Got out on Sunday to my home lake. Weather was cold and rainy Friday and Saturday, with high temps in the upper 40's. Sunday was much warmer, mid 60's.

Water temps started off 52.3 degrees...as I moved to the upper ends of the lake, got to 56.5 degrees.

I could not get any LMB's to bite. Did get on a nice stack of crappie...caught ~35 on a 1/16 oz. jig and gulp minnow. Fun!

Young kid, probably grade school, was fishing a culvert about 50 yards from me...he was pulling crappie out of the water as quickly as I was. We got to talking and sharing stories. Good time!

The skunk that broke the camel's back.

After yet another miserable outing on the water, I decided to hang my rods up and sell em. The passion just isn't there anymore and the fire has been extinguished. And with it becoming even more expensive to even go fishing now, I feel like my time and money are better off allotted elsewhere.

Never thought this day would come, but here we are. 2026 has been a challenge in pretty much everything and even fishing wasnt safe from that. It got to feeling too much like a chore and was no longer enjoyable. The wind just will not quit blowing 25 mph and they sprayed herbicide in my home lake, which has taken out the vegetation that fish hide in. Between that and factors elsewhere, I have finally lost my passion for it. I was at least assured my gear would be put to good use by someone who has the desire I once had.

There just comes a time with everything-- and honestly, the fishing was a slow melt anyway. I quit crappie fishing after 4 years of no crappie, quit catfishing after all the Hotspots got filled up. Bluegill just got to where they no longer satiated me, so that left bass. And now with tthe A

aforementioned constant wind and vegetation in my home lake being killed off, the final scale has peeled.

I am an angler no more and dont expect to regain the desire. Best of luck and tight lines to all. Sucks that this is my final report, but it is what it is.

Sorry you're having such a tough time. I hope things get better for you @BluegillsTightlines.

@BluegillsTightlines: It's okay to move to other things. All the best to you.

I returned to shore fish my pond again. Yesterday, I was the windshield. Today, I was the bug. There just wasn't enough wind in my face. I didn't even get a bite, but I did prepare my boat for tomorrow's launch. Hopefully I can find them tomorrow!

2026 total catch: 7

I spent a few hours pitching fresh pine laydowns from our recent storms. The lake is about 5' high and the fish are scattered. The only place I could get bit was deep in the pine boughs. I caught 5 with one a little shy of 3# and a 3.45#.

Fished from 6a - 1p and caught 10. Water temp is 69. I can't connect with a big girl. Sadly, my 21 year old 25 hp Mercury 2 stroke died at 10:30, five miles from the ramp.

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

I spent a few hours pitching fresh pine laydowns from our recent storms. The lake is about 5' high and the fish are scattered. The only place I could get bit was deep in the pine boughs. I caught 5 with one a little shy of 3# and a 3.45#.

Tim they would have been bigger if you wore your musky hat with the ear flaps. I think it is a good luck charm along with your wife.

11 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Tim they would have been bigger if you wore your musky hat with the ear flaps. I think it is a good luck charm along with your wife.

My head would have melted in that hat today Dwight!!! 😂 The wife is definitely a good luck charm. That live crappie bite will be kicking off here soon. I'm looking forward to spending some days on the water with her doing that. I took the second half of May off for it. When she hooks a big ski on that short line, I sometimes wonder which one of them I'll be netting. 😂 It's a hoot!!!

48 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

When she hooks a big ski on that short line, I sometimes wonder which one of them I'll be netting. 😂 It's a hoot!!!

Sounds like it might depend on how big the ski is. I suppose I would ask in advance. Don't want to mess that one up.

A-Jay

1 minute ago, A-Jay said:

Sounds like it might depend on how big the ski is. I suppose I would ask in advance. Don't want to mess that one up.

A-Jay

Lol. She actually does pretty well, but those 40" + fish give her about all she wants. It's important to rip the hooks free from the crappie on the hookset and I'm often fishing them tight to laydowns, so I lock the drag down and run 4X strong trebles on my quick strike rigs. That's 24# drag on my Tekota 500's. The crappie are generally only 5' - 10' below the boat, so it's a short range slugfest.

