TinBoatBassin

We headed over to Missouri last weekend looking for some big bass. Found a few decent fish but nothing over 4.6 We did run into some giant wipers. Got a 6.5, 7.5, and a 9.89 Really fun weekend, most fish were once again caught on jerks.

Rolled down to BC today hoping to find some active fish, wasn't disappointed. Fished a jerk all day and varied the cadence as the day warmed. Lots of bass off the bank with a few up close locked on beds. Water 58-61

Went to wolf today, fishing was terrible. The plant has been down for maintenance since last week and will remain that way for the next month. Water from the discharge to the southern end was 48-49.

Headed back to wolf today, started where we left them mid lake last weekend. Pretty even mix of white bass and crappie with a few drums mixed in. Most of the fish were caught off shore in 8 - 14 feet of water. The crappie had some big bellies.

The hard part about wolf is the lack of a quality lake map. Navionics doesn't have it which is surprising. The best publicly available map can be found here for free: https://www.genesismaps.com/SocialMap Its created by users uploading their sonar logs. I have found these maps to be better in accuracy than navionics and at this point the coverage is so good that most people could probably save their money and skip buying a navionics card. The only catch is you have to be running lowrance to download it and add it to your chartplotter. The social map will let anyone view all of the lake data without signing up.

We hit up wolf today hoping for the water to be warm enough for the smallies to start pushing up on the southern end...nope only 49. Mid lake was loaded up with mainly whites thinking about the spawn, sat over a school and put an endless dent in the giant school with a drop shot. The northern end was good offshore with tons of monster crappie with some chunky greens in the mix. Discharge was a joke, feel bad for those that spent their day there.

Hit up Lone Star today for a couple hours. The fish had no interest in jerks just plastics. They were grouped up and when you got bit you could count on a few more bites in that spot. Water was 46 and the bass fought harder than last weekend when we just pulled them in like dead weight.

Spent a couple hours at Leavenworth on Sunday afternoon, put a handful of bass in the boat. Jerks fished painfully slow produced the majority of the bites. Water 39-40

We hit up wolf this morning, first boat out at 8 am....thought the lake was closed when we pulled up since we figured there would be at least a dozen boats out already. Fishing was spotty, got almost all of the greens and whites from one point. Jerk baits produced the majority of the bites. Gonna try a cold water lake tomorrow, getting a little bored of wolf and lacygne.

We hit up Shawnee Lake in Topeka, both main ramps are still frozen but the little ramp that no one would normally use is ice free. Tossed deep jerks, dragged neds, and bounced blade baits....nada. It was nice to get out without having to fight the winter crowds. Might try something closer to home tomorrow before the wind kicks up.

I went to Henry's Trout pond in Clinton State Park, make sure you have a trout permit even if you don't plan on keeping any. You can get them using trout power bait, wax worms, night crawlers, colored marshmallows, mepps spinner, or a little cleo. If its open water just rig the bait under a float about 3 to 4 feet down. The lake is only about 5 feet deep in the center. Shouldn't take long to get a bite. Under the ice is the same deal just drop it to the bottom then one crank up. Lake Shawnee in Topeka has the biggins.

Your best option is to call the rod manufacturer and they should be able to ship you a replacement. I have gotten several from St. Croix for $5 each. Just heat up the last guide with a lighter for a couple seconds (you don't need much heat) and it will pull off. You can also get generic replacements from BPS if you are desperate but they generally suck and are expensive since your are buying a multi pack.

We were at La Cygne on Saturday and there were over a dozen boat out when we launched around 7:30. The main wall was packed so we fished a few other spots to avoid the crowds. Ended up with 2 bass about #2 each both on jerkbaits. Fish weren't interested in any of the plastics we tried dragging.

Boat show at Wolf tomorrow! Be careful launching the water is still way down.

Headed out to Wolf on Saturday, 3rd boat on the water at 10am. Only one ramp was free of ice when we launched and I'm glad no one was behind us since the boat was frozen to the trailer and took a while to break loose. Fishing was pretty good, got my first green fish on a buzzbait for the new year, also got an 18# blue on a jerkbait which took me for a ride up and down the wall. Ice fishing has also been good, hit up a local pond and did well with gills and a few bass. You should be able to get a limit of trout pretty easily in Lawrence right now with artificial or live bait.