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Absolutely jinxed it. Heading into our 3rd and last day on the trip to Clear Lake I said I was shocked we hadn't hooked a big catfish or carp since that's the only lake that always seems to happen. Well, it was a day of dink bass not pic worthy and giants we weren't chasing. Big cat on a wacky senko. Always disappointing when you go from thinking you have a giant bass to realizing that's no stinking bass. The wrong type of PB. Never seen a carp with this type of girth and length. Caught it on a finesse tube with 6# sniper, and that Certate was screaming as it ran at least a couple hundred feet and under a couple docks that fortunately didn't have ropes running under them. Had to put the trolling motor all the way up to 10 to catch up before she could spool me. Heck of a fight. Around 36" and full of eggs I'm guessing she had to be at least 25-30lbs.

I launched at 29 degrees this morning. The field I crossed glittered with frost. I fished a big bass pond and caught two bass that went 4 pounds 4 ounces each. I hooked a bigger bass that ran and shook free. My drag is cranked up and neither of the four-pounders nor the big girl I caught last week could pull on that drag. So, whatever she was, she was strong. I caught four other bass too before the wind blew me off the pond. I could fish in 29 degree air with some comfort, but not 39 degrees with a bullying wind. One four-pounder was caught on a shad-colored Keitech and the other was caught on a Sixth Sense squarebill. The Keitech on an Owner underspin has become my favorite lure. You can drag it on the bottom. You can pitch it into reeds. You can catch bass in 10" of water and 10' of water. A slow, steady retrieve and a stop-and-go retrieve are my favorites. I also took a photo of the shore from where I was catching bass so that you can see how far out I was. I lead with two photos of the first four-pounder, then some smaller bass, then the shoreline shot, then the other four-pounder. P. S. - I saw my first 2024 lily pads. Spring is coming, even if it didn't feel like it this morning.

Fished a lake that I hadn't fished in a few years with a buddy. We caught 13 bass in a few hours and this was the largest. Not real big but fun with 8 lb line and lots of stumps. The picture wasn't sideways when I got it.

Went to the lake this morning to tune a friend’s bait and couldn’t keep the fish away from it. Got four in total with these two being the better ones, 4-8 and 4-0. Not big but they were angry. I’d be too if my lake looked like that.

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.

Changed lakes today. Sunny for much of the afternoon with a steady but light breeze. Started on bass and caught 3, but no size to them. After an hour, I checked out a brushpile in the area and found the crappie were moving out and starting to regroup. Nothing but males on all the spots I then started running, but caught around 60 fish, so it was fun doing all that swinging for a change. The jigging rod got a good workout today

The popular tournament finesse worms were Mister Twister curl tail worms out west on a split shot rig. Dick Trask and Don Iovino were winning the events but Trask had a edge he boiled the Twister worms to make them softer. Trask found another worm maker willing to make worms softer and make a 4” ribbon tail worm Dick named Screamers and was his secret weapon. Screamers disappeared when Flutter closed and Dick passed away. A San Diego worm maker started up and bought the Flutter Craft tooling selling them in local shops for about 2 months then disappeared. Actually the company moved to Texas and last year I found them on eBay. US Bait Company making custom colors in Reapers and Screamers that worked as good as ever. 4” Screamers on a split shot is deadly finesse rig and the 3 1/2” Reapers both forgotten. Tom

Are we talking bigger heads here - like swim jigs, football jigs, etc - or smaller like Ned, Shakey, etc? Bigger ones - 3701 box, each brand/type/weight in it's own compartment. Finesse jigs - each brand/type/weight in one of these slide-top boxes...3 boxes can fit into a 3-wide compartment in a 3620 if the hooks are longer (5/0+ worm/ewg hooks) there's a longer box...3 into a 4-wide compartment Here's what my finesse box looks like - with my 1/8oz Owner Blockheads open to show you that. Labels were done with a P-Touch label-maker. https://www.amazon.com/Brother-P-Touch-PTD220-Office-Everyday/dp/B0B1L3BL1G/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=X5E7N0U4GNIJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.prLbgzod2Uomm1kIbXyuT3jUACIxQImyRCllvMcofztzeZF1xdRSJJ-Xfq8ENqcRmhZkUxIwe70OHPdC-yAUPNrEhpGJ6MxU0EWDbCphuqYRKecJc4fCmKxdkvXzR833lDKvQCYjiX_Li3dVmzkudXZzOmueM0aWv2wXhQn6V8BuDincyzkMPKvpn9__QHaQE0ez_XowMMr4rnjWdmnngGvw4m0BnVscXFvpThGelxA.1RoN6qrRq13kjOSf_dMRzf1MX_SuEJBlmZbsf9vVgis&dib_tag=se&keywords=p-touch+label+maker&qid=1714088525&sprefix=p-touch%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

You are kidding! Why would they not? The bass didn't decide not to eat em, y'all decided not to throw em. I got way more Curly Tail & Ribbon Tails than straight.

