Bluebasser86

They'll eat them, it's just usually the bigger fish seem to fall for jigs or senkos. Chris caught his biggest fish of the day on a deep crank when we were out there. I haven't ever tried deep cranks out there much so may be something more to it. Never fished it in the fall either which is obviously usually a better crankbait bite then.

If you've ever hooked yourself and just taped over it instead of going to the hospital so you could keep fishing because they were biting good.

Pretty much any UL or light action rod will work for bluegill and crappie. I prefer a longer rod with a parabolic bend to help fight fish on the light line it takes to cast light baits. Most any small lure will work well for gills and crappie, and the occasional bass. My favorites are a 2" grub on a 1/32oz jighead, a 2" tube on a 1/32 or 1/16 ounce jighead with a small jig spinner arm, or a small jig like a Lil' Nipper in a 1/32 or 1/64oz suspended under a bobber and fished with small twitches.

I like using the smallest size Pop R they make in the creeks I fish. I catch a lot of bass and green sunfish on them and the occasional white bass, wiper, crappie, or catfish. A small grub on a jighead works well to catch about anything that swims.

I have some Keens I wear if I'm really going to be doing some climbing over big rocks or laydowns, otherwise I usually wear crocs. They're ugly but they're comfortable, dry fast, cheap, and they keep my feet from getting sunburned.

We used to fish for them on purpose to get our frog legs. A small, weightless plastic worm drug across the weeds or along the shoreline where you see them sitting will catch tons of big bullfrogs. I've caught plenty of them on my Spro frogs while fishing for bass. The worse ones are the ones you don't see until they jump on the bait because you can't pull it away from them and they always seem to get hooked.

My whole family is from the same area and during the summertime everyone would go camping every weekend and fishing was a big part of these trips, mainly for catfish. My dad is a walleye fisherman so we'd go fish for walleye once in awhile. I loved being around the water so I'd fish ponds or creeks that I could walk to from our house. When we moved to the KC area my friends parents would take us fishing and I started catching bass on accident fishing with nightcrawlers. I thought they were a cool looking fish and the way they jumped and would chase a moving bait was a lot more exciting than bottom fishing for catfish. I bought some inline spinners and started catching them on purpose. Since then I've taught myself all I know today from reading or watching others doing it and practicing on the water.

Bullheads don't get very big and they stunt very easily. Sounds like you're pond has too many of them for them to grow big.

I've snagged tiny bass and bluegill fry before. As far as actually catching them I've caught tiny green sunfish fishing for catfish bait, maybe 2" long. Not my smallest ever but this little guy was just barely as long as my 78 pointer.

I very rarely use a trailer but if I do it's either a single tail grub or a chunk trailer.

It'll suit you just fine I think since you like to drag a jig so much, plus it doesn't usually have much of a crankbait bite either. AND no razor clams!!

Well I emailed the state about the spotted bass we caught out of Cedar Creek Valley last time I was there since they aren't listed as being in there. Very pleased with the response as he not only answered my question but also gave a little info on the lake. The spotted bass were stocked when the lake was built. The only reason they are not listed is because there is no special regulation for them, and usually people have a hard time identifying a spot from a largemouth unless they are avid anglers. As far as numbers go I believe that the largemouth are more dominant in the lake. When considering both the spots and the largemouth population density as a whole I would classify it as a low to moderate density. This is good for the fish because it allows them to grow faster and with all of the stunted crappie in the lake the fish have plenty to eat. I hope this answers your question if you have any more questions don't hesitate to contact me. -- Justin Morrison Fisheries Biologist Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (620) 637-2748

I hope you do, somebody needs to knock Curt and Peter off the top of the mountain! I tried real hard last time. A guy would think when he's culling 17 1/4 inch smallmouth off his card at Melvern he'd be golden. Nicole got us a kicker, I just didn't do my part and get a big one We'll have some piggies caught at this deal though, hopefully somebody will beat their PB out there. I might have lost what would have been my PB smallmouth out there Thursday but I'll never know what it weighed, just know she was big enough I thought she was a carp....

How about next Wednesday? I won't get off work until 8am so we'll be in the middle of the harder bite of the day but I can at least show you some spots and baits. Send me a PM if you're interested.

Dark colors, brown, purple, dark blue, black, and junebug are my favorites. However at times white and light blue (like sapphire blue) do really well for me at night.

One of my favorite ways to fish squarebills and lipless baits. I get bit a lot right when I rip a lipless bait out of the weeds but with squarebills I like to reel down to the tops of the weeds and then use a stop and go retrieve, most of the bites will come during the pause or right when I start to reel again. When I feel some weeds hanging on my bait I'll rip the rod up hard, sometimes I'll have a fish as soon as I reel up the slack again. I doubt that a small piece of grass will keep the fish from hitting the bait though. I've had them eat poppers and buzzbaits with weeds hanging off of them, don't see why a crank would be any different.

shakyhead, football jig, or deep running crank.

Xcaliber XR50 and XRK50, nothing else even comes close for me.

Some of his casting reels probably are making the noise because he so often bottoms fishes with the bait clicker turned on. If you don't disengage that when you start reeling it will continue to click while you're reeling. I've seen them do it with spinning reels and even low profile casting reels, times like that it annoys me. I don't know if they somehow think that makes it more authentic but it just makes it silly to me.

I have 4 boatable lakes within 15 minutes of the house but my average drive is about an hour to much better lakes.

Don't usually see it too much in the actual fishing shows but in some of the shows like "River Monsters" or "Top Hooker" I'm not sure why they do it but they'll add the old school clicking noise in when someone is reeling in, no matter that very few reels anymore make any kind of noise when you reel them in. I know it's a minor thing but it bugs me every time I hear it on one of those shows.

Nope, didn't really fish anything I'd expect to catch them on either though. I've heard they've been catching quite a few at SMP though. A guy at work goes out there about every morning and has been catching at least one each morning from the bank.

Chris and I fished Wabaunsee Thursday. It was his first time on the lake and fishing was steady but never real fast. I think the bigger fish are still in a post spawn funk but we still had our chances and failed to convert big bites into big fish. I lost a big one off the dock before the boat was even in the water on a swimbait. I had a big one come off on a senko under a dock, got my line cut on the edge of a pontoon on what felt like a big one ona jig, Chris had the hook on his ned rig broken and had a nice smallmouth toss his ned rig. We both had fish that felt solid on the hookset run straight to the boat and just come off. Worse one was a pig smallmouth that wrapped me up in a dock and as soon as I got it loose it came off my jig. It was at least in the 4-5 pound and was up in the mud in less than 2' of water for some reason. Chris caught his biggest of the day on a deep running crankbait and was a crappie catching machine with the same bait. I had 2 or 3 largemouth near keeper size and my biggest smallmouth was probably pretty close also, it ate a senko under a dock in about 4' of water.

Lake of the Ozarks itself has some monster grass carp in it and lots of commons to shoot while you look for them. I've shot some huge buffalo out of it too. The hard part on LOTO is finding a spot without all the docks or navigating around the docks. I like the smaller pockets, preferably with a soft bottom but they'll be everywhere at times. All of the Ozark lakes have lots of carp though, Truman is loaded with them and doesn't have all the docks to get around.

Every time I've been to the Elk the fish preferred a small walking bait like a 85 Sammy or Super Spook Jr over any other topwater. FIsh it anywhere that the water is moving a little faster, even if it looks like it's 6" deep, they'll surprise you.