Bluebasser86

Monster thunderhead that was building up to the east of our house. It built up enough we could see lightning in the clouds when it got dark.

Congrats! I had no idea the Classic was at Milford. Yeah, I've probably been on it one or two dozen times.

On Milford?! Man, right down the road from where I grew up.

Nah, about 10ozs. A reel from when men were men and didn't need a reel lighter than a feather and small enough to be palmed by a small child. My old, heavy, outdated, and oversized Shimanos are about the only ones I've kept over the years. Still have several 200B series Curados in the rotation, believe they come in at a whopping 9.7oz, the fish don't seem to mind though ?

I do some guiding and also make baits. I could probably make a living at guiding. I enjoy doing it and I can make more in 5 days guiding than I make in 2 weeks at my regular job, but it's not always dependable work and I have a wife and 2 kids so I just do it on my days off. The baits I really just make enough money to be able to make my own baits for free. I've won some money in tournaments but by the time you figure up all the money I spend on truck and boat payments/maintenance, gas, food, lodging, equipment, permits, ect, I'm not even close to breaking even there.

My last boat was a 16' Lowe Roughneck and there was lots of times a 10lb mushroom anchor would not hold it. I upgraded to a 20lb digger anchor.

I own 2 of the EVX B rods, but neither are the exact one you're looking at. The ones I have, I do really like them though. I have a 7' 5" H/F I use for jigs and a 6' 10" M/F spinning rod I use for wacky rigs and slider heads. Both have been very nice rods and I've have no issue buying more.

Whatever's cheaper

Popping pad crasher with the legs trimmed walks really easy.

I don't change much other than how I position the boat. Wind is a way of life in the Midwest. It bothers us way more than it does the fish.

I could easily get rid of all my topwaters except my 90 ploppers and Super Spook Jr's when it comes to smallies.

Welcome!

Nope, never. I'm making short cast and pitches with it from a boat so I don't need much mainline. I've been doing the same thing for years and never gotten into the backing. Once the knot starts to come into play during a pitch, I know it's time to respool.

This gig doesn't pay enough for me to afford a Steez. Buy a 200 yd spool for 40, put backing on the reel so you only put the 50 yards you need on the reel, line cost $10 per reel.

Carp often live in ponds and and aren't often caught unless targeting them. Just trying to save you going on that same wild goose chase that many a bass fisherman has been on when those feeding bass they were chasing turned out to have sucker lips instead. If they are bass acting like that they will almost certainly eat topwaters.

Welcome from a fellow KC area member! If you're not already, you might enjoy doing some reading here.

I think the fact that I did and still will eat pretty much anything is really an aggravating factor in him being picky. I only remember not liking tomatoes when I was little (which I love now). He told me he was bored the the other day too, which about made my head explode. Kid has more toys at age 4 than I could have dreamed to own in my entire childhood, a swimming pool, swing set, 2 Power Wheels, a drum set, 2 bikes, a scooter, basketball goal, and all kinds of room outside, but he's bored. The same kid I've seen play with things like straws, pillows, cotton balls, but he's bored. We had a talk not to say that around daddy, because daddy will find something for him to do and he probably won't like it.

I remember eating pheasant, deer, rabbit, even bbq raccoon when I was a kid, but I can't beg mine to eat macaroni ?

I got my original Speed Demon about a year ago and have used it mainly for flipping and frogging, all with braid in heavy cover, and it's worked great. I had an issue with the drag at first not being very strong, but once I found out that some had been sent out with the drag washers not placed correctly I took mine out and put them back in right and it made everything like it should. I've caught a ton of fish on all my KK reels and they've been really great reels for the money. I've put my Assassin up against probably hundreds of wipers that pull way harder than a bass does and it's still going strong.

Probably as close as we're going to get there.

I don't understand why they didn't pull into the cove right there. I've never seen TR that rough, and I've been on it a bunch, but I've never seen a 60mph north wind on that part of the lake either. There's a pretty long stretch of water for those waves to build. There's a cove right by Branson Belle that would have sheltered them through the storm though and I have to think they could have made it into it. Worse case, I'd think it would be better to capsize in shallow water versus the probably 70' of water they ended up in. There's an island not too far out, if the captain could have gotten the boat turned I have to think it could have gone with the waves long enough to beach it there, even if it was a crash landing. They shouldn't have been out there, someone made a huge mistake.

My 4 year old is the pickiest eater I've ever met. Pretty much lives off of chicken nuggets, chicken strips, fish sticks, or popcorn shrimp (the cheap kind with minced shrimp, don't even try to give him any with an actual shrimp in there). With some coercing and mild threats, he might eat a hotdog or couple bites of pizza, but there will be tears. Mac and cheese, PB&J, spaghetti, grilled cheese, cookies, pudding, cheeseburgers, all no goes. He'll only eat vanilla ice cream out of cone, doesn't eat the cone, just eats it out of the cone and then throws the cone away. Won't eat ice cream out of bowl though. I would have starved to death if I was half as picky as he is when I was growing up.

Mama and babies out for an evening stroll. Mama didn't like it when I stopped the car for my wife to take pictures, she charged right at at us, bouncing babies in tow the whole way. Watched their periscope tails swaying throw the grass after she decided she'd ran us off far enough. I hope they're eating their body weight in bugs each day.

Could not keep them off our bladed jigs Thursday night during our tournament. Probably 15 of them in an hour as it was getting dark just ticking them over the weeds. The bites are distinctly different from a bass bite.

Most any fish I haven't caught yet is on my bucket list. Oddly enough, the fish that don't really appeal to me are the ones that a lot of people dream of catching, the salmons and the billfish. I wouldn't be opposed to catching them, just not high on my list. I'd rather catch the big uglies, sharks, groupers, white sturgeon, Wels catfish. A Golden Dorado looks like a blast, so does most fish in the Amazon river. A GT has to be on my list somewhere for the strikes if nothing else.