Bluebasser86

I bought a crawdad 8foot 2 man boat when I was 11 for 50 bucks. Paid for it with change I could find and my 5 dollar a week allowance. The guy I bought it from was nice enough to let me make payments! ;D Tons of fish caught out of that little boat and it was almost all silicone, expanding foam, and gorilla glue by the time I got rid of it.

I believe JB weld makes a product just for aluminum jon boats and other things that are going to be in the water. I bought some last year for a small tear in my jon boat and it hasn't leaked water since.

Awesome pictures! I saw one the other day while I was trout fishing that let me get within 50 feet of the tree it was in eating a fresh caught trout. It was great to see one up close like that and see that at least someone was catching fish :.

I know a lot of people eat them but I'm not a fish eater. I'll keep a walleye every once in awhile but pretty much everything else goes back. It's funny the reaction you get from some people when they see you put a keeper trout,walleye,crappie, or catfish back. I do keep some fish for family and friends by request occasionally also.

What were you catching them on? Was thinking about trying a couple ponds over on the Kansas side on Monday.

You ever catch any smallies out of Alma? KDWP website says they're in there but I couldn't catch any and my dad has fished it several times and says he can't remember ever catching any. It looks like it could be a good smallmouth lake. It does have some really healthy largemouth though!

Wish I could find some smallies that wanted to cooperate with my plan, nice fish!

Decided to go try for some early season smallies at wolf creek power plant lake. Smallmouth weren't cooperating and the largemouth that were biting were small. Caught a ton of white bass and crappie. A friend of mine had asked me to bring him back a couple crappie if I caught any keepers. The limit is 2 over 14 inches on this lake so it's not an easy thing to do. I was fishing right at the cables that you can't cross over and casting a little ways past them catching crappie in the 11-13 inch range pretty fast with one keeper 14 1/2 incher mixed in. I was getting them on a 2 inch power minnow on a 1/32 oz jighead under a bobber. I was tossing this rig on a 6' 8" medium light Shimano Crucial dropshot rod, a Shimano Symetre 750, and P-line 4lb floroclear. The crappie stopped biting all the sudden but I kept casting thinking I might find where they moved. I made another cast and the bobber plopped under after my second twitch of the rod. I thought I'd found them again as I set the hook, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! 100 yards of line flew off my reel and I was certian I was about to be spooled. Since I was already at the cables I couldn't follow the fish so I use my left hand to add a little extra pressure on the spool to try to get the fish stopped. It was give and take for the first 20 minutes with the fish doing a lot more taking than giving. 30 minutes in I got the fish back to the cable but then it took off under it so I had to pass my rod under the cable being very careful not to touch that light line on the wire. With the cable out of the picture I started to feel a little better about my chances. 40 minutes into the fight the fish started to empty it's air bladder to try to stay down. It was going through my head what it might be. The lake has big catfish of all 3 species, big wipers, huge longnose gar, carp, buffalo, drum, all fish that if they are big enough are capable of fighting for long periods of time on light line. 50 minutes into the fight I saw my bobber and finally was able to tell I had a big catfish! It made another slow but unstoppable run to the bottom and sat there for another 5 minutes. Once I got her moving again I dug in and used what little strength was left in my right forearm and got her coming up and trying not to let her take any line back. I got her to the surface and reached as far as I could with my net and finally got it under her! The fight had attracted the attention of another boat that motored over and loaned me their scale and took a couple pictures for me. She was 20lbs 11ozs, 34 inches long and 23 inches around. On 4lb test, a light rod and a tiny reel she was a heck of a fight! The powerplant and the bouys I hooked her by are both in the background of this one. The fish and the rod and reel I caught her on. I gave the guys that took the pictures the one keeper crappie I had for their troubles and the big catfish was turned loose after the pictures to maybe give someone else the fight she gave me!

We were the only boat on the lake for most of the day so that part was pretty nice. I've got that Revo on my spinnerbait rod and they weren't touching a spinnerbait yesterday. I did catch a few with it today but nothing like those ones! I do have one really big fish picture from today but I'm to tired so it will have to wait until tomorrow to be put up!

I switch all my hard baits to red trebles, confidence thing for me.

Went to La Cygne today and it was tough in the wind and snow but still got some good fish! First fish of the morning was a 4 or 5 pound wiper that about got my brand new jerkbait if I didn't get my drag loosened any faster. We caught a few more small ones before I stuck a good bass on the same jerkbait. She fought as hard as any bass I can ever remember catching and was leaking eggs when I took the picture. I wish you could see that it was snowing pretty hard in the picture. My scale needs new batteries but at 23 inches long and fat she's at least 6 probably closer to 7. Next good fish was another wiper almost the same as the first that I didn't take a picture off. After terrorizing some buffalo for a little while with jigging spoons we hit the same spot I caught my big bass. Got another fat one on the same jerkbait while my buddy was catching a dink on a shakeyhead. She was in the 4-5 pound range. I held his for the pictures too for comparison. We were only averaging about a fish an hour but at least we made some of them count!

