Bluebasser86

Well fellas we're about a month out from this thing so I guess we'll go ahead and do a final roll call and start making the list of grub that everyone is planning on bringing. I have the lineup on the front page so check and make sure you're on there if you're planning on attending or let me know to take you off if things have changed and you can't make it. Post up here or PM me with what food/drinks/utensils you're planning on bringing so I can get the list started. The countdown to "The Battle on 'Bunsee" has begun!

Never had a loon chase a bait. I have had seagulls pick up free lined shad, an owl pick up my jitterbug, blue herons chase spooks and stab at swimbaits, green herons chase spooks, and kingfishers dive bomb topwaters.

I recently noticed the bottom plug/screw on my lower unit is very slowly leaking grease (a couple drops a day maybe). I replaced the old plug with a new one with new seals and it slowed a little more but still leaks. Is there anything else I can do about it or am I just going to be changing my lower unit grease a lot more now? It's a '06 60hp Mercury 4 stroke if that makes a difference.

I bought my Lowe Roughneck (modified-V utility john, basically a no frills aluminum bass boat) brand new in 07 with a new 60 hp Mercury 4 stroke for about 12K. You can get used boats for a couple thousand but the problem with used is you may get a good boat or you may pay a couple thousand just to get thousands more worth of repairs. Just because it starts and runs well doesn't mean it's a good boat and motor either. My last boat I bought used and it started and ran well at first. Started having problems after the first couple trips. Turns out the drive shaft was so rusted and pitted out that it would have to be replaced, which was going to cost more than I paid for the thing in the first place.

My buddy Basshunter0731 (Jon) decided it was time to get his youngest son Jackson out on the boat to do some fishing the other day. Jackson has been pond hopping with us from the bank before and does pretty well for himself but he was really excited about his first trip in a boat. We went to a local lake that is loaded with small bass and the very occasional larger one. We rigged Jackson up with a wacky worm and right away he was into fish. I ran the trolling motor and fished a little bit along with trying to coach a little while Jon unhooked fished and tried to give some direction as well. Once he got the hang of casting my spinning reel Jon got a chance to make a couple casts and they doubled up, Jackson posed with the Father/Son double. He caught 21 in a couple hours, I think he's hooked

Never had much problems with spiders getting into a blind, even ones that stay out year round. As long as it stays zipped up and you clear the ground under it so there's nothing to attract bugs then there's nothing to attract spiders.

My old Parker Hunter Mag XT is slow, heavy, loud, and it gets the job done every year

I'd love to fish professionally but it just isn't in the cards. With the way things are in the world and because my family comes first I'll be sticking with what I do because of the job security, good insurance (for now), and (provided there is still such a thing by the time I get there) good retirement plans.

I've had imitation butter thrown on me. Had a half rotten apple launched from the back of the day area that exploded on the rec windows right behind me. Had a nice little cocktail of human waste thrown at me but thankfully missed. Got bombed by a bunch of Canadian Geese one morning right as I started fishing, it was everywhere in my boat, on my gear, ruined my shirt, in my drink, everywhere.

Just drive really slow and bring a couple towels to wipe the water off before you leave so the dust doesn't stick as bad. Wabaunsee, Ft. Scott, Mozingo, Lone Star, Lake Shawnee, Wyandotte, Lake Lenexa, Olathe, Douglas SL.

I fish them on a 1/8oz jighead.

Fall is time to break out the moving baits, spooks, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, squarebills, traps, jerkbaits, all have their times during fall. I'm excited to toss a swimbait at them once they start chasing real well again myself Of course I'd never leave the dock without a jig or shakyhead rod for those tough days or to clean up the last couple fish off a spot once the bite slows down.

Baby Watermelon Red, GP magic, GP red flake, blueberry, blackberry.

Awesome day! Swimbaits?

No doubt about it, those are smallies. They are some of the hardest fighting fish pound for pound you'll find in freshwater in the US for sure.

My 2 biggest bass this year were caught in February and the first week of March. My first trip of the year it was a blazing 11 degrees at the ramp when we dropped in and got up to a balmy 27 with a 15mph wind that could cut glass, and we whacked them good all day. I do a lot of deer hunting and duck hunting up until January, then I switch back over to bass fishing

Some of the lakes with flooded timber aren't bad and have channel markers that make navigation easier but it's still a little spooky driving through the trees if you've never done it before. I normally take it slow the first couple times until I get more comfortable with it before I start running those lakes. Perry is my favorite reservoir for largemouth in the state. It has good numbers and some monsters in it along with some really quality smallmouth bass also. The problem with Perry is finding them and getting them to bite. I've had days with 20+ pound limits out there and days that I couldn't buy a strike from a bass. Lots of guys on here fish together after talking a bit through the site and the guys that don't have a boat all really appprceciate the chance to get out on one. I'd be glad to fish with you sometime but my schedule is pretty weird so if you work Monday-Friday 8-5 it's tough to get days to line up since I work Friday night 11:45pm-8am until Wednesday 11:45pm-8am, no holidays off either.

That would be exciting! I've caught 4 or 5 on topwater, usually buzzbaits, the explosions put most bass strikes to shame.

I usually stick to the smaller lakes on the rare occasions I'm not working on a holiday.

