Bluebasser86

I still like a Zoom cross craw or critter craw when I want a subtle profile for a jig trailer. A Guido Bug on a shakyhead is a killer stream smallmouth bait.

I prefer the spook for open water but it does work great for calling up fish along bluff walls if it's fished right up against the wall. I also like the spook in clearer water because I can cast it a mile and cover a lot of water quickly. For heavier cover or dirtier water I prefer a buzzbait. If the fish are holding tight to the shoreline it's hard to beat a popper for being able to stay in the strike zone a long time.

Spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, rattletraps, and jigs catch a majority of the big fish I catch out of ponds.

X2, except they're only a hour from me, and will probably both be less than an hour by the time the cold weather gets here. Nothing ever froze over last year so I caught fish out of local ponds all winter long last year. I had almost caught 100 bass by the end of January last year, most of those fish coming from ponds.

Nice, were you targeting muskie or was it an accidental catch? It looks like a see a leader in your picture but if I was fishing a custom painted hardgill in muskie waters I'd be using a leader too, even if I was after bass.

That appears to be a longnose gar in your picture. You can tell by the, uh, long nose Here's how to ID them. http://www.garfishing.com/garhow.html They put up a good fight but I bet he poked some holes in your frog

That last one looks like a spot but depending on where in Texas you were I believe there are a couple of the less abundant species of bass down there like the Guadalupe bass. Looks very much like a spotted bass to me. http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=929&tbm=isch&tbnid=qgX0uD8hi2Hr_M:&imgrefurl=http://www.bio.txstate.edu/~tbonner/txfishes/micropterus%2520treculii.htm&imgurl=http://www.bio.txstate.edu/~tbonner/txfishes/GUADALUPE%252520BASS,%252520JUVENILE.jpg&w=1020&h=361&ei=Bo84UPGuE8fzygHI-oCwCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=337&vpy=232&dur=1081&hovh=133&hovw=378&tx=163&ty=65&sig=115030931878620941267&page=1&tbnh=68&tbnw=192&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:106

I noticed them on the map as I was looking for a plan B in case Belcher Branch didn't pan out the other day. After doing some research they appear to be oxbow lakes that are pretty shallow. Lewis and Clark looked like it had promise from what I could see on Google Maps but everything I could find only talked about catching catfish, carp, and crappie. I probably should have at least drove by it and took a look at it in person while I was up there. I know it has quite a few docks and looked like it had quite a bit of weeds in it.

Not around here there isn't. A fish over 7 pounds is a rare fish here. I've been fishing my entire life, most of it in the area I live now and I'm a decent fisherman I think. In all the thousands of hours of fishing I've done, I've caught 4 fish over 7lbs in my home state. All of those fish were in lakes I fish often and catch good numbers of 4-6 pound fish and release. It's possible I'd have never caught a fish over 7 in Kansas if myself and others didn't turn those fish loose. There's a powerplant lake south of me about an hour that used to produce lots of big fish every winter until the "trophy fishermen" showed up. Every big fish that was caught went home to go on someone's wall. Now if you get a few fish over 6lbs a year from there you did really well. I guess I don't understand how it would be selfish of me if I turn a fish lose and ask others to turn a big fish loose so everyone has a chance to catch her again but someone else catching it and killing it just so they can put it on their wall isn't.

Well so much for the extra money I was going to have from this paycheck. How is a guy supposed to resist being able to buy 2 of the rods he really wants when he's basically getting the second one free?? Just not fair. On the plus side I'll have a new 6' 6" MH spinnerbait rod and a new 7' MH worm rod soon

I like DAM Techtan line, have yet to find a thinner, stronger line for ultralight applications. Hard to find though and pretty much any limp mono will work.

Black Cavitron Xcaliber Zell Pop Norman Top Dollar

Looks like about the right weight but it's hard to tell with pics. Get a length and girth on them too so you can do fish calculators plus it's easier for other people to guess the weight. I'd guess that fish is around 18.5-19 inches long which usually equals a fish around 4 pounds in most bodies of water.

Couldn't someone just as easily buy someone else's mount and make up a story of how they fooled the monster? If someone has the money and want to get a replica made with measurements they just thought up then more power to them. To me it's all about the story behind the fish. I love my sport and I appreciate and respect the fish I'm chasing. A truly large fish has beat all the odds to grow to its size. For me to kill it just to put it on my wall so I can beat my chest and yell that I caught it when I could get a replica made and give myself or someone else a chance to catch it again seems a little selfish to me, just my .02.

2 powerplant lakes within an hours drive for me with good fishing for a variety of species means I never have to fish hard water . Last year was so warm that everything stayed open and I caught fish bank fishing local ponds all winter long. If the powerplants are both producing poor fishing at the same time (which they rarely are) then I go hunting instead.

