Bluebasser86

I've done well up around Old Town but further than that the bottom is mainly mud, great for catfishing and bowfishing gar but not so much for bass fishing. I can't find Little Slough Creek on the map though?? What ramp are you planning on putting in at?

Taking the wife to local lake to see if the bass finally broke loose after this week of 70 and 80 degree weather. They were biting last week but just not like I expected for them to be with 63 degree water. Taking my old man fishing Monday at the same lake we killed them at last Monday. He's turning 51 Saturday and said all he wanted for his birthday was for me to put him on some fish. Hopefully I can make his birthday wish come true with a big walleye or smallmouth

Haven't caught any big fish on them but I've caught some really important fish in a couple of the tournys I won last year.

If the water isn't too muddy, I like a swimbait in the rain. The Havoc Grass Pig fished right under the surface can be fished in the same areas as a spinnerbait but has a profile and vibration that fewer fish have seen versus a spinnerbait. Swimming a jig or squarebill crankbait can be really good too.

I love it for pitching into grass but the Big Texas color is great for T-rigging and hopping around rocks. They have quickly became one of my favorite pitching baits. You can fish them like any other soft plastic on a T-rig, C-rig, jika rig, jig trailer, shakeyhead, whatever. I like the Big Texan, Summer Craw, California, and junebug. They came out with some new colors that I like that looks of but haven't got the chance to get them wet yet.

That's why I love shallow cranks, they're fish catching machines!

I've got the 7' 1" MH that I use for pitching now also and I really like it. The handle is so comfortable and the rod is very light.

No leader nessasary.

Clear water=natural colors. watermelon, green pumpkin, browns, and natural baitfish colors.

If you know how to do it properly you can get a swallowed hook out easily without causing any more harm to the fish than if it was hooked in the lip. If it's mouth is big enough I run my hook down the curve of the hook until I get the bend and rotate the hook eye towards the back of the fishes throat so the bend end up pointing up out of the fishes mouth. Remove hook and release the fish. The diagram that Packard linked up to here is a good illustration of how to do it if you can't fit your hands in their mouth. I use pliars the entire time instead of rotating with my fingers through their gills, pliers are smaller than my hand so I can contact their gills even less. I feel much better about getting the hook out of the fishes throat so it doesn't cause complications while the fish is trying to feed. If it's obvious it isn't going to come out it's better to cut it than tearing the fish up bad trying to get the hook out, but only a worse case senerio for me.

If you are willing to make the drive Lyon State Lake, Douglas County, Bourban State Lake, or Atchison State Lake would be my picks if you're taking your girlfriend and want to make sure she catches something. Douglas would be the closest but you aren't going to catch anything bigger than a couple ponds out there. Lyon has tons of fish and some bigger ones but you have to go through lots of small ones, Bourban and Atchison are pretty much the same way I guess. A 3 or 4 inch grub on an 1/8oz jighead cast out and reeled in slowly is how my wife catches a lot of her fish and just about anything will eat it. Miami is a good lake most of the time but I've been out there when they just won't bite anything before too.

I've caught a few walleye from Mozingo, mainly on crankbaits during the summertime. My best suggestion would be to toss a suspending jerkbait at the dam. Something like a rogue in clown color, RXC in whatever baitfish color you want to fish, I've had a lot of luck for walleye with lucky craft slender pointers 97MR's in American shad and Gunmetal Shad and also a 78 pointer in Niashiki (clown) color. I use a jerk jerk pause retrieve most of the time. If that doesn't work you might try a F-11 or F-13 floating rapala minnow or size 7 shad rap or flicker shad with a straight, slow retrieve in the same areas.

Check you're states regulations. It's illegal here in Kansas to transport your boat with a plug in the boat or livewell.

What are the ponds like? What kind of cover/structure? Water clarity? I fish some small neighborhood ponds around here and they are really fond of stickworms, flukes, and most any kind of worm between 6-10 inches. Pond fish tend to not be too picky in my experience but I'd try a few different styles and colors to see if they have a favorite.

