Bluebasser86

I caught a lot of little largemouth and spots Sunday. Kept losing the bigger fish every time I hooked them. Only put one bigger one in the boat.

I use Eisenhower (state park, ramp closest to the dam). Not too many underwater obstructions to worry about that aren't marked by buoys. The points going out into the lake from Eisenhower are shallow, so don't cut those close. There is a really shallow shelf that runs out a ways from the south of Eisenhower campgrounds but it's another spot you shouldn't be running that close to shore anyways. Bite was really tough two weeks ago but I had the family with me so I didn't try real hard for smallmouth and got on the deep whites and walleye pretty good and stuck with them the whole time.

He was in a bad way, couldn't just leave it, even as much as I dislike them. https://youtube.com/shorts/YSnVKSuH9wQ?feature=share

I cut a blue heron out of a limb line this past weekend. They're not friendly birds.

I catch most of my fall stockers on 110 jerkbaits. They're a nuisance more than anything but make great cutbait.

As long as it's not a deep gouge, I'm not worried. I buy my boats as tools to be used, not to be put on display.

Probably a toss up on which one cuts a bigger hole and is easiest for the fish to toss also.

I found a pretty nice rod sticking out of the trash can by the boat ramp a couple weeks ago. It was missing about 4" from the tip but looked like it had hardly been used. I took it home, put a new tip top guide on it, and gave it to my friend who is a bit on the cheap side that was looking for a new spinnerbait rod. It was originally a 6' 9" M/F, around a 6' 5" rod now, should be a pretty decent spinnerbait rod for him that someone else was just throwing away.

I love the bladed jig box. Mine is completely full plus a few extras rolling around in there.

In my experience, the bite starts at a higher water temp in the spring but continues into a lower water temp in the fall. Usually, 50* is kind of the magic mark in the spring, but they'll eat one down to 40* in the fall. I've caught some really nice frog fish in high 40 degree water in the spring on really nice, warm days though.

Have you tried the standard Eagle Claw model? I use almost all Eagle Claw hooks and have had really good luck with the standard Eagle Claw version of that hook. They're available quite a few places right now, the Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp Tube Hook.

Had a few minutes before work this morning, so I stopped and tossed the tiny Spro 40 popping frog around. One of my first cast was just a small swirl but turned out to be a pretty decent 17ish inch fish. Been having a ton of fun fishing that tiny frog.

I was fishing a lake in NE Missouri in a 16' johnboat with a friend. I'd already caught a couple 6lb fish flipping a beaver into the standing timber. The lake has very thick trees and very mean bass as well as having muskie. I pitched my bait into a tree right on the edge of a drop and got just a little "tick". I was using a 7' 6" MH/F flipping stick with 25lb flouro and a 4/0 Mustad EWG tube hook. The fish didn't move when I set the hook, instead it headed for deep water and started turning the johnboat. I was sure I'd just stuck a muskie and it would quickly cut my line, but I worked it slowly to the boat and eventually saw a huge white side with a black stripe. I couldn't believe how huge it was, for sure bigger than my 10 from Mexico. She surged back towards the timber, I panicked, slammed my thumb on the spool, and the hook bent. The boat was quiet for a long time after that fish.

Pay a guy $258 million just to lose to a team lead by Geno Smith ?. Could be a rough next few years for the Broncos at that rate.

Welcome!

Welcome!

I had a guy get mad at me in a boat tournament once for "cutting him off". I never saw the guy because we started around the point and well down the bank from him. I checked on Google maps when we got home, it was nearly 800' and a point between us. He was just mad because I caught a keeper right as he rounded the point ?‍♂️

