Bluebasser86

I use a 7' 3" MH/F Helium as one of my main jig/plastic rods and you really can't go wrong with it.

That's a technique that doesn't need a specialized rod to get by. There's rods that are better for it than others, but lots of rods will work and that one should be fine. Only 3-4 rods in the yak though? I have a hard time keeping it under 10 in mine 🤣

YUM Christie Craw or Craw Papi are my favorites. Rage Menace is a solid choice. If you're not fishing a Maxscent Lil' General on your finesse jigs, you're missing out. Doesn't look like much, but it flat out gets bit.

I feel your pain. My SD card from Day 2 of the Kayak Bassmaster Classic got corrupted and I haven't been able to recover it. I got a quote recently from a company that said it would be $900-$2400 depending on the amount of data needing to be recovered (there's a lot, I was catching them good all day that day). Kills me not to be able to even watch the video again, but I can't spend a house payment to get it recovered. I'm in a year long challenge of sorts called Catch and Release Alive for 2025. The goal is to CPR 2025 bass by the end of 2025. So I'll be tracking all my fish this year. I got out Saturday right before the big winter storm hit. It was 27* pretty much all day with 10-20mph east winds and 41* water. I fished from 7-12 when the freezing rain started and I wanted to get home before the roads got bad. Ended up with 34, bringing my yearly total to 36 fish and 477". I only brought 3 rods and fished with 2 of them most of the time, a Ned rig and Jackyll Bling.

The only picture I have of my very skinny DD I caught my first trip to Mexico. The fish was so long our guide said it would probably have been a 13-14 pound fish if it hadn't been so skinny.

Both our state record largemouth and smallmouth have stood for over 15 years now, spotted bass for over 40. Our bass just don't reach really large size very often. Our flathead catfish record has stood for almost 30 years now and will likely never be broken as it's also the standing world record of 123 pounds.

We've got a few of the fun invasives here; zebra mussels, bighead and silver carp, Chinese Mystery Snails, several kinds of vegetations, white perch. I really don't know that there is much to be done about controlling a lot of them. The zebra mussels will be everywhere eventually, they just move so easily and are so tiny that they're easily overlooked. The vegetation travels easily also and most folks don't know their Curlyleaf Pondweed from their Eurasian Water Milfoil anyways. I fear the carp are the biggest issue. They are eating machines that will crash a food chain from the bottom up. They filter so much out of the water every day that it makes it difficult for anything else that uses plankton (or eats anything that eats plankton, which is everything in some form). Best thing you can do is not releasing fish or dumping water from one lake to the next and allowing visible water on gear to dry. Shore anglers are probably one of the smallest contributors to the spread. I would suspect here, it's largely wake/ski boats ballast that contribute to the spread, but fishermen certainly do too. I've seen too many guys posting on FB about fishing a tournament on an infected lake, then the next day, fishing another tournament on a lake that isn't infected. It's very irresponsible, but that's human nature I suppose.

This was actually my second of the year yesterday, but the first was so small the camera couldn't focus on it I guess and the picture was blurry. Only got out for 1.5 hours at the lake right down the street from my house. Water was super clear, but I got on the board for the new year. Supposed to be winter storms this weekend with maybe over a foot of snow..

Took my last trip of the 2024 season last Saturday. Weather was nice, fishing was pretty decent, but I've been drug down by crud that my kids brought home from school right at the start of winter break. Done a good job avoiding it, but it finally got me and I've been feeling it for about a week now and after 4 hours on the water, I was wiped out and cold despite the unseasonably warm weather. Still managed to boat over 30 of them, including one fairly nice one to wrap up the season. Ned rig caught all but 3 or 4 of them.

A light braid mainline to a flouro leader helps a lot with casting. I use a 10lb Seaguar Tactix braid and even with that tiny head it will cast plenty far.

Fish a light Ned rig. I’m using a 1/16oz head and fishing it in the remaining weeds because that’s where the fish are hanging out at. I’m in NE Kansas, so similar water temps I’d guess with low 40’s. I’m catching almost all my fish in less than 5’ of water. Suspending jerkbait with a very slow retrieve is another good option. I catch very few fish in the winter on a jig for some reason.

I went again yesterday and had another 30+ fish day. Water temps had actually gone up a little here to 43-45. Most of them were less than 5’ deep. The best winter lakes for me have pretty clear water and grass.

