Bluebasser86

Recalling and telling a clear story and painting a picture for an audience is a big part of my work too 😄

This past weekend was the championship tournament for the Kansas Kayak Anglers on Wilson Lake in western Kansas. Wilson and I have never got along very well, and reports of a very difficult bite and very low water didn't boost my confidence any. The lake is very odd in my opinion. It's mostly rock and sand but it all looks very similar, so figuring out where to fish has always been very difficult for me. I have a couple spots on the lake I've been able to get bit in the past, but knowing that the lake was so low, I tried not to put much weight in past experience and spent a lot of time looking at the maps and trying to find new areas to fish that I thought might be productive. Another huge issues I have with the lake, is poor access. It's a 9,000 acre lake, but there's only 8 ramps on the whole thing. 3 of them are very near each other, one is in a portion of the lake that is basically devoid of anything but catfish and carp, so you end up with functionally, 5 ramps on a 9,000 acre lake and only 1 is on the north side of the lake. There's also very little shoreline access, so even with a kayak, there are very few areas that you can bank launch from. I scanned around on maps as much as I could, and found one spot on the bank that was sort of close to an area I hadn't fished before that I wanted to check out, so on Thursday, that's where I set out to look at. After some minor issues with leaving in the morning, I got to the lake about 6 hours later than I planned. Trying to be positive, but it seemed like the universe just kept throwing signs at me. Still, I found my launch spot and decided it fit the description of a legal launch, so that's what I did. My whole truck would have normally been about under water if the water level was at full pool. The run was a little further to the area I wanted to fish than it looked on the map, a potential problem for the forcasted 20-40 mph winds they were calling for during the tournament, but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. Everything looked good in the area I'd picked. I scoped around and found some deeper rocks that couldn't been seen from above water and that's where I got my first bites, one that I lost was a really nice one. Then I caught a couple decent ones. And one that I'm not really sure what happened other than he must have swam through my line. I ended up getting a smallish limit and felt pretty good about it since the All American on the same lake a few weeks ago only had a few limits caught. Friday was the start of the wind that never stopped. I launched on the south side with everyone else that had shown up to try to avoid it a little bit but it was unavoidable. This was the part of the lake I normally fish though, so I felt like I should be able to catch fish, and I did, but they were mostly really small, unless they were the wrong species. I had a 5 bass limit that was probably about 57", when I finally caught a good one. Just a completely random fish on a sand bank, nothing I felt like I could duplicate. I reached the end of where I wanted to fish and headed all the way back towards the ramp I launched from (no access points so I had to cover as much ground in each direction from the one ramp as possible). On the way back, I hit a almost unnoticeable rock vein on a sand point with a jerkbait and caught another nice one. I was starting to notice that almost all my good fish seemed to be coming off of banks that looked like almost nothing. A little bit of rock mixed with sand seemed to be best. I went as far to the opposite direction as I wanted to go and never found anything similar, and never caught another fish. Not feeling like being exhausted, I put it on the trailer around 4 and told my buddy Deric that I was going to drive to my bank launch and see how it looked with the wind blowing into it to decide if it was going to be an option in the morning. He had an area near there he'd fished the year before he wanted to fish but didn't know about that launch, so we both checked it out together. It was rough, but I felt like I could make it if I was careful. Deric went back to his B&B for the night, and I checked out one more spot before heading back to my tent, it turned out to be another good mix of sand with a little rock, and wouldn't you know. There wasn't enough there for a whole day of fishing I didn't feel like, but something to keep in mind if I needed to make a move and get one more bite. Saturday, the wind was blowing as soon as I got to my launch, even more than the night before. I could hear the waves crashing in the dark, and I started reconsidering. I didn't want to fish in the crowd. I knew most all our guys, plus the 2 boat tournaments were all going to be hiding on the south side, and I didn't want to do that. It was probably the smarter choice, but by the time I was turned down the bank, it was too late and I was committed. The wind was supposed to be straight out of the south, but when I finally arrived into what I expected to be my fairly protected cove, it was piping in straight from the west almost. This is where I thought I'd be "protected". I didn't get to my spot until about 10 minutes after lines in because of the wind, and I didn't catch my first fish until 30 minutes in, a whopping 10.25" smallmouth. I think it was the combination of being soaked from the run, and the constant wind, but I could feel my confidence draining quickly. I moved to my best spot from prefishing and worked it over as best I could, but it was in the teeth of the wind. I finally got a bite on a Ned rig, a tiny keeper, but then lost it at the kayak. After what felt like forever, I was going to move over a little to a different part of the cove, but then decided to run a small paddletail over the rocks. First cast was nothing, but the second cast got absolutely hammered. The slow, heavy headshakes had me thinking for sure it was a big walleye, but then the bruiser smallie rolled on the surface and stayed there for me to quickly scoop it with the net. I worked that same little rock pile for over 30 minutes