Bluebasser86

Anyone I've ever talked to says it's good for catfish and that's about it but I've never fished it myself.

It can be very boring but it's far from a technique for "lazy losers". You have to be able to read a lake and the structure in it, know where the fish will be holding, what speed your boat needs to be going, what direction your bait needs to cross with the fish, what baits to use, what gear will get your bait where it needs to be, and a host of other factors. True you can just pull the first bait out of your box behind the boat long enough and probably catch something but the same could be said for casting a bait. Personally I'd rather get poked in the eye with a sharp stick then have to troll because it bores me to tears but I have done it and if you know what you're doing it can be far more effective than casting the same baits you're trolling. It's great for coving lots of water and picking up scattered fish or fishing a bait in water way deeper than it would normally reach. I've had my best success trolling with number 5 or 7 shad raps or glass raps. I wasn't trolling for bass but they can't seem to leave those things alone at time.

Like the head, the hook is crap though.

Same deal in KC. I don't fish RES very often but for that price they're good ones to throw in nasty places or at big hybrids since they don't hurt as bad to lose. They're some colors I haven't seen anywhere else too.

I move to pretty much all night fishing for catfish during the summer months. I bring a sleeping bag and set my baitfeeders and kick back. Some nights all I catch are Z's, some nights you can't hardly keep up with them. It's pretty much the same deal with big cats during the summer, if you aren't fishing at night you aren't catching the big fish. The skeeters are terrible around here on the river too. I used to just get all the way inside my sleeping bag and close the top over my head. It was pretty brutal on those 80-90 degree nights but it was better than getting eaten alive. Tried bug spray but these skeeters just like that stuff like salt off the rim of a margarita glass before they bite you. Now I have a Thermacell, no need for any headnet or long sleeves with that thing, it's great if you're sitting still.

Nice redear! I had one that size chase my DD22 to the boat once, I really wish it would have hit it, would have been my biggest by far! If they got that big regularly I'd probably fish for bass a lot less.

Never have done much good night fishing for smallmouth. I've tried at Melvern too and caught nothing but flatheads until it got light out. I've caught a couple at Wyco on spinnerbaits and shakyheads with finesse worms but not near the numbers I catch if I'm after largemouth. I know they bite at night though, some guides are pretty successful fishing for smallmouth at night.

That's a beautiful bait! My heads never look that clean when they're finished. I doubt the fish care any but it sure does look nice!

WHAT?? Then it's just going to get fished hard again once it's restocked and you'll have a bunch of overfished dinks. If it's your buddies privately owned pond he could always make it off limits for a year or two to give the fish a break. I've had the chance to fish a couple smaller lakes after they had been closed for a couple years and they're usually pretty incredible when they first reopen. At the very least he might think about being more selective about the people that are going out there.

Anyone ever fished it? Buddy of mine said he did once a few years back and did really well but hasn't been back since. Thinking about making the drive up there Wednesday but don't really want to drive an hour if the fishing isn't going to at least be decent. http://maps.google.c...F-8&sa=N&tab=il http://prepro.mdc.mo.gov/reports/belcher-branch-lake

I made over 400 this past winter, 3 3700 boxes stuffed full of finesse, football, casting, swimming, and flipping jigs. Plus the probably around 50 store bought jigs I had before I started making my own. I know I have lots of jigs I bought on sale still in a tote in the garage, no idea how many might be in there though. Jigs are an easy bait to have a lot of, they'll never go out of style.

Yes.....

Nice! Usually a 18" fish runs around 3lbs here but I was fishing a private lake that I just got access to with a buddy a couple weeks ago, and he had one that was 16 3/4" and 3.39lbs. It was truely footballish.

Xcalibur XR50 and XRK50 in ghost or rayburn red are about the only traps I use anymore. I have them in several other colors and I have some RES that I use on occasion but they just don't work as well for me as the Xcalibur does.

I'm a big fan of War Eagle spinnerbaits. The little 5/16oz finesse spinnerbait in mouse color seems to catch fish when I can't get them to touch any other spinnerbaits. I could get through most situations with that bait plus a 3/8oz double willowleaf bait in mouse, spot remover, white/chart, and the same colors in a colorado/indiana blade combo for dirtier/cooler water.

