Russ E

looks like Perry and Clinton will not be a fishing destination for a while. Clinton is 11 foot high. Perry is 19 foot high. probably quite a few floating trees out there. Smithville is only 1.5 feet high. it does not seem to fluctuate like the other 2.

Since you are using a leader I would go with the 15 pound. I have used both. With the leader I see no benefit to using lighter main line. 10 pound braid gets wind knots easier than 15 pound.

I had a few air bubbles in the gel coat of my fiberglass Ranger. I took it to the local Kansas City Kansas Cabelas. they took pictures and sent it to Ranger. 2 weeks later my boat was in a fiberglass repair shop. Cabelas and Ranger where top notch on getting things going.

There a re a lot of good jerkbait rods on the market. I own a few of them. On a whim, this winter, I bought a KastKing speed demon pro jerkbait rod. it is 6ft. 10in. medium action. I put a taula ct on it. It is bar none the best jerkbait combo I have ever used. perfect balance and just the right action. I can use it all day without wearing myself out.

Side image is your friend at Wyandotte. There is a lot of structure in that lake. Some quality bass hang out in deeper water there and are relatively untouched by most fishermen. Several of the larger fish I have caught there were in 10 to 20 feet.

Nice smallie . Wyandotte has to be one of the best numbers lake in the area. Ned Kahde spends some time there. It can also give up a big fish occasionally. Caught my pb smallmouth there. Along with a few largemouth over 5 pounds. It also has a few monster wipers.

I noticed you were using a Dobyns 705 CB. It is a great rod. I use mine all of the time. while it will work for other baits. its moderate/fast action is designed for treble hook baits like crankbaits or hard jerkbaits. For texas rigged baits I use the Dobyns 733c or 734c. They are a faster action and load a lot quicker than the 705cb on a hookset.

I texpose an EWG hook in soft jerkbaits. Tip of the hook is laying along its back. A lot of times with soft jerkbaits a bass will inhale it head first. When they do that the hook is backwards in its mouth. The hook has to turn 180 degrees in its mouth, to get a hookup. I have found a sideways sweeping hookset is a lot more effective with soft jerkbaits.

I own 4 Dobyns fury rods. a 705cb. this is my dedicated diving crankbait rod. a 733c. this is used for flukes and weightless stickbaits a 734c. this is my all around pitching rod. usually texas rigged pit boss or brush hog. in relatively light cover. It also occasionally gets used for carolina rigs. a 735c this is my heavy cover flipping/pitching jig rod.

I use the loctite longneck bottle super glue. It has a special lid that does not clog. I have a 1/2 bottle that has been in my boat for a year. it gets used a couple times a week. I get it at the local walmart. here is a link to their website. they are currently out of stock online, but the stores should have it. https://www.walmart.com/ip/2-Pack-Loctite-liquid-super-glue-0-35-fl-oz/348651010?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1151&adid=22222222227018164262&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40872840032&wl4=aud-566049426705:pla-78765739592&wl5=9023890&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=26524615&wl13=1151&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQjwtr_mBRDeARIsALfBZA5pFAlMFfpIHHvREmiP1Fb_SN6bQ8G-yz8U9oshfBD10UkZOxGu_6waAsQzEALw_wcB

This is probably the best advice here. Most states do sample shockings to paint a picture of the bass population and average size in each lake. this is usually published on the state local game and fish website. Here in Kansas the wildlife department publishes an annual bass forecast for nearly every lake in the state, with the results from the survey. it shows the bass density and more importantly how many big fish came up in the survey. It is no big surprise that my favorite lake is always number 1 or 2 in the state. For overall population and size. Most bodies of water have a few quality fish. My pb Smallmouth came from a lake that is known for being stingy on giving up quality fish. My 5 largest Largemouth bass from Kansas, came from one of the highest ranked lakes in the state.

Can you describe what it does? Sounds odd to me. Mostly if a 200 horse motor is running fine. You did not give much information, so we will start with the obvious. Is the motor trimmed all the way down every time you take off? If you try to take off with the motor up, you will plow water and push the bow up in the air.

Made a pass through the Walmart sporting goods today and like usual I did not come out empty handed. The scale was $18.00 and a backup to an identical one I have owned for 3 years. The Creme lures are relatively new to the local Walmart.. They are $1.25 a pack I have used them all and they catch fish. The stickbait is somewhere between a Senko and a Yum Dinger. The creature bait is nearly identical to a Baby Brush Hog. The soft jerkbait is nearly identical to a super fluke. For $1.25 a pack it is hard to pass up.

