Bluebasser86

If you have 2-7 feet to work with a squarebill would be a great option or a smaller rattlebait. I would suggest 20lb mono or floro to keep the bait from getting too deep. Fish a rod with enough backbone to rip the bait out of the weeds and to keep a big fish from burying back into them. Experiment with the speed your reeling to keep the bait just above the weeds and rip it if you feel it bury into the weeds, this will trigger strikes a lot of the time. A stop and go retrieve is usually most effective for me around weeds. Fishing cranks over weeds is one of my favorite summer time techniques and if you find them eating cranks over weeds you'll meet your goal in a single afternoon I promise!

The part where he really gives it a good pull and gets up on his toes made me lol. Good job getting him started young!

I had the same problem breaking the 7lb mark. Now that I have I can say I've broken it several times. Hopefully it will work the same way for you. Nice fish!

Nice fish! Norman makes a tiny little crankbait like that and it's a great bait for bass and tends to get pretty good sized fish to bite when it's tough for me. Good work!

I'll give another vote for the lipless crank and suggest you throw a spinnerbait into the mix also. Like you said a crankbait can be a great option also.

Looks good to me. I've seen bluegills with black spots on them just like bass get sometimes that would make them look a lot like your bait. Might just give them something else to hone in on before they eat your bait?

I'd say you did good. I wish any of the wal marts around here carried anything good. I've been to a few of them the last couple weeks and minus some war eagle spinnerbaits for 3.50 there was nothing worth a dang at any of them.

Chartreuse black back if I had to pick one color. I wouldn't want to go anywhere without Tennesee shad, some kind of crawdad color, american shad, sexy shad, bluegill, firetiger, and rootbeer. I like lots of different colors because I've seen slight differences make a huge difference in the number of bites you're getting. I whooped a friend of mine from the back of the boat one time. Both throwing 100 series bandits over the weeds. His was Chartreuse blue back, mine was chartreuse black back. Don't know why it was such a big difference but it was that day for sure.

I bought one of the KVD cranks because I like fishing square bill cranks and wanted to compare it next to other baits. I also have stone jigs, Bagley square bills, mop jigs, and other tournament winning baits. I think it has a lot to do with how I've seen the pros were using them and it made me think of lakes that I knew that had similar spots that I could make them work for me. So basically, I would have to agree that I notice more how they're fishing the bait than the bait itself. I think once you've spent enough time fishing and get educated about it you start to see that there is no magic bullet. What may be a magic bullet today, might be a dud tomorrow!

Haven't tried any new techniques. The ol' faithful jerbait and spinnerbait have been putting plenty of fish in the boat for me. Last summer I did become aquainted with the Gulp minnow though. Smallmouth and walleye fishing hasn't been the same for me since.

If you don't get it taken care of and it heals wrong it will probably be a problem and you'll have to go to the doctor to try to get it fixed. Then they'll have to break it again to try to set it and you'll be in pain and on the sidelines of your tournaments again. As far as not going to jail for hitting walls, ever heard of criminal damage to property? Not only can you go to jail for it but you can end up having to pay to fix it. I'd suggest deep soothing breaths.

You should have at least a few rods rigged with braid. I wouldn't use anything but braid for flipping heavy weeds, frogs, and C-rigging.

All the rods mentioned would work fine, just a matter of finding one that you like!

That's a nice way to start your year!

It will just make it that much better when you do get out there and put some fish in the boat!

I love having sore ribs when it's setting the hook too much that causes it. Those are some awesome fish!

I was holding a 7' light eyecon today and thinking it would be really nice for throwing little shad rap type cranks and grubs. No funds for it right now though. They should be a good rod for dropshotting though since it's kind of like jigging for walleye.

As long as you don't "posess" the fish by putting it in your livewell you should be ok. If you put it in the livewell you have just posessed the fish in the legal sense. If the limit was 5 and catching them put you over the limit then it would be illegal to even continue fishing because every fish you had after your 5 would be an illegal fish. I don't know why a tournament would have a 6 fish limit but if the lake limit is 5 and you're fishing by yourself you better hope your 5 are good ones!

Melvern is a good numbers lake but we've got to get to Milford this spring. It has the numbers and the big fish. Both of the 5lb smallies I've caught in Kansas were out of Milford. I've had some great days for numbers on Milford also.

I forgot to post mine from Monday on here. I wish I would have weighed my second fish, I think it might have been heavier but I forgot about this thread! Anyways 5.7/11.75x100=48.51, I guess I'm on the board at least. Hopefully get a better one this week!

Check out my post about fishing in the wind on the fising trip forum. It was in the low 90's and sunny on Sunday. That night it stormed and cold front moved through. Next morning it was in the low 40's with wind gusting to 50mph. We still went and would have had a 20+lb limit and a couple bonus wipers. The wind sucked but the fishing was still really good! It beats sitting at work anyways!

Thanks guys! I'm hoping after the warm days and with it looking like it should be warmer on my days off this week I might have a chance to wear them out again!

I'm guessing your water temps are close to the same as they are here. I've been doing best with a small (1/4 oz) spinnerbait with a single colorado blade fished slowly, and smaller jerkbaits fished with 3-5 second pauses. I'm guessing a wacky rigged senko would also work pretty well if the water is clear enough for a jerkbait to work. The suggestion on the small floating minnow would probably work also, just reel it slow or maybe even twitch it on the surface like a dying minnow.

You won't be disappointed with the LTB rods, they are just plain sweet! I wish I had money to get a few more of them but I better not think about it before the monkey jumps on my back!

Any of the suggested rods would be great. I have the "wacky style" St. Croix Mojo and it works great for wacky rigging and shakeyheads.