Bluebasser86

I live in Kansas like my profile says but I didn't say anything about them ALL being from Kansas, several of them were from Mexico. It was a response in reference to your statement "Have you ever even weighed a fish on a real scale?" I was merely displaying that I have indeed weighed my fair share of real fish on real scales. My scale may be a $15 Rapala scale but they are surprisingly accurate. True, you may have had one be way off before, but length and girth doesn't lie. You could search for a little informal study member Goose52 did on the accuracy of those little Rapala scales were surprisingly accurate. As for the fish in my avatar not coming from Kansas, do a Google image search of La Cygne lake big bass, here's a link to pictures of a 9 pounder caught out there not long ago. It kicks out fish nearing and over 10 pounds every year. I spend lots of time on it every year. http://www.conservationcafe.com/fishing/journal_detail.asp?wID=4653&iArticleID=7660 I do fish well over 100 times a year and I've been fishing my entire life (my parents have pictures of me fishing in diapers) and have been fishing tournaments since I was 16. I've caught plenty of big fish throughout my fishing career, I have no reason to lie about the fish I've caught and have plenty of pictures if you'd like further proof feel free to scroll through http://s1136.photobucket.com/user/bluebasser86/media/101_0015.jpg.html?sort=3&o=504

Yes, I've seen plenty of fish weighed on real scales, including my PB of over 10 pounds, 1 over 9, 2 over 8, and several over 7. I weigh most any fish I believe is over 4 pounds and have seen enough fish put on scales in all the tournaments I've fished to usually guess a fish within a couple ounces. Plug the numbers I gave on my avatar fish into the free fish weight calculator on this site, it's almost dead on what it weighed on my scales. 21.5" long 17" around 7.76 pounds The fish calculator on here comes out to 7.70 pounds and was caught in Kansas this past March, certainly a northern strain largemouth. Put the other 2.5 inches on that fish at the same girth (which isn't even a really fat fish) and it comes up 9.6. I'm not saying that I think it's a 9 pound fish, I don't from what I can see in the picture like I said in my previous post, but to say a 24" fish can't be 9 pounds or would have to be busting at the seams isn't exactly accurate.

I've never superglued my knots for catfish. You're fishing heavy line so just make sure your knot is cinched good with a good pull to test it and you'll be good to go. I'd be worried about the glue possibly causing a chemical burn or something to that effect with my line and weakening it.

St Croix Mojo 7' M/F with a 200B Curado. Soft enough not to pull hooks, but enough backbone to rip a bait out of the weeds and stop a surging big fish.

How much are you looking to spend on it? You could get a pretty nice combo from BPS with their Carbonlite/Pro Qualifier for a very reasonable price. At a minimum I'd be looking for something at least 7' long in a MH/F action with 15lb fluoro on a 7.1:1 ratio reel. I have 3 jig rods, one is the exact specs I just listed only it's a LTB rod with a 200E7. Second is a 7' 3" MH/F LTB with a 200E7 with 50lb power pro. Third is a 7' 6" MH/F LTB with a 200E7 with 17 or 20 pound fluoro, this one is my personal favorite for fishing jigs.

I really like BPS stick O's on a shakyhead if I'm not using some kind of finesse worm or trick worm. The Netbait finesse and Tmac worms are great, so is the squirrel tail.

I caught a 3/8oz chatterbait right off my ankle bone after it came screaming back to the boat out of an overhanging tree I'd cast into. I didn't move because I didn't think it was going to hit me. I was moving afterwards though, hopping around the boat cussing. Probably one of the more painful things I've done while fishing for a little bit.

Sometimes if I get in a slump I'll grab my ultralight and go catch whatever bites a little 2" grub. Sometimes I think we over complicate things and going out and just catching some fish will help get your confidence back.

Not at all. The fish in my avatar was only 21.5 inches and went 7.76 pounds at 17" around. Another fish I caught in January or February was 24" but was only 14" around and went 7.51. A 21" largemouth, in my experience, will average about 5 pounds. At 24" that fish would only have to be 16" around to be in the 9 pound range according to the fish calculator on here, which that fish certainly appears it may be. To the OP, sorry but you may very well have eaten a state record if your length measurement was correct. It's tough to tell from your picture and not knowing how tall you were in that picture. The size of the fishes head and mouth doesn't scream 9 pounder to me but like I said it's hard to tell with the blurry picture.

The fish in my avatar was only 21.5" long and went 7.76 pounds, but it was 17" around too so a 21" fish weighing 8 pounds isn't impossible. Congrats on the fish no matter what it weighed!

Haven't worked up the courage to try an 8 incher yet but I imagine it's a serious rush when a fish eats one, I know it is when they eat a 6 incher.

The premiers are workhorse rods. They aren't the lightest or most sensitive but they are built very solid and will stand up to abuse. I bought my first Premier 10 years ago as my first nice baitcasting rod. I used it for everything and have caught thousands of fish on it and didn't use to treat my gear real great. It's stood up through all of it and is still going strong today.

