Bluebasser86

I'd guess you tied your PB. 23" is about right for a 7 1/2lb fish. Either way it's a really nice fish that anyone would be happy to catch!

My dad taught me some basics, how to cast a spinning reel, tie a knot, unhook a fish, really basic stuff. Wasn't much bass fishing opportunities for me until we moved to the KC area. Taught myself how to cast a baitcaster, fish a worm,jig,carolina rig, spook, whatever. It helped a lot to have magazines to read about everything and tv shows to help speed up the learning process, but watching it and doing it are two different things completely! Started in a bass club when I was 16 and won two tournaments my first year and ended up with non-boater of the year, rookie of the year, and 3rd place overall. Felt really good to know that all that practicing I'd been doing wasn't for nothing!

Wow those are great looking paint jobs!

It's always awesome to learn a new style of fishing! I have been trying to make myself learn how to fish offshore structure but it's so hard to drag myself away from the banks where I know I can catch fish to the deep water where I have no idea what I'm doing! Glad you're having success doing it though!

Drum are a really popular food fish around here. If you get them out of the right body of water were they eat almost nothing but crawdads they really aren't that bad and I'm not a big fan of eating fish. I wouldn't compare them to eating walleye but I'd eat a drum before I ate a catfish any day.

Points and bluffs are good places to start. Along with jigs I would make sure to have plenty of shakeyheads with you. I've caught lots of fish out of that lake with a shakeyhead and a green pumpkin french fry worm. Drop shots or jigging spoons fished in deep water boat stalls can be really productive if it's hot and sunny out.

Wyandotte is a tough lake with a lot of 14" fish. First week we won with 2 fish and 3.46 and had big bass with a 2.24lb fish. Last week we won with 3 fish and 5 pounds even, this week we won with 5.06lbs and 3 fish. It has been even tougher than usual out there with dirty water, post spawn transitions, and now the shad fry have hatched and have lots of fish roaming open water chasing shad. There are big fish in there, just hard to catch. I had a smallmouth about a month ago that went 4lbs 3oz and the big fish for the tournament so far this year was a 5.55lb largemouth. At least there is supposed to be some cloud cover for you on Saturday, maybe it won't be quite so hot as it was today. If I go it will be on a Tuesday because that's my only full day off every week. I may get lucky and get down there on Monday for the holiday but I'm sure the lake will be rough with all the boaters so I'm not sure if I'll try to fish if I do get down there or not. Let me know how you do!

Yes it is the finesse model, don't think I need anything quite as big as the 3000 though. I'll be fishing mostly 8lb test and not making super long casts so I don't need a large line capacity. I'm a little nervous about trying a Diawa because the only Diawa spinning reel I've owned was a couple years ago and the bail spring broke the second time I used it. I've used a Pfluegar trion before and for the money it is a really nice reel. I might have to look at them a little bit more before I make a decision on a reel. Thanks everyone for your input!

I also think that the price tag of these baits are part of the hook to them, and it's working. These baits may be similar to other baits but that's pretty much the way of the fishing world. How many baits out there are similar to another bait? Almost every popular style of bait is made by several companies with slight differences. So if they are all similar in looks but one is a couple dollars cheaper, who isn't going to at least try the cheaper one? I'm as skeptical as anyone but after trying a few of the Havocs I can say for sure they aren't being bought just because they're cheap, these baits work.

Easy guy It's a forum where people post questions,answers, and opinions, even ones you don't agree with. Even if all you fish for the most part is plastics is that so bad? Denny Brauer has made a pretty decent living fishing a jig and almost nothing else. I just want to say welcome to the board and yes the bottom hoppers are a good bait at a good price.

Great picture! There is nothing that gets my blood pumping quite like that first run of the morning!

I thought about taking a picture of my fish but with 3 bass that weigh barely over 5 pounds it doesn't seem hardly worth taking a picture of them. If I do good again this week I'll make sure to take some pictures so you guys can see these "monsters" that I've been winning with!

We had that happen 3 weeks ago right as it was getting too dark to see, they make a heck of a bunch of noise! I was night fishing a golf course pond several years ago and accidently surprised a big raccoon that was eating a carp that had just died. I guess he thought I was trying to steal his fish and was not interested in sharing. I ended up diving over some briers and rolling down a steep hill just to get away from the the snarling thing. Also stepped on a ground hornet nest the same night. I didn't know I had done it until the first one lit the top of my foot up. I got hit 6 more times before they left me alone. I don't night fish from the bank anymore after that night.

