Bluebasser86

As long as it isn’t chocolate milk, I’ll give them a shot. Shad live in all water colors and bass manage to find them without them changing color or wiggling harder to be easier to find, so bass can find a glide in dirty water. The big fish was in pretty dirty water, in the shade, and caught that glide almost immediately after it splashed down. Bone is my default color in every water color and condition.

The OG, OG’s were actually red, white, and blue. Those bothered people pretty bad, so I set out find something more obvious, and ended up with the bright ones I blew out walking the dam of a lake. I have a new pair of those on standby for next season though.

Saturday was the final Kansas Kayak Anglers regular season tournament of the 2025 season to be held on Perry Lake about a hour from my house. I haven't spent any time there the last couple years, because it hasn't been very nice to me the previous couple trips there. So I've spent the last few weekends trying to get a pulse on what was going on there. My buddy Deric and I went there 3 weeks in a row. I felt like I had a pretty good feel for it again, he won a weeknight jackpot by quite a bit, felt like it was on. Friday before the tournament, I decided to prefish an area of the lake I hadn't fished in a few years that I use to fish a lot. It's a marina that use to have lots of nice largemouth, then the surrounding area was great for smallies. The marina was largely a bust, producing just a couple 15" largemouth, but one was on a glide on a marina dock and I missed another on the same bait that was noticeably larger. I thought maybe a way to pick up a kicker if I was nearby and needed it. The smallmouth were much more cooperative. While I didn't catch any of the monsters this lake holds, they're notoriously fickle here, so I felt pretty good about my day. This poor guy was going through it, or it was going through him, however you want to slice it. Hook was removed pretty easily after the picture. A major cold front came through that night, and the forecast combined with my prefish convinced me enough to scrap my original plan and launch in this area. The winds were supposed to be very light, but blowing towards the side I would be fishing, a big plus in my mind when targeting smallmouth. I was also worried that a majority of the field would be fishing the original area I'd planned to fish, making it even more difficult if the fishing was already tough. Then there was the option to fish for largemouth or smallmouth while the other area was almost exclusively smallmouth. It just felt like the better option. Apparently, Deric and I were the only 2 that felt that way of the 21 angler field, because we had the ramp to ourselves on a very foggy, and chilly morning. After a nearly 20 minute run, it was a short wait before lines in. It took just over a hour to scratch out a limit, but they were very small, the biggest was only a 13.75" smallmouth that ate a homemade micro jig. About the middle of the dam is the outlet. You can get just close enough to reach the concrete structure with a long cast. I launched a homemade micro football jig at the back of it, got bit, stuck a heavy fish, and it came off! Cursing my bad luck, I fired back, popping it through some rocks, my line took off and I landed a 14.50" fish. The rocks on the dam are terrible. I lost 5 or 6 baits and 3 leaders in about 20 minutes and was getting really frustrated. The micro jig was the only thing that would float over them without snagging so I was fishing that just to avoid snagging. Almost every cast was getting whacked by drum. Anyone who fishes around them knows the telltale single hard "Whack!" and then nothing of a drum bite. I was pretty zoned out when I got a hard whack, then another, then just heavy pressure. It was an awkward hookset, near the boat and kind of behind me, and a hard fight. I was afraid it would cut me off on a zebra mussle covered rock, but I was quick with the net on one of her jumps and didn't give her the chance. It felt good to finally put a real one on the board. I caught a couple more dinks and started back down the dam, wondering what my next move was going to be. I tied on a Duo Rozante jerkbait and my first cast, jumped off a 16-17 inch smallmouth. I locked that in my hands thinking that was the deal after that immediate response, but only got one small cull with a 13" fish. I decided to make the run back over to the marina and try to find a smallmouth. After trying for a good while, I only got a small cull with a little 12 incher on a Ned rig. I had just over 2 hours left and not much left in my gameplan. I decided to go for broke and picked up the glide rod and headed towards the marina docks. One of my first cast, I smacked my trolling motor with my Bull Shad glide and broke the front hook off. I tied on a Clutch Eco Glide and moved to a different slip. I was sitting in about 29' of water and dropped a cast perfectly in the back corner of the slip. Almost immediately when I started the retrieve, my bait got slammed! I had to work the fish carefully out from the slip but keep her up because of the metal crossbar that are always very sharp and sometimes have zebra mussles on them also, even my 20lb flouro would have been no match if she got to it. I kept her up and moving and slid the net under an absolute Kansas giant largemouth. At 21.50" long, it's one of my top 5 biggest kayak tournament bass ever and my biggest glide bait fish ever. After that fish, I locked the glide in my hand and just kept fishing slips. With just 45 minutes left, I caught one more small cull with a 14" largemouth on the glide. I started the day with the goal to hit 80", and that fish put me at 81.75", so I was pretty happy with my day no matter how it went. Turned out, I needed that little largemouth just as bad as I needed the big momma. Added a little more hardware and really put the screws into another AOY. I'll really have to go up in flames at the championship to not get my 3rd in a row. We'll find that out in October. First will be a muskie trip in less than 2 weeks in the yak though!

