BradGinKC

LaCygne fish are starting to get chunky. Caught several of these footballs on Saturday. Once I found the schools, shad color senkos worked the best. My gopro died and is being "fixed" by their warranty dept, so I'm stuck with taking selfies for now.

Better than decent, that's a good catch. Swap that Cards hat for a Royals hat and it'd be a perfect pic! Lol

Caught this last week just before sunset. Took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a flathead to hit a topwater bait. It did put up a good fight.

Looks like a two-pronged deck plate key or a gas cap key.

The fun of fishing is not limited to a single species. We all have our favorites, but I won't pass up some big wipers or some schooling white bass. And walleye are a blast to catch. It's all about enjoying your time on the water.

^^^ This is what I meant by "good tips from those who know more than I do." Great advice.

Hope you get lots of good tips from those who know more than I do. I'm no expert. My one bit of advice (from experience) is to check your trailer wheels and tires. Make sure your bearings are in good shape, and make sure your tires are new(ish) and that you have a good spare. I always carry a separate bottle jack and lug wrench specifically for the trailer. It's much easier. The ones that came with my vehicle are a pain to use on the trailer. Also, if you haven't had to change any of your trailer tires in a while, check the lug nuts to make sure they aren't locked up. Better than trying to break them free while on the side of the road. Safe travels. Sounds like a fun trip.

Fished Cedar Valley in Garnett over the weekend. It was my first time on that lake. Topwater bite was on at sunrise. They seemed to like a spook better than a buzzbait or whopper plopper. The rest of the day I switched between a wacky rig, shakey head, and a bladed jig. Mainly stayed on the north end of the lake. Didn't try fishing the trees on the south end. Still had a good day, especially being the first time out there. It's a cool lake. I'll definitely be going back.

All of the above are great options. If there are some open pockets or weed lines, I'd also recommend a weightless fluke t-rigged. It's very weedless. My favorite is the Yum houdini shad. Walk it fast and it will skitter across the surface, or work it slow with long pauses in open pockets. It's deadly on the fall.

For numbers, the ned rig is hard to beat. Not the most exciting way to fish, but it's a great slump buster. A shakey head and a drop shot are also good choices for numbers. A lot depends on the lake(s) you are fishing. But those three presentations will get fish in the boat and help get your confidence back.

Take a look at the Shimano NASCI. It's only $99 and I've been really impressed with it. I have a Stradic FK and a NASCI, both in the 2500 size, and the NASCI holds up very well. It has a lot of the same features as the stradic at a fraction of the price (hagane gearing, xship, etc). I do like my stradic a little better, but for $99 I think you will be happy with it.

Haven't used the others, but if you go with the SC Mojo rod, you won't be disappointed. I have three of the casting rods and just recently added the 6'8" MXF spinning rod. I use it with a stradic fk for poppers, light jerkbaits, wacky rigs, and ned rigs. It's been great. The mojo rods definitely fish above their price point. Caught this with it last week.

Fished La Cygne on Sunday. It was a fun day, especially if you like panfish. The crappie are still in beast mode there. Spent most of the morning figuring out how to get baits past them and to the bass. I ended up with around a dozen bass, mostly on a black and blue jig. Three of them were (barely) keeper size, all right at 18", heaviest was 3.25. I also got to test the drag on my nasci spinning reel when a 25" flathead hit my shakey head.

Yeah, good thinking. It was definitely a drum! Glad I wasn't the only one who had a slow day with crankbaits. Was beginning to think it was just operator error. Hopefully that bite picks up next time I'm there. I have a new glass cranking rod that I'm itching to put to the test.

Caught my new PB on La Cygne this weekend at 6lbs 14oz and 22 1/2" (still cant manage to crack 7#). Got her on a sexy shad color bladed jig in about 8 fow. Also caught 5.2lb and 4lb keepers on a ned rig. Good day overall. Ended up with about 20 fish total, including a few drum and one nice size wiper. The bladed jig caught three or four and the rest came on the Ned. No luck with a black&blue jig, squarebills or lipless crank. I really thought the crankbaits would do well, but no takers. Ned was the winner. Water temp was around 65-66.