Bluebasser86

Snappers can't bite through fingers, just a myth. It'll hurt real bad and probably remove some hide, but that's it. My grandpa use to noodle for snapping turtles and was really good at it. I don't remember him ever getting bit. Just walked through muddy ponds and rivers until he stepped on one buried in the mud. He'd stand on the shell to hold them down and used a stick to tap around the shell until it tapped back, then he'd grab the opposite side, where the tail would be. I about caught another snapping turtle last night flipping water willows but thankfully it came up just short of the hook on my Rage Bug. It did get the back half of my bug though.

Buffalo and Quillbacks are both deeper bodied fish than that fish. I'm guessing it's just a white sucker.

Didn't have to be into work until 10 this morning, soooo.... Solid fish that sucked it down on a slow crawl. Walking it right in front of a seawall when this battle scarred old gal slurped it. Biggest swimbait fish I've caught in a long time. Gratuitous Croc shot. These jokers are spawning and they kept hitting my Bull Wake. This was 1 of 2 that found the hooks. That Gamakatsu Nano Alpha hook doing what it does. First cast of the morning was a monsta!

It can be really good now before the heat really sets in.

Hotdawg is who we got to watch put his clients on a bunch of fish at the first spot just down from the launch at White Hole. We didn't have the money to hire him that trip and it was truely a case of "You get what you pay for".

There shouldn't be tournaments where they're bringing fish in to weigh on lakes that small. One bad day where they lose a bunch of big fish could really screw up a lake that size. We do a roadrunner style kayak tournament and it's all small lakes (usually about 10 to chose from), but at least we're just taking a picture and putting them right back, just like a normal recreational guy would be if he caught a nice fish they wanted to take a picture of. The state doesn't allow guiding on small lakes because people start to feel like they own a lake and will run other people off, but it seems like having a 12-15 boat tournament on a >200 acre lake is effectively the same thing. I can't imagine many people pulling up to the ramp and seeing that many boats on a small lake and being excited about it. Not to mention, we know there's going to be a few guys in that group that have the tournament mentality, where it's okay to cut someone off or fish right on top of someone who is fun fishing "because they're in a tournament". I've never had an issue with a guide on a small body of water, but I have had multiple issues with tournaments on small lakes.

I've had a couple bad guide trips, it sucks but it happens. Worse one was on the White River in Arkansas. We wanted to catch browns on artificials. Guy had us fishing dead sculpins. I caught 1 sickly looking brown at the first spot while a nearby boat landed big browns one after the other. Each time we moved, he reported we were less and less likely to catch any browns, which of course we never did. A few little stocker rainbows ate our baits, but we had zero interest in those. The guide did have a ton of interest in the rod and reel combo I'd bought for the trip, so much so that after I offered to let him try it for a couple cast, he confiscated it for most of the remainder of the trip while I was stuck with his provided South Bend combo. On the way in, he hit a rock with his motor and the whole thing jumped off into the river. I caught the fuel line and hauled his motor up into the boat for him. Afterwards, my buddy and I dragged him and his boat for nearly 2 miles against the current back to the ramp, where he asked if we were going to pay for the remainder of our trip by cash or check. I told him we could call it even after we had just saved him a few hundred dollars at least in a tow back to the ramp, or I could shove him and his boat back into the current and he could figure it out for himself, we decided to call it even.

@Fishingmickey man that's a monster! I saw some of the giants they were catching at PK, including the one longer than the 26" Ketch board, made me think it might have been from there.

@Fishingmickey was that at PK?

I was already wrong on both my predictions 🤷‍♂️ I caught a 6.01lb, 19.75" largemouth on a homemade bladed jig last month, and I didn't catch a single, solitary fish on a crankbait while I was in Oklahoma, and surely no smallmouth that size.

I'm a multispecies guy, I can appreciate whatever wants to bite and when the bass aren't playing, I appreciate whatever fish is.

This is what caught me a lot of my fish at the Bassmaster Kayak Classic.

I use the telescoping style. I have the Dotline and a Money Pole. Both work well.

They've been plastic for quite a while now. I use to fish a muskie jitterbug occasionally. I don't fish any of them anymore. Treble hooks are a no-no at night for me. A similar bait that I do like is the Livingston Walking Boss Part II. Only Livingston bait I've ever used and liked. Something about it really seems to fire them up. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Livingston_Walking_Boss_II_Tournament_/descpage-WAL.html

Wind. The lakes themselves, most of them suck and the fish are small. The trash, people and actual trash, they tend to go hand in hand I figure. The amount of carp, drum, and gar in the lakes. How our state is next to Missouri and Oklahoma, 2 lakes with great bass fishing and tons of nice, free ramps, but our fishing sucks and I have to pay to use every ramp with giant craters all over them. How the state will stock millions of catfish, walleye, and hybrids every year, but bass are left to fend for themselves.

I learned to Ned rig from one of Ned's friends that helped creat the rig/concept. I use to run into Ned on the water pretty often when I had weekdays off. The heaviest Ned rig head in my box is 1/16oz. I'm familiar with it.

That's a spawning channel cat. Their heads and lips swell up when they're spawning. The curved anal fin is the easiest tell. Blues have a very straight anal fin.

I've tried, haven't been able to make a fish eat one yet.

Did a little fishing Mother's Day morning and caught a bunch of fish, but never found any big ones. That Gamakatsu Nano Alpha hook was still sticking all of them so good. Pretty sure I caught my first topwater fish of the year also. Had a new addition to the kayak that I was playing with, that was the main reason for the trip.

I did pretty decent with the 168 S Waver, but nothing crazy. I do agree that the Shine Glide is a killer entry level bait that seems to get no mention at all.

No gas motors and it's a very small lake. The main issue is the ramp. It has concrete walls on both sides you have to back through and it's not very wide. I use to put my 16' Lowe Roughneck on it, so I'd guess your Tracker would fit fine. Black and blue or a junebug jig will get you lots of bites.

If you have a boat small enough to get on it, Crystal Lake in Garnett always has a good jig bite. Bourbon State Lake and Wilson County Lale both have good jig bites also.

High percentage areas like marinas, bridges, and dams are always good places to just get some fish, not always a winning area though.

I've got several Kistler Rods. I fish a little bit and have never popped an insert out. I've broke 2, 1 completely my fault and 1 was a factory defect. They replaced it no issues and I definitely didn't pay full price for the replacement.