Looks like a text book example of a chain pickeral to me too. You can even make out the chain links in it's color pattern in your picture.

Peter and I got to Belcher Branch around 5am Wednesday to give that lake a try. Nice little lake with lots of weeds and standing timber. It was a little slow until it got light enough to see what we were doing, then we got on them pretty good with a buzzbait and frog. I got a good fish on the buzzbait at 19 inches and 3.34lbs. Caught them pretty good until the sun got up higher, then they shut down almost completely. After catching maybe 5 in 2 hours we tossed the boat back on the trailer and crossed over state lines to try Warnock Lake in Atchison. I hadn't fished it in a few years but it used to have good numbers of solid fish. The bright green water and stink from the local hog farms didn't inspire much confidence but we were quickly catching fish, although they were much smaller than I remembered they were very healthy and scrappy. It's only about 30 acres so it didn't take long to make a lap and we did good enough to go around a second time. I picked up a crankbait for the first time and got smacked while I was pulling through a brushpile on the dam and landed a very fat 18" fish that went 3.9lbs. After getting that one I was inspired to try for a bigger fish so I put a 10" black and blue worm on and started pitching it into the numerous brushpiles. Towards the other end of the lake I stuck a good fish on the worm. Almost 19" long and 3.8lbs. That was it on the bigger fish but I had a fish that felt really solid come off on one of my homemade jigs right before we left. She was big enough to make a big boil on the surface despite being 2 feet down in a brushpile that I couldn't get her out of. It was nice to get more than one good one for the first time in a long while!

I normally fish a worm but I'll also fish a baby brush hog or BPS crack craw on one. I'll usually try both retrieves to see what works best. Sometimes they want the bait to fall off the ledge and sometimes they want it climbing and popping over rocks and trees. Fished my first Wednesday nighter of the year last night with my buddy Jon. Caught fish all night but just could not buy a keeper. I lost 3 or 4 on a buzzbait that would have been close and broke one off on a dropshot that felt heavy but never saw it. 11 or 12 boats weighed in 4 fish but one guy had a smallmouth that was 4.38lbs and the guy that won it had a small largemouth and one that was 3 1/2lbs for 4.66lbs. Don't know what they got them on but the guy that caught the smallmouth was talking about fighting it a long time on light line so probably a shakyhead or dropshot. It had great color and swam off strong.

Depends what you're fishing for. La Cygne is better for Largemouth and big wipers, Coffey is better for everything else. If you like crappie coffey has some of the biggest ones you'll see in Kansas. They're strict on limits though, you can have 2 crappie a day and they have to be over 14 inches! I caught 7 keepers out there one day last winter though.

Curtis and I fished Wyco yesterday from about 9:15-2:45. It was a grind but put over 20 fish in the boat with a mix of largemouth and smallmouth, nothing over 15" though. Shakyhead was by far the best option and most fish were off the banks a little ways at least.

Not even close, if you were in northern Oklahoma you'd actually be close to some good bass fishing

La Cygne is all but impossible at times. I usually stay away from it during the summer because the water gets so hot. It's great to be able to fish soft water during the winter time though. I'm like Chris, as long as it isn't windy and it gets to about the mid 20's I'll be out there chasing them. The current state record is actually from a private strip pit in Scammon but La Cygne does give up a 10 pounder or two almost every year.

You sir get an upvote for hating that song. That song makes me want to run into oncoming traffic. It's like a nursery rhyme for college kids and adults that haven't let go of their college days. I can not stand most new country. Even some of the folks that have been around for a long time who have tried to cash in on the new style country and failed miserably. I do like some of the "Hick hop" guys like Colt Ford. Also like Hank III, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, and Randy Houser. We have a country legends station here that only plays songs that are 10 years old or older that I like because it plays what I consider true country music.

Got my first cell phone when I turned 16 and started driving in case my truck broke down or in case I had boat problems or stuck in a field while I was hunting. My first phone made it a whole month until I leaned over the hole while I was ice fishing and it fell straight down the hole I have since continued my terrible luck with phones. I've jumped in the lake with my phone in my pocket twice, waded in with one in my pocket, dropped one down a stairwell from the second story of a parking garage, and my personal favorite threw a 3 month old Iphone and otterbox that was a birthday present from my wife in the lake on a hookset while I was talking to said wife The one I have now is my longest surviving one so far, nearly 2 years old Back to your topic though my first phone was a cheap Nokia, it made calls and that was it. If I wanted anything fancier I had to pay for it. With a record like that with phones there is no way I'd buy a fancy phone for myself but there has been more than once that having one saved my bacon.

Same for me, it's my release from the stresses of everyday life. I forget about everything when I'm on the water. It's just me, my gear, and nature. The challenge in trying to figure the fish out day to day is a big part of it also.