Bluebasser86

Multispecies days are always fun, unless it's a tournament. Your second to last picture is a male bluegill, looks like he has his best dress on for the big dance

Fresh cutbait or live bait is all I use for catfish unless I'm fishing a pond during the summer months, then I'll use grasshoppers. A basic slip sinker rig is the best way to fish them, unless it's shallow, then you can fish them weightless. If you use pantyhose or spawn bags you can put the livers in the middle of a square, pull all the corners together, and put a hook point through all 4 corners. This allows you to use a single hook instead of a treble, I prefer a 1/0 Kahle hook for most of my channel cat fishing.

I catch more crappie fishing for bass than I do fishing for crappie every year. It's often surprising how big of a bait they'll try to eat. I had a 15.5 inch crappie eat a Zoom Horny Toad in a pond several years ago right after catching a 5lb bass off the same spot. This little guy hit this 1/2oz jig so hard that my line jumped while it was sinking, just like the big bass I was hoping to catch would do.

Trout are often stocked instead of naturally occurring like most species of fish, that's why there's special permits. If people don't buy those permits then the states often wouldn't be able to afford stocking them in the first place. Not sure about them being the most stocked, probably depends a lot on where you live. Around here the state stocks millions of channel cats, walleye, and wipers every year but not nearly as many trout because of the shallow lakes and warm temps we have during the summer months they wouldn't survive long enough to be caught.

Switch to braid with a fluoro leader and you shouldn't have a problem burying a hook. I'm assuming you're trolling for them with more line out than you would have on a long cast so the braid will help with long distance hook sets. If you're casting you might just go back to the rod you were using. Walleye have pretty hard heads that can be tough to drive a hook into but once you do they're usually hooked.

It's super strong but it has terrible memory. If you stretch it before you fish it and fish heavier baits on casting gear you can winch a stump out of the lake bed with it though. The Elite I like very well though.

I don't own a reel without instant anti reverse. When I'm using a spinning reel and I hook a big fish that I need to give line to I'll always switch it off and back reel instead of using the drag. I feel I can control a fish a lot better and wear them out faster doing this and I don't have to worry about my drag potentially sticking and losing the fish.

Suppose to make it easier on the angler to retrieve the bait so you don't get fatigued as quickly from retrieving a bait with a lot of resistance all day. Personally for me it keeps me from over fishing my bait as much as anything but with a big, deep diving bait it does make it a lot easier to fish one all day.

The Curado 200E5 is the best cranking reel I've ever owned but I also have a BPS Pro Qualifier in the 5.2 ratio on my deep cranking rod and have been really happy with it but I don't use it as much because I don't fish deep cranks a ton. The Lew's and Winch both are popular reels with great reviews. All really just depends on which one you like the looks and feel of the best.

Only time I really don't like fishing a jig is if there is lots of snot moss that keeps fouling my bait. Other than that I don't know if there is such a thing as fishing a jig too much. If it ain't broke....

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/113704-rapala-scatter-rap-baits/page-4?hl=%2Bscatter+%2Brap#entry1273151

LC RC 1.5 is my favorite. Red Craw with rattles in it is one of my favorites when they're eating craws. One thing about fishing squarebills, if you're fishing them where you should be you're going to get snagged on occasion, just part of the game. Switch to short shank hooks and you can even clip the front hook off if you're really worried about getting hung up. My best suggestion is to invest in a good telescoping lure retriever so you don't have to worry about getting snagged because you can just go get it if you do.

Congrats man. Seems like I get my heart broke every year at least a few times by lure eating cats. Worst one was a similar sized channel to that one that destroyed a Snag Proof frog in the middle of a bunch of slop and then buried up in the weeds. I drug in a huge ball of weeds and tore into it like a 5 year old on a present on Christmas morning. Had about the same look on my face when the present turns out to be socks as I did when I saw the dark, scaleless body I found instead of the huge bucketmouth I was hoping for. Oh well, still a lot of fun and a really nice channel cat!

I catch a ton of fish on chatterbaits every year but for me they either seem to be about the best bait going that day, or I can't hardly buy a strike on them. 3/8oz is the main size I fish in either white with a chartreuse trailer, black and blue with a black trailer, or firetiger with a charteuse trailer. A straight, slow retrieve is usually best. Iike to fish them around any kind of cover especially weeds, docks, or laydowns.

The flash pointer is a great bait but I don't think it has the same action as the 110 so each one may catch fish when the other one isn't working well. If it's all about getting cheap then you could go down to the old standby Rogue also. They still catch plenty of fish and you can buy 3 of them for the price as one 110.

The crank I caught that fish on actually isn't a real small bait, just the smaller of the two sizes they make the Smoothie crank in. It's still a 2" body which is the same size as a 1.5 squarebill. There are crappie LOADED up on the dam out there. You could literally feel your bait running into them there were so many of them down there. I'm guessing that's why she was up there and my bait was white with a black back.

IMO it isn't worth the drive to bass fish it. I've fished for bass out there a couple times and it usually sucks, especially for anything of any size. It tested positive for Largemouth bass virus last year so that has a lot to do with it I'm sure.

So I got word this morning from Ken at the Olathe BPS that Ned Kedhe (yeah that Ned) caught a new state record smallmouth from Lake Shawnee in Topeka. Supposed to have been 6 pounds 10 ounces, not positive what he caught it on but I have a pretty good idea what it probably was. Not 100% on it or anything yet but sounds like it really may have happened.

Weather and fishing sucked again at the Dotte tonight. Most of our fish ate jerkbaits or wacky rigs. Pretty tough to fish much in the 30mph winds. Jon was the heartbreak kid. 4 times we thought he had keeper bass on, twice they were white bass, once a trout, and once a 20" walleye. 13 boats with only 1 1.82 pound fish weighed in again for an almost $400 prize.

The larger RC stick has either 6's or 5's, I use VMC #6's on mine and they suspend fine. The small one uses #8's, Mustad Ultra Point round bends are what I replace mine with.

The RC baits are a very good bait for the money. Change the hooks out though, they come with pretty flimsy hooks that straighten out if you get a bigger fish. Is there still something like this going on or are you saying we should try to get something like this going? I'd be interested but I'm not exactly sure on how you're saying it would work.

As long as it isn't against your state laws you can always tie a second very short leader with a small bait like a finesse worm or 4" lizard close to the leader or switch to a football jig in place of a sinker. Those little taps very well may be bass that are just keying on smaller baits so you might try a smaller bait on your rig.

If I can only take a few rods and baits and be comfortable with it then it usually means I have them figured out pretty well so yes I do fish better then. Otherwise I take whatever I have room for that I feel there is even a slight chance I'll need it. Leave something at home that you think there is any chance you might need and that will be the only thing the fish will be biting that day.

Big, dark colored jig or a dark colored chatterbait catch a majority of my night fishing bass every year. Sometimes a big worm or swimbait will work great also.

If I was fishing those conditions and looking for a bigger bite I'd pick up a 1/2oz jig and keep fishing it until I got the bite I was looking for.