I reluctantly started doing this out of frustration at how tough it is to catch muskie here on artificials during the crappie spawn. It quickly turned into one of my favorite ways to catch 'em. Good for the skis as well. They're nearly always hooked right in the corner of the mouth, and the fights are short.

Been waiting out this one structure situation that is probably the best spot on the lake for numbers of bass right now. Been holding a lot of schoolie size bass, but hoping the bigger females would eventually settle in as they move back out deep after recuperating from the spawn. Today they started to finally show. Sat it out in SW winds of 15 mph with steady gusts all afternoon to 25 mph. Caught a bite window fairly quickly, putting a dozen bass in the boat deep cranking after not getting a bite on jigging spoon. That bite finally died down after an hour or so with just a random bass on the crank after that. Never could get a fish to fire on the spoon despite them grouped up good, so pulled out the Nightcrawler Secrets rod and scored another 15 or so bass to finish out the afternoon. Probably too hot the rest of the week to get out. Now I have to decide whether to retire the NS rod or keep playing with it. Hmmm…

@Team9nine - what is it about that one spot or deal that means you have to wait for it? Where are the fish coming from? How long do they stay? Where are they going?

I’m curious. There are a couple people on here that have a ‘thing’ that they have figured out well. Ajay’s early and late smallies are one for sure. I’m curious what this thing is that you know works for you in this case.

@GreenPig , 5 mile troll? What’s wrong with the motor ?

Nice fish tho

10 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

@Team9nine - what is it about that one spot or deal that means you have to wait for it? Where are the fish coming from? How long do they stay? Where are they going?

I’m curious. There are a couple people on here that have a ‘thing’ that they have figured out well. Ajay’s early and late smallies are one for sure. I’m curious what this thing is that you know works for you in this case.

This is a small watershed reservoir, about 400 acres. It would probably just be considered a small creek arm on most larger reservoirs (> 2500 ac.). There is a submerged roadbed and small bridge that crosses the entire reservoir, and it sits about 1/3 of the way down the lake (lake aligns N-S). Everything N of the road is 10’-11’ or less; everything S is 13’-14’ or more (main stem). Every fish that uses that shallower upper third of the lake for spring spawning, but moves downlake to deeper water the remainder of the year (max depth ~26 ft) has to pass over that roadbed. It acts as a natural pausing area for those fish. It usually takes about a month or two for all those transient fish to complete their move, then the roadbed spot goes dead, other than a handful of resident fish that hang there through the summer. When fall arrives, the roadbed reloads again as small schools of bass following and feeding on migratory shad schools get pushed together at that natural bottleneck location.

Just one bite and a miss during a quick morning wade. Geese were at war and blew up every spot where I tried to fish. But I caught a murder of turtles for a picture sunning themselves on a laydown.

@PhishLI - I thought the collective term for a group of turtles was a 'dojo'?

24 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

I thought the collective term for a group of turtles was a 'dojo'?

tom-A-toe tom-Ah-toe...

15 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Probably too hot the rest of the week to get out.

Too hot in April?

Good gravy guess that means you'll mostly be sidelined until October

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

@GreenPig , 5 mile troll? What’s wrong with the motor ?

Nice fish tho

Lo

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

@GreenPig , 5 mile troll? What’s wrong with the motor ?

Nice fish tho

It was a long troll and I fished a couple spots on the way back. Not sure on the engine, lost power and started smoking bad enough that I grabbed my fire extinguisher.

Dang it

I launched for the first time in 2026, but couldn't find the bass. I did catch four, all on a red spinnerbait with no trailer. I tried shallow, a couple ledges, even shallower, creek mouths, a rock flat, and a windbeaten shore. Two came from one laydown. i'm launching again tomorrow. They have to stir at some point. Two were 17-inchers:

And two were not, like this one:

I saw geese, an eagle, a loon, and Buffleheads.

A pond pic:

2026 total: 11

Total 19-inchers: 2

Had my first Kansas Kayak Anglers tournament of the year this past Saturday at Mined Wildlife Area in Southeast Kansas.

