Bluebasser86

Good looking old boat but I don't think I'd go over 3,000 for it. Even though the boat looks nice it's still over 30 years old and the motors almost 15 despite it's hours. That's just my feelings on it. I paid the same price for a 92' Ranger with a 150hp Mercury 2 stroke so I'd try to get them a to back off the price a bit.

Drew and I headed to Melvern today for the last time this year before the cold snap next week. Water temps stayed pretty steady from 49-50 degrees. It was a grind all day but the quality of fish was making up for it. My first fish of the morning was a solid 3.37lb 18.5" smallmouth on a Ned Rig. About an hour and a few fish later I got my second keeper of the day, 18" and 3.35 pounds, also on a Ned Rig. Drew got in on the action with a chunky smallmouth on a jigging spoon. Then I got a 17 3/4 incher also on a jigging spoon. and Drew followed up with the biggest spot he's ever caught, also on the spoon. We had a pretty long lull with only a few fish here and there. We decided to hit the outlet at the dam one more time before we left since we'd caught several of our fish off of it. Drew hooked up quickly on the spoon. The fish was fighting really odd. I thought he'd tailhooked a carp until the line came up quickly and a super stocky smallmouth went airborne. It was a pretty serious tussle before I got the net under one of the thickest smallmouth I've ever seen. She was 18.5" and 4.04 pounds! You can really tell how thick she was in this picture even though it's kind of dark.

A good stretch of warm water will bring fish shallow because the water there warms fastest. I wouldn't really consider 52 degree water temps winter water temps either though.

Drew and I headed to Melvern today for the last time this year before the cold snap next week. Water temps stayed pretty steady from 49-50 degrees. It was a grind all day but the quality of fish was making up for it. My first fish of the morning was a solid 3.37lb 18.5" smallmouth on a Ned Rig. About an hour and a few fish later I got my second keeper of the day, 18" and 3.35 pounds, also on a Ned Rig. Drew got in on the action with a chunky smallmouth on a jigging spoon. Then I got a 17 3/4 incher also on a jigging spoon. and Drew followed up with the biggest spot he's ever caught, also on the spoon. We had a pretty long lull with only a few fish here and there. We decided to hit the outlet at the dam one more time before we left since we'd caught several of our fish off of it. Drew hooked up quickly on the spoon. The fish was fighting really odd. I thought he'd tailhooked a carp until the line came up quickly and a super stocky smallmouth went airborne. It was a pretty serious tussle before I got the net under one of the thickest smallmouth I've ever seen. She was 18.5" and 4.04 pounds! You can really tell how thick she was in this picture even though it's kind of dark.

Yes sir, I fish all winter long with the power plant lakes. Our water temps are actually in the low 50's/high 40's still so I'm giving a lake that isn't a power plant lake one last shot today before I'll probably switch over to them exclusively except for the occasional pond. It's been a pretty decent year for numbers but the bigger fish haven't cooperated very well. I've caught 2666 bass this year but only one of those was over 6 pounds. No real reason. They say it's for safety reasons since our lakes, especially smaller ones like it is, usually ice up. It has several underwater springs that cause thin spots in the ice but they could just say keep off the ice and allow fishing until it ices up. They would have to close it for a little while in February still because they stock trout then so they'd have to let them get spread out in the lake.

If anyone is interested I'll be headed to Melvern tomorrow probably for the last time this year. I'll have an empty back of the boat if anyone wants to tag along. Weather looks pretty decent, little more wind than I'd like but shouldn't be too bad.

Yeah the plan would be to stand on top of my boats console and lift straight up. It's about 26-28 inches tall and flat on top, I stand on it to bowfish or sight fish all the time. Still would be a quick lift then look where it pushed the marker to. Big catfish always feel so much heavier than they are. That's part of why I'm not smiling with the big blue, it was all I could do to lift if off of my lap that far in time for the 10 second timer

Excited to hear how this turns out. I love summer sausage and I have plenty of hamburger for it.

That's funny right there!

Hello and welcome from just the other side of the state line!

This little guy is about the same size and he hit a 1/2oz brush jig with half a rocket craw so hard my line jumped noticeably while the jig was falling next to a dock. Kind of felt bad because I laid into him on the hookset

Are the weeds along the shoreline or in the water? We have lots of lakes with weeds along the shore and into water up to about 3 or 4 feet deep called water willow. The stuff is very tough if you snag in them and I find tons of baits snagged in them. Dams are one of my favorite place to bank fish in the winter. The rocks warm the water and algae grows on the rocks that attracts small fish and crawdads that the bass come to eat. Just make sure you fish slow. Pretty much everything a bass is going to eat during the winter is cold blooded and will be moving very slowly so move your bait slow to look natural.

Swimming a grub is the best way I've found to catch those bass. Cast it out and count it down and just do a slow, steady retrieve. I've caught a ton of bass out of Table Rock doing that. If it's allowed in your state the A-rig is really good at catching suspended fish too.

