Bluebasser86

Most of my fishing it very shallow so it probably wouldn't be effected too much except during the winter months when water temp makes a huge difference and I fish offshore a little more.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

A belated welcome to you!

Cassidee is with me almost every time I'm on the water. This time of year is a little tougher due to the heat but I just make sure she does plenty of swimming off the boat to stay cool.

This is several trips in a row for me now. I also caught a channel cat on a bladed jig about half an hour after I caught this one, plus one of the biggest drum I've ever caught also on a jig and another on a squarebill.

By Mudcat, I'm assuming you mean flathead, which in that case I used to target them with cranks on occasion with a Storm Deep Lightning shad grinding it through riprap during spawning season. Never caught any big ones, but a bunch up to 17 pounds. Catfish in general, there aren't many trips once the water gets above 60 that I don't catch a catfish. There is no bait that is surprising for them to eat, they're very predatory just like a bass. They'll hammer a crank, spinnerbait, trap, jig, worm, but the best are topwater cats, they put a bass blowup to shame. I've caught channels over 10 pounds on buzzbaits and on a frog in the slop. My bladed jigs are catfish magnets. I had a day last fall I caught 13 channel cats in a day on them, at one point I'd caught 4 on back to back to back to back cast. If you really want to catch some catfish on lures buy some Gulp plastics. Here's one that destroyed my bladed jig over some milfoil last week and really had my hopes up for just a second. Catfish on lures is nothing out of the ordinary. 14lb on a Baby Brush Hog under a dock My wife catches a ton of channels on a Ned rig. 21lb on a power minnow and 4lb test. 40lb on a homemade casting jig another Ned rig channel 12lb on a Craw Fatty 14lb on a homemade casting jig piebald blue on a Gulp minnow 23lb on a homemade finesse jig Homemade finesse and a pretty typical flathead that I catch lots of each year. Slab Spoon jigging spoon Ned rig flathead bladed jig fattie 8lb flathead on a brush jig I don't even take pictures of most catfish I catch on lures

Had a decent day numbers wise, still can not keep a big fish stuck this year for some reason, unless it has whiskers of course

If I didn't fish in the wind I'd never get to fish

Why would you want to take the "uneducated", fish out of a lake and how do you tell the difference?? If it wasn't for the dumb ones I might not ever catch anything. Most limits are put into place under the assumption that only a certain portion of anglers will catch and keep fish, so if everyone did it every time I'm assuming you're going to see a reduction in the fish population.

Chub or a Fallfish, hard to tell at that size but it's one of those 2 and not invasive.

One of my favorite presentations for river smallmouths.

One of my favorite colors in stained to muddy water but it also works well in clear water at times.

Always a good time getting a double. I almost had my first one of the year today, coincidentally enough, it was also on a SK squarebill.

I had 1 good trip with Vanish for walleye. Tried it for bass and like everyone has said, my baits vanished, my fish vanished, and my chance to cash a check vanished.

LMB=8" Watermelon Zoom Lizard SMB=Watermelon/gold flake Zoom Trick Worm on a 1/8oz Pro Slider, Chartreuse shad LC Slender Pointer 97MR, American Shad LC Fat CB BDS 0 (I've caught 3 SMB that were the exact same weight as my PB).

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

It's very unlikely you're the reason that fish has gotten skinnier. Bass have no problems finding food in water so muddy they can't see the end of their noses or in the pitch black of night. In those conditions they rely heavily on finding food through vibrations using their lateral line. If a fish's eye is injured, they'll switch to using their lateral line as their main way to find food. I've seen fish that were blind in both eyes and still feeding effectively. It's summertime, fish get skinny this time of year. Most likely it's a female that you caught prior to the spawn when she was still fat with eggs. 21" and 4.5 pounds is a little light but nothing crazy.

My adventure at Mound City last Thursday. Boat was already filthy so didn't figure it would hurt to pull it out there. Roads weren't even very bad with all the recent rains. No big fish, just can't seem to keep a big fish buttoned this year

Welcome back!