Russ E

i grew up next to a large creek in eastern Iowa. a neighbor taught me how to trap muskrats, raccoon,and mink at a young age. the creek was loaded with them. this was when furs were worth a lot of money. one muskrat would bring $10.00 dollars. A mink would bring $25. A large raccoon would bring $50. That creek supported my hobbies all through my childhood. it also had a decent population of Catfish and Smallmouth Bass.

The Ned Rig does catch decent sized bass. it was a tough day on a local lake. Catching dinks, until this guy hit. he was 20 inches long and 4lb. 8oz.

a 4 foot long nose gar on a squarebill. never dealt with a gar before and did not want to lose my last crankbait, so I netted him and brought him in the boat. won't do that again. he went nuts. teeth and sharp scales flying around my deck. got my bait back, but his scales shredded my hands and he slimed my boat.

back in the late 80s and early 90s the Lunker City Sluggo was my go to bait. Won several local tournaments with it. at the time it was something different and caught a lot of fish. over time I started using the Fluke in its place, because I felt it had a better action, and was easier to rig.

Ranger added a free cover when I bought the boat. (not sure how free it was, considering the price of Rangers). the boat is always in the garage when not on the water. The only time I use the cover is when it as at Cabelas waiting to be serviced. they let it sit outside until it gets serviced.

years ago grubs were one of my go to baits, when fishing was tough. lately i have had more success with straight tailed baits, like a trick worm on a shakyhead or a ned rig.

I bought 2 Hummingbird helix 7's . before the mega imaging came out. the helm is side imaging and gps. the bow is down imaging with gps. they both have lakemaster maps. they work great. although a 9 inch would have been better when using split screen. If the mega imaging was available when I bought them, i would have upgraded to that.

Its funny how much conversation and controversy there is with the humble midwest finesse technique(aka. the Ned rig). Here in northeastern Kansas it has to be the most popular bait for Bass fishing. The Kansas City Kansas Cabelas is nearly always sold out of TRDs, Zinkerz, and Shroomz heads. nearly everyone I talk to at the local lakes ask if I was using the Ned Rig. They often seem surprised when I tell them no. I do use it frequently, when the fishing is slow, but it is by no means the only technique I use.

Ignorance is Bliss. I must need a bigger prop. My trolling motor doesn't chop up the grass.

I have just started using the Chatterbait this year. it seems to work best in stained water or low light conditions. it seems to catch big fish. My main problem with them is they are prone to snagging around wood. You can usually rip it free of weeds, but when it hits wood, the bait rolls and buries the hook into the wood.

had an interesting day at Perry. in the past I have spent most of the time above the rock creek or slough creek bridges. most reports I have read stated that the bass fishing is confined to these 2 coves. decided to venture out onto the main lake. fished several rocky points on the lower end of the lake. caught 15 Smallmouth up to 2.5 lbs. most of them were on a black chatterbait. caught 8 Largemouth on a pb&j ned rig, and a squarebill. also caught 1 Flathead, 2 Channel cat, 5 Drum and 3 Sauger. one of the Sauger was over 18 inches. my first keeper from Perry. not a bad day searching new water.. Only problem with the main lake is, when its windy it gets pretty rough.

good luck in your search. I did notice when researching for a new boat, that rangers have high resale. You may have to buy an older one to get a 200hp motor, for $20,000. a 150 on most rangers I have seen will not do much better than 55mph. to me that was not worth the extra cost over my 115. if I do upgrade someday it will be to a 200hp.

if you are looking at a Nitro Z7 for $25,000 it is probably bare bones with entry level electronics and trolling motor. you can get a bare bones ranger Z175 for about the same money. I was researching them last November. Both seemed like good boats. The ranger has a lot better resale and seemed to be better built. Ended up with a 2017 Ranger Z175 with a Mercury pro xs 115 equipped with the command thrust lower unit. Ultrex trolling motor. (expensive,but well worth it) 2 Helix 7's plus all available options except power poles. It was $32500.00 out the door. love the boat. fishes like a much larger boat. Handles rough water surprisingly well. Fits in my garage. Is easy on gas and I can easily tow it with my Chevy Colorado. it will run 49-50 MPH

haven't used those brands , but have caught some nice bass slow rolling a 1/2 oz chatterbait with a keitech fat swing impact at Wyandotte, Smithville, and Perry.

