Bluebasser86

Squarebills, buzzbaits, and some deep running cranks.

I make some of my homemade ones with really full skirts so they fall slowly and have a lot of bulk. Makes them better in colder water or dirty water I think.

Jigs will never go out of style for bass. I've got boxes and boxes of nothing but jigs. Funny thing is I only have maybe 12-15 colors total, just various weights and head types for different situations.

They're easier to fish if they're laying down and you know what direction they're facing. That way you can pull the bait with the grain instead of against it, you're less likely to hang up that way.

I also have an aluminum, a 16' Lowe Roughneck but those trees we're too thick for me to get through on Critzer unless I started the big motor and powered through and I wasn't up to that. I've launched my boat directly into that little pond to the east at Miami and it can be some great fishing. The weeds are terrible this year so I haven't fished it but I'm sure it would be good with frogs. We almost tried it the other day but decided to head to the next lake where I knew we could catch some fish. I have seen a ton of bullfrogs at a couple public ponds, big, topwater frog eating sized frogs.

That's my friend's boat who lives on the lake I was fishing. We were geared up for it to rain and about 10 minutes before we went home it sprinkled just hard enough for us to feel for about 5 seconds.

It didn't rain on us all day and the fishing at Miami sucked! I got 8 in about 2 hours with a 4.73lb fish being the only bigger than 15". It was so slow we decided to go try a super secret lake I got permission to fish a 30 acre lake I grew up on in Piper, KS since it was made private several years ago. The fish there were healthy and hungry I caught 26 and Jon probably had 15 or 20 himself. No big bass, but several over 15" up to about 18", a lot of fun and sore ribs since they were eating plastics. One bite was decidedly different. I was hoping it was a big bass but this chunky flathead was still a good time. He at a Havoc Craw Fatty and he hasn't missed many meals for sure!

Going early and staying until about 4 if they're biting. Friend of mine went last Saturday and had about 40 with a 4 pounder being the biggest and his friend had another 15 or 20. I'm sure the first hour or two will be by far the best like it normally is.

Friend and I are hitting Miami tomorrow, storms or no storms. I could think of worst ways to go than struck by lightening while I was fishing Should be a good swimbait bite with the cool down and the forcasted clouds tomorrow. If not I know they'll always eat a jig or a squarebill, usually both. Hopefully have a good report tomorrow night.

Despite the triple digit temps we've been experiencing every day for the past two weeks the fishing has been surprisingly good.

At the angle that fish appears to be swimming I would think a catfish's dorsal would be out of the water too since they can't lay it down. If that's the case setting juglines would be a waste of time.

The reel doesn't catch the fish, the bait does Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, buzzbaits, topwaters, swimbaits, jigs, worms, senkos, tubes, all can be fished on a baitcaster and will catch smallmouth just fine.

Depends on the terrain. This time of year if I'm fishing a small pool and get snagged I just go in after it unless I'm planning on fishing it for awhile and don't want to spook the fish, then I'll break off instead. Rocks tend to be the worst bait eaters when you're crawling the bait along the bottom.

What did you think of Critzer? I thought the trees were a little too thick down there, I couldn't even get through them about 1/2 the time. I was also under the impression that they were just short of jumping in the boat, I worked hard to catch a couple dozen, none of them bigger than about 2 pounds. I didn't catch a single fish off the dam down there. A guy I work with has several pictures of him and his friend with 5+ pound fish from out there, all on jigs according to him.

It's a grass carp, they do that in the lakes and ponds around here all the time. I love it when they do that cause then I can sneak up close enough to fling an arrow at them. I've never seen a catfish cruise the surface close enough that their tail was out of the water and their mouth and whiskers not be out of the water too. That would also explain the blueish green color of the tail.

I don't know how many times I'll be at the gas station putting gas in the boat and truck and someone will ask "going fishing?" Now if I was pulling a fish and ski or pontoon I could give them the benefit of the doubt but when I'm pulling a 16' aluminum with 2 depthfinders on it and rods sticking out everywhere, a bow mount foot control trolling motor and a bunch of tackle? Come on man.

Unless you're one of the lucky few the ability to eat whatever you want will go away. It caught up to me. I went from 170 and 9% bodyfat when I graduated highschool to now being 21% bodyfat and 210 at 26. I'm already starting to feel the extra weight in my back in knees and I get tired way easier. It sucks and I know it just gets harder from here.

10lbs looks to be about right. Carp are a good time to fight on rod and reel but I'd much rather shoot them with an arrow, plus they make great cutbait for big catfish. If you want a big fish that's easy to catch and found about everywhere and pull like a truck, carp fit that bill about perfect.

I bought my wife one of the cheap "cute" pink combos and it only lasted a year even with the limited use it got from her and it kept tangling and was heavy so she'd get tired of holding it after a little while. That's why I went with the top of the line stuff I could afford to get her. Now her casting and reeling is effortless so she can fish longer and if she fishes longer it means I get to fish longer

Wow this thread needs to just go away already. It's starting to sound like an argument between a bunch of first graders "Na uh! You don't know!" Some of us like Shimano, some a little too much perhaps, some of us like other brands of reels, Goodnight!

Gulp minnows and Zoom meatheads

They haven't been producing nearly as well during the heat of the summer now. Once the shad get balled up again in the fall and in the back of the coves I'll be real interested to see what happens.

We have a winner

That's some pretty looking water and a healthy looking little fish. I've been playing with a 6" Hudd in a lake that is notorious for only producing small fish, it's amazing how small of a fish can inhale a 6" bait.

Small bass in that size range in early spring are pretty decent eating, they haven't got quite the fishy taste to them that they get once they get to about 16 or 17 inches. If you try them and don't like them I'm sure you can find someone who does. Some of the guys at work love those smaller bass and they're easy to fillet and I just happened to have a pond loaded with stunted bass so I cleaned a bunch for them a few times. Now the pond produces much better average size fish after doing that for a couple years now. They get pretty wormy once it gets hot though so it's just an early spring thing.