Bluebasser86

If it's just 9 people I'll do a bladed jig and regular jig each. I'd prefer a spook or jerkbait. I have plenty of glides and haven't liked any of the painted glide blanks I've tried very much.

I've seen a lot of doubles, but never a turtle/bass double that didn't involve one being in the process of eating the other.

Welcome!

Welcome! Thank you for your service!

Welcome!

We went to Wolf today and wore them out. Buddy caught a 5.20lb walleye, tons of whites, some wipers, several big drum, a smallmouth, and lots of largemouth.

If I was going to keep them to eat, I'd gut them and put them on ice immediately after catching.

I never use a leader for topwater walking baits and haven't ever had the problem of the line tangle that everyone talks about. I don't ever fish jerkbaits on braid so can't comment there.

I've had good luck with salmon egg patterns, I imagine because they look like dropping berries.

I loved the bigger one for a jig trailer or stand alone on a T rig.

There are no stripers in Milford, just white bass and wipers. Very few true stripers in Kansas other than Wilson Lake. I would not venture any further north than Farnum, I typically don't even go up that far unless I'm after walleye. I always launch in the state park, usually the south state park ramp on the north end of the dam, but if it's a strong south wind the north ramp will be more protected. The area around Farnum typically is stained with 2-3 feet of visibility down to less than a foot if the wind is blowing from the south like it often is. Wind is a huge deciding factor on that lake. You're going to have a long, rough, wet boat ride to get to the more productive smallmouth water if the wind is from the south. There are smallmouth up there, but you'll work a lot harder for them since the numbers aren't typically there. When you get to around the dam area, you can have visibility of several feet at times. You'll often have areas that are clear and then areas that are stirred up nearby from the wind hitting mud banks. These areas are prime for feeding fish of all kinds. Milford is one of the best blue cat lakes in the state, with fish up to 80+ pounds available. You'll probably be best off to set your lines shallower that time of year as the fish will be getting active and cruising looking for shad. I wouldn't go deeper than 10' unless there's a big cold snap. I'm not sure if you're planning on keeping catfish, but there is a new regulation on blues this year. Make sure you can ID them and tell the difference between them and a channel cat. Also, please consider releasing the larger fish if you do get one over the slot limit. New regulation for Blue Catfish in 2018...all between 25"-40" must be released...creel limit is still 5, but only 1 can be 40" or longer. Walleye have also been changed to a 2 fish over 21" limit instead of the old 5 over 18" limit, and wipers now have a 5 fish a day limit with no length limit.

I really like the Netbait T-Mac (similar to a Zoom Trick worm). The discontinued Berkley Rib Snake was terribly ignored. There's always that line of not wanting to let the cat out of the bag about a good bait, but not wanting it to be too ignored and end up getting axed. A Zoom Centipede on a slider head is an excellent bait. My all time favorite would have to be the Zoom Magnum Finesse worm on a shakyhead though. They're great rigged about any way, but the light shakyhead is my favorite, usually a 1/16 or 1/8oz. And this is why!

I like the weedless 68 rof 12 for what you're describing.

A Slammer can catch you hundreds of fish per bait provided you don't do anything silly with it though. The cost per fish ratio is much cheaper than a bag a Senkos if you look at it that way. I've caught I don't know how many fish on the first one I bought and it's still going strong.

My rule of thumb Casting gear with braid-no leader, ever. Spinning gear with braid-short mono leader only if I need abrasion resistance or a different sink rate, otherwise, no leader. I use an Alberto knot when I'm tying a leader. Very easy to tie, strong, and low profile to clear guides easily.

Not really that crazy when you consider most of the fishing in the Great Lakes is open water. When all a fish has to break the line is it's own strength, odds are in the fisherman's favor provided they've tied a good knot and don't rush things. That's why guys can land blue marlin weighing hundreds of pounds on 4lb line in the open ocean. I lost more than a few smallies last year in the 2-3 pound range fishing extremely shallow, zebra mussel covered rock flats last year with 20 and 30 pound braid on casting gear. I got to watch one shaking it's newly acquired Whopper Plopper 110 for several minutes in it's attempt to dislodge it from his face before finally getting too deep for me to see anymore. Lost a Whopper Plopper 90 at Table Rock to a 1.5lb spotted bass on 20lb braid thanks to a dock cable. Location can make a huge difference in number of fish lost to broken line.

2. Bluebasser86

Thank you for your service! I'll often stop on my drive home from work and fish for 10 minutes just to get a few cast in.

Welcome!

Welcome!

I grew up 20 minutes from the lake and have fished it many times. You'll be there at a great time of year for a wide variety of fish to be up shallow and feeding, provided there are no big rains, but I'll be very surprised if they're spawning (which is good imo). Milford has a limited supply of largemouth that are mostly an accidental catch unless you intentionally pursue them, which I wouldn't suggest as it will greatly reduce the chance to catch many of the other fish that reside in the lake. What I would highly suggest is bringing a variety of suspending jerkbaits and plan on spending a majority of the time fishing them. The lower end of the lake near the dam is where I would mostly focus. Last time I fished the lake that time of year with my dad, we fished suspending jerkbaits for 2 days and caught tons of smallmouth, along with walleye, wiper, white bass, channel cat, largemouth, spotted bass, and crappie. That portion of the lake is mostly rocks but any rocky point leading into pockets where they will likely spawn is going to usually hold fish. Along with the jerkbaits, I would also bring baits like wiggle warts, shad raps, spinnerbaits, Ned rigs, tubes, senkos, and flukes.

5" usually but finicky fish will often eat the smaller 4" way better. I prefer the 4" for sight fishing as well.

There's punch weights over 2oz. A big hunk of plastic can get heavy. I've got some custom poured 16" worms that are probably over an ounce before I add a hook or weight. Big spinnerbaits run 1.5-2oz like the Ledgebuster spinnerbaits. The biggest rattle trap that Bill Lewis made, and maybe still does, was 1.5 ounces. Tons of big swimbaits, some over a pound. A 190 Whopper Plopper is 2 3/4 ounces. Big topwater walkers and pencil baits are mostly in the 1-1.75 ounce range. River2Sea Bubble Walker 128 is a massive popper that weighs 1 1/4oz. Hack Attack jigs are available up to 1 1/4oz. There's lots of big baits out there.

A Dobyn's Fury 795 is a good rod for baits in the 2-4 ounce range and not very expensive. If you're going to use baits like weedless Hudds or similar it leaves something to be desired on baits that need a stout hookset. A 201 Calcutta is a touch small but would work for those baits. A 301 would be more optimal if you're looking for a dedicated swimbait setup.

I do the same with both. It's not that I don't trust my gear, it's just that I trust myself more. With backreeling, I can easily instantly increase pressure (fish heading for cover and I need to turn them), or decrease pressure (line rubbed against cover and is now possibly damaged). A smooth drag is great, but it takes time to adjust and sometimes even a second or two is too long.