retro basser

I KNEW there were big ones in that lake! If you could only get the dinks to quit eating it. Interesting that it still took the smaller bait though: could help explain why conventional tactics don't work so good out there to pull better size. I have a 6-6M bionic with a casting reel and like it pretty well. it's my favorite squarebill rod. I know it's crazy but for jerkbaits i like really light spinning setups with a fast tip. they cast the light ones well and the grip / balance works for me. Just a thought. I'm sure alot of rods will work though... the tough part is waiting long enough. force yourself to do nothing early and often.

I think we have usually gone till 3 in the past but yeah having more time to hang out is good too. I think everyone was just a little beat up from the rain and the wind. At least the big ones were biting I learned alot out there and had a good time. I couldn't get anything to eat a little 2.5 blue chrome jerkbait that i have good luck with. I didnt figure smallies to want all wanted the big ol stickbaits with hooks everywhere lol. Good boatin with ya scrogg and catching enough to keep us thinking we were in it for most of the day. Glad I left my phone in the truck and didnt see all the monsters getting caught or we probably woulda got into the beer and burgers before noon! Big props to Blue, Nicole, and Chris on bringing everyone together. They just keep getting better and better!

Sorry to inform you guys but the 'Widest Clam' side-bet turned out to be a no-go because it turns out transporting clams is a felony.. I know alot of you had hopes of winnin that.. Looking forward to it! I'll be there a little after 6 ready to tear some smallies up!

Nice! That lake has been on my list of maybes. I almost hit it on the way back from the last razor clam classic. It's right on the way. A lake that size with a verified 5 pounder is what it's all about for me...

Ahh that's crazy..we left right around 2. I had my girl on a 3'' Kalins smoke/fleck with a 1/4'' silver Colorado. Next time i'm gonna tell her to 'point at the fish that you want to catch' with the pole. She kept going back to 12 o'clock all day. I didn't want to push it too hard, she was having too much fun just casting the thing.

Wow must have just missed ya. I took my daughter out around noon to try to get her first bass. I thought she had a dang good chance with a grub spinner but couldnt link up. I think she actually got a real strike cause she got pretty excited a couple times. They couldnt resist a jerkbait or a blue chrome crank. It was so easy it will probably set her expectations WAY too high for future endeavors but hey that's the point of that lake

Went out to DGCO Friday and fished for a few hours in the afternoon. You could pick little ones off the rocks by the dam but he bite was slow for that lake. I did switch over to a white spinnerbait after awhile because of the clouds and had 3 good strikes off of it that I realized too late. I was pretty rusty from the winter off and fishing that slow with slack line alot made it tough. Of course it's always the biggest ones that get away but I found myself wondering more than usual what kind of bass would be bold enough to chase something this early in the year. Water was 49-52 I hit Lonestar Sunday afternoon. Totally different day, clear skies and more wind. Spinnerbait was useless. I fiddled around with alot of stuff but a smaller jerkbait around the docks was the best i found. Warmer water out there, 50-55.

Nice day. How were the water temps? I bet today is a WINNER. I sure wish i could get out there.

Just saw the first post of this thread and that's a nice turnout. This thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I'm down for the truckstop if it's cold. If anyone could smoke a pork shoulder ahead of time that would do the trick. I'd offer to make a vat of chili for everyone but those fixins would run a $80-100 pretty easy. It will warm up... this weekend i'm hittin DGCO come hell or high water

Sucks dont it? I'm trying to convince myself it doesnt matter if its still winter since I cant get free to get the boat out but it doesnt seem to do much good. At least were getting precip.

It's starrrrting! I think alot of boats are going to wake up from the winter this week

Yep Well if those guys pass on your old boat give me a holler. I'm looking to transition boats this year and really like that setup alot. How about another side pot for who pulls the 'widest clam' ?

Little known fact but the Ned Rig is covered under the 2nd amendment too... I'm all for Ft Scott as a backup but I think the best thing to do for small / older boats is just to launch from the south side of Melvern (assuming the wind is out of the south like normal).