Those are all the new Pro versions that were released at ICAST this year, so I think they just haven’t gotten any in stock yet. You might be able to find the older models for even cheaper with a little searching. I swapped the hooks, but the stock hooks aren’t bad. The Eco is a great little bait. I’ve got a couple but I want a Baby Boss really bad, they’re just hard to get. My buddy have 3 and won’t sell me one 😢

These are the deal. I've got high end swimbaits, but these still get fish because they just get bit. All for less than one Vision 110 each. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Fishlab_Bio_Gill_Pro_Wakebait/descpage-BGPW.html https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Fishlab_Bio_Gill_Pro_Glide_Bait/descpage-BGPG.html https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Fishlab_Bio_Gill_Pro_Swimbait/descpage-FBGPS.html

I made the post awhile back about how I’d switched to the new Plano StowAway for my terminal box, and it has exceeded my expectations. From the start, the dividers are all separated, so no having to fight with getting those things apart. Then they all snap into place so nicely. I hate having tiny things wandering around my terminal box, it’s a constant struggle. I’ve had a few different expensive boxes that were made just for terminal tackle, but even then I had little dropshot weights, small hooks, swivels, stuff wandering all over because dividers didn’t do what they were supposed to do. I’ve had this box for a good while now, and there hasn’t been anything out of place. I’m not the most gentle person with my gear, when I’m grabbing stuff in a tournament, it’s grab and go, so I promise it’s been getting banged around. Still, it’s been flawless so far. This was the inside of the same box when I took the picture right after putting it together. The big, single latch is nice too, seems way more sturdy than the double smaller latches. I’ve also been using the little 3500 box a lot. In a kayak where space is a premium, sometimes I want to grab a few crankbaits or topwaters or something without bringing a whole box, so I’ve been loading that box up and it fits easily in the storage under my seat as a grab and go box. Not only have they been some of the best boxes I’ve used, they’re also some of the most affordable ones out there. Next time I need to get more, it’ll be a no brainer.

I fished some weeknight jackpot kayak tournaments that don’t allow them. The same guys that win those, win the tournaments that allow FFS for the most part.

A lot going on here, combined with pretty poor fishing, has made there be no reason for me to leave any reports. I've gone the last 2 weeks to a local reservoir where our next tournament is to try and remember how to catch fish there. I've been catching fish, but a lot of them are small or the wrong species. The boat traffic has been terrible as well, I had a jetski do donuts around me as I was crossing the lake 2 weeks ago and had a few boats go flying by me close enough I could have underhand pitched my bait onto their deck, all pontoons or wake boats. Not my idea of a good time. I did finally get into some smallmouth pretty good last weekend, but they were all 13-16 inches, not anything that is going to win a tournament, but they were fat and healthy so I had fun catching them anyways. I also caught a new PB Sauger. Seems to be the year of the toothy fish PBs for me as it was just a few weeks ago I broke my Saugeye PB. Absolutely smashed my homemade micro football jig that I'd been catching my smallies on. Just over 19" and a little over a pound off the state record.

Kansas Ned Kehde Brent Chapman Harold Ensley Chuck Woods

I used one for my kayak anchor for a couple years until I lost it. Actually worked really well and it was free so no complaints.

I T-rig the Bang Stick alot and the Owner Cover Shot in a 4/0 is my hook of choice. Pretty easy to catch dozens of fish on one without it ever slipping down the hook.

Have you ever tried the Croc-O-Gator Ring Craw? I use them almost exclusively on a Slider head and they are magic at times.

I’ll echo @TOXIC, technique is hugely important with a wacky rig. Although it’s great for beginners because it will just get bit and you don’t even really need to set the hook, it’s so much better when you’re using it correctly. Equipment is also a big factor IMO, so maybe list your gear using and we can see if maybe that is part of the problem.