It's one of the more unique areas you could ever get the chance to fish with over 1,000 different "pits", ranging in size from small enough to cast across to 50 acres, some deeper than 60' and spread all across 4 different counties. It really provides endless opportunities and only limits an angler by how hard they're willing to work to access some of the more remote pits.

I've been fishing the pits occasionally for over 20 years, but I've never really felt like I had a good feel for them. They're so much different than fishing a typical lake or pond and you can fish 2 that are directly next to each other, but fish nothing alike. Also, since many are so small, it takes very little to greatly effect them, so a minor change to one can drastically effect how it fishes. I've had many that fished great in the past that suddenly stopped producing. Add in the local guys having the obvious huge advantage of knowing them better, it's a very intimdating place to try to tackle.

With all that, I decided to spend a couple days prefishing to try some new pits, and check on a couple old standbys. I stopped by my favorite and made 5 cast from the bank and caught 2 fish, one 18.50 and one 17, so I never even dropped my kayak in, just kept moving.

Another old favorite was much clearer and more weedy than normal, but I caught a nice one on a glide, lost a good one on a glide, and caught a nice one on a T-rig, so I left after a hour there.

I jumped around several different pits on Thursday, most were just not what I was looking for. At the end of the day, I pulled up to one that I'd never fished before that was supposed to have a ramp, it didn't, it was about 30' to the water from the gravel turn around. I grabbed a spinning rod and Neko and walked down to the water. Way too clear, too much weeds, this wasn't it, but I had only about 2 hours left in the day and I was worn out, decided to just see if I could catch some dinky pit fish to add to my Catch 2026 total. My first cast was an 8.50" fish, just what I expected. Next cast, thought the fish was stuck in the weeds until it started moving and jumped. Super healthy looking, probably over 18", broke me off in the brush at my feet. Did not expect that at all. Walked back to the truck and rerigged another neko, walked back and cast at a different laydown. Line moves off again, set into another solid fish, another 17ish inch fish launched into the air and tossed my bait. I'd brought both kayaks since the Hobie is way lighter than my Oldtown. Went back to the truck, threw the seat on it, grabbed the pedals and paddle and my rod and measuring board and down the hill we went. Turned out, I was wrong about that pit.

I was pretty excited leaving there and also seeing there was more, very similar pits just south of this pit, so I was going to be exploring that the next day and it was going to be a challenge to get to also, meaning likely unpressured fish.

Friday rained almost all day. The other pit was almost exactly like the pit from the night before. The fish were either tiny, or really nice, which was just fine with me. I caught a few good ones and got out of there before anyone saw me.

That after noon I went to a nearby city lake in search of a big fish for the year long Big Bass Bonanza. I caught so many nice fish from that little pond, and I got my big one, biggest fish of the year for me so far and anyone in the contest.

21.50" 5.97 lbs

Tournament morning, I decided to go to my favorite pit that I'd caught the 2 nice ones from the bank and left. I started by getting broke off in a brush pile by what I assume was a big catfish, then caught a 15" fish on a bladed jig. It was a hour later before I finally got another bite, but it was an 18" fish.

This pit isn't usually a numbers game, just good quality, but it was slow even for it. Then I heard an engine roar. Next thing I knew, a boat was flying by on plane. It's one of the larger pits, and there isn't any rules about wakes or speeds, but it's really frustrating to have someone do that in that environment when the fish tend to be so in tune with their surroundings. I think he was testing his motor or something, because he ripped back and forth several times before he finally stopped. At that point, my shoreline was all stirred up mud. My confidence was gone in this pit and I fished through my favorite part of it for the next hour and never had a bite, it was time to move. I threw the kayak on the trailer, all the stuff that would surely blow off into the truck, and away I went for the short 5 mile trip down the road to my new pits.

I lightened my load by a lot, but should have done even more. I put the motor back on, but should have left it off because I never even dropped it. I also cut back to 5 rods, but only used 2. I only had 2 tackle trays and 2 plastic totes, but only used 1 of each. It was about 10:30 when I got back on the water, lines out was 3pm, so I had plenty of time still. My first fish was a little 13.50, but it was something. Next bite was a 17.75 on the neko, now I was getting somewhere.

