Bluebasser86

Hoping for a striper on a glide, thought I snagged a leaf. Fishing for flathead bait with a 1/80oz jighead and a piece of a 2" grub.

Got the video wrapped up. Some pretty quality fish catches from a few hours of fishing.

Well Tuesday night is normally the night there is a weeknight kayak tournament that I like to get in on whenever I get off work on time. My assignment for the day had me driving 3 hours each way but I could start as early as I wanted so I could bust it and make it off work on time to get home and get to the lake before the 5:30 launch time. Not sure if anyone is aware of this but apparently the tournament directors weren't, it's hot in the summertime in Kansas. This is the hottest week of the summer so far with temps in the high 90's and heat indexes in the 110's. So a little after noon, they decided to cancel the tournament for the evening instead of just letting the people who don't mind the heat, come out and fish like several of us wanted to. I was more than a little irritated as now they've canceled tournaments for wind, rain, and heat, all of which should be judgement calls on the anglers IMO. Anyways, several of us on the page decided we were going fishing anyways and met at the lake at take off time and made an identifier for the night and braved the conditions. I set out to flip water willows and was a bit disappointed to find the lake had dropped and there wasn't water in the willows. I still managed to get a few bites, but they were super dinks, barely clearing the 8" minimum. I did get my 3 fish limit doing it though, and nobody else was doing it, or even on the same side of the small lake we were on, so I kept flipping. A little over an hour in, I was starting to have my doubts and considering joining the crowd in the one cove with docks in it, when I pitched into some willows and there was a bunch of movement. I thought maybe I spooked a carp because I didn't get bit, but the fish didn't move far, so I picked up and dropped the bait back in. The weeds shook again, so I popped my bait, and he finally found it. Normally a 15 incher is a solid fish at this lake, so I was real happy to see a 17.25" incher. I caught a few more, including a decent cull with a 14.50" fish and lost another fish that felt real solid. The sun was getting lower and the bank I wanted to fish in the dock cove had been shaded for a good period of time, so I decided to move to phase 2 of the game plan, hoping that they'd have moved up to the shade on that bank by now. I cruised across the lake and almost immediately caught a 15.50" fish off a dock ladder with my blue bladed jig. I felt pretty confident about my chances at this point but there was well over a hour left. I caught a couple more small ones before I got to one of my favorite docks. I lined up the right angle and skipped my bladed jig way under the walkway, and caught a dink. "That cast deserved a better fish", I thought out loud to myself and repeated the cast. I never even got the bait moving before a good fish boiled on it. I worked her out from the other side of the dock and netted another 17" fish. Breaking 50" in a 3 fish tournament is like breaking 90" in a 5 fish tournament, and I'd never done it before. Now I was 1/4" away with 45 minutes left in the night and needing a 15.75" fish to get there, not impossible, but not an easy task either. I kept on down the bank and was surprised to not catch anything down my favorite part of that bank that almost always produces. There's one overhanging tree that for some reason always seems to have catfish under it in the bend of that bank. I skipped my bladed jig under the tree and got hammered almost immediately and heard the "slap, slap, slap", of a rolling catfish on the surface before it came off, good riddance. I almost moved on but skipped a few more under the tree and finally a parting shot the the front of the walkway of the dock next to that tree. Shortly after I started the retrieve, a big boil hit the surface and a heavy fish was dragging my line under the dock. I was really struggling to control it, positive it was another catfish, when she jumped right under the motor of the pontoon that was tied to the dock, not a catfish. My line was visibly scarred from dragging along the underside of the metal pontoon, and then she dove into my trolling motor for just a second before coming free so I could scoop her in the net. I probably could have got another 1/4" out of her, but at 20", it's my biggest Tuesday night tournament fish and put me well over the 50" mark at 54.25" on the night. It would have been the second biggest total in a Tuesday night tournament ever but it won't could towards that since it wasn't an official tournament. There was 30 minutes left in the night when I caught that fish, and that would be the last fish I would catch. Second place for the night was 39.75". There was some really great video but I haven't put it all together yet. P.S. We didn't lose anyone to the heat and it was actually pretty comfortable with a good breeze most of the night until the sun got lower and it started to cool off anyways.

The Mister Twister Poc It Phenom is a great little curl tail worm for any kind of finesse presentation. Not sure if they're made anymore but you can find them for sale in bulk for cheap. https://www.vimageoutdoors.com/mister-twister-5-pocit-phenom-worm-50pk-melon-cpr/

The YUM Dinger is great on a T-rig with a light bullet weight and pitched around cover. It's more durable than other sticks, and cheaper, so it's my bait of choice for doing this.

I don't use the Strike King but YUM makes the Mighty worm in a 10.5" version that I use pretty often in the summer months. I pour a swing head specifically for them with a 1/8oz head and 6/0 monster worm hook. The light weight makes it kind of glide around through the cover on the bottom, really gets bit good at times.

