Bluebasser86

I have owned 3 Pop Max, which is almost as many fish as I've caught with them. The Berkley Bullet Pop and R2S Bubble Walker 80 are both bass catching machines though. I really like a Chug Bug also, but don't really consider it so much a popper. It's more of a spitting, walking bait.

The first fish I ever caught on a spinnerbait was on a white/blue head Strike King I found. Same thing happened with a chatterbait. I never believed they'd work until I found one in a tree, tied it on and started wearing them out with it.

A black brush hog is a consistent big fish bait for me in the summer. I always carry solid black jigs and a few solid black spinnerbaits and buzzbaits, and not just for night fishing.

Had a fun day with the family on the water on Sunday. My oldest son was the only other one that wanted to fish. I took both kayaks and shoved his off while I was rigging mine up still. I don't think I'd even got mine off the trailer yet and he was already yelling. It was quite a struggle for him to get the fish in the kayak, but he finally got it landed. I was about ready to shove off when he hooked up again. And as soon as I shoved off, he was coming back with another one. The boat was in the water then and he chased them to go swim. I caught a couple little fish before hooking one that was not little, but also for sure not a bass. Monday, I went back out to the river with better bait and more time than last time. I wasn't there 30 minutes before my first rod took off. I had just released that fish when I heard a thump, one of my other rods was folded over. 100lbs of fish in 10 minutes is a workout. I got the rods baited back up and 20 minutes later, one started going off again. I only had 1 more bite I think was a catfish the next few hours, despite moving spots and constantly refreshing my baits. Heading back in, I had my UL with a 2" grub I'd brought to try and catch bait with, so I was making cast with that. In the creek, there was several trees dropping some kinds of berries and the grass carp were thick. I've never sight fished one with a grub before, but I ended up hooking 4 and landing 2 on 4lb test with a 5' UL ugly stick. Right before the ramp, there's some small rapids that I wanted to cast the grub at, hoping for a white bass or wiper. Right as I went to lift it out of the water, I caught a tiny sauger. Not a big deal a lot of places, but a river sauger in Kansas is extremely rare. I had some crawlers so I swapped my grub for half of one, and a few cast later, caught a baby walleye. Fish like these give me hope that some day there will actually be a population of them in the river.

I have a few that text for info. I don't usually ask any of them for info, but the one time I did ask one that has asked me several times for pretty exact details, I got radio silence. All I asked was "Did you fish creek x or creek y?". A couple miles worth of water still, so I wasn't asking for a lot. He doesn't get near the details he use to.

You heard correct. Nothing but catfish, carp, and gar here.

Had another tournament this past weekend on Saturday at a lake I hadn't fished in over 20 years. 4.5 hour drive to western Kansas was a little rough, but I carpooled with another member from our group (hauled his kayak on my trailer also), so we could split cost. Lake was really low, lots of timber and pretty clear water. First day we only had a few hours to fish. Drove around some of the nastiest dirt roads I've ever been on trying to find a ramp that was still in usable. Finally found one and decided to just fish and see what we could find. Took me about a hour to get a bite on a plopper that came off, a sign of life at least. 10 minutes later, I caught one off a tree on a 10" worm that was shorter than the worm. Next pitch to the same trees with a jig, I caught another, next pitch I caught a nice one. I found a high spot covered up with trees and buckbrush that was loaded with fish. Shook off a bunch of bites and we ended the night catching a bunch of dinks on ploppers out of the brush. Next day we launched near the campsite. Started catching fish right away on a plopper and it never stopped. Caught well over 50 fish throughout the day but size was the issue. Tons of 14-16 inch fish, but the 17+ inch fish were tough to find. I sight fished a bunch of fish cruising the shallow buckbrush and pretty much caught fish at will, but only caught 3 over 17 all day, although one was a really nice one that caught my jig on the fall in some deeper trees. I tried to fish a bunch of deeper trees and never could get any more big bites. That night, storms rolled in, bringing torrential rain, 60-70mph winds, a tornado, crazy lightning, all the fun. My tent got battered and all my bedding got wet, had to brace my tent up with my cooler and a couple of gear totes. Tournament morning, I went against what my gut told me and went back into the cove, away from where I had been fishing. Lost a really nice 18ish inch fish right away that hurt pretty bad. The weather was 30* cooler and very windy and the bite was noticeably tougher and the bites I was getting were much smaller. I caught a few small ones on a swim jig before finally catching a decent 15" fish on a swimjig. At the very back of the cove, I was fishing a laydown in dirty water that was only 3' deep when it got smacked. Hammered a good fish on the hookset that was on the top thrashing right away. Of course it turned out to be a nearly 23" walleye?? I caught a small limit back in that cove before I kicked my way into the heavy wind and rolling waves and through this mess; to get back to the better area I'd fished the day before. The bite was much tougher than I'd found the day before. There was one tree on a high spot that was laid down on a clean spot and out in front of it was covered up with milfoil. I'd caught a good one out of it in practice so I really wanted to fish it again. Caught a small one quickly and started picking it apart. Several flips in, right when my jig got to the end of the tree, the line slowly back towards the tree and I hit another heavy fish that immediately wrapped me in the tree. I could hear my line squeaking and sawing on the tree. I was fighting strong wind and positioned myself right above the fish, just about ready to jump into the 4' of water to try to retrieve the fish. Then it popped free from the snag and swam for deeper water, towing me with it, and I quickly realized it wasn't a bass ? I was getting disheartened with the lost quality fish and my bigger bites being non-bass species. I started down the bank I'd caught the most fish from the day before and pitched my jig into one of the only standing trees and got a little tap. Hooked up with a fish and finally landed a better quality bass. I kept moving down that bank with a swim jig in the buckbrush and caught another small cull. All my fish were over 15" at this point but still needed a lot of improvement and the day was running short. I fished all the way to the end of the point, something I hadn't done the day before, and had another better fish engulf my swimjig. I was slowly making an afternoon surge but needed more good bites. I fished the whole way back down that bank and returned to the laydown tree. It had reloaded and I caught 3 more small fish. After picking it apart for several minutes, I was about to move on when I got another bite, and had one of the worst hooksets I've ever had on a jig fish, but despite almost dropping my whole rod in the lake, managed to land another good cull. Unfortunately, that would be my last cull of the day. That one that I lost in the morning would have made a huge difference in the end. With 2 tournaments left in the season, I'm 4 points out of 1st place in the AOY. Didn't think I was having that good of a season, but we'll see if I can do okay the last 2 tournaments to keep it close at least.

