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Pops starting the day off with a nice one again. Being a littlestitious, I shaved the poor excuse of the start of a vacation beard into a goatee figuring the bass clearly didn't know who I was when they hid from me the day before. First bass didn't help. 😆 The start of an accidental crappiefest. Double hookup. And some mild trash talk of my crappie is bigger than your bass... Finally got into a good one. Incredible sunset to close out a great day.

First tournament of the year for Kansas Kayak Anglers and Kansas Bass Nation was this past Saturday at Big Hill Lake in Cherryvale Kansas. Big Hill is a 1,200 acre, timber filled lake with only 3 ramps, so it was a crowded lake with 41 anglers participating. It's the same lake we started the season on last April, it went something like this. So I was cautiously optimistic going into the tournament, despite the fact that historically, Big Hill doesn't play very nicely with me. Prefishing conditions were very similar to last year, so I fished the same area as the previous year and caught several fish, as well as shook a bunch off. After just a few hours, I was off the water and went to a different lake where I caught my biggest bass of the year so far. Tournament morning, I started on my best bank and planned on catching a quick limit and building on it from there. At the end of my best bank, I had absolutely nothing to show for it, not even a bite. I fished the little pocket that was magic the year before, it wasn't magic this morning. It took almost 2 hours before I finally landed a squeaker 13" keeper on a Strike King Rodent. The next 2 bites I had were dirt shallow, which surprised me because of the cold front conditions, I lost both fish. Next fish got yanked clear out of the water because of my trying to make up for the 2 lost fish, and it only being 12" long. Well past 2 hours into the tournament, and I was sitting at a whopping 25" when I was sure I would have been culling by now. I fished down a bank I'd had no bites in practice, but was quickly running out of ideas. I missed one and then quickly got another bite on the Rodent that was little more like I was looking for, a 16.5" fish. There's a little pond attached to the lake I was hoping to maybe fill my limit out of. I don't normally fish it, but desperate times and all that. It wasn't much, but I found a 15.75" on a Ned rig and a 11.75" on a spinnerbait to fill out a very small limit. Cutting across the lake, I started catching fish fairly regularly, but they were very small culls. Instead of the 16-18 inch fish I needed, I was catching 13 inchers. I culled up to barely beyond the 70" mark, but it regularly takes 95"+ to win on this lake, I knew I had to make a change. I only had 2 spinning rods with me. Too much timber for the standard Ned, so I opted for the Big TRD on the weedless Ned head. I got bit by what felt like a good fish right away, but it came off. I caught what I thought was going to be a good upgrade, but it was just so fat it looked bigger, only a 13.75" fish, but I was getting bites and doing it behind people. Back to the bank I started on, fishing the big Ned along laydowns and stumps. It was after noon and things just weren't happening, I needed things to start happening, and this is when they did. I pulled into what I thought was grass, then it moved a little. Hookset was solid, and it launched eyeball high into the air. I had a long battle through the stumps in the wind before she was in the net. The 18.75" fish was over a 5" cull at this point in the day. I turned around and went back down the bank. Right in front of another laydown, I hooked another good one that was creating all kinds of commotion on the surface immediately. Another 18" fish hit the net and another big boost to my score. A few cast later next to a log, a little "tick", and I set into another good fish. This one not quite as long, but the 16.75" fish was still about a 2" cull. I could feel it now, I needed to get rid of one last 15" fish and I had a shot. My bank was suddenly crowded. No spot vultures, the lake was just busy and guys just happened to be working through at a bad time. I looked across the lake and one of my secondary spots was finally open after being occupied all day. It was almost 2PM, lines out was 2:30. I shot across, weaving through the timber. The wind was pounding the bank and the bait was hard to feel. I fired a long cast against the wind into a laydown. I worked the bait a little and by the time I got to it, I realized the line was headed out towards the kayak. I popped the rod straight up and it was on the top immediately and right in the net. I put the 17.50" fish on the board at 2:12PM. In the last 2 hours, I rocketed up from the low 70's, to 87.50", all on a big Ned rig. I didn't think it would be enough, but to my surprise, I had it when I caught the 18 incher.

