Bluebasser86

I lost a pig to those cables a few years ago. I would have made a conservative guess of 8lbs but it was probably a pound or two heavier than that. With those cables being suspended in the water off the bank a little ways if a big fish wants to get to them it's pretty hard to stop them and once they get there is all but impossible to get them back out. At least that lake finally rewarded you with the fish it is capable of kicking out. To top it off I've heard nothing but bad reports coming from that lake so you must have really been onto something

They make a Husky Jerk and an Xrap in small sizes like that. What you're describing sounds more like an Xrap than a HJ though. I've had really good luck with the small size Xrap, a #6 I believe. It's a little small for baitcasting gear but it fishes great on spinning gear. Crappie and white bass love them also

Another assist on a big fish Glad that bait is working for you.

One of the best tattooed smallies I've ever personally seen. A 4 pounder from Milford Lake Kansas. Maybe not the greatest colored but how can you be mad at a smallmouth with a gut like this? 5 pounder from Melvern Lake Kansas. No tattoos at all on this one but I loved the color of it, from Milford Lake Kansas.

http://www.bassresou...sonalities.html I was reading this article and it gave me a good chuckle because I know a few guys that fit several of the different categories, I'm sure we all do. I'm a bit of a mix between "The Addict" and "The Natural" I suppose. I come by a lot of my abilities naturally it seems and everyone seems to think I could catch one out of a bathtub That may have something to do with the fact that I'm constantly at it, before work, after work, weekends, days, nights, birthdays, anniversaries, doesn't matter. So what kind are you?

It's great to hear stories like that once in awhile. I had a great experience with a couple mechanics while on a trip to Table Rock, one I unfortunately didn't meet, the other was working at the BPS in Branson. We were running across to our next spot when my overheating alarm went off. We were close to Big Cedar Lodge so I trolled in there and they don't work on them there but one of the guys gave me a number to call to a mechanic in Arkansas. The guy was nice enough to listen to me explain the best I could what was going on. He was pretty certain it was my thermastat that was sticking. I thanked him for his time and we limped back to the ramp and hauled over to the BPS in Branson. I think we spoke with Tim or MIke? He was nice enough to stop what he was doing and look at my motor for me. He showed me where my thermastat was and took it off to look at it and sure enough there was a couple pieces of sand stuck in it (from fishing the Kansas River a couple weeks ago I suspect). He called all over looking for a replacement for me, asking 5 or 6 other shops. The closest one to have one was the BPS in Springfield. It was a ways to drive but when you're there for the purpose of fishing only you aren't left with many options. I thanked him and asked what I owed him for his time and he told me I didn't owe a thing because he hadn't made any repairs. I argued with him a little about it but he refused and just told me I better get on the road to or the other store would be closed and we wouldn't be able to do any more fishing that day. I couldn't thank either of them enough and after we replaced the thermastat real quick my motor ran great the rest of the trip.

Should be an easy fix but I've owned a few cranks that just could not be tuned. Hopefully that isn't the case for yours.

That's rough man. I always kick the delivery guy a 5 when we order pizza. I know the guy isn't doing his dream job, and if my pizzas run 17 or 18 bucks then whats a couple more bucks to make it his night a little better? Now if the guy is a jerk or acts like having to delivery my pizza was a hassle then yeah I might not be so generous but if the guy shows up in a reasonable amount of time and isn't rude that's all I'm really hoping for in the first place. I know times are tough but if someone is so hard up they can't afford a tip then they shouldn't be spending money for a delivery pizza when they could make their own for under $5, just my .02.

That's a big ol' crappie! Most of the pits I've ever fished are the same way, lots of fish but the big ones are few and far between.

We're getting there slowly. I've got some spots/baits that I can all but promise you some smallmouth out there, they might not be monsters but they all fight like they are . If I knew how to draw on a map on the computer I could mark out some places on the lake that I know are good areas. I tried google map maker but it isn't what I was hoping for. I'll probably get going down there Wednesday with CCC Drew to see what we can figure out. I'll make sure to give a report, good or bad, when we get back. It's about time to start figuring out what we're doing for food afterwards . I think this time maybe we'll just do it tailgate style since we probably were about to get run off from our spot last time. I don't think anyone will have a problem as long as we aren't making a mess in the parking lot. Do we just want to do like last time and grill some burgers and brauts with a few sides and everyone that wants to eat just contribute something? It was some good eats last time, looking forward to that almost as much as going fishing . I'll bring our little grill, some charcoal, and our camping boxes with utensils, plates and such, probably bring some beans again too so everyone can really enjoy the ride home

I like a 5.1 for cranks, 6.2 for jerks and spinnerbaits but you can use whatever is comfortable for you. I know some guys use all slow reels for everything and some use high speed reels for everything.

