Bluebasser86

5/0 Gamakatsu Nano Alpha Round Bend Worm hook.

Spro, Booyah, Berkley, and FishLab all make frogs that walk really well. I trim the legs short on mine, with one being a little longer than the other. Helps with short strikes and makes them walk easier.

Most of my trips are 6-8 hours on the water. If I'm prefishing for a tournament, it'll be dawn to dusk. I do a lot of before work stops that are only 10 minutes that I don't even turn the truck off for though.

Didn’t have them in 4 wheel drive and my foot went right through the front of one of them.

Those are toned down a lot from my previous pair. I couldn’t find another pair when I blew out the old pair walking a dam. I like wearing them solely because it bothers people 🤷‍♂️

This weekend I got called in off the bench to be a last minute sub for my buddy Jon in a Kansas Buddy Bass 2 day tournament on Truman Lake in Missouri. I hate Truman, and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutal. It's a huge lake that is constantly changing, so it's impossible to learn if you don't fish it a lot for years, which I haven't. I also had no time to prefish, so we were going in completely blind. The week leading up to it, I scoped around on Google maps and found a place I liked. Figuring the fish should be spawning to postspawn, they should still be in their spawning coves and starting to work their ways back to the main lake. So I found a big cove that I liked with a good mix of rock and gravel, some timber, and transitions that was on an outside channel swing that they could dump into when summer gets here. Tournament morning, we were boat 18 out of 21 and nobody else decided to fish around the marina, so we opted to try that first since it would be off limits on day 2. That proved to be a waste of time. The winds were forecast to be very light, but they were very wrong and there were white caps rolling across the lake. We didn't want to, but we decided to make the long, rough run almost 15 miles down the lake in Jon's old Ranger. When we got to the spot, he started with a popper and almost immediately had a fish miss his bait. I followed it up with a finesse jig and got our first keeper of the morning. It was over an hour and several dinks later, we were going across a point that was mostly clay and mud with a few stumps, but if I know anything about Truman, that's the stuff the fish like there. I pitched my jig to the shallowest stump and got popped. I was afraid it was going to be a drum but it turned out to be a solid keeper. I was getting bit pretty good on a Spro Essestials Popper 80 in chrome color but couldn't get one that was quite keeper sized. Jon's back was hurting so he took a break on the trolling motor and I was kind of mindlessly casting in the back of a nothing gravel pocket with the popper. I was just thinking about how we hadn't caught anything in the back of a pocket when a fish exploded on my bait. She pulled and jumped and ripped drag, I have no idea how the fish didn't come off because there was only one hook in it the whole fight, but Jon got her scooped and we added a nearly 4 pound midday topwater eater to our bag. We finished that bank out and went straight across to another small pocket. It was really flat but I started with the popper again and almost immediately had a fish boil on it. It was a line burner but keeper number 4 was in the box and it was only 10:30 and we were fishing until 3! All kinds of time to get number 5. Let me tell you, when I say the bite died after that fish, it felt like all the fish in the lake disappeared. We couldn't even catch any shorts. Then the real disaster struck. I checked the livewell about 11:30, and the big fish was on her side, gold eyed, looking as dead and she could possibly look. I was gutpunched, this was one of the main reasons I quit tournaments in boats, risking killing a fish that was perfectly healthy just to haul it around and put it on a scale. Frustrusted, I told Jon she was a goner. He checked and said he thought his livewell timer wasn't working and just put it on constant and we left it running hoping for a miracle. At about 1:30 we ran to the dam. Other than a couple heartbreaking catfish and drum, nothing. I checked the livewell again, the big fish was alive! I couldn't believe it. She was righted and thrashing around. I was really happy and it saved us a 1lb penalty, which was really going to help with us only having 4 fish. With 20 minutes left, Jon said we go for a Hail Mary at the marina. I was done, Gopro was put away. We went down the bank once, nothing. Back out, Jon hooked up! But it was short. I was daydreaming, dragging my Bang Stickz through all the little bushes, when it disappeared. I couldn't believe it, my line was slicing towards deeper water. I set the hook and just as fast swung number 5 into the boat! Check out the time stamp on the picture. Our day one total was 12.81 and put us in 5th, less than 3 pounds out of 1st and I had big fish for day 1. We talked it over quite a bit that night. We didn't want to make that run again. The more we talked though, the more it made no sense not to. We had caught fish, there had to be more. There was a 100 boat tournament going out further up the lake, it was going to be busy and we were running away from where they were launching from. It was supposed to be very calm most of the day and we were in water with a good stain. I didn't want to go to the calmer water. We both checked our Deep Dive apps and confirmed the leaders were fishing an area with cleaner water and I was betting