Bluebasser86

At 399th st up in the river? If you're talking about that one I launched my boat from it last Wednesday with no problems. It was a huge waste of time going out there though. No shad in the river anywhere and that means no fish in the river anywhere. Then again when the shad move back with the cooler weather the fish will follow so maybe it is better now.

Probably more than a majority of the members on this site I'd be willing to bet, but then again I wouldn't challenge anyone with 2 pig smallies in their avatar either . You are probably more thorough than anyone else on here if you sharpen every hook you buy. That sounds too much like work to me and would really take some of the fun out of it for me, but I'm a bit lazy about some of the fine details I guess. As for the original post I've used them but didn't notice a big enough difference to be worth the huge difference in price.

I'm a big fan of the standout hook in #6-#2 depending on the size bait I'm planning on using. Owner mosquito hooks will work just fine if I run out of standout hooks though.

I've seen instances when rattles make a HUGE difference, usually in stained to muddy conditions. Still I don't fish them very often unless I really feel like they should be eating my jig better than they are and I just try it to see if it helps. Sometimes I'll add the rattle to the jig or if I'm using a big enough trailer I put a worm rattle in my trailer.

Hey they can't all be giants! On a tough day any fish is a good fish and a fish in the boat is just one more piece of the puzzle on how to get more. I don't consider it a personal worst. What is much worse is when I keep ignoring that voice in my head telling me what I should try because the fish aren't following the rules. Then I try it an hour before I have to go home and start lighting them up, that's much worse.

I seem to have a knack for catching flatheads fishing for bass, usually on jigs. It's a very distinct bite when on inhales a bait. This one felt like someone grabbed my line and jerked down as hard as they could. I even said "That's not a bass" while I was reeling down to set the hook. I was lucky because I was fishing a MH rod with 14lb fluoro so if she had wanted to she could have just swam up under one of the many docks and ended it but instead she came out to deeper water and let me lean on her until she started to come up. This little lake has a reputation of giving up big flats while fishing for bass, at least hooking them. There's plenty of room in that big ol' head to put a jig, or a small dog.

I have 6 LTB rods now with 5 of them being the newer split grips. All very durable and sensitive rods and I will for sure be buying more.

I like them in a little cooler water because they have a tighter wiggle that's a little more subtle than a regular squarebill bait.

Not sure if they still make that one but Zman makes several different kinds of craws made of a similar material that float in the defensive position like the 3X baits did.

The pictures of the ones they removed from the stomachs of those bass in that study look pretty swollen up too so I'd assume they do.

You have to drive past the cabins to get to it. It's in the really shallow little cove straight across the lake to the west of the outlet. It's extremely shallow, pretty much have to use the trolling motor to get out of the cove and probably for the first 100 yards out into the lake now with it being so low. Might not even be able to launch a bass boat fromt there. I can launch mine but it doesn't take much water to launch.

There's actually 3, 2 in the Linn County portion of the lake and one off 399th st in the river in Miami Co. You have to pay for both of the Linn Co ramps but the one in the river is free. It's $2 a day or $20 a year I believe.

We have a couple local lakes that they stock every year. Catching them isn't very hard in the lakes I normally fish for them but I like to think I'm pretty decent at catching them

What lake was this in? I know there are some monsters in Table Rock and Lake of the Ozarks.

I love fishing in that nasty weather. Fishing is usually pretty good and few if any other people on the water. Sounds like you had a couple fun days. I've got a pair of them ugly shoes for the exact same thing, or when I'm bank fishing and I know I'm going to be getting in the water or mud so I don't ruin my shoes.

I had that exact model Lowe for several years with a 15hp tiller drive Johnson for bowfishing/small waters boat. Caught lots of nice fish out of it in ponds and small lakes. I built a deck on the front of it but it was wood and man did it add a lot of weight! You'll be a lot better off than I was with that aluminum deck. I didn't have any problems with it being unstable at all, even with me and one of my much larger bowfishing buddies were both on the same side of the boat looking for fish it rode just fine. Also in case you're looking for a motor for it that 15hp motor was strong enough to get on plane as long as it was just me and not a ton of gear. It was kind of scary going that fast in that little boat. I believe that was the max HP rating on it? Congrats on the boat!!

Berkley makes a floating worm. I like a weightless flipping tube for the kind of fishing you're describing. Rig them on a 4/0 EWG hook and fish them a lot like you would a frog. The nice thing is you can let them sink into the holes and they'll spiral down very slowly, or you can put a foam earplug in them and they'll float on top. Something like a Rage shad or frog might be worth a try also.

The third one would be a good bluegill or craw color. They all look very nice. It's pretty satisfying to catch fish on baits you made yourself. Good job!

It's not how deep you fish....you know the rest.

X2 It's really an apples to oranges question, kind of like if you had to pick one would it be a KVD 1.5 or 6XD. Something like spinnerbait vs chatterbait would make a little more sense. The amount of grass and/or cover would depend a lot on which one I'm going with. Heavy grass or cover I'm going with a spinnerbait. If it's sparse or deep enough to pull one over then I'll go with the trap.

Here's a very informative article on why you should dispose of your plastics properly. A fish can ingest too many of them and starve over a prolonged period if it can't pass them. http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/skinny-fish.html

I almost always set up and to the right with casting gear, because I'm right handed and that feels natural to me. With spinning gear it's usually up and to the left, again because that's what feels natural to me. I try to set the hook quickly and put the rod but in my stomach for leverage. I'm not one that feels you need to give a fish time to eat your bait. If it's big enough I even care to catch it they can quickly inhale even the biggest worm or jig I'm going to be using and I don't want to give them time to figure out it's a fake and spit it back out.

They're way worse at Mlford. With the water as low as it is that lake smells to high heaven with all the dead zebra mussels on the bank. I caught half a big freshwater mussel shell and that thing had to have a hundred of them stuck to it, you could hardly tell what it was they were stuck to if it wasn't for the bright white inside of the shell. It's only going to get worse as they spread around. I'm excited about how huge the drum should be getting in the lakes with all that food, if I'm going to have to catch those ugly things like I always do they might as well be big Actually I've heard that smallies in the Great Lakes are starting to pick them off the rocks now. Probably be some zebra mussel imitating baits on the market before too long.

Nanofil is terrible around zebra mussels, or any kind of rough cover really. It's great in open water for firing long casts or fishing light baits but I don't like it for contact baits like shakyheads at all, it bows too bad. It fishes a Ned rig, grub, scrounger, wacky rig better than any line I've ever used though. Sounds like you guys still had a pretty decent day despite the wind. I think there was a pretty good cold front that must have pushed through, at least with the bluebird skies, wind, and cooler temps it sure seems like one must have.

If the wind cooperates I may try to get down there Wednesday. That's the first zeb covered rock I've seen from Melvern. I don't think I've ever seen one before anywhere down there actually. They can really be a pain for sure. Chance of rain and storms Wednesday so the chances of a good topwater or spinnerbait bite really tickles my fancy though.