I'd rather scrub a gas station toilet bowl with a toothbrush than fish under a full moon, however, the forecast called for clouds by 10 pm, so! A "real feel" of 28* was unappealing, but I wanted to try out a black 6th Sense square bill before the clouds came in. I just had a feeling. It actually worked. Nabbed a scrappy 16"er, but that's when I found out I took the wrong shoulder bag which did not contain my fish grippers, scale with grippers, and my needle nose pliers. Even worse, my safety glasses were left home too in the wrong bag. Getting impaled last year by crank bait trebles with a bass flailing on the other end of it is still all too fresh in my mind, so thankfully I did have my forceps. They're pretty sucky, so it took way too long to free the fish, but I spent some time making sure he was on his way in good shape. That was the first and last treble bait I was willing to throw. Lost a Hazedong shad immediately afterward to a Pickeral. Didn't even get a chance to put tension on the line. It just cut right through, but that was straight 15lb braid. Clipped on a Miyagi Swimmer to 50lb braid and it got crushed on the second cast. Pure horsepower, so I was thinking new PB bass. Dark clouds had blocked out the moon by that point, so I didn't see that it was a monster Pickeral until I reached down to lip it. Had no choice but to swing it up on the bank in order to hold it down to unhook it. No way I was getting cut to the bone by this thrashing freak. My wading boot measures 13", so that sucka was 27"-28". I've already lost a ton of baits to these gators this year, so I've really had my fill of them, but the fight is off the charts when they're this big and while the water is still quite cool.

Fished a clear water lake in WV and was very surprised to find the water temp at 49* but the lake does sit over 3000 ft elevation. Caught only 3 fish, 2 on a square bill and my 1st smallmouth of the year on Zoom speed craw 1/8 Shakyhead.

Well it's been a bummer of a spring so far with work and life taking to much of my time. Can't believe we're heading into May and today was only my 3rd outing this month, all those in the last 5 days. With the last 2 trips being so-so and seeing ice in the birdbath when I left this morning I wasn't high with hope. But l managed to catch 6 , 1 on a spinnerbait and 5 on a buzzbait( go figure) with the 1st of those 5 the best of the season so far weighing 5-4.

Got on a few at the new lake. They liked the minimax until the sun came out

No "latest catch pic" to share today because the only one I caught -- about 15"-- wiggled out of my hand after unhooking (you're not missing much) First kayak trip today to "Lake 19", a 100-acre salad bowl that is kind of boom or bust, but can be good in the spring if I hit it at the right time. Today was mostly bust -- probably another victim of the cold front that swept through yesterday. Air temp was 43 degrees when I launched at noon, but 52 water temps. Other than the one bite, nothing for 3 hours, and didn't see any other fish activity anywhere. Also noticed a lot more particulate matter than usual for this time of year, and the invasive curly-leaf pondweed was coming in thick and high already, a couple weeks ahead of schedule. This stuff is a menace -- it makes parts of the lake virtually unfishable for awhile, and the bass don't even like it. It dies back later in the summer, once the arrowheads are high, so I'll be waiting for that before I return. Think I'll try "Lake 11" next week.

The bass didn’t want to play despite some great looking cover on this lake, but found some post spawn crappie (up to 1.5 lbs.) moving back out toward deep water, so still got to swing on some fish. Probably a change of venue next trip though.

There's a few periods of the year where the black basses decide to hide and the Others decide to come take their place instead. We're on the cusp of shad spawn but not quite there yet in the shallows. It doesn't help my pursuits that Roberts (27k acres) has risen 12+ inches in the last week, all cold rain plus cold air temps. That said, I wore the black crappies out again the other night with a tube. I'll take whatever bite is available.

Been coaxing a few here and there, even got a few pictures.

So, Piedmont finally came down enough to launch, and with today being post frontal, with high sun and light winds, I figgered I'd make the drive down and catch me a wheel barrow full of brown bass. 😎 Things started out just like I'd thought they might with a steady bite on a 3" tube, fishing shallow rock in spawning pockets. It was a dink fest, but they were biting. Mixed bag of SM, LM, and saugeye. I was stoked, thinking the bite would keep improving as the day went on, and the shallows warmed after a 30 degree night. WRONG!!! 😂 It steadily faded as the day wore on, with the last fish coming at about 1 o'clock. I called it at four. It was a fun morning, with a steady parade of dinks keeping me busy. Best fish pictured below. About 2# give or take a crawdad or two. Didn't find any of the big egg laden sows I was looking for, but I'm thankful for the beautiful day on the water.

Snick out today for a few hours. Went to a nearby public pond that I’ve never fished before. Weather was 55 degrees, partly cloudy with winds 3 mph out of the NE. Caught 2 in 4 strikes on a KVD 1.5 in green gizzard shad. I’m starting to enjoy cranking, but the hookup ratio is bugging me. Normally I don’t miss hooksets, maybe the moderate action rod requires a different approach. I’m open to suggestions.

