cgs2004

I gotta add this- I've been fishing a good number of ABA tournaments this year and I always get a kick out of those guys that show up at the ramp driving an old, rusty, loud, POS truck and are pulling a brand new, fully loaded bass boat. Gotta love where their priorities are at!!

I'd pack a few small silver spoons. They are one of the best minnow imitators I've seen and considering it's an isolated lake that you have to hike to I'll bet the fish in there don't see too many lures and are therefore much more willing to take your lure.

This time of year I like to throw a green pumpikn 5" senko with a 5/0 hook. I'm not too picky about EWG or not. If its murky water I like to use some sort of dark green but with some shiny flakes in there to get their attention. I cast it all the way to the shore along a drop off, then let it sink, then twitch, sink, twith, sink, twitch, and so on. I've found that the slower you work it the better the results are. Just make sure to keep the slack out of the line so you can see and feel a strike better.

If you plan on fishing in alot of rocks I'd go with Trilene XT 8lb. and if your not I'd go with the new Red cajun 10 lb. I used the cajun for the first time today and loved how smooth it casted but the abrasion resistance was less than desired. You just have to make sure you cut off a few inches and retie fairly often.

About 10 minutes north to Cabela's in KC. I think we're getting a BPS here too, should open in 1 year.

It did have a pump originally. I'll have to look at it a little more. For reference its a late 80's/early 90's?? 16' Jason bass boat.

I'm trying to get the family bass boat ready to use in tournaments so I don't always have to be the co angler. It's all good to go except for the livewell. It doesn't work, and that's kind of a big problem for using it in tournaments Is it very hard to totally replace or fix a livewell? I can easily get water into it by leaving the plug out when I first put the boat in the water and then plugging it up once the water comes in but I also need a working aerator. I saw some at Dicks that were portable and ran off batteries and didn't know if I could just mount one of those in there or not. But then the problem would be doing something with the hose that brings in the fresh air. I would assume it would be a good idea to get both the pump and aerator working but is it possible to get by with just the aerator?

I use an 11 ft. kayak on a few small lakes I fish. If you can't afford a motor I think a kayak is a good choice because it moves much faster than a boat with a trolling motor or a canoe. I've gotten my kayak equipped with an anchor, gps, and depthfinder.

NoLuckFishin- Yup, carpo were going crazy trying to get to the snake. It was a site to see.

Very well said. I need more work on #5!

Our 7 acre lake was starting to get taken over by algae a few years ago. We talked to the State Wildlife and Parks and the recommended buying grass carp. So we bought whatever number they recommended and put them in that lake. Wasn't long before the lake was back to normal....and the carp got huge! Lily pads could be something different though, but you'll still want to make sure you have a good supply of bottom feeders. Small lakes and ponds can quickly become taken over by algae and pads and all that. One other thing we do if if there is ever a huge algae bloom, we toss calicum? sulfate around some of the main algae concentrations. Its kind of like putting salt on your driveway in the winter to melt the ice. You can pick up big buckets of the stuff at Tractor Supply.

For the most part I enjoy fishing shoreline more but when I want to catch a big one I always do deep.

At one point in time we had an overpopulation of water snakes on our small lake we live on so occasionally if we saw one swimming around our dock we would kill it. I killed one and didn't know what to do with it so I laid it on a rock figuring a coyote or something would pick it up. I came down to fish the next day and to my surprise there were tons of carp and catfish swarming around where the dead snake was. I walked over and saw that the dead snake's tail was barley in the water but in some rocks to where the fish couldn't get to it but the fish could smell it and were desperately trying to get to

As for my favorite place to fish, it's tough to beat some of the fly in lakes in Canada for Pike. For pure numbers of bass I can't beat the 7 acre lake in my backyard, not too much structure and due to us only practicing catch and release the fish density is amazing. On an average night I'll easily reel in 50 bass in a few hours. As for public water I enjoy Grand Lake in Oklahoma and Lacygne Lake an hour south of KC.

RW & Skeeter- When I went striper fishing on Beaver Lake in Feb we were told it was hit or miss that time of year. The guide had called us a few days before we were planning on going and said he had gotten a few so he told us to come on down. Well I guess the bite turned off real quick because we didn't get a thing, and he said most all of the striper guides on the lake reported no fish either. I think that time of year is all about the big ones and not numbers. I'd love to get down there in the summer, I guess the topwater fishing for striper can be unbelievable.

LOL agreed. They've been on the market for a while now so hopfully the price will drop down some in a soon.

I agree with riverhawg. It's something that if you so choose, it can help you locate good fishing spots easily and get an idea of whats below. Nothing more complicated than that.

Alright Glenn with the big ol' V10!! When using the family bass boat I use our 2004 Ford Excursion V10 diesel 4x4. When taking my kayak I use my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4.

rumz3- So do you have a castable depth finder or not? Personally I think that time you cut down by knowing where to go adds up to more time fishing which in return can give you more fish.

I think this product could come in great use to the "bank angler". Like noluckfishin said, you need to know whats out there and yes, many times it may resemble what's on land but many times not. I county lake I fish alot has brushpiles placed off the dam. It'd be a breeze to find these with a castable depth finder but if you don't have one you just have to guess. There's tons of stuff down there that you would miss if you just assumed the bottom terrain matched that of the land.

First off, if the bank angler doesn't like the depth he's fishing he can move! Say a guy wants to find a place to fish that has a steep drop off, he can cast out the transducer and slowly reel it back to get a feel for the lake contour below. And No, you don't have to "fish with a bobber". You can use this device to see what your fishing and then take it off once you know what the bottoms like.

The transducer is like a bobber. You attach it to your line and cast it out and then it sends a signal back to you and is displayed on a normal depth finder screen. They have been on the market for quite a while now. I think it'd be perfect for the bank angler. I've never used one though.

I've got a friend who fishes alot in the Central Pro-Am and he said a lot of guys use them. He gave some to me and I fished them on my lake at my house and killed them. Most of the year I was catching bass around 1 to 2 lbs, 3lb max but within my first trip around the lake I caught 2 that went over 5lb with the zero. Weightless in Green Pumpikin I believe.

LOL, Catnip, I'm sure there's one just waiting for you out there. Just gotta go find it!

I'll vote for freezer bags. Cheaper, easier, and hold more than worm binders.