to finally coax this 19.75" into inhaling my swim-n-shiner. I fished those rocks for about 10 more minutes before moving to the little rock point I'd thought about moving to before catching the big one. I quickly got bit on a Ned rig, and lost another small keeper. I could have had 4 fish, but instead only had 2. Next cast back, and 15" range fish went airborne and launched my Ned rig back at me. An angry growl left me because I hadn't hardly lost a fish in practice but now I couldn't keep a fish hooked?! Next cast back, another bite. This time I landed a 13.75" fish. 8:56AM and I only needed 2 more bites for a limit. Next cast back, another "tap, tap", and then a slow pull down. The fish didn't move at all when I set the hook, then rocketed out of the water, another big fish! She pulled for what felt like forever before finally slipping into the net, another 19" smallmouth. I kept working that point and after about 10 minutes, finally got another bite, this time a 14.25" largemouth to round out my limit. Less than 2 hours into the tournament and I already had 77". I felt like if I could get 75" both days, I'd be doing really good, so I was already ahead of schedule. Now I started considering fish management and my run back to the launch since it was just supposed to get windier as the day went on. It was 9:11AM, I decided to give myself until 10AM, then I was heading back and I'd go somewhere else for the remainder of the day. I had really just 1 more small rockpile I hadn't fished yet, so I cut across and started heading down the bank towards it. I lobbed a random cast at a nothing sand bank, and my line pulled tight as I quickly drifted backwards and a big fish surged for the surface. This one got a big hectic because I had the motor moving towards it and had to try to control the boat in the wind and the fish at the same time, but it ended up working out and I put a 17.50" fish on the board, a 7.25" cull! At the last little rockpile, I worked the Ned rig through it several times, and I could see fish on the scope, but nobody would bite. I'd caught a nice largemouth off it in practice, so I pulled out a shakyhead trick worm and tossed that at it. As soon as I picked it up, the line was moving and a strong fish surged off on the hookset. I thought it was a largemouth, maybe even the same fish from Thursday, but it turned out to be a light colored 16.75" smallmouth, putting me all the way to 87.25" on the day at only 9:33AM That was it, I didn't even make it to 10AM, I was pulling the plug. I could only cull a few more inches without catching an absolute giant, and I wanted to make sure I made it back. I beached my kayak, strapped down everything the best I could, and set my nose into the swells. It wasn't the worst I've ever been in, but it was top 3, and probably wasn't 3rd. The waves slamming into the rock bluffs and bouncing back were causing a washing maching effect, it was pretty wild. When I made it around the big point and turned into the next big cove, I had a wave grab the back side of my kayak and shove me hard forward, I thought I was going over. I made it to the swim beach area and into the most protected part of my whole run. I thought about just backing down the swim beach, but technically that's against the rules and didn't want to get DQ'd over it. I knew the last stretch was shallow, so the worst part was having to be off the bank further than I wanted to be to keep from hitting bottom with the motor. I decided to take a break from the run and made a few cast in the cove while I was protected. There was just 2 little areas that had some sand and mud mixed with a couple rocks. I got bit on one spot and missed it, then caught a 16" smallmouth on the other, culling out the 14.25" largemouth, giving me 89" for the day. The last part of the run was bad. Only about 100 yards, but I hadn't thought about the hatch under my seat letting in water. The waves were so big and coming in so fast and high over the side, I actually started to take on water and sink. I noticed I was bogging down and my kayak was sitting lower, but there was nothing I could do by then but keep going and hoping I made it. Luck was on my side and the excellent quality of my Old Town keeping my on the right side of the water's surface and I finally made the turn into the little cut where my truck was parked. I forgot to turn my camera off before I made the last part of the run, there was some wicked action shots to be had from it. After spending a considerable amount of time bailing my kayak's interior out and loading everything up, I moved to a different ramp. I wanted to try and find something more protected that I could hopefully launch from Sunday and avoid the madness. I fished the remainder of the day catching 1 drum, 1 catfish, 1 follow from a micro smallmouth barely bigger than my Ned rig, and one really hard thump on a T-rig that immediately dropped it. We had a potluck after day one and it didn't sound like anyone wanted to do it over again the next day, but the directors didn't sound like they had any plans to cancel, despite it supposed to be even windier the next day. I was torn whether to try and fight the wind again, or go to the south side and fight the crowd and stay realitively safer since I had a decent lead going into day 2. After blanking for 3 hours Saturday afternoon, I knew what I had to do though. Sunday morning, I told Deric I was doing it again. The wind was at least supposed to start to calm down a little before the end of the tournament, so hopefully it would be a little easier run back in. We were heading for the ramp, when the message came out. I know it wasn't an easy choice, but it was the right choice for sure. Deric was disappointed because he wanted the chance to get into the money, but the wind was brutal on Sunday. We ate breakfast at the local diner with everyone and did awards in the parking lot. I also won AOY, 399 out of a possible 400 points, but they customize that trophy with your name so I have to wait for it. That's 3 years in a row winning AOY. A week from now I'll be back out west trying to qualify to fish the Bassmaster Kayak Classic for the third year in a row.

