Bluebasser86

Haven't bought much lately, but treated myself to couple purchases with some of my tournament win monies.

My johnboat doesn't have an ID plate on it to figure out when it was built. I haven't done any research on Monarch boats to try and get an idea on when it might be from, but if I remember correctly, they started requiring the ID plates on them in the early 70's. The state had to assign me a VIN number for my boat to register it.

Kind of hard to pick only one. If I had to be stuck with just 1 though, it'd be a River2Sea Bubble Walker 80. I fish the Booyah Boss Pop, Berkley Bullet Popper, Yo-Zuri 3BD Popper, and the discontinued Norman's Top Dollar all quite a bit.

Bit the bullet and ordered myself one of these last night in the 6.3. Planning to use it for jerkbaits. The standard line guide plays with icy line much better than the T wing does so hoping it gets here before it warms up too much.

I caught some in February on a popper a few years ago in mid 40 degree water just to see if I could. You get a good warm stretch, they'll flood the shallows and be hungry after the winter. If you get the same conditions and find the last of winter killed vegetation (lily pad stalks are great), you can really tear them up with a frog or buzzbait, especially big fish.

Hundreds, if not thousands of channels out there already doing that exact same thing. Setting yourself apart from all the others is going to be the hardest part. Very few are doing so successfully.

Our bass spawn around the same time of year, regardless of water temps, provided there's no high water events or rapid changing water levels. The full moon around the end of April/early May is when the biggest push of fish hits the banks in this area. That makes March the prime time for big, prespawn fish every year.

That's a 30 size Supreme XT that looks like an UL reel next to that fish and a 6' 8" rod laying next to it. I've never seen a longnose gar with that kind of girth, and you can't even see all of it in the picture. The looks of the people at the Dollar General down the road when I walked in with my hand covered in blood was priceless. No way I was washing my hand off in the dirty river water though.

Oh yeah they do.

This past Saturday, I decided to enter the Hotwater Shootout tournament that is put on at that power plant lake that I fish a lot. I'm not a big tournament guy, but I wanted to fish the lake and decided that if I could find someone else that wanted to fish that would cover the entry fee, then I'd fish it. Well I found a partner that was willing to cover the fee, so I decided to give it a shot. Forecast was for mid 30 degree weather, mostly cloudy and light winds from the north. 15 boats showed up and we got lucky number last for takeoff. My plan, given our takeoff order, was to try and find a marginal area where we could hopefully pick off a fish before jumping in line with everyone else working the more typically productive areas. First stop was at the very end of the rock/bluff bank that I spend so much time fishing during the winter. It's one of the most productive areas, and everyone knows it. 6-8 of the boats were on the better parts of the bank when we got there, so we cruised to the end where the water was the coldest and dirtiest to start. The week before, I'd had zero bites on this entire stretch of bank and the water was almost 10 degrees colder since then and noticeably dirtier from recent snow and rain. I started cycling through my normal baits, and after only about 30 minutes I had a solid bite on a Berkley Frittside 5 in the Special Red Craw color and put keeper number 1 in the boat (15" minimum). I kept rotating through baits and maybe 20 yards down the bank, I cast a 6th Sense Provoke 106 in the Merthiolate Flash up against the rocks, drug it down and twitched it about 3 or 4 times before it felt like I hit a limb or rock. I leaned into it anyways and the snag started swimming. Keeper #2 made it to the net and we weren't even a hour in. I was just hoping not to blank completely, so 2 fish felt pretty good. Probably 5 minutes later, I had a fish hammer the Frittside, swim a few feet off the bank, and just pop off. That hurt a little because it was #3 and would have done a lot to help calm the nerves. I had another fish slam the Frittside and not get the hooks right as the rocks ended and the bottom flattens out and becomes more mud and clay. Tried to tell myself it was a carp that I ran into, but still would have liked to see it. We reached the deeper part of the bluff bank and I switched to a deeper diving crankbait. I saw a couple swirls right near the shoreline and put a cast down the bank. My crank got smoked but I was in trouble immediately when I heard my line squeaking as it rubbed against something under heavy strain from the fish on the other end. As fast as I hooked up, my line parted. That one hurt even more because not only did I lose what was likely our 3rd keeper of the day, but I lost one of my favorite winter cranks and a bait with a lot of mojo. I had more of the same bait though, so I tied another one on. We fished down the bank as far as we could and turned to go back down it. I had no intention of leaving until the fish told me to. Right before we got to the spot where the fish broke me off, I caught a short on the same crank. Once we got to the spot where I got broke off, I pulled the same crank through (Strike King HC Flat Side 1.5 in Blue Gizzard Shad), I felt a hit and leaned on it. It felt like it was snagged for a split second, then it pulled back and rocketed off the bank with more speed and power than a bass so I was sure I snagged a carp. Told my partner that's what I had and told him not to bother with the net but he grabbed it anyways. After a brief fight, this toad of a bass ballooned up to the surface and the scrambling started. She pulled hard and protested the whole way to the net, but number 3 was plucked from the water and we couldn't believe the proportions of the fish we were looking at. Barely longer than my 18" ruler, she went 5.58lbs on the official scales at weigh in and had a shad in her throat so big that the tail was curled up on each side of her throat. We had a kicker now. I made another cast through the same spot and my bait stopped cold. Rod loaded, headshake, bait flew back at me. I'm sure it was another big bass, but another that didn't eat the bait well. Right at the beginning of the shallower rock bank, where the mud/clay bottom meets the rocks. I cast a watermelon green flake baby brush hog up to the end of some laydowns. I fished the bait quite a bit further out that I normally do for some reason. Maybe because it was slow, maybe because I was talking to my partner and not paying as much attention, but the bait go popped about halfway back to the boat. On the hook set, the fish screamed off and was clearly one we needed. I was happy to have this one on a single hook instead of a treble hooked bait. Keeper number 4 made the net, was the second largest of the day, and it wasn't even noon yet, I was feeling like we actually had a shot at a limit at this point. We rolled down to the end of the bank to where we started the morning at. Got a lot of grumbling and what I assumed was sandbagging every boat we passed. I caught another short on the baby brush hog that was close enough to measure, and lost another fish in the exact same spot on a different color Frittside that I had lost my first one of the morning. It was about 1pm when we got back to the mud/clay/rock transition area. I'd marked a lot of fish right on the edge of the drop both times over it, but they wouldn't come up to eat a jerkbait like they occasionally do on this spot. So the 3rd time through, I fired a 1/4oz homemade swinghead with summer craw Menace across the flat right at the edge of the drop and started dragging it. I hit something hard and then my bait disappeared. I found it in the mouth of a skinny little 15" fish that really needed to eat something, but it chose the wrong thing this day. I knew he wouldn't add much, but having that 5th keeper felt great. We fished that same bank to the end, then made our first short move of the day to a shallow point where we found nothing. It was a short hop to the outlet, so we went there despite the fact that I haven't caught a bass from it in probably 2 years. After about 5 minutes of fishing it, I had a 6" bass run off with my Menace as fast as it could go and got sent flying on the hook set. We laughed but at least I'd caught a bass so maybe there was more. Across on the rock jetty side, I drug my Menace down the drop into the back eddy where the current seam is and a fish thumped my bait hard. I figured it was going to be a drum or little flathead, but a fat 15.5" bass that was barely hooked popped out of the churning water and I culled my skinny last fish back into the most shad infested part of the lake to hopefully put on some weight. It was almost 2 by then, check in was 3. We fished until 2:40 without another bite and decided to head in so we had plenty of time. The grumbling we heard on the water continued in the parking lot. I watched a few boats load up and just leave. The boat next to us said they had 2 and fish just weren't eating the bait well. One guy said he never had a bite. They were paying 3 spots, so I thought we might get our money back anyways. Loaded the fish up and was second to last in line at the scales. When I heard that 14 something was leading, I knew it was serious. We had a good kicker, and not a single line burner. Handed my bag over and the guy running the scales immediately said, "Oh yeah, this is the heaviest bag so far". The scales settled at 17.43 pounds, almost 3 pounds more than second place at the moment. One more guy had to weigh in, so we held our breath, but then he dumped out 4 fish and none of them were big, I knew we had it. They had almost 12 pounds and the TD made it official when he read the names off and passed out the cash. Always nice when a plan comes together and you can grind through a tough day. I had the bites to be over 20 pounds I'm sure, which is what I thought it would take. My big fish was only the 3rd biggest of the day. We watched the 6.95lb BB get caught. Had fun and it was a good experience but I'm not sure if I'll be fishing any more of them.