I like the Berkley digital fish scale. It costs around $20.00 at Wal-Mart. I replaced the hook with a fish gripper. It cost about $8.00 at Cabelas. Here is one thing I do to make sure my scale is still reading accurately. I bought a cheap 5lb dumbbell at Wal-Mart. Cost about $2.50. I asked the walmart deli counter to weigh the dumbbell on their certified scale. It actually weighed 5lb. 2oz. At least once a week during fishing season I weigh the dumbbell with my scale to make sure it is still accurate. For 3 years now it has always been within 1 ounce. For about $30.00 I have a very accurate scale and a way to check its accuracy. I had a $50.00 rapala digital scale that was inconsistent and broke the first year I had it. I was just at Walmart they now sell the same scale with the fish clip included and a portable tape measure for $18.00. I couldn't resist. I bought another one. checked it at home with my 5lb. weight. It is just as accurate as the one I bought 3 years ago, but $10.00 cheaper.

I fish eastern Kansas and western Missouri. I have always wondered how that rule works. If a bass swipes at a jerkbait and hooks itself outside the mouth it is not a legal fish? I have caught a lot of fish that way. I don't keep bass anyway, but it seems that would be hard to enforce.

I use from 1/16 to 5/16 oz. heads. water depth and wind determines which size I use. Generally I use the lightest weight I can feel. most of the time I am fishing in 10 feet or less. I use 1/8 ounce the most. For me It has produced more fish than all other weights combined. 1/4 and 5/16 are usually reserved for 20 feet or deeper. One other bonus of the lighter weights. They are easier to skip under overhanging cover. The heavier heads tend to dig into the water, when trying to skip.

I think it would be fun to sight fish for spawning bass. Here in the lower Midwest we have a combination of stained water and a near constant wind. If I do see a bass in the shallows it is usually only a brief glimpse. I have caught spawning bass, but it was from fishing a certain area. Not from targeting one fish.

spent the day at Smithville. water temp was 57 degrees. water was 1.5 foot low and stained, when I launched. it was slowly rising all day. it was .5 foot low when I left. I caught 15 bass in the 1 to 2.5 pound range. was hoping for a big fish, but could not find them. caught fish on a jerkbait, swimjig, squarebill, and a flipping jig. fish were scattered. Caught a few in the trees and some on riprap. never did find a pattern. talked to a couple other fishermen. they both got skunked. I also caught a bonus 3lb walleye on a jerkbait. I gave it to a couple crappie fishermen. no pictures.

I use the zoom ol monster or magnum trick worms in deeper brushpiles during summer. Last year I tried the Netbait c-mac 11 inch worm it also works well. I use either a 4/0 or 5/0 ewg hook. depending on which worm I am using. My rod setup is a dobyns fury 734, with a Diawa Tatula ct. I usually use 40 pound braid for big worms. I am usually fishing farther from the boat and it helps with hooksets and feeling the bites. Our waters are stained and I don't think line visibility is much of an issue in deeper water.

I never was a big believer in adding scent to baits. In my opinion most of it washed off on the first cast. the only thing I use is JJ's magic or spike it. the only reason I use them is to add color. I could care less about adding scent. All soft plastics I use are salt impregnated. In my opinion that is enough to mask the plastic smell or taste.

In 40 years of fishing I don't see any difference now from when I bought my first boat. I have had very few incidents with other Bass fishermen. Maybe things are different in other parts of the country. From my own experience crappie, white bass, and walleye fishermen, tend to congregate in one area when someone starts catching fish. That is nothing new. It has always been like that. If I happen to be where they are congregating, I just move on. I remember fishing on Lake Winnibigoshish in Northern Minnesota 30 years ago. We would be miles from the nearest boat. within 10 minutes of catching our first Walleye, there would be 10 boats around us. the rudest people I encounter on the water are pleasure boaters. they are either oblivious to fishermen or they simply don't care.

I have owned an Ultrex for 2 1/2 years. it is an electric steer motor, that feels like a cable steer. It does have a cable, but without electricity, the motor will not move. one benefit over the traditional cable steer is no matter how fast you are going it takes the same amount of pressure to turn. the Difference between the Ultrex and other powerdrives is the pedal feedback. With an Ultrex, the position of the pedal determines the direction you are moving. If you are used to the cable drive it feels nearly identical. With other powerdrives I have used, the pedal is always in the same position. I had to constantly look at the motor to see what direction it was pointed.

@Mike Schell I apologize. You had a legitimate question and one of my posts turned it into something else. Good Fishing.

Guys I am not talking about dumping toxics into the water. Urine is not pollution. It is actually fairly sterile. animal and fish waste are already in the water. What bothers me is the guy with an old outboard, leaking oil and leaving an oil slick in the water. that is pollution and it happens a lot.

Unless you are fishing a pristine mountain lake, the runoff entering the lake is far worse than someone relieving their self. Plus people may think you are a bit. strange, walking across the boat ramp parking lot with a jug of pee. So you can dump it in the porta potty.