Black Hawk Basser

6' 3" Quantum Smoke ML/F with a Quantum Smoke 30 reel. A bit short for my liking, but it's great for river fishing, to avoid overhanging trees. Also, the shorter length makes it easier to make downward snaps with jerkbaits when in a kayak or wading. I wouldn't have bought the 6' 3", but it was a clearance deal I couldn't pass up. MAIDEN!!

Take advantage of their aggressive attitude. Why dink and dunk along with a tiny worm? Cover water like a mad man with horizontal baits.

Yes. I don't use any weight, just the hook. Probably 2/0 or 3/0. Can't be too big or the hook shank is too long for tucking back into the body of the frog.

Don't get too hung up on color. All have worked for me at different times. I really like the soft plastic frogs. Regular ole green pumpkin style color works fine everywhere. I just rig them on a regular extra wide gap offset hook like I use with worms, tubes and the like. I don't have any issues with hookups or snags in vegetation. Did you catch some today?

WP = Whopper Plopper. Spinnerbaits don't do the best in heavy cover, but they can go through some sparse grass pretty clean. I was referring to the NE corner with the point. I like to start by "burning" a spinnerbait, keeping it near the top, even making the blades wake on the surface a little. If that isn't the ticket, then I slow it down and keep it down a few feet and work deeper as I go until I find what works best. If those outlet pipes have water running, that bodes well for good fishing, as it may attract some bait near the inflows, as well as increased dissolved oxygen for the bass to feel more comfortable.

I would say if you're starting that early, probably any shoreline areas will have some bass. Hard to say without any personal knowledge of the lake. I still think that point will be money, but if you have to walk or paddle to it from a different starting point, I'd cover water all along shore on my way there. I would try the WP first thing...as I have mentioned, generally topwaters are best in early am or late pm. Start out working the top; when it gets to a certain level of daylight, the topwater may not work. Then the spinnerbait and rattle trap should get some work. I don't do anything "finesse" like a Senko until I decide they don't want something moving horizontally above them.

I first stay far away and cast "power fishing" baits like spinnerbaits, crankbaits, topwaters, buzzbaits... anything you can work pretty aggressively to gauge their activity level. Once I work over the area and decide they are a little more buried in cover and don't want to chase a whole lot, then I may move in closer and work more thoroughly with Texas rigged stuff or a weedless jig. With a kayak, you can be pretty stealthy getting in close as long as you don't make much commotion. As mentioned, once I have moved in closer to the weedline, I probably would parallel the weedline with those same aggressive baits, before working right into the thicker stuff with plastics. When there are grass mats, lilly pads, whatever it may be on top, I would always try a hollow bodied frog, especially when cloudy or low light in evening or morning. The Whopper Plopper is a good choice, but it does not do the best near any weeds, as the prop wants to get grass wrapped around it. I don't think you can go wrong with the Bone version. The 110 probably makes most sense for your set-up. If I were you and didn't have a lot of topwater choices, I'd spend the money on one popper, one hollow frog, and one buzzbait. You'll catch a lot more fish with this variety, in my opinion. I don't know if you have any Zoom Flukes or something of the like, but they are great for tossing in to the grass mats and working over top of them, then pausing in openings/edges of the grass. They slip through vegetation pretty well. Also, I like the Zoom worms with a buzz tail. I'm not 100% what their exact product name is for that. White/silver/baitfish type colors with flake seem to be the ticket for me with these plastics. And no worries on the advice - love to talk fishing and I'd like to hear how you do!

I'd try that point from a kayak and work everything you can along the edge of emergent weeds. If it all looks fishy, then look for where weeds form points, and also pockets and openings in the thick stuff. Cover top, middle, and bottom of the water column.

I would get the biggest chug bug. Off top of my head, it's probably around 4". As far as crankbaits go, at a minimum I'd have a squarebill that dives 2-4', and a mid-depth version. I really like the Strike King versions, but Berkley has good affordable cranks too. I'd say ones rated for 6-12' diving depth would usually suffice. I don't do much deep cranking because weeds are terrible around here. Underutilized options for bass are Flicker Shads and Shad Raps. I have a lot of both and they catch fish like mad. Most diving cranks float. Usually only jerbaits suspend or sink. Don't sleep on your rattle trap too, as long as weeds aren't too bad in the area.

I would recommend a Storm Chug Bug, in whatever color you can find that closely matches bluegill. The one that looks like a bullfrog is pretty close, having a pale yellow belly. White or black topwaters rarely fail wherever I go, as well. I recommend the Chug Bug because it is great for a slow pop-and-pause retrieve along weed edges, and also it is really easy to walk the dog with it when fan-casting out in open water. The suspended bluegill-bass pattern I have found in my local lakes tends to occur in "no man's land" where it's not necessarily great looking water to throw topwaters, perhaps a really long cast straight out from shore, well beyond the "drop off". I generally have most success with topwaters when there are low light conditions - dawn and dusk comes to mind, but also any overcast days are worth giving it a try. Your instincts are right to go with a Senko type bait, you really can't go wrong there. It's probably one of the better options when there's bluebird skies. Still, I try more aggressive tactics like crankbaits, spinnerbaits, or chatterbaits before I go more finesse with a soft plastic. To me, it just makes sense to cover water with fast moving baits this time of year, given their high metabolism in these high water temps. I only temper back with jigs and worms if I really have to. That's just my style.

