Bluebasser86

No more huge pile of cedar limbs, 5 big trees worth of them, it was quite the fireball for a few minutes. On a completely unrelated note, what degree burn is it when your skin blisters?

That looks nice. I have one of those blanks but I keep forgetting to test swim it. Even it it's just decent it will be a win for the price.

If I'm using a straight retrieve I just sweep into them. If I'm ripping it and they hit on the drop I smack them pretty hard.

I'll take the Ocho over any stickbait out there if I'm fishing it weightless. Academy had them for $1-$3 a pack and I bought a bunch of them. The sink rate and wobble are great. They're also more durable than a Senko.

This one with a Rage Craw, Christie Craw, or Craw Papi. I really like fishing pork too but it's too expensive for me to use anymore.

I believe what a lot people think is the spawn is actually prespawn. The fish are shallow and feeding, so they assume they're spawning because they're in the shallows for the first time in months. Once they actually lock on the beds and begin actually spawning, catching them is much more difficult imo. Now for trying to target a really large fish, the spawn is great because they'll sit where you can see them and try to target that large fish specifically. Winter, especially January and February, are historically my toughest months for numbers but good for catching some of my biggest fish of the year.

I love taking my oldest son fishing, and hope to soon take my youngest as well. He seems to really love going with me too.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Great fish! Stripers are so much fun, I wish we had some around here.

La Cygne was completely opposite today. We caught probably 30 bass, at least 10 drum, and a channel cat. No big bass but just catching something on a guide trip is a big objective. Ned rig was by far the best option.

So far it's been much better, 6 bass and 3 drum plus a few misses in 4 hours. No big ones but a whole lot better than the goose egg i caught yesterday.

It was a long way from the walkway of the dock yesterday, lots of wet moss on the rocks. I'm sure that wasn't helping anything to go along with all the carp and gar that invaded every good shoreline.

Went to La Cygne today, awful. The lake is lower than I've seen it in a long time, looks to have been drastically dropped very recently. They did seem to be generating again but that just recently started so I'm sure they hadn't acclimated to that yet. Then there was carp and gar EVERYWHERE! I couldn't make a cast without smacking one, snagged and fought 5 carp to the boat on jerkbaits, traps, and cranks. Never had anything I'm sure was a bite. Water was 48.5 at the dam, 67 at the outlet, 62 at the mouth of the river. Hoping for the best out there tomorrow.

Funny thing is, I owned one Melee, it's also black and blue. I have one of the Squelchers too, caught some fish on it last fall.

Faces of pure excitement, watching the monster trucks.

It's a little early for bass at Hillsdale I believe. I tried for about 1.5 this morning in the usual spring spots and usual spring baits with nothing to show for it. Water looks great, good stain and up past the water willows. It should be really good in a couple more weeks as long as we don't get any big rains or cold fronts. Water was 48.6* at the ramp, state guys were going out to check their walleye nets as I was taking out and said they'd been seeing some really nice ones.

Not really a purchase, but I won a Bass Blaster's Booyah giveaway. I think I'm set on Toadrunners for a minute.

Bandit 100 and 200-Mistake Strike King 1.5-River Minnow, Green Gizzard Shad Strike King HTC 1.5-Blue Gizzard Shad Strike King 5XD and 6XD-Green Gizzard Shad Wiggle Wart-craw colors Strike King RES 2 Tap-Rayburn Red, Chrome Black, Green Gizzard Shad Shad Rap #5- bluegill, crawdad, silver/black

It's very similar sized to the Rage Craw. The legs are a little thicker and have more "kick" instead of the steady flap that the Rage Craw has. Without seeing them side to side, I'd guess the CC's legs are a touch more narrow from side to side, but not by much. The body sizes are very close. I started using them as a replacement for the Rage Craw when I didn't need to use them. They've been a very satisfactory stand in.

"River" fishing means way different things in different areas. To me, that's running up the river/creek feeding into a lake looking for largemouth. It's usually fishing lots of shallow, dirty water and there's rarely any current. Go south a few hours and river fishing is gravel/rock Ozark rivers with clear water filled with smallmouth and slow to heavy current. In my area, it's a seasonal thing. They don't winter in the rivers but using them heavily at certain times of the year.

Fish don't have any idea how big they are (or aren't). Only way to find out if they can eat something is to try.

Punching grass Frogging cranking swimbaits The rest can be used for at least a couple different things.

Look for scratches on fresh plastics. A new bait will show scratches from being bit after a missed hookset if it's a bass. Sunfish and bluegills don't cause any unless they're really large ones and then it's usually only the very end of the bait.