Bluebasser86

That Drift Walker is a legit bait, especially in really calm conditions, and as you now know, those Fusion 19 trebles are super sharp too. Glad you were able to get it out without issue and back to fishing.

8+lb largemouth, same goal as every winter.

I have several Okuma baitfeeders in sizes from little 30's I use for channel cats, up to the monster 90's I use for blues and flatheads. They're all great reels and all well under your price range. They offer them in a couple different models.

They're fun when they get that big, it's the little tail pullers that drive me crazy. I'll have a dozen bites from them on the bad days, pretty distinct feeling bites, but I set the hook on them anyways and they'll steal the tail off my plastic or trailer if I'm using one. Those big ones just grab and go and are hard to slow down.

Hadn't thrown one in a long time but recently broke them out to toss in creeks to catch whatever would bite. Remembering how fun they are to fish, especially when I get to watch my son get a hold of something like this on one.

I've had the chance to meet/fish with several guys on the board, it's always a pleasure. As for the meet ups and road trips, I've found it to be far more successful to post in the local forums and just do a day meet and greet at a popular local reservoir than it is to try and get a big thing put together.

Make a long cast and have a 5/6/7 or bigger pound fish eat a trap with an underpowered rod, you'll understand what I mean. Rod has long been replaced with a much better rod though and it's no longer an issue

Lighter line/rod/reels/baits. Smaller lures, and they seem to like brighter, more gaudy colors than bass do. Crappie like to examine a bait, so holding it still right in their face will often trigger a strike vs needing to impart movement to get a bite with bass. They're major schooling fish, so if you catch one, there's likely more. They also really like to be around cover like docks, rock piles, laydowns, standing trees, weed lines, anything. If they're in open water, there will need to be bait nearby for them to be feeding.

You had me laughing with your amusement with how easy the boat went on and off the trailer. I was the same way the first time I loaded and unloaded my boat with them. Like with anything, there's some pros and cons, but the ease of launching and loading along with never having to replace the bunks again far outweighs the minor hassle of not feeling comfortable with unhooking the boat before it's in the water.

Most of my Cavitrons run to one side or the other. I prefer a buzzbait to run off to the side so I can run it into obstructions during the retrieve. Running on it's side is another issue though. I never run a trailer on my buzzbait, but I've always felt like the bait not running correctly would be the end result.

It's a huge undertaking. Always a good amount of people interested at first, they start to drop off as time gets closer, then a handful show up in the end. We did an unofficial road trip at Table Rock a couple years ago and had about 6 members show up.

I keep a lot of stuff in my boat but there's a ton of extras in my garage too. I also have a "go bag" that I keep for kayak/bank fishing trips.

I've gotten to where I mainly buy a handful of colors from a handful of companies and try not to get too crazy. It's help cut down on my tackle selection a bit but I'm not carrying a tackle bag much either.

Not sure how I missed this. I've had them on 2 trailers and when my Stratos needs new bunks, I'll put them on it too. They're slick, but as long as you don't do anything silly, there won't be any issues. I don't unhook until I get down the ramp and hook the strap and crank it up before going up the ramp, but I did that before the UBB were on it too.

It's a colder version of rain, keeps the fair weather fishermen off the water so the men can do work.

The local weatherman here keeps saying that all his projections are showing our first snow going to happen October 15th ?

That's actually what I hear small flatheads called around here. Not supposed to eat anything out of the Kansas River though due to high levels of pollution. Even if it was a keeper there's no way I'd keep one. Catching that tiny sauger was about like catching a 6lb largemouth.

Green Pumpkin or Watermelon with a touch of chartreuse on the tail is one of the best bluegill imitating colors IMO. Juvenile bluegills that bass most commonly feed on aren't very colorful.

A well presented bait in the proper location is most likely to catch a fish, regardless of whether it's an artificial or live bait. I think the biggest deciding factor is the fish are aggressive or not. Aggressively feeding fish can be caught quickly on artificial baits, while a live bait fisherman will be wasting lots of time rebaiting and could potentially run out of bait even. Finicky fish that are difficult to get to bite are usually much easier to trick into biting if you hold something live right in their faces.

That stinks about the big walleye. Grab them under the gill plate next time or you can often tail grab them because their scales are so rough and tails are so big. Or, you know, use a net ? If it was 30 inches it would have been pushing double digits though. They'll run around 7 pounds at 26-27 inches. Never been to Texoma but always wanted to go. Supposed to be a blast for the stripers and it has big largemouth and smallmouth. Huge blue cats too if you're into that sort of thing. If any of you guys are available and want to help out a great cause, me and a couple others have organized a benefit tournament to help out the sons of a friend and fellow angler that drowned this past summer. We have about half the boats we were hoping for, needing 4-6 more. It's only $50 a team, and we have some good prizes to give away. It's a combo bass and walleye/saugeye tournament (Steve was a tournament walleye guy so it's in his memory/honor we're doing the combo deal). Send me a PM if you're interested.

I use swim jigs that member @Munkin pours and ties. Best balanced and put together swim jigs I've used. Terminator makes a good bait.

Minimum 6 weeks is what I heard ?

AKA, Rio Grande cichlid This little fish may not look like much, but it's kind of like seeing Bigfoot or something to me. I was exploring a tributary creek just off the Kansas River in my kayak, catching mostly tiny white bass and wipers, when I caught this little sauger. While not super rare in a couple of our reservoirs, catching one out of the river itself is extremely rare. I know guys that try and try and never accomplish it. So to go out and catch one was a pretty big deal to me. Sometimes it's not all about catching the biggest fish ?

Anything that imitates a shad/baitfish can work. Walking topwaters, lipless baits, jerkbaits, swimbaits, spoons, and grubs are some of my favorites. Set your drag, they'll pull like a truck if you get a hold of one bigger than 4 or 5 pounds and part your line before you know what happened.

Big swimbaits work just fine from the bank, but they're certainly not for everyone. I like Keitechs more on a jighead for fishing in deeper water than I do fishing shallow on a keel weighted hook. They work well in similar situations as a swim jig, maybe a little better when they're really keyed on baitfish though. Spinnerbaits work well in clear water too in the right conditions. I've caught lots of fish on Table Rock on a spinnerbait. Low light conditions or windy days are good times to fish them. Clear water is a good time to use "burner" spinnerbaits. Strike King makes one called the Burner, my personal favorite is the War Eagle Screaming Eagle. They're usually natural colors with smaller blades and a compact frame and plenty of weight to keep them down during a fast retrieve.