Bluebasser86

I got kicked out of the Golden Corral in Clinton, MO this winter on the way back from a trout fishing trip. I'm not a huge guy, 6' 200lbs give or take a few lbs but I can pack some food away! I guess when they put the "all you can eat" sign up you aren't supposed to take that as a challenge!

I've been dealing with it by going fishing so I can forget about things that aren't important like the price of a gallon of gas and get back to the important things like what color crank am I going to throw today?

Paint stripes on it and it could pass for a basketball with fins! I would imagine that was a heck of fight on the fly!

I've done that with my flyrod and it is a blast! These ones were spawning though so they were not at all interested in eating anything. I've heard of people eating them but the last guy who tried to explain how to clean them lost me at "you lay them on the bandsaw..." I don't like eating any fish to work that hard to clean them .

We put in at the state park ramp. Most of those fish came off of the row of docks just north of the bridge from the ramp. We caught fish almost everywhere we went but the places with dirtier water seemed to be better with the high sun and fairly calm winds. The marina by the dam was really good last week but it was getting hammered by crappie fishermen and I didn't want to step on anyones toes getting back between the docks so we just left it and fished other places. Found a couple other good spots because of it though.

The very first bait has already accounted for several fish over 5lbs in a variety of different bodies of water. I have a whole bunch more colors but I already felt like I went overboard on the number of pictures . Glad you guys like them!

Try a different color or blade combo. Sounds like the fish likes the bait but something just isn't quite doing it for him.

I've had hooks straighten and break also, not cheap ones either. When they first came out I broke several Spot Remover hooks on the hookset. I had a huge bass straighten a 5/0 Mustad ultrabite wide gap several years ago on a small lake in Missouri. She was bigger than my PB by a couple pounds and maybe close to a state record. I hooked her around some standing timber and she spun the boat around and I tried to stop her before she made it to the trees and she just opened the hook up.

There have been several lakes around here that were getting trashed so the state cleaned up the bad areas and put up warnings that if it didn't stop these areas would be closed to bank fishing. Well of course it didn't stop and now nobody can bank fish. It doesn't bother me because I don't bank fish but I feel bad for others who do that clean up after themselves. I've filled entire trash bins with all kinds of junk that I picked up from the edge of the lake, it just drives me crazy to see a pretty shoreline ruined by others trash!

Now I don't have the skill that some of the guys on here have with making baits but I decided to try my hand at making some jigs after making my own shakey heads for awhile now. They're 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 ounce heads poured on 4/0 and 5/0 Mustad megabite wide gap hooks with Do-it skirts. I tried wire wrapping the skirts so they'll last longer. Not the prettiest job but I can say for sure they do catch fish! First one is Texas craw. natural craw black and blue Copper craw Big O craw Black and purple and my first try at a chatterbait in dirty herring. Got a 5 pounder on it my first time using it so I know it works! It's been a lot of fun and a lot more work building these than I thought it would but catching fish on your own bait is a pretty good feeling!

My wife decided to take the day off a few days ago and float around the lake with me. I was fishing a marina break wall when we came across a school of gar spawning on the rocks. I put a big 8/0 worm hook on and flipped it across the nose of the biggest female I saw and stuck her. My wife recorded the fight on her phone. Probably took 5 minutes to put in the boat. 18lbs 2oz on the digital scale, not sure on the length but I shot one that was 51 1/2" long out of the same lake a few years ago and this one didn't seem quite as long as that one. Didn't have my bow this time . Too bad, my wife wants to try bowfishing and this would have been the perfect chance to learn!

Weather looked pretty good and wind wasn't supposed to be too bad last Tuesday so my friend Van and I drug the boat out to Perry. Started a little slow with it getting pretty cold that night but once the sun got higher we started lighting them up pretty good. Van stuck the first keeper that was 5 even. 2 docks later he stuck a 4 pounder and I stuck a 3 pounder at about the same time, didn't take a picture of mine because we caught several 3 pounders. Finished fishing those docks and ran to the marina by the dam where I caught my first keeper over 18". ran around and caught several more nice fish including a 4 pounder I forgot to take a picture of before I tossed it back. Lots of crappie fisherman out there even though it was a weekday. We ran back to the docks Van had caught his bigger fish on and I caught a 5 pounder off the same dock he caught his 4lb fish off of. It looked like the same fish and was 5 pounds on the nose just like his but mine was missing a piece from the bottom of its tail and his wasn't. Would have had around a 21lb limit, not bad on any lake in Kansas.