Tiny paca, twin tail grub, or the smallest size craw papi.

Man, all those fish are thick but that big one is a tank!

The state park marina is the last ramp on the north side by the dam. Thunderbird is the next to last ramp on the north side of the lake going towards the dam. Thunderbird is in the state park I guess but the other ramp in the state park doesn't have a name I don't think.

http://www.clydetheguide.com/

Spook or Super Spook can be great on windy days and still cast very easily in the wind.

Don't know if he does Smithville but Clyde the Guide is a stand up guy that knows how to find fish with the best of them. I believe he provides all the gear and will even pick his clients up at their house. He guides on a lot of lakes in Northeastern and Central Kansas and will fish for about anything. Everyone I've ever know that fished with him said it was a great experience.

I didn't have a single attractive teacher my entire school career and it seems a majority of the teachers we had were dudes

If you go to Hazel creek send me a PM and I'll tell you what I know and try to help you the best I can. I catch most of my smallmouth at Wyco on shakyheads or topwater and a bunch on jerkbaits in the spring. There's some really big ones in there, it's just a matter of getting them to bite. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some good smallmouth up shallow at Milford. I caught a 4 pounder there last year when it was pretty hot out in about 4' of water off the dam. From Thunderbird it's basically a decision of if you want to target smallies or largemouth. Turn right you're after largemouth, left it's smallmouth. I've caught them both all over the lake but that just seems where I catch most of both of them. The point to the north in the cove that the marina is in is usually a good spot for wipers but never done much for smallmouth. I've actually caught some of my best largemouth around the marina and in the scattered brushpiles in the marina cove, at least towards the south end of the lake. The State Park marina cove is usually really good for smallmouths and I've caught some solid keeper largemouth up to 18" out of there also. Seems I catch most of my largemouth on jigs or cranks and most of my smallmouth on shakyheads and soft plastics, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and topwater. If you can get an overcast day out there you can have a blast fishing a spinnerbait or trap. I've caught 2 5 pound smallmouth and 1 4 pound smallmouth from Milford. 1 5 on a jerkbait off the boatramp in the state park marina cove, 1 5 on a trick worm and shakyhead in the furthest south corner of the dam that you're allowed to take a boat, the 4 was on a 3" Gulp minnow on a 1/8 jighead swimming it in the middle of the dam. This spring I lost a 4-4.5 pound smallmouth off a lone stump on a spinnerbait on a big mud flat on one of the first main lake points on the south side near the dam. If I could figure out how to draw on this google map images I'd mark the places I'm talking about so it wasn't quite so vague. This was the best I could do with a map. The spots I marked are mostly smallmouth spots but I've also caught largemouth and spots at several of them. I didn't mark the dam, figured it's a pretty obvious spot for smallmouth. http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=10&ll=39.079291,-96.919928&spn=0.012893,0.016479&z=16&vpid=1345156029616&t=h&lyt=large_map&hyaw=313.18182601138545

I have fished for largemouth at Milford a little bit but never had a lot of success fishing for them. Plus I don't get to fish smallmouth a lot and that is the best smallmouth lake in the state in my opinion. I've mainly fished for them towards the north end in tournaments just because they're heavier than smallmouth. There are some nice largemouth in there but they are much more difficult to locate because of their low numbers. I've had my best luck flipping around timber and the few docks or cranking rock piers or points. Hazel creek is a great lake and I really wish it was closer, there's some monsters in that lake. I posted on a trip that I took with my friend out there a couple months ago on the central forum. It's worth the drive without a doubt. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/103436-hazel-creek-lake/

I got hit by "the urge" driving to the lake one morning. Well it wasn't really an urge, it was a full on code brown! It was early in the morning thankfully and still dark out but it didn't stop my buddy from almost falling into the ditch laughing at me leaning against the outboard and holding onto the transom of my boat on the shoulder of the highway. When you got to go you got to go, sometimes waiting until you can get to a good location just isn't an option.