I went out and bought a 100lb spring scale the next day . If one bottoms that out I'll be looking for a certified scale to see if I have a state record.

I got 2 PB's this year. Both the same day and obviously neither one of them were bass. Not sure on the exact weights since they both bottomed out my 50lb scale but my PB for both flathead and blue cats were under 50 pounds so they're both for sure my new PB's

A longer rod makes casting and setting the hook easier. Most of the time the float and fly is used in deeper lakes where the fly may be set over 10' deep so the longer rod is the only way you can even cast it. If the water you're fishing is just a smaller creek and only 8' deep in the deepest pools you could probably get away with a 7' M/L or light rod.

I agree with Clayton. It's nice to shoot a big buck but that one will taste way better. Congrats on your first deer man!

Fished my bank spot at Gardner for half an hour this morning. I thought maybe with the warm, windy day they might be biting, I guess I was wrong. My second cast I caught a 18" saugeye on a trap. I had one other for sure bite and another I thought was a bite but didn't connect on either. At least I didn't blank I guess. Once I gave up on fishing I took the puppy and walked her through some waist deep grass and she went nuts. I couldn't breath I was laughing so hard. Hopefully she'll have the same energy and passion for duck hunting

People do the same thing in the warm water discharge areas at one of the lakes I fish in the winter time. The warm water concentrates the shad and in turn the game fish. I don't think they really try to net gamefish but if they get one while trying to get shad it goes in the bucket. Snagging is very popular and still illegal in the same area. Thankfully it's usually big buffalo or common carp that are caught by the guys doing this.

I use mine for finesse jigs like 5/16oz Eakin's jigs and lighter T-rigs. It's a good rod for weightless Senkos or flukes too. I wouldn't try to fish a 3/4oz jig on it, just a little too heavy for that rod imo. Never tried to fish a spinnerbait with so can't say on that.

I use glass with my C-rigs and that's the only time I use them. I use them for extra noise, if I want my T-rigs to make noise I'll put a rattle in the plastic. Glass can chip and fray your line so keep an eye out and throw it away if it does.

It's a brand of plastic hellgramites. In really cold water everything moves slowly. Usually lots of soaking and dragging and very few small hops will get most of your bites in the winter. You may try something like a float-n-fly also. Suspend the jig just off the bottom and let the current carry it around rocks and log jams. Don't move it or make it do anything except maybe a couple very small twitches when it comes through high percentage areas. Don't expect the bobber to shoot under, it will just dip slightly or stop drifting with the current.

I read everyone's responses on here and each one I'm thinking "Yep, that's why I go out too." Lots of good answers and reasons to be out there. I'm with Papajoe and Fishes in trees the most. I love figuring out the fish from day to day. Those days when my original plans work feels great because I was able to reach back in my mental files and figure the puzzle out just by using what I've learned through the years. It's also great to figure it out on the water after the original plan fails and salvage the day. Those are the days I feel I learn the most. Like Fishes said, my job deals a lot with people, usually not the kind of people most would like to have to deal with. That gets pretty stressful throughout the week so it's great for me to get away and clear my head. Fishing is one of the few things I feel I'm truly gifted at and it feels good to do something you're good at. Usually is something else I probably should be doing, but I like to save the housework for the bad weather days

Fished Wyandotte County Lake before it closes with sizzlefry Wednesday. Tried for some wipers because Sean and Chris S caught some really nice ones last week. I got my hook straightened on my jigging spoon 3 times and had another one pull off when I changed the hooks out. I did catch 3 very healthy, fat smallmouth in the 16 to 17 inch range. When we gave up on the wipers and started fishing for bass they were pretty willing to play. I had 31, all but those 3 smallies on shakyheads or a luck e strike rc stick Jr jerkbait. Right towards the end of the day I had by far my biggest largemouth I've caught out there this year eat my jerkbait right next to the boat and cruise by the boat like a mini sub. Had a long careful fight before Sean got the net under her. 20" and 4.14 pounds, she had great color and was one of the healthiest looking fish I've seen from out there. This lake doesn't produce many 15" keepers so a fish like this is a giant out there. I got back out there again Thursday with my friend Van. Way slower than Wednesday, I was afraid we may not catch a thing for a while. Finally got a few bass and whites and one small wiper on jigging spoons. Switched to jerkbaits and it was way slower than yesterday until we got to one bank. It was lights out for about 15 minutes. We fished from 9-3 and probably caught 75% of our bass in that 15 minutes. Right before we left I caught what would be my last keeper bass of the year from Wyandotte, a really healthy 17" fish on a shakyhead. I managed to put a total of 62 bass in the boat over those 2 days, not bad for the last week of November in Kansas Only 3 more months until it opens back up

I have Shimanos, Lews, Abu, Bass Pro, and Pfluegar. All of my reels are the mid-range, workhorse reels (Curado, speed spool, Revo S, Pro Qualifier, and Supreme). In my experience if you buy a quality reel and you take good care of it and get it serviced regularly they all work fine.