I remember so little of anything that isn't fishing related, it's concerning really. I can tell you where the rockpiles and stumps and laydowns are that produce fish for me in almost every lake I've fished with any regularity. I can remember catches with great detail. Ask me to answer a question about something not related to fishing that happened more than a couple days ago, I got nothing.

Our water temps were 41-42 last Sunday and I caught over 40 in a few hours on a Ned rig.

Sunday was a weird day. I fished for 5 hours and caught 5 dinks and a big crappie. Then the switch turned on and I caught 40 more in the last 3.5 hours doing the same things I'd been doing all day, go figure.

I was pretty boring this year. Started like I usually do, catching them on cranks and Ned rigs (which I never seemed to put down all year). The staples like the 6th Sense Flat 75 and Frittside were productive as always, but I added a couple new confidence baits in the Spro Speed Demon and Berkley Money Badger. March was my first experience with the Rapala Freeloader, and it did enough to have me 1/4" short of walking across the Bassmaster Classic stage. Ned kept producing through spring, getting a win in the first tournament of the year, qualifying me for the championship at the end of the year. This time it was my weedless Ned next to laydowns that produced a flurry in the last 2 hours of the day to cull all 5 of my fish, going from the high 60" range, to the high 80's. Summer was really good for the bladed jigs. My Ivy (chartreuse and white with blood spots), was a steady producer early, including what was my biggest fish of the year for a majority of the year. Then Code Blue was hot when the weather was hot, including a couple weeknight tournament wins. I feel like I've caught so many fish on a Ned rig since late summer until now. My kids absolutely crushed the smallmouth all summer on them, so did my wife. Then our championship, I closed out the season the same way I started, winning with a Ned rig. It was a 2 day tournament, and 9 of my 10 fish were on a Ned rig, either White Lightning or Hot Snakes color. I had a few good days on a homemade jig, caught some really nice fish on it. Lately, a jerkbait has been really good, either a 6th Sense Provoke, or Stunna 112. Then of course, Ned has remained steady and produced my biggest fish of the year in a heavy snow a few weeks ago.

I have that exact one in the 110 size. Great bait when they want a natural color. I've got probably 12-15 Duo jerkbaits in the 100-130 sizes and a whole bunch of smaller ones. They're killer baits.

A skirted bass jig is one of the most proven baits made. Bladed jigs have been one of the hottest baits since their introduction, almost always a factor on the tournament scene when there's a shallow water bite. I'd never hit the water without a bunch of both.

I don’t know if they make those fur hats in my size 😅 I fished a small tournament last Saturday, last one of the year. It was a weird bite for me. I struggled to get bit on a jerkbait like I planned on and my Ned rig fish were tiny. Water temps were 40-42, so I switched from a suspending jerkbait to a slow sinker (Stunna), in almost the same color. Almost immediately caught a 15” fish, which was by far my biggest fish. I made a long run to one of my best areas and caught another cull fish that was 14.75”. I was still expecting more fish but there was another rounded point on this cove and I knew there was a tree that usually holds fish. I pulled my bait across the point and my line jumped on the pause. The fish was surprisingly thin for this time of year but a huge help, culling an 11” fish with an 18.25. My next cast. Another big fish loaded on over the tree. She drug in slowly with heavy head shakes. I saw a big fish with my bait crossways in its mouth, then it shook and my rod relaxed 😭 It was an easy 20” fish. Next cast, another heavy one loaded on, and just as fast, it was gone. I culled one more 15” fish and a 13”. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.

Try changing colors or style of jerkbait. They like something about it but aren't fully committed to it, hence why they're slapping at the bait instead of eating it.

Points that I would call “roll offs” (flat points with sharp drops at the ends), were the only places holding fish for me yesterday. The one with grass had more fish, but I found a big log on another that had 3 big fish sitting on it and every one of them bit my jerkbait.

I’m in NE Kansas and fished a tournament here yesterday . I caught all my fish on a jerkbait and Ned rig. Normally would mix in a flat sided crank but the rock snot was too bad.

I’ve fished a couple of them. I’ve fished Wilson several times unfortunately. They could fill that lake in and I wouldn’t miss it 😅

TN, OK, and TX from Kansas wouldn't be bad 🤔

I pulled a Rinky Dink KO from Academy out of my box last week but never tied it on. Probably should have as many fish as I was seeing scattered around the bottom off the bank in 8-12 feet. I use to fish them fairly often but haven't used one in a long time.