Busy

We'll be targetting LMB bass and setting some lines for catfish. We noticed there were some cheap resort type spots around. $130 for two days really seems like an unbeatable deal, just for the rooms. Don't know if we'll do that or not yet.

We were planning to take a fiberglass jon boat with a 20 HP engine. We'll be moving very slow. I hear this lake has tons of timber in it as nothing was cleared before the lake filled. The lake was made by an earthquake in the 1800's. Sounded interesting to me. We'll be getting some maps in soon and do some preliminary scouting. Are there any spots that you might recommend?

It is interesting how this topic gets so heated in fishing discussions. I've never heard it come up in any other sport. You never hear of 'trap and release' or 'shoot and release' in hunting. In fact, that'd probably be considered cruel unanimously. If you are a fisherman, you've probably noticed that lakes often have limits that vary within the same state. These limits have been established to PROTECT the game in each body of water they are imposed on. So long as you abide by the law no harm should come to the sport. In fact, I will keep a fish if I know that it is damaged enough that it will not survive if released, even if it is not legal. Same thing when hunting, if a hen pheasant gets taken by mistake it will get kept. My view is that if I kill something, I use it. I do everything I can to make sure these mistakes don't happen, but by and large, they will from time to time. These 6, 7, 8, 9+ lb fish already have their genetics in offspring. Old genetics aren't always better than new either. I've more research to do yet on bass, but in hunting I do not worry about the game population. They say that hunters targeting quail and pheasant do not harm the game population because the majority of game you take would die in winter conditions naturally. I'm a fairly humble person, and so I think that whatever game you manage to take is likely the stupid game. People may be pulling 10 lb stupid bass out of a lake but the 10 lb smart bass are still down there . There is some discussion about man vs. nature going on here. Any definition of nature that doesn't include humanity is flawed. We are a natural part of nature. There is no such thing as 'man vs. nature.' Humans, like any other living thing, require resources for survival. Our job isn't to refrain from harvesting resources, it's to do it in a sustainable manner. That's my two cents. Just have fun fishing and respect your environment.

how do you do on live bait? I have fished live bait succesfully in other areas, but on my lakes i've never caught a bass on live bait. 10 seconds after the bait hits the water there's either a perch or a sunny on the line. Using a bigger hook should keep the little fish from being hooked, althought they can still steal your bait. Especially when you are fishing with live worms. A live 5-7" baitfish shouldn't get many takers from perch/bluegill/etc.

Anyone fished this lake in the past or lately? I'm considering taking a trip over there and wanted to see what you all had to say about the lake first.

It's definately my favorite way to catch bass! An absolute blast. Since I'm not that good at getting on them in rivers I generally fish the lakes with regular gear. Check around your town. I just found out about a fly club here in Lawrence that has over 100 members. You might be surprised, something similar could be in your town.

10 feet above the multi-purpose flood line when it jumps way up during spawn my favorite thing ever!!! everyone hits the shallows and lets you hit the nests all day long bc they think you're too deep

I sink my frogs to the bottom. I rarely use them on topwater. I believe I do what is called 'dead-sticking' with them. Leave them sit and move them along a few feet at a time every so often while I'm working other baits.

Although I don't seem to have the patience for this very often, I'd have to say that my favorite way to catch bass is with a fly rod and fly on 6lb test. I usually go with plastic worms - T-rigged, and spinnerbaits.

lol Yep. Don't worry about it.

You are talking about setting up on a drain Catt? What do you look for in drains, besides fish obviously? Solid structure lines, food, etc. What I want to know about is the water in the drain. What is the water doing in your most productive drains? Sorry if I cannot ask my question clearly.

"The best way to a fisherman's heart is through his fly." ~ Author Unknown I fish for trout, bass, catfish, and crappie. I drink white wine, beer, whiskey, and gin. You tell me

Exactly right.. the wind has absolutely nothing to do with it, other than it can make a different shore or area hotter. The saying does work sometimes, however, because in most of the country storm / frontal systems move west to east. So a low pressure system leading up to a storm you predominantly have west or south winds fueling the storm and dropping pressure. Once the storm passes you usually will have cooler north or east winds filling in behind it, but that all depends on your location to the counter clockwise spinning Low. Once the High starts moving in (clockwise rotation) your pressure will go up and your wind may change. This is when you'll see the bluebird clear skies comming in and sometimes cooler air. All that matters is the front effected the fish, not the wind. Once the weather is stable for a day or two the fish will start biting again, indifferent of the wind direction. Another thing that associates commonly with wind are clouds. Usually in advance of a large frontal system you can have clould build up (moisture). So when its close to that sytems arrival (and obviously during) you may have a couldy day that associates with a west or south wind, which could also increase the fish activity. Places like Florida where most storms are those stupid summer pop ups with no real system associated with it you are much more likely to see less influence or "signs" from the wind. Keep it in the back of your mind as a guidance as to what the air masses around you are doing, but don't live by it. This. He nailed it. The fronts are what is important to the bite. Wind is just an indicator. There are four sayings in this thread, one for every direction. I suppose us Mid-Westerners muddled this one up over time. We get a lot of occluded fronts which makes using wind to determine fronts passing pretty inaccurate. The fronts in your area will generally come from the same direction time and time again. That's how these sayings came about. However, you can catch a fish on any day no matter what the 'conditions' spell out. We still don't have the key to mother nature but the bass can't wait for us to find it before they eat

