Bluebasser86

Depends, if you live in Johnson County it cost 9 dollars I think, out of county is around 25 or so. Then you have to get a boat permit that's another 15 or so dollars in county or 30 out of county. It's the same thing with Wyandotte County, I just paid 100 dollars to get my county fishing permit, boat sticker, and trout permit. If you have more than one boat you want to take out there you have to buy another boat sticker. So if you have a bass boat for you to fish from and then a pontoon for your family you get stuck twice.

Best lake in the Johnson/Wyandotte county area imho. Not many bigger fish but lots of them and the smallmouth are coming along really well, should be a good population of fish around a pound this year to keep things interesting.

Not really any very good bank fishing spots around here. Best be is to go to Wal-Mart and pick up, or get online and download the FISH atlas. It is basically a map and description of a whole bunch of public fishing waters in Kansas. There is a bunch of public ponds in Johnson County but I've fished a bunch of them and I don't think some of them even have bass in them! Also make sure you get your Johnson County fishing permit, you need it to fish several of the listed bodies of water and they don't really give breaks if you're fishing without one.

X2, I have american shad in almost every version of the Lucky craft baits that I own and they all catch fish. I'm also getting to like sexy shad, copper bream, and crack pretty well. I have one RC 1.5 in a green and blue color that I used to catch them on like crazy until I busted the lip off on the side of the boat, never have been able to find the exact color again. :'( Aurora black and chartruese shad both do really well for me also.

I make one almost exactly like that and have had very good luck with it. The only thing different is I cut off most of the corkscrew before I put a bait on it, there really isn't any need for it to be that long and just makes it more difficult to twist your bait on.

Went fishing by myself one morning and made the mistake of eating breakfast under the golden arches. By the time I got the boat in the water my stomach was bubbling so bad didn't think I'd make it to the Port-o-potty but thankfully I did. Relief quickly disappeared when I came out and realized in my hurry to get to the bathroom that I hadn't tied my boat up very well and it was now a good 50 yards from the dock floating in a very light breeze, would have been perfect fishing weather. It was a small narrow lake so I drove around to a point on the other side where it was floating towards. There was no other boats on the lake or anyone fishing to help me. I sat in my truck and watched my boat float for about 30 minutes with the very light north wind. I noticed as it got closer to the bank I'd left the trolling motor down because I'd planned to just start fishing right around the ramp and my trolling was going to drag bottom before the boat got within reach of the bank. It was still early and water was in the low 50's, I wasn't looking forward to the idea of getting in the water. Right as my boat was almost close enough to think about walking out into the water after it the wind switched to the south and started blowing it back across the lake. It had at least picked up so by the time I got back to the other side of the lake it wasn't far out. I dug through the back of my truck and came up with a few pieces of twine, a short piece of rope, and 2 bungee cords. I tied it all together and decided to try to climb out onto a tree to try to reach the boat by tossing my "boat retrieval system" and hopefully hooking the trolling motor or something. As I climbed up part of a busted off willow tree I was at the very least surprised when a large raccoon came shooting out of the hollow tree and landed in the water. Good thing I'd already emptied my system or I might have made a mess right there . Finally got into the tree and made a toss at the boat and hooked the open front storage of my boat and drug it close enough to get into the boat. Thankfully I have sense of humor and took pictures of my boat floating across the water so I could share them with my family and friends when I got home. I don't even remeber if I caught anything that day but it couldn't have gotten much worse than it started! Moral of the story, tie a good know and stay away from fast food!

Meramac River probably. Where have you fished? My favorite is the Elk River because of the combination of numbers of fish and the chance for some really good fish. It has a very good mix of deeper holes with downed timber to shallow fast water spots, bridge pilings, boulders, and roots from trees on the bank. I've never flyfished for them but I'm sure you could catch them doing it. I haven't fished the Meramac but I've heard it's a really good one and would like to fish it sometime.

Haven't tried a cavitron, looks like I need too. I've done really well with a black War Eagle 1/4 oz and a homemade 3/8 white head, white painted blade, and a clear skirt with silver sparkle, they tear it up in clear water.

I believe if you run 2 batteries parallel instead of in the usual 24 volt series you can run a 12V motor off of two batteries so your motor should last longer. I'd research it a little before trying it but I'm pretty sure it can be done, just have to deal with the added weight in your boat.

That's a good looking buzzbait, it would kill at night around here!

I've had terrible luck with Vanish personally. I use P-line floroclear most of the time. It's not a straight floro but it's coated with it so it's still pretty hard to see under water. As for the tangle issue, make sure you flip the bait by hand after the cast and don't reel against the drag if a fish is pulling. Also make sure you use a good dropshot weight. I tried to use a regular bell sinker and it caused line twist like crazy!

