bluebasser86

Very nice Quillback! I love a little #5 shad rap this time of year. One little bait that I've had a lot of luck with in similar conditions to the shad rap is the little Duo Realis Shad 62DR. Cast much better than a shad rap with the weight transfer system, runs about the same depth, but is a bit pricey for a little bait.

We fished a very similar bank in the same area with the sunlight hitting it, not a bite. Every bite we had was in shade despite it being painfully cold out. The sunlight was very intense also, so I imagine it was bright enough that it might have been difficult for them to see in the shallows on the sunny banks.

Buddy and I went out on his birthday Tuesday closer to home. Barely made it over 20 and was below freezing when we launched. We made it count though. TUE 1/2 Actual Temp 22° /-1°

I'm fine at around 20 provided the wind isn't bad. Sometimes my guides ice up so fast I get tired of dealing with it though.

Believe it or not, but my buddy caught a 14.5lb striper on an A-rig at Beaver with 3" Easy Shiners on some 1/8oz heads I poured on a #1 hook. Took awhile and even with babying it, still almost straightened the hook, but he got her in the boat, his first striper ever.

Yo-Zuri made a very similar (maybe the same), lure as those. I used to troll them for crappie and caught my first largemouth over 5 pounds on one doing that.

He was kind enough to give me info via PM here on my first ever trip to Beaver with a friend in our attempt to catch our first ever stripers. Used his tips to catch our first stripers, my buddy a 15.5lb fish and mine a 20 pounder, along with several 5-8 pounders. Couldn't thank him enough for his help. Really sucks that people have to be jealous enough of someone so talented and helpful to make him leave the forum altogether. I only get to Beaver once every few years, but thoroughly enjoyed reading his post and living vicariously through them.

Nope, I don't bother looking for it. Every one I've ever caught has the faint lateral line like this one did.

My brother in law and I hit the lake about 7am. Put in at Hawker Point and fished around there a little. I had a short smallmouth pull off a jerkbait and my BIL caught a short spot on a jerk and had a nice smallmouth pull off a wart. We ran south hopping around and not catching much before we got to H bridge by Roark Bluff. I caught a keeper spot on a shakyhead and 3 keeper largemouth on a jerkbait along with several shorts. My BIL caught a keeper largemouth on a wart and a few shorts on a tube. We ran all the way back to 215 bridge and found out we'd been so close to being on the fish when we put in, just went the wrong direction. Caught largemouth, smallmouth, spots, and at least one for sure meanmouth, mostly on jerks and warts. I also had just mentioned to my BIL that I was surprised we hadn't got a walleye yet when I caught our first walleye of the day. We ended up sticking with the pattern and catching 7 keeper 'eyes in the next 3 hours along with all the bass and 1 heart breaker of a big drum. What started out as a pretty slow day really ended up well. My meanmouth and the jerkbait that did most of the damage. My BIL with a hungry little largemouth Our mess of walleye that got invited home for dinner

The bass and walleye were really on it at Stockton Sunday.

1. I fish last Monday and Tuesday on a private lake in Mound City, KS 2. Out of my boat, a 2012 Stratos 189 VLO 3. Temps were in the mid to high 80's both day with more clouds than sun the first day and a mix of both the second day. Water clarity was about 4'. 4. Monday was my first time ever fishing the lake but caught them a variety of ways with a swinghead and Keitech Crazy Flapper accounting for most of my fish. Also caught a bunch on a dropshot 4" cut tail worm, a Yo-Zuri 3DB Pencil, and 1 larger fish on a Deps 175 Slide Swimmer. Tuesday was very calm and lots of fish were cruising the shorelines. I caught a majority of my fish sight casting with a wacky rig or Ned, including my 2 largest of the day.

Wasn't at Table Rock, but this smallmouth on Beaver was pretty much suicidal.

It's my understanding that the electric current is only effective to about 15' deep, so that may somewhat explain why a majority of fish sampled were largemouth.

I'd chip in for your bond money if someone could get video of one of those things busting on the deck of one of those big cruisers

Crazy how choosy those stupid little green and brown fish can be at times. The boar hogz was my best plastic on a swinghead all winter. I was catfishing with it would be the best description. Cast it out, let it sit, line would start moving after it sat for an extended period of time. I suspect because the bait was floating up off the bottom slightly, in combination with the current in the area I was fishing, was making the bait move around like a craw or minnow feeding and they just couldn't deal with it.

Their new dropshot bait looks like it could be a good Ned bait too. I'm excited about the finesse creature, but most of the lakes I'm fishing in NE KS are much shallower and dirtier so a slower fall and more bulk is a good thing at times. I know Ned talks highly of it.

Blue catfish eat lots of zebras too. The zebras are in most of the lakes I fish. One of the lakes I guide on has a strong population of blue cats and on a recent trip I caught a blue with so many shells in it's guts that it rattled when I cradled it's belly. Also expelled several empty shells on the carpet of my boat It was a making quite the living off those things by the looks of it.

I saw a huge cottonmouth down around Shell Knob a few years back fishing with my brother in law. It was fairly early in the year and it was curled up on top of the rocks sunning itself. Looked like it was waiting for someone to take it's picture for a nature documentary how perfectly it was balled up with it's head resting on it's body. I see hundreds of common water snakes (as well as various other flavors of snakes), every year, there was no mistaking this bad boy. I generally dismiss all the claims of cottonmouths I hear from my area, since they're extremely rare in NE Kansas, was pretty cool to get to see an actual cottonmouth in the wild. Don't see many copperheads, but I'm sure there's plenty around. This little guy was sunning himself up high in a bush right by the ramp of a little lake in south central Kansas.

I have not had good luck with the Sexy Dawg. Doesn't want to walk very well but haven't noticed issues hooking up, but I change the hooks on mine to Owners. I've had much better luck with the Storm Arashi Top Walker 13. It's a big bait and very loud, strikes are very violent on it.

I've caught 2, both from Milford lake in Kansas. They're just blue cats with funny pigmentation. This one only had a touch of color on it's adipose fin.

I use a few different reels for cranking from a 5.0, 5.2, to 6.2. The IPT is really the important number to look at though.

This is all the same that I was told and it was spot on. I'm using the 6' 9" H/F for bladed jigs and it has been the perfect rod for them. I was worried buying a rod with those specs without ever handling it, fearing I'd get a pool cue that I'd have no use for, but the guys I talked to about the rod steered me right and I'm really glad I gave it a shot.

I have a Hammer that I use to fish bladed jigs, which is one of my favorite baits to fish. I'm in love with the rod and couldn't recommend it higher. Planning on owning more in the future no doubt.

Don't know if it's the same for river smallies, but I target them with 7" and larger glide baits and wake baits in lakes and even small ones are not shy about smashing them. I'd probably toss a Bull Shad for those river smallies though.

Thanks guys. I've been getting a little better each day. No more fevers and chills like I had bad the first couple days back. Able to feel like I can almost take a full breath again without hacking my lungs out. Looking forward to my boys being old enough for me to bring them down to enjoy the lake as much as I have since I was little.