Caught this bull head after work yesterday lol. Have a nice day

I tried night fishing for the first time in about 20 years tonight. Caught one that shook off when I tried to flip it onto a bridge. Looking back, not my best idea. Otherwise very few bites if any..I was in New water and didn't see it before dark so that was a true adventure, both with almost falling in and having no idea how deep or what structure was there outside of trees overhead. On the duck topic, they can be very loud, or very quiet. They were both at times tonight! They crashed my spot twice, which didn't help any. Pretty cool hanging out with a mallard, staring each other down in the moonlight.

Well I caught 4 in a hour on 4 different plastics lol.

Short paddling session last night yielded only one tiny bass but lots and lots of skipjack. I posted their pics and video in the other species thread

In the UK spring is a diabolical period for most freshwater species. They're spawning, the three month closed season restricts where you can fish and it's generally a struggle. As a result you end up finding bizarre ways to get your fix. Today's challenge was some sticklebacks I'd spotted a while ago. Tactics for these mini monsters was going to be 0.6g cheburaska weight with a 1" yellow maggot to attract their attention, then a tiny size 22 hook on a tiny bit of line with a spec of gulp on it to catch them. Mission accomplished.

Launched the ole canoe around 6:30, slow going for the first 30-45 minutes with only a tiny SMB, then the skipjack and white bass went crazy. The tails were all crooked on my tiny crappie minnow baits so I just ripped them off and the fish approved

This mutant was hanging out in 3 fow with a bunch of bass enjoying a shad spawn.

I keep mine in 3700 size boxes sorted by size and color to avoid bleeding. I’ve never seen any distortion in the shape of them.

@NorcalBassin reports perhaps make me the most envious, what a special thing to share the love of Bass fishing with three generations! My grandfather apparently loved to fish, however my father doesn't. I always hear my parents tell me how much me and my grandfather would have gotten along, as they say he was fishing any free chance. He built a small pond on his property, but fished Lake Lanier on the weekends, and then had a Bertram sportfishing boat in Destin. He might have been eaten up by it more than me. Many people say the fishing gene skips a generation. I also don't believe you can convince, or slowly talk someone into loving Bass fishing. Either you get it instantly, or you really aren't with it. To love Bass fishing, is to love failure in some large part. That rules out a huge part of the human population. Your fish are always fat and healthy, wherever you fish has a fantastic forage base 🙂

New kayaks have arrived! I messed up and accidentally ordered the orange instead of the green, not too happy with that - the orange is the worst color. The second storm camo bigwater for my kid who is graduating this year. Added the front track upgrades and installed mighty mounts on the mounting plates on the front so far, which we plan to use for our fish finders. Have to install the transducers and the blackpak mounting clips and the setup for these will be complete. My other kid got a pedal drive Zulu. It came in yesterday and has rained so we haven't completely set that up yet. Pictures

The angry grumbles when the Tournament Director asks me what I caught them on and I said "A Ned Rig", were pretty comical. Wasn't what I wanted to be fishing, but it was what the fish wanted to be eating, so that's what I was fishing.

MOM!

Dang, that's... that's really terrible. So sorry for your loss. Here, this may help https://mgoblue.com/news/2009/6/29/Michigan_Fight_Song

I feel I don’t understand the tournament scene very much at all, because I would never even consider tossing a big Ned rig, much less a regular ned rig. @Bluebasser86 you are in another league, man

Yep. C-Rigged fluke, on stage he said the fish bit the first time he drug the bait across the bed. Crazy. We had a lot of fun. Caught a bunch of fish, just not big enough. I caught a 5.75 on Wednesday on a swim jig. All 6 of us caught good numbers with a lot of fish right about 4lbs. 95% of our fish came a C-rigged trick worm in redbug color.

So true, Alex. NorcalBassin has it made, fishing with his Pops and his kid. My dad loves to fish, but at 92, even walking with his walker is hard. He still wants to come fish my lake, but I just don't know how I'd get him in the boat without falling. The last time I took him to Canada, he fell into the lake and it was late October way north. I know you're not supposed to jump into water to help someone, but I did. No hesitation. I expect most of us would do just that for our Pops, brother, sister, spouse, or kid.

Spent a few hours weed eating over the weekend and as I was finishing up the last patch this fella scurried right past my boot. Never seen one so big (~16") and I thought for sure it was going to be a baby rattler when I first saw it move. Never been so relieved to see a big lizard.

Thanks Alex. A cold front passed through overnight. It was blowing 15-25 all day today. I went out for about 3.5 hrs today and caught one 12" LM. Fargen fish are bi-polar I tell ya!!! 😂

Not gonna really affect anything...I don't even notice if my braid-tag is fraying.

I didn’t catch crap, lol. There was a tournament on the lake and I was hearing guys complain constantly though so maybe it’s not just me. I did have one bite in 20ft but felt like it was hooked funny. As soon as the fish jumped the bait came back towards me. I was DD hunting though so I ain’t stressing about not catching. I did, however, snap a very pretty shot of the moonlight in the dark. Very pleasant fishing conditions once the sun went down.

