Bluebasser86

Welcome!

I have some amber lens 580G Costas that work well in low light conditions. Also have a pair of S11 glasses in a yellowish lens for really low light days.

Florida strain is just a strain of LMB. I believe Castaic has Florida strain LMB, but no real way to tell if one is or isn't that I'm aware of. Either way, that fish is for sure a LMB.

Like I said, we did good there Tuesday.

My buddy @basshunter0731 and I try to get out every year for his birthday the first few days of the new year. We both had the 2nd off and with the temps going to soar all the way to the low 20's with light winds, we decided to make it happen. To give an idea of how cold it has been, we had planned to go to a different power plant lake, but as we pulled out of my road and I called the gate house, I was informed the lake was FROZEN almost 100 yards out from the ramp and there was no way to launch. A quick about face in the truck (and our hopes of catching much), we headed to the other nearby power plant lake. A good portion of the ramp cove was frozen, but half the ramp was thawed and we were able to dump the boat into the 36 degree water. Of course, since it was -2 outside the boat wouldn't start, so we started trolling towards the main lake in hopes the warmer water would let the motor fire up. The first main lake bank we got to is a rock/clay/sand bank with pretty good depth. I was surprised when just a short distance down the bank I was met to mushy resistance when I lifted my shakyhead rod. A hook set and a few cranks of the ice maker that used to be a spinning reel, and I had my first bass of 2018! Still no dice on starting the motor after we fished that bank to the end, so we made a long, slow troll across to the hot water outlet, where we found no bass, no real desirable fish of any kind, just large black buffalo everywhere. We did both score bookend flatheads on jigging spoons, which Jon brought home for his parents to enjoy for dinner. 3 hours into our day, we were pretty well frozen, as was our gear. We thought about heading home and working on my jonboat, but decided to try one of our most reliable banks. I got bit right away on a shakyhead off the main lake point, but didn't hook the fish. Not far down the bank, another bite and another miss. Next cast to the same spot, another thump, and this time I stuck the fish, and it barely moved. I knew it was a good one, played it carefully and backreeled each time she surged, but it wasn't until she was in the net that I realized how large she was. The scale said 7.43, my 4th largest ever in Kansas. Jon cast back to the same spot and got his first bass of 2018 on a shakyhead. We caught a bunch like this one. Caught fish all down the bank before we ran out of soft water, turned around and right as we got back to the point we started on, Jon bowed up on a hard pulling fish that would not give up. His first big one of the year went 4.90. We thought about making the long troll back to the ramp since the motor still hadn't started, but we'd both missed a few the second pass down the bank, so we really felt like we'd be leaving them biting if we did that. I made a switch to one of my magnum shakyheads with a Rodent, wasn't long before I stuck a good fish that I had to handline out of a snag because my line broke in the reel on the hookset. A few minutes later after I restrung my rod and retied my bait with numb fingers, I made a cast to a rock slide and my line was moving towards deep water. Another immovable fish met my hookset and made the slow trip towards deeper water as I inched her towards the boat. When Jon got the net under her, I thought I might have my second 7 pounder of the year already, but she came up just a bit short at 6.72. We caught several more before we'd had all the cold we could take and trolled about 3/4 of a mile back to the ramp, and actually caught 2 or 3 more in the process. I dropped Jon on the dock to go get the truck and I decided to try the motor one more time, of course it fired up Going to be a tough trip to beat, but I look forward to trying

It was open yesterday, and we caught some toads.

Power plant lakes are good fishing and way closer than natural open water. I was fishing soft water in single digits yesterday in Kansas.

If you have any crappie jigs, those will work. Something like 1/32 or 1/16oz and pretty much deadstick it.

We got my boat on it. The river is locked up. The back of the ramp cove was locked up and so was half the actual ramp.

All iced up. Even Wolf is iced in. Lots of ice on La Cygne too. We fished it yesterday and did really good.

I kept track one year and found it to be more than I wanted to do. I caught 2,776 bass that year even with it being a slower than average year due to extreme drought and not fishing for bass during most of July and August.

No, My second bass of the year was 7.43 pounds. I also caught a 6.72 a few hours later.

Wind is about the only thing that stops me. It was in single digits still yesterday morning when I caught my second bass of the year that went 7.43lbs ?

I fished yesterday, it was below 0 when we launched, barely made it to 20 for a high. We had over 2 dozen bass, our biggest 3 went 19.05 pounds. That's why I fish when it's cold ?

Tough to tell from the pictures. I've seen 24" fish to anywhere from mid 6's to almost 10. Usually, they'll run somewhere around 7-8 pounds at 24" though and I'd guess that's where that fish would fall.

I used to catch a bunch of bass casting 1/8-1/4 ounce Little Cleo spoons. They work well anytime bass are feeding on smaller baitfish.

Heavy fluoro leader is what I hear a lot of guys using, like 100lb actual leader material.

It's something you really have to play with to get what you want but I start about half an inch back and bend to about a 45* angle. Years of trail and error have gone into figuring out how to get the action I'm looking for.

Most I've heard use 50 or 65. A majority of guys use 20 to 25 pound copolymer or Fluorocarbon though.

Call @Delaware Valley Tackle and talk to him about it. It sounds to me like there's probably just a part or two worn out, or maybe even needing cleaned. No way I'd even be considering throwing a Stella out.

A great year for sure. Some massive brown fish, south of the boarder green fish, even some big, ugly prehistoric looking thing in the mix.

I do it constantly, especially when ordering lure building supplies. You'll need green and purple covers, but green (small), covers a majority of hooks on most jerks, cranks, and topwaters unless you fish a lot of big baits.

I like the second one, less background clutter taking away from the fish.

Any of those rods will work fine, it's really going to come down to a matter of personal preference on which one is "best". A rod that feels good in my hands may not feel right to you. If you can get to a store where you can handle them would be your best option.

You can make them hunt by bending the blades. How you bend them is kind of like tuning a crankbait, different bends will get different actions and running depths.