BUCKET PEOPLE GET OUT!!!

REEEEEEEEEE

Don't even bother with store bought bait. Either use shad or carp for cut bait, or live sunfish/shad.

Worms work good too, but everything eats worms.

I almost always use a seine and get my bait from the area I'm fishing in. But, soaking some hot dogs for a couple days is too easy no to try.

Fair enough, but since I've bought a cast net i never buy catfish bait anymore and catch way more fish.

Had some great luck last weekend catching wipers at an outlet that was running water. Caught 7 total, and lost a few others. I was fishing with a pretty light crappie set up. I think wipers are the hardest fighters I have ever caught. A couple were 6 lbs and the rest were between 4 and 6 lbs.

Also took out my kayak hunting crappie. They were pretty spread out, not yet on the banks, though some males were definitely starting to build nests. It was my first time using my new Garmin fish finder on my kayak. That thing makes such a huge difference.

Clinton last Wed?

No, Pomona. I don't like the Clinton outlet. It's too small and doesn't produce very good size fish.

That didn't happen much close to me. Our conservation agents are all over it.

My fishing buddy has a cast net he uses when we go. Helluva lot easier than a seine.

Ah, i saw some dude in a KC cap slaying wiper last Wednesday while i was catching bait with my net.

Clinton outlet has some good sized Wiper but they all get fished out by bucket people every spring.

It will also have nice flathead in it if it runs long and high enough for them to get up from the Kansas River.

I have heard if you catch it right you can catch some, but it's such a small outlet that it can't last long, especially with fish hogs. I don't keep wipers, but I know some people will sit there all day long keeping literally every fish they bring in. I hate seeing that. The outlets usually have less regulations as well and some people take full advantage.

Decided to take the day off and head down to the Kaw this morning. Went out yesterday and had no luck for hours, not one single bite.

Hit the Perry outlet for shad, i caught about 60 in one cast of my net. One toss for more bait than i needed all day. Amazing.

About 45 minutes into fishing something smashes an 8" shad i had on a circle hook. 20 minute or so fight and i pull in a blue cat about 30lbs. New personal best fish. Great morning so far.

Bait and recast, and hook a nice channel about 7 or 8 lbs.

About 20 minutes or so after i get my line back in the water i feel a flight bite and then nothing. I notice my line is slowly moving up stream where the water kind of swirls and i start to reel it in. I think I'm snagged for about 1 minute until the snag starts fighting back. I have a Rippin Lips 8ft heavy rod, Abu Garcia c7000 reel and 50lb mono. This is the fish I've been waiting my entire life to catch. Unfortunately, after a 30 minute battle Mr. Flathead won. He broke my line.

I've never felt a fish like that on the end of my line. I've never broken my personal best, and left disappointed until today. It had to have been a flathead or blue cat over 50lbs. That 30lber i caught earlier didn't fight like that.

I thought i had everything i needed to land that fish, but luck didn't smile upon me at that moment.

I'm still sad.

Rippin Lips ROFL

Sounds like a good day!

So, what will you different next time? Were there knicks in your line? Was your line old? Did it break at the knot? Did you not have the drag set properly?

It sounds like maybe the critical error you made might have been not to re tie the line after those first fish, if in fact you did not do that. You really have to cut about a foot or two off at least and then make a fresh knot on the hook. That line goes under a lot stress from the weight, friction of the fish's mouth, twisting around, and likely scraping against rocks or other debree while fighting those fish.