A few cast later, I caught a 16.50 to complete my limit. After that, things got weird. A little after 11:30, I hooked another solid fish, a 16.75". I slapped it on the board, happy to be culling out the 13" fish. Took the picture my TourneyX App and flopped it back in the water. What I never did do was one of the first things you learn when you start kayak tournaments, I never checked my picture. The TourneyX App sometimes has a slight delay between when you take the picture, and when it actually takes it, which is exactly what it did. All I got in my picture is a close up of my seat when I set my phone back down. The fish was gone and I still needed to cull a 13.50. Frustrated, I went back to fishing. I paddled through one narrow chute into a new pit and next to a big log, hooked a decent fish, but it popped off next to the kayak. 5 minutes later, I hooked a good one off the edge of a weedline on my Neko, but it also came off next to my kayak. I was really getting frustrated at this point. I fished to the end of the pit, which didn't go as far as I thought it looked like it did on Google Maps. I switched to a different color worm on my neko and worked back through the pit. By the weedline where I'd lost the last good one, I got bit again. This time I hooked it and fought it to the kayak, but it jumped and tossed my bait again! My head was spinning, I couldn't do anything different other than let them swallow the bait. Right next to that was the log I'd lost the first one on. I got stuck on it momentarily, popped it loose and as soon as I tried to reel it in, a good fish flashed and ate my bait. Set the hook, reeled a few times, and my bait popped out of the water. I've never felt so cursed. I just must not be my day today I was thinking. I had worked everything twice and there was just a little less than 2 hours to go. I knew this pit was about done producing bites, I decided to load up as fast as I could and move to the pit next to it and hope to make something happen in the hour I'd have left.

After loading and unloading as fast as I could, I threw my seat, pedals, board, paddle, 2 rods, and a couple spare baits in the kayak. I had high hopes because this pit had produced a few good ones the day before in prefishing, but after the first 30 minutes, I was afraid that might have been due to the overcast, rainy conditions. It was much shallower than I realized and the water pretty clear, I could see bottom most everywhere. My wife called me and I was sort of breaking down the misfortune of the day, when I got a bite and admittedly kind of half-heartly fought it to the kayak. That's when it turned and I realized it was much larger than I realized. I scooped it with the net and knew I had a significant cull, it turned out to be a 17.50" fish, it was 2:27PM, 33 minutes left.

I submitted that picture, made my next cast, and while I was working it, spotted another nice fish crusing by. I quickly reeled my back back past it, dropped it down, and it ate it immediately, another 17.50" fish. It was 2:30PM, 30 minutes left.

Back out and around to where I pulled my kayak into the pit, I cast at a little laydown and worked it back. I gave up on the cast and tried to reel in when a good fish ate it. It fought like crazy before getting in the net, another 17.50" fish at 2:42PM, 18 minutes left.

There was one little finger of the pit I hadn't fished that I had to push over a log to get to but there looked to be decent water past it. I shoved back there and as I floated into it, I spotted another good fish cruising. It took just 2 cast before she ate my bait. This time it was my biggest fish of the day, an 18.75" fish, at 2:52PM, 8 minutes left. I caught one more dink before time ran out. At 2PM I had 81.75", at 3PM I had 89.50", it was a wild last 35 minutes. I hadn't looked at the standings all day because my day was not going well, so I was just happy to find out I'd made the top 5 in the end. Then in the end, I ended up in 2nd place. It was really a great ending to such a roller coaster ride of a day.

@Swamp Girl shorts?! Is it unseasonably warm there? Just last week you posted a photo of snow in your yard.

Looks like @Bluebasser86 is squarely back in the crosshairs of the fashion police with those fruit loop colored crocs again.

I wish I could “not find the bass” like @Swamp Girl

7 minutes ago, gim said:

@Swamp Girl shorts?! Is it unseasonably warm there? Just last week you posted a photo of snow in your yard.

Looks like @Bluebasser86 is squarely back in the crosshairs of the fashion police with those fruit loop colored crocs again.

I've started a fashion trend and now there's other guys copying my style so the fashion police are going to have to get use to it.