I didn't say dissolve. My thought was it corroding enough for the fish to throw it or for it to break in two and fall out. More importantly, a study I just read claims that cutting the line on deeply hooked fish(assuming it's just a hook) provides fish a much better chance of survival than removing the hook.

They say that most hooks probably rust and fall out faster than one would think. I'd bet a Senko in the belly is a lot worse than a hook in the lip. Sometimes it's a death sentence for fish even when caught, safely handled, and released.

I may be too early or late on the fall transition by using this method depending on water temp from year to year, but I just usually go by amount of daylight. I feel like this may trigger their attitude and location changes just as much as temperature. Obviously, knowing their forage location is paramount. Closer to fall, local frogs give a good cue - when I see them frantically heading for their overwintering spots, that tells me fish are probably getting close to that as well. Things happen fast here so this window you're speaking of may only be 3-4 weeks.

Hopefully they keep on with the Grass Pig and Jr. The Jr especially, they make an awesome, cheap trailer.

I'm aware. I just bet the vast majority of people who complain about prices aren't.

Some real insight on one reason why lures are so spendy... Lure manufacturers have to pay an excise tax on lures they sell. It's 6% if you only sell at retail price to the end user. It's 10% for everything you sell if you do any wholesale business at all(which everyone must do to survive in the biz). So, I, as a commercial fly manufacturer, have to pay 10% excise tax, and 7% Iowa sales tax. The end user is supposed to pay the excise tax. Now, no one in their right mind would add the excise tax as a separate line item when people make a purchase, so the excise tax is buried into the cost of the lure. It's very hard to make it when you have to give up 17% right off the top for what you sell. No wonder people buy cheap products and re-sell for a profit. No excise tax to pay then. It makes no sense.

White bass probably not a problem. If they are yellow bass, you're likely in big trouble. Yellow bass can completely ruin a fishery for panfish. They reproduce in enormous numbers and foster too much competition amongst crappies, gills and perch. There are lakes here in Iowa that are overwhelmed with them, and you mostly catch lots of 4-8" yellows when targeting panfish. Only about once every 5-7 years do you get bigger(10-11") yellows that year. Then back to dinks for years. Aside from Okoboji, every lake I know of in Iowa that has large numbers of yellow bass has suffered from their introduction.

Find that NE point you mentioned, that looks promising. I'd look for the thickest cover that's also closest to deep water. The east side shore drops off quickly and could be a good day time area for drop shotting, deep cranks, maybe even a flutter spoon. If there are bluegills, try topwater or that rattle trap along deep drop offs - the bluegills suspend high up alot in deep(ish) water, and often, bass are underneath them waiting for an opportunity.

I haven't had any hookup problems, but I almost always just do a steady retrieve. I usually throw it on a 7'2" MH Lew's Speed Stick. Since I only have the 130, I start with it, and temper back my size/aggression with different topwaters if the bass tell me to. My philosophy is to always use magnum sized baits first, whether it be topwaters, worms, whatever. At this point, I'm more game for a couple pigs than a dozen mid-sized fish. Not to say that smaller stuff doesn't catch giants at times too, though. Just my strategy.

Not in my experience. Most of my bites have come within 5-30 feet of me after a long cast. I fish from shore mostly, so perhaps out of a boat your statement would be more true, considering you're going from shallow to deep. I do pretty well with the 130 size. I don't see a point to get something smaller when even the 5 incher gets hit by 1-2 lb bass. Steady seems best for me, except when they miss it, I may pause there and rip it a time or two.

Sounds like perhaps he perhaps needed to make an arbor near that loose area with masking tape to make a tighter fit on the blank.

My kid is a pretty good stick with a Senko. He naturally just gingerly reels it in, and it works for him! I use a 2/0 Trokar hook, that seems to help him set hooks without too much effort.

There are a couple places where a WP works well for me. Couple others where it doesn't seem to work at all. In fact, in my closest lake, I have gotten more muskie bites than bass on a WP 130. That's saying something there. I feel like you have to work the wp little faster than most angler's comfort level, to get the churning noise of the prop just right. Most of my bites on it is with this steady, quick retrieve.

This is a decent chart for estimating largemouth weight, relative to length. I don't have a scale nor plan to own one so I use this to get a ballpark estimate.

No doubt, man. Whether it's dumb luck or not - right place, right time, has a lot to do with it!