Bluebasser86

I wasn't fishing a ramp, but we're going to try to pretend this fish hasn't be caught a time or two? What's the difference between a ramp and a community hole? Everyone knows there's fish there. You still have to catch them. Every fish in our small, heavily pressured lakes is caught and released, probably multiple times a year. I don't understand the idea that what part of the lake it's caught and released at making a difference. What if the ramp isn't a tournament ramp? Some of the bigger reservoirs I fish aren't good bass lakes, very few tournaments on them, but you can run from ramp to ramp and catch a bass or two off each because they're the only real type of structure and cover on the lake. Seems like a recently caught fish would be harder to get to bite than one that hasn't been recently caught?

Welcome!

I've used bass for live bait for flatheads before, they work pretty well. I've had a few big bass eat little bass I was reeling in too, and there's some in that lake that could eat that smaller one I caught no problem.

Not mine, a local guy gave me one to fish to see if it would work or not.

Took my boys to a creek off the river Saturday for a few hours. Water was really low, barely could get through the first rocks by the ramp (barely got the boat in the water really). Couldn't even get close to our normal spot but we parked the boat on the bank and walked up. Still plenty of water in the hole we like to fish and big schools of shad. Inline spinners were quickly getting assaulted by by healthy white bass and wiper. Right before we left. I got the smallest but one of the rarest fish I've caught in Kansas, a naturally spawned sauger from the river.

Threw one of these for the first time today. Cast well on a spinning rod with light braid, not quite like a Rozante but plenty adequate. Nice little darting action and some roll. Water was pretty clear and almost 80 degrees, really just wanting to see the action. Still, I caught about 10 in 30 minutes just pedaling across the dam of the small lake I was fishing and missed a couple more. They were all small, but it was still fooling fish in poor conditions for the bait at a very quick pace without me even really trying very hard so that's pretty encouraging.

Stiff plastic, horrible hookup ratio, not a great swim. The Savage Gear bluegills are much better and not much more expensive.

Always have a weightless plastic to throw back at them. Some days the only thing a topwater is good for is being a bird dog.

I like the Spider Pro with the black nickel hook. My favorite bait on them is a Crock O Gator Ring Craw.

Nah, the fish are just small. It's about 7" and 3oz.

Welcome!

Got a new swimbait the other day. 45 minutes after work resulted in 4 bites and 2 dinks on the bank. Not the size I was hoping for, but encouraging to have that much action with a big bait that fast.

I have a hard time getting rid of rods and reels with 2 young boys I hope will want to use them some day.

One of many bycatches I had during my kayak tournament this past weekend was this blacknose crappie. I think this is the 3rd or 4th one I've ever caught.

I've won a tournament fishing against a local pro on his home lake and placed higher than a another pro fishing a tournament on LOZ, but I don't think I could do it regularly.

Sorry for you loss man.

Day 2 of the kayak series championship. Not surprisingly, there were several more kayaks fishing the area I fished on day 1 on the morning of the second day. We all talked at the ramp and everyone was generous in letting me decide where I was going to start since I was leading. I started the same spot I did on day 1 and started very similarly, dumping a fish on one of my first cast with the bladed jig. My very next cast back, I caught my first of the morning at 13.5". I continued down the bank and had no more bites. When I got to the marina dock walkway, I'd made an adjustment from day 1, swapping my 6th Sense Flush out for a black and blue Strike King Ocho to fish in the more stained water around the docks. It paid off with 2 keepers out from under the walkway, a 13" and 13.75" fish. Working back out from behind the docks, I decided to switch from fishing the bladed jig to a black and red Booyah Covert spinnerbait. It took 2 cast for a 15" fish to smash it. When I got past the point I'd started at, I switched back to the bladed jig and was actually daydreaming pretty badly because I'd caught no fish on that stretch all day the day before. Thankfully, the 15.75" fish that was there really stopped my bait hard so there was no way for me to miss the bite. 7:23AM, not even an hour into the morning and I had my 5th fish. Wasn't a big limit, but it was in the low 70's like I thought I'd need at a minimum to make it so someone would really have to work to overtake me. From that point on, it was a serious dink fest. I caught one more 13.25" fish on a spinnerbait to cull up 1/4" to 71.25" on the day, and lost a couple I think would have helped, but otherwise I caught a bunch of fish I didn't even have to measure to tell if they were bigger than 13.25". I did have a bass break me off on the hook set with the Ocho, then immediately eat the same bait when I retied and cast back in. Got my lost bait and hook back. I also had a white bass that I caught, and when I tossed it back in the water, it jumped right back into my kayak. It was a difficult day for everyone though and at the end of the day, my 158.5 total inches was still well ahead of second at 145.75 inches and my big fish was 4" bigger than any other caught. So I wrapped up championship weekend with first place, big bass, and also got my AOY award for the regular season. Really enjoyed the kayak tournaments a lot and met a lot of good people this year doing them.

If you get snagged with straight braid, wrap it around a stick and pull. You'll either pop it loose, pop the line, or straighten the hook. Using braid with a leader in thick grass defeats the purpose of using braid imo.

I use a Hammer Rods Micro 6' 9" H/F. It's the best bladed jig rod I've ever fished.

I thought I was going to get into making plastics, until I started doing it. It's so time consuming, expensive, and messy. I spent a few hundred dollars and felt like I'd barely dipped my toes into the water getting started making plastics. Unless you're going through hundreds of certain colors and not making a bunch of different styles and colors, I'd just have someone else make them.

I use a snap for most of them but if it doesn't come with a split ring then I wouldn't add one.

I don't have wintertime and summertime jig trailers, they're all the same thing. A jig trailer with a lot of action (Christie Craw or Rage Craw for example), also slows the fall of the jig more. A slower fall can be very important in cold water and I might not want to slow the fall by going to lighter jig if I need the weight in windy conditions or if I just want a bulkier jig.

If it was country they'd be short in the front and long in the back.

What do you mean by "small"? Are we talking short? Lightweight? Multipiece or Telescoping? Something else?

It's not real uncommon here. I actually had another explode on it a few cast before I caught that one. I've caught them on buzzbaits, crawlers, spooks, even frogs in thick grass.