Weather looked pretty good and wind wasn't supposed to be too bad last Tuesday so my friend Van and I drug the boat out to Perry. Started a little slow with it getting pretty cold that night but once the sun got higher we started lighting them up pretty good. Van stuck the first keeper that was 5 even. 2 docks later he stuck a 4 pounder and I stuck a 3 pounder at about the same time, didn't take a picture of mine because we caught several 3 pounders. Finished fishing those docks and ran to the marina by the dam where I caught my first keeper over 18". ran around and caught several more nice fish including a 4 pounder I forgot to take a picture of before I tossed it back. Lots of crappie fisherman out there even though it was a weekday. We ran back to the docks Van had caught his bigger fish on and I caught a 5 pounder off the same dock he caught his 4lb fish off of. It looked like the same fish and was 5 pounds on the nose just like his but mine was missing a piece from the bottom of its tail and his wasn't. Would have had around a 21lb limit, not bad on any lake in Kansas.

My parents used to take me to McDonalds when I was little for a treat every now and then. I was an active kid and never became obese. Now I'm an adult and I still eat fast food occasionally but I know how bad that stuff is for me so I try to avoid it if possible. Some people are just too lazy to go home and make a PB&J or it doesn't sound as good as a Big Mac. Half the time it's the money that I would be spending that keeps me from going too. $5 dollars is a pretty reasonable amount to spend on lunch at a fast food place. Go there 5 times a week for lunch you got $25 (a new megabass jerkbait ) Do that 4 weeks in a row and now you've spend $100 (new rod,reel, or selection of tackle of your choice or gas for another trip to the lake). I think of it like that and it's pretty easy to say no most of the time.

The PQ is a good reel and they have it on sale fairly often throughout the year if you keep your eyes open. I agree with deep that I'd rather have a reel with centrifugal brakes than mag breaks, just seems to a lot easier to set and avoid backlashes for me. I had a Revo SX and it seemed really difficult to get set right for some reason. One cast it would work great, next cast I'd get overrun for no apparent reason. For the price range you're looking at, I'd get a Shimano Caenan or Citica, I don't think you'd be disappointed.

It depends on the cover,water clarity,conditions, and assorted other variables. I've pitched everything from T-rigged finesse worms on spinning gear to foot long worms and ounce jigs. Some of my favorites are baby brush hogs, beavertail baits, 3/8oz jigs,tubes, and magnum finesse worms.

I usually fall up the stairs either that or I miss that elusive last step and lose my balance but haven't fallen like you did, doesn't sound like a good time.

I love my St.Croix rods but I'd go for the Clarus in this situation, just not very impressed by the Triumphs.

My first "good" baitcaster (don't remember what it was called but it was something like 69 dollars when I bought it) quit working on me after a few years. Sent it in to shimano to get it repaired ready to pay for it because I liked the reel. I get a new reel in the mail of the model that replaced the reel I had for free! So I got a new reel and an upgrade, no charge. It probably cost Shimano 10 dollars to do it but it earned them a lifelong customer, that's just smart buisness.

I've got the 2 7' Mojos, one medium and one medium heavy. I love both of those rods and don't feel they are tip heavy like others say but maybe I'm not as sensitive to it or something. That being said, go with what feels best to you, you're the one using it. If you can take your reel to the tackleshop and put it on both rods and maybe even make a few pitches with it you can really get a feel for which one you'll like best.

Not at all, I use 10lb mono on mine for jerkbaits and topwaters and it does fine. Should be a good senko reel, little thing casts a mile.

Xcaliber does the same thing with there XR50 sized baits too. Not sure about the bigger sizes but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

I was catching fish on the SK rodent the other day and ran out of them. Switched to a Yum Wooley bug (not coffee scented) in a very similar color and they wouldn't touch it. Was it the coffee scent? Don't know but there wasn't many other differences in the baits.

A friend of mine fishes a hot pink spinnerbait in clear water and does pretty well with it, he threw it as a joke the first time, nobody laughs at him anymore.

I'm a recovering addict. I'm doing better all the time at not spending money every paycheck at BPS or Cabela's. I still slip once in awhile but getting better at keeping it under $100 than I used to be. Finally realized I have my go to baits I fish all the time and tons of others that never get used so I stock up on my go to's and try to keep the experimenting with new baits or colors to a minimum.