Russ E

played trumpet in marching band from 5th grade to my sophomore year. got to play the mickey mouse tune, while marching with all of the Disney characters at Disney world, my freshman year. quit band my junior year. Cars, girls, hunting, and fishing became more important.

It wasn't a new bait to me, but a new way to use it. in the past I fished Chatterbaits fairly fast in shallow water. It would catch active fish ,but not many quality fish. after reading posts here, I slowed way down and fished them deeper along weed edges. the average size of fish went up dramatically. The slow rolled Chatterbait has become one of my go to baits.

1/16 (1/15 if it is a shroomz head) 99% of the time. Usually don't ever go heavier than that. This summer,I had the opportunity to watch a couple of the veteran Kansas Midwest Finesse Fishermen fishing in heavy wind on my home lake. they were using 1/16 oz. Gopher heads and 1/2 of a Zinkerz. After casting they would point the rod at the water with the tip about a foot from the surface, reeling slowly, while shaking the rod occasionally. By doing this they could still use the light heads, without the wind affecting them. After watching them, I don't see many times where anything over 1/16 oz is necessary. The number of fish they caught that day was amazing.

gotta love the fall jerkbait bite.

I live in Kansas , so most of my fishing is done there. I have kayaked, Leavenworth County lake, Olathe Lake, and Wyandotte county lake. They all have decent bass populations. Of the three Wyandotte gives you the best chance of getting out of the wind. If the wind is blowing, It is hard to find calm water at Olathe and Leavenworth. I have seen people Kayaking the slough creek arm on Perry. if you stay east of the slough creek bridge it usually stays fairly calm. It gets rough west of the bridge. You can usually catch a few bass around the bridge and on the rocky banks east of the bridge. hope this helps.

went to local Kansas City Kansas Cabelas Friday. There was a brand new Nitro Z18 sitting at the front door. Talked to the boat sales team. They are now selling Nitros at Cabelas. I was told Bass Pro Might sell Aluminum Rangers, But Fiberglass Rangers will Not be sold at Bass Pro. I assume it will not be long before the 2 stores are selling the same equipment. One good thing about the buyout being finished is, Cabelas is stocking the shelves again.

If you are using the z man shroomz head, for the ned rig, you can lose a lot of bigger fish with a stiff rod. The light hooks on those jigs need a soft rod to keep bigger fish from bending the hook and pulling free. I unfortunately learned that the hard way.

I use 1/4 oz bagley shakyheads with a 6 inch trick worm for most of my shakyhead fishing. I like a soft tipped medium action baitcaster for that. Don't care for medium light baitcasting rods. the ned rig has much lighter hooks. I use a medium light spinning rod for that. A medium action rod can bend ned rig hooks.

nice. @slonezp I haven't hunted yet this year, but my backyard camera last night looked good.

I am probably in the minority but, most of my shakyhead fishing is done with a medium action baitcaster and 12 lb sunline sniper fc. The sniper has a small diameter and in my opinion, works well for a finesse presentation. I can cast a 1/8 oz head or larger with this setup. i prefer the baitcaster over a spinning rod, because I can run the line over my index finger for added sensitivity. I prefer the straight flourocarbon over a braid/flourocarbon leader, because braid is only sensitive with a tight line. Straight flouro has excellent sensitivity on a semi slack line.

I have a couple black max reels. Like others said, it works fine new, but wears out quick. at Walmart silver max is only 10 dollars more. I have 3 of them ,they are are much better than black max. for another 10 dollars you can get the pro max, which is better yet. Plus it has a higher gear ratio

Chatterbait is my go to bait. I use it a lot more than crankbait or spinnerbaits. I use 3 colors. In smaller lakes with a lot of bluegill, I use green pumpkin and pumpkin combination. in reservoirs that have a lot of shad, I use a white and chartreuse combo. In really stained water, I will throw a black and blue combo.

after rereading the post I realized he was using the 17 Remington, not the 17 hmr. my bad.

back in the late 1980's (yeah I know I am old) I called and hunted them with a bow. would get a few every year. getting a coyote to come within 20 yards was a rush. getting back into it this year, but replacing the mouth calls and bow, with a foxpro electric call and my Daniel Defense mk12 in 223. hoping to get more than a few. in regards to the 17 hmr., Considering it is a necked down 22 magnum with a bullet the diameter of a bb, I would think that is a little light for coyotes. Thats just my opinion.

I would think you should be ok. A motor and lower unit are designed to take quite a bit of abuse. I have seen guys forget to trim their motors up, when they pull a boat out of the water, and drag the skeg all the way up the ramp. Most of them just scraped the paint off of the skeg.

i wear large and bought the xl. they fit me fine

this ^^^. with elevated bass boat decks there is nothing to grab if you stumble. I wear an auto inflate vest, whenever I am in the boat.

I have heard several people having this issue. I switched over to Arkie brand mushroom heads. Walmart carries them. The hook is slightly larger and it has a better bait keeper. My hookup to landing ratio is also much higher with these heads.

watched major league fishing today. Mr Iconelli saw KVD catching fish and commenced fishing right next to him. then later when he caught a fish he ran around the deck yelling and shaking the fish around for a couple minutes. chances are that fish did not survive. Kinda negates the premise behind major league fishing, immediately weighing and releasing the fish without putting it in the livewell. this post went south. it has nothing to do with the ops original post must have been half asleep when I posted this.

the deck on my former boat was even with the top of the boat. there was very little lip. lost a few rods by accidentally kicking them overboard. also broke the tips off of several rods, when motoring up to a dock. when I bought the boat I currently own, having a lip to keep rods from falling overboard was high on the list of necessities

they stock one of the local lakes here with trout every spring. I don't try to fish for them, but catch a ton of them when the water is cold using a ned rig for bass.

in a situation like that I will usually throw a weightless fluke and fish it painfully slow. just jerking it once in awhile and then let it sink naturally.

bluegill. more than Likely that is what the bass are eating in the pond.

I bought these on Amazon, to keep the gill plates of white bass and wipers from shredding my hands. they are advertised to be breathable , but I found they keep my hands surprisingly warm when it is cold out. they are now my cold weather fishing gloves. https://www.amazon.com/Goture-Anti-slip-Waterproof-Skidproof-Fingerless/dp/B017IES48K/ref=sr_1_1?s=hunting-fishing&ie=UTF8&qid=1509328577&sr=1-1&refinements=p_4%3AGoture

here is my rig. it is a 2017 ranger Z175. I have owned it for almost a year now. looked at several boats before ordering this one. it cost me $32,000.00 fully loaded. with a 115 mercury pro xs four stroke it will hit 50 mph. it is equipped with 2 hummingbird helix 7's and an Ultrex tolling motor. the only thing I did not add to the boat is power poles. with the Ultrex I have not yet felt the need for them. handles rough water amazingly well. very easy to control in the constant Kansas wind, compared to my previous mod v aluminum boat. surprisingly easy to load and unload with one person. fits nicely in my suburbia garage.