awohlwend

Same areas as Micah's but his was in the grass.

Fairly certain our big fish of the day Micah caught on a frog was the same fish you caught on the slammer. Had the same big cull tag hole and was long and skinny.

Took a trip to Mound City today, GoPro ran out of space midway through the day so no great video to post. It was a grind all day but caught consistent quality from start to finish. Best 5 went for just under 15lbs. Micah caught the big fish early on a buzz frog. It was easily 19 inches long but only weighed 3lbs 11oz. Looked like it could use a few big meals. Things got tough once the sun popped out, had a long stretch where we didn't catch fish. Finally got back into them on the dam and around deeper grass edges with a shaky head.

I'd pick Gardner again given those options. Or go find one good fish at Cedar.

I'd say you're of to a great start with the list that you gave. Something I have done to make myself more versatile is to use presentations/baits that I am not comfortable with. Figure out what you want to practice that day and only focus on that one presentation. It may not be the best way to catch fish that day but it's amazing how much you can learn in a day even just from a handful of bites. Doing this will put more techniques in your arsenal for those days where the fish are stubborn and it takes a fine tuned presentation to get them to bite.

Micah and I went to Wolf Creek Saturday morning as well. Talked about going to Mound City or Cedar Valley but decided on Wolf because we were taking a buddy who doesn't fish much and figured we could put him on some smallies. The day started out pretty slow. We went straight to the dam and tried to force feed them with topwaters for a little while. Finally started getting bites on a tube but had to make extremely long casts in front of the boat. Water was super clear. Made it the entire length of the dam before the wind started picking up. Found a semi wind blown point and tried more of the same. Surprisingly enough the buddy that went with us who doesn't fish much figured them out, dragging a shaky head out the back of the boat. We all tied on shaky heads and drifted the same 100 yard stretch 3-4 times and caught them consistently each trip. Caught a couple bonus speed shad fish as well. Decided to try and find a largemouth or 2 on the north end and after getting bounced around all the way back to the ramp we just decided to pack it in. Around 40 fish between the 3 of us. Had a handful of fish around the 2.5lb mark but couldn't crack 3. Pretty fun day though, scratched my smallmouth itch for sure.

Attempting to tie on a squarebill in rough water last summer resulted in a treble hook in my shoulder. Worst part was it was through my shirt so I couldn't see what I was working with. Grabbed it with pliers and yanked. As you can see mine was a bit messy. Had to go home and get my tetanus shot updated since I hadn't had one since I was little.

Sounds like will be going elsewhere. Might give CV or Mound City a shot.

Micah and I are headed to Melvern early Saturday morning. Anyone heard any reports on if the water is less muddy now that the rain has slowed down? Or will we be the ones reporting?

Anything to save those Power Poles!

Can you call Progressive and see if they'll reimburse you for it? Some insurance companies may do that.

Headed to Mozingo Friday to fish the evening and most of the day Saturday. Never seen the lake before, anybody have any good tips?

Caught 2 eaters off the dam on a big squarebill during our Doco tourney. 1 of them probably bigger than any bass we weighed.

@micahthorlawson and I fished Miola for a few hours Saturday morning. Not awful but not what we expected from Miola. Caught my first top water fish of the year on a spook and Micah put a few in the boat early on his new whopper plopper. Caught fish intermittently all up and down the lake with no real pattern to speak of. Biggest was a very skinny 17" fish that fell to a black and blue Big Head Wobbler up in the dirty water. Much like Bluebasser had at La Cygne, carp spawning everywhere. Got our hopes up driving across the dam to the ramp in the morning seeing all those blowups. Could have shot several if we had Micah's bow.

Was the foam around the rod learned the hard way or just a great idea?

Sounds familiar. ?

I wonder what shocking the lake this close to spawn does to the fish? I know shocking them doesn't really harm them much but kinda odd timing. Is that normal?

A few of my favorites. First pic is Lake Ahquabi in central Iowa. Second pic was from a hiking trip in Colorado. No fishing in this particular lake but still a pretty awesome view.

I was fishing a small pond in college that had a huge cedar tree sunk in the middle, half of it sticking out of the water. I was fishing a shallow crankbait around the edges of the tree and caught a bass close to 5lbs. It had 2 feet sticking out of its mouth. Reached in and pulled and out came a partially digested, adult black bird. The fish must have jumped out of the water and grabbed the black bird off the cedar. I have never seen a black bird land on water so I'm not sure how else the bass got to it. Had a picture a while back but can't find it now.

Interested to hear how you did. My dad lives around Des Moines and just bought a boat. He hasn't taken it out yet due to weather. Hope the rain didn't hurt you to bad.

Micah and I worked out a deal. I'm going to send in his mojo and pay the $55 to replace it. I'll split the shipping with you. I can drop the rod off this afternoon.

What did you end up paying to send that rod in? Or have you sent it already?

Wouldn't put it past a lot of people I have seen standing on the bank out there. Frustrating ?

Those lurkers can probably stand on the boat ramp and catch a pretty nice bag today

Thanks for posting Brian.