Bluebasser86

I've got a lot of time to fish right now while my wife is out of town for a couple months. Problem is I went out on the river catfishing the other night and sucked up some sand and clogged my water line So now I'm waiting for a part to blow it out and hope that the impeller didn't get burnt up so I have to take the lower unit off and replace it. I've done that 3 times now and all three times have been on the same river, you'd think I'd learn

I have been getting some really early daylight and evening pictures. I went out tonight and had deer crawling all over around me, across the field a couple nice bucks too! I had one nice doe that I rushed the shot on and whiffed under her Had another big doe walk right under me and never had a good shot. Felt good to get back into the old treestand

That's a lot of fun right there! Something about lipless crankbaits seem to snag a lot of carp for me too.

green sunfish, cut carp, live and cut shad. Natural baits catch the bigger fish more often then not.

It is a blast and a great way to stay ready for deer season, get catfish bait, or help fight invasive species! It's saved many hot summer days for me when the bass weren't biting also. This was my first aerial shot on a silver carp that I connected with. Used him for cutbait for catfish later that night.

I've been lucky enough to catch 3 5 pound smallmouth now, 2 from Milford and 1 from Melvern. I had another one as big if not bigger hooked on a grub but it tossed it. The bite was pretty tough but that little LC crankbait and a bitsy tube on a light jighead was more then they could resist I guess. Mostly small fish on the tube, bigger fish on the crankbait. I had lots of blowups on the Sammy but not many hookups. They were starting to eat a spinnerbait too but the wind died on me and killed that.

I caught one that was almost 15" on a pointer this spring, didn't know they got that big in there.

Team Diawa asking about curados? Seriously, the 50 is a better light line, small bait reel.

Magic eraser makes them look good again with minimal effort.

Black on black or black red blade 3/8 or 1/2 cavitron is all you need I love buzzbaits and have won 3 tournaments this summer on nothing but a black cavitron, caught several big bass, and had a day that I caught a 22lb 5 bass limit on a black cavitron. You find the bass willing to eat them and you can clean house with it

I haven't found a bad time to fish Pb&J jigs. Hot, cold, dirty, or clear, it just seems to catch fish all the time.

Haven't lassoed one but I did set the hook on one and had the hook get stuck without hooking him. It was wedged with the hook bend on the bottom jaw and the hook eye on the top, holding his mouth open but without hooking him. Not quite as impressive as catching one between the bait and hook though!

Thanks for the kind words guys! I've been really lucky to catch 3 smallmouth this size in a state not known for any size smallmouth bass. At first I wasn't even sure it was a fish because she was in such shallow water, I thought I may have caught a limb because she was just swimming towards the boat and not fighting. When she jumped my heart almost stopped and I could see that little crankbait flopping around and I figured it was really just a matter of time before she came off. I fought her very carefully and managed to keep her from jumping the rest of the fight. I won't be forgetting the fight anytime soon.

I decided to fish one of my favorite smallmouth lakes Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. Second cast with a Sammy and got my first fish of the trip. I was hoping that meant I was going to tear them up but it wasn't happening. I caught a few more before I went to the dam and lost probably the biggest smallmouth I've ever hooked, it was 5 for sure which would tie my PB. Only put maybe 10 fish in the boat from 4pm-9pm Sunday night so it was pretty tough. Monday started slowly but picked up as the wind started to blow and it warmed up. The fish were eating a small tube but I picked up a little LC C.B.D.S zero crankbait and caught a nice 3 pound walleye pretty quickly. We went to try a spot my partner suggested off a flat point. He was fishing the tube and I was throwing the crankbait. I hooked what I thought was a limb or drum because it was just kind of dragging in and not really fighting. All the the sudden it stopped and jumped and I couldn't believe the size of the smallmouth that I had hooked and was really nervous about the small hooks and the fact that I only had one hook in the fish. After a long and tense fight, Dick finally managed to get the net under her. She was only 20 inches long but 5 pounds exactly with what I think was a big crappie tail sticking out of her throat. I caught another one that was probably 3 pounds later in the day on the same crankbait but didn't even bother taking a picture after catching a 5 pounder.

