KC Bass Fanatic

I typically have these four setups on my boat deck this time of year: Abu Winch on 7'M action rod, 12lb fluoro - crankbaits Abu Revo SX HS on 7'H action rod, 50lb braid - frog, flipping heavy cover (2)Abu Revo SX on 6'9"MH rod, 50lb braid or 15lb fluoro - jigs/plastics/spinnerbaits

Hollow body frog

Spro Bronzeye Popper, TT Mad Maxx (discontinued), Spro 65, Trophy Scum Frog - In that order. Caught a ton on all of those and haven't really tried many others. Pros: Spro Popper - Can be walked or chugged, it's not just a 'popper' TT Mad Maxx - Great durability and has a rattle Spro 65 - great all around frog Scum Frog - gives a different look to draw strikes when others won't Cons: Spro Popper - Durability has been an issue for me TT Mad Maxx - can be difficult to get to walk, don't make em anymore Spro 65 - none I can think of Scum Frog - These tear up on me and take on water frequently after just a fish or two.

Fleck is just another way to effectively match the hatch IMO. On my home lake the shad all have a blueish tint to them. Anything with blue fleck or glitter is money.

If a body of water has a good amount of craws, then any time of year you will catch on craw imitators. As always, try to 'match the hatch' in size and color. When you catch a bass, always check to see if there are claws in the back of it's throat, this can be the best way to gauge size and color of the craws being hunted by the fish.

I want to start by saying this review is JUST for the Pit Boss. I haven't tried all the Havoc baits; only the Pit Boss and the Craw Fatty. IMO the Craw Fatty is garbage. It's really no different, and in many ways worse than, a Sweet Beaver. That said - the PIT BOSS IS AWESOME. Bought a few packs of PIT BOSSES for the reasonable price of $2.99/pack. Couldn't be more impressed. Fished a weekend on my local lake where the water is high enough to cover the shoreline brush. The first morning I had 15+ lbs in the boat within 2 hours (best 5 fish). That's pretty darn good on this lake. The rest of the weekend 90% of my keepers came on these when other baits were failing miserably. The action is dead on. There are 4 appendages; the middle 2 have no action, the outer 2 flutter or swim. The body is thick and there is a gap in the middle to accommodate the hook point. You can effectively 'skin' the hook point inside the little ridge and still remain completely snag free. Great design. The swimming action seems to be just the right amount - not too much action but more than a beaver-style bait. When flipped on a 3/8oz or 1/2oz pegged weight the falling/swimming action is a dead-on bluegill imitator. The result is some seriously violent strikes on the fall. Overall I'm really, really impressed with this bait. The design is perfect in all ways and more importantly it really catches even when other soft plastics are not getting bit. And, in a time when all the other guys are INCREASING their price per pack (I'm looking at you YUM and Strike King), these are introduced at $3. Great value, superior design, great bait.

Yes - on swim jigs, chatterbaits, & spinnerbaits too. Big black spinnerbait w/ a 10" black power worm trailer at night - KILLER!

If your water has bait fish like shad then there really is no 'bad' time to toss the old spinnerbait. I throw them at night with totally calm water! The key is that the bass have to be in a 'chasing mood'. An added advantage of throwing spinnerbaits any time is that they tend to draw bigger bites. It is one of my best big fish baits and I almost always have one tied on no matter what the conditions.

I dipped the tail of some black worms in chart JJs and it turned it dark green. Maybe I did it wrong or I should have done the clear first as other guys have suggested.

From last weekend (Memorial Day weekend) Pomme was on fire last weekend! Even with heavy (for Pomme anyway) boat traffic the bite was good all weekend, best in the mornings before the boats got out and slower in the evening but still OK. In total I caught 20+ keepers that included one 5lb class fish and a handful of 3lb class fish. The rest were 14-15" with very few 13-14" keepers. Every single fish I caught was shallow and on banks near deep water. I flipped beaver style baits for the majority of my keepers but caught several on a fluke once the sun came up. The river arms are stained brown with less than 1' of visibility below Nemo bridge on the Lindley and below Coopers cove area on the Pomme. The main lake/dam area is very clear with 3-5' of visibility. I fished 90% in the stained water but when I did fish the clear water I was still getting bit - just had to downsize my baits. The lake was ~7' high over the weekend but I see they have it down to 5' high now. Past experience has shown when they pull it below the brush the bite will slow way down as the bass scatter to find new cover. I haven't caught any fish that showed signs they were or had spawned. The females I caught looked normal (not full of eggs, not slack bellied like they had recently dropped eggs). Some guys I know down there keep bass and clean them (against my will!!) and they report that the females eggs were milky like they were absorbing them. This confirms what we feared that the up/down water levels doomed the spawn. I'm going back this weekend to stay on the fish before they drop the lake below the 'sweet zone'

Honestly I wish they'd leave it 4-5' high. I love it when they get in the buck brush.