I'm so jealous. We've got an awesome spot for a pond that would be fed naturally by a spring that comes out of the hill and runs into the creek...but its protected by a utility easement.

We've caught them on what I said above when we're trying to catch flat-head bait. Bobber fishing.

Get a baitfish net if you can find them together. Live bait or the smallest in-line spinners you can find. Small crickets or worms. Good luck keeping the panfish away. Make sure to check up on the legality of transporting fish from one body of water to another in your area. Be easy on the little guys.

Figuring out how to get out of that funk keeps me going And it feels good when you do too.

I don't think it ever gets too cold, provided you dress appropriately. Then again I've never experienced anything below -8 F while I wasn't sleeping. Down to 0 is ok by me, but I'll likely be hunting/stalking rather than fishing.

I can't actually recommend this because it's bad for your health, but if you enjoy puffing on cigars they are great to keep the bugs off of you.

Nice! Can you tell about that rod holder you have on your kayak? Where can you get one?

I'm hearing a lot of different things here. This is what I have gathered before reading this thread: -the edge of a cold front will bring wind gusts -cold fronts are associated with low pressure, especially along the isothermic gradient along the front -cold fronts can last 1 day to a couple weeks -rain and showers can occur at any time throughout a cold front, and can stay for most of it -after the cold front passes pressure rises sharply Cold fronts should be good for fishing, but every situation is different. You want to fish the times closest to the precipitation the front brings, if any. Else, fish when the wind rises. These are when the pressure drops should be most abrupt. You don't have to do a whole lot different than normal except to try and catch the best times to be in the water. Yesterday a cold front came through here and dropped the temperature by about 15 degrees throughout the day and it started raining around 3pm and didn't stop until 10pm. We fished from 5:30-8:00 and hammered them. Worms on the bottom were a no go. We caught them ALL using a 1" long rainbow trout patterned crankbait going very slow, about 2.5 feet below water surface. Hope this helps a bit, but as always, every situation is unique in some way.

I think this 10k hour mark is more correlative than causal. Give me ten-thousand hours scuplting clay and I still won't be the best sculpter. I'm not an artist. Period. Passion lays close to talent. You find something you are passionate about, you should find talent there within you. Unless you're passionate about a woman. Then you're screwed and no amount of practice can help you.

I'll try to put these in order. 1) current (wind) - more current, more weight 2) water color - more visibility, less weight; super clear, no weight unless its a down rig 3) depth - more water, more weight That's what I do.

Welcome! I'm by far better at stream trout fishing than bass fishing as well. This site has taught me a lot. Fishing Bass vs. Trout on lakes: -Fish the opposite side, trout tend to feed on the windward side while bass tend to feed on the leeward side. Both can be anywhere of course, but I find this generally holds true. -Trolling at 60 ft probably won't do you much good. I find that catching bass on flies is the most satisfying way to catch them, but far more rare than when you use bass tackle like spinnerbaits, rappalas, and artificial worms. Artificial worms are all-around bass catchers when you give them some locomotion.

Never pay attention to them in that aspect, I purchase, try, keep/sell/trade/trash based upon my preferences. Let me give you an example, let 's say I 'm watching a spinnerbait video of KVD the only thing I pay attention to is the tips and techniques he 's explaining about spinnerbaiting, the moment he says: "here I have this Quantum reel" all I hear is yadda, yadda, yadda ( background noise to which I pay no attention ) until he begins talking again about what I 'm interested in ---> information about spinnerbaiting. Well put, Raul. We can learn from the pros about fishing techniques but I pay very little attention to their product pitches. Check it out. Do you wear Hanes underwear because Michael Jordan advertises it? Do you drive a Buick because Tiger Woods is giving the pitch? Do you eat Campbell's chunky soup because Donovan McNabb and the NFL moms supposedly love it? BTW, I'm not bashing these people at all for pitching these products and making a good living doing it. I just take all advertising with a grain of salt. Research your product and buy what suits you. It's a simple uncontested fact: advertising works. Of course it works. But remember that it's designed to make the company money, not to put the best product in the consumers hands. Everyone advertises, so you can take advertsing out of the equation when you are shopping. Just like in math, when the same co-efficient is on the top and bottom of the quotient you may cancel it out. So sure advertising works, for the company, not for you.