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.

Critical error would be mono

I lost lots of fish down there last summer with 30lb braid. There is too much rebar, metal, concrete and rocks down there to use braid successfully. It frays on everything.

You're probably right tbh, i never really considered that. I'm new to targeting Blue and Flathead exclusively, so I'm learning by the mistakes i make.

Unfortunately, this mistake just happened to be on what i believe would have been the fish of my life.

The line is brand new, Whisker Seeker brand, so it isn't cheap Eagle claw mono. I think the spool ran me close to $25.

Probably need to keep a closer eye on knicks and frays in the line.

Also need to get the snell knot down.

That sucks losing fish for sure. Hope you land the big dude soon

I never knew tying a snell knot was so easy until I learned earlier this year

http://www.animatedknots.com/snell/i...hp#ScrollPoint

Hopefully you get another chance. I never target fish that large but the same applies to really any fishing, just with gear scaled down. I know it gets exciting when you are catching fish and want to get back in the water as soon as possible. I know I have lost fish for the same reason though.

Damn man, that story is getting me all excited... gonna break out my heavy gear this weekend and hope for that much fun

How do you target blues and flatheads exclusively, just use live bait?

Don't get me wrong, i will take channel cat too.. but i was using whole shad about 6-8" in length.

Most trash fish wont mess with them.

Turtles love cut bait too.

Also, i don't say exclusively like that is all i catch lol! Occasionally, I'll have a drum or gar hit my shad. Blue and Flathead are what i want to catch, so they are what I'm geared for.

The wife and I caught 42 keeper size crappie yesterday at our "secret spot". We let em all go but we did keep a couple of channels we got into.

Nice stories. Makes me want to leave work and catch some fish.

I've never been crappie fishing. Only caught one in my life.

Nice day.

I got skunked this morning. Did great yesterday.

I only catch them by accident, usually on plastic grubs attached to a spinner rig while looking for bass...one thing I do like about them (other than taste), is that they hit HARD

They totally inhale a lure, its like doing stomach surgery trying to get the hook out

6 bass yesterday
13 bass this evening.


Hoola Hoppers made it a short trip.


Transported them to a buddies pond down the road.

Same pond I will be hunting later this year...

Sounds like the right strategy... topwaters in the evening and morning

It took longer to get my gear out than it did to catch them.

Fast and furious action, one cast one kill

Gotta love days like that... they dont happen all that often, at least for me

Best part was trying to stay out of my 8yr old anglers cast. He ended up catching the big dog of the day.

Tried to get back out but some dildo is in my spot.

Not much biting where i am now

I hate that shit! Makes you wanna go over and say "Hey buddy, get outta my spot". But then you realize you don't actually have a claim to it and don't say anything.

You could always give them the treatment you were talking about where the people crowd your area and act like dicks.

I could, but i like being a respectable outdoorsman.

I'm starting to see more and more people i don't recognize down here. Secret must be out. :cuss:

****ing Facebook fishing groups:cuss:

I feel your pain BDj, its no different around here, its becoming harder and harder to find your own little piece of paradise

The local lake has become terrible the last 3-4 years, I've nearly gotten into fights out there with people who have absolutely no consideration or respect for anyone but themselves

It drives me further and further afield trying to find hidden little spots

I go out into nature to get away from it all, not have a gaggle of freaking strangers 20 feet away

My favorite local lake has been ruined by striper guides. I guess several years ago you could catch stripers, hybrid stripers, whites, all day. Guides have pretty much wrecked it.

Lakes owned by the power company and they don't stock it. I'd love to see the power company ban guides from the lake.

I recently watched a guide cutting up small ass whites, hybrids. Pisses me off. At least let them reproduce a few times.

Until next year when your secret spot has been ruined by idiots.

I've been getting into creeks and hard to access (where you at least need a pickup) Illinois river spots the last few years, always looking for spots that no one else thinks about or can get to

Creeks have really become my favorite, almost anything thats found in a river can be found in the creeks that feed it... and the fish are easier to find to boot

The Hybrids don't reproduce i believe, they have to be stocked. But i agree, i see them fished out of one of my spots every spring.

I've heard they don't taste very good either.

That's the great thing about my "spot". It is on public water but the beds have been worked under the dock for well over 20 years. And the dock is private. I've fished the doors and slaughtered them while guys in boats fifteen feet away catch nothing.