I catch a lot of them on shad color lipless rattle baits, road runners, white or chartruese grubs, shad raps, 3" storm wildeye swimbaits. They'll hit pretty much anything though, I've caught them on buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, brush hogs, trick worms, DD22s, cut shad fishing for catfish, they aren't picky when they're feeding.

You could probably put a few dots or strips on them to make them suspend. They are very flashy baits and if I remember right they float slowly, not like an original rapala or anything. I have friends that use them and have really good luck with them in the spring.

My wife bought me a St. Croix Mojo baitcasting rod for X-mas and another one for our anniversary. Right now I've been looking at a bigger boat and she wants me to get one so she'll have more room to tan when we're fishing. Last weekend she asked me to take this Sunday off so we can go fishing because I bought her a new St. Croix Avid pearl and Quantum Energy PT because he old pole got busted last time we went and she wants to try her new one out. She had to twist my arm a little bit but she talked me into it :.

Depends where you're fishing for them too. If you're catching them in open water a good light action combo will do just fine. If you find them around big rocks, trees, or docks and they are decent sized you'll probably be going through some baits from breakoffs. I use either a medium St.Croix premier and a Shimano Curado SF to make long cast to schooling fish, or a 6' 8" medium Mojo spinning rod with a 2500 symetre. 12lb test on the baitcaster, 8 on the spinning rod. There is too much nasty cover in the lakes around here and lots of 1-2 and sometimes up to 3 pound whites that will make short work of light line. If you can get away with the light stuff it's the way to go though, they're a blast on light gear!

Where in the Ozarks are you planning on fishing bassman? I've fished some of the streams and several of the lakes so I might be able to help with some personal experience on it. You might also check out this website, www.missourismallmouthalliance.org/ they have a good bit of information and people that are willing to answer your questions also.

Wow 100% chance huh? At least they left you some glimmer of hope. :

I won't be fishing for them at night, I've just heard that's when the guys that do it fish for them sometimes. I've caught some out of there jigging for them but I've never tried early in the year for the big ones, just not sure how early I should be trying to go out there for the big ones?

Any of you guys do the early season walleye fishing at Hillsdale? I'd like to catch a big one and it seems like Hillsdale is about the most consistent place to get a big one. I know most guys catch them on jerkbaits/minnowbaits early in the year at night but has anyone done it themselves? Thanks in advance for any help.

Anybody ever tried one? I love the idea of the clamp mount for my 12 foot johnboat but I've had bad luck with Motorguide motors in the past so it makes me a little nervous. I've looked at some reviews on it and it seems like it gets good reviews except from people complaining about it being too short, I guess they couldn't figure out that a 30 inch shaft would be too short on a semi-V johnboat . My biggest concern is durability and longevity. I don't want to waste 300 dollars on it if it's only going to last a year. Even if you just have a friend of a friend that has a brother that has one any feedback would be appreciated!

I feel your pain, everytime I find a bait I really like it seems like the local BPS or Cabela's will stop carrying them shortly after.

I've got over 20 St. Croix rods and the only one I've ever broken was a 6' light Triumph which I've heard of the Triumphs breaking before. All the rest are premiers or above and have never had a problem. I've broken 100% of the Carrot Sticks I've owned. I've only had one but I'm a fast learner .

Are you going to one of the Ozark streams? If that's the case just take some shakey heads and small natural plastics and you'll catch a bunch. Throw in some topwater for early and late and you'll be set to catch a bunch of hard fighting smallies!

Nice one Fish! I hear you on being ready to chase some green ones around! We need a little more warm weather and they should start going! Good thing you got the good weather on your day off and not while you were at work, that always makes my work days sooooo much longer!

the bending of the vmc hooks come from smallies for me. losing big girls because i get my topwater or crank back and the treb is bent out so far it looks like its giving me the middle finger ;D i learned my lesson using junk hooks that way, besides realizing how much better quality hooks stick fish and get landed compared. i don't tourny fish and fish for fun as well but i also fish to catch fish, not lose fish. to me there is nothing fun about losing a fattie cuz of crapper hooks on my hard baits. about 7 bucks for around a dozen gammy ewg trebs is bout the price of one rapala crank. you can upgrade 5-6 hardbaits for a pak, not that much of an expense if you ask me. Maybe it's the regular shank hooks you've tried? I use the VMC short shanks and catch a lot of wipers on them up to the 8-9 pound range and have never had one straighten, even having to clamp the drag down to keep them out of trees and cables. I get the short shanks VMC hooks for 7 bucks for a 25 pack and I change my hooks a lot. Only being able to do 5-6 baits when you change hooks on your go-to baits every few trips gets expensive!