I've fished them for bass before but never caught anything very big on them.

BPS Carbonlite is a great buy when they go on sale.

I'd be flipping a beaver bait at those docks and through the lily pads. Make sure you use braid to help get them out of the vegetation though.

Doubles are always fun, not matter how big they are. I've done it twice so far this year, about a month ago on an Excaliber XRK50, and 2 days ago on a Pop R.

Funny how they always shrink once they hit a scale isn't it? Lots of 8 pounders would turn out to be 5 pounders if they ever made it to a scale I imagine. Congrats on the PB, I bet that was a blast getting to sight fish her!

I like smaller cranks or traps in ponds. I used to catch tons of bass in ponds on a craw colored 4F Fat A, including a 6.5 pound bass that was my PB for many years. Seems that craw colors and bluegill colors are usually best. I usually fish them on a spinning rod because I'm normally using smaller baits, something like a 6' 6" or 7' M/F with 8 or 10 pound mono or copoly is what I normally use.

Yeah we'll have food afterwards again. Got to have something to look forward to if the lake makes a liar of me and doesn't produce for us! Your boat would work fine but if we have enough people then you can fish as a nonboater too.

I've caught several bass with hooks in their mouths, throats, and a couple coming out their backsides. Some of the bass that have had the hooks in their throats were having a difficult time feeding and were extremely skinny. Probably saved their lives when I removed the hook. I've seen big flatheads that looks like Christmas trees from all the baits and crappie jigs stuck all over in them.

Are you guys finding you get bit more on the fall or after the bait is already on the bottom and you're shaking the bait? I like the idea of this rig for deep structure fishing during the summertime, it would really help feel the bait on the bottom in 30 or 40 feet of water. Normally I'd use a heavy shakyhead but I'd think the bait would have better action with this rig than on a heavy shakyhead. Something I'm going to have to give a try I guess.

Well I've come to the determination that my boat livewell sucks. It's too small (13.5 gallons) no insulation so it gets hot in my aluminum boat, 90 degree corners so the fish are constantly running into the edges and injuring themselves, and if I ever actually caught a good limit of fish in a tournament I'd have no where to put them. This is an overview picture of the exact model I have. http://www.jamesrivermarine.com/new_vehicle_color.asp?veh=42922&CatDesc= The livewell is directly in front of the console. It looks huge but a lot of that is dead space with nothing in it. I wish I could take the whole thing out and add an after market live well but I'm afraid I'll mess up the boat or knock a hole in the hull and really be in a bad spot. Plus when the day comes to upgrade I don't want to take that out and make it harder to sell. It's not a huge boat obviously so space is pretty limited. I wish I could find something that fit perfectly into the space between the front deck and the livewell that was the same width as the boat but without having something custom built I don't see that happening. Does anyone have any experience with the after market livewells? I've seen very mixed reviews and on top of being expensive they take up lots of precious room in a small boat. Should I just modify a large cooler and go that route? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

I'll have to do that and string trick and see if maybe that is the problem. This is just an aluminum semi V, a fancy john boat basically. My axle is mounted with U bolts and I fish a lot of lakes down dirt roads with some bad pot holes so maybe I just knocked it out of whack. Taking it to the shop in the morning to have new tires put on and balanced so hopefully they can do something to make the tires last longer. My boat is a plain aluminum, the hull only weighs 435 pounds and my father in law got me the axle for free (owns a trailer sales and parts store). So I doubt it's axle being too light.

I have 300k coverage and 10k in tackle insurance, cost me $19 a month. Apparently I have roadside assistance and towing also. Didn't know that until I spun a bearing last spring. Got the boat and trailer hauled home on a flatbed for nothing out of pocket, was about 30 miles from home too. I had to do it to fish tournaments but it doesn't make any sense not to have it either.

Just my opinion from my past experiences with buying a boat, if you can afford to buy new, do it. I've only owned 3 bass boats (starting at age 16 to 27 currently). First was a used Ranger 451V with a 150 Merc. Boat was fine, motor never ran well. I ended up putting as much into the motor as I spent on it before I got frustrated and sold it. Next was a used 15' Cajun. Loved the boat, perfect for most of the smaller bodies of water I fish but still big enough to do bigger lakes weather permitting. Motor ran fine at first but started having problems after a few months. Turned out it had a small leak in the lower unit and the drive shaft was pitted and rusted and just a matter of time before it snapped. To have a new one machined would cost way more than I was willing to put into it. Next boat was a new Lowe Roughneck. Still the boat I have to this day and minus a couple features I wish it had I couldn't be happier. Motor starts every time (knock on wood) and runs great. Minus a couple small repairs (either my fault or the results of the extreme amount of use the boat and motor get) it's been just normal maintenance and upkeep so far. Very rarely is someone selling their boat in great running condition. If it was running great and had nothing wrong with it they probably wouldn't be selling it right? I'm sure there is the rare occasion you get a great deal on a nice, good running rig but I've never found one and neither have any of my fishing buddies that have bought used.