KU_Bassmaster.

I prefer to go with somebody, but it's not going to stop me from going if I can't find somebody. There are times though when I really prefer to be by myself. Plus you can leave when you want to leave and fish where you want to fish.

This is for summer fishing My take is yes the bass are shallower and a little easier to catch early in the morning, but when the sun high and hot in the middle of the day bass are so predictable and easy to find.........in the shade. That eliminates alot of water and you can just concentrate on flipping and pitching to shady sides of trees or docks or whatever.

Bass paterned Flukes. Seems like in any tough conditions, a soft plastic jerkbait will get me a few bites.

Shad not only will follow a spinnerbait, THEY WILL EAT IT. PROOF: http://bassresource.com/cgi-bin/bass_fish/YaBB.pl?board=Outing_ID;action=display;num=1114809737 I rigged a tube up and caught a couple of bass beneath where I caught the shad.

Casting - Shimanos: 2 Curados, 1 Castaic Pfleuger President Abu Garcia EON (piece of crap!!!) Spinning - 2 Shimano Symetre

I would stick with mono for crankbaits. Hybrids don't have enough stretch IMO.

Haven't found anything better than Trilene XL. I was going to stick with Cajun line until I snapped off two times while casting. Not even big crankbaits either. Anybody else have line they absolutely love for cankbaits?

You got it! Definetely a bass gaurding a nest. If he didn't get scared off by the sight of you or your lure hitting him in the face he is for sure catchable. Find the spot in the nest where he doesn't want your bait to be. Make reapeated cast back at it. Your bait being in it's nest will eventually tick him off enough to pick up your bait and move it off. Watch your line closely and be certain he has the bait in it's mouth and set the hook. Bed fishing can be some of the most fun and frustrating fishing at the same time.

Jigs and soft platics (worms,creatures, etc) I pull relatively staight up, maybe more like an 80 degree angle. AND HARD A longer rod would help I think. For crankbaits or anything with treble hooks I basically just turn my upper body and let the rod follow. For spinnerbaits a mixture of the two.

YES. At Shawnee Mission Park(last year), I found a bunch of beds on the South West portion of the lake near the dam and also in the cove where the dog park is that are both accessible by bank. Normally fish will bed up first on the North side of the lake, but because of all the traffic that lake gets, they usually opt for the South side. Kill Creek: Take K-10 west towards Lawrence. Get off at the Kill Creek Road Exit. Take a left (head south). Follow the signs. ENJOY. This is probably my favorite small body of water in the area. If you want to catch some off beds- walk to the opposite side of where the parking lot is. That whole side of the lake is a grassy sandy bottom flat, and it doesn't get as much pressure as the other side of the lake.

Hey huskertko, I live in the same area you do and the SPAWN IS NOW. Cedar is way too muddy to see bedding fish, but Shawnee Mission you should be able to see them. Kill Creek is another Johnson Co. Lake on K-10. I have been bed fishing out there the last three weeks. You might want to give that a try.

For sure in Kansas NOW. Saw a ton on beds today.

When I am here in Lawrence for school I go to Douglas County State Fishing Lake, Lone Star, and a couple of farm ponds up near Perry. When I am back home in Overland Park over the summer (when I can take the boat) I go to Bone Creek, Kill Creek, Leavenworth County State Fishing Lake, Truman, Lacyne, Mozingo, and every once in a while Lake of the Ozarks.

I have noticed that me and my fishing buddys' have different styles and confidence baits. My dad first started me out using plastic worms so I feel most comfortable using soft plastics. One of my other buddys' first started out using crankbaits. The other spinnerbaits. Needless to say when we fish together we are usually fishing differently to begin with and then switch over once we see who is catching them. We always have a good time having friendly fights over which is better. (It broke my heart to tell my crankbait buddy that I caught my 10.5 lber. in the picture with a crankbait..... ;D) I would say that just in the past 5 years I have opened my eyes and realized there is a time and place for all different baits and have become a much more versitle fishermen, but when the going gets tough I am always reaching for a soft plastic T-rigged. Do you guys have the most confidence in what you first started out fishing?

I had a day like that last weekend. It wasn't in a tourney, but at a 250 acre community lake. I went aroung to all the main lake points that lead into spawning coves. I could pick off around 4 keepers on every point. I was only out there two hours and caught 10+ keepers..............Then last summer I went to a lake on a Friday to prefish for a buddy of mine that had a tourney that Sat. I found an extremely productive pattern. They were haging around trees near the channel, but not just every tree. Full bushy ones that had many arms and branches. I thought I was basically giving him a gift and he should have no problem finishing in the money. Needless to say he only two dinks the whole day...lol.

You are more than likely going to have to use a soft plastic (lizard, brush hog, tube. worm, fluke, crawdad) or a jig. I did read in an article somewhere though that if you run the spinnerbait into the back end of a bass and then immediatetly cast back at they will more then likely strike. I haven't tried it, but it sounds like it might work. I have had the most sucess with plastic lizards.

10 lbs. 8 oz. caught two weeks ago. ;D

Not to do it...lol. I haven't had good luck with it. Everything always gets tangled, snagged, spilled, lost, etc. The only time I enjoy it is in the summer, at the Lake of the Ozarks, sitting onmy buddy's dock, throwing back a few cold ones, and hanging out with my old high school buddies.

I would say I check this site 4 or 5 times a day......I am addicted

I fished a fluke yesterday in 20 ft of water and it was very effective. Talk about waiting forever though. I would say each retrieve took about 5 minutes. I really don't like waiting that long, but it has been productive for me.

I went out today at two different lakes here in Kansas and seems like they are starting to stage. I caught two small bucks in a shallow spawning flat. I moved back out to the mouth of the cove on the main lake points and landed two nice 4 lbs. females. Found the same thing at the other lake to. For me personally, this is my favorite time to fish. It is still cold enough to keep the crowds away, yet warm enough for me to get out there.

Flukes are my #1 cold water bait. Seems like bass can't resist the fall and such an easy meal.

Looks nice. I fished out of new Stratos last weekend and was really impressed with it. I really liked the layout of it. That commercial about the E-Tec motor is pretty convincing. Let us know how it goes.

That's a good point. What I said I do above is what I do in the summer. In the spring I usually fish slower in the morning and then speed up as the day goes on.

If I am starting first thing in the morning I like to use a top water (buzzbait or popper). Then as soon as the sun is up for a good 1/2 hour I switch to a spinnerbait burned near the surface or a soft plastic jerkbait. Then I will go to crankbait. When the sun is high I will go to soft plastics and jigs fished around and in cover. Sometimes though. one bait will work the whole day. Crankbaits along a creek channel with structure seem to produce all day and all year long.