with most models it is a Ford vs Chevy type of argument. I have owned both. The Ultrex is completely different. It has changed the way I fish. The wind almost always blows here in Kansas. A cable steer motor with Auto Pilot and Spotlock gives me a lot more time fishing and less time controlling the boat.

welcome from another kansas member

i think it is updated more frequently in the spring. after that, like you said, the date just changes. Burtons bait and tackle gives a pretty good report for Smithville. it is kept up to date in the spring, but does not seem to change much after june.

although this was a longwinded answer, I was trying to state not to undersize your trolling motor wiring. Unfortunately I have seen a lot of OEM wiring that was way undersized. 8 guage minimum. 6 would be better.

mainly drum and catfish. they stock my home lake every spring with decent sized trout.they seem to love the Ned Rig. never target the trout, but have caught several limits while bass fishing.

the reason they suggest 8 awg wire is to get all of the power to the motor and prevent voltage drop between the motor and batteries. it is a combination of voltage, amp draw,wire size and distance. voltage drop indicates the electricity was dispersed through the wire instead of making it to the motor. for example: if your 24 volt motor pulls 30 amps on high speed and you have a 12 guage wire running 20 feet between the battery and motor you would have a voltage drop of 1.91 volts. if you have the same setup with 8 guage wire there would only be a drop of .75 volts. what this means is, the larger wire will waste less electricity and help protect your motor from overheating. electric motors do not like runnning below their rated voltage.

I don't have near as much experience with Midwest finesse as most of you. I learned to bass fish,pitching and flipping heavy baits. To me the hardest thing to overcome was the no feel part of it. once I overcame that, the results were amazing.

Wyandotte can be tough from bank. It is best from a boat. The bigger fish are offshore on the weed edges. It is a pretty good Kayak lake, because it is sheltered and does not get very rough in the wind. I take a Kayak out there once in awhile. if you don"t mind fishing for 10-14 inch bass, it can usually keep you busy, by fishing shallow around the weedy points. It is also loaded with bluegills. Smithville is a strange lake. My best fishing days were in places I would never fish on any other lake. I don"t catch a huge number of fish there, but 90% of what I catch are over 15 inches long, with an occasional 5 pounder. the main reason I keep going back is, the challenge of trying to figure out this crazy lake.

i watched MDC shocking fish around the paradise point boat ramp this spring. they brought up an impressive amount of large bass. There are Bass in Smithville, but there are also a lot of tournaments there. I think the Bass get moved around a lot and are hard to find and pattern.

Here is a report on my home lake. I live 10 minutes from Wyandotte county lake and fish there at least once a week. this lake gets heavy fishing pressure and if you are there on the weekend you will have to contend with an armada of pontoon boats. I only fish it on week days. this lake requires a boating and fishing permit. if you do not live in Wyandotte county I believe it costs around $75.00 for a year. if you get caught there without a permit, it is a 50 dollar fine. the county deputies patrol it constantly. as my screen name implies I love fishing weeds. this lake has several good weed beds. it seems to have a decent population of fish over 3 lbs, but they can be tough to catch and seem to stay deeper than in most area lakes. if you want to beat the banks, there are a ton of 10-14 inch fish in this lake. talked to a few seasoned Midwest Finesse guys that fish it quite a bit. they catch a ton of smaller fish, with a couple decent ones nearly every trip. the lake has Largemouth and Smallmouth bass. 70% of the fish I catch here are Largemouth. my biggest Largemouth there this year is 5 lbs. my biggest Smallmouth there this year was 3 lbs.