Bluebasser86

Never have but they are high on the list of fish I'd like to catch! If I go after them I want to go to the Amazon though and fish for the really big ones along with all the other cool fish that there are down there.

I'm sure they do. I've caught lots of fish on cheap SK jigs that don't look anywhere near as good as a Seibert or Northstar jig. I can only hope to one day be able to tie a jig that looks anywhere close to as good as theirs do.

I've sight fished several big carp with very small crappie jigs or grubs. The downside is it takes a long, long, long time to fight a 10-20 pound carp on the 4-6 pound test it takes to cast those tiny jigs far enough. I land far fewer than I hook because they get in brushpiles or swim under docks or logs a lot of times but the fight is still a blast. My best bait has been just the body portion (tear the tail off) of a 2" grub on a 1/80 (yes eightieth) ounce jighead that is normally used to tie flies on. I use it to catch sunfish for catfish bait normally but I'm an equal opportunity fisherman and when I see a big carp cruising and feeding then I'll try to get them to bite, which they often do as long as they don't spot me. I fish the tiny bait on a 6' Avid ultralight with a 750 Sedona and 3.5 pound DAM Techtan line.

Now that is a pumpkinseed. That is about as good of flathead bait as there is out there. They get big like a bluegill but stay alive on the hook like a green sunfish but they don't try to swim under rocks like a greenie. They look pretty similar to a longear except they have a bigger mouth like a green sunfish and the "ear" flap (black tab on the gill) is short like a bluegills.

Alright fellas, time to get the fall shindig rolling. I'm going to try to keep everybody as happy as possible but that's about impossible I imagine. I know everyone likes Melvern for it's smallmouth that fight hard and are super easy to catch most of the time but I've heard several requests to broaden our horizons with a new lake with new challenges. After all, it's figuring out a new puzzle that makes us better fishermen right?? So, the fall 2013 classic will be at Lake Wabaunsee. http://www.kdwpt.state.ks.us/news/Fishing/Where-to-Fish-in-Kansas/Fishing-Locations-Public-Waters/Region-2/Eskridge-Lake-Wabaunsee The good: It's a 216 acre lake in the Flint hills surrounded by docks and lots of rocks. It gets some pretty good vegetation by summertime and fall and you can catch fish a foot deep or deeper than 20' if you want to. It has very good populations of largemouth and smallmouth and very big examples of both. I wish I could get the pictures off my phone that Sam (Flash) has been sending me from this spring. He's caught a few in the 8-10 pound range out there this spring along with several smallmouth over 4, just incredible. I see us having no problem with the size of the lake being too small as we caught fish behind guys and had fish caught behind us all day last Thursday. I felt it was a little slow at times and we still put a combined 80 bass (plus lots of crappie, sunfish, a walleye, and a couple drum) in the boat. Normally it has a really good jig bite but fish can be caught almost any way you'd like to fish for them. If we don't have at least a couple 5+ pound fish caught I'd be shocked. The lake gets pretty light pressure because of it's location and the hassle of the day use stuff and the 18" length limit keeps a lot of fish in the lake. Now for the bad: It's a pretty long drive time to get out there for most of us. It takes me about an hour and 20 minutes from Gardner (partially because highway 56 is closed from the west side of Baldwin City to highway 59 and will be into October). If you take I-70 it takes even longer because there is no direct route to it. There is a faster, shorter bypass than the detour KDOT provided that I'll show anyone that is planning on taking 56 to get there. There is also a day use fee. I believe it's $20 for a boat pass for a day and then $2.50 a person for a day fishing permit. So it isn't terrible, especially if you split it with your fishing partner. There is also a zebra mussel inspection before you can put your boat on the water and they will spray your trailer/motor/livewell/bilge with a water/bleach mix before you launch to kill anything that may be attached to your boat. It's a minor annoyance and depending on which lady is working the boathouse it may be a pleasant conversation or you may feel like you're on trial. I'm sure there are going to be some guys who aren't willing to make the drive or deal with the hassles of getting onto the lake but for those of you who do I feel you will not be disappointed, I feel the lake has a state record largemouth and smallmouth in it and from what I've heard fall is one of the best times to try to catch one of them. As for the date I'm thinking late September/early October, more specifically September 28th or October 5th. If either of those dates will work for you and you'd like to attend then send me a PM and we'll get this thing rolling. If you would like to fish but won't because of the location let me know. If there isn't enough interest because of my choice of venue then we'll go back to voting on the location. Teams-cookout items Mr_Scrogg/partner-burgers and cookies CCC-Drew/partner pbrussell/partner Bluebasser86/kanasbassfisher08-cups,drinks,utensils,plates. Wachati/Hi Salenity-brats and buns,beans, coleslaw, desert. Chris Schauer/Sizzlefry Cbass12/partner-charcoal basshunter0731/Jared

Felt like a real failure last Wednesday. 18 boats weighed in 11 fish, none of them were mine The lake is just stumping me this season. You'd think when you put 30-40 fish in the boat like we did you'd get one to measure but it just didn't happen. Not sure if I need to start fishing bigger baits to weed out the small fish or I'm just doing the completely wrong thing but something has to change. Still solidly in second place overall for the year (albeit a very distant second from first place) so hopefully the fish off will be somewhere I'm good at so I can really make some money on that deal.

