Bluebasser86

Fished one of my "secret", spots this morning. Not necessarily a secret, gets fished a lot, just not for bass I don't think. I see the bobbers and crawler containers, but the only baits I've ever found were small lipless baits I assume were intended for white bass. 21" 19.75"

Hit a tributary creek this morning. First 30 minutes no signs of life after fishing through normally productive water. It was way low and I was just thinking I'd made a mistake when my jig got rocked in a big logjam. Fish was immediately hung, thought it might be a small flathead. A lot of luck, prying on limbs, almost tossing a rod in the water, and thanks to my 20lb InvisX, this 21" tank finally surfaced. Caught several more smaller fish. Got cut off by a johnboat with crappie fisherman. Creek is about as wide as 2 of my kayaks laid end to end and they parked crossways on top of a big brushpile back in the creek after they went around me, effectively blocking me off unless I rubbed up against them, not something I was interested in doing a mile up a creek surrounded by nothing. Turned around and fished back to the ramp. Switched up to a baby brush hog to give the fish something different and immediately got positive results, catching several more out of brush I'd already fished with the jig. Dropped it into one tree barely a rod length away and less than a foot of water and it was barely moving when I lifted it. On the hookset, another big fish rocketed out of the water instantly and went over and through some limbs. Took a mix of finesse and manhandling to work the 19.75" fish into the kayak. She was still green though and flopped off my board and back into the water before I got a picture with her on the board.

The fish are moving into the creeks. 21" and 19.75" this morning plus several smaller bass, 2 white bass, and a channel cat. Most of them on a jig or baby brush hog but a few on a squarebill and 1 on a spinnerbait. The 19.75" flopped off my board before I got a board shot.

Flathead catfish are one of my favorite bycatch, along with wipers. One of my favorite bycatches wasn't a big fish, and I know anyone up north thinks it's no big deal, but they're very rare here, so it was cool to catch one in my home state, only the 3rd I've ever caught in Kansas.

The limit here is either 50 or no limit on most lakes. I couldn't imagine wanting to clean 50 of any fish, let alone 50 of those things. Better buy band aids in bulk.

What is lake turnover? Simply put, lake turnover is the seasonal mixing of the entire water column. For many lakes deeper than about 20 feet, distinct, thermally stratified layers of water form during the summer. These layers prevent the lake from mixing and aerating. Warmer and less dense water floats on the top of cooler, denser water at the bottom. Temperature layering begins to weaken when outside temperatures cool. This allows the lake to mix when temperatures equalize throughout the water column. Meaning, water from the bottom of the lake rises to the top, and water from the top of the lake sinks to the bottom. The process allows for oxygen to be replenished and nutrients to be distributed throughout the lake. Source: https://www.cleanlakesalliance.org/lake-turnover/

Looks like a yellow bass, a close relative of the white bass. Either an inline spinner in a shallow creek, or a jigging spoon for deep whites. Finding a school of white bass that is offshore and feeding is a lot of fun. I sat on a school for about 6 hours with my family one day last year and everyone had a blast. Caught a couple nice walleye, some crappie, a few smallmouth and largemouth, and a big gar out of the school too.

Straight braid, no reason to use a leader.

X2, love mine.

They're a good option for me when fish are just swirling on spinnerbaits or topwaters but not committing. Being just subsurface and having trebles seems to grab a few of those noncommittal fish.

This topic is not what I expected it to be about. I was thinking topwater crawlers ? I use to freeline whole nightcrawlers when I was a kid. Pitch a lively one next to a dock or piece of cover. Never knew if it was going to be a 4" bluegill or 4lb largemouth that would attack it but I knew that I wouldn't make many flips without seeing that telltale "jump", and then my line racing off. I graduated to live craws once I realized I could target bass by doing the same thing with them. I caught my first bass over 5lbs on a live craw next to a dock.

Welcome! I use imgbb.com to post my pictures. It's quick and easy.

You're not going to tear up a quality 200 sized reel with those baits. I fished a lot of swimbaits with a 200B Curado for years with no ill effects. I've got a 300 Cardiff, it'll handle all but the biggest swimbaits.

I like the tough lakes. You don't learn as much when they're jumping in the boat. I can only remember being skunked once this year, and that was back in January when I went to the power plant lake in my kayak and the wind picked up way more than they said it was going to so I left after just a couple hours. I caught fish, just not bass. That power plant lake is one of the toughest lakes to catch fish from in the state, but I've learned it well enough that I don't get skunked often. I do have a couple I really dislike fishing. They're really popular lakes but they get so crowded that I stay away from them if at all possible.

They kind of seem like a Spro Little Jon and a H2O Flat Sided Squarebill had a baby. They do look a lot like that bait in the link though. Hopefully be giving them a test run Saturday.

If they're fishing clear water, KVD all day. Dirty water largemouth, Christie runs away with it.

I really like the one I have now. My little 15' Cajun with a 50hp was a fun boat though. I wish I could have talked my dad into swapping motors on it when that one was shot. It fished like it was so much bigger.

Spinnerbaits sink, so you can fish them at whatever depth you want to fish them basically. I fish them mostly in the first 5' of the water column, but that doesn't always mean shallow water fishing. Nichols and Booyah make my favorite Indiana bladed spinnerbaits. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Nichols_Pulsator_Hoosier_Series_Spinnerbait/descpage-NHSP.html https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Booyah_Covert_Double_Indiana_Spinnerbaits/descpage-BYCDISB.html

Getting ready for cold water cranking.

Beautiful fish

Lobster is one of the most overrated foods out there imo.

My uncle swears they're one of the best fish to eat, but he also just recently got indoor plumbing so I'd take his advice with a grain of salt. There's a decent number of people that keep them around here, but not nearly enough to keep up with the population. They make great catfish bait, but obviously that's not putting any kind of dent in the population either. The do eat zebra mussels though, so they do some good in our lakes that have those.

I put new brakes on my tow vehicle, does that count as an upgrade? Not that it's done much towing since all it's done most of this year is haul a kayak.