Russ E

Nikon pro staff 3X9 has a good eye relief and decent optics. It sells on Amazon for $120.00 TO $200.00. Depending on which model you buy. I have one on my 300 blackout AR. It is generally a 100yard or less gun. I also have one on a 6.5 Grendel AR. I shoot it out to 300 yards.

I was skeptical the first time I used a whopper plopper. if felt like casting a big river sinker and made so much commotion, I figured it would never catch a fish. I was obviously wrong. Bass hammer the bait. Often times when other topwater baits don't even get a sniff. It also tends to attract large fish. My biggest so far on a whopper plopper is 6lb. 2oz. That is also my largest on any top water bait. keep throwing it. the big girls will bite it sonner or later.

Congrats

stopped by Kansas City Kansas Cabelas this afternoon. Fishing section was totally rearranged and stocked with bass pro brand baits and equipment.

was on a local army corps reservoir today and the surface temp was 58 degrees. we have open water most of the year. The 2 local power plant lakes always have open water. in my area deer bow season lasts from the end of September through January. January is doe only, but it is a good time to fill the freezer. I honestly don't even start deer hunting until mid November. after checking my camera tonight I may have to start hunting a little earlier. if I get the fishing itch in January or February, I will head to one of the power plant lakes. By the end of February the cold water lakes are usually fishable.

this can be a tough time of year to me. Fall bite has not really taken off yet. fish are scattered. like @Bluebasser86 said, I had to cover a lot of water to catch bass with moving baits. generally I am not a run and gun fisherman. This time of year, there is not really any other option. On the other hand white bass, catfish and drum are all in a feeding frenzy, so they keep me busy between lulls.

I gave up on the speed spin reels. had 2 of them after 1 year did the same thing. worked great for one year then got noisy. tore them apart and gave them a good cleaning and lube. that did not help.

I have full coverage on my boat. Not sure why anyone would not insure their boat and equipment. you should at least have liability. my policy includes on he water service and towing at no cost. Not sure how many people around here offer an on the water towing service.?

this week I learned that you can catch too many white bass. found a school of hungry white bass, and caught them nonstop for 2 hours. fingers and palms were bleeding from unhooking fish. toward the end I would try to shake them off at the boat, so I didn't have to unhook them.

We had day one of our 2 day end of the year fish off at Shawnee Saturday. We had first place with 11.12 pounds, second was 6.63, everyone else was under 4 pounds, it was tough. We caught quite a few but couldn't get a bigger bite. All of our fish were in the very backs of the coves in really shallow water around grass where there was shad. We could have caught white bass until we were tired of catching them too. I was at Shawnee last Friday. caught 8 largemouth back in the south end of the lake. Only one was over 18 inches. didn't get much action on the north side. could not find any smallmouth. white bass and drum were biting everywhere. I have heard they stock wipers at Shawnee, but have never caught one there.

I would not even consider buying from that dealer. If that is what they do to a new boat, who knows what they would do if you had to bring it in for warranty work

Windy cool weather is prime time for the whopper plopper. most of my better whopper plopper fish have come from rough water.

This is the reason lipless cranks are not my go to bait. I will use them if I feel they are the best bait for conditions. Hooking a bigger fish on a lipless crank is a challenge, trying to keep it from jumping and spitting the lure back at me.

-I agree. targeting bigger fish is not always about using bigger baits. I target bigger fish most of the time. Some of my largest fish have come off of shakyheads and ned rigs.

If they are making ridiculous comments online is there really a difference. It is sad, but hilarious, what some people believe. reminds me of the people that say cow Pharts are ruining the ozone. In 40 years of bass fishing, I don't ever recall hearing a banana is a fish repelllant. Learn something new everyday.

we don't get enough Ice here to ice fish. I used a lowrance hook graph, when I lived in Iowa. fish often hold in pretty tight schools under the ice. if you don't use some form of sonar, you are fishing blind.

sorry couldn't help myself. a lot of us were using flashers when this song came out. if you honestly don't know what a flasher is. It is the predecessor to modern fishing graphs. some ice fishermen still use them.

Our waters are loaded with them. Fishing any kind of crankbait here, usually guarantees a few drum.

spent 3 hours chasing Largemouths and only caught 5 dinks. pulled into a rocky cove and saw a bunch of commotion in the shallows. Threw a squarebill near shore and immediately hooked a white bass. switched over to a ratl trap and caught white bass non stop for nearly 2 hours. they were all in 1-2 foot of water. I lost count after 100, but got bit nearly every cast. spent just as much time unhooking fish as I did fishing. They were all in the 1 to 2 lb range, except for the first pic. It was 18.5 inches long and weighed just shy of 3 pounds. pretty sure it was a wiper.

My brother in law has a 2 year old tracker pro team 190. It has probably been on the water less than a dozen times. My sister is always getting on him about selling it, so they don't have to make payments. I have a 2 year old Ranger Z 175, that is on the water 20 hours a week 10 months out of the year. I get it out the other 2 months if there is open water. I had to replace the trolling motor batteries last month, because they were already wore out.

we are in the middle of a cold spell. It was 31 degrees this morning. Kansas City Broke a record last night for earliest recorded snowfall. . hoping it gets over soon. I went fishing today anyway. I wanted to try out my new cold weather fishing gloves. there was still ice on my truck when I launched the boat. surprisingly I caught a dozen fish. nothing big, but better than I expected.

Is that the Marias Des Cygnes? I was at La Cygne last Wednesday and it was still low. the creeks that feed it, must not drain much ground.

at least you didn't get skunked. Bank fishing can be tough on public water. Have you ever thought about getting a Kayak? they don't cost much and they open up a lot of potential fishing spots. often times you can find a used one for a very low price.

if you time it right Shawnee has big Smallies. sometimes finding them can be tough

End of October is usually prime time fall fishing. Last week a lot of lakes were still above 70 degrees. Last few days have been colder, so the lakes should be cooling down considerably. Smaller lakes near Kansas City that can be good in fall on the Kansas side, are Olathe, Cedar lake, and Wyandotte (you have to buy a county permit on this lake). Probably one of the best fall lakes is Shawnee over in Topeka. there are also a lot of small productive lakes southwest of Kansas City. If you want a chance at a trophy, La Cygne is an hour south of Kansas City. It probably has the best chance for a big fish in eastern Kansas. it is also a good place to get skunked. it can also get a little rough for a kayak in the Kansas wind.