Bluebasser86

Most important thing about fishing them. If you try to fish them at a normal crankbait retrieve speed they'll spin out, at least any I've ever fished will. The little ones are a killer on trout though.

Zoom meathead or Zman finesse worm on a splitshot rig.

If everyone doesn't mind it starting midmorning I'm in. Location isn't a huge issue to me, I have my preferences but fishing is fishing, as long as it isn't Hillsdale

Lots of small lakes that could fit that bill. Bourbon State Lake, Miami, Pleasanton, Ft.Scott, or Bone Creek are all smaller lakes that have bigger fish and good populations of smaller fish to give everyone a good shot at catching fish. Melvern is still my pick for bigger lakes. You can all but guarantee everyone some fish and you don't have to run all over to find fish. The town of Melvern may have a little hotel or something that people could stay in that would be cheaper and easier than camping or renting a lodge. For it to work out for me it will probably have to start later in the morning and I'll just have to drive out after work though.

I'm not real particular about my jig trailer brand. Zoom, Strike King, Berkley, BPS, doesn't really matter. I normally use a craw type trailer or a twin tail grub but half a brush hog or even a whole one if I'm after a big fish or a beaver style bait can be really good too.

Most moving baits but traps, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and squarebills are at the top of the list. I still fish jigs and plastics a lot too but the faster moving baits get the call a lot of the time.

Man you stole that combo! I've got a little 6' Avid with a Sahara 750 spooled with 3.1lb DAM techtan line that I usually fish with at least a little bit each week. It's a blast to catch fish with but it's almost too light to set the hook on anything bigger. I did manage to catch this 9lb 12oz flathead on it fishing a stream with one of my homemade trout jigs. That's way more fish than I really ever want to fight on that rod again. I doubt I would have landed it if the stream was any wider or if it had any cover in it other than rocks.

I took a treble to the calf when I was about 8 or 9 and it really didn't hurt that bad either. Not nearly as bad as a hook in the finger or hand anyways. I did the same thing, pushed it out and pinched the barbs down. Mine was just a little original Rapala with a lot smaller hook though thankfully.

Good to see you back Red! This summer has sucked about everywhere it seems. I know the numbers and size have not been there for me this summer for sure.

Those are the people that drive me crazy, the ones that go out to "fill the freezer." Selective harvest is a vital part of a healthy fishery, and by that I mean going and catching a few that are close to limit size (just over 15" here) and having them for dinner. I know as long as someone is following the limits it's well within their right to keep what they want but I can't help but wonder how much of it ends up getting lost in the freezer and thrown away a year or two later? That's really the case when I show up at the river and see someone unloaded 2 limits (10 a person) of big blue or flatheads out of boat.

They work too!

The good thing about Perry or Melvern in the fall is if the bass aren't biting very well you could probably smoke the white bass all day and maybe get a few 'eyes also.

Sounds like you're already kind of thinking you should stay a little longer so that's what I'd probably do. You're giving something up either way and like you said as much as it sucks being away from your family you're there to be able to provide for them and having extra money makes it a lot easier. Just make sure that if you stay you put some of that extra money away and calm the unneeded extra spending down with the money that doesn't go into savings.

I use wire that's for making floral displays. You can get it at craft stores for pretty cheap.

It's La Cygne, it could be amazing or everyone could blank completely. More than likely it will be slow but a few fish will be caught. Bad thing about La Cygne, other than the fact it will be packed on the weekends, is that there is almost zero places to get out of the wind on that lake if it's from the north or south. It wouldn't be hard for someone to stay in those cabins but make the short drive to Miami or Pleasanton though if the wind was going to be a problem. Melvern and I believe Perry both have cabins also.

I've seen too many Veritas rods returned because of damaged eyes or broken rods. I asked a good friend that works at Cabela's and he said that other than Cabela's brand rods the Veritas is one of the most returned rods because they're broken or damaged. Maybe that's just the users mistreating them but I've never had any problems with the "made in the usa" St.Croix lineup.

He's probably flipping really thick weeds and needs that much weight to punch through them. Is a bobber stop too small? If so you might try a bobber stop with a small plastic bead between the stop and the sinker.

3/8 white with tandem nickle blades if I could only have one.

Spook, trap, or a swimbait. Shad colors.

Nice! Is that at the state lake? They've got to be getting ready to fire back up down there.

Yeah I would ask him to introduce you to his parents if he's going to be hanging around with you again. It's a really cool story and I know how cool it is to introduce someone to the sport. I've done some mentor programs while I was in school and also Big Brothers Big Sisters and going fishing is always one of the main activities. It's important you at least talk to the parents though so it doesn't turn into a bad experience for you. I had a similar experience while I was fishing a small lake a few years ago. A young boy was fishing off the bank and asked if he could fish from my boat with me since I was by myself. I told him that was fine but to ask his parents and to get a life jacket because I didn't have an extra. He left for about 10 minutes and came back with a life jacket so I assumed his parents were ok with it. The lake was only 20 acres so it only takes about an hour to fish around but as we're getting back to where his family was camping I could hear people yelling for him. I knew immediately that he hadn't asked but just found a life jacket and came back. It was a really embarrassing situation that could have landed me in a bunch of trouble. I told them I was very sorry and what had happened exactly. They finally calmed down and I decided to call it a day after that. It all could have been prevented if I would have just gone with him and talked to them myself though and a bad situation could have been avoided.

Not sure I'd be able to make it but I'll try. I'd think maybe a smaller lake this time? Something like Miami or Pleasanton? I'd be up for Melvern again or Perry too though. Somewhere around mid October would probably be pretty good so we should be past turnover and all that mess and the fish should be in full fall feeding frenzy mode.

It's been pretty tough everywhere lately, everywhere I've been anyways. Going to check out a new lake Wednesday that's supposed to have some big fish, hopefully that will pan out better than Perry did last Wednesday.

Casting spoons are like your Little Cleos and Dardevils. They're generally tear drop shaped. Flutter spoons tend to be large, curved spoons that are relatively thin to help them catch water and flutter on the drop. The Strike King Sexy Spoon is a flutter spoon Jigging spoons are usually kind of oval shaped and very compact and heavy built to get down quickly. Slab spoons are another kind of jigging spoon. Basically just a slab of painted lead but they're usually a little wider than standard jigging spoons. These are probably what you see guys catching white bass from a river on since they're inexpensive and get down quickly in the current.

4.4 with that big head and skinny body and assuming that the average males middle finger is around 4 inches in length put that fish right around 20 inches, at least by my calculations