Bluebasser86

What do you mean by open faced? Spinning and baitcasting reels can both be skipped with very well.

I usually hunt in the morning, fish when it warms up, then hunt again in the evening. Last time I went duck hunting we had our limits in a hour so we cleaned our birds and went fishing and caught a bunch of fish

I'd look for something around a 6' light action unless you're going to be fishing a long of small streams or around lots of overhanging trees and such where a shorter rod would be easier to manipulate. Nothing really fancy is required, but lighter rods make using lighter lures much easier.

2 favorites right now would be my Zillion TWS SV or Okuma Helios TCS. My old green Curados and white Chronarch all hold special places with me too though.

I pour a swing head specifically for them. It's a 7/0 monster worm hook on a 1/8 or 1/4oz head. I use it for bouncing through snaggy rocks. I've also had good luck fishing them weightless around docks and over grass.

I've owned all 3. I still own the Diawa but sold the Shimanos. The Zillion cast further and is about impossible to backlash, makes it great for skipping. My only complaint is I sometimes manage to turn the magnetic brake a couple clicks, probably while fighting a fish or something. It's very noticeable the next cast though so I fix it and continue on.

Duo makes a very nice, deep running 100 size jerkbait you might be interested in also. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Duo_Realis_Jerkbait_100DR/descpage-DUOJKDR.html

The biggest problem is when you get back and the ramp is a solid sheet of ice from other guys taking their boats out of the water. I had one time that I was on the Kansas River on a good blue cat bite and it was snowing hard the whole time. Got back and the long, steep river ramp was covered in snow. Took a long time to get the boat out and up the ramp that day.

Yes they are.

If it's strictly for trout, go with the 20 size. The 25 size will be okay, but it's more reel than you need unless you're targeting larger trout. How do you plan to fish for them? Different techniques and rigs work better with different rods.

A lot of flipping sticks aren't going to be good frogging rods. You need something that has a soft tip so it loads well when you're casting. A good portion of flipping sticks are meat sticks that have a pretty fast tip that doesn't load well. The best frogging rod I've ever owned is the one I have now, it's a 7' 3" H/F Ethos Micro from Academy. It loads great, walks a frog perfectly, and has enough backbone to winch them out. Plus, I spent $50 on one and $27 on the other. I have a Pflueger Supreme XT 7.3:1 baitcaster on mine. Super nice frogging combo for $130

I've noticed that as well. The fish are extremely thick and very healthy looking. Gardner lake did a rapid about face when it recovered from LMBV 2 years ago. Went from rarely seeing fish over 3 pounds, to being almost uncommon to go there and not catch a fish over 3 and not at all rare to catch them over 4 pounds. I'd never seen one over 4 from Shawnee (a green one anyways). Now I've seen 3 over 4 and one over 5 in 2 weeks there. Gives me something else to be excited about every time I go there now.

I see plates from all over during the winter time. I've always had the open invitation to anyone wanting to fish, as long as they don't mind a golden retriever leaning against them during boat rides It's a very difficult lake because of the sometimes irregular generation and Florida strain LMB. It's a very easy lake to blank on, but the risk is well worth the reward to me. Nice thing is, I can see the stack from my deck, so I know if they're generating or not before I leave. I haven't ever caught any of the monsters there, but several over 7 pounds and 1 limit over 30 pounds, I've seen some great days there.

Haven't ever used purple but I've done well with a white or merthialate floating worm by Zman. I fish them weightless around grass and cover.

Crawdads will live around any kind of cover, but you'll rarely find them in large numbers around open water areas that are featureless (mud flats). Around rocks, wood, and grass would be my favorite areas to target with craw imitations.

Savage Gear Shine Glide 7", MS Slammer mini or 7", Savage Gear 3D line thru trout and 3D 5" bluegill floater. Savage Gear also makes a top hook style trout swimbait similar to a Hudd but for much cheaper. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Savage_Gear_3D_Real_Trout_Swimbait/descpage-SGRTSB.html

That's not even that expensive in the swimbait world. Fishing is about enjoyment, and some guys enjoy fishing big baits that are very finely crafted. It's more money than I'm willing to spend on one, but I understand guys that do it. I doubt everyone that would scoff at someone fishing a $300 bait is pulling their beat up johnboat to the lake behind an old farm truck to cast their Creme Scoundrel on their Zebco 33. Same thing to me. I don't "need" my truck and bass boat, but I enjoy them so I spent my money on them.

Get a River2Sea Bubble Walker 80 instead. I can't tell the difference except the price tag.

I have 5 Ugly Sticks that I use for catfish and free lining live bait to wipers. 3 of them are 7' MH Lite spinning rods that really aren't that bad the few times I've used them for bass. I've horsed some really nice catfish and wipers in with them out of some bad places and never had any issues. I wouldn't want to use one every day, but that's my personal preference, doesn't make them a bad rod.

I've fished both and they're both nice rods at that price point. It's really going to be a matter of personal preference so if you can hold both to get a feel for which feels better to you, that would be best, even better if you can put the reel you plan to use on them.

Use both. The jig is your bottom contact bait that can be slowly crept along the bottom, stopped and shook near good areas, and fished in heavy cover. The swimbait is your slow horizontal presentation that can be fished along edges, points, and near cover. Both are very good big fish baits in cold water.

La Cygne, about a hour south of Kansas City.

Used to have a tradition of fishing on New Year's Day with a friend of mind because his birthday is on the 2nd. Several years ago it was 9* when we launched with a high of 21*. One of the coldest days I've ever fished soft water but we caught quite a few fish that day. It's crazy some of the things you don't think about that you learn fishing cold conditions. A metal spinning reel stem between your fingers is like holding an icicle, micro guides are not an option, changing baits is almost impossible, braid turns into a slightly flexible icicle, you can backlash a reel really badly if there's enough ice in the reel or one of the guides to stop a cast, you can get a headache from running if your forehead isn't covered well, all kinds of fun stuff. I'm almost to the point that I prefer those conditions because I'm rarely sharing any water when it's like that and the fish seem to bite better when it's nasty in power plant lakes. When the steam is freezing to the buoys and your cold weather suit, you know it's really cold.

A few of my buddies were out there yesterday and tore them up again. It was the same thing I found though, long stretches of nothing, but then they were really grouped up when they found them. I've never caught this many larger fish from Shawnee. Last week we would have had a 20lb 5 fish limit and this week I'd have been in the high teens with a 3.81, 4.11, and 4.46 for my 3 biggest fish. Hopefully a sign that the fish are finally getting over the LMBV.

Photo courtesy of @kickerfish1 My dog, Cassidee, thoroughly enjoying her time in the boat during the nice fall weather.