Bluebasser86

SDJ knot for fluorocarbon, but there's no reason to waste money on fluoro for cranks imo. Just buy some copolymer or mono and you're good to go for crankbaits.

As a lot of you know, my oldest son Lake has shown an interest in fishing and been going on little trips with me since he was 2 and went on his first day long trip with me this year. I taught him how to cast by himself and he's been practicing and gotten pretty good at it (the casting part anyways, where it lands is often a mystery), so I knew it was fast approaching that he was going to get his first unassisted fish catch. Monday turned out to be that day. I haven't been able to take him because of the heat and the one day it wasn't hot, it rained. Monday was supposed to make it to 90, but that's almost chilly compared to what we have had so we decided to go for awhile and if he got too hot we'd just leave. I took him to the little private lake I bought a lot on a couple years ago, which means we were in the johnboat since it cost 6 times more to register my Stratos for out there and it's only 100 acres. I think we only made it about 3 or 4 docks when Lake made a perfect cast next to some water willows with his wacky rig when it happened. It wasn't his biggest catch by a long shot, but he was sure proud of it and he managed to catch about a half dozen on his own throughout the day, all without any assistance from me.

I left the hook in the bass I caught and measured for an online tournament today. She flopped off my lap and back in the water but was easily retrieved by the line. You can barely see the line going across the fish's face but can clearly see it hanging from the rod in my rodholder on the left side.

So are you catching fish on a jig and not on a worm or just not fishing a worm anymore?

I use a 6' UL Avid with a 750 Sedona and 3.5lb DAM Techtan line. I can cast a 1/32oz bait further than I can effectively set a hook. Regularly cast a 1/80th jighead with a piece of a 2" grub for bluegills and sunfish. It will cast it for plenty of distance and with accuracy. The right combination of rod/reel/and line is huge with UL fishing.

I usually rig up the night before. Sometimes I'll be caught off guard by dirty/clear water, high/low water, or different conditions than what was forecast that will cause me to make some adjustments, but being able to make adjustments is part of being an effective fisherman.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Boy do I wish I'd caught my monster longnose gar from my kayak last week! I didn't add near what that fish would have yesterday, but I did get a little over 2.5 more feet to my total with 2 new species and an upgrade. Common Carp 23.25" Green Sunfish 7" Largemouth Bass 19"

That's a channel cat for sure. Blues have a straight anal fin, channels are rounded like your fish. It is a nice channel cat though Got one of the bigger and harder catches out of the way for my multispecies kayak challenge yesterday. I sat and stillfished corn and crawlers for 3 hours and caught nothing but channel cats. As I was moving to my next spot I decided to let the wind push me down a shallow flat and look for cruisers. First one I saw I made a perfect cast with a tiny #8 gamakatsu octopus hook with a few corn kernels and it was all over them. Had to drop anchor and fight it as I was getting pushed to some trees and I sure didn't want to lose it. Was hoping for a little bigger one, but I'm banking on a lot of guys not even messing with fishing for them in the competition.

By the numbers, catfishing is more popular than bass fishing in a lot of states and used to be for the country but I don't think that's the case anymore. I know more hours a spent pursuing catfish than bass in Kansas by a wide margin.

People here use bandsaws to fillet them but the eggs are poisonous during certain times of year so you have to be careful with big females.

I've seen lots of loaner life jackets at state park ramp docks in Missouri and just recently in Kansas too. No excuse not to have all their life jackets now. Celebrating 'Merica with some food, guns, and fireworks yesterday at our house. Had enough fire power the neighbors came over and asked if we were getting ready for a war ?

They call it Vanish because that's what your baits and fish will do.

No it will not. I set a few different skirts with old baits laid across them for over a month and nothing ever happened.

I'd probably brush a thin coat of epoxy over the gap if it's small enough and just fish it. If it breaks it's not like you're out anything.

I use bobber stops, peg-its, and tooth picks, they all work. Bobber stops are my preferred method, but it make take a couple if you're using heavier weights for punching.

I like my TCS's. Great casting reels, very lightweight, great all around performance fishing reels. I haven't used the K's, haven't even looked at one and have no plans to.

I switch to the short shank EWG to reduce the overall weight of the hooks and make the bait ride higher. I fish in a lot of wind with the 90's and still have a lot of success with them.

It's a pretty laughable list. Disappointed to see a lake I fish very often on the list in the top 10 for the central division. The fact that it's listed above lakes like LOZ, Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Texoma, and Lake Fork is absurd. I'd like to know who this guy is that catches 6 pounders out of all the other lakes in Kansas too. I guess a lake produces 2 10 pound fish in an entire year (back to back days no less), makes it top 10 worthy? The good part is, it's an extremely difficult lake, even for myself who fishes it often and has for 16 years now, so anyone thinking of making a trip to fish "The best bass lake in Kansas", I'd seriously reconsider, unless a real good chance at a skunking sounds like a fun time.

That's a giant bullhead!

We must have a lot of bright blue baitfish swimming around right now because this have been the hot color in my homemade bladed jigs the last few weeks. Same color in jigs and plastics too.

Tatsu. I've tried a ton of them, I should have saved my money and just bought the best to start with. I only spool about 50 yards of it on my reel at a time so it really makes it easier to swallow the price tag.

The prettiest little fish we have in Kansas, a male longear sunfish in full blown spawning colors from a little creek.

There's people like that everywhere you go anymore. Key is to not let them get to you and just do what you do despite them. I try to focus even more and catch fish behind guys when they cut me off, making sure they splash around on the side of the boat so they can see them a little more than usual too Good job keeping your heads in the game and catching some good ones.