The greasy stuff is probably something like anise oil, which is supposed to be a fish attractant. Those old paddle tails caught fish then and they'll catch fish now. A 8" Mann's jellyworm is one of my favorite worms and they've been around a long time but most people don't fish them it doesn't seem.

8" Havoc Juice worm or 7" Rage Andaconda. Red bug and watermelon candy have been good to me lately.

Man 10mph is a gentle breeze around here , most of the time it's closer to 20 and I've fished more than my fair share of days over 30 and gusting over 40. It can be really tough at times. Moving baits are your best option, spinnerbaits,cranks, traps, or chatterbaits. If they aren't working like you said I like a 1/2 jig. You'll need a sensitive rod and good feel, it can be tough to feel even a hard bite. If they won't eat a jig then a beaver style bait with a 3/8oz bullet weight would be my next choice.

Wow that is a PIG of a hybrid! What did that one go? I'm still looking for one over 10. Been close a couple times but that one looks like it breezed past that mark.

Good luck! Wish I'd known about it sooner, I'd probably would have tried to make it down there for that. Might have to go next year.

It's a bait company, their jigs are really popular on lakes like Table Rock. http://www.pigstickerbait.com/

It's kind of the fall transition period right now which means lots of scattered out fish. You'll have some still in summer areas and some already moving into pockets and coves chasing shad. So it may be the fish are just spread out in your body of water and you need to cover more water. I've been using a homemade 1/2oz brush jig so I can get to the bottom fast and move it quickly so I can cover lots of water. You can really cover a lot of water and hit a lot of good pieces of structure/cover like this.

10 pounds is kind of the benchmark for what a lot consider to be a truly big bass. That being said it will depend a lot on the area. A vast majority of anglers that don't get the chance to fish for Florida strain largemouth will never catch or see a fish over 10 and something like 7 or 8 is a pretty special fish. Then you go to California and those big bass guys don't hardly bat an eye at a 10 pound fish, it probably needs to be a teener to even get their attention. Like Snook said, if it's big to you and you were excited to catch it, then it's a trophy.

Man that sucks. Hopefully the places you went have good cameras. My wife's car got backed into at Sam's Club and you could see the truck backing into it but other than it was a white truck you couldn't see anything useful. Someone put scratches on my drivers side headlight and front panel in the Cabela's parking lot a couple months later. You'd think a place like that would have awesome camera's but other than by the front entrance they had nothing that could even see where my truck was parked. It really irked me because I parked away from everyone to try to avoid crap like that and door dings. It seems there aren't many people that take anything into consideration that doesn't effect them around anymore.

Good luck with your surgery. My buddy just had to have surgery on his shoulder right before bow season and the fall bite, not fun but at least it will be better than it was once it heals up.

You might try posting this question in the Northeast forum in the Local Fishing Forums section. Maybe some of your fellow Ohio anglers can give you some good tips from personal experience

Depends on the time of year. Winter-jerkbait/jig depending on water temp Spring-jerkbait/spinnerbait/buzzbait again depending on water temp Summer-buzzbait Fall-buzzbait/spinnerbait

I couldn't imagine the species of fish they're trying to remove competing really heavily with the salmon. I've never fished for salmon but from what I've heard it seems that salmon are more of an open water schooling fish while the others a more structure/cover oriented fish that could probably go most if not all of their lives without ever coming across a salmon. Either way it seems like a poor decision that could upset an ecosystem. It's kind of like someone removing all the coyotes to try to increase a deer population when the real problem isn't predators but available forage and they end up with a herd that grows bigger than the food supply can sustain because of the lack of predators.

That's what I think of when I hear someone talking about a "traditional jig". To me that's a ball head with some kind of hair or fur tied to it or a plastic grub, one of the oldest and most effective baits around. I tie a lot of jigs on the bullet head, football, and weedless round heads. I do tie some on the brush jig and really like them, it has lots of traits I like my jigs to have. Still I don't think the older style of heads will ever go away, they're still effective and still have a very strong following.