Bluebasser86

I'm just getting home from work at 4am a lot here lately. It's hard to ignore the rods in the passenger seat telling me to stop by a pond on the way home but after working 12 hour days for weeks on end I know I have to go home and sleep to be ready for the next day I'll be out there real early on my day off this week though since tomorrow is supposed to be the first day the high isn't in the triple digits in about 2 weeks. Then my day off (Monday) supposed to be the first rain in who knows how long. I don't even know if I'll wear my rain gear, just stand out in it and enjoy the cooler weather hopefully catch some fish too

I do that when I get home from work sometimes, especially if I worked a long day and I'm just getting home at 4:30 in the morning. Last night I had some crab dip on crackers, a banana with some peanut butter, and half a glass of chocolate milk. I know it's not good for me but when I'm that tired I just don't care.

I bought my wife a 6' 6" ML St Croix Avid Pearl spinning rod with a Quantum Energy PT10 (because it matched the holographic reel seat) It's not bright pink but I can't lie, I've fished with it myself and man it is really nice! She has a pink tackle box too.

I fish mainly Shimano and I do like them but I have no problem trying something else. I've got a Revo S I like pretty well and a couple Pfluegar Supreme spinning reels that I love. I've had lots of reels and I just keep coming back to Shimano because they've been good to me, but I don't consider myself one of the posse because I'm not going to argue with someone about how Shimano is better than all the rest.

That ending is like a movie where the hero dies in the end

Both my parents are still healthy and very much a part of my life. I can't imagine being without them. My family has a history of living long lives. All my grandparents are still alive and active and my last great grandparent just died this year when my Mom's grandma died at 97. My great grandma always told everyone not to cry for her when she was gone because she was going to a better place and she'd see us all again some day and she didn't want to know that she was the reason we were sad. She would tell us to remember the good times we had had and smile and be happy for those times. I doubt the feeling of wishing you could see him again will ever go away, but I'm sure he'd rather see you smiling remembering all the good times instead of being sad that he's not around anymore.

Cedar Creek is kind of like Critzer Lake that they opened up in Mound City, it almost has too much standing timber, I can't even get my boat through a lot of it. I'm sure Cedar Creek has some big fish in it but I've never caught any. I'm not sure I could get them up through the timber even if I could get one on. There's lots of fish in cedar for sure and some pretty decent fish too but the size of the fish are a lot like Bourban State Lake but it's a lot harder to fish because of all the trees.

I usually get the "What do you need another fishing reel for?" speech. I try to follow it up wit the "For the same reason you need another purse or pair of shoes" argument but then I remember I can't win.

War eagle finesse in mouse or sexy shad and a Tandem bladed War Eagle 3/8oz in sexy mouse or coleslaw are some of my favorites. A 3/8oz Indiana blade Booyah in white is my first pick early in the year.

You can never casts some baits too far, like deep running cranks.

Nice fish, looks like it could go 6 for sure! Give her a few years with the right conditions and she just might come back to visit you when she's a DD to say thanks for putting her back

Nothing quite like sitting under the stars on the river on a humid night with a campfire going listening to the coyotes and waiting for a big blue or flathead to make a bait clicker scream uncle

It's nice when it works like that, I've had a couple times this year I could have called my shot but most of my bigger bass have been from unexpected places it seems including my 6.10 biggest so far this year that was sitting on a nothing bank in about a foot of water.

Yep, it's a good little lake. About a 60/40 mix of largemouth to spots. Mainly rocky structure but there's some brushpiles and laydowns and the far south arms there are 2 pretty good sized creeks you can get back into a ways. There's Bourban State Lake, Bourban County Lake Cedar Creek, and Bourban County Lake Elm Creek. The state lake is by far the best.

If it's a 200 it should be 6.2:1 I believe. It's a pretty solid reel, especially to have someone just give to you. Send it to one of the guys on here and have it professionally cleaned, probably cost 30, maybe 40 bucks if it needs more than just a cleaning and you'll have a $100 reel for less than half price and working better than new.

I'm pretty sure I know the cast you're talking about and I can do that one too but I'm talking about a "give me some elbow room, above my head and 360 degrees around my perimeter, going to hit you in the side of the head with my bait if you're within 10 feet of me" around the world cast. It's a good way to really launch a bait, and make it obvious that getting too close to you could be hazardous to your health.

This is a tough time of year to catch anything some days. If you're stuck fishing during the day I'd try a 10" worm, you won't get many bites but the ones you get should be decent fish. Your best bet may be to wait until it gets dark out and try it then, those finicky bass are much more likely to feed at night when it's hot out and they're heavily pressured. Big worms are a good option then too.

I've tried several times but it never tastes right. I'm trying to make salsa like the kind you'd eat on chips, not for topping your burrito with, a thicker dipping salsa.

I really like fishing that little lake, it actually fishes a lot bigger than it is because you can literally catch fish anywhere in that lake. I know there's bigger ones in there but I think the little ones just beat them to the bait most of the time. I've caught a couple 4-41/2 pounders but I know they sample them up to 6 out of there, the spots are a nice bonus too, plus there's some huge crappie in there. That was another lake I'd considered for the get together because I was sure that everyone could catch fish but the dirt roads are rough getting out there and I knew some of the guys wouldn't be willing to pull their boats out there. Might have to try to get a fall get together put together, that lake is a blast once it cools off and they start slamming cranks and topwater

Looks great! I love the candy bug color in low light conditions or in stained water.

Since I bought a telescoping lure retriever I rarely lose a hardbait, jigs and plastics are another story. I lose lots of shakeyheads and jigs to rocks and trees but I make my own so they really don't hurt that bad to lose other than the time and effort I put into them. I fish a lot and the only hardbait I've lost this year was a popper that must have blown out of my boat off the console.

If the conditions allow it try a T-rigged or wacky rigged weightless Trick Worm, closest thing I know of to a live crawler.

I love that feeling but it drives me crazy when you do that and next thing you know you have someone elbowing in on you. That happens and I have to break out my around-the-world cast

Catfish will eat about anything, including plastics. If you really want to catch a cat on plastics get some Gulp, they love that stuff for some reason. I'd be willing to bet if you cut that fish open there is something blocking or stuck in it's intestines. As long as you aren't seeing bunches of fish that look like that I wouldn't be too worried.

They're tough to catch in the summer months. Deep jigging crawlers or drifting flats with jig and crawlers or minnows can be good. A lindy rig on dropoffs with a blown up crawler or a bottom bouncer/spinner rig trolled on the edge of flats or windblown banks would probably be your best bet. If you have a river that has a good population close that would be the first place I'd try. I have one place that isn't a river but moving water nontheless and they stay shallow in the rocks even during the summer and will crush a #5 shad rap or sassy shad.