Bluebasser86

For shore fishing in the fall it's pretty tough to beat a spinnerbait or rattle trap.

It's a good color on cloudy days in stained to clear water in my experience.

I caught one 2 weeks ago that still had my bait in it's mouth that I'd broke off the previous week. Oddly enough the day I broke that fish off my fishing buddy broke one off that I caught later that day and got his bait back. Obviously anyone who thinks a fish feels pain from a hook hasn't seen anything like that in person. The times I've been hooked the only thing on my mind was getting that hook out. I wish that baits I got back were sweet baits like that buzzbait!

Thanks for not posting the pics of the hook in your finger. I've seen a lot of things and not much bothers me anymore, but the hook in finger shot still makes me squirm.

There was no rushing the fish I was fighting. I was pulling with all I had but that fish would just lay on the bottom (I was bank fishing) and I couldn't move it. If I remember correctly I was using a 6' Eagle Claw Featherlite with a 1000 Shimano TX RD with 6lb Trilene XL. I was just fishing for bluegills with a half a nightcrawler and a small jighead. The thing I remember most was when the fish got close to the bank the line was swinging side to side, a sign I now recongnize as the side to side motion of a large flathead catfish swimming along slowly.

There's still Eurasion Milfoil, Asian Carp, and White Perch in Kansas so I'm assumming they're trying to prevent them now.

Lake is still open and they're still spraying down boats and grilling everyone under a bright, hot light that wants on the lake that doesn't live there pbrussell was there Saturday, I'll let him decide if he wants to give his report or save the info for the tournament.

I use an old Curado B for my traps that has s 6.2:1. IMO anything slower is too slow for shallower water or ripping the bait through weeds. If you're slow rolling them or fishing them in deep water you can get away with a slower reel.

They're junk, send them to me and I'll dispose of them for you, I'll even pay shipping Take care of them and you'll have a couple solid reels for years down the road.

I like to fish them very slowly with slight pops of the rod tip to make it look like a baitfish or something flipping on the surface as it buzzes by.

Yep, it's a good bait for low light conditions and night fishing. I've caught 10 inchers on them so don't be afraid to fish them. 2 pounders have no problem eating them.

bluegills are in almost every body of water that holds bass, go with the gill.

5/0 hook with a 1/4 or 3/8 ounce bullet weight is my favorite rig for big worms. You can catch 10 inchers on them without any problem. Lately the big worms have been getting me more bites that the smaller ones, even from smaller fish. Last Wednesday night I was catching down to 8 inch smallies on a Zoom Ol' Monster.

The craw colored LC rattle baits are great early in the year. You can't go wrong with them, especially at that price.

I don't make the first contact because I seem to always find the guy that wants to share his life story with me and when I'm fishing I'm not going to sit around and listen to any long stories like that.

A green pumpkin trick worm is pretty tough to beat for a good, all around finesse worm. I'd fish it on a light Texas rig with a 3/0 hook.

For numbers, ease of catching, accessability, and fighting ability, it's pretty tough to beat carp. They're everywhere, grow huge, take no real specialized gear, and get almost zero fishing pressure. They get a bad rap as a trash fish but are a blast on light gear. I would think that drum would have to be pretty high on the list also, but they don't fight as hard or long as a carp either. Big cats are one of my favorites but they do get a lot more pressure than the other two, even though it's still way less pressure than bass get in most places.

When I was 6 I fought a fish on an ultralight and 6lb test for a hour and a half and never even saw it before it broke my line. There was people taking pictures and even video taping (back before every phone could take video). I was pretty disappointed not getting to see what it was but I'm pretty sure it was a big flathead.

The papa pit boss might be better for a big jig trailer.

The side legs flap all over the place on a swim jig. You can honestly almost just cast out and reel straight in because they have so much action.

I like fishing Bull but it can be really tough. Last time I was down there a slow rolled Keitech Swing Impact on a 1/4oz jighead in the 22-26 foot range was really killing them.

Jon was catching them on a Wart Hog crankbait (Wiggle Wart knockoff). They eat a Ned Rig pretty well out there too.

I like the gravel banks The dam is always a sure bet. Most of the points on the south side of the lake seem to hold fish. I've never done well on the north side of the lake except for a couple spots and I'm not at liberty to share those as they were disclosed to me only after I swore to secrecy

I didn't catch any big ones this spring but we had a 6+ largemouth weighed in the first tournament of the year. No big smallies this year but last year there was a 5 1/2 pounder. My best are a 6.5 largemouth and a 4lb 2oz smallmouth but this year a largemouth a little shy of 4 was the biggest. If you want to fish for trout I'd go to Lake Shawnee, bigger trout, no lake or boat permit, all you need is a $12 state trout permit.

It is already semi private and would be easy for them to close to the public to prevent any more INS species from getting into the lake. We have some stuff from Sieberts, Delaware Valley Tackle, and I know I'm missing one? Enough that we should be able to get everyone something out of the deal if we decide to hand everything out like we did last time.