Bluebasser86

We fished Tuesday morning from open until 11am. Had 5 keepers that we measured from 15.5-18 all on shakeyheads or flipping weeds. We got on the schools by the dam really good for a while and was really whacking the 13-14 inchers, we had several doubles on walking baits and grubs. Most of our fish were largemouth but we did have a couple smallmouth. I talked one of my friends that fishes the Wednesday nighters every week and he said the guys that won it culled twice. I've never even heard of a limit getting caught during one of those tournaments but it does seem that the number of keepers is higher than normal this year so maybe that lake is growing up.

I like red hooks because they make me more confident in my bait and confidence is one of the best things to have in a fishing lure. I change my hooks because I know the hooks I'm putting on the bait are good hooks. When that big one eats my bait I don't want to be left wondering why I didn't just put hooks I know are good on my bait.

Looks like a snook, a big one at that!

All my cavitrons fade to the left and I'd much rather them do that than run straight. I can follow a weedline or run the bait under a dock or into cover much easier with them running like that.

None of my favorite clear water colors are on there. Smoke purple flake, smoke no flake for grubs. Watermelon candy, watermelon red, watermelon magic, watermelon purple, GP/red, GP, GP magic, watermelon jelly, all favorites in clear water.

Yes they can and they get much bigger than people think. We trapped one a few years ago that was almost 70lbs and their teeth can chew through trees so skin and bone isn't any stretch for them. I thought I'd hooked a new state record night fishing several years ago on a jitterbug. Huge splash and stripping drag but after a few seconds I realized my line was above the water, way above the water. A great horned owl had picked up my jitterbug and was flying off. He ended up crashing into the bushes and pulled the hook out before he flew off. I called it a night after that.

They'll probably catch a few fish but I doubt they'd be your best option. I've seen solid black be deadly in clear water so I'm sure black/chart would work.

They work all year long but they usually aren't the best option around here, not the suspending models anyways. A floating minnow like an original Rapala twitched on the surface can be deadly.

Wow, they must have been cruising pretty fast to cause that much damage to that boat. Wonder if it was dark out? It's amazing how hard those big walls can be to see when it's dark, they almost look like a bank of clouds in the dark. That's not a forgiving structure to crash into for sure!

Both fish were pretty fat but the flathead was especially fat. I was using a 7' 6" St.Croix Classic Cat MH casting rod with a 400B Calcutta and 80lb Cajun Red Braid. I didn't have any way to measure the fish, all I had was a 22" board I use to measure bass and walleye. I could have cut lengths of line but it was over 100 degrees out and I didn't want to lay them on my aluminum bottomed boat to get the measurements. I wasn't worried about a state record, our state record is also the world record, 123 pounds from Elk City back in the mid 90's I think.

Both of them bottomed out my 50lb scale. I've caught flatheads up to 50 before and this fish was for sure bigger in every way.

Yeah I wish I had a way to measure them when I caught them but other than cutting some line and saving the length that way. I was in a hurry to get them back in the water because it was almost 100 degrees out and I didn't want to set them on the hot aluminum bottom of my boat. I didn't have a any help, a net, or any gloves so they were tough to land, I ended up trying to beach the flathead and she came unhooked right when I got her up to the rocks but thankfully she must have been as tired as I was because she just laid there for a second when I jumped on her and lip landed her, I couldn't even begin to get my hand around her tail it was so thick. I'm 6' tall and 215lbs if that helps to have something for a size reference.

Went out to try a new boatramp on the Kansas River yesterday mainly with the goal of shooting some flying silver carp with my buddy. After a couple hours he had to leave because one of his kids got sick at school so I was on my own which makes driving the boat and shooting carp out of the question so I decided to do some fishing, turned out to be a great move. I had some carp in the boat so I was using them as cutbait. Both fish bottomed out my 50lb digital scale so not sure on the exact weight but they're both bigger than any flathead or blue I've ever caught before! Anyone want to take a guess on the weights of these bruisers? They were both CPR'd to hopefully grow bigger and visit me again another day.

Don't have any kids yet but when we have them we will spank them if they need it. I was usually a good kid growing up but when I got out of line I had 2 loving, caring parents to knock me back in line. I got spanked, slapped, switched, and even a plate broke over my head, and I deserved it ever time. I was mid teens with the plate thing and I was being mouthy to my mom using some grown up words with her and my dad just happened to have a dinner plate in his hands. It wasn't really a hard hit, just in the right spot I guess. They always gave everyone involved a cool down and then we had a talk about why it happened. Most of the times just the threat of it was enough to keep me in check but once I got older I guess I got to the age where I thought my parents wouldn't do it anymore and I was wrong. Kids have to know the boundaries and they have to know there are going to be problems if they go past those boundaries. They'll test and see how far they can go because they don't know. Problem is when they never hit the boundary line because their parents don't discipline them they feel there are no limits to what they can get away with. That's how you end up with a group of punks harassing and threatening a bus moniter. As for the lady going to call the cops, like others have said she needs mind her own buisness. There is a fine line between abuse and discipline and while she may have had your son's safety in mind she has to understand that you're his father and you're allowed to discipline your son as you chose as long as it's within scope of the law.

