Bluebasser86

High percentage areas like marinas, bridges, and dams are always good places to just get some fish, not always a winning area though.

I've got several Kistler Rods. I fish a little bit and have never popped an insert out. I've broke 2, 1 completely my fault and 1 was a factory defect. They replaced it no issues and I definitely didn't pay full price for the replacement.

Usually for BASS, it's a 12" minimum length limit.

No, you can get information from other competitors though. I couldn't talk to my friends that were camping with me in Oklahoma because they weren't in the tournament. It was a weird deal not being able to talk fishing with my fishing buddy. @Koz Just have a positive attitude and try to learn as much as you can. I was just hoping for a limit both days and everything else was a bonus.

I tried to go to Mound yesterday but there must have been a tournament, 12-15 boats were already there and fishing when I got there at 6:30. Hate to see it on such a small lake. Went to a couple different small lakes and scratched a few here and there but nothing worth writing home about. Black and blue bladed jig, blue/chartreuse with orange/copper blades Covert spinnerbait, and a black/gold jig did most of the damage.

Had a busy weekend but an even busier week so just now getting around to posting the weekend report. Saturday I took the boys out to crappie fish to try and catch a few for a guy from work. "We", were successful in going through 2 dozen minnows, of which I used none of. Tons of shorts, but we did get him a dozen to eat. We also got a few donus bass. And I had Finn pose with my drum because I'd hate for @roadwarrior not to see it. Sunday I got out for a few hours on a local lake in some weird weather that changed rapidly in the few hours I was there. We've had a ton of rain the last couple weeks and it's still coming so the water was up and dirty. I figured that would mean aggressive fish eating moving baits. So of course they'd only eat a Ned rig. I caught a bunch like this. Then ended the day on the ramp with big fish of the day. Say it with me now "Ned rigs only catch little fish" 😂 I took Monday off for my birthday and tried to go to one of my favorite lakes 1.5 hours west to fish some docks. What is normally a clear lake full of docks was a chocolate milk lake full of docks and floating trash. I opted not to pay the $30 to fish for the day and drove 45 more minutes north to a lake I hadn't fished in several years but I fished a ton as a kid. It's not a great bass lake but I caught a couple dozen smallmouth like this one. A couple decent largemouth. and the main reason I went, a whole bunch of these guys. Just gobs of 1-3 pound wipers up shallow. Lots of fun and a change of pace. Wednesday I jumped in with my buddy Jon for a local weeknight boat tournament. I was a terrific back seater, netting all of his fish for him and not catching any of my own. I did get the big disappointment of the night in the very back of a muddy, weedy cove. Thankfully it was a team tournament and Jon's 3 keepers were enough for 1st. FWIW, they were all caught on baits I made for him 🤷

Numbers are great, no idea where the big fish are.

I fish a very similar bait, the Poc-it Phenom worm. I use a weedless Ned head, works great for thin pastics like that.

I pour my own. Tons of standing timber and the bite I was on, really didn't think it was going to be necessary.

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.

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.

Great day, definitely some signs of spawning activity in those fish.

You're going to love my new sticker on the kayak then 😆

Prefishing for my first club kayak tournament of the year Friday. I won this tournament last year on the same lake, also in April, so I felt like I knew what I wanted to do coming into it. After about 3 hours of fishing, I was sure I knew what I wanted to do. I had received some information about a little lake not too far away that was supposed to have real big ones, which always gets my attention, so I loaded up and headed down the road a little ways. Now it was not a numbers fishery at all, big fish lakes usually aren't around here, but it did not disappoint on the big fish. and of course, 2 cast after this one, I caught big momma. I thought she might be an 8 when I saw her jump, just because of how thick she was and how big the mouth was. Once I got her in the net, I knew the length wasn't there, but still one of the thickest fish I've ever seen.

I pointed it out before, but prefishing on Friday they were on a Texas rig bite, and it was every, single fish. Every time, that hook point was blowing through, despite me being in a kayak, in windy conditions, didn't matter. It's a huge confidence boost knowing the hook is going to stick them. The only downside, I stuck a couple I tried to shake off because the hook was digging in so easy 😅

Pretty rare I don't have a Texas rigged something in my lineup.

I like them as trailers for swimjigs, spinnerbaits, and bladed jigs. They don't swim as well as a Keitech at slower speeds, but they kick hard moving a little faster as a trailer. They seem to be a little more durable also, which is a bonus for a trailer.

I FINALLY broke the 5lb mark for the year, in fact I jumped right into the 6lb club with one of the thickest fish I've ever seen.

The lake I'm headed to is a 500 acre lake, so I don't have to worry about getting pulled downstream thankfully. I've caught 13 muskie in my life and 12 of them were from this lake (8 of them in 3 days one of my last trips there). Biggest was a 42" fish. It's a good bass lake also, so it's just a fun lake all around. Trolling motors only make it even more appealing for kayaking.

Big catfish (little catfish can kick rocks), are one of my favorite fish to catch. I also have a weekend off in October, planning to chase a muskie from my kayak, really looking forward to that.

The heavy green (pea soup), water is some of my favorite water to throw my blue bladed jigs in. We get a lot of that water color in the summertime.

I do both. Some days they like a straight retrieve, some they like stop and go or pumping the rod, and some they want it rippes and killed.

Those do not but still a great hook 👌

I'm too fast to switch to finesse tactics and target bites instead of big fish, hoping that I will catch enough fish that eventually some will be bigger. As far as what everyone else is doing, I have stopped worrying about that, it's out of my control and only effects me if I let it.

Yes, the worm hooks have, I'm talking about hooks like trebles, jig hooks, and dropshot hooks.