Well I hit Melvern Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. Second cast with a Sammy and got my first fish of the trip. I was hoping that meant I was going to tear them up but it wasn't happening. I caught a few more before I went to the dam and lost probably the biggest smallmouth I've ever hooked, it was 5 for sure which would tie my PB. Only put maybe 10 fish in the boat from 4pm-9pm Sunday night so it was pretty tough. Monday started slowly but picked up as the wind started to blow and it warmed up. The fish were eating a small tube but I picked up a little LC C.B.D.S zero crankbait and caught a nice 3 pound walleye pretty quickly. We went to try a spot my partner suggested off a flat point. He was fishing the tube and I was throwing the crankbait. I hooked what I thought was a limb or drum because it was just kind of dragging in and not really fighting. All the the sudden it stopped and jumped and I couldn't believe the size of the smallmouth that I had hooked and was really nervous about the small hooks and the fact that I only had one hook in the fish. After a long and tense fight, Dick finally managed to get the net under her. She was only 20 inches long but 5 pounds exactly with what I think was a big crappie tail sticking out of her throat. I caught another one that was probably 3 pounds later in the day on the same crankbait but didn't even bother taking a picture after catching a 5 pounder.

Just hunt away from the house or where ever they are at. Not many people are going to be out stomping around in the woods very far from their house. Maybe show his wife and daughter side by side pictures of a brown cow and a deer, they look almost the same, one is just skinnier.

Lots of lodges do knife or spear hunts for feral hogs with dogs. I've looked into it and it sounds pretty intense!

Wow, I hope that was just someone he knew bidding up the price on those If not I have some King Shads to sell!

Taxidermized? Is that a real word?

I fish with both of my brother-in-laws. One of them is single so he doesn't have any problems. The other one is with my wife's little sister and they have a 6 month old so he catches some crap once in awhile. For the most part as long as we don't stay out so late that we are too tired to do anything when we get home we don't take much grief over it. I don't think I could be with someone who had problems with me going fishing when there wasn't a good reason for me to stay home. You have to have that stress relief after a long work week!

I have to shave every day because we aren't allowed to have beards at work and they do inspections on occasion (some guys even have to shave again at work!) Tried an electric razor and it chewed my face up bad! Now I use a Mach 3 and Gillette Gel and have pretty good luck with it.

Stren Magnathin Mustad Ultraline Both have served me well. I can get the Mustad line in 1# spools for $10 and have been very impressed by it after using it for a couple years. I had some 10lb on a baitcaster fishing a bucktail for hyprids a couple years ago and landed a 42lb flathead. It even swam into something while I was fighting it but my line held up and she swam back out and I managed to get her in the boat.

One of the best rods for the money that I have ever owned. 6' light Berkley Lighting rod that gets used for lots of different fishing, probably over 10 years old and still going strong!

Sounds like a very good officer you have that understands that we are all humans and make mistakes. He gave you the chance to correct yours and made sure you had next time he saw you, good job on both of your parts. I have had very few encounters with our actual game wardens, a lot more on lakes that have park police but all have been professional and were doing thier jobs appropriately. The only time I didn't really agree was when I got checked by a new officer and it wasn't so much the officer that I didn't agree with but the fine. We had 3 of us in my 14' johnboat fishing a small lake and had apparently lost a lifejacket on the way to the lake without knowing so I was 1 short. I always try to do my best to be within all the laws and tried to explain what had happened. He explained to me he had called me over to check me because my letters didn't contrast with the boat well enough so he thought I didn't have any on the boat (black letters on a dark green boat). I could understand that and he also told me that if he did a floatation check on my other two lifejackets he didn't think they would pass because they looked so old? I guess I didn't know that foam lost it's ability to float with age? So I ended up getting a ticket for the lifejacket because Kansas has a no tolerance policy for lifejacket infractions. I wasn't too upset because I was thinking maybe 30 or 40 dollars for a lifejacket ticket take it as a lesson learned and move on. Well I called the courthouse for the county to get the amount and the clerk told me it was $76! I was about to loose it when she then told me "Plus it's a $100 fee for court costs." I told her that I wasn't going to court or trying to fight it because I was in the wrong. She said it doesn't matter you have to pay the fee either way. So one little lifejacket ended up costing me $176! Needless to say I always make sure my lifejackets are in the boat from now on!

Shallow wood is always a good place to look for bass. If there happens to be deep water close by then it should hold even more fish. From looking at the map you provided there are a few spots that I like. Assuming north is at the top of the map 1.The small point at the far Northeast end has deep water close by, any shoreline cover there should hold fish. 2.The far Northeast cove also has deep water close to the shoreline. 3. The point on the Southeast side that forms the eastern most fork extends far out into the lake but has 10' of water not far off the end. During the fall it should be a great place for fish to move up onto to feed and then slip back into deeper water for shelter from fall cold fronts. 4. Riprap along the dam seems to always hold fish in smaller lakes. 5. Most of the Northeastern shoreline has deeper water that comes fairly close to the bank so I would hit any cover available along that side.