Poppers and smaller walking baits-6'2" M/XF Avid/Curado 50E Bigger walkers/buzzbaits-6'6" M/F Mojo/Revo S Frogs-7' 3" M/MF Legend Tournament/Curado 200E7

What weight/action/length rod did you get and what did you have? If you went from a lighter rod to a heavier rod it might be harder to feel the smaller baits very well. If they have the same ratings I can tell you the St.Croix is going to be on the heavy side of whatever it's rated, as St. Croix rods tend to be. So if you got a medium, it's going to be like most other companies medium heavy.

I switch all mine to VMC inlines. I know some people will say they straighten easily but I've never had an issue with them even when I accidently stick a big hybrid or catfish. I know they're fairly inexpensive and a sharp hook that seems to hold their point for a long time.

Sunny days=black cloudy days=black anything in between=black doesn't have to be solid black, can have red, yellow, blue, whatever other colors on it, as long as it's mostly black. Like others have said color doesn't seem to matter much but I've found I seem to hook up more often with black frogs. My theory is they can see it better so it makes it an easier target for them to get.

Same here, shakeyheads first, then football jigs. I've been trying to get deep crankers to work but just have very sporadic success with them. Some of our lakes get good weed cover shallow or have lots of docks so I never have to go deep thankfully.

Well Chris and I got back from Hazel Creek this afternoon. We're tired and our thumbs are torn up and even a little cut up. We got out before dark Tuesday morning and tried some bowfishing. The wind was already bad and it was tough to see in the murky water. I shot 2 grass carp in the 40lb range but both of them pulled off. Once the sun started to get up we started getting to the main attraction. We caught several fish that were much smaller than I expected but it didn't take long before I got one of the healthy bass that we were after on a pit boss. I was getting quite a few small ones on a LC RC 2 squarebill but on one small point the fish I thought was a little nicer bass turned out to be a pretty little muskie. The fish of 10,000 casts proved to not be very finicky this trip. Moving on, I missed a good fish on a tube and we caught a few more small ones when I got the first keeper of the trip off a tree in about 8 feet of water. 18" and a little over 3 pounds. It got tough from there as the sun came up. I caught another muskie on a spinnerbait about the same size as my first but it squirted out of my hands and back into the water before we got a picture. We decided to get off the lake until the afternoon when it cooled off a little. Once we got back we started about the same speed. We got a few small ones flipping trees. I pitched to a laid down tree with a 7" Rage Andaconda and got thumped. Stuck a good fish that pulled like it was twice it's size. Chris lipped her for me, got a weight and a couple pictures and put her back. 19.5" and 5 pounds even. We tossed some deep runners on a flat and caught a couple dinks and I had a muskie chase mine to the boat and follow for 3 or 4 figure 8's before it sank out of sight. It was starting to get dark and Chris was throwing a spinnerbait in a cove between some stumps while I was doing the same with a spinnerbait. Right as his buzzbait got to the boat it sounded like he tossed a brick in the water and mayhem set in at boatside as his first muskie ever strained his bass gear while he tried to keep it out of the trees. He did a great job keeper her away from all the obstacles and I slid the net under her. We didn't really plan on catching any muskie so we didn't have anything to measure any longer than my 22" measuring board but it was probably 30-32 inches and 7-9 pounds. Not sure what had happened to its gills but it didn't seem to be hurting it any as it swam away with no problems. There's 1 island on the lake I wanted to try as it was about dark because it has deep water all around and then gets really shallow quickly around it but doesn't have any cover. I was thinking maybe they'd be up there pushing shad towards the shallows and feeding. Sticking with the same baits, Chris tossed his buzzbait up shallow and a huge head and mouthful of teeth engulfed his bait and it was on again . This one was obviously bigger and much thicker than the first and Chris got to enjoy the fight a little more in the open water. This one was probably around 32-34 inches and 10-12 pounds. Next day with the memory of Chris' buzzbait muskies fresh in my mind I decided to try a big chopper bait for muskies, I was not expecting the 6" bass that pulled my bait down at all. We got some small ones when I picked my cranking rod back up. I was tossing a LC RC 1.5 when I got slammed. Thought it was a good bass, turned out to be this 28-30 inch, 7lb muskie. We got back to the same area Chris caught his first muskie the night before when he tossed a 10" power worm at a stump and slammed into a good fish. She steam rolled to some other stumps and got his line around them. Luckily he had a great guy on the trolling motor that got him over there in time and we got her in the boat. Another stout fish that rang up 5lbs even. She looked like she had just done spawning with her bloody tail Another long spell of a few small fish here and there when I pitched into a brushpile with a 7" BPS Stick-O and got thumped. She wrapped me up in the brushpile and wouldn't budge. While I was pulling on her she came up and got wrapped higher in the brushpile. I took my hat and sunglasses on and laid on my stomach and reached as far as I could but all I could grab was her tail. She ca me off of that limb and swam further down in the tree. I could lift the tree so I just started pulling the tree up and Chris lifted it high enough I could see her again. So I leaned in head first up to my chest and finally got a grip on her and pulled her out. Don't think I've ever worked that hard for a fish. 20 1/2 inches and 5 1/2 pounds was my biggest bass of the trip. After going back to the hotel to wait out the mid-day lull we were back at it. I started off fast, catching this this fish out of a culvert on a Yum Wooly Bug. It was 3lbs 6 ozs. It was a slow evening for bigger fish after that. Chris was pitching a tube and got thumped when he tried to reel in. Thought it was a nice bass but turned out to be another little muskie. The fish had the line wrapped around it's teeth, not sure how it didn't cut him off. That was it for bigger fish that night. Last morning we were greeted by much nicer fishing weather. Clouds, drizzle, much less wind, and 10 degrees cooler than it had been had the fish biting. About 30 yards down from where I'd caught my first 5 pounder I pulled my Rage craw over a lay down and got popped. She was one the top almost instantly before she dug back down for the tree. It's crazy how strong the fish in that lake were but I still managed to keep her out of the tree. 20" and 4lbs 14ozs and super thick and healthy looking. I still had my big muskie chopper bait when we got back to the flat that I'd had a muskie chase my crankbait to the boat the day before so I thought I'd toss it. First cast I cranked about 15 feet when it blasted. One of the coolest and most exciting strikes I've ever seen but it didn't connect with my bait, just knocked it about 10 feet in the air . With the perfect weather I wanted to go to the island where Chris had caught his biggest muskie and toss my topwater around it. We made a lap around with no love for my chopper. I knew there had to be fish up there so I switched to a black and orange bucktail. I made a few casts before I launched one up to the same spot Chris' fish was at. I looked away when I started my retrieve and right when I looked back a huge wake kicked up behind my bait. I sped up my retrieve and her dorsal and tail fin popped out of the water when she threw water and sped forward and smashed it. It was obviously the biggest one we'd seen this trip and my biggest I'd ever hooked. After an intense battle and some debating with each other if it would fit in the net, Chris got the net under her and just barely got her to fit. She was super thick and heavy, around 38-40 inches and 15 pounds. Finally my first legal sized muskie in Missouri! I haven't shaken that bad during and after the fight with a fish in a long time. ] Shortly after that the sun came out and started to get humid again. I jumped off a bass around 4lbs and Chris finally got a good fish to eat a crankbait, probably the only one over 2 pounds of the dozens we caught on a cranks. After that we started cranking and I got slammed, another little muskie, my 5th and our 8th of the 3 day trip. I hooked and lost another muskie on the same crankbait that was a little bigger and Chris had another 30 incher chase his worm over a lay down and almost to the boat but didn't eat. It was a great trip despite the wind and hot weather.