Largemouth love jerkbaits just like a smallmouth does. Some of my biggest winter largemouth have fallen for jerkbaits, and some of my best number days in the cold weather months have been on them also. They're probably one of the baits I'm the biggest believer in color making a difference, because the fish get to look at them so much when you're doing long pauses. There's days when slight changes in color, retrieve (rythme, speed, number of jerks, distance of jerks, how hard you pull, ect), size of bait, suspending vs sinking, the list really goes on the variables that can impact how productive a jerkbait may be on a given day. When you get the right combination though, it can really be lights out and that slack line "tick", or having them just pull the slack out of your line is so much fun.

Shawnee Mission Park is your best close option for a big fish. Springhill City Lake use to have big ones but I don’t know if it still does since they increased accessibility to it.

Don’t come here if you’re looking for responsible adults that are going to talk you out of buying more gear, because they aren’t here 😂

Those cod you buy in the store look much different than a ling cod. They look a little like a redfish I guess is the best comparison I can think of off the top of my head, except I believe they have a barbel on the bottom of their chin also.

Mine are usually pink or blue and the rounded tips don’t poke holes in anything like some braid scissors with sharp tips can. They’re about $2 full price but usually go on clearance right after the big back to school sales and you can get them for less than a dollar a lot of the time.

That's a nice looking setup. I wish I had the patience to rig everything up that nicely, but a lot of mine is thrown together in my very limited free time. I'd like to get the new Minn Kota. I've got a Motorguide and haven't had any issues, yet, but since they are no more, I'm afraid that I'll be stuck without a motor if it does have issues. I've just always been a Minn Kota guy also.

I never use it for largemouth, but the smallmouth like it. I have the opposite experience though, where my hookup ratio isn't that great. It does a good job protecting the knot and line when fishing in rocky areas though, so sometimes it's the best option.

Sapphire blue is the best color I've found when the water turns green. I love to fish a blue bladed jig in that color water. Don't know why it works so well, but it just does.

I have a Boomerang attached to my life vest. The cheap kids safety scissors cut braid really well and you can get them for less than a dollar once the back to school stuff goes on clearance so if a pair starts to dull, just swap them out for a new pair. I lose them too fast for a pair to ever go dull.

Its back was very dark. I’ll have to get a screenshot from the video once I get it together. Water temps were still high enough I wanted to get it back in the water as fast as possible after the quick picture.

Yes, please laugh at me because I’m laughing at me. It’s one of the funniest pictures I’ve ever been a part of.