Went to La Cygne today and it was tough in the wind and snow but still got some good fish! First fish of the morning was a 4 or 5 pound wiper that about got my brand new jerkbait if I didn't get my drag loosened any faster. We caught a few more small ones before I stuck a good bass on the same jerkbait. She fought as hard as any bass I can ever remember catching and was leaking eggs when I took the picture. I wish you could see that it was snowing pretty hard in the picture. My scale needs new batteries but at 23 inches long and fat she's at least 6 probably closer to 7. Next good fish was another wiper almost the same as the first that I didn't take a picture off. After terrorizing some buffalo for a little while with jigging spoons we hit the same spot I caught my big bass. Got another fat one on the same jerkbait while my buddy was catching a dink on a shakeyhead. This one was in the 4-5 pound range. I held his for the pictures too for comparison. We were only averaging about a fish an hour but at least we made some of them count!

I use a glass bead and brass clacker. Don't know if it makes a difference but I don't see it hurting anything either. I've seen some of the old timers use a lead egg sinker and swivel with no beads and catch plenty of fish. If you're in the right spot you probably don't need all the extra stuff.

You're right it is a Renegade crankbait. I just found 2 of them last Tuesday while I was fishing. I would guess you should still be able to find them at Wal Mart, the ones around here still sell them.

on a DT10 mins from your house. its the bait i toss when im not tossing plastics. Is that Olathe Lake or Cedar Lake? Looks like it could be either with the water willow and dirty water in the background. I guess if it was Cedar you'd really be rooting the bottom in most places with a DT10. I can catch them really well with a DT6 or DT4 but nothing on a DT 10 for some reason.

I like a brush hog or lizard unless the water is clear, then I'll go with a trick worm or fish doctor.

I have a DT10 in bluegill color and one in parrot and haven't caught a single thing on either one. I'm not a big deepwater crankbait fisherman but even when I'm catching fish on like a series 5 or smaller fat free shad I can't catch anything if I switch to a DT10 for some reason.

My wife and I decided to try a shallow pond off a local lake that is choked with weeds during the summer time. Thought the shallow mud bottom might attract some fish early in the year and they were! She was fishing an 1/8 oz black and blue chatterbait on 6lb test and keeping up pretty well with me and putting a hurting on my buddy that was fishing with us. One of her first fish was a nice fish. There were some shad flipping in a corner of the lake the pond is next to and when I told her to cast towards them she was rewarded with this really healthy chunk. She had to have a pink rod but the Okuma in the picture just got retired for a St. Croix Avid Pearl and Quantum Energy PT, whatever it takes to keep her happy and keep her going fishing with me .

It's a strong line but I thought it had a lot of memory. I'm sure it is a good backing and I do like it on baitcasting gear for catfish or wipers.

If shad are dying on the surface and fluttering down a white jig can be deadly. It's also my color for swimming a jig.

That's no joke! My dad had a Dodge Dakota automatic and it went through 3 transmissions in 5 years. I had an 89 Dodge Dakota Sport that was an automatic and it went through 2 in as many years and needed another when I sold it. My dad and I both are easy on our vehicles and there was no reason they should have had that kind of trouble. My wife used to an insurance claims specialist also, she could give you a laundry list of reasons not to buy a vehicle that has been totaled, salvaged, or in a wreck bad enough to need frame straightening.

strippers! You're going all the way to Beaver lake just to see strippers? :-? ;D Just kidding, I know what you mean, I'd like to catch one of those big Beaver lake stripers too!

Most of the smaller ponds and lakes I don't think you need the permit but if there is a sign for Johnson County Parks around it I would make sure to have one. I know I go out to Mill Creek to fish for catfish sometimes and have seen park police riding bikes down the path. If you get a fish atlas it will tell you which ones you need to have the permit and which ones you don't I believe.

I used to live about 5 minutes from the lake and now I'm only about 15 minutes and fish it a lot. It's a pretty deep lake for its size (400 acres with spots close to 60ft deep) lots of rock banks and some laydowns. Water is generally pretty clear so it does get tough during the hotter months but fish can still be caught. You can get all your permits at the boat house when they are open (pretty sure they're closed on Tuesday and Wednesday). It's a great lake if you like to finesse fish, probably won't like it much if you like to power fish. The lake record smallie is 4 3/4lbs I think and was caught in '07 so there is some nice smallmouth in there. I've caught them up to 3 pounds but most of them I catch are around a pound or so. A good trip for me out there will be around 20 or 30 fish with about a 60/40 ratio of largemouth to smallmouth.

They're a good option on deep weeds also, just yo-yo them above the weeds. If you fish around docks on steep drops you can pitch them to the back of the docks and just engage the reel and let the bait swing back towards the boat. Works great for fish suspended under the dock sometimes.