I haven't used anything from Piscifun, but pretty sure they're the same thing as the Kastking reels, just a different name on it. A friend of mine uses the Carbon X for crappie and really likes them. I'd go with a Daiwa Revros for less money personally.

Mine didn't. Thumb bar quit engaging after the cast about halfway through the season.

Those double keepers are a little tougher on the rigging end, but they make the bait last a long time comparatively.

Almost too pretty to fish with.

I have a Carlisle Paddles Magic Angler 230cm on my Sportsman PDL. I also have a Backwater Assault hand paddle for small corrections in tight spaces.

Caught 2 keepers in a tournament Saturday on a swinghead/Menace in 45* water.

Pick a dark color. It's not likely to matter in stained color at that depth. I'd probably go something 2 tone for some contrast to help them pick it out a little bit (black and blue, PB&J).

They're great for busting white bass. I still have one that I keep just for that reason.

Fished the first tournament I've fished in a long time Saturday. Happened to catch one of the fattest, most oddly shaped bass I've ever seen for our 3rd keeper of the day (18" and 5.58 pounds with a massive shad in it's throat). Going to do a separate post for a tournament breakdown.

Fish were a food source growing up. I fished for anything that would bite that could be eaten. I remember fishing a lot for catfish, crappie, bluegill/sunfish, white bass, and walleye. I also spent a lot of time in the creek at my cousin's house (who lived next to use 1/4 mile down a dirt road), catching creek chubs and suckers to be used for bait for larger fish. Bass were not a frequent catch as they didn't live in large numbers in the lakes we fished, and since you can only keep 2-5 of them in most lakes, they weren't an efficient species to target to get the most food per trip.

We were supposed to get 6" of snow last week and they were talking like it was the end of the world. Seems like when I was a kid I remember there being 6-10" snowstorms every winter ?‍♂️. 2-4" is barely enough to worry about cleaning off the driveway.

Good luck man!

Flathead spines aren't venomous, and noodling is pretty wild but I don't know that I'd do it again. They're more fun to catch on rod and reel. I caught a huge longnose gar a couple years ago, big enough I thought it might challenge the state record. I wasn't fishing for them, didn't have a way to weigh it (cradle), but I thought maybe I could get it's mouth pried open and clamp down my grippers back far enough to weigh it that way, big mistake. She flopped with her mouth open, raked her teeth across my hand and bit down on my knuckle of my middle finger. For about the next 6 months I couldn't bend my middle finger fully. I'm pretty sure she left part or all of a tooth in the joint of my finger.

Nobody is forcing you to click on the threads and read it. Some folks enjoy delving into the more analytical aspects of things. I'm not that deep so I haven't been following along, super easy to do.

Welcome!