Ya hear that @TnRiver46? You need to respect ol rubber lips. @roadwarrior needs to start showing some respect to the mighty drum too. 😜

I absolutely still love ribbontail worms While I like and use many, the sneakiest ribbontail worm in a size that will get larger bass to commit is the zoom mag 2. The mag 2 is a very thin worm measuring 9.5” long. Whats sets it apart? Since it is thin, you can use this worm with a small hook and light line, if you wish. I have used this worm for years and I find that it works well in every body of water I fish. Catches fish like this dandy:

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.

Bass don’t have the brain power to reason, to figure out that fishing line should be avoided. If they are that smart, how come they can’t figure out hunks of wood or plastic aren’t real food? I’ve been using straight braid in clear water for many years and have caught a lot of bass.

Bugle mouthed pile of uselessness that catfish tho ❤️

I mean I don't care what anyone says, that's a cool looking fish, carp or not! Nice one @NorcalBassin!

Got my PB (11.32) on a 7” Red Shad Fat Max. (It’s still my 2nd favorite) Mike

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.

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

Love my old IMX rods so found this on ALF for a great price! Couldn’t resist…. G. Loomis GLX 804C MH/F 6’ 8” JWR Used Casting Rod - Mint Condition

Zoom dead ringer is my fav worm, also never stopped throwing them (along with zoom u tails and ole monsters)

Caught my PB 11.5 lb largemouth on a 10" ribbontail worm! Caught too many bass over 5 lb to count on em. I like them a whole heckuva lot.

I still like the Mr. Twister Phenom 6" curly tail.

More Pike have been caught using a Johnson silver weedless spoon with a white pork rind strip then any other lure. White is a basic fish belly color. Bill Murphy “In Pursuit of Giant Bass” has a chapter on lure colors. Bill was a dental technician an expert on matching white colors. Bill decided to test 10 different manufactures of the same tone of white. The test was to paint 10 of same mfr diving crank bait white from each paint supplier and fish them. 7 of the 10 lures performed poorly and 3 caught bass consistently. All the lures looked the same shade of white to Bill’s trained eye. What was the difference? It turned if under ultra violet light the 3 white lures were the same shade and the other 7 were all different shades. To the bass white isn’t always white. After painting all 10 lures with the most successful white they all caught bass. Proving we don’t know how bass brain interprets see colors, Try the white soft plastics and let the bass decide. Tom

I like them because I feel that I can fish them a good bit faster than the stick baits and Trick Worms that I also throw. My preference is actually lizards, though, with the curly tail- only because I bought a TON of different colored lizards when some on-line shop closed years ago. I probably have 700+. Possibly even more. Hope my kids and future grandkids like to throw lizards.

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

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.

Getting ready for a week long trip with the wife " and dog " to my favorite lake in VA. Was taking inventory of the large amount of tackle on the boat and NOT a single curly tail worm , no Zoom, no Culprit. Seems the trend has shifted to straight tail which I have an abundance, Senko, Zoom finesse, Jackall flickShake and others. So went to my storage locker inside the house and grabbed a few packs of Zoom curly tail " watermelon red " to take along and maybe reinvent the past when every worm I threw was a curly tail. Are they still legit ? And y'all still throwing them ?

It appears the muskie are done spawning and moving into the trees. They'll use them until the weeds get up good. I was bass fishing today and caught a 36.5" out of a laydown on my flippin rig, and a 37" with a 3" tube on 8# YZH. Both fish are beat up from the spawn. That skinny 37" was pretty lethargic. Only took a few minutes to land it on the 8#. The muskie bite has been terrible lately with the spawn going on. Looking forward to the weeds getting up and the crank and blade bite getting going.

I hope if I get reincarnated as a Bass, I end up in a Maine bog.....Katie you've sure proven that it's a LM Bass paradise. They always look so healthy and fat, and nobody is fishing for them 24/7. Awesome report, I'll take a couple of fat 4+s any day of the week and twice on Sunday 😁 ETA: Katie never posts non healthy fish......even in the summer and fall her fish are fat footballs. Outside of the cold weather and shorter growing season, Maine seems to provide an amazing climate for LMs.....something I never would have thought of before Katie's reports.

