Bluebasser86

Mine likes to go when there's good weather and smallmouth involved. She's pretty dangerous with a Ned rig.

That's a male longear sunfish in full spawning colors. They're beautiful little fish and very aggressive when they're protecting their nest. I had some pecking my legs while I was wading through the creek and got too close to their nest. The other 2 sunfish are both green sunfish, we don't have any rockies within a couple hours of us unfortunately. I guess it's the kid in me that enjoys the panfish but I'll always have a soft spot for them.

Did a little creek fishing Saturday with my boys. Couldn't find any bigger fish, but the sunfish were willing. Tons of green sunfish and longears. Found a couple little bass right before we left. Sunday I took the boat out. I don't know why I do that anymore. It was the calmest day I've fished in a long time and I was in my boat instead of my kayak. I catch bigger fish from my kayak too I think. We still caught over 30 bass and I got to test out my new mini bladed jigs a little bit. I caught a little one on it this morning on a quick stop before work also. I was surprised I caught anything with all the spawning carp tearing things up.

Spinning

I need a braid for long distance cast, the further the better. Distance isn't usually a concern for me but might be a premium at an upcoming tournament so I'd like to have something on hand in case I'm needing to make 100+ foot cast with a light weight bait.

I just built these last last night and they swam really well with the duolock. I haven't fished the actual Minimax but I think these are really similar in size and everything.

I've just started making my own version and have been using a #2 duolock snap. It fits pretty easily in the blades I have but maybe they're not quite the same as the Minimax blades. The holes are small and very close together and still managed to get them through pretty easily.

I've had limited success with them. They're a very nice looking bait but I haven't found the right situation for them yet.

1/4oz is a huge ned rig head. I don't even use anything that heavy for a shakyhead a majority of the time. I use a 1/16oz and rarely let it actually touch bottom. Rocks are the main thing I fish them in and snags aren't an issue. A tiny mojo rig type thing is another option that I use often in rocks. A 1/16 or 1/8oz bullet weight pegged about a foot up the line from the bait and just drag it through the rocks. The weight is so small it rarely snags.

I make these also and they're the closest thing to a regular Ned while being pretty snag free that I've found. I do some with a wire weedguard also and they get bent up pretty quickly.

My second kayak tournament of the year was this past weekend at El Dorado lake in Southeast Kansas. El Dorado is Spanish for "The Big Wind". Okay not really, but I've never seen this lake without whitecaps I don't think and this weekend wasn't any better. It was super low, so the limited areas was even more limited than usual. I'd heard through the grapevine that my favorite areas to fish, the creeks, had almost no water in them and were a huge hassle to even try to fish, so I was going to focus on mainlake stuff. Like usual, when I got to the lake and was setting up my tent, I put out my catfish rods, which found a nice blue. I was excited about that, until it promptly removed a couple good sized chunks of skin from my hand as I tried to release it. Those spots would be sore and uncomfortable the rest of the weekend. I prefished for 10 or 11 hours. I started the morning by immediately dropping my pliers in the lake. I caught 4 or 5 little bass along with several accidental bycatches before I did what I told myself all day not to do, I went to the area I planned on fishing. I guess I was hurting bad to catch a fish, because I caught a 15" smallmouth pretty fast, then another, then this one. Kicking myself for leaning on this one, I was grumbling while I dropped my bait back in the water to fix a loop, and it took off again with a 17" largemouth. I finally bent the hook all the way in on my Ned rig and had several more swim off with it but not hook up. I decided to see if they'd eat a glide bait. Of course I couldn't protect them from the hooks, and yes they would literally try to eat it. So I knew they were there but I ended the night just fuming at myself for sticking a mid 80 inch bag in practice on a tough lake. Tournament day was blowing 25mph at launch and got windier as the day went on. There was white caps in the small marina I was sharing with 12-15 other kayaks. Took a minute to get my first bite, which was only 13". Second bite was 8 3/4". 3rd bite was 14", and I broke my brand new rod on the hookset, my first fish I got to catch on it. The day never got much better. I caught a small limit and culled up an inch here, half and inch there, but never caught any kicker fish like the day before. Finished in 9th with 77" and found out that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd all fished in the creeks, should have trusted my instincts there. I did catch all 3 species of bass, which is pretty rare in Kansas, so that was neat. Last night I got off work a little early and it was nice and cloudy with storms on the way, so I got the okay from Mrs. Blue and asked my boys if they wanted to fish the pond down the street for some bluegills for a short trip before the storms moved in. My youngest wasn't interested, but my oldest jumped at the chance. The only thing more eager than he was, was the bluegills. Not sure how many we caught before we had to call it because lightning started rumbling, but it was a bunch. I missed the first dozen bites I had on my flyrod before I finally looked at my fly, the hook was bent so awkwardly there was no way I would have ever landed a fish. My son was talking some serious smack with about a 10-0 advantage on me, but I made a furious comeback once I had a functioning hook. There's some huge hybrids in this pond. I caught one of the more average ones but she appeared to be about to pop with eggs. Ended the night on back to back doubles.

