Bluebasser86

I pour my own with a big, flashy blade that has tons of vibrations and put a football head on it, I think it balances and swims better with the football head. Plus I put a long, very sharp Mustad hook on it that sticks them and holds them. Total costs to build one in about $1.75 or $2 because I get my lead for free My biggest bass this year was on one of my black and blue homemade chatterbaits.

I never have understood that thought process. You didn't want it to end up on someone else's wall so you kept it for your own? Replicas cost about the same as a skin mount and last a lot longer. It's just if you don't put the big ones back they'll never have a chance to get to full potential. Not trying to rain on your parade, just something to think about next time a big fish comes knocking. Get the measurements and pictures if you want a replica and put her back so maybe you can catch her again when she's even bigger!

Those are about an average days number for me but I still experience that midday lull. Most of them are caught early and late but I usually fish through the tough times because you can't catch them if you're not fishing!

Man that is a monster redear. I'd love to catch one of those beasts but they just don't get that big around here, 11" is about as big as I've ever seen in our lakes.

Yeah went with a buddy and by the time we got out there all the good spots were taken. I tried a new spot and it was loaded with fish, unfortunately they were all gar. We stayed for about 3 hours until I got tired of messing with the dang things. Dad and I fished Wyco this morning. It was a tough bite from the get go. I might have caught 10 or 12, I think dad caught 4. I had 2 keepers on shakeyheads and we each had a couple nice smallmouth but they've got to be 18" out there so it takes a really nice fish to be a keeper smallmouth.

The Asian carp are different than grass carp but grass carp can eat all the weeds out of a lake and make it difficult for bass fry and forage species to survive and that can hurt the bass population. If it's a subdivision pond don't let them see you pulling them out of there though.

Looks pretty brown and drab colored, probably a warmouth.

A lake I used to fish a lot they would chase the schools of bass fry away from the bank and school them up like shad and bust them in the middle of the lake. They lake had a lot of stunted bass so other bass was about the only thing for them to eat.

Nobody been out fishing? You'd think it's been 100 degrees everyday for the past 2 weeks or something?

I've caught them on corn, pieces of cattail, grape tomatoes, grasshoppers, and green wooly buggers. They are very, very spooky and will really inspect a bait closely and often turn away at the last possible moment. Use a thin, fluoro leader (wouldn't go heavier than 8, 6 would be best if the cover allows it) a small, sharp hook, high capacity reel if the pond is big and a medium or medium light spinning rod with a longer handle that you can put in your stomach so you can rest your forearms during the fight. They fight for a long time when you get one hooked and are very fast so have everything ready when it finally bites or it will be a very short fight.

I fish for them if they're up shallow and schooling but I'd rather fish for bass. They're such a pain to deal with on a treble hooked bait and I have no interest in eating them. They fight hard and are willing to bite when they're shallow but I bet bored with them quickly because they're so easy to catch. I'm glad they are popular with the meat eaters around here that keep everything they catch so they don't take as many short bass as they usually are otherwise.

If the water is low it's possible all the spots the weeds would normally grow are on the bank. The stirred up water makes it harder for light to penetrate and that could be part of the issue as well.

Green sunfish range in colors like a lot of fish do. I've seen them from almost white in really muddy, cold water to almost completely black in heavy weeds or when they've been living under rocks. The have a large mouth compared to their bodies, just like a rock bass or warmouth has. I catch them fishing for bass all the time, especially on poppers it seems but they'll eat about anything, even full sized spinnerbaits and jigs.

Big hybrids are bad mothers. As for missing the fish, it's possible that it inhaled your bait completely and when you set the hook it didn't pop the fishes mouth open or find a spot along the side of it's mouth and simply blew your bait back out, I've seen big bass do the same thing.

Lots of them in the rivers around us. They hurt if they come in low and hot and hit you square. Really sucks when one hits me in the ribs while I'm running the boat. No time to react, it's like getting sucker punched in the ribs.

My wife has and read that book too. She was reading it while we were out in the boat one day and started telling me what it was about If that book was written for a male audience you'd have to go to a special store or a special back room to get it

My wife actually tried to get me to go It's funny because if a movie like that was made about a bunch of women strippers and guys were going crazy about it all the women activists would be up in arms over it. I don't care if she goes or how many times she goes even, I'll just go fishing

Its fall rate will depend on what bait you put on it. A 4" senko is going to fall faster than a baby brush hog on that rig. No matter what you put on it you're going to be waiting a long time for it to get to the bottom and probably won't be able to feel a thing unless a fish or snag is on it.

Very nice looking fish, congrats to her!

We just went on a trip last week to Northeastern Missouri and caught some nice fish up real shallow. All of our big females had torn up and even bloody tails like they were fanning beds, despite the 80 degree water temps

The small split shot should be around 6" above the hook to help keep the worm down. Small split shot shouldn't sink a bobber as long as you are using very small weight and a bobber that isn't tiny. A split shot in BB size should work fine. A bobber like this is perfect, goes under easy and isn't blown around by the wind as easy. http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Premium-Balsa-Spring-Pencil-Float/product/104137/54810 I would suggest live nightcrawlers but small pieces of Gulp nightcrawlers can work very well also and are a little easier to deal with but are kind of expensive for catching bluegill.

Bluegills hang out around pretty much anything but anywhere that there will be aquatic and terrestrial insects is going to be your best bet, docks, weeds, brushpiles, coves with mud bottoms all seem to hold bluegill. As for bait and tackle, get a light spinning rod or spincast combo 4 or 6 pound line is probably ideal but the 10lb stuff that's on most spincast combos will work. Keep it simple, but some nightcrawlers or crickets or get some Gulp crickets or crawlers. Put those on a small aberdeen hook, a size 8 is about right, pinch on a small split shot or two, set it under a small spring bobber not a round one, the pole shaped ones are easier for fish to pull under so they're less likely to let go after they eat the bait. Make it about him catching fish. Take an ultralight and toss a little grub or something if you want to fish but him catching fish should be the most important. Take plenty of snacks and drinks and when he wants to go, go. Don't get frustrated if he gets impatient and don't get mad if he keeps getting tangled or snagged. You want to make sure it's a good experience for him because you're fishing for a big one here, a potential life long fishing partner and a way to connect with your son. This is what my dad did with me when I was little and to this day if we can't talk about anything else we can always talk about fishing.

Yep, 10 second timer. It was all I could do to get the camera set up and get myself and the fish set up for the camera but I got both those pictures on my first try. It was too hot to keep them out of the water for long so with one good picture each I got them back in the water and they both kicked off to deeper water to get bigger and hopefully visit me again someday.

Sounds like he's putting in at Kaw Point, that's right were the Kaw dumps into the Missouri River. This was in Turner, the ramp is literally right under the Turner Diag bridge, you back between bridge pillars to put your boat in the water. It was a really nice ramp and there is good water upriver until you get to the island up there, then it gets a little hairy if you go all the way to the 435 dam but I didn't really have any major trouble in my boat. Right around the island seems to be a good spot for blues because it bottlenecks and you get some good current because of it.

I wouldn't go fishing without one. I could fish most of the techniques I use my spinning rods for with a casting rod but it wouldn't be the same. I couldn't make a shakeyhead do the same as it does with my spinning gear, couldn't skip a tube or senko as far under a dock as I do on spinning gear, a drop shot just wouldn't dance like it does on spinning gear. I couldn't imagine trying to cast a split shot rig or a Ned rig on casting gear, not very far anyways. Do you need one? No. Should you have at least one if you're seriously bass fishing? Yes.