I like Aunt's creek area. Plenty of deep water and it doesn't seem to get the pleasure boaters as bad. My wife and I camped down there last summer and despite 100+ degree weather we caught a bunch of fish. Found the spots schooling on shad one night and we both caught fish every cast for almost an hour. Nothing over 3 pounds out of the schools but my wife had a 6+ pound largemouth eat a grub and jump off at the boat later that nigth by the boatramp. Down by state park and around where Big Cedar Lodge is at is really good too. Caught a bunch of nice fish up to 5 pounds out of the cove that Big Cedar Lodge is on last spring on shakeyheads and wiggle warts.

Fished the Wednesday nighter at Wyandotte lake, took 1st for the 3rd week in a row. Those guys are going to stop letting me fish if I keep going like this! Getting the itch to make a Melvern run, anyone been or heard anything lately?

I finally went out and got the rod I've been drooling over for awhile the other day. It's a St.Croix Legend tournament 6' 8" medium XF that I'll be using mainly for shakeyheads. My original plan was to get a Stradic C14 2500 for it, but after putting one on the rod and playing with it a little bit I'm not really sure I like it. The tapered handle felt weird in my hand, it wasn't any smoother than the Symetre I have, and it was so light it didn't balance the rod at all. It isn't completely out of the picture but it has me considering other options. I'll probably stick with Shimano unless I find a good deal on something else. I'm just not sure If I should get another Symetre and call it good or if it would be worth stepping up to the Saros or a regular Stradic? My Symetre's I have get fished a ton and work great but I haven't messed with the Saros or Stradic at all so if you have one I'd like to hear what you think of it and if it would be worth spending the extra $$$ on it! Thanks!

Well I fished the Wednesday nighter at the local lake again. Wife couldn't fish it with me but a friend said he would fish it. Started off pretty good with 2 keepers in the boat in the first hour flipping water willow. Caught several shorts on a variety of baits before we hit a spot I caught a near lake record smallmouth on about a month ago. Fishing the same bait I stuck a heavy fish. Got it close and was just hoping it wasn't a drum I saw color and could tell it was long and brown. I thought it has to be a good smallmouth! Until I saw the whiskers. AHHHH! freaking flathead. Oh well, toss it in the livewell so I can tell my buddies I got a 20 incher in the livewell to scare them a little bit. Little further down the bank I get keeper number 3 on a buzzbait. Caught a couple more shorts and lost a keeper on the buzzbait. Not many fish brought in, a couple of my friends had 2 and 4.27 pounds and 2nd place and my 3 went 5.06 for first place for the 3rd week in a row! I honestly almost feel bad about winning the thing 3 weeks in a row but then again I'm fishing the same lake they are and somebody has to win it! My buddy was a little down about not catching a keeper but it's tough to catch a fish out of the back of the boat when fish are hard to come by anyways! I'm afraid if I keep this pace up nobodies going to want to fish with me anymore.

Very nice fish! That fish looks to me like it would probably be closer to 4 1/2 or 5. It's a nice fish regardless!

Man I'd love to catch a 2 pound bluegill or redear but I couldn't even imagine a 3+ pounder! Great fish and great pictures FC!

There's some creeks around here that have good largemouth fishing in them. It's amazing how well they blend in and come out of no where to eat a bait sometimes. Lots of small rivers in the Ozarks a couple hours south hold lots of smallmouth a few largemouth. I was fishing a sammy through a fast water area on one of them last summer and caught a 3 pound smallmouth and a 4 pound largemouth on back to back casts. So to answer your question, yes small rivers are worth the effort!

Neither do we! sorry couldn't help myself! You know I'm just kidding A-jay. Congrats on reaching number 1000, I'll be there before long I guess.

"Jerk 'til it hurts" with a picture of a Pointer or Xrap under it. I say jerk till it hurts then switch hands! (left handed with a baitcaster, right handed with a spinning rod).

I played, running back, OLB, tightend, free safety, wedgebuster on kickoffs. Anything where I got to hit somebody I was in! Once I could drive it took away too much fishing time though and seeing my old man hobbling around because of the damage he did to his body playing football and other sports all through highschool was reason enough for me to stop. I was pretty good but I wasn't going pro so I didn't see any reason to kill myself doing it.

By clowns I mean these upstanding citizens that have made poor life decisions but I'm sure are now on the path to correcting their lives. see also:inmates

Goo! It's a drum. Looks like it swallowed the hook, typical. I could catch one of those things out of a mud puddle in the middle of a dirt road it seems like.