Welcome back buddy!

Last time we went from the shore at New Smyrna Beach. I looked and it's just over 2 hours drive time so we may end up trying that again.

Thanks, I did the shark course before when I shark fished last time. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful and I'm still looking to tag my first shark.

I always use the gill method. It's very easy and effective with a little practice.

Got out a couple times this weekend. First trip was Friday evening for about 1.5 hours to a local lake. This was primarily a big bait trip and was a lot of fun for a short trip. Not many big fish in this lake, but they don't seem to know that and love trying to eat big swimbaits. This poor guy ate the Chad Shad next to the kayak, I think just so I could remove the hook it had hanging from it because there's no way it was hungry. The wind was really calm and I was missing fish so I switched to a smaller Provoked swimbait, really seemed to fire them up and I got the biggest of the night right before I left. Sunday the wind was howling, so I fished a marina at a local reservoir I thought would be protected, it was not, at least not very. The fish were very cooperative and whatever year class these 16" smallies came from must have been a great spawning year. Most of my fish were on a Ned or split shot rigged Zman SMH worm. I had one point I probably pulled 12-15 fish off of in short order before I caught the attention of some bank anglers and the party was over. Once the wind got too strong I put it on the trailer and parked in a different lot. I'd brought my catfish rods and had caught 1 big white bass I saved to use for cut bait while I rigged my rods with the intention to go fish in the creek above the lake, I never made it that far. I'd never caught a blue from this lake before this day, sure was a good time. I was only batting .500 on hookups to bites too. Not bad for a couple hours from shore. Doesn't hurt that I caught a half dozen 16-17 inch smallies from the bank while I was waiting for those bites either. This guy had 2 hooks in his throat, I didn't even have him hooked. 2 trips and I removed 3 hooks from fish left by other anglers. This smallmouth somehow broke the space time continuum. Most of it's body was clear but it's tail is blurry because it flopped right as I took the picture.

I got tipped off to a tackle store getting them about 10 minutes after they got them. Even then, they'd sold out of 2 colors already, including the bone color that I wanted the most. The Phantom Rainbow looks really good though and I didn't have any trout colored baits so it worked out fine.

I just look at the color, not the profile. A watermelon or green pumpkin craw with the tips of the claws dipped in chartreuse JJ's lot's a whole lot like a juvi bluegill coming through the water. Personally, I like a Rage Menace for a swim jig bluegill trailer, either Hard Candy or Moon Juice color.

Haven't been out in a couple weeks but I got out with my oldest son for a hour after work last night. Caught several dinks on a Ned and bladed jig. Biggest of the night was my first fish on my new Spro Chad Shad. Had another eat it right at the boat that was much bigger and another fish hit it really hard and not hook up.

I wish we had them here. I don't think I'd chase bass nearly as much if I had striper readily available. Same goes for muskie.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Take my kids fishing more.

Same unfortunately. Brand new pair of glass lens Costas somewhere in Grand Lake after they fell off my hat into the water. Had them maybe 2 weeks.