Fun fishing I'm in the front, because I'm the only one in my group of friends that owns a boat. When I tourny fished I was always in the back though. I mainly finesse fished and did very well in the club I fished in. It was every man for himself and my first year I finished 3rd overall, got rookie of the year and backseater of the year in a 50 man club. Next year I was 5th overall. Many of the tournamnents I fished I beat my boater soundly, it became somewhat of a joke in the club because of my age (I was 16 my rookie year). You have to pay attention to details to do good in the back of the boat and watch your boater. I tried to hit the less obvious targets that my boaters may have missed. There are going to be times that are tough. I fished a couple on Table Rock when the fish were on a wiggle wart bite and nothing else. Anyone who knows Table Rock knows that when this happens the guy in the back of the boat may as well sit down and watch the guy in the front catch fish. Even when I'd get a boater who'd try to back boat me by putting me out in deep water I'd just watch the depthfinder and break out a shakeyhead. If I noticed a small drop or rockpile I'd try to hit that. It can be a grind but you only need 5 bites a day right? Nothing like the feeling of catching a good fish behind someone who is doing their best to make sure you don't catch anything.

Government organization, right on there. One of my favorite lines at work "I'm with the government and I'm here to help." It's best served with heavy sarcasm.

I have one skin mount of a 6 pounder I caught in the middle of the summer that got hooked in the gills and wasn't going to make it. If it wouldn't have been for that I would have just turned her loose. You can get replicas made for about the same money that look great and last a long time. Plus if you turn the fish loose who knows? Maybe you'll catch her again when she's even bigger. Not saying there is anything wrong with keeping a big bass for a skin mount, just my personal beliefs on the subject.

I usually carry most of my baits with me every trip and have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to use by the conditons but I don't seperate it out or anything. If I seperate it at all it will be by stuff I use in certain seasons, like my topwater box stays at home November-March most years.

I have several of the Mojo rods, you won't want the 7' MH for an all around rod. St.Croix rods run heavier than they're rated for most part. The 7' MH spinnerbait rod is way too stiff for treble hooked baits. I also have the 7'M/F and it would make a much better all around rod and would be my pick if I was going to get only one to do everything with.

You should give it a shot. Melvern is one of my favorite lakes to fish and smallmouth bass are an absolute blast to catch and very pretty fish.

The only small lake I know of that has good wipers and bass would be Pleasanton East but there aren't any guides or boat rentals. If you go to Milford I'd book Clyde "The Guide" not sure how to spell his last name. He's a really good guy and a really good guide. Not sure if he still does but he used to pick you up at your house and drive you to the lake and provides almost everything. He might know of some closer lakes that are good wiper fishing also, not sure what all lakes he guides on but I know Milford is one of them. A friend of mine went with him and had one they guessed around 15 pounds up to the boat when it pulled off.

Went with a couple buddies to Melvern Monday to see if anything was going on. I caught a fish on my 4th cast of the morning, probably over 100 casts in between, and my last cast of the day. There was not many times throughout the day that one of us was not fighting a fish. We didn't take many pictures because nobody wanted to stop to run the camera. I had 43 smallmouth/spotted bass just by myself, not counting the tons of white bass, 3 crappie, and 7 walleye I also caught. I would feel safe estimating we caught between 150 and 200 fish, just crazy all day. Nothing real big, I caught a walleye that was 21" was the biggest fish of the day. We took home a gallon bag and a quart freezer bag with 3 crappie, 8 walleye, and a dozen or so white bass, by far the most fish I've kept in a long time but I'm sure my grandparents will love them! 2012 bass count=420

Very healthy looking, solid Perry lake bass! I still think that is one of the most underrated bass lakes in the state.

How near KC are you wanting to stay? For really good wiper fishing on lakes that also offer guide service about the closest 2 I can think of are Milford and Truman, both about a 2 hour drive but both have pretty good wiper fishing. There really isn't much closer than that though.

Perry tends to be pretty dirty. That may change with the zebra mussels in there but that is still to be seen. What did that first largemouth weigh? Hard to tell by the camera angle. Perry is tough in the spring, I like it a lot better once it gets hot out. There is tons of drum in that lake and they aren't hard to catch. They slam a jig though don't they? Really gets your blood pumping until you see the ugly thing you've just hooked.