Pumpkin Lizard

That's really going out on a limb LOL! He's a freaking machine. He's like the first pick in the NFL Draft and then some.

Jake Paul is the perfect analogy. Ben always rubbed me the wrong way. I watched him way back when I still used facebook. He'd buy different small animals intended as pets from a pet store and feed them to the bass he kept in his garage. It just seemed stupid, pointless and inappropriate for some reason. After that I didn't have much use for him.

A national fishing license would be fantastic. That being said. You can buy a license while on your boat with a cellphone and a credit card.

And how many videos has Milliken already made about this? He’s a professional fisherman. If he didn’t have a valid license when he was fishing then that’s not good. Contest or not. Professionals keep their paperwork up to date. At this point he has to let the legal process play out. He has a very lucrative YouTube Channel it’s not like he doesn’t have the means to procure one. He makes enough money that he can basically fund his own Elite Series career independently which is to his credit. But it makes you wonder about him. These days it takes 5 minutes on a website to get one. This is on him. He’s not being targeted that’s ridiculous.

It's not really any different than a golf club paying the PGA a sanctioning fee, or a promoter paying IndyCar, NASCAR or F1 a fee to host an event.

I caught a half dozen channels incidental to bass fishing this year. A huge one (by my standards) on a Bellows Gill. That bait smells like rotten fritos so that makes sense. Another few on Rage Bugs. And a couple on a Magdraft. One was foul hooked, but it wasn't a pure snag.

Something lives in it though. In Wisconsin there was a section of a river below a dam that ran through a park. It was on the way home from work and it was easy fishing. Mowed grass for a few hundred yards. I took out my favorite 4 weight thinking maybe I would run into a carp or two since the carp run was really strong. Turned out to be loaded with Brown Trout. There was even a sign posted that stated that Musky were in there and they had to be released or something. Since there was never anything behind me it was a perfect night fishing spot. There was no need to wade and it really wasn't wadeable conveniently because of the snags.

When I was in the Army we spent a bunch of time talking about Operational Art. The Art was how you chose to employ the science. So I say art. When we are fishing we are we are drawing on our experience to put together some sound tactics to work best on a given day. We're artists.

Other species wrap up. I caught this Channel Cat on a Bellows Gill. I have no idea how heavy it was. It was bigger than 30 inches. Son caught a nice stocker rainbow. He prefers bass! Swimbait wipers. They fight harder than anything I have caught in freshwater other than a Steelhead. Impressive.

The lakes around here just seem stupid with shad. I guess they just need to eat enough so that they shad don't out compete the juvenile game fish. I've been told that chicken gizzards fished on the bottom like you would go after catfish works well. Although I have zero desire to fish that way.

I caught a 24 inch Wiper on a Magdraft this year. They like big swimbaits too. They put wipers in the lakes in NW Missouri to curb out of control Shad and Carp populations.

It's not complicated. Bass are everywhere. Chasing them is fun. And generally more fun than other species. I never eat fish. I also fly fish for trout and sometimes steelhead. That's a really fun game too. They fight much harder than bass but they aren't nearly as available.

yup

Why? When I got back into it this year I tried it and hated it. No fun to cast and less fun to rig. Even less than a Carolina rig.

I broke down and bought at 8 for a rod that I almost exclusive fish jigs and worms with. I like it. Picks up line fast and I get better hook sets. After working a specific spot I can reel the bait in fast and make the next cast. I read somewhere once that for baits that work fast use a slower reel and for slow retrieves use a faster ratio. But I can also appreciate using the same ratio on everything.

Rat-L-Trap is both an OG lure and state of the art at the same time.

Not KC area but the NW Missouri lakes and ponds are still fishing well.

My Dad who couldn't catch a fish to save his life and has no interest taught me a lesson I would never forget about that. We came home one day and some lady was fishing in our backyard with her very small son. I was a little **** and was territorial. My Dad walked down and chatted with her. She was a single mom who had a kid who just wanted to go fishing. She had permission to fish from the people with the only other house on the water and just got the address wrong/ My Dad was like just like, "well you are welcome anytime here too" and he let it be. Then when we got back to the house he ripped me a new one for being an ass and made me bring down some cokes to them and apologize. Now I live in an HOA with some ponds and I see these old jerks running kids off that don't live in the neighborhood. It's infuriating.

That sounds ridiculously non serious to me.

I would say the mid 70s to mid 90s. I got into it as a kid in the late '80s. Into it is not the right word. Immersed is the word. We lived in rural CT and we didn't have access to cable until the late '80s. I had an official Uncle in Atlanta who used to send me hours and hours of fishing shows on VHS and watched those tapes umpteen times along with doses of Top Gun. My favorite show was the Bassmasters. I remember a show where Peter Thliveros won a tournament with a Carolina Rigged Pumpkinseed Zoom Lizard (I know it's Pumpkin but I swear I recall it being pumpkinseed back then) and I was mesmerized by that skill. The story of how that color was made is also super interesting. My two favorite sports memories are Bryan Kerchal winning the Bassmaster Classic and UConn winning their first BB title in '99. Getting the Bass Pro Shops catalog was annual highlight, the thing was almost phone book thick. Now we have a website, there is no magic in that. I can't put my finger on it but it just felt like a Golden Age to me. Reading about what you guys were catching and doing out west as a kid was fascinating and a great memory. Thanks for your service! I hope you can keep on finding a way to wet a line. As Americans and Sportsmen and women we need to really make a stand on public access. I lived in Europe for years and access to fishing seems impossible. Hunting? Yeah right. Good luck. If we're not vigilant, that will happen here.

Nice! What's your BFS setup?

More after work fun. They have been slamming the shad on this bank all week. The mayor and hybrid swim jig. I need to dig out my scale.

They fit the category of “if a pickerel were a bass”.

I grabbed some of these and some VMC Hybrid Swimbait Jigs. I think they will be vastly better than what I have been using. You know the world record rock bass is only like 3lbs? I put one Rock Bass in my childhood pond and I’m fairly certain it hit world record territory. It was enormous.