Bluebasser86

I was going to say 7 just because of the obvious girth of the fish. It only looks long enough to be about 5 but that thing is a tank from head to tail! Nice fish!

I'm guessing that it's a spawning area or food is concentrated in that area. That sand bottom is good for spawning and the light current would help to keep the eggs oxygenated. Plus the water flowing in may be a little warmer, another bonus.

Perch usually are active earlier than bass and if the water is that deep it's going to take awhile to warm up. Try to stick with the slower presentations and natural colors if the water is clear. A jig, shakeyhead, or hard jerkbait (probably a perch colored one ) would be my baits of choice in your situation.

St. Croix is still a very good rod. I would suggest holding a Mojo before you buy one if you can. There are some people that don't like them because they are tip heavy or have a short handle and some people, like me, that love them. Maybe I'm not as sensitive to the rod being tip heavy but I don't notice it and I catch plenty of fish with mine and they don't break the bank like some rods do. If I was going to look at another rod in a similar price range it would be an Abu Garcia Veritas. They are nice feeling rods but I've heard of some people having breakage issues with them but that may have just been when they first came out. That's another thing about the mojo's, they may not be the lightest rod around but they are durable! I fish a ton and I'm not the most gentle person with my gear and they have held up great! If you can spend a little more I would definitly step up to a St.Croix Avid if you can. Avids are very nice and light rods but I wish they came with a split grip handle like the Mojo and LTB rods have.

I think it kind of depends where I'm fishing at. Little farm ponds you can find stuff pretty easy with no depthfinder. I've never fished with the S.I. stuff but it looks really cool. I'd say that having a depthfinder is an absolute must. I didn't have one on the front by my trolling motor until last year. I don't know how I functioned without it now that I have it up there . I have found some of my most consistent producing spots since I put that thing in there and watch the screen all the time.

I love jigs at night. A chatterbait has also become another favorite of mine at night with all the vibration.

Berkley line stripper.

There's lots of good options in the price range you listed. I'm sure there will be lots of votes for the Shimano Curado or a Revo SX. Both are great options and there are plenty more good ones out there. I would personally go with the Curado E7 but like I said there are tons of good options for under $200.

I've seen them look like that when co-anglers smash them into outboard motors on the cast , or bounced off rocks. Strike King makes good baits though and they aren't expensive, just buy another.

Haven't got to fish the KVD bait very much yet but I usually catch most of my bass on squarebills banging them through cover and with a stop and go retrieve.

I've been to Mozingo a few times, even won a club tournament up there. It's a fun lake to fish but everytime I've been up there the wind was howling! There's some big ones in there though. We found one that was almost dead on the surface while we were fishing a tournament. She was 9lbs 3oz on a digital scale, wish we would have caught her instead of found her! That's a really healthy fish you've got though!

I can really feel for you here. I'm headed to a wildlife area a couple hours south of here Sunday to fish for 4 days in the strip pits in southeastern Kansas. I had one pit that always, always produced and always produced good fish. A couple weeks ago I got a picturemail from my brother-in-law that lives down there. There was nothing but a big puddle where the pond used to be. Nobody has any idea what happened to it but I felt sick to my stomach once I realized what pond it was. I'm hoping that the puddle that was left had enough water for the fish to survive and after the rain they've been having down there this last month it will fill back up! Just try to stay positive. Maybe the lost of this pond will lead you to looking for another and finding an even better one!

Trying to fight the bait monkey is like trying to go on a starvation diet. Sure you might hold him off for a little while, but you'll give in and when you do it will feel so good you'll spend way more than you would have in the first place.

Is it a pull start or electric start? I have a 15hp Johnson that can be either. It has the obvious pull cord but there is also red and black cables that come off the side of the motor that can be hooked up to be electric start. I've never tried to use the electric start so I have no idea how to go about it. Not sure if that's what it might be on your motor but just throwing it out there.

I would definitley take your friend up on that offer if I were you. Private pits seem to be were there are way more big fish than the public pits (isn't that always the way it goes?) I've fished the pits around Pittsburg,Columbus, and Scammon a few times but it's always been early in the year and conditions always sucked. Looks like we'll be on the back end of a cold front again this time but maybe with it supposed to be warm and fairly dry during our trip we can find some nice ones that want to play! Numbers usually aren't the problem, it's just finding the big ones that has been tough for me in my trips down there. I know they're there, but I think an unfortunate amount of the ones that get caught never make it back to the water.

One of my plugs that attach to the back of my depthfinder has some corrosion inside of it and sometimes it keeps my depthfinder from getting power and I have to mess with it for a little bit to get it to work. Any ideas on how to clean it out? It's on the female end of a Lowrance plug. How about prevention so it doesn't happen to my other finder or plugs? Boat is stored outside and it gets extremly humid during the summer and I fish in all conditions if that helps.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://pestcommand.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/wheel-bug.jpg&imgrefurl=http://pestcommand.com/%3Fp%3D17&h=300&w=450&sz=14&tbnid=L2uOZjuH0v5JdM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=127&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwheel%2Bbug%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=wheel+bug&hl=en&usg=__jeeXVD09qTy-8PW2yNuQVAN0Z4U=&sa=X&ei=fWC6TeGXDtCEtgf4ooTXBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CD0Q9QEwAw Wheel bug, and yes they bite. I think they are very similar to the assasin bug, nasty looking things.

I really wish more people would still spank their kids. I'm not saying beat their kids, spank their kids. A "get their attention" kind of swat to let them know they're doing something wrong. It's a natural human response. I touched the hot stove, ouch that hurt, I'm not going to touch the hot stove again because it hurt. I kicked the cat, dad swatted me, I'm not going to kick the cat again. I have never really known anyone who used time outs that had control over their children. Most of them spend their days pulling their hair out because their kids are running wild. I know when I was little if I was acting up I got spanked and I stopped doing what I was doing because I didn't want to get spanked again. Kids have nothing but time when there are little so what if you take 10 minutes away? I have a strong opinion about it I guess, probably because I babysit grown people who should be able to take care of themselves but still have to be told right from wrong day after day.

Fly rod with a wooly bugger or small popping bug/hopper, or an ultralight with a 1/32 oz jighead and a 2inch curly tail grub with a steady cast and retrieve. Big gills seem to live in nasty areas sometimes just like a big bass. I've also had good luck catching them in the very backs of coves with mud bottoms. They get in the back of the coves where the leeches,crawdads,bugs, ect are at home and pig out!

They both look great! That spottail shiner is something I haven't seen before but it looks like it would work great!

It makes sense to me as long as the velcro doesn't hang up when the fish tries to eat the bait and makes it stop short of getting the hooks in it's mouth. The other problem I could see is getting good hooksets. The velcro is going to catch when you set the hook and possibly ball the frog up over the hooks or at the very least make it harder to pull the frog out from between the fishes teeth. It might not affect it as much as I'm thinking it will though. It would be worth a try to see if it works though.

^right on the head. I'd bet my cranking rod on it. Banits body style is a lot shorter and more rounded and the lip is wider.

Alright I guess maybe it's something they changed then or maybe just a mishap. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to do something to kill the action on my bait. I love the package on this bait though. A sheet of $100 bills for a background? Just a nice little reminder how much they cost I guess .

Sounds like you have it figured out to me!

1/16oz texas rigged GP ringworm 1/8oz rootertail rebel wee crawfish