Well this year is starting to suck. I want to bitch slap mother nature that's right. ****ing ****.


So normally I don't miss a pick in the draft but hey we got a Quarterback and that's been a dream of my for oh 25+ years or so. So I'm like gittity and still Jone-zing go back to the lake cuz 6 night rotation really sucks. So it was decent enough when I left yesterday and I knew it would be a rough night but still nothing is detouring me from trying. I get there after 6pm scout around it's nice when nobody is at the lake. I found a spot but moved again because the wind is blowing opposite direction and have to cast into the wind that always sucks.

I only set up three poles figured make it easy on me. It wasn't too bad had a little fire and fixed me a nice shrimp and ham meal pretty good. Then it just gets cold and nasty so I stayed the rest of the night in my car and had to turn on the heat once in a while but I made it through the night 41 degrees. ****ing sick of this winter lingering on and it's suppose snow again tonight :cuss:

At least I had fun cuz there is no such thing as a bad day/night fishing.

Also thank God for my beard to keep my face from freazin

Yeah the winds blew my light tower down on my hand. Smashed my index and middle finger luckily my beer was in the other hand. Had to gather everything up while trying not to bleed on everything.

Now it's wet and the ground is going to be like loose shit. Had a bobcat walk across my lights the night before. I will have to wait for it to dry up before I can take out these damn coyotes

Its gonna snow in Kansas today? wow

Thats even worse than the 5 straight days of rain we're having here

I always hate it when mother nature doesn't bend to my will.:D
At least you had a line in the water for a bit. A friend of mine got his name drawn on some special turkey hunt down in south central Mo. by the MDC. He's been down there all week camping out and waiting to hunt. He's only had one day that wasn't pouring down rain. lol

Yeah snowed last night further west like Dodge Shitty.


Last year this time the fish were banging this year ****ing two keeps and a throw back.


This is depressing me. All freaking winter I wait and spring hits and boom fish on. This year been cold and the fish aren't biting and they are in deeper waters.

****ing ****s.

These constant cold fronts and heavy rains are really messing up the crappie spawn. They keep getting pushed back and it's making it really hard to predict where they will be. One good thing is that the outlets of the reservoirs are really good fishing this time of year while they release water and then right after they cut it back.

Stupid weather.

Ruined my plans to fish all day

So I got outa work early tonight/this morning so I can start my three day weekend and load up for the lake. IT BETTER BE FEAKING NICE :cuss:

The weather has been sucking but the high rivers have been beneficial to those hunting big cats. This 51 lb'er was caught by Chetopa May 2nd.

http://i65.tinypic.com/6rts38.jpg

WOW!! :eek: Fish fry!!

Pond is still way high and a bit murky. Turkey hunting this AM but plan to go wack some bluegills for filets tonight

I've still got about 20 frozen shad in my freezer from last Friday. Hoping to put them to use tomorrow morning.

Me too (not the shad). We're heading out tomorrow morning and don't plan to come back until the cooler's empty or the bait is gone.

KC Tattoo just came

You should put longer lines on your pole to reach them.

It's a madhouse around here. Fishing, hunting, gardening/property work, 1/4 a cow yesterday have a right fine pile of shit to bring the coyotes in. Who ever came up with this 24hr day bullshit or the first guy that said "I am going to work" needs a swift kick in the nuts. I don't have time for all the fun around me. Great times to be had.

Holy sheeeit, where is Jeremy Wade when you need him?

Thats the kinda cat that drowns some hapless noodler with his arm trapped in that gaping maw... better chop those pieces small and soak them in buttermilk overnight, or thats gonna be one gamey fish fry

Hey man, I'm just thankful I CAN finally go to work... was totally rained out most of last week, and two days this week

Cant load grain in the rain, the elevators dont wanna introduce that moisture into their bins

Yeah I wouldn't keep a big one like that. I would snap some pics and let him go. I like my cats about 4-6 pounds. There is a lot of bad meat on that monster.

Made it out yesterday for a few hours. Didn't get a damn fish again. I've been skunked 3 or 4 times in a row all while leaving about 20lbs of lead and 15 hooks that are about a buck a pop on the bottom of the river.

Trying to decide if i should head out and try to catch some crappie or channel, or watch the Cards game.

Could take it to the homeless shelter and toss it.

