Bluebasser86

1 1.84 pounder tonight and 2nd place, we're in the fish off!

You should be able to tell when your bait is slowing towards the end of your cast just by feel. I use almost nothing but casting gear at night and have no problem with backlashes. I try not to use any kind of light unless it's absolutely necessary. After about 5-10 minutes in the dark you'll be able to see much better. You still won't be able to see your bait in most cases but you'll at least start to be able to see the shoreline and other obstacles better.

My first bow was a PSE Nova, it was nicer than the Parker Mag Hunter that I currently use to kill deer every year. If you can shoot it well then the name on the bow doesn't make any difference.

Step up your game man!

Well I'll go a different direction than the rest and say Brad Paisley. I've been to a couple of his concerts and was even lucky enough to meet him while I was working at Cabela's in KC on day and he gave me front row tickets to the show and was just a generally nice guy, good fisherman too. They usually do a jam session each concert where the band just rocks out, that man can flat out play a guitar and makes it look easy while he's doing it. He can do more than just slow country songs too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y8v1qCUETM

I've heard the same, it's a haul to get there though. Best population of big fish in a small lake in Missouri is still supposed to be in Lake Paho. I haven't been back since my first trip but I'd sure like to get up there again sometime. No gravel the whole way either

I wouldn't, not if it's been in that kind of heat for several years now. You can get Pline for less than $10 for filler spool, I wouldn't take the chance of losing an expensive bait or big fish.

Is it a Terminator Top Secret jig? https://www.google.com/search?q=terminator+top+secret+jig&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&biw=1280&bih=923&dpr=1&bvm=pv.xjs.s.en_US.nYXFudhZpfw.O&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=VD45Uu7xNsqq2wWX8IHIBQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=PCU7PmOHPApZlM%3A%3BPTEcQMbWw74lGM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tacklecenter.com%252Fprodimages%252F15314-DEFAULT-l.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tacklecenter.com%252Fterminator%252Fterminator-pros-top-secret-jig-4670%3B1200%3B1200

Too bad everything wasn't going that direction. Berkley seems to be trying to help out the weekend warriors between this move and the Havoc line up being so cheap and effective. I wasn't a big fan of Berkley baits until they came out with the Havoc's, now they're one of the most numerous plastics in my bag.

They work best with solid head tubes, otherwise you'll go through a lot of them if the fish are biting. A wide gap shakyhead hook will help a lot with hook up also.

The bigger one, it's listed at 4.3". I fish mine on a 4/0 hook with a 1/4-1/2 ounce pegged bullet weight. The Havoc Pit Boss is another good, cheap bait but I don't really consider it to be a true beaver bait because it has more of a flapping action than a glide like beaver baits. However, since you're fishing the Kinky Beaver, a Pit Boss may be a good alternative for you to check out. They are a great bait and one of my favorite flipping baits. For $2.99 for an 8 pack they're pretty tough to beat.

Yum Craw Papi is where it's at for a shakyhead craw. Very thin claws flap all over with very little movement. Zman Flappin craws are great too because the claws float up at rest and move all over even while you aren't moving the bait.

Ponds may be easier to fish and the fish may be easier to catch but unless you snagged it or someone put it on the hook for you then it counts! I've fished some ponds with big fish that were every bit as hard if not harder to catch than out of public lakes. Pond fish are very in tune with their environment and will sometimes shut down from the smallest vibration or sounds and not start biting again for hours. My PB for several years was from a pond like that. My current PB came from Mexico, does that count since there's a lot more DD fish in those lakes than most?? Most of the biggest fish I catch in Kansas come from a power plant lake stocked with Florida strain largemouth that have a longer growing season because of the warm water, do those fish not count? Fact is, if you caught the fish fair and square it counts.

There's such a thing as too much bait in my experience. Sometimes there is just so much food around that they don't have to move for their food and about the only way to get them is to drop a slow moving bait right on their heads. Catchable sized bass aren't afraid of gar (unless they're alligator gar) in my experience either. I can think of two instances off the top of my head, one was a 6.5lb largemouth, the other a 5lb 9oz largemouth, where a cast was made at a school of surfacing gar just trying to get one to bite for the fight when a large bass bit instead.

You might post in the local fishing forum for your area and see if anyone fishes that river. Some guys post in the local forums and don't look elsewhere on the forum and may never see your post otherwise.

I have the 6' 10" spinning dropshot. I don't know if the extra inch makes a difference but it is a really nice rod.

Man I dove in 60 degree water for a Sedona/Lightning Rod combo, I'd be swimming all over for that combo! If it happens to me I drop anchor as soon as possible and as close to where it went in as possible. I follow the anchor rope down and start feeling around. It's worked well other than one time my anchor actually landed on top of the lost rod and broke it, at least I got the reel back though.

Looks legit to me. I'm sure if someone was ripping people off with all those popular swimbait companies logos plastered all over one of them would have found out about it and put a stop to it.

Netbait B bug. 10 to a pack for the 4 incher and only $4 with lots of great colors.

Welcome from a fellow KS member. I grew up right by Manhattan in St.George. Fished Tuttle Creek, Pott 2, and Milford alot back then, still get out to Milford once or twice a year. Check out the Central forum under fishing locations, lots of good info for all around the state on there!

To me it also depends how recently the front passed. If it's still cloudy, windy, rainy then I prefer to cover water quickly as the fish will often be biting aggressively. If it's a day or two later with high, clear skies I'll concentrate on high percentage areas, usually with some form of cover, and fish them slowly with a jig or texas rigged plastic.

I like to find something that is familiar on new bodies of water, similar water/cover/structure to what I fish on my usual bodies of water. If the water is stained it's going to tend to push the fish tighter to cover. I'd be looking for the outside bends, bridges, or laydowns where there's likely for cover to be present. Try covering water with a spinnerbait or crankbait and after you find fish slow down with a jig or texas rigged plastic.

Olathe had really good water color this morning, more stain than it has had most of the year and the cooler weather seems to have pushed the shad down so the bass have moved back to the banks better. I took my swimbait rod and 2 baits, my new baby hardgill and my slammer in the hour I fished. Missed 3 on the hardgill, 1 on the Slammer, one of the baby hardgill fish swiped at the boat and was a really nice fish. The one I got on the gill was nothing to get excited about but any fish on a swimbait is a good fish, especially at a tough lake.

Forgot about this one. I was on the phone with my wife for 55 minutes of the fight and she called me a few minutes into the fight, so probably over an hour. I was crappie fishing with a 6' 8" ML Crucial dropshot rod with a 1000 Symetre spooled with 4lb Pline fluoroclear, tossing a 1/32oz jighead tipped with a 2" power minnow under a bobber. I was wondering why the crappie quit biting so suddenly, I should have known. She was a bear to get in the net fishing by myself with such light gear. I was babying it pretty bad since I was using a bobber with the spring and I felt my line rub against some rocks or brush a couple times. Thankfully there was a father and son team that had stopped fishing to watch the fight that were nice enough to take the pictures for me. I think she was 21 or 23 pounds but can't remember for sure.

I tie either a San Diego Jam or Palomar. Tie them carefully, cinch them slowly, and keep them wet during the cinching process. Give the knot a good pull test after it's cinched down and you should know right away if you tied a good knot or not. It's amazing how easily even 20 or 25 pound line breaks with a poorly tied knot.