Finally got down to Pomme for long enough to offer a serious report. Water is ~8ft high still but dropping. I fished 3 hours on Saturday and 4 hours Sunday. My partner and I caught 12 keepers SAT and 10 on SUN. All were caught flipping plastics into the flooded buck brush. Most were 14-15" but we caught a handful of 2.5 - 3.5lb fish as well. The fish were hit and miss along banks, meaning you might go 50 yards down a bank with nothing and then suddenly get 3-4 keepers in 20 yards. I'm not sure what causes them to 'school up' in certain spots along a given bank but it was a definite pattern we saw all along the Lindley Arm. Moral of that story is don't give up on a bank too quickly. Small plastics were better; think senko, finesse worm, beavers.

I didn't know people still used spinning gear for anything other than crappie?!

I don't use snaps or swivels because, as others have said, it's one more thing that could fail with the fish of a lifetime on the other end. I can cut off and retie in <30 seconds (I usually don't but the point is I know I can). I can't imagine needing to change lures faster than that....

Yeah I've been using Owner for years and don't have any problem with losing fish. I frequently fish 55 or 65lb braid with the drag locked down and it doesn't tear holes in their mouth. First off, 90% of all fish jumps can be avoided with proper technique IMO. So if they are 'shaking it off' you should change the way you're getting them to the boat.

When I was learning to use a baitcaster back in the stone ages they didn't have all the fancified backlash control features. I was frustrated for a long time as a kid learning. Kind of like learning to drive a stick on your dads old truck. If you could drive that you could drive anything. With the new technologies today the learning curve is so much shorter, which is fantastic for anyone wanting to make the switch. I fish Revos and sometimes Revos.

10" power worm.

Here in MO water temps just getting into the upper 50's. Caught my first fish of the year recently and it got me wondering: What's the coldest water temp you've ever caught one on a frog?

I only fish them on braid and never had a problem. SUPER SECRET: Use a 10" power worm as a trailer. Not joking - it's deadly.

James A. Reed x2

Cow creek is one of my favorite spots this time of year. It's on any fishing map and is SE of Kimberling City. As posted earlier Big and Little Aunt's are great Spring spots as well, but that's a long haul from Big Cedar.

Mid-May is a transition period around these parts (post spawn moving to summer pattern). A good bet would be a jig, big worm, or brush hog on secondary points in coves. You should be able to get a topwater (buzzbait or spook) & spinnerbait bite early or if there's any wind. If you find fish early on topwater or spinnerbait work that area hard with jigs and plastics. Don't rule out swimming a jig or big worm through timber on those points either - that can be deadly on Truman. You should be able to get a limit that way, which should get you in the money for that time of year. Extra advice: Truman is a classic example of bigger bait, bigger bite. Other lakes in the Ozarks don't always hold to that but over the years I've found that big jigs, worms, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits produce much better quality on Truman than if you were throwing say a baby brush hog or trick worm.

I have been a fan of the Craw Papi for a while as a jig trailer. I have a few packs of the new F2 Papi's and I like them. I don't notice a difference from the old LPT Papi's other than they are $1 more per pack. One complaint is that while the F2 introduced some sweet new colors, they totally did away with some of the best LPT color schemes. That is disappointing.

Spent the weekend at Pomme capping it off with a tournament on Sunday. High water and wind made for a grind on the water but there were fish to be had in a number of ways. These bass are really scattered and the big females suddenly have lock-jaw. Keepers coming with spinnerbaits or jerkbaits in the backs of coves with wind blowing in. Also caught some keepers in the VERY backs of coves (in the flooded forest) in <2' of water flipping jigs and small plastic craws. Not sure what's going on with the females. 2 weekends ago tournaments were weighing in 6+ lb fish. Sundays tournament had 51 boats and almost every fish weighed was a buck. Big bass was only 3.3lb. Water is dropping finally. They had dropped it ~4" from Friday to Sunday and I'm hearing reports that they are going to begin the massive 6" per day drop today. This should be wonderful for the spawn. My theory is that the fish will wait for the lake to stabilize before they start venturing shallow to scout beds. Right now the lake wide water temps are only in the mid 50's so they may get the lake stabilized in time to not screw it up too bad.

I was down last weekend and fished a couple hours on Friday and Saturday morning (before it got nasty). The bite was slow but quality was real good - had a few nice prespawn females in the 4 & 5lb class. My bites were coming on points near known spawning areas (outside edge of flooded trees), which tells me that they are staged up just waiting for warmer weather/longer days to move back. All my fish on slow rolled spinnerbaits and suspending jerkbaits. @Better Luck - The first week of April is going to be a prespawn pattern still. That said, the area over by Wheatland access is a def spawning area but I haven't been over there to scout it out this year. You should hit all the points around there to rule it in or out though.