Bluebasser86

Assuming they're still public access again this year I'd be interested in fishing them again. Check out the intersection of Highways 4 and 16 in Valley Falls, KS. All those pits on the southeast side of the intersection have been on the FISH atlas for the last few years at least. You'd have to carry your gear down a fairly step hill and there is only 2 pits you can launch into to get to the other pits but it's very doable. I caught largemouth up to 4lbs and lots of quality fish over 2 pounds, some huge sunfish, and even a walleye. With the clear water it would probably be a fun trip when they're eating jerkbaits in the spring.

I can fish 1/8oz baits on my supertuned Curado 50E but I can't see any situation where I, personally,would want to fish a 1/8oz bait on a casting setup instead of spinning.

If you like a full handle try a St. Croix Avid, if you like split grips try the Legend Tournament Bass. Most all of my bass rods are LTB rods and I've never been happier with a rod. If I was going to get a BPS rod for bass fishing it would be the Carbonlite though. They're very nice and light rods for the money.

I use a lot of finesse jigs and slow dragged football jigs in the spring because I'm fishing deeper, more open water. The water tends to be fairly clear so I use mostly natural, craw colors. Anything from 1/4-3/4 ounce depending on the depth.

You should be fine for just tossing it for one tournament as long as you aren't using too heavy of heads. If you aren't fishing too deep you can get one of the non lead heads that don't add much weight to the rig.

I know of some pits north of Topeka that you can only access by float tube or yak. I've fished them once from a kayak and did pretty well but it wasn't a fishing kayak and it was a little spooky. I'd be willing to try them again but that's a long haul for you.

It's stronger than Coffey, probably twice as strong. Good thing is you could pull your yak to the end of the point at the outlet and fish a lot of the outlet and be out of the current.

I've never fished Grand and don't know much about it but I would think 15-18 pounds a day would get a guy a good look at it. If the weather stays warm between now and then and gets the water temps to the low 50's it may take low 20's if those big fish get moving up towards the bank.

Accuweather.com has an extended forecast that goes out to the Classic weekend. Lots of 50's and 60's between now and then with just a few 40's so it looks pretty good so far. I know I'm pumped up to be there!

Pick a day with light winds and go during the week. Cold, nasty days are usually the best days. Don't go during the summer, you flip your yak and you'll boil alive.

All of my LTB rods are my best purchases but the best of those would be the 2 of them I bought this winter for $110 each from the bargain room. 2 for less than the price of one for a brand new rod is tough to beat

8.91 pound fish from La Cygne, that's what keeps me going back there.

Cinnamon/purple flake, pumpkin green flake, and summer craw are a few of my favorite clear to stained water colors.

Supposed to be above average temps most of the week this week with possible precipitation that isn't the cold white stuff Honestly I'd take whatever kind of moisture we can get. I've been walking the banks of some of the lakes looking for baits and on some of the flatter areas it would be hard to reach the old shoreline with a long cast. Seeing stumps and laydowns on the bank that I've caught good fish out of before is kind of depressing

The 'Dotte opens back up March 3rd for the start of trout season. Spring is getting here boys!

Wow that was weird. I enjoy that show though because they aren't afraid to fish for those "other" fish.

Forgot about my Carrot stix, must be my brain trying to block it out of my memory. Never seen a MH rod break that easily. My buddy bought one right after I broke mine and I tried to warn him. It made it through a couple trips before blowing up on him.

fishingskirts.com for me as well. That is a dangerous site when I've got money and jigs to tie.

Round, football, and brush for me. I could go the rest of my fishing life with those 3 without a problem.

They're killers for smallmouth in the fall in the few lakes around here that have smallmouth. The smaller shads that just hatched during the summer school up and get in the backs of cuts and pockets or up on flats and the smallmouth get in wolf packs and send shad flying everywhere! They hit them so hard it'll make your wrist sore by the end of the day sometimes. I like the Excalibers XR50 in Ghost, silver blue, or silver black.

I have a group with a couple of friends for fantasy fishing. If anyone wants in our group you can PM me your email address and I'll send an invite or if you have one you don't mind me joining PM me name of the group or PM me and I'll get you me email address for the invite.

Is this a bass tournament or a catch anything tournament? I've assisted with kids fishing derbies before and seen 50 kids on 2 acre ponds and everyone catching fish but most of those were catfish or bluegill. If it's a bass tournament 20 anglers would be a lot of people on a body of water that size for 6 hours even if it has a lot of fishable water.

Diawa Capricorn spinning reel. Felt nice in the store and then the bail spring broke the first trip out. Had the bail spring replaced and the reel became noticeably rougher after just a few trips. I retired to to a catfish reel after that. Had pretty bad luck with Cabela's Fish Eagle II rods also. I had a 6' light action spinning rod I used for crappie that broke 3 times in a month.

X2, black shore minnow, bone, and clear to be exact.

4 or 5 pounds, would have been a keeper for sure! I've walked a lot of the bank the last couple weeks out there looking for baits and that's the first dead fish other than a drum or shad I've seen. I've got 16 cranks sitting on my lure building table waiting on new split rings and trebles that I've found out there though. If I could find a market for bobbers, empty shotgun shells, or rusty crappie jigs I'd be sitting pretty!