Bluebasser86

I have both but I like the gill shaped one better. The shad is very light and hard to cast and it doesn't stay down very well. It's easier to burn the gill and keep it down a little and it cast better.

I've got a couple boxes full of jerkbaits, very few are MB and I rarely fish them. The ones I own are because they're in colors I wanted that were unavailable from other companies, not because they're MB. I don't fish for a living, and I manage to struggle through with my 6th Sense, Duo, and Strike King jerkbaits. I think I have 1 Flap Slap and Maybe 2 Pop Max? My River2Sea Bubble Walker 80 outfishes the Pop Max so badly day in and day out that I rarely bother fishing the MB. Nothing about them has ever been impressive to me except how expensive and fragile they are. I have no issues with guys wanting to buy them and I'm well aware that they're a great company, but they're not my cup of tea.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Put those dimensions in the fish weight calculator and it comes out at 10.16lbs FWIW. It's just a lightly colored largemouth. Close that mouth and watch the jawline extend past the eye and you'll have no doubts.

I've met several other members off the forum. Most have fished in my boat but I've hopped in a few other boats as well. A couple Florida members were nice enough to loan me some gear and take me out for a while I was on vacation down there once. I think you'll find a lot of guys on here are pretty open to hooking up and getting on the water. Heck I even loaned out my johnboat to a buddy so he could take a member from New Jersey fishing once. I'm always willing to show people that there really aren't any fish in Kansas.

Very similar, but that appears to be a saugeye or sauger. The blotching on the side is a pretty dead giveaway.

I've caught lots of fish on them, but no big ones, biggest is around 30lbs. Best case is to get them at a slot limit lake so you can keep the "unders". Those bass in the 8-12 inch range are the best bait sized ones for whole, live bait. From the KSoutdoors website; LEGAL BAIT Legal fish bait includes artificial lures, bait fish (as defined on Page 12), prepared bait, vegetable materials, artificial bait, worms, crayfish, leeches, amphibians and mussels. Species listed as prohibited, threatened, endangered, or in need of conservation may NOT be used as bait. Any other LEGALLY TAKEN wildlife may be used, including sport fish of legal length taken by hook and line

It's completely legal in Kansas too. I've used bass for flathead bait many times. They're not the best but bass are right up there with bluegill on the dumb and easy to catch scale so I'll use them when I have to. They just have to be legal keeper size and count towards your daily bag limit. Justin is a good dude, he has several videos catching fish on bass, bluegill, crappie, drum, even other catfish.

That's a good side by side comparison of a warmouth and rock bass. I caught a lot of what I called "pumpkinseeds" when I was a kid. Come to find out many years later, I was actually catching hybrid bluegill/green sunfish that the state frequently stocks and there are no true pumpkinseeds in Kansas.

I know a couple guys that are but I'm not personally. I did it once, that was about enough for me.

This is a great example of what I mean when I'm talking about staying calm. Light line and big fish is a recipe for disaster if you don't stay calm. Horsing them results in pulled hooks, or broken line. Stabbing at them with the net is asking for the hooks to get tangled and ripped free. Instead, sit back and let your gear work and accept that those big ones take a little more time to get landed than a typical fish. It takes practice to keep your cool with a big one on the line though.

Nope, they're very small snaps. If anything, they allow more freedom of movement than the rings. I'm 100% certain I've caught fish this year that I wouldn't have caught otherwise because I can change baits quickly. The second time I caught the fish over 7lbs this January was on a deeper running crank that I only switched to for one short stretch of bank where it drops off a bit more than the rest. Since I had the snap, I already had the bait out in preparation for it and switched it out just to make a few cast on that bank and it got me that fish. Normally, I just rig up a shallow runner and leave it on because I'd have to cut and tie on a new bait just to make 10 cast with it and switch back.

Had a couple passengers on the boat today, I think they really enjoyed their ride along.

Score another one for the Victory "Full Contact Finesse".

Bass Pro 100mph suit is probably the most overrated, overpriced suit out there IMO. I made the mistake of buying one, it fell apart after a couple years. They fought me on returning it, but eventually did. The new one has fallen apart again. Same thing as the last one, seams coming undone so now I get wet when it rains very much and the worse is the glue they use on the cuffs to attach the velcro comes off so now I can't seal either cuff and it just flops around while I'm trying to fish and I can't try to seal the rain out either. Really wish I could get my money back for it and buy a different one but thankfully found a Frabill F3 suit on clearance a few years ago so I have a suit I can wear if I need one when it's supposed to rain and not just be cold, but I lost a bunch of weight a couple years ago so now it looks like I'm wearing a tent.

Put a bell sinker inside it, hook an EWG hook through the eye of the bell sinker and T rig the bait. It'll glide all over the place and skip a mile.

Here's my big change I made over the winter, removing the split rings from almost all my hard baits and switching to small snaps in their place. I no longer store rods with treble hooked bait to or from the lake, I just remove them and put the snap on the hook keeper. I wish I'd done it a long time ago.

Got out for a few hours this morning, trying to decide if I wanted to jump into the kayak tournament on the lake by my house this Saturday. I always forget how much 2' of extra water is on a lake with no banks. Spread a small population of bass out through a flooded jungle of willow trees, makes it tough. My first bite took about 45 minutes to find, but at least it was a good one.

Welcome!

Welcome! Congrats on staying clean too. Addiction runs in my family and I'm certainly addicted to fishing, but there's a lot worse things out there.

The most general rule is to blend in when the water is clear and stand out when it's dirty. Your issue was if you could see the bass, it could see you, which makes them much more likely to bite regardless or lure or presentation.

I'm not sure if it's a weakness or not anymore but I pick my colors I like in certain conditions and fish them. Some days I probably don't change them out soon enough but fishing a bait with confidence is the best way to fish one.

I've not had good success with the new Presidents. My last good President is hit or miss if the anti reverse works each time anymore so I replaced it. The Daiwa Revros has been the main replacement reel and it performs well above it's price IMO. I've also got an Eliminator that has been really nice. The last one was replaced with a gently used Pryocon that feels like a really nice reel but haven't gotten it out yet.