Bluebasser86

The bass will still be there, but dead leaves are a huge pain to fish in. They'll catch on your line or your bait constantly and ruin your retrieve. Fish can still be caught though so if you're itching to go then go!

The problem you may have is if you move fish you're also going to move water and the organisms in it. That's how invasive species make it into bodies of water. Then if this pond has any kind of creek or outlet that flows to another body of water you may also infect someone else's pond or other body of water. I know lots of people do it with their ponds on private property but it isn't really a great idea. Sometimes fish aren't able to adjust from one body of water and end up dying or becoming very unhealthy. You might talk to your local DNR officer. Some states they will come evaluate your pond and give you tips on how to go about it without potentially violating any wildlife laws.

Frogs and weightless plastics are about the only options if the stuff is covering the entire surface. If there's open areas I like to run spinnerbait, buzzbaits, chatterbaits, or swimbaits along the edges of the stuff. Weightless senkos, flukes, and creature baits fished around the edges or cast into the holes.

You are well within your rights to keep a big fish to get a skin mount. With that being said, if I were to catch another DD fish I'd get a couple quick pictures, measurements, and let her go. Then whenever I can save the money up I'll get a replica. A fish that size has beaten incredible odds to reach that size and deserves to live out it's days doing what they're designed to do. Plus, a replica will look better for far longer than a skin mount. I do have one skin mount of a bass that went belly up as soon as I tried to turn her loose. While the guy did a great job on the mount and I've done my best keeping it looking good it's already showing signs of aging after just 10 years.

X3, they've been spawning all over here. They make a heck of a commotion chasing each other through the shallows, great time to get the bow out and whack them while they aren't as spooky.

Sounds like you might have sweat/sunblock getting into your eyes. Happens to me all the time when it's hot and humid out and it makes my eyes burn for awhile.

Here you go fellas. Fisher_C had never fished Wabaunsee before I suggested he try it. Just a couple more reasons why the fall get together will be at Wabaunsee!

I've done very well down there during the warmer months, they're just a little tougher to figure out. usually fishing a little slower and a littler deeper is the trick.

Glad it's paying off for you. I have a photobucket account that I use to post pictures on here. It's free and makes it a lot easier to do. If you email them to me I'll see if I can get them on here. I'm assuming you went to Wabaunsee again? I'd like to get those pictures up to give everyone on the fence about coming to the fall get together that much more reason why they should be there

Biggest problem I have with Rattlin Raps is I can never get a fish to eat one.

It was a pretty tough night for Drew and I. Fish were few and far between and not very big, minus a really nice drum I got on a Ned rig. Was about to accept defeat when I caught this fish about 15 minutes before weigh in on a home made chatterbait. It was big bass and first place at 3.86 pounds, my biggest Wednesday night fish to date.

The biggest mistake I usually made during tournaments was to read too much past information on the lake. Not saying not to do that, but keep in mind that the past is the past. What worked last year/month/week may not get a bite this week. Get on Google earth and look over every inch of the area you'll be fishing. I've found some great spots doing this that I would have never known existed. Stuff like offshore humps, long shallow points, hidden ponds connected to the lake, inflow areas, all stuff you can sometimes see from the overhead pictures.

You could call the boathouse to be sure but I would be almost certain that it will. Either way you will still have to buy a day fishing permit. We tend to like to make it a team thing if we can get you a boater but if not it is plenty small to fish from a kayak without any problem.

Great little tube with a light insert head. They imitate a small crawdad really well.

X2 Got to keep it low. The wind catches those blades easily and that's when your spool blows up if you don't have your thumb right on top of the spool. An educated thumb will help a lot too.

Jannsnetcraft.com

I've been lucky in the big fish department. Living in Kansas and having 2 fish over 7 1/2 pounds, one of those closer to 8 than 7.5, by March is a pretty good start.

If the weeds and cover allows it a small treble on the belly, like a #6, will turn those short strikes into caught fish.

I like one knocker baits, especially in lakes that get lots of pressure or where a particular bait that is normally productive isn't producing as well as it normally does. I think fish get conditioned to seeing and hearing all the regular cranks and traps with BB's in them and learn to avoid them through the negative stimulus of being caught. The single "knocker" ball however isn't something they hear as often and will get a much better response from them at times. Still, like almost everything in fishing there is no set rule for when one will outproduce the other, just have to try them and listen to the fish.

They're fair game in Kansas. Not sure how they work for bass but big flathead love them!

Slow, steady retrieve normally. I was catching fish reeling it as slow as I could get the blade to work last week in muddy water. I've had a few times in clear water or over weeds when running them just under the surface was best though.

Bigger than any smallmouth I've caught out there. It seemed like last year every Wednesday night we'd get at least one or two 15-17 inch smallmouth that would disappoint us when we saw they weren't largemouth. I was on the way to the livewell with one I caught right at dark that was in the 16-16.5 inch range before I realized it wasn't a largemouth. It slammed a buzzbait right next to the boat and it's momentum and my hookset lifted it into the air and it came off and landed in the bottom of the boat where I dove on it. It was getting hard to see and it was really light colored so I thought it was a largemouth, never been so disappointed to catch a nice smallmouth on topwater.

Finesse worms can be rigged a variety of ways. Personally I prefer them on spinning gear with a shakyhead but if a baitcaster is all you have to work with they can be very effective on a carolina rig also. You can also rig them on a light texas rig, drop shot, wacky rig, splitshot rig, or mojo rig.

Very nice! I catch at least a few flatheads every year it seems like. Biggest one I've ever caught was this guy. Not sure how much it weighed because the chain for my scale broke when I started to lift it off the bottom of the boat to weight it but I'm guessing in the 40-50 pound class. I'd have to catch him again to cook him, like a vast majority of the fish I catch it was turned loose shortly after the picture. Flatheads are actually pretty good eating. Blues and channels can be too though. To me it depends a lot on the size of the fish and where it was caught from. Eat one from a muddy river or pond and it's bound to taste like mud and moss. Catch a smaller cat from a clean lake or river and they're pretty dang good. Some guys around here call flatheads "poor mans lobster" because of the bright white fillets and good flavor.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm buying cheap tires or if my trailer axle isn't mounted properly but my boat trailer seems to eat tires. The ones on it now are getting very low and I just replaced them last year. Granted, I drive a ton because there is very little good fishing close by (my average fishing trip is over 100 miles round trip at least once a week). So they are getting lots of miles put on them but it seems like they lasted longer before I had to replace my trailer axle when I spun a bearing and the hub welded to the axle. Should I be looking at a better tire or do I need to get my trailer looked at to get the axle aligned properly? It's only a 16' aluminum boat with a good sized 5 lug wheel and tire so it isn't like it's rolling on donuts.