A little bit of a catch up report here. The wife and I spent Sunday-Tuesday at Table Rock. Lots of fun and the fishing was really good the first day and a half while we were at Aunt's Creek, not so much when we went to the dam. The first night I got on a pretty good worm bite on standing timber. I caught a nice 16 incher then my next pitch to the same tree I caught this 18" fish that was right at 3 pounds. Right before we went in I caught one of the coolest colored largemouths I've ever seen. At first I thought it was a spot, then maybe a meanmouth, but after I checked there was no tooth pad and the jaw extended past the eye. It was also extremely fat and would have rounded out a nice limit in only 2 hours of fishing. Next morning we fished from about 6am to noon and they would not leave a Super Spook Jr alone. Even when the sun came up I had nice largemouth torpedoing out of bushes in a couple feet of water to T-bone my spook, and I got to watch most of them eat it That night we move camp to the dam, mistake. We fished from 6pm-8:30pm. If it hadn't been for Nicole putting 5 fish in the boat on a grub it would have been pretty sad. I worked hard to catch 2 smallmouth, neither one even close to 15". Next day we fished from 6am to noon again. My first cast was a ominous sign as I caught the biggest fish of the trip on an H2O walking bait, a very skinny 3 1/4 pound 20" largemouth. Nicole never did catch one the last day and I did everything I could think of to catch 2 dink smallmouth. I did lose a heavy fish on a shakyhead and missed a couple more on it but still dang tough even if I'd caught every bite I had. Still a blast, every cast I make on that lake I feel like I'm about to catch a fish. Wednesday I stunk it up at the Wyco tournament and then went and night fished Lake Quivira with my buddy Tony. No big bass but plenty to keep us interested and Tony got a surprise 10lb flathead on a chatterbait, I swear it's in there somewhere. Friday morning I went to the dreaded Hillsdale, it treated me surprisingly well. I didn't keep track but probably caught 12-15 bass with a bonus crappie and missed another half dozen bass at least. A buzzbait and a beaver bait were the best thing I could figure out, all in really shallow water. Oh yeah, and I FINALLY caught a keeper bass out there. Sucked down my buzzbait right after it came over a laydown in about 2' of water, 20" and 4lbs 9ozs.

I live about 5 minutes from Olathe Lake so I fish it fairly often. It's tough right now because of the abundance of shad but it will get better later in the fall after they've eaten a bunch of those shad and have to stop roaming and get back on the banks to chase bluegills and craws again. Shakyheads, squarebills, chatterbaits, and traps are usually good in the fall. Last couple times I've been out flipping a beaver into the water willows was the way to go but numbers were nowhere to be found. As far as other lakes close by it's pretty slim pickings, not in numbers of lakes, but lakes worth going to. Cedar Lake in Olathe has good quality but they're tough to catch and if you get 10 you had a great outing. Gardner used to be good but since it got LBV the quality fish are not there. Killcreek is pretty decent but make sure you get your JOCO permits before you go, same with Shawnee Mission if you want to waste your time out there. Lenexa has lots of dinks and a couple bigger fish. Wyandotte is tough most of the time but catch it on the right day and it's a good lake that has bonus smallmouth, make sure you get your Wyco permits out there. Douglas State Lake has tons of dinks and a couple bigger fish, it's my favorite "practice lake" because I can catch fish on about anything. Welcome to the site and the thread. Read up all the info in this thread and check out the pictures and you should get an idea of where to start!

I use the White River fingerless fleece gloves all winter long with spinning or casting gear and they work great. For $5 a pair I carry 3 or 4 pairs in the boat in addition to the ones I'm wearing so when pair gets wet I just changed them out for a dry pair. If it's raining I have some fingerless neoprene Seal Skinz gloves that I wear.

I change mine every couple of months but only use about 50 yards at a time, the rest is backing. I've been a big fan of the Seaguar Red Label but recently tried some Sunline Super and have been very impressed with it so far.

Are you positive they're bass? Some of our local lakes have huge schools of bluegills that push across the surface just like bass do, especially after a big bug hatch, and clean everything off the surface that they can eat. All our shad and baitfish are pretty tiny right now and a Zara Puppy in chrome/black is about the only bait the schooling fish will eat.

I would be willing to guess a lot of guys who won't pay $30+ for a lure have no problem plopping down 6-8 dollars for a bag of Senkos that might catch you 2 fish a bait if you're lucky. Personally I have no problem spending money on proven, quality baits. Recently dove headfirst into the swimbait world and have picked up several expensive baits, a couple 6" Hudds and a weedless 6" Hudd, an 8" Hudd, a Mattlures Hardbass, a 5 and 6 inch Bullshad, a 7" Slammer, and I'll have 4 68's and a Mattlures Baby Hardgill in my collection next week thanks to the flea market. I enjoy fishing these baits and that's what it's really about isn't it? The excitement of knowing that when a fish does hit one of these baits it's probably going to at least be a good quality fish, maybe even a state record, is pretty addictive. As for expensive cranks, I have dozens of Lucky Crafts that have caught hundreds, and with a couple of them probably thousands of fish, on one $15 crankbait or jerkbait. Even the cheapest bag of plastics isn't that cost efficient.