Bluebasser86

4 years ago today I was in Guttenberg, IA picking up a brand new to me Stratos 189 VLO. Motor only had 8 hours on it then, it has a few more now.

#4 or #6 will cover most of what you need for those size baits.

If you can reach the fountain there's likely a large concrete block holding it in place. There was one in the pond I did casting demos in at Cabela's in KC. I could get bit almost every time I could bump a bait into the block that held that fountain in place. It was the only thing in that mostly featureless part of the pond, plus there was lots of oxygen and the water was a little cooler there during the summer months.

It's nice to have one if you're mainly bass fishing. If not, there's better options for sure. I fished for several years out of a utility jon (16' Lowe Roughneck), with a 60hp 4 stroke Mercury. I mainly fished for bass with it, but I also bowfished, ran limblines, fished the Kansas and Missouri rivers for catfish, duck hunted, and fished for about everything that swims in our waters. Now I have a nice bass boat, but I also have a johnboat because I still like to do all those other things. Actually, my best tournament of the year was out of my johnboat when I caught 15.69lbs with a 5.80lb big bass of the night in just 2.5 hours, and I didn't even have a gas motor on it then. If I had the money, I would be looking really hard at one of the Lund Pro-V Bass boats. The amount of storage and how friendly of a ride and amount of room they would offer for my family while still being very well equipped for bass fishing would be great. Plus, when I want to take my dad walleye fishing, or go offshore for big blue cats or wipers, I'd have a boat much better built for it than my bass boat.

I use braid a lot as well, but there's situations I prefer fluoro. I hate braid for jig fishing for example, just doesn't feel right to me, so I opt for the flipping fluoro instead when I'm pitching jigs.

Wishing it was warmer so we could go fishing, but settling for ear scratches for now.

Never caught a bass that deep in any of those lakes, but maybe because I never fish a 10XD.

15lb Red Label and a finesse jig, I think it will handle a bass.

I use the Seaguar Flipping Fluoro a lot in the thick stuff. It has a bit more memory but it's worth it to me to get the big ones out and it's not like I'm flipping a finesse bait with it. I wish it was available in 15/17 pound test but the 20 works well for what I need.

10XD really is kind of like a big swimbait in that it almost requires a specialized rod just for them. They're such a large bait and create so much drag that even a rod designed for standard deep cranks is going to be too light. IDK where in the KC area you're fishing a 10XD, or maybe you're traveling around I supposed, since a lot of lakes around here are barely 25' deep. I've really found little use for the 8XD locally to be honest. Even guys on Table Rock and LOZ seem to stick to the 6XD as their deepest diving crankbait option.

Even "expensive" mono is pretty cheap compared to other fishing lines. It's what links you to the potential fish of a lifetime, spend the couple extra dollars on some Big Game or other better quality mono.

I've fished about all their baits and caught fish with all of them. Best house brand of hard baits out there IMO. I really like their prop baits, the Slush Minnow and Slush Daddy. The Jerk Shad is really good too but for some reason they no longer carry them in either store by me. I bought so many of them I would thought that would have kept them stocking them by myself alone.

Welcome from another KS member! Check out the Central Forum for some of the Kansas threads and maybe you'll find something local to you. There's a long running one for KC area members and a newer one for Manhattan area guys in particular right now.

You can get some really cool pictures done of your fish. Have it blown up and framed in a nice frame. Replicas are neat, but a picture captures the whole moment too.

I'm a junk fisherman through and through. I like to put the trolling motor down with 12 rods out and fish what's in front of me.

I like nice stuff, but I bought most of my nicer stuff before I had a family to support. Now I get the less expensive where I can and really don't notice a drop off in production.

Bigger profile and vibration imitates a bigger prey item, attracting bigger fish.

Just picked up a Megajaws for $26 yesterday, never pay full price for them.

Covering dirty water=bladed jig

I was really kind of just dumbfounded because we weren't even a month into the year and that was the 4th fish over 6lbs I'd caught that year and only the 3rd biggest of the year.

No problem, we have a crack team of lure ID experts on the forum that can ID about anything it seems like.

The one that's working is my favorite. A wacky rig, ned rig, shakyhead, or micro jig are all fun but I don't think one is my favorite.

It's not, but it looks similar to a Northland Mimic Minnow jighead.

There were 3 over 10 taken from the same lake in KS last year, this was the largest at 10lb 15oz. This 10.1 was caught the next day. 9lb 13oz in May last year. Haven't quite broke 8 but gotten to within a quarter of a pound more than once, this was the most recent.

Flashback to happier times this day last year.