Had my final Kansas Kayak Anglers tournament of the year this Saturday. I prefished Friday and it went as good as it could have possibly gone. I was torn between 2 parts of the lake, a creek and then one arm of the lake. I started in the creek, it was horrible. I caught 4 dinks and a 17 incher and the mosquitoes were about to carry me away, so I moved to my other area. With the feeling that I was going to end up fishing that area, I removed my hooks and put on screwlocks to attached my soft plastics. I ended up getting around 30 bites in 4-5 hours on a lake I'd usually be pumped about getting 10 bites in a day this time of year. I did stick a couple fish on a Ned and bladed jig just because there was no way to remove the hook, one would have been a heartbreaker on tournament day. Tournament morning, I launched under a bright, Harvest Moon and sat in the cool air at a picnic table by myself for about an hour. I've been close many times this year to winning and I felt like I finally had the area to win, my heart was racing the whole time and time just drug by. I was sure I would be fishing with several people around me, but to my surprise, I was the only kayak in the cove I started in. My alarm went off, I took a deep breath and started casting one of my Code Blue bladed jigs. 3 cast into the morning, I got slack knocked into my line on the shallow flat I started on and the fish went nuts thrashing around and charged the kayak. I hurried the net out and she tailwalked right in. I was off and running with a thick 18.25" fish. Really thought I was going to smash them at this point. 2 hours later, I had caught a 9, 10, 11, and 13 inch fish to finish up my limit and the bites were not happening like they were the day before. I watched an old man catch a 20+ inch fish when he was burning in a popper. It was an awesome bite and his excitement was great, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt my feelings a little bit. I ran back through the cove a second time and culled up a little bit with a 13.5" fish, but I decided to work on out of my starting spot. I got to a point and pitched to a tree and there was a fish on it immediately. Not a big fish by any means, but that little 14.5" fish felt huge compared to what I had been catching. I had some fish start busting by my kayak and culled another little 13.5" fish swimming a white Ned. Down the bank a little further, I wasn't feeling great, it was getting to be midmorning and I was struggling way more than I thought. I cast my little power worm to a stump and mumbled to myself about how I never catch anything good off this stump. I fished it out a little deeper than I had been and got a light bite. It was on the surface real quick after the hookset and in the net just about as fast. My second solid fish of the day was right at 18". I fished all through the rest of that creek arm and was only catching a small fish here and there, except I did find that heartbreaker again. I tried a bigger worm that I'd got a lot of bites on the day before but they just weren't eating it. I'd noticed a lot of bluegills huddled tight to the trees and thought maybe they were eating those gills instead of the huge schools of tiny shad I'd been seeing. I switched my little power worm to a Rage Menace in watermelon/red with the tail dipped in chartreuse JJ's. I was really struggling at this point. It was 1pm, lines out was 2:30 and I still had 3 fish under 15" in my bag. I think it was my second cast just kind of in between some trees on a rocky point that my line started moving off on the initial fall. The fish wrapped me around a tree, which is about a kiss of death in a lake with zebra mussels, but my 15lb Tatsu held and worked it back around the tree. I peddled backwards trying to get a better angle and ended up on top of a submerged stump, trying not to roll my kayak while I was netting the fish. She cooperated and jumped right in the net for me. Another solid keeper that went 17.75" had me feeling like I'd made a good change. Just a little ways around the back of that cove was a hedge tree that I'd missed 2 bites in that day. I pulled up to it and cast that Menace into it. A fish bit right away and pulled me towards the tree but again I managed to wrestle it away. The fish that had beat me the 2 previous times that day turned out to be another 18 incher. That fish bit at about 2pm and would be my last cull. I hadn't looked at the leaderboard since 10am and had no idea what it looked like when I submitted my 86.50" bag. At the awards, everyone was talking about tough fishing but that doesn't ever mean that someone didn't still smack them. I was afraid that little 14.5" fish was going to be the reason I got beat. As it turned out, I didn't need the last 18" fish and would have been fine with the 14.5" and the last 13.75" fish that the 18" fish culled out. It was a tough day, the limits drop really fast after that top 5 into the 60's, then a couple 50's, with some 0's at the bottom. Made me feel good to finally put everything together and walk away with a win and one of the awesome plaques that the winner gets.

I caught a lot of fish on a Crazy Crawler, Snagless Sally, and a bunch of different kinds of worms. The Jelly worm and Snatrix were 2 of my favorites.

I've thrown my 7' net from my kayak. A 4-5 foot net is much easier if you have big enough schools of shad or shallow enough water.

That's how I paint all of mine. I use a powder paint gun but you don't have to. Quick and easy.

I use 3 Ugly Stick Lite 7' M spinning rods with 3 Okuma 30 Avenger baitfeeder spinning reels. Makes a 2lb channel fun, but I've also landed a 40lb flathead with 1 of them.

Flat black powder from Habor Freight is cheap and easy to use.

Usually 6-12 inches

The durability has been amazing with how thin they are. The only issue I've had is the little holes in the tail, occasionally the hook goes right through them on the cast and messes the trailer up.