Bluebasser86

It was one of my go to jerkbaits early in the year last year.

Pre spawn is jerkbait time for smallies around here.

Someone lied to you. When the water gets really cold it's almost a deadsticking presentation, just trying to imitate a dying shad that only has a few kicks of life left in it's tail before it's a goner. A lot of time it is a pretty aggressive presentation, but not always.

It's a 150hp motor and going off prices of other 09 Z7's on the market, this one is a couple grand cheaper so I'm assuming it's been taken into account.

I set the hook in my sleep so hard once that I punched a hole in the wall above my bed when I was still living with my parents.

Absolutely, I guess there may be times the subtle action of a worms tail rising off the bottom may score more bites (really cold water when fishing very slowly mayhaps?), but I've never seen a difference. Goes right along with the need for a shakyhead that stands up in my book.

Zman is about a buoyant as it gets.

I fish the War Eagle jigging spoons quite a bit each year, mainly during the heat of the summer and again when the water gets cold. I like the 5/8oz size in either silver or white. As far as catching bigger fish?? They're the best way to get a bite in the places and times I fish them, so any fish is bigger than no fish I might catch otherwise I guess. I've never caught a real big bass on them, but lots of guys do. I have caught some really nice hybrid stripers with them though.

Big Game or Mustad Thor in 8-15 pound test depending on where/what I'm cranking.

I found this on a crappie forum regarding the weed problem at Miami State Lake, I know some of you on here will be interested in reading it. Miami Co. State Lake has been overtaken by curly-leaf pondweed. So if an angler was there in May or early June, then yes I heard the vegetation coverage was very bad 90%-95% covered. Miami Co. State Lake is shallow and allows for perfect growing conditions across most of the waterbody. The good news is curly-leaf dies off on its own in the summer heat, and I was told that by Father's Day most of it had died off. By the time I arrived in September you could not tell there was a vegetation problem at all. I received a lot of compliments on the vegetation management we were doing at Miami when the problem had resolved itself. More good news is the crappie population looked good this fall with decent numbers and size structure. There has been some discussion about spot treating some areas this spring, because Miami Co. does receive a fair amount of pressure and from what I understand it was nearly unfishable last spring. We are going to wait and make the call sometime in April... Most likely something will be done and we will clear some areas around the jetties. Hopefully this answer satisfies the angler, let me know if you want some more information. Thanks, Lucas Kowalewski Kansas City District Fisheries Biologist

I'm in the midst of a serious boat hunt here and have found a boat that I like and my wife likes. The one thing that's really bothering me is the motor obviously isn't a 2009 like the boat is. I contacted the dealer and they said it's an '07 with 75 hours on it. My last boat had a little 4 stroke 60hp Mercury that was about as dependable as they come. Most of the reviews I've found have been pretty promising, anyone have any thoughts or comments on it? http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2009-Nitro-Z-7-102323976

That's what mine is made out of. It adds a ton of weight but is way cheaper than aluminum. It's not like I'm going to be racing anyone across the lake with my 15hp motor anyways

This was what came to mind when I saw the bait as well. Optimum makes a line through with a hook on top and one with the hook on bottom, both in a variety of sizes and colors and inexpensive. I catch tons of fish on the BLTs every year since I first tried them.

Do a lot of the eyes break when you try to close them after putting the blade on?

The man fought and almost died for that flag (on more than one occasion apparently), and some pizzant HOA thought they'd get him to take it down, not likely.

Like Seibert said, the satisfaction of catching fish on something you made is a big part of the draw to lure making for me. The ability to customize a bait to my exact needs is another big portion of it. There's so many baits out there that all look alike, just with different names on them. I wanted to be able to mess with design and colors so I could get a bait that I really wanted that was different than the rest. It really makes a huge difference at times.

I change colors by seasons or water temps, that's pretty much it.

Welcome to the forum/nuthouse We have several guys in that area on this thread that I'm sure can offer up some information. I know the walk in fishing atlas has a bunch of Witchita area ponds listed on it but no idea if the bass fishing is any good in them, something I'd certainly check out though.

Bluebasser=I'm a bass fishing LEO (the blue boat is just a coincidence) 86=the year I was born

I have a 400 Calcutta. It feels a bit more solidly built (refined), than my Cardiffs did but it doesn't cast any further.

Hop, drag, or straight swimming retrieve most of the time.

Yep, a 7' MH/F will cover a wide spectrum of techniques.

I got 4th in a tournament at Table Rock in April sight fishing bed fish. Last year was all prespawners on jerks and warts though. Beaver is on the same schedule basically.

Prespawn to spawn most likely.

April is a pretty universal good time for any of those lakes and not much goes on in April. I'd be up for March but that's pushing it with the weather. You wait until May and people have graduations, kids out of school, and you start dealing with pleasure boaters.