Bluebasser86

I'm hiding a rubber snake in the empty storage compartment of my boat next time we go fishing

Ditto

But you have to use little baits and sewing thread thin line to catch trout I love catching trout on jerkbaits, they about rip the rod out of your hands when they bite. Never caught a brookie, but it's on my to do list Great fish!

The ones without the split ring have a tighter action while the ones with them tend to have more thump and will "hunt" instead of swimming in a straight line. I prefer the split ring design myself but there's a time and place for the directly connected ones as well.

I've had good success with a regular fluke as well. The Zman Diesel MinnowZ is a killer on a bladed jig and a single one will outlast the whole bag of most anything else.

My biggest 5 fish limit in Kansas was on a full sized King Shad. They're fragile but they have the right profile to attract big fish and don't require any special equipment to fish them. The Decoy Hydratail is a great bait that is affordable and easy to fish on MH rod, same with the Opti line thru or Savage 6" Line Thru.

X2, braid for flipping weeds, frogs, and C rig mainline is all I use braid on casting gear for.

I've been catching topwater fish for almost a month now in NE Kansas.

My uncle taught me to put a small stick or a little ball of mud onto the line between the first guide and the reel. When it starts to rise, you know what to do. Some guys will double over their line and clip on a cheap bobber on just the bottom so it's only clipped on once. When a fish bites the bobber raises and you can set the hook and it will often pop off then or a quick pull removes it and you can fight the fish.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Then it's a new one. The old ones say Wiggle Wart on the underside of the bill.

Welcome!

Cbass12 messaged this picture from our trip last Tuesday of me with one of the fattest/thickest smallmouth I've ever caught. My pictures didn't do it justice but I think his really captured how thick this fish was. 16.5" and 3.5 pounds.

Forgot that Ryan had texted me this picture the other day. I said I'd caught one of the fattest/thickest smallmouth I've ever caught at Melvern last Tuesday with a 16.5" fish that weighed 3.5 pounds, I think he captured the size of the fish much better than I did in my pictures.

Looks like I picked right.

GoneFish'n is pretty dedicated to fishing big swimbaits and catches a lot of big swimbait sized fish. I'm guessing it's exactly as big as it looks

Favorite color is actually orange. The "blue" is my screen name is just to reflect my occupation

But,,,that's a Garmin that Glenn's talking about?

A little less line capacity which could slightly effect casting distance. It's a little thicker so possibly a little more visible to the fish and a little stiffer.

Van and I got a late start yesterday, wasn't really a bad thing with the chilly morning. Pulled up to the ramp to see chocolate milk and high water, not looking good but lakes normally pretty stained up so not going to be doom and gloom yet. By noon we each had one dink and the gloom was closing in fast. We had gone into the river expecting the fish to have moved back in there to spawn but it didn't seem to be the case so we headed back out into the main lake since that's the last place we'd touched a fish. Took a minute but Van finally stuck a solid keeper on a black and blue pit boss on one of my homemade swinging football heads. She was thick and hadn't appeared to have spawned yet at 3lbs 9ozs. I added a super dink to our tally and then Van got an even better one in the back of a pocket at 4lbs 2ozs, his biggest of the year so far, also fat and appeared to not have spawned yet. Same bait and rig still in her mouth. I caught a couple more little ones on my extra spicy Big Head Wobbler and a decent one on a junebug pit boss. Then we jumped across the lake and I went on a tear for the last 30 minutes. I put at least 20 largemouth in the boat, plus a nice spot, a drum, a catfish, and a huge crappie, all on the extra spicy Big Head Wobbler. It was tough to leave after finally getting on a good bite Just makes me want to go back for more though

Van and I got a late start yesterday, wasn't really a bad thing with the chilly morning. Pulled up to the ramp to see chocolate milk and high water, not looking good but lakes normally pretty stained up so not going to be doom and gloom yet. By noon we each had one dink and the gloom was closing in fast. We had gone into the river expecting the fish to have moved back in there to spawn but it didn't seem to be the case so we headed back out into the main lake since that's the last place we'd touched a fish. Took a minute but Van finally stuck a solid keeper on a black and blue pit boss on one of my homemade swinging football heads. She was thick and hadn't appeared to have spawned yet at 3lbs 9ozs. I added a super dink to our tally and then Van got an even better one in the back of a pocket at 4lbs 2ozs, his biggest of the year so far, also fat and appeared to not have spawned yet. Same bait and rig still in her mouth. I caught a couple more little ones on my extra spicy Big Head Wobbler and a decent one on a junebug pit boss. Then we jumped across the lake and I went on a tear for the last 30 minutes. I put at least 20 largemouth in the boat, plus a nice spot, a drum, a catfish, and a huge crappie, all on the extra spicy Big Head Wobbler. It was tough to leave after finally getting on a good bite Just makes me want to go back for more though

Bigger than any I've held this year, congrats on the new PB!

I almost had to do some work

The cheap Storm Wildeye shads are money in the fast outlet of the power plant lake here. Bass, wipers, and white bass all eat them.