Bluebasser86

Temps and wind finally cooperated enough for me to decide to get out yesterday. Of course the wind blew harder than expected and it never felt even close to the 40* they forecasted, in fact, I was as cold as I’ve been on the water in a long time. With all the snow and extreme cold temps last week, the water temps were down about 10* from my previous trip, there was even some ice on parts of the lake, a pretty rare occurrence on the power plant lake. The fish really seemed to be biting soft and not getting the bait at first. I had several taps that just dropped it immediately or came off shortly after the hookset. I think I only ended up catching 7 fish, but 2 of them were bookends, a 19.25 4.50lb fish, and a 19” 4.75lb fish, both ate a Big TRD on a 1/16oz weedless Ned head.

I wish that Kansas offered better regulations to encourage people to keep smaller bass. Some of the lakes are starting to come around with protected slot limits allowing anglers to keep 5 bass under 13" and all bass between 13-18 are protected. If I was going to keep bass, 5 12" bass would be plenty and those would be the size I'd prefer to eat. I've eaten a lot of bass growing up really poor, but I'd prefer not to eat another one. Every one I've ever eaten tasted like eating a big handful of algae mixed with mud.

Worn out pairs are retired to lawn care duty.

Not really “art”, but I enjoy looking at them. The back wall of my garage.

Not buying them, but still fishing with them. I haven't bought hardly any new reels in the last several years. If I found a good deal on some older Tatula SVs or Tatula spinning reels that still had the AR switch, I'd be interested.

Top end of that range also but I use a Kistler Helium for the baits you mentioned. I actually use their lighter medium (a 2 power), for my Jack of all trades spinning rod. I also have the ML and it's my main Ned rig rod and a littler lighter than what I'd want to use for tubes, wacky rigs, shakyheads, ect.

I use mine for my main swimbait rod and have used it for all the swimbaits mentioned. It does also work for a big spinnerbait rod in a pinch, I've had to do it a couple times.

I prefer the one that fish are eating. If it's up to me, it would be the jerkbait, because I have a strong dislike for fishing cranks. The fish often like to eat cranks this time of year though, so I fish them. Jerkbaits I fish are the MB 110, 110+1, Jr, and Jr +1, 6th Sense Provoke and +1, MB X-Nanahan and +1, Duo Realis Rozante 77sp, Berkley Stunna 112 and +1, Head Hunter HH Minnow, and the Yo-Zuri 3DB. Crankbaits are any of the Berkley Frittside, Spro Rock Crawlers, Wiggle Warts, #5 or #7 Shad Raps, Berkley Flicker Shad Shallow, 6th Sense Pressure Series, and Berkley Money Badger.

I also use the Savage Gear version and have a better hookup ratio with them, but the last one I bought got destroyed the first fish I caught with it and that really turned me off to buying more. I'm planning on getting a few of the Gobius swimbaits and seeing how they do. I'm assuming the softer bait will get better hookups and should be much more durable.

I've been playing with a KO version I got last fall. I have yet to catch a fish on one but the action is pretty interesting. All those little arms really vibrate on the drop. I've been fishing it on a wacky rig head but I've seen a lot of guys using a short dropshot and shaking them also. The ones I have float pretty high, I'm tempted to try them weightless when the water warms up like a big bug or something.

My first fish of 2026 was even a "keeper". On a Ned rig in 2' of water on January 3rd off a long point that has a mix of rocks, mud, wood, with a channel swing.

That stinks, and I certainly understand what you mean about the concerns with trees in a kayak. Getting lifted and dropped awkwardly on top of a stump in waves is one of my biggest fears in a kayak. Hope you get your issues figured out with the motor. Those problems are one of the biggest reasons I wanted the PDL so I could have my motor and pedals in case something happens with the motor, I still have an option other than paddling. I still use my peddles quite a bit even with the motor. It's really nice to be able to peddle backwards away from cover when fighting a big fish.

We do usually get a brief period of being iced over but for the most part the last several years the lakes here have remained pretty ice free. I do have the power plant lakes that are pretty sure things to be open, although the ramps are far enough from the discharge that occasionally they will freeze over during extreme cold snaps. The water temps vary greatly on those lakes depending on wind direction and amount of generation and knowing how it affects the fish is a huge factor in a productive day on the water.

