Doc-Drew

2014 Biggest Local Bass Weight (or length if you didn't have a scale): 4.36lb Smallmouth, 20 1/4" Lure: Ned rig Pattern: Hopping along the dam at sunset Lake: Milford Time of Year: October

JERKBAIT fishing technique!

I remember when I was first introduced to the Ned rig by a guide, he said many guys who use them in tournaments let them soak in their livewells overnight to achieve maximum flotation before they use them. Apparently the high salt content sinks them but once the worms are stretched or soaked, a lot of the salt comes out and allows them to float.

Speaking of twice on Sundays, my father and I braved the cold and wind and hit LaCygne yesterday from about 9:30-1. It was very interesting because, as some of the guys heard from text yesterday, I witnessed a guy wading into the water between the cables and waterfall to fish. I thought about tossing my jigging spoon towards him but didn't want to chance getting caught in the cable. Both my father and I caught our PB wipers so that made it worth it. The first picture is the engulfed swimbait I was using. The next picture is my PB of 5.28 lbs (sorry for the sideways picture, for some reason it won't let me rotate it) This is my father's new PB of 5.76 lbs

I hope your surgery and recovery are going well. Fishing wasn't so hot. My father and I caught some bass and a white but the wipers and Curt's flatheads shut us out...even after I found 3 of Curt's baits! The biggest fish we caught was one I caught that was about 2.5lbs. On a different note we saw a huge buck and 5 doe on the road headed north towards the park entrance.

If you could make the PQ a lefty, I'd take it from you

Spring lock might be a little tough with the ElaZtech products that make the Ned rig so productive (strike king zeros and zman zinkerz)

Welcome Anthony! You will learn a lot from following the KC area page.

Not a problem at all. The most difficult is figuring out how they want it worked!

With the RC Stx, I typically change the hooks and split rings keeping the sizes the same. Where I go from there depends on the individual lures. Some suspend great others I may alter by adding a bigger hook or split ring to get it to suspend nose down. That is the only downside of the Stx that I have noticed is their inconsistencies.

For clear water (5-6' visibility here) it is hard to beat french pearl or pro blue. In muddier water, I tend to use a different brand only because I haven't found many "muddy water" colors with the RC Stx. Then again, jerkbaits seem to work better in clear water typically.

Back to the topic at hand here, in eastern Kansas, a lot of us fish for smallmouth and largemouth so it is good to have both a larger and smaller bait and the Luck E Strike RC stix is great for that. I have found their smaller version to be a little inconsistent with suspending, but as with many jerkbaits, they can be altered to get the desired float/sink rate. My suggestion would be to get a couple different shapes to cover different actions (subtle wobble to more erratic darting).

I figured as much haha.

Blue, you forgot to mention where that was . Great job though, those are some nice fish!

I thought of trying to fish Shawnee for bass as well. I have never seen a smallmouth out there before, though. I figured if I did go there for trout, I would do some bass/Ned fishing since trout eat it as well.

You NEED to take me this winter! Never caught a trout through the ice but have caught plenty of other fish.

That is the only thing I could think of other than an axe. My question is, how does a fish get that close to a prop...unless someone was fighting it while their prop was spinning and it got too close.

I ventured out to Melvern by myself Saturday...braving the wind and cold. Don't feel bad, BassinR83, I am not very good at a spook either. I caught all my fish on the Ned but then again didn't try too much. I don't know about the rest of the guys that went out Saturday but for me, the fish were tougher to pattern. Last week, as long we had our lures in 10-12' we were catching fish. Saturday the fish were more scattered. I would catch one right on the bank, then the next fish would be in 10'. They seemed to be more schooled up but varied depths quite a bit. The quality was also better than last week. I would say my average smallmouth was around 15" Saturday as opposed to 10" the previous week. I did manage to catch one fish that surprised the heck out of me seen below. Oddly, the fish seemed to have no ill effects from the wound. Obviously was trying to eat and then swam away like nothing was wrong. I also managed to catch two spots so that was a refreshing change. Below is a picture of the bigger of the two. I can't seem to get the pictures to display right side up but if you click them they are correct. On another note, when is a good time to start trout fishing at Shawnee? My father is coming down from SD around Thanksgiving and I would like to take him fishing. I figured if we went fishing we would probably go to La Cygnes, Melvern, or Coffey County. Then it dawned on me this morning that trout fishing may be fun at Shawnee. I have never fished for trout in the fall. What do you guys think?

Or trying to match his shoes.

I'm trying to figure out what is weirder... the amount of catfish you catch, or the color of jigs you use!

My wife and I were also at Melvern Saturday. We didn't get anything over 3 lbs but caught a ton of fish so it was still a lot of fun. We basically fished the dam all day because my wife won't let me leave a spot if we are catching fish...even if they are only 6" long haha. We caught them on about everything we threw at them- various medium diving crankbaits, swimbaits, jetkbaits, and obviously the Ned. It's not very often we get a day in late October that is 80+ degrees and CALM. I will take that any day! Although, a little breeze would have been nice.

I'll be out there with my wife. Small tidecraft bass boat. With as many people as are going, you'd think we were having another tourney

Same idea at Milford this past weekend.

Got back from Milford yesterday afternoon. It turned out to be a frustrating weekend for me but in a good way I guess. We caught a whole bunch of fish but only a couple worth mentioning. We ended with over 100 fish total so it was fun at least. We never could find the wipers though. I caught one by accident trolling a Ned rig as I went around a father and son fishing from shore. I also caught a LM that I didn't weigh but I'm guessing was just under 3 lbs on a spook--the only fish caught on top water. The Ned rig was the bait of choice for sure. I could probably count on one hand the number of fish caught on other techniques. The first picture was caught the first night on... wait for it...The ned rig... what else!? We had been catching a bunch of small fish and she hit just like the rest with a rapid fire tapping. I set the hook and it felt solid right away and then nothing. I thought either it must be small because no matter how fast I reeled in, there was just a little weight. It got about 3/4 of the way to the boat and decided to turn. My drag peeled off and then it jumped. It was dark outside so we couldn't see it but I could tell from the giant cannonball splash that it was big. We finally got it in the boat and realized how big it was. It weighed 4.36 lbs. The second fish was my wife's biggest. It was roughly 2.75- I can't remember the exact weight unfortunately. The final picture is my first blue cat (thanks to Bluebasser's identification). We were fishing at the dam and I marked a bunch of fish around a bait ball so I dropped a jigging spoon and ended up snagging that blue.