I second the cast net, way faster and more productive than a minnow trap.

My wife and I go to kids movies all the time and we don't have any kids. Don't know if I'll ever outgrow cartoons. It would be way different if it were just me though. I'm the same age as you and would probably wait for it to come out on dvd instead of going by myself.

Points and treelines along channels should be good. My friend catches his on clay points in about 4-10 feet of water most of the time it seems. He fishes places I'd never guess there would be bass but that's probably why I don't catch bass at Hillsdale, along with the fact that I rarely fish it.

Wish I would have had a camera several times on that trip. Chris' first muskie hit his buzzbait about 2 feet from his rod tip and threw water on both of us from the initial strike, just incredible. Me dead lifting a big tree and then dunking myself to get ahold of that bass would have been funny. I bet that whole ordeal lasted between 1 and 2 minutes, a long time to try to get a fish unstuck from a tree. The muskie that missed my topwater the last day was one of the coolest strikes I've ever seen. That chopper bait is like a 7" bucktail with a big wooden head and a single blade on the back of the head that makes a "plop plop plop" noise as you reel it. The fish must have rocketed straight up from the bottom in 7 feet because it almost came clear out of the water and knocked my bait over our heads in the process. If you ever get the chance to fish it I would highly recommend it. Be ready to drive some nasty, dusty dirt roads and then fish a 500+ acre lake that you can only use your trolling motor on though.

If you have some Dynamite handy you might have a chance to get a big bass at Hillsdale I've had my best luck there this time of year with a 10" blue fleck worm or blueberry colored brush hog. Friend of mine fishes the weeknight tournaments out there and fishes a rusty colored finesse jig with a green pumpkin colored trailer and wins them pretty often with it.