I almost bought these when my kids were big into Pokemon. I thought they'd think they were cool but never did end up getting either.

I believe those were released at ICAST last year. It looks pretty impressive in the water and I bet it would be a killer bait when the big gizzard shad are spawning. I'd hate to cast it very long though. I mean, who had "fuzzy dice", on their bingo card for the hot item last year? I don't think anything is really off limits anymore.

My buddy Jon and I launched my boat on a morning it was -2 outside and never made it above 25*. We caught about 30 bass that day with our biggest being a 5, 6.75, and 7.5. This was the 7.5, my second fish of the year that year. Our kayak championship this past season was the worst wind I've ever fished in. I should have been a little protected if the wind was coming from the forecasted direction, instead it was pounding straight into where I had to run. If it wasn't for the fact that I was running through waist deep water, I'd have never done it. This day the heat index was upwards of 130*. It wasn't bad just sitting on the river bank once I got to my spot but I was soaked getting to it, pedaling against the current in my days before I had a motor on the yak. This wasn't the "most extreme", but the wind combined with the steam off the water made it look pretty extreme. It was still single digits when I launched and never made it out of the 20's.

April is pretty wide open on Table Rock. You should be able to catch a few however you want to catch them if you're stubborn enough. If you just want to go and make sure you catch fish, it's pretty tough to beat a natural colored trick worm on a shakyhead. It probably won't catch the most or biggest, but you'll catch fish. Swimming a grub or a 3.3/3.8 size swimbait on a jighead will catch fish. If it hasn't warmed up too much, a jerkbait will likely still get bit. A Spot Remover or Mouse colored War Eagle spinnerbait is a great way to get bit on days with some wind and/or clouds. Finesse or football jigs, Rock Crawlers, drop shots, glide baits, maybe some topwater mixed in, obviously a shaking minnow if you have scope, like I said, it's pretty wide open around then.

My solid blue bladed jig. I don't even remember why I decided to make one, or what gave me the confidence to fish it, but it's one of my best producing colors every year for several years now, and the bait that I caught my biggest bass in a kayak tournament to date on.

Well I said I wasn't going to do it again after last year, but I got talked into it so I'm doing the Fishing for 2026 challenge again this year. Unfortunately, I didn't enter before this weekend, so my first trip of the year didn't count, so my very cold day on the water Sunday was my first day officially towards trying to catch 2,026 bass in 2026. I put 17 on the board, and as per usual, they were almost all of the overserved variety. When 17" fish are going over 4lbs, you know they're living right. Ned rig did most of the damage but also caught a couple on a jerkbait and flatside. Had a big one come off on both the jerkbait and flatside also. Those fish pull so hard when they're built like that.

You really never know what might pick up a Ned rig 🤣

I leave them on but I'm not fishing really snaggy areas or with with actual jigging raps. I get the KO's from Ali that are only a couple dollars each so not a big deal if I lose them. I leave the hooks on.

I can't, and man have I tried. I've watched so many videos that promise to make it easy, none have made it easy, or even something I can accomplish. I've got many knots in my arsenal that I use for different purposes, and I've never had an issue figuring out how to tie them, but this one has me stumped.

Ol' Gardner Lake in that video, about 5 minutes from my house. I feel like a T-rig is a sliding or pegged weight and a hook rigged weedless, not a weedless jighead. Maybe more of a shakyhead, but again, I rarely fish my weedless Ned heads on the bottom either.

Agree with @MassYak85 , at a certain point, I just don't feel like I'm getting much in return for the money I'm spending. I also tend to stick to the "workhorse", models. Most of my baitcasters are Tatula SVs with a couple Fuegos and a Zillion mixed in. My rods are mostly Heliums. I guess around that $200 range is my comfort zone.

Some details on how you're fishing it; tackle, location, retrieve, ect, would help. I fish a Ned a lot and catch a lot of fish on it all times of year. I fish mine on 10lb braid with 8-10lb flouro leader to a 1/16oz head. A majority of the time I fish a TRD or Big TRD. Occasionally, I will fish it slowly on the bottom, but most often my most productive retrieve is the swim-shake-glide Midwest Finesse retrieve. My most productive colors are Hot Snakes, Coppertruese, Green Pumpkin Goby, White Lightning, Hot Craw, and The Deal.