they were in for a tough day 2. We made the long run Sunday and pulled into a completely empty pocket and got to work. I told Jon the night before he needed to slow down his popper. He immediately started getting bit to confirm my feelings. It wasn't very long before a fish mauled his bait. Halfway to the boat, a solid 3.5 to 4 pounder went airborne, and seperated itself from his bait. Not the start we hoped for. Then it was 1.5 hours into our morning and we had nothing but several shorts. Saturday we had no Ned rigs tied on, Sunday we both did. We were going down a nice chunk rock bank, perfect Nedding spot. I cast up to the point and my line started to slowly drift off. I hooked up with a solid one that took flight and then pulled hard and stayed down before Jon netted it. I didn't get a picture, but keeper number 1 was a solid 17" fish. I had to remind both of us that it was almost the exact same time as our first keeper the day before, we had plenty of time. To really ring that home, 10 minutes later, my Ned landed next to a big rock and then my line was quickly headed for deeper water. The fish jumped immediately and crashed back down before staying down the rest of the fight. I knew when it hit the net that I'd beat my big fish the day before. Around the next point, I caught a 12" and 13.5" spotted bass (spots only have to be 12" to keep), to get us just 1 short of a limit. Down a steeper rock bank, Jon's popper got smashed again. I was pleading outloud for the fish to stay stuck, because we needed it but Jon really needed it. The fish dove under the boat and then jumped up and away from the boat at a crazy angle, sending his bait flying the other direction. I stretched as far as I could with the net but came up just a little short. Jon let out and exasperated yell. I felt so bad for my friend. He didn't do anything wrong and he just kept beating himself up about it. It was just a bunch of bad luck at a really bad time. We had a pretty good lull before we went across the point I'd caught my jig fish the day before off the stumps. I noticed a laydown I couldn't see the day before and flipped my Ned next to it. A fish pulled me under the stump and had my 10lb Pounce leader squeaking but I got it drug back out from under it and got our limit filled out. It was only 10:30, plenty of time to cull those spots. We cut across to where I'd caught my last popper fish the day before. I'd also missed one in a laydown. I could see it much better this day because the water had dropped so much. It was a whole cedar with the roots and everything laying next to a standing hardwood. I flipped my Ned next to it and was in a bad way real quick with a fish heading with my bait towards the rootball. I got a funny hookset and got real lucky when the fish rocketed away from the tree and tailwalked right into the net that Jon was super fast with, and the hook just fell out when it hit the net. The 12" spot was traded out for this one. Jon dropped it in the livewell and I joked and said I was going to catch his girlfriend out of that tree. I grabbed my T-rig rod and pitched a Rage bug into the tree, hopped it twice and got thumped. I hammered the rod back and quickly swung in another keeper. I culled both spots out of the same tree! We just kept fishing at that point. Trolling motor down and I ran us to a little pocket we didn't get to fish the day before because of all the crappie fishermen. We went through the whole thing and I wasn't paying a lot of attention as we came out. I cast my Ned a small stump on the end of the point and was talking to Jon when my rod started to get pulled down. I set into another solid fish that I had to finesse through the stumps and into the net. This one culled us up a little bit more. With about 2.5 hours left, we were deciding what to do. We had another area we had talked about fishing the night before that wasn't too far away we could run to. I decided that was not the best idea. We had fish here, lets get everything we can here and make the best of it. There were a few little mud/sand pockets and points that just had a few trees that nobody had fished, I suggested we run those and see what happens. We caught a few shorts, when I saw a stump that was setup perfect. I cast at a different one and then pointed it out to Jon, told him I didn't see it and to cast at it. He pitched his Ned to it and hooked up with a good one. I didn't get his picture, but the fish barely culled our smallest fish and it might as well have been the biggest in the livewell because he'd finally got one to add to our total. We stuck it out until about 2:20 when a storm started to roll in. We didn't want to get caught a long way from the ramp so we got in about 20 minutes early and decided we both happy regardless of how we finished and put it on the trailer. Our day 2 efforts gave us 15.05, for a total of 27.86. I was really surprised when the tournament director said he thought we'd probably win with that. There was one other good bag weighed in, but a lot of people didn't have limits and complained of much harder fishing and blamed the calmer conditions and increased fishing pressure. They started calling the top 5, it started at 23lbs, we were in the money! Then it was 24, another 24, top 2! Second place 27.70, we won by .16lbs! Let me tell you, when all those guys heard they got beat by a couple guys fishing out of an old Ranger (the one behind us in the picture), fishing a Ned rig, I thought they were going to throw up 😆 It was a great weekend fishing with my good buddy in some tough conditions.

