Bluebasser86

Color is one of the factors I'm least concerned about. I carry 4-5 main colors with a few others sprinkled in. I pour and wire tie all my jigs so I don't have to worry about skirts slipping or bands rotting. If it's a day that color is that important, it's unlikely that I'll change my jigs enough to find the exact color they're on anyways unless it's one in my normal rotation.

Most of your resorts on Table Rock have places to park and charge your boat. Last time I went to Big Cedar, I had to either rent a slip and charge my boat there, or unhook the trailer from my truck and charge it that way, they had no parking available for truck and trailer with charging. I had a couple suggestions from places I've stayed on Table Rock but 2 of them are permantly closed according to Google and one is in the KC area so maybe a little further up the lake than you're looking to stay.

@casts_by_fly I've never had an issue tying a Palomar. The 6lb isn't a size I use a lot but it is great line when I do fish for walleye or want a really finesse presentation for bass.

The Blaze colored Stunna and Ditch Weed Provoke both have their moments for me. 6th Sense use to make the Provoke in their Merthiolate (sp?) color and it will always hold a special place for me. It was a key bait in willing me a pretty good chunk of change in a winter tournaments several years back. Not really red I guess, but maybe reddish/orangish, copper colored.

3535+38=3572 I was fishing before it was cool

Ticks are a big reason why I'll never be a spring turkey hunter or mushroom hunter. I've walked through seed tick nest a couple times, once walking to a creek to fish and once walking in to check a trail cam. A lint roller is the best way to get them off that I've found because they're so tiny and almost impossible to grab. Getting rid of the feeling that something is crawling on you takes about a week to go away though. Light colored clothing and cover up as much as possible. Tuck in shirts, pant legs into your socks, and tape over the area to prevent the tiniest ticks from getting through.

KGB Crappie, $200. There's nothing really to compare it to for realism of a small crappie glide.

I can drive 5 minutes to the nearest lake, but most of my drives are around 100-150 miles round trip to get to the better lakes.

Probably micro jigs. If you're averse to fishing a Ned rig, it seems like they are a good replacement option. I'm really surprised with how often I can get bit on a micro jig when they aren't on the Ned as well, especially with smallmouth on a micro football jig. The little casting micro jigs just catch everything and all sizes, just like a Ned rig, but it's not a Ned rig, so you're safe 😂

Got a picture of the baitfish? Maybe a Logperch or some other kind of darter?

I'm always listening to cues from the fish and nature that might tip me off to a potential fish catching opportunity.

I use to carry an anchor and use an anchor trolly but now I have a motor with spot lock. Spot lock is really a life saver in the Kansas wind.

Anything that I can pretty easily cover most of it in a day with just a trolling motor would be a smaller lake. The larger lakes I fish are 2-7 thousand acres with a couple of them 11-16 thousand acres.

I have 2 10" Storm Kickin' Minnows that I bought for muskie fishing. They're 5.25oz and 10". They have really nice action, but I've got about 5 cast with them before I'm done. Not fun to fish with at all, but I have 2 of them and they're probably close to 20 years old now.

I'm guilty of getting into my own head and being negative sometimes when I'm on the water. I'm usually pretty good at staying positive but there's times when I realize I'm doing it and I have to stop myself and get myself straightened out. I'm a firm believer that confidence in what you're doing and a positive attitude on the water are key factors in a successful day of fishing.

Starting out boat fishing, especially on smaller bodies of water, I think you're best served to put the motor down and fish. Much of fishing is time on the water and learned through trial and error. I fish a lot of small lakes and even now that's how I fish a lot of the time. When it comes to the little bit bigger lakes, I like to look at maps for what I consider high percentage areas, areas that I believe to have a high likelyhood to hold fish. With a small boat that you can't move quickly, it's similar to the approach that I take in my kayak. I look for those high percentage areas, and try to launch in a location where I will be able to access a few of them.

