Bluebasser86

You may have just not gotten the plug in all the way. I do that sometimes and it's surprising how much water can come in if the plug isn't just right. I have never had any success at Olathe this time of year, seems like the water is always really stained and the fish are even fewer and further between than they normally are out there. Gardner on the other hand tends to have a pretty good jerkbait/wacky rig bite going right now, the fish just tend to average pretty small but there are some bigger ones there. I'd pick Gardner without question if it was me.

Man that is a nice looking combo. Should stand out pretty well, I'll keep my eyes open for it while I'm on the water.

I can cast across a couple of the ponds I fish pretty easily and have caught fish up to 7lbs out of them. I think it has a lot more to do with the ponds having enough forage and depth than how big it is across.

I would think they should be. They've been catching them on beds at Table Rock and we've been seeing them on beds here in NE Kansas with water temps in the mid to high 60's.

I've been an active member for at least a couple years now, have over 2,000 posts, and this is the first post I've seen him make. He will not be missed.

A small hook with 1 or 2 kernals of corn works well also and stays on the hook a little better than hotdogs. If you get an inch long grub and rip the tail off it works just as well and is more durable than natural baits too.

I believe the fish was in the 4lb range and was caught last year sometime. Still a huge crappie though.

I have the slop-n-frog rod too and it does not make a good frog rod. I didn't buy it for frogs though and it does throw mid sized swimbaits pretty well along with the A-rig.

I find a lot of baits and even spend days looking for baits during the winter. I use a telescoping lure retriever and look in the trees and along the shoreline since there isn't much vegetation to hide the baits in the winter months. Now if you count shakeyheads, jigs, and T-rigs I lose a lot more baits than I find.

3/8 oz white with a chartruese split tail trailer kills them for me. Black and blue with a black grub is good in dirty water too.

Snaps are fine, snap swivels are not. The swivel attached to the snap just adds bulk and weight and can kill the action on smaller baits and serves no purpose. If you take the split ring off the front of a bait and use a snap instead it serves the same purpose as the split ring but also allows you to change baits quickly. Just make sure you don't get too big of a snap.

You have a point but at the same time some that post questions on here I'm sure have tried over and over again without success. Instead of giving up on a technique or maybe fishing completely, they come here and ask for help.

I'm not sure there is a ton of bass in that lake. There is for sure a ton of food for them in there though. Lots of small bluegills, crappie, and shad. I've had very limited success in that lake on moving baits. A big, black 3/4oz jig with half a full sized black sapphire brushhog is one of my best baits out there. A junebug curly tail worm has done well for me also. If all else fails a black and blue flipping tube with a rattle or an Eakin's flipping jig in black and blue will usually get a couple bites. It's a tough lake like I said. Don't expect to get many bites. I bet my best day out there I might have caught 15 or 20 all day, but I had a couple 4's, a 5, and that one that went almost 8. Took the wife to Wyandotte today and tore them up. I ended with a nice round 40 bass with a good ratio of largemouth to smallmouth, 12-15 crappie, and 2 wipers. Jerkbaits and shakeyheads caught a lot of my fish, a couple on a dropshot, some on a wacky rig, and one on a jig. Taking the old man to Melvern tomorrow, hoping the bite down there holds up!

Maybe over weeds? I've never fished an inline that would come through weeds without fouling but they do work well over weeds. Maybe one of the baits that has a big single hook and a T-rigged grub I guess as long as it isn't vegetation that can get caught on the clevis and stop the blade. I still toss a #3 Mepps once in awhile. Like others have said the small fish just get to them so fast or they don't appeal to big fish much or a combination of both. I loved fishing 1/8 roostertails when I was a kid though because of their tendency to catch lots of fish. I still have a ton of them, just rarely use them.

Haven't fished one much this year yet, the jerkbait bite has been too good. My trusty Rayburn Red Xcalibur XRK50 might be the only one I've caught a bass on so far this year now that I think about it.

Dang man that is so rough luck! Those weren't your only 2 combos were they? Did you go back out to the lake to see if they were still there if you did leave them on the groud? I laid one down on the bank of a lake one time and forgot about it until the next morning. Thankfully mine was still there.

I leave mine tied on but I always retie or at least give it a quick check to make sure the knot and line are still good. I fish before work a lot of the time and it's nice to have baits tied on ready to go to get the most of the 30 minutes I might have to go make a couple casts.

It very well may die, might live too though, but every fish you caught that day has a chance of dying and a chance of living, it's part of the game.

New boat, new truck, buy a house on whatever lake I decided I wanted to live on then buy some land with good deer hunting and build a small lake on it and stock it with whatever I wanted. I'd pay off all my family members bills and help them out where they needed. I'd go to work and say everything that I've always wanted to say to my "customers" and just wait until they fired me, then I'd move into my new house

"That water is cold I swear!"

X1000! I turn into a pouting 5 year old if my wife drags me to the mall. I try my best to be a good sport for the first 5 minutes or so but that's about all I can take. At least I like playing and understand darts. I don't like cloths shopping and don't understand why my wife needs 30 pairs of shoes and a new purse every month.

Another vote for a St. Croix Avid. Great rods for a reasonable price and great customer service if anything ever happens to it. I'd probably go for the 7' MH/F or 7' MH/XF in your price range. I use a MH/F to cast swimbaits and do a pretty similar retrieve to what it sounds like you're doing and have great success, only difference is I'm using a Premier but it still doing everything I need it to do.

I don't think my 50 casts any further but it fits on a smaller rod and holds less of the lighter line I fish on it so it's a little better sized for what I'm doing with it.

They are good baits but I've stopped fishing them for the most part, they are just too fragile. I've broken so many bills off them just deflecting off rocks on the retrieve and now that they run 7-9 dollars apiece I can't afford to buy them if they're going to break that easily.

I don't hardly own a shirt that isn't fishing related, unless it's hunting related. Raccoon eyes year round, fishing hats, "So many fish, so little time" hitch cover.