Bluebasser86

We have almost no perch in Kansas, but the bass still love to eat a firetiger colored crank in the right conditions.

If I never had to throw a crankbait again, I'd be just fine with it. Unfortunately they work every once in a while so I keep carrying them. Most of the time I fish them, I'm just getting in casting practice.

It's funny that we always hear that you need a tight wobble in cold water, but one of the most productive winter time cranks around here is a Wiggle Wart/Rock Crawler, which has an extremely wide wobble and ideally hunts all over the place. I have my preferred cranks for cold water, which is about the only time I fish cranks anymore, but I've done very well with standard squarebills in winter and one of my biggest winter time bass was on a 5XD.

Maybe a muskrat den? They build big mounds of plant material in shallow water for their dens. Around here it's usually a big pile of cattails.

6th Sense had a great firetiger pattern, but of course they DC'd it. You can still find some floating around if you look. I really liked the Flat 75X. Bandit has a good firetiger color that I've caught a ton of fish on also.

I launched the boat on a morning it was -2 once and the high was 25*. It was pretty miserable but we caught fish all day and had our biggest 3 for almost 20 pounds. Normally, if it’s not windy and above about 25* and going to make it close to freezing I’m going to go.

There's some KO versions of the baits on the usual suspect sites (Temu, Ali), for a few bucks instead of $10 a pack. Not a lot of colors available but I get mine there and use them on a Neko and get bit just fine. Makes it easier to handle when they only last for a few fish.

Looks like one of the little crappie crankbaits they sell at Wal-Mart, not sure the brand. The leaves are starting to fall and the shoreline grass is starting to die, so I'll be bringing the lure retriever with me in the yak to start picking up everyone's lost lures from this season. I went the day after this picture was taken and added probably 2/3 as many but didn't take a picture.

By those standards, I’ve never caught a giant LMB. I caught a SMB less than a pound off our state record, but the closest I’ve come to our 11lb 12oz state record was a 7lb 14oz fish many years ago. Even 7lb fish are exceptionally rare in Kansas, a 10lb fish just doesn’t seem possible but it happens occasionally and I spend a lot of time on the lake that usually produces them and that’s the biggest step IMO, fishing where they live. Maybe some day, I’ll hold one of my own.

Yeah, this whole thing is a little too close to the line.

Pay attention. Watch your line and be quick on your hooksets. You can't give them time to eat it or any of that nonsense that some folks like to do. As soon as you think you're bit, swing on them and get them moving. If they hang up, lean on them at first for several seconds and see if they'll pop loose. If they don't, remove almost all the pressure so the fish can back up on it's own and try to swim out. As soon as you feel the fish move, lean on it again. A lot of the time, you'll pop them loose doing this.

Pork gets bigger bites in my opinion. I have several jars still but rarely break it out unless I'm specifically big bass hunting (night fishing is one of my favorite times to use it). I wish it hadn't got so expensive, I like using it but the price is outrageous for something I lose so often.

Lots of options but for a smaller bait like that my picks would be a Lucky Craft 78 Pointer or Duo Rozante 77SP. The Duo bait accounted for my PB smallmouth and many other big fish and countless other fish. It’s one of my biggest (smallest), confidence jerkbaits.

I use to fish the glass minnow Husky Jerk a lot before graduating to more expensive taste in baits. It caught me lots of fish and pretty sure I still have at least one rolling around somewhere.

I use Eagle Claw hooks a lot and I catch a fish occasionally. You want the black nickel hooks, not the bronze ones.

I’ve had my 300 since they came out and it’s as smooth as it was when I bought it.

About 4:30 into this video, I cast off a Donut Shad, into an off limits area on a nuclear power plant lake. I couldn’t even try to recover it.

I don’t think I have any green pumpkin baits that don’t have a black or painted blade. I’m imitating a bluegill/sunfish/baby bass when I’m using it and they aren’t flashy.

Just use screw lock style hooks instead of regular work hooks. Put a couple jigheads on the baits you want to be your bottom baits. It’s a pretty normal rig when you want to run them in shallow water.

That’s not the Xcaliber baits that were so popular before they were discontinued. Those baits got rebranded and are now sold under the Booyah name. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Booyah_One_Knocker_Lipless_Crankbaits/descpage-BYOK.html

I have better luck in colder water in the fall than I do in the spring with a bb. I like a slow retrieve and will mix in occasional rod twitches to make it pop a little. It seems like some days a lot of my strikes will come immediately following those rod twitches.

It was 32* when I launched my yak Sunday morning. I did not come prepared for that kind of weather. I had one thin pair of thermals, some light fishing pants, a sun shirt, a hoodie, and crocs. I ended up putting on my cheap frogg togg suit for an extra wind break but I was still about frozen after the first 30 minutes.

Looks like a Siebert Fogy to me.

It's a requirement in Kansas, it's a requirement in all the tournaments I fish. It's a ticket if you're caught without it fun fishing, it's a DQ if you're caught without it in a tournament. I wear mine 100% of the time on the water because it's a piece of equipment like every lure and rod in my kayak and the more I use it, the better I'll know how it functions and how to use it when it's needed. I've fallen in exactly three times in all my years on the water, only once did my life vest do anything for me and that was the most recent case because I have the Chinook instead of the inflatable vest I use to wear. I wear mine because a friend didn't and despite being just like me, a lifetime outdoorsman who was more than capable of handling himself, he went in the water and didn't make it back out. I owe it to my family and the people to count on me to not put them through that if it's at all avoidable. It's not putting peer pressure on someone IMO, it's just caring about them. It's a mild inconvience that will become the most important piece of equipment you own when something goes wrong.

I have a boat, FFS, spot lock, and several bags of chips (although not all together). I believe I catch more fish because of the spot lock than I do the FFS. I thought the FFS was cheating, until I got it and actually had to use it. No doubt it's a great tool, but I've yet to find the fish that simply give themselves up because I have it. I use it more as an aimable sonar to find offshore cover and it's proven very useful for that. The spot lock allowing me to concentrate on fishing an area instead of fighting the wind has been a much bigger deal in my fish catching.