I like big straight tail and curl tail worms. YUM Mag Finesse and Mighty worms are my go to straight tail worms. For a curl tail, I like the standard Berkley 10" Power Worm, Zoom Ol' Monster, and one of the best worms out there that gets absolutely no love, the Big Bite Baits Kriet Tail worm. If you want a big, meaty worm, the 10" BBB has a thick body like a stick worm, with a big flapping tail. Also reasonably durable and fairly priced. https://www.bigbitebaits.com/product/kriet-tail-worm/

I don't like PB&J plastics either, but I do well with a PB&J jig, no idea why.

I love flipping grass but we don't have very much of it here.

We're under a "Heat Dome", right now, have been since late last week and it's supposed to continue until the end of this week. I went out early Sunday for a few hours to try to avoid the worst of it. It was already in the low 80's when I got to the water with crazy humidity, by the end of the day, the heat index hit 136*, that is not a typo. The weatherman said there's only 2 places in the world where conditions are right for it to get like this, here and in the Middle East. The bite was a little slow, but the ones I was getting were pretty decent quality. Got to test run one of the new Mojo spinning rods also, felt really nice. The big one of the morning absolutely smashed a Berkley Cane Walker.

I paddled, pedaled, and drug my kayak a couple miles against the river current to check out a new spot Saturday. I didn't have very good bait and I couldn't find any carp to shoot like I'd hoped. Had 1 big bite on one of the only bigger bluegills I had and the hook turned back into the bluegill. Right as I started to pack up, a rod that I'd baited with a chunk of drum I caught on a nightcrawler just folded and started peeling line. I love this kind of fishing and really need to do it more.

Got out with one of the new Mojo spinning rods this morning. Felt really nice, no complaints and no issues with the reel seat.

I have some people really get in their feelings about me wearing those bright crocs. It makes me laugh so I keep wearing them. I had a little girl, probably 3 or 4 compliment me on my pretty shoes a while back and it was probably the best compliment I've had in a long time ?

I have 4 of them, and it isn't half what my most expensive bait cost ?

http://swimbaitcity.com/html/store.htm#ms It's a MS Slammer "small" (7") size in purple nitro. Looks like they're going for $90 these days.

Same lake I took you to. No grass in the lake anymore so it fishes a lot differently now.

The Big Bite Baits craw tube has some mysterious drawing power on big fish for me. I went through a majority of a 25pk of the Hematoma color Sunday.

I almost didn't go because it was supposed to storm all day. Almost decided to just stay close to the house because of all the storms that were coming. Decided just to make the drive and fish a better lake and take the chance. Never saw a single flash of lightning on the water and it never rained hard enough for me to stop and put on my rain gear, and I caught my biggest limit I've ever caught from my kayak at 97" (18.25+18.75+19.50+20.25+20.25). Not only that, but I caught over 50 throughout the day. They were eating a tube really well, but I was going through so many that I decided to switch to a jig towards the end of the day to see if I could still get a few bites and save some baits. I got bit my first two flips and ended up catching my second 20.25" fish of the day on it. The only other boat on the water left early because they weren't biting ?‍♂️

Yes it does and that is really nice to have but doesn't seem to be something many bait makers do anymore. They still make the flipping tube and a version in their coffee lineup, but no colors close to that one.

Actually that copperhead color is going to be the answer I think, thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions. I should have specified, the tube I was using is a 4.5" tube and I'd like to find a similar sized one to hold a 4/0 EWG tube hook if possible.

Anyone know a company that makes one? Strike King use to, but doesn't anymore. I just used my last bag of them recently. I took a picture of the last torn up bait for an example.

I've probably lost 7 or 8 phones to the water. I'd suggest something like this that I use for my phone when I'm kayak fishing and there's no choice but to use my phone for the tournaments. https://roguegear.com/products/the-protector-phone-tether

I just put new hooks on my 190. Got a tournament coming up with lots of standing timber and a lake that has been putting out lots of 6-8 pound fish. Thinking that monster might call them up out of those deep trees and I doubt anyone else has been tossing one.