kylek

Just today my father in law and a friend of his were fishing a local lake, when they heard a scream for help. They quickly fired up the motor and rounded the bend to find a man struggling to stay above water. They managed to get him into their boat and back to shore. He was fishing in a small aluminum boat when it began taking on water. He had a life jacket in the boat but was not wearing it. I guess he couldn't get to it when the boat was sinking. Besides the obvious safety ideas, I think everyone should take some type of swimming class.. even if all you do is learn to doggie paddle. This guy did not know how to swim at all.

Falcon would be my #1 choice for sure!!!

Ended up having a wonderful tournament today! We ended up with 5 fish for 16.87 lbs.. Not too bad. First place was 21lbs. We got a few keepers right out of the gate and had 3 in the boat in 30 minutes. We hit the first cove with some timber in it and caught them on wacky rigged senko style baits. Once the wind picked up we picked another nice one on a spinnerbait. We ended our day in another cove out of the wind and caught a few more nice ones on the wacky rig and a t-rig crawdad. All but one of our keepers came out of less that 2ft. of water. Our biggest was 4.86lbs. I can't even begin to count how many shorts we caught, it seemed like we went through a spell and couldn't buy one over 14". Kyle

Has anyone around here been up to Harrison County Lake in Bethany lately? I have a tournament in the morning and I have never been there before. My father in law has been 2 times before but not this year at all. It is suppose to be in the 80s tomorrow with a pretty good south wind.. I think they are calling for 20mph or so. Any tips or ideas? Thanks Kyle

d**n!!!!!! Do you ever catch small fish???? Congrats on another beauty!!!

Awesome fish!!! Any chance you need a step son to take fishing???

Very nice!!!! Congrats to her on a very nice bass!!!

That is AWESOME!!! For sure something they will treasure for a long time!!!!!

I love the regular Vicious fluoro in 12lb test. I tried the Pro Elite in 17lb and hated it. I couldn't do anything right with it. I would give it another shot if I was catching big fish like you have been posting lately though!!!!!

I have the same line on 4 of my reels and love it. This is my first venture into fluorocarbon line and I am really impressed so far.

I have never tried drop shotting. Is this a good technique to use when pitching to timber in 10' of water? Or maybe shallow laydowns? I would normally throw a T-rig worm or other soft plastic. Just looking to give the fish something different to look at..

I use the 12 lb fluoro and love it. I make sure I spray some line conditioner on it before I head out each time. I did try the 17lb elite fluoro once and hated it.

Let me know how you do at the Mill. We plan on going there this weekend. Kyle

When using a spinning rod for this, do you side arm the cast like skipping a rock? or do you use a flipping style motion?

My best moments while fishing... That is an easy one for me. Watching my 3 oldest catch their first fish from grandpa's pond!!! It was a little crazy taking 3 at a time but it will be something I will remember for the rest of my life, and I hope they do too. Kyle

Congrats on one heck of a bass!!!!!

Didn't Ish Monroe win an Elite series tourney using a black crankbait? I am wanting to think I read that somewhere... I never have tried one, but I would asume they would catch some fish. Especially at night time like mentioned above.

Looks and sounds like an awesome time!! I am super jealous.. it is my dream to get on waters to catch that many smallmouth!! Kyle

Those are all great!!! Thanks for the good laugh tonight!! Much needed after a bad day at work. Kyle

We had some decent luck at Watkins Mill last weekend. Well, I should say my father in law did as he put on a clinic catching fish. Most of them were shorts but still fun. We were using 10" plastic worms fishing the grass that seems to go all the way around it. 2 weeks ago fishing there with a wacky rigged senko style bait we caught a ton and 4 3-4lbers. We have been wanting to go to Smithville, but we never seem to do any good there!!!!

http://www.burtonsbaitandtackle.com/ They have a Thursday night and Saturday tournament at Smithville lake put on by Burton's Bait. Also some around the Blue Springs area. Check the outdoor section of the kansas city star. They have a section titled tournament trail. Shows when and where tourneys are and results from past tourneys.

I have 2 goals for 2012. 1-catch a 5lb or bigger largemouth 2- learn to fish off shore structure. I am a bank beater and want to learn!!!

Heading out to Watkins Mill this morning. Hoping the fish are biting like they were last week!!

Congrats!! My father in law and I fished it also. We didn't win any money but weighed 3 fish trying for the 3.0 of 4.0lb even fish. We had a 2.96, 3.60 and 3.96.. so we were close. Where did you fish? We fished in the Niangua arm. I think in the fall we are going to fish a lot farther north. The one in the fall pays even more!!! 60k to the winner

Only ones I have are the KVD 1.5 and 2.5 models. My favorite colors are sexy shad and chartreuse with black back.