, swung and stuck a heavy fish that was in the roots of the tree immediately and my line popped :cry3:Never saw it but I can't imagine a short eating that huge hunk of plastic that easily. 7 something pounds was the heaviest stringer of the day, we had the second or third heaviest with 3.90lbs (felt like a Wednesday night weigh in on a good night really). Lots of people blanked, a couple 15" squeakers, they didn't read the final standings but I believe we finished in 4th, maybe 5th, better than I expected. They announced they'd be doing the same format and fishing the Classic at the same place next year for anyone interested, I won't be there next year punishing myself all year just to fish lakes or area of lakes that are just as tough as Wyco.