That entire setup is DC'd. It's a 7' 5" Okuma EVX casting rod with a 7.3:1 Okuma Helios SX reel. It's basically a jig rod/reel but it's not super stiff because they designed the rod to fish chatterbaits and small swimbaits. It fished that 5" bull shad really well and that bait doesn't really require a heavy swimbait setup. That's the same combo I use for hollow body swimbaits and any in the 3/4-1.5 ounce range.

The smaller, thinner hook paired with braid penetrates easily. A easy pop of the rod will set the hook on a Neko. I usually like to reel the line tight and then sweep/lift up. A DS bite isn't really any different feeling than any other bite on a finesse bait. It can range from little taps, to a steady pull, to just not moving anymore.

I wanted to catch a snook so bad when we were in Florida last time. I hooked a half dozen fishing from the beach the first day and lost every one. The guy at the tackle store just kind of shrugged and told me that's how it is with snook. I got a cut on my eye the next day that pretty much ruined the rest of my trip so never did end up catching one.

I pour my own with a Midwest Finesse mold and it works really well. On a related note, had a fish pull a 4" mooch minnow in half Sunday. Those things are pretty indestructable, really surprised me. I usually just reel into fish fast on the minnow before sweeping on them to take all the slack out. I did that, felt a lot of weight, then it was gone. I'm guessing she must have just grabbed right behind the hook and none of the point. No toothy fish in the lake to cut it either.

Weird, maybe you got a bad one. While they don't like getting soaked, I've not had an issue with them dying unless completely submerged or left out in the rain. They were our scales of choice in our weeknight CPR tournaments and I checked dozens of them and never had one that wasn't within a couple ounces and most were dead on to our controlled test weight. Goose was extremely detailed oriented. His write up is what made me check them out intially when I was trying to come up with a budget friendly option for our tournaments.

Sliding backwards down an icy ramp will certainly wake you up in the morning.

I've been using these since @Goose52 did a very detailed breakdown of how accurate they are. I add fish grippers to the hook and have the whole package for under $10. You can find them for about half this price if you look around a little. https://www.amazon.com/VOCUE-1410oz-Digital-Luggage-Fishing/dp/B0DH3JG7C4/ref=sr_1_124?crid=1A15DX89JKILH&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.P6Zy0eCoUxrYdFikuENssBAVzVL-W_3pBrr38opeET67zcDBlUpGqKkGJMuOlqqSZt0jibeMP3GCiCAGRhq5Wv5MgilCoH7ORHK9-o_8GbkrnLjNIYiNxl29xmMyiiUA175MaDKw3x7yZfwFsde71QQM6bL52PbVokfjq-o7U2Uu70dsLNC7-_T-FmID9KXr3lB77khzNgy5-egMhgBqSlHdIoyPs0OpvaJw9u3rN-ex-vs1ZKoOHOiwInCo3a-EERTA8QinvixUtzNkGH0I4EHwkj9E-vCmzwMXHYApsxU.i_OpYqqTbtDZqXahVAguhl9W9q2BB8GvLykel858mQM&dib_tag=se&keywords=digital+luggage+scale&qid=1772468039&sprefix=digital+lugga%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-124&xpid=tRb9-nghVAudl

I had issues with both Trokar and Owner cutting point hooks slicing big holes in their mouths, and also cutting up the plastics faster. I tried some Trokar jig hooks on my bladed jigs and the points rolled and dulled really bad. Turned me off to them pretty quickly.

Terrible weather, but great fishing, which usually seems to be the case this time of year. I caught over 30, but none were the big ones I was hoping for. This lake is typically my big fish lake, and I was seeing them and getting follows on my jerkbait, just couldn't get them to commit. The one time I did was textbook, saw her on the scope on the edge of a shallow drop, put the jerkbait just past her so it hit max depth right on her head. Immediatly had the fish moving up, ate the bait, pulled hard for a few seconds, then gone. Pulled the whole hook off my bait. That will be the end of the braided line, split ring experiment. There was a bunch of big shad schooled up offshore and bass were out there chasing them. it was good scoping practice and I caught a couple of my biggest ones out of those fish. The fish along the banks were just murdering a jerkbait though. I really am surprised I never got a big one to eat.