I'm catching fish on dice baits, but I'm making my own. Get some 7" Stick O's from BPS in whatever color you like, and some skirt material in whatever color you like (you can use strands from old baits. I got an upholstery needle kit from Dollar General and use that to run the strands of skirt through the cut up Stick O. The whole lot of my materials is less than a pack of dice and minus it being a little time consuming, it's still effective.

Only when I’m fishing. Don’t know many fishermen that wear the kind of vest I wear for work. I dress like I’m homeless when I’m not at work or fishing.

409 right now.

I have the 7' 3" H/F. I fished a weightless Senko on it a lot last weekend and had no issues launching it. I had to do it to get the bait behind the grass lines and then needed the heavy rod to drag them back through all the grass.

I got out both days this weekend. Saturday, my buddy and I took our kayaks to a small lake and wore out some skinny, post spawners. I struggled a bit at the beginning, only being able to get bit on a wacky rig for the most part. Once I switched my T-rig to a stick worm instead of a creature bait, it was on. I think this is the longest bass I've caught in Kansas this year, she literally shook the whole tree when she ate my worm. My wife wanted to go to the lake for Mother's day. Weather was perfect for being at the lake and thankfully, I guess not many other moms wanted to be at the lake. We had a slight snake mishap right at the ramp when one wanted to be a lot more friendly than my wife is comfortable with, but after that we were right into it. What little breeze there was, was blowing into the point right by the ramp. I noticed some splashes and after trolling over, I realized it was a shad spawn. Didn't take long before we were catching the fish that were capitalizing on them. Smallmouth and walleye were both hanging around them. Lake got a couple nicer smallmouth out of the bunch. Then Finn got one of his own. The wind really died from there, not good when you're chasing smallmouth. We bounced around and caught some small ones here and there, as well as a few walleye and crappie, but not what we were looking for. A little breeze started blowing but I was having a hard time really determining the direction. Never thought I would use a fishing app, but it sure is nice to be able to pull this Deep Dive app and be able to really visualize how the wind is hitting different parts of the lake. Using that information, I knew where I needed to go. Sure enough, those banks that the gentle breeze was breaking up the surface were the ticket. Lake picked up a nice largemouth. Mrs. Blue got her big fish of the day, also a largemouth. I picked up a tube and just really started working the smallmouth over. They were eating it so fast that I having a hard time keeping them from swallowing it. I caught several solid fish, these were a couple of the biggest. One of the last fish of the day put me over 600 bass on the year, and over 8,000 inches of bass caught on the year. I don't know that I'll make it to 2025 bass, but I'm trying.