Does anyone still use these? We used to use them a lot when I was a kid. I just remembered them as I'm exploring square bills for the first time. I was thinking how much better they look than a crawfish painted square bill. Just curious.

@Bluebasser86 Congratulations on back to back wins! I’ve got to catch up on watching your videos.

If anyone could also catch fish where Phish fishes, it's you, Pat. You both fish, activity-wise, in theme parks or shopping mall-equivalents. What Phish has that you don't are the 2024 Sharks and Jets. If only his gangbangers were simply snapping their fingers, singing, and dancing on the shoreline. Yeah, I think you could catch bass anywhere, Pat. If @AlabamaSpothunter is Alexander the Great, then you are the mighty Achilles, but this might be your heel: We hit straight 27 degrees last night, mere days away from May, and I'll launch at 29 degrees tomorrow morning. So, I'll be dragging my canoe up and over the meadow on crunchy grass. I still prefer our weather over @thediscochef's 105-degree days. However, Monday, we're going to reach 66-degrees, which will be our high for the year so far...by far. Sweltering, huh? However, in the 15 day-forecast, the other 14 days are all highs in the fifties with some lows in the twenties and thirties.

I'd take a pickerel that big any day of the week. When they take lures it's less fun but catching them is good stuff! I got some toilet bowls and toothbrushes here for ya @PhishLI, now can you point me to your fishing spots plz? I am here for ya and willing to help during this time. 🤣🤣🤣🌕🌕🌕

You just had to post this right when I'm firing up my night fishing expeditions 😅. I hate hate hate copper heads! Guess I'll load up rat shot in the 38 and try to look at it as fun target practice

My yard here in Ga. looks like I've hit it with a plug aerator with all the cicadas coming up out of the ground. They're everywhere and loud, little red eyes jokers.

The main concern for me would be the baits taking memory which will affect action.

Ya, lunch was calling and LuLu was waiting at the dock with a beer. LOL!

Do not under any circumstance throw black...ya might get your arm broke!

Doesn't bother me. Leave it.

I don't know what the "best" knot is, because when I learned the Alberto knot I stopped looking for a better one. oe

I can’t stand that so I either burn it or put a bit of super glue on it. I am ADDHD and obsessive compulsive so I could never be comfortable using it.

Quite possibly the greatest river/creek crank bait of all time, but they don’t get a lot of love by the reservoir/green fish guys. I have no doubt it would still catch fish though cranking around riprap or gravel banks on those lakes. Still have a couple sitting around the garage tackle somewhere myself.

Well... I managed to hold out for 12 days. Sigh... Two 7'11" XH F Invokers on the way. 😂 #THEMONKEYNEVERSLEEPS!!!

Pops starting off the afternoon trip with an eager buck on the edge of the tulles. Up to this point the best fish was an unexpected crappie 😆 Dinkfest for me this time His best fish in years. Long arming so it's not quite as big as it looks, but it was still a solid 4lbs with an incredible amount of girth. Great afternoon!

Well I had an interesting 2.5 hours of fishing after work today. I caught 5 in the time that I fished and I had a big pike more than likely, I doubt that it was a musky give me one heck of a fight. I got it within 5 feet of the bank and saw its size. Probably 35 inches plus and thrashing away in the shallows, the biggest one that I have ever stuck. My poor little dobyns 745c was no match for the fish, I felt like I was not in control of the battle. Tried my best to get the thing in through the narrow gaps along the bank, but the fish was not having any of that. Ended up snapping a point of the #3 treble hook and just swam off. The hook broke near the shank. I was honored to hook a fish like that but I really would have liked to have landed it but oh well. Looks like my tequila baccara might just have a new target species to break it in on. All in all it was a good day.

Hey, Just wanted to show my latest caught fish 😎

I had an evening free finally tonight but not enough time to really put the boat in so I grabbed the trout rod and went to the local stream that’s 2 minutes from the house. I haven’t trout fished since 2020 when I got the kayak. This year I decided to buy a trout stamp just to have something to do. Instead of hopping to the local pond to catch a dozen 8” largemouth I could pop to the stream and catch some 9” trout. The water has been up from the rain but it was pretty clear and coming down. Still not an insignificant amount of water running though but this is how I like it. I was shooting for 20 trout in 2-3 hours and I got close. Ended up with 15 or 16. Most all were the NJ standard 9” stocked rainbow but a couple were 10-11” and two were in the 15” range. Considering I haven’t been out for almost a month, it was good to be out and about on the water.