Late report, been a crazy busy week. 1AM as I'm writing it as is what I guess is the end of my Wednesday still and have to be back in to start my Thursday in a little over 6 hours. Fished a new to me lake Saturday. Got a roadrunner tournament coming up that I thought was the same as last years but found out it's completely different. Last year, we could fish in 3 different counties, any public body of water. This year, it's any state lake in Kansas, which rules out all of my favorite lakes as all of our state lakes within a reasonable drive of me are absolute garbage. So now I'm scrambling, trying to find a state lake that is at least decent to hopefully make a good showing in this tournament. Made the 2 hour drive to this lake, caught probably 40 fish but the biggest was only 17.25". Maybe it had the fish I will need, but the bank pressure was insane. It was only a 90 acre lake but there was no less than 20 shore anglers from the time we arrived at 5:30AM. It made a small lake even smaller. One of the state lakes I like but isn't particularly known for it's numbers of big fish was on the way back, so we decided to head there with a few hours left in the day to fish. I like the lake because they eat the jig, and sometimes I catch a good one there. This time, I got both.

I use a Kistler Helium 7’ 3” MH/F for those baits. A similarly rated KLX should work fine. I use the same rod as that Helium in the KLX for bigger jigs.

Whenever someone would come poking around after a tournament asking what we caught on them on, "A Carolina rigged, bubble gum colored buzzbait down by the dam", was always a popular answer. This thread reminded me of that.

Not a Rapala fan either and I'll leave it at that.

The thing about the old warts is they varied wildly from bait to bait. I have several of my favorite color (V38). Some of them have "it", where they just wander around, hunting all over during the retrieve, and catch fish left and right in the process. Others, don't do near as much and don't catch fish nearly as well. The colors and sounds aren't the same as the new versions either. The Rock Crawler is a better replacement for the old wart than the new warts are IMO. When they want to eat them, nothing will outperform those old pre-Rap warts though. I've been unfortunate enough to be in the back of the boat behind guys on Table Rock and Stockton on some of those days. Might as well just sit down, hold onto the net, and wait to scoop their next fish for them. It's a helpless feeling, like the fish don't want to eat anything else except those old baits.

Lipped crankbaits. Only time they ever work for me is the cold water months when I'm banging them into rocks. If I fish those same areas now, it's nothing but snags, catfish, and drum. I use to be able to catch them on squarebills over the grass and ripping them through the grass, doesn't work anymore for whatever reason. They're still there, because I catch them on bladed jigs all the time in the same areas, they just won't eat a crank.

Not sure that is a place I’d fly solo for safety reasons.

Hard to tell in this video, but it was pouring, and it did all day. I caught fish nonstop until I left because I was literally watching the water rise on this tiny puddle. The inflow went from a trickle to roaring rapids in a couple hours and the water was going to be over the road leading into the lake if I stayed much longer than I did.

I don't stand, I'm sitting in my chair for 100% of the pictures I take and I'm only 6' tall so I'm not real tall. I do have the highest seat risers from Navarre on my Oldtown on the front and back, so that gets me a little higher above the fish when I'm taking my pictures.

I usually do one with my hand over the fish and then one with my hand off if the fish will cooperate. Usually they do if I’m quick with it. Takes away those potential issues and gravity continues to hold them against the end of the board. Getting directly above the fish helps get the best view also.

Caught some tanker warmouth this past weekend. I weighed a couple to make sure I didn't turn a state record loose on accident 😂

Not a hybrid, just a standard Warmouth.

I’ll be the critic here, your fish’s mouth is very clearly open and you didn’t help yourself by taking the picture at an angle towards the belly of the fish. I lay my board so the bridge is down on the bottom of the boat and the end is on the side of the kayak so the board is at an angle. By doing this, it allows gravity to push the fish into the bridge of the board and then you can always put your hand on them also.

I had one time that a gold H2O squarebill was magic for me in muddy water and have carried one ever since. Not sure I've ever caught a fish with it since that day.

What O-ring do you guys use? I have some I'm not sure where I got them from and they're literally worthless. Now instead of losing the worm every fish, I lose the worm and the O-ring.

Is there less skill involved? IMO, yes. To say there is no skill involved is foolish though. I still fish live bait occasionally, especially when I take my boys fishing. I enjoy it, they have about as much fun playing with the bait as catching fish, so it's a win-win. Toss a live crawdad on a barren flat and see how many fish bite though. Or fish one that is improperly hooked or rigged so it dies quickly or isn't allowed to move freely and give the main benefit of a livebait, natural movement. You still have to know where the fish are and you still have to know how to present your bait of choice, or the fish are going to be few and far between.

On a 168 S Waver. Wiggle Wart 110 jerkbait Popper Bladed Jig Bladed jig Rage Bug on a swinging football head Spinnerbait Glide Bait 110 jerkbait Bladed jig Jigging Spoon Buzzbait

I tried to go to a lake I haven't been to this year on Sunday. Should have stayed away. By about noon, I'd caught 5 little ones. Moved to a nearby lake and felt like I knew what I was doing again. Biggest one was 20.75" and 5.26lbs. Also had one just blast my Besotted pencil popper.

Shore I’m probably a 5, I’ll catch some fish but unless it’s a pond or I’m catfishing, I don’t do it much. Kayak I’m probably an 8. I’m pretty good at getting to them and keeping the kayak near where I need to be, just a matter of me executing. Boat I’d say 7. I use to be. Better with it but lack of use has made it feel weird every time I’m in the boat anymore.