I have a graph with downimaging and side scan, but I’d still rather fish shallow. Even on clear lakes, I’ll try my hardest to find those often ignored shallow fish.

If I can’t stand up and have my head be above water, it’s deeper than I like to fish.

Cavitron and Croc-O-Gator HeadKnocker

I catch smallies on 5-7 inch swimbaits regularly, often they’re not even very big.

Simms Prodry Bibbs

I caught a couple of the biggest bass I’ve ever caught this year on spinning gear and a wacky rig. It was a huge rush. Of course it didn’t pull anything like this thing did, which was caught on an even lighter spinning rod and a Ned rig.

What kind of leader? Like a steel leader or fluorocarbon leader with braid?

My wife and kids are pretty good at that technique, except it's usually wind knot "Dad!", untangle said knot, hand rod back, fish on.

It can certainly be fished that way, and I do occasionly but usually only during the winter months. If you search the Midwest Finesse retrieves, my usual retrieve is the swim-shake-glide retrieve.

Ours really like a good ol' tennis ball. Our oldest just chews on them, smashes them flat and lets them pop her mouth back open, I call it chewing her bubble gum. She has always been a huge fan of the stuffed Lambchop toys also. Really, anything with a squeaker or that crinkles when they bite it. Our younger golden loves to steal socks, especially the boys socks. I can always tell when she has a mouthful of socks she's trying to hide.

First little rock that kicks up off the road is going to be the end of your rod. No way I'd transport a rod outside my vehicle like that. It's a prime example of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should", to me.

The dam was the first place that I thought looking at that map. You'll typically find some of the deepest water in a lake at the dam. While there may always be some fish shallow year round, a majority will go deeper in winter months and the fish that go shallower will not move far to get to that shallow water. So finding deeper water that has shallower feeding areas nearby is key. One of my favorite winter time spots is a shallow flat/point combo with rockpiles that the creek channel swings up against. The deepest portion is only about 8', but it's deep enough to winter in and has quick access to feeding areas. I fish a lot of small lakes in the winter months that are cold water lakes and one thing that always holds true, rip rap, and rip rap dams, always hold fish. My favorite baits to target them are a suspending jerkbait and a Ned rig. If snags are bad, the old float-n-fly is a great option also.

They all have their time and place (although I've never really got into the free rig). A Ned isn't a shakyhead, I don't fish them at all alike and one is often much more effective than the other. For me, a shakyhead is a slow, strictly bottom contact bait. A ned may occastionally touch bottom, but is largely fished off bottom and constantly moving. A Neko is more about the slow fall, that seems to be what triggers them to bite it more often than not. If it doesn't though, the head down scooting action on the bottom triggers them. It's not the same movement as a shakyhead where the line is tied to the end instead of the middle of the bait. A wacky is again, a different action from the rest and really most effective while it's falling. I know it can be fished deeper, but it's most effective for me in shallower water around cover. From what I've seen, a Free rig is sort of a variation of a T-rig where the bait has more freedom of movement, but the times I've tried it have been largely unproductive. It's likely user error, but maybe it's just not effective when/where I'm using it.

Had a tournament Saturday. Roadrunner format which I’m learning I’m not a big fan of. I had never fished the lake I chose to go to, so I did a little prefishing on Friday. There lake was choked with invasive weeds, out past 10’ of water, not something we encounter often in Kansas. I had heard the grass was bad though so I had several rods rigged with braid in preparation. The Okuma X Series was rigged with 50lb Smackdown to a leader of 15lb Pounce with a weightless Boomba. I thought I was on something on practice day, had that braid singing in those weeds! The X Series was up to the challenge though. Tournament day didn’t go quite as planned. We had several locals jump in and I couldn’t keep up with them and their cheaterboxes. I still managed a respectable 7th out of 37, which ends up being a 3rd place finish for AOY because only 2 people that finished in front of me were members of the club.