Any time it starts looking like I'm gonna get skunked, I bust out my junker pole and go after bluegill... those little dummies are always biting, and I get to go home having had at least a little bit of sporting action

gonna go this evening and see whats up after all the rain and hope the pond has settled down

Caught one hybrid in four hours of fishing today. Decided to try one last cove before leaving. I landed three Saugeye and two more hybrid stripers in 20 minutes.

Lost three lures in the process.

No one is catching nothing out here and I've talked to experiencd boaters. Also everyone left this morning but I'm still here.

I've caught bass when it was windy like this before but I don't know how much gumption I have to wade in the water and get knocked over by waves.

I think it's going be nice next few days but another cold front later this week​ and temps be in 60s and 70s. These cold fronts are really making this year rough start.

If I had a bow and arrows I could have shot some carp but they are stupid fish anyways and I got one with my hands.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2pq8kn8.jpg

Took my girls fishing today. Her first crappie.

Rep

The only thing more exciting than catching a fish, is watching a kid catch one... they're absolutely thrilled every single time

Awesome dunit

2nd shift work week for me this week

Made it out to the Wakarusa river for a few hours this morning. That place is thick with gar. Pulled 3 out on my ultra-lite with 8lb test, had another one almost spool my in the current before he spit my lure. Also hooked one crappie, lost another gar and snagged into a huge freaking buffalo (had a scale the size of a half dollar on my lure after he came off).

I figured 9 am on a Monday morning, there wouldn't be anybody out there.. don't these ****ing people have jobs? There was about 15 people fishing down there by the time i packed up.

Its not a record because it was caught on a trot line but still a 135 lb. flathead is huge.

Caught in Santee Cooper, SC near Jacks Creek Landing and was 67" long.

http://i65.tinypic.com/11ul34p.jpg

That is awesomeness!! I used to think that trot lines were cheating, until I gave it ago a few times and found out it can be a lot of work. So kudos to that guy for landing a whale of a fish. Impressive! Also you never know what your gonna get when pulling in a trot in the morning, that's why it's fun.

I used to think the same thing. but going through the whole process of catching bait, string up the trout line, baiting then running it changed my mind too. They're also dangerous as hell if you don't pay attention. That feeling you get while running one at 3:00 am and feel that heavy ass weight/tugging coming from the line and you can't see wth it is until you're right on top of it is great.

Probably nothing worth worrying about for most of you but our Bass Pro in Columbia had their tournament edition Micro Spinners on sale for .99 cents a piece. They're usually about $3.00.

So I bout 20 of them because why the hell not? Filled up the tackle box with 'em and now I won't have to use my shoddy ones that only like to spin about 1/3 of the time. I've always had pretty good luck with the Bass Pro ones.

Not sure if the KC one is doing it as well because I don't see it listed in the ad but if you're going to be near there anyway, it couldn't hurt to swing back and check.

So I'm too impatient to catfish; bores the hell out of me. I know we have some in our lake but the HOA will have kittens if I float milk jugs out there.

So instead I found a duck decoy floating loose on the channel at the lake of the ozarks last weekend and I'm going to use it. So the next question is....how the hell do I run a trot line?

I was thinking of just tying a 5 lb weight to a rope, tying about 5 treble hooks to the weight and throwing some catfish crud on each one, then tie the rope to the duck and throw it in the water. Is there anything more complicated than that?

Gay

40 year old fish winding up on a dinner plate because Jethro caught it on a trot line.

More like a 20 year old fish and in all reality it got that big by eating a shitload of stuff that could've easily been eaten by other fish that can now get bigger/stronger in their own right.

I see no real benefit to going all 'circle of life' here, but why the hell does it matter? Moving things out of the top of the pool allows you to keep the population below it stronger. Having monsters for the sake of having monsters serves no purpose.

That's a fish over world record size, and winding up on a dinner plate isn't a fitting end to a once in a lifetime fish in my opinion. Plus it's genetics are gone forever. Flathead i believe grow 3-5lbs a year. There is a reason why you don't see many flatheads over 50lbs anymore, because the trophy ones are overfished and eaten all the time.

If you want to trot line and eat trophy catfish, knock yourself out.. I'm not going to stop you. But i don't agree with it.

Having a fish like this live for the sake of it being a monster makes perfect sense, because if it is truly 135lbs, it's 12 lbs bigger than the world record rod and reel flattie.

Its genetics are gone? How do you figure; that thing has