Well I guess my vote is for Ft. Scott but i'm sure we'll just end up at Melvern again. It's hard to beat that combo of smallies and the easy drive. Apr 4th would be better than the 27th for me.

Razor Clam Classic. Ha! ... you gotta trademark that ****. I still have a free seat as of now if you want it... I suppose this year is as good as any to win the RAZOR CLAM CLASSICTM

Yep, red is always bad. There is definitley alot of luck involved in the sampling and shallow lakes do always seem to do really well, which would make perfect sense if the 'zapper' only works to 15ft. I pretty much just pay attention to biggest fish and always use the lake's 3 year average for these sorts of comparisons. And while alot of them make sense (good scoring lakes like Miami DO hold fish), you can also be misled. I'd say more than anything it's useful to tell you where NOT to go fishing..

Man i give you guys credit for getting after em in the winter. Sounds pretty tough right now. Thanks to whoever spotted the KDWP Forecast was up last week. I cleaned up the data a little and made the "winners and losers" reports for LMB lakes. I still had the KDWP 2011 forecast from the last time so I did it to compare which lakes average bass density changed the most since then... for good and bad. Some of our favorite lakes are on both lists actually Winners: 2013 KS Lakes 2 year winners.pdf Losers: 2013 KS Lakes 2 year losers.pdf

Wow. I gotta admit I dont know if I would have the determination to tear out and redo an entire deck framing once I got that close... you are a credit to your craft sir! That looks like a fun project to do if your not in a hurry. And no fiberglass grinding to deal with must be nice. Wish i had a garage.

Finally got out of that tin can eh? Hey if you wanna buy my boat too, i'll throw in the carpet for free! Actually it's harder than I thought to let go of the old basser, It's put me on the water alot over the last couple years and always brought me back.. I'm putting it off till next summer.

2012 KC AREA GUYS FAVORITE GEAR POLL Favorite Rod / Reel: All-around line: Jig / Shakeyhead / Football: Crankbait: Finesse Bait: Topwater: Plastic:

I know the season doesnt end for some of you guys out there but I don't mind taking a little break from fishing to recharge my batteries.... well the itch is coming back and i'm starting to reflect back on last season. It occured to me that I caught the vast majority of fish on my two most sensitive rods and a handful of baits. I thought it might interesting for everyone to kick around a favorite gear of 2012 poll to get us through the winter. I'll offer up these basic catgories and post the poll again for easy replying. Answer as many or as few as you want, but... before you ask, no, you cant answer 'ned rig' for all of the responses Favorite Rod/Reel: --- 7' Cabelas Prodigy with a Daiwa Baitcaster All-around line: --- Not gonna lie, that Pline CXX is pretty d**n good for how cheap it is. Jig / Shakeyhead / Football: --- I had alot of fun with a swim-jig this year just 1/8 oz Crankbait: --- Bomber model A squarebill in a tennessee shad with a rattle caught many a bass this season Finesse Bait: -- 3.5 Yamamoto tube in smoke color hands down Topwater: --- Rebel popR in gizzard shad Plastic: --- This is a broad topic but a good suprise for me this year was the NetBait Paca... they're cheap and they work...

I dig it! That's a clean looking boat. You might want to try adding seafoam to the first tank of gas if you decide not to replace... I add a little sta-bil to every tank i put through my old merc too.. she dont like gas to even be three weeks old it seems.. My quest is gonna have to be put on hold till next spring... i just dont have the time anymore.

Well Chris the first was so good that it's already gone. I like stratos' too, something to think about. Trackers are a good idea as well. That one that Peter bought this year is a pretty darn practical setup...

You know guys i'm not sure about the hours on the boat. I like 2 strokes and this one even was a 2+2 meaning 2 cylinders were off when your just idling to save gas... i agree this is a below 3K boat that is just cherry, it's really about how good the transom holds under real inspection and if it fires up. i have a feeling it will be alot closer to 3 than 4k Just gotta sneak down to Arma to find out... seems like a few good Northern OK/AR plus SWMO boats make it up there..

Retro 2013 Edition... http://www.boattrader.com/listing/1981-Champion-168-101861665 Whaddya guys think?