Bluebasser86

Sizzle and I fished Kill Creek for about 3 hours yesterday, from 9-12. Started out pretty good with both of us catching good numbers of fish off the deeper trees by the ramp but then when we got to the deepest trees we couldn't get a bite. Started catching fish again once we realized they were more related to areas with mats of weeds than trees. Sean caught his fish on a rusty craw jig with a summer craw Rage trailer until a fish on the dam stole it from him. I caught my fish on a black sapphire Mag II worm and the same colored Super Brush Hog. None of our baits seemed to be better than the others although I think Sean's jig was getting better quality. Other than those baits I caught a crappie on a 100 series Bandit and Sean caught one bass off the dam on a SK 2.5. Nothing on a spinnerbait or deeper crank. Average size was a little better than normal, probably 13-15 inches with only a couple superdinks. Big fish was maybe 16 inches.

Don't know how accurate it is but the KC star had it listed about 2' low and murky last weekend with all species listed as poor. KDWP's website listed smallmouth as good on small cranks off points though.

You didn't get your voucher for a free custom built rod of your choice??

I've never caught a fish on a jerkbait at Wabaunsee, just fyi.

They need an in between size. The big one was too big and dove too deep for most of the lakes I fish. Swims great and gets deep fast like it's supposed to. The little one is really small but it's a great clear water bait.

The 6" weedless Hudd is a great bait that I love pulling through weeds. Haven't ever tried the 8" but I've heard it swims even better and it catches big fish. The little 4" weedless shad is an amazing little fish catcher too.

Both very nice fish! Get yourself a scale so if you get one that close you'll know to hold onto it and get it officially weighed!

What kind of baits are you wanting to fish? Do you want to stick to one brand or whatever is best? If you're just wanting to know what rods you need for most bass fishing situations I'll give my opinion. 6' 6"-7' M/F spinning rod with a 2500-3000 size spinning reel with 8lb fluoro-dropshot, wacky rig, shakyhead, and other smaller baits 6'6" M/F casting rod with a 6.2:1 reel with 12lb copoly-jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, most topwater 7' MH/M casting rod with a 5.1:1 reel with 10lb copoly-all but small or very deep diving cranks 7'M/F casting rod with a 6.2-7.1 reel with 15lb copoly-flukes, senkos, light T-rigs, traps, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits 7' MH/F casting rod with 15lb fluoro with a 7.1 reel-light jigs and T-rigs 7' 6" MH/F casting rod with 17-20lb fluoro-jigs, t-rigs, small swimbaits That's the basic line up I used to bring when I fished tournaments as a non boater and they got me through just fine. Obviously there's times you may need something else or you need to switch something up on one of these rods. Biggest ones I encountered was the occasional need for braided line around weeds, a long rod with braid for C-rigs, or a deep cranking rod.

After a good night flathead fishing your hands should be covered more by bandaids than skin I don't get bass thumb, instead I opt to grab them by the back of the head or cradle them under the belly. I do on occasion get bass palm though, now that is the sign of a good day

Bass do that all the time in the lakes around here. They're waiting for a bluegill to get careless and give them a chance to get it head first before they know what's happening and before they can get their dorsal spines up so they're tougher to swallow. Bluegill imitations like a Mattlures U2 or even the Storm Wildeye baits will catch some of those big bass. A bluegill colored swim jig is another good option along with bigger poppers or prop baits.

Well guys, Mr_Scrogg has been putting in some legwork and some of the great sponsors from the site are pulling through for us. Right now we have at least a couple freebies to give away. It may not be the everybody gets something deal like last time but everyone will at least have a shot at winning something. Can't complain about having a chance to win some prizes in a free tournament now can we?

And when they discontinued the Curado B series (possibly their most popular casting reel ever) It left a big gap between the Citica and Chronarch (almost a $100 difference). I'm not saying I think they'll do away with the Chronarch E this year but if Shimano's past is any indicator if you really like the Chronarch E better get them while you can.

Have you tried a flutter spoon? If you think they're aggressive enough to hit a big crank I'd think you could get them to hit a flutter spoon, or maybe a C-rig if they're holding close to the bottom.

Yeah, it's not like shimano has discontinued any really popular Curado or Chronarch models before

Nice! We've caught several keeper walleye out there this year and I had a short as recently as 2 weeks ago on a shakyhead. Don't think I've ever had one that big though.

I would be shocked if something at least over 5 doesn't make it into someones boat, largemouth or smallmouth

As far back in Wilson's cove as you can go along the edge of the water willow, the back edge, as in between the bank and the weeds in about 8 inches of water.

Walking the unpopulated parts of the jail by myself at 2am I've heard all kinds of crazy crap. Worst one happened to a guy I worked with. He was working in the medical pod where sick and really old inmates are housed away from GP for their safety. This place obviously has big, heavy steel doors and it was an older style lock that "pops" when it's open. I've seen some huge guys mule kick them as hard as they can and I've never seen one even start to open. To operate the doors there is a key that has to be in the panel and turned on and you just push the button for the cell door. Cell 2 in this pod was already a little infamous because an inmate had successfully hung himself a couple years prior and then 2 weeks before the oldest inmate in the jail had died in the cell. So this guy was sitting in there by himself (it was also the only pod with no windows to the outside so it was kind of like working in a cave). At about 2am he gets up to start his welfare check. This is important because we he does that he takes the keys with him like he's supposed to, so his panel is turned off. Shortly after he gets up cell 2's door not only pops but jumped open quickly, not fully open but enough for somebody to have slipped through if they'd turned sideways. It would have taken a ton of force to open one of those heavy doors that quickly (watched the video on the camera afterwards) and there is no way the door should have even been able to be opened with no key in the panel. He was so freaked out he called for a sergeant to be relieved and refused to work the pod again. Only things we could think of would be a big rush of air (not sure where it would have come from with no windows, vents maybe?) or maybe there was a power surge in that cell for some reason that caused the lock to pop and blew the door open. Either way, it was creepy to watch.

I've lost more Lucky Crafts than I care to remember. One day two winters ago I lost 4 Strike King King Shads that I'd bought at original price ($21.99) the same day. I was smoking big hybrids with them so I couldn't really complain.

I've caught bass on plastics before where the hook bend was stuck behind it's bottom tooth pad and the hook eye was wedged against the roof of the fishes mouth and had it's mouth propped open. I've had sunfish grab the tail of my bait and not let go until I had already lifted them out of the water.

We have fitness programs we must complete each year or our individual health insurance goes up. Smokers have to pay extra also. I wish they did an incentive program for working out too. They tried once but the prizes ended up being company mugs or backpacks

Never caught a laker but I've heard they're a blast. With slobs like those I have no doubt they're some serious fighters!

That's a fun fight on UL gear. You got lucky that it didn't just rub through your line with it's rough tooth pads with line that light

Hard to beat the Zoom 4 incher. I used to fish them a lot and caught a ton of fish with that little thing.

I love Pline but was not impressed with the Voltage. The memory was very bad unless I used L&L before I started fishing. I've been really impressed with their C21 since I started fishing it though. Too much stretch for jigs and such but a great reaction bait line.