When I first got into bass fishing with baitcasters I only carried one MH 7' rod with 15lb test, the rest of my rods were spinning rods.

I tie a uni knot. Very simple to tie and if a fish gets me that far down it at least gives me a chance to still land it.

Most of the frogs I see are tiny little things, about an inch long, and the bass love them. I'd put it on a spinning rod with braid and fish it around sparse grass or open areas and I bet you'll catch plenty of bass on it.

I really like the ones I've been making, and more importantly so do the fish. I've been fishing a lot of black in combination with some other color and it really seems like I catch better quality fish than I do with white or chartreuse.

I make my own for less than $1 apiece, can't beat that . I'd certainly look at Seibert or Northstar though. Their baits look more like works of art than fishing lures.

You went to Smithville, that was your problem. I've fished Smithville twice, never had anything I could confirm was for sure a bite either time. The second time was a 30 person tournament, 1 fish was weighed in out of a good group of fishermen.

I was out there Monday-Wednesday and it was pretty tough. The wind was pretty bad on Monday and Wednesday and then it was dead calm Tuesday so never really good weather and we spent quite a bit of time walleye fishing since that's easier to do in strong winds. We caught a couple keeper smallmouth off points on the south side near the Rolling Hills park area casting Ned rigs with zinkers and power minnows. I also had a couple keeper largemouth out of the north state park cove on spinnerbaits near stumps and laydowns and a keeper spotted bass on a Ned rig in the same area. Water is about 4' low I believe and tons of dead carp on the bank stinking everything up. I believe if my dad's boat had a better trolling motor we could have fished a lot more effectively and caught a lot more bass.

Let me know if you can get a Thursday off and I'd be more than happy to.

It really is a great fight from flatheads that size. I was only using a 7' MH rod with 14lb Red Label fluoro and there are several brushpiles close by, so it was a fine balance between putting as much heat as I could on it to keep it away from the wood that they love to run to so much and not popping the line with too much pressure. I've caught bunches of them that size while fishing for flatheads but it seems every year I catch a few while fishing for bass and 99% of the time it's on a jig. I've caught them on a little bit of everything though, even had a 5 or 6 pound flathead suck down a buzzbait one night, that was a shocker. It isn't an extremely long fight like a big blue but the power that big, square tail can produce is incredible and the bite when one inhales a jig is unmistakable.

Can it ring a doorbell? Or is it going to have some kind of bell/whistle/alarm to let you know it's there? I'm not standing outside waiting for it to get my pizza, that's why I ordered delivery, so I don't have to get up off the couch except to pay and get my pizza. On a side note, how long before some hillbilly starts shooting them down to steal the pizzas??

I'm thinking Kansas is about as in the middle as it gets isn't it?

Nothing like a flathead bite on a jig. 25 1/4 pounds on a 5/16oz finesse jig on a 7' MH/XF LTB and a 200E7 with 14lb Red Label at a little local lake.

When they're hard to get my hand around then I know they're big. I like the big bull gills that get the double foreheads when they get real big.

fiberglass arrow with a barbed tip, they just can't resist it!

I like the part where they showed a clear picture of the telltale scar

Kansas does the same thing with wipers. I love catching wipers but I'd much rather they put them in the bigger reservoirs with the forage base capable of supporting those eating machines without hurting the bass population. It seems like anytime they stock wipers in a small lake the bass fishing takes a nosedive.

What part of the lake are you going out on? August is almost always tough on Table Rock with the high temps, clear water, and all the boating/fishing pressure. I'd suggest planning on being on the water (an hour or two before sunrise if possible) early or going after dinner and staying out late. All the guides mentioned will put you on fish and make your time with them as enjoyable as possible.

I had great luck with it walleye fishing but when I fished it for bass it was terrible. I fished a shakyhead on it at Table Rock during a tournament and it didn't matter what knot I tied it broke on every hookset or while fighting the fish. Tried it on a jig rod during a tournament at Lake of the Ozarks and it did the exact same thing, again it didn't matter what knot I tied or how carefully I tied it or how often I checked my line. Obviously it works well for some people though or they wouldn't still be making it.

When the fish are not actively feeding is a good time to try reaction baits. I like a squarebill crankbait or a heavy jig to trigger reaction strikes.