Bluebasser86

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.

Keep in mind I fish a lot and wear it during my winter lure hunting trips that are way more demanding than anything you'll ever do standing in a boat. I've still be disappointed with the durability of the suit but it isn't their top selling suit for no reason either, I just won't be buying another.

2/0 or 3/0 H2O or Eagle Claw Lazer sharp EWG.

It's that time of year again fellas! Time to get the ball rolling on where we want to go this spring. We had a small, unplanned meeting this past week that kind of got the gears turning. I think the proposed date is going to be in April (the weekend of the 18th and 19th would work great for me but I'm down for whenever). As for location, we had several to choose from that were proposed. Milford Lake in Junction City, KS, Stockton Lake in Stockton, MO, Beaver Lake in Rogers, AR, Grand Lake in Grove, OK, or Mined Wildlife Area (strip pits) in Columbus, KS. Milford-Awesome smallie lake with a good population of largemouth and some spots. Great fishing for whites, wipers, walleye, channel and blue cats. Last few state record smallies came from here, it produces fish over 6 pounds ever year, 2 of my 3 5 pound smallies are from Milford. State park cabins we could rent that are right by the ramp or camping with power for charging batteries. The big negative, it's spring time in Kansas, so there's a good chance it will be windy and there's nowhere to get out of the wind here other than a couple big coves. We could still get out and fish and everyone will catch fish, but the wind sucks here no two ways about it. Stockton-Largemouth on the south end, smallies on the north, spots everywhere in between. Also a very good lake for walleye, crappie, cats, and whites. Good sized lake with decent lodging around it and plenty of ramps and places to work around the wind if/when it blows. You can catch fish doing about anything here, when they're biting, but it can be a really tough lake too, but that's the risk you take anywhere. Beaver Lake-Largemouth, Smallmouth, spots, even meanies. Giant stripers, wipers, white bass, crappie, walleye, and catfish. Huge and very scenic lake, locating fish can be very difficult at times but when you find them you can knock their lights out. The one time I've been here was with Jon. We both caught PB stripers (14.5 and 20 pounds) he caught his PB wiper and smallmouth (6 3/4 and 4.5 pounds), I had a 6.25 and 5 pound largemouth along with a ton in the 3 pound range, we both had some smallies over 3, several 4-7 pound stripers, and of ton of other bass and some of the biggest, fattest white bass I've ever seen (possibly north of 3 pounds). We did all that within 1/2 mile of the ramp. Possibly also have free lodging here. Again Jon has the hookup with family that might let us stay for free. We stayed in the church that they run that is right next to their house and it was very nice. Air matts or cots would be needed but that's it. Level parking lot for the boats and it's nothing like the cabins at Grand to get to it. It's the furthest drive to get to at a little over 3 hours though. If gas prices stay like they are or close to it, that may be much less of a factor than normal. Grand-Mainly largemouth but some good spots mixed in. Not a lot else to fall back on other than crappie, whites, and catfish. We had a blast last time (most of us did anyways) and caught a ton of fish. I have zero issue with going back but it's likely to be a different animal in April than it was in June last year. Strip pits-Largemouth are the only flavor of bass here, but there's insane numbers of them and some true giants. Tons of some of the biggest bluegills and sunfish I've ever seen and good crappie in some, trout in one of them. If you like variety, this is a good choice. I don't know how many pits there are exactly, but I've fished dozens and there's still a bunch that I haven't ever been on. The good thing about the pits is you can fish them from a bass boat, or a 2 man, doesn't matter. Quite a bit of gravel roads almost have to be driven to access most of them, so that's a downside. Limited lodging, the cabins at the trout pit are very nice and not very expensive though, and right next to the lake that holds state record class largemouth (and brown trout, also where the state record channel cat was caught). Always a blast fishing these and I'm more than willing to share everything I know about fishing them with everyone if this is where we go. So there you have it. Those are the proposed options. I think we may need to have a meeting to discuss and decide on this and the weeknight get togethers. I'm thinking either Johnny's in Olathe again since it worked well last time, or we could do a potluck at someone's house instead. Probably on the 29th so I will have bid by then and know what my days off are. Feel free to cast a vote for a lake/date so maybe we can have a pre-plan going into the meeting

What are you wanting to build it out of? Wood is probably you're cheapest option but also adds a lot of weight. Getting something machined out of aluminum would be nice and light but also very expensive.

I was the non-boater on both occasions.

Welcome!

I hate C rigging but my biggest C rig fish (5.5 pounds) was in about 3' of water on a flat point. Only thing I usually change is a lighter weight.

I put this trailer on my spinnerbait because it has salt in it which makes the plastic sink faster so it makes my spinnerbait run deeper...

Stren Hi Impact is great line for moving baits. I've used regular Stren lots of times and while it isn't the best at much, it gets the job done.

I ALWAYS bring a couple fishing rods, my catch rate is WAY higher when I do.

You did better than I did in my first tournament, I never had anything that I could confirm 100% was even a bite! Congrats!

Welcome!

I have a BPS 100MPH suit and have previously had a Cabela's Guidewear suit. If I had it to do over again, I'd have never bought the BPS suit. It's pretty nice don't get me wrong about that, but the zippers are terrible and the stitching comes out all over the place. I thought it was a fluke the first time when I had a cuff coming off and my suit wouldn't zip up. I returned it and for a new one and now have the same issues with this one. For the price they want for them, it's not worth it to me. My next suit will probably be one of the H2O suits from Academy. They look very similar but cost 1/3 the price and Academy stands behind their gear.

I use 22 or 24 gauge copper bead wire. You can get it from most hobby stores, usually around the floral or jewelry making supplies for a couple bucks.

What this guy said

I have an ice fishing rod and Lake's Zebco Dock Demon you could probably sneak in anywhere.

Look like live bait hooks but depending on the size they may work for wacky rigging or nose hooking a dropshot worm.

I have a spool of 19lb sitting the garage right now. Probably going to spool it up and fish with it for the first time this Friday at Wolf.

Yes, mainly dragging or hopping them.

I've fished tournaments where I drew boaters who didn't fish baitcasters. They pitched and flipped with spinning rods just like a casting rod. It may not seem ideal but it certainly can be done, effectively at that. Spinning rods handle massive saltwater fish that even the biggest bass can't even get close to matching in speed or power also.