Bluebasser86

It's been a big issue for a lot of people unfortunately. Make sure you address your mental health first before you worry about the fishing. Unfortunately my job and kids never give me the chance to sleep in.

Bladed jigs have been really good for me lately in the warm, dirty water I've been fishing (should be almost the same temps you're seeing). Buzzbaits tend to be good in warm, dirty water as well at dark colored T-rigged soft plastics.

Binding was/is a pretty big issue with the Symetre it seems like. Mine all had terrible binding issues any time they got wet at all.

I use a really high speed (10:1), for buzzbaits, 7.3 for ploppers, and 6.3 for crawlers. It's much easier for me to slow down than it is to speed up. I don't want to hook a big fish on a buzzbait and not be able to keep up with it, which is often an issue since they tend to take off fast in shallow water where I fish a buzzbait most often.

The shallow #7 size cast better than the deeper runners and I haven't had any trouble with tracking. It's still a spinning rod bait, but it has been a big time cold water producer for me since I discovered it a year or two ago.

The Booyah Toadrunner is a few dollars cheaper than the Teckel and runs better IMO. They're been really durable for me and they come with 2 extra tails. I haven't had to use a single spare tail yet though.

Maybe check farm stores. I was at one by me last week that has very minimal fishing and hunting gear, but it was mostly untouched through all this. They had hooks, weights, line, everything WalMart doesn't have. Otherwise, get on the bay and order some.

I throw them with a trailer 100% of the time. It's not just the additional action, but also the profile that they produce.

Usually another hour or two.

You might be onto something because this lake has a boatload of blue herons around it.

This is a difficult concept for some to grasp. I've taken people who wanted to "catch fish like me". I try to explain that I can take them to the spots, give the equipment, give them instruction, the rest is up to them. There is only so much that can be taught without the actual on the water time spent.

I rarely use their worms, but the Culprit Incredi-Bug is probably one of the best, and most overlooked beaver/creature style baits out there imo. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Culprit_Incredi-Bug_6pk/descpage-CIBG.html

The hooks are not very strong either. I don't use the regular Flicker Shad for bass, but I do use the Flicker Shad Shallow for bass quite a bit and have very good success. Basically a shallower running, rattling shad rap.

It's almost always better before storms than it is after.

I was expecting to work OT yesterday morning since we're so short at work, but someone showed up that wasn't on the schedule so I got to go home. Cool morning with clouds and a little drizzle. I had about 1.5 by the time I got the boat on the water. Had quite a few rods out, started with a bluegill colored bladed jig. Water was pea soup green with an algae bloom. Made 2 cast and knew it wasn't right. Cut it off and tied on one of my solid blue homemade bladed jigs. 2 fish in my first 3 cast and 14 total when I had to leave, every one on the same bait. Biggest was not suffering from the "summer skinny", at all coming in at 18" and 3.75lbs.

I've got a blue heron, a grebe, an owl, a few seagulls, my dog, several snapping turtles along with various other turtles. One I remember was catching a sleeping bag with a jigging spoon off the front of a small cliff you could drive up to. It was heavy, I assume full of mud and water, but I didn't want to open it to find out and just ripped my hooks loose.

I'd go with 12, but there's no need to spend the extra money on fluoro for cranking imo.

Same, they're both just plastic worms in my dialect.

My buddy lives on a private lake. They don't eat topwater there, any kind of it, never have. No idea why, but they don't. It looks like an amazing topwater lake with clear water, weeds, and docks everywhere, but other baits outfish topwaters 10:1 and most topwater fish are small ones. I've just given up even bringing any when I go out there.

Zman's Hot Snakes is funny if you know the context.

Had a lot of things tied on yesterday, they only wanted one of them though.

After my short trip yesterday morning, I'm at 1469 for the year.

So many variables to consider but I almost always have tied on; bladed jig T-rigged plastic buzzbait jig Ned rig wacky rig walking bait/plopper/popper depending on situation

It isn't true here. Not sure I've ever caught a smallmouth that deep in Kansas, in the summer time, in my life.

I have not enjoyed the surplus of stupidity I've experience on the water this year. I've seen more "This could end up bad", situations on the water this year than I can remember in the last several years. Lots of way too small vessels on way too big bodies of water, even inflatables, usually with no pfds. Lots of people with no idea how to operate a boat, flying around the lakes putting other people at risk, it isn't even fun some days. I was on the water for a quick trip yesterday morning when we had an extra body at work and I wasn't needed for my scheduled OT. Fishing the bathwater hot water, pea soup green with an algae bloom, cheese mats almost black and no signs of life in them, rods all over the deck, I found my mind wandering to colder, simpler times when I only needed 2 or 3 rods on the deck and fish jumped in the boat.