I can't imagine in what world I would have to be in to not have a curly tail or ribbon tail worm on a Texas Rig on the deck of my boat. It's one of my mainstays. I would have to check but I think I only have 3 packs of straight tail worms in my boat.

Bought this braid for BFS but this line is much thinner than expected will try it on spinning first

While this conversation always begins at visibility, that's rarely the issue. Lining a fish is touching him with the moving line (same thing would make your skin crawl, too). All waters contain natural stringy fibers. The purpose of a leader is to have some measure of shock-absorbing elasticity in your rig.

Never stopped using curly & ribbontail worms and prefer them whenever I want the worm to move fairly often, falling, dragging or hopping. Weighted head or t-rig, 6"-8" most often but bigger or smaller as needed. If anything, I think it's the lizard that has gone out of fashion in favor of newer creature baits.

Yamamoto Ichi worm.

I like Sufix 832 for bottom contact. It's the most abrasion resistant braid I've found. Fins Infinity and XS Big Game are my favorites for chucking and winding. They're both very smooth, strong, durable, and MADE IN THE USA.

Culprit ribbon tails are my favorite summer time soft plastic. I throw em up to 12” but my most used size is 7.5”. A Texas rigged ribbontail is how my dad taught me how to fish and it’ll always be a mainstay in the tackle box

It doesn't matter if you have time to use them all. What matters is the next one you buy could be the magic one. I have 100 old crankbaits that sit in my old lures box that doesn't ever leave the house. That doesn't stop me from buying more crankbaits. It's not about what you have but about what you will have that matters.

If I'm doing a jig-worm, naturally it's a curly tail. Berkley Power Worm, Zoom UV Speed Worm or Zoom Curly Tail.

Why the heck not? -The Bait Monkey

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.

This!!! But switched to the homemade Whopper Frog and never went back. Don't use buzzbaits anymore. Whopper Frog never gets stuck and can be used in anything from open water to lilly pads, to moss, and everything else.

I've had this for a while, and I'm still digging the colors and handle. Yeah, it's different from everything out there, which I suppose is why I like it. I'm kind of a maverick, so this suits my style. https://bit.ly/48Oftd6

I have a small a tournament this weekend and a small Pop-R will be part of my arsenal. Light tugs do a good job of imitating a cicada on the surface.

I still use the Zoom U Tail worms and Culprit worms.

Nothing here yet. We had a frost last night. When they last came in 2007 it was like early June cause we were camping with Boy Scouts. It was a blast to watch the kids experience them. They kept prophesying the double hatching here but I found out the other night it's only going to be a 10 mile wide swath near Champaign. Disappointing...mostly because I don't feel like driving to experience. One more fun fact. Read the other day that the Massospora fungus infects a small percentage of cicadas. The fungus basically replaces the lower third of the cicada with itself. But not to worry. It gops up the cicadas on amphetamine and psilocybin and apparently feel no pain and just want to party. nature is a trip!

My first day was yesterday. It was glorious out there. Only the second day this entire month with light winds. I saw a nice group of turkeys in the morning but they were about 150 yards away and eventually walked away over a hill. I moved my blind a little, and went back for the evening hunt, hoping they would return on the same path. My plan worked. Around 7:15pm, 5 hens, 2 jakes, and 1 tom came walking back over the hill towards me. Once the jakes and tom saw my decoys (hen and jake), they immediately focused on those. I didn't even need to use a turkey all. Dusted the tom at 25 yards. This is my 10th turkey in my 17th season. But it's only the second time I've been able to fill my tag on the first day.

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.

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

Hey, Just wanted to show my latest caught fish 😎

Fished for 9 hours today for bass at one of my favorite lakes which is quickly loosing favor. 55-57 degrees, both sunny and heavy overcast, still and windy. I fished the bank, fished off shore, fished the flats, fished the drops. At one point I was fishing 55’ of water for fish I marked. Tons of bait but couldn’t buy a bass. I livescoped transition areas between deep water and spawning areas from 50’ to 5’. Anything I thought was a bass got thrown to. Most were crappie. Some I thought that before casting but the last one was on its own on a big flat and I was sure it was a bass. It was not. Didn’t keep any but if I’d have had my net bag I would have caught more.