KISS, other baits may work, but don’t over complicate it. Finding the fish is the most important thing. A majority of your fish are going to be in a very small portion of the water. A Ned, small blade bait, and small, suspending jerkbait is really all you need. Sometimes, I’ll bring a rod with a float-n-fly and let it bob around while I fish the other stuff and pick up some bonus fish doing that. Flat sided cranks are great if you have some weeds you can fish them over. Lipless cranks or single Colorado bladed spinnerbaits would probably be my choice if I was just chasing a bigger bite.

I keep it pretty simple for the most part. I buy the YUM Christie Craw and Craw Papi in the bulk packs in green pumpkin/purple and black and blue. Other than that, I like the Croc-O-Gator ring craw.

It's a variation of a splitshot/mojo rig. I use it pretty often, usually when the bite is tough. It's a killer rig for me in shallow, rocky areas.

I wouldn't consider myself a hook snob, I use a lot of Eagle Claw hooks on the baits that I poured. When it comes to my soft plastics, I'm almost always using a Gamakatsu Nano Alpha hook of some variation. The only exception has been the Owner Cover Shot Hooks, and recently, the Ichikawa weedless Sasori wacky hooks and TS3 Flipping Hooks. The Ichikawa are insanely sharp while also being very strong as well.

I forgot, the Truman tournament that my buddy and I fished earlier this year, a former pro and now I believe at least a part time guide fished in that tournament, that Jon and I won. 4 other teams also finished in front of that team. We were in Jon's 30 year old Ranger with a 175 on it. Yes it has Livescope, no we weren't using it. That was on a lake that I fish about once a year. I think that's part of what makes fishing such a great sport. It really is an any man's game. A Pro may be at a big advantage, but that doesn't mean a Joe like me can't get the better of them. The fish don't care how much money your boat cost, or how how big your sonar screen is. If you find the right fish and put the right bait in front of them, you've got a chance.

Those people rarely have any idea how the world really works. They're the kind that get their meat from the grocery store "Where no animals were harmed". They think because they're vegan, no animals were harmed in the process of their food being raised, which is far from the truth. Like it or not, we're animals, we're part of nature, albeit we have seperated ourselves from it a good bit. Nature is not kind, it is not fair, it is cruel, it is brutal. Animals die of starvation, diesease, are killed immediately upon being born, eaten alive, hit by vegan's cars and left to suffer on the side of the road, and so many other grisly deaths. We should all hope to get to go as quickly as a farm raised animal does. Most farmers take better care of their animals than they do themselves. I've helped on both my grandparent's farms, hunted and fished for my own food. I have empathy for the animals, that's why they're taken good care of on the farm and killed humanely. That's why we practice shooting. That's why you can't shoot certain animals with certain calibers, because it's not humane. If nothing else, like @Jig Man said, in most every state, it's illegal to harass someone who is legally fishing or hunting, so call the Game Warden and let them deal with it. Get your phone out and get some video, because they're going to deny it and try to play the victim like you were the problem.

I've used a clicker in the past. This year, I'm in a fun CPR competition to catch, (measure), photo, release 2025 bass for the year 2025. So far this year, I'm at 1,363 that I've managed to catch, measure, photo, and release. There's been quite a few more that I've caught and then didn't get the rest done before they flopped back in the water. There's also been a pretty fair number that didn't meet my minimum length requirement of 8". I'd guess I'm probably close to 1,500 bass caught on the year. My biggest 5 so far are 23.50, 23.25, 23.00, 22.25, and 22.00. All 5 of those were from the same week of fishing in Texas this past spring. Our Kansas bass just can't compare to those monsters.

I beat a local pro who has won on the Bassmaster tour and was a past AOY winner, in a team tournament, from a 2 man, on his home lake that I only got to occasionally fish because it's a private, country club lake. The pros try to jump into local jackpots all the time, and they do win some, but more often than not, the local guys take their money. Time on the water and knowledge of the local bite and conditions is a huge factor in catching fish.

Had about 20 minutes before work today. Same spot as last weeks new PB. They must be coming over the dam into the outlet. Not what I was after, but I’m not complaining either.

I’m pretty good with either one. I forced myself to learn how to pitch left handed to be more efficient. As long as it’s not a super tight window, I can get it there. If it’s a tricky one, I have to switch to my right hand though.

Strike King out of those 2 but I’ve been fishing a lot of crankbaits from Berkley the last few years.

If you’re not throwing a buzz bait around here, you’re missing out on a lot of fish and some big ones. My buddy won the Big Bass 250 on Lake of the Ozarks last fall on nothing but a 1/4oz buzzbait.