I had my new annual trip to go chase bass and muskie in the kayak this past Thursday and Friday. It was supposed to be all weekend also but my boys had football games Saturday and I had told my buddy I’d fish a team tournament with him Sunday so I came back early Friday night. My trip did not start good. I left very early in the morning and stopped in town to get ice at the gas station. I put my kayak seat on top of my cooler in the back of my 4Runner when I’m driving, so I took it out and set it on the front of my kayak and put the ice in the cooler. It was until I stopped and got a drink at a gas station 1.5 hours later I realized that I never put my seat back in the truck. So I drove all the way back in looking for it in the dark and then pouring rain. I never found it. Probably close to a $400 seat between the seat, pair of Kayak Kushions, and seat risers, gone on the interstate somewhere. I decided I would just go and have to fish standing up, which I do a lot anyways. I did stop at Dollar General in town when I got close and bought a cheap step stool that fit in my kayak for a makeshift seat. When I got to the lake 3 hours later than expected, it was storming, which wasn’t in the forecast at all. Not just a little, but like a lot of really close lightning, wind, and rain. So I waited that out before I could finally get my trip started. It took about 5 cast to get my first follow on a topwater, so I really thought I was going to wear them out. The bass were biting like crazy, but they were mostly small. I broke one off in a big brush pile and was going to retire it and switch a couple baits because the water was much lower and clearer than I expected when I rigged up the night before. I sat down on my step stool, grabbed a couple rods and leaned back a little and when my kayak leaned a little back with me, I had the sinking realization that there was nothing stopping me without a backrest, and out the other side of the kayak I went in slow motion. Probably one of the funnier paused moments I’ve ever had in one of my trips. Only thing that would have made it better is if the crocs would have went flying also. Nothing was lost, water and air were both in the mid 70’s. Only injuries were my pride and nearly my backside as I realized I rolled over the Megabass Grenade I had in my cupholder and it stuck to me for the next hour while I fished and I didn’t know until I took my rain gear off. The NRS Chinook was worth every penny. It popped me up so fast and made it way easier for me to climb back in, so glad I took the suggestions to get one for my kayaking. I was catching bass pretty regularly on a full sized brush hog off the timber but they were all small. In the back of one cove, I thought I heard a muskie roll but several cast with different baits got no results. I pitched my brush hog and nothing happened, but when I reeled in, a muskie swam under my boat just kind of lazily. I dropped the brush hog in front of it and it turned and slowly followed, around the front of the kayak and to my right, into the turn, inching closer, and just as it made it almost to the nose of the kayak again, it ate. I couldn’t believe I got a muskie on a figure 8 with a brush hog, but I got the whole thing on video and you can even watch the fish eat, it was crazy. Not the healthiest looking fish I’ve seen, and my attempt at a solo picture into the yak made her look even more skinny and beat up than she was, but it tied my longest muskie ever at 42” and is my 19th ever in Missouri and 4th from the kayak. I only ended up seeing 2 more the rest of the weekend, and no more bites. I had one chase a Texas rig to the boat and one followed a bladed jig to the boat, both were mid 30 inch fish. I didn’t find any real big bass either but I finally figured out that the bigger ones seemed to be in the pads and not on the wood.

I think it’s the combination of the low population density of bass and the extremely high density of forage in most lakes. A whole lot of food options and not a lot of competition seems to add up to a good number of obese bass. It’s rare to see one 22” long, but they’ll often hit 6lbs at only 21”, sometimes even 20” or even less in some cases. Unfortunately the only very long bass I’ve caught in Kansas was this 24.5” fish that just was not built like they normally are, especially for the lake it came from. If it had been, I have no doubt I’d have been well into the DD range and potentially a state record.

I like the Flush because it comes in a nice package so they don’t get bent up, and they have a nice action. The Berkley Jerk Shad is really nice too.

I'm a fast action rod and copolymer/mono guy with my bladed jigs. I prefer a slower reel (6.2:1), but mostly because it keeps me from overfishing the bait. I think the main issue that some fish, especially big ones are lost, is because they inhale the bait deeply and the fish gets hooked in the thin skin in the roof of the mouth further back. That area is mostly bone except a thin skin membrane. When a big fish inhales the bait far back, that area tears easily during a hard fight with a big fish. It's difficult for the hook to get the appropriate angle to get more penetration that just being surface/skin hooked. This fish was hooked about in the area I'm talking about but thankfully got hooked deeper than just the surface.

It basically was. I was a good cast off the bank and in less than 2’ of water for a lot of the lake. I think the deepest I saw was 16’ by the dam and probably 80% of it was shallower than 8’.

The next month is pretty busy with trips and tournaments, but this last weekend I had nothing planned so I decided to check out a lake that I've had on my radar for a few years now. I knew really nothing about it, other than it was supposed to be very shallow with dirty water, which is my favorite kind of fishing. I couldn't find any information about the fishing, no reports, videos, nothing, which is the main thing that had me cautious about making the little over a hour drive to give it a chance. I should have checked it out a lot sooner. Buzzbait, bladed jig, T-rig, and jig were the only baits I really needed to catch all 30 of them, a majority were over 15", fat, and mean. I will be back for sure.

We’re done here. LOCKDOWN!!

If you don't like the T-wing, why in the world would you buy a reel with the feature?? It's literally the only reel company out there with that feature, buy another reel?

The largest I use for bass is 20lb Tatsu and 20lb Big Game for pitching heavy cover and fishing swimbaits.

Friday night before our tournament, Deric and I sat out at our campsite with a few catfish rods out to see if we could get one to bite. I've never caught a blue at this lake, but we found 3 of them and they were all solid fish. Had to reel the rods in to keep ourselves from sitting out all night.

It’s actually a tube jighead, but a bad day either way.

I prefer to have at least a couple feet of visibility, but it doesn’t stop them from eating it if the water is dirty.