Bluebasser86

Got the chance to take my dad fishing Monday. Started out a little slow but once we figured out they were on the shallower stuff in the wind, we laid it on them. Jerkbaits ruled the day. I was fishing a 6th Sense Provoke in Table Rock Pro, dad was tossing a MB 110 in Sour Apple. Caught mostly largemouth, a couple smallmouth, a couple drum, and a trout a piece. Water temps were already down in the high 40's ?

One of my most popular bladed jig patterns is my crappie color. Bass, and especially big largemouth, love to eat crappie.

I fish from the bow, so that's where I want the good graph at.

I own 3 Megabass baits, probably one of the few that fishes as much as I do that doesn't like their baits much. The Flap Slap is my favorite besides the 110 I have. I have a white python PopMax with several trips and nothing to show for it.

My tiny little pea brain cannot for the life of me, figure out how to whip finish. I have one, but it sits largely unused in a box in my garage. A couple baits I'm excited about from my TW order this week. Left out my new Duo jerkbait, maybe on purpose ? And a few baits

I've got fluoro from 10 to 25lb on my casting reels. 12-17 is the sweet spot imo.

My work area is a war zone, only messier, but I know where everything is. I've got a large, tall (approx 4') bench that I pour my lead on with my melting pot and all my molds stored on one half of it. On the other half is all my paint and my toaster over, heat gun, and some spinnerbait boxes I use to hang baits to cool after painting. There's also 3 magnetic strips with variety of tools screwed to the front of the bench. My powder paint air brush in on that bench also. Right next to it is a regular plastic, 6' folding table with all my tying supplies scattered all about the table as well as my reel cleaning supplies. I've got 3 different Harbor Freight block storage containers full of tools, supplies, and skirt material. My vice is at one end, clamped to an old particle board shelf so it sticks out off the edge of the table a bit, and there's 2 magnetic strips with a variety of tools screwed into the front of the table.

Try them on a football head too.

I caught one at Table Rock on a C-rigged lizard, that then puked up a still live salamander in the boat. Only time I've ever seen a live salamander in the wild. Little thing was mad at the world and plopped back in the lake. As many fish as we were catching on lizards off that bank, I doubt he made it back to the bottom.

I couldn't imagine living somewhere with a bass "season" ?

We had 2" of snow on the ground and barely got above freezing today. My buddy was nice enough to send me a video of him whacking them one after the other this afternoon. Water was still 52*. As much as the weather sucks, winter is some of my best fishing all year.

It was an exciting series. I felt bad for Grienke. Being a Royals fan, he put up with so much bad baseball for those 7 years, to get so close and pitch (and field), so well just to have the rest of the pitching staff give it away.

One of the few good things left about my career choice, I started at 21, now nearing 34, a long 16+ more years to go until I can retire with a full 30 years of service at 51 fate willing ? My dad is getting really close to being able to retire. He's earned it. I can't remember a time in my entire life he hasn't been working at least one job and has always sacrificed to make ends meet. I'm sure he "could" retire right now, but he's got the best/easiest job he's had his entire life and gets paid great, so I think he's just trying to put as much as he can away to be sure they don't have to worry about anything once he's done.

No better today, afraid we may be in for another trip back for more fluids if nothing changes tomorrow. I had to carry him for Trick-or-Treating tonight because he didn't have the energy to walk much on his own. They said everything was normal with his blood work the other day, he just can't seem to shake the virus he has.

5 days of barely eating or drinking anything due to a stomach virus got us another trip to the hospital. He's had green stuff coming out of everywhere, projectile style. Still didn't eat or drink much today, it's been a rough year for him.

Snow on the ground here, up to 4" tonight, 50's by the weekend ?

Thankfully, I meet a lot of good people on the water. It's easy to get jaded dealing with most of the people I do on a daily basis and sometimes even worse if I watch the news. Nothing like the feeling of being hated by people you've never met because of the job you do, especially when that job is doing something to keep them safe.

I use a 7' M/F with 20lb braid and a 8.1 reel for spooks, 75/90/110 ploppers. The 130 requires a heavier rod but I use the same rod and line as I do my frog rod (7' 3" H/F, 50lb Smackdown). I much prefer the braid/fast action rod combination because I get bit and just reel into the fish and the fast tip helps dig the hooks quicker than a moderate or moderate-fast. Once the hooks start to dig, I sweep and reel. Very few fish come off that way. I use a different rod for poppers, a 7' rod is a pain to fish a popper with IMO.

Braid, without question. I use 50lb Smackdown.

I had a blue heron kill a soft swimbait I was waking against a shoreline. Never saw the sucker until it was too late. He stabbed at my bait and cut it dang near in half. I've also caught a seagull on a shad, owl on a jitterbug, blue heron on a bladed jig, and grebe on a jerkbait.

A tiny paddletail/grub in natural/translucent colors or a very small jerkbait fished very fast.

A whole lot of "other" fish this weekend.

Didn't chase any green or brown fish this weekend, got myself out of my comfort zone a little instead. Took Lake for a very short trip Sunday to get him out on what might be his last trip of the year with the weather getting so cold so fast. The reservoir we were on is still 10' high from floods this spring, we were fishing the top of a submerged marina breaker wall and also the flooded parking lot. White bass, wipers, and sauger oh my! ? Monday the cold hit, 39* when I took off in the morning to drive to the lake and not a sole in the parking lot. I'd actually planned on chasing big green fish, but I like to tell my friends that continuously go to the same lakes that they'll never learn anything doing the same things over and over again, so I decided to take my own advice and go do something different again. So I went back after the striped and toothy fish. Turns out I can catch those too. The Frabill Power Extend was getting a serious workout. I actually caught this sauger from a parking lot on the back side of a guardrail.

Did you weight that monster? Has to be 5 or better. The lake has fished really good this year but has taken a beating with everything else being flooded and/or closed. Caught a lot of actual keepers (18+) out there this year. Tons of largemouth and quite a few spots in the lake right now too. I've fished that little cut you did good in before but never done much. That was back when the water was low though, might be more appealing to them now that the water is up a bit.

Welcome!