Bluebasser86

Trout are a blast on light tackle. I don't eat them but when you can catch a 2-4 pound fish on light tackle that pulls hard and makes some of the most acrobatic jumps you'll see in freshwater, I'm in. That's what I'll be chasing Wednesday

My FIL has 2 Omegas that I helped him pick out because he wanted a couple nicer reels to fish with. The Omegas are a pretty impressive reel, cast very well and built very solidly. I've fished with them a time or two and yes they were a little slow and my accuracy was terrible with them but they cast a mile and I still was able to catch fish on them. My mom uses a Daiwa Goldcast when she fishes, she landed a 14 and 17 pound channel cat out of a pond with it so it must not be that bad.

Their EWG Magna hook is about the only hook I use for my plastics anymore. Very occasionally I'll roll a point on a snag but if I do I just throw it away. A 25 pack for 8.99 makes it so I can toss a hook and it doesn't almost make me tear up. I've never used their treble hooks though.

KVD 1.5 Green Gizzard Shad or LC 1.5 in Bull Bream, Green Copper Shad

Don't bother fishing deeper water in Perry, they just never seem to be offshore in that lake. I've never bothered fishing Clinton, a lot better options in that area than Clinton imo. Check out the KC Area thread in the Central Forum, lots of reports for lakes in your area.

Were you using all 5 of the same baits? I always use one different color bait and it seems like 75% of my fish eat the different colored bait. That could be a simple as using a different colored swimbait head or dying the tail of one of the baits.

Another option I forgot would be to rent a boat for one of the larger ponds at James A. Reed. That would be my pick because those smaller bodies of water will warm up faster than the bigger lakes so they should be more active. I know they used to rent boats out there, not sure if they still do or what time it starts but even if they don't I'd rather bank fish out there than fish one of those bigger lakes until it warms up more.

Firetiger and Mistake colored cranks are some of my favorite dirty water colors.

Well if you have very clear water then yes they will spawn in deeper water. I've caught them off beds in 15' of water at Table Rock. What I meant though was they'll be in the first deep water near their spawning areas that they'll be using once the water warms up.

If I only had those to chose from I'd go to Jacomo if I was after bass. If you don't mind fishing for something else I'd find a lake with trout and fish for those because they're much more active in colder water. Smithville would be an option if you don't mind crappie fishing. I'd go a couple weeks later if that's an option. If you don't mind driving a little further I'd certainly go to Pomme De Terre or Stockton over any of those other lakes for sure.

They're extremely sharp but I loose too many hooks to fish with them.

All our smallmouth lakes in the state have Zebra Mussels. If you've never tried to drag a jig or shakyhead through those things you don't know what you're missing. It's like trying to set the hook with your line across a razor blade.

Any idea what the water temps are? Most likely if the males are up there the females are going to be on the first little drop near deeper water where they'll be spawning at.

What lakes are you fishing in Kansas? I've fished most of them in the eastern end of the state.

He could just put my name down on the entry. I'm not quite 27 yet so statistically I've got a shot at being around long enough to collect all the winnings

If I have my jig rod in my hands I'm happy. If that jig happens to be a 1/2oz brush jig and I'm pulling fish out of laydowns or off docks, then I'm even happier.

And lots of them will never leave there

Does this help? Can't find the chatterbait pictures...

Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 97MR in Gunmetal Shad or American Shad.

Lots of squarebills have rattles Lucky craft makes rattling, silent, and one knocker type squarebills. Spro Little Johns and Fat Johns have rattles. H20 baits have rattles, SK KVD baits come in silent and rattling. Sometimes one works better than the other, sometimes it makes no difference.

I have the pink Xrap you speak of and yes, it catches fish. I also have a hot pink chatterbait I tied for my wife last year. Had one day last year I forgot the rest of my chatterbaits at home but I had that one in my box. Not only did it catch fish but I started catching bigger fish than I had on normal colors.

Got ours out on the water today for her first full speed boat ride. She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, climbed up into my lap with her head hanging over the side of the boat and ears flapping in the wind. Water was only 40 degrees and I only had an hour to fish but still managed to get one well colored little guy to play and she posed nicely for a picture of the fish she helped me catch. Still lots of snow around the lake that will soon be helping it fill back up a little bit.

I really like that purple one, something different than they normally see and I'll bet it would be a great stained water/low light bait.

Other than around snot grass there is not really a bad place to fish a jig.

I use EWG superline hooks for most everything but I do have some regular EWG hooks in smaller sizes for finesse baits. I've got some standout hooks for DS, some wide gap finesse hooks for wacky rigs. I did just get some straight shank VMC "Ike approved" HD flipping hooks that I'm going to try this year. I really got them specifically for fishing the new Zman Palmetto bugs but I'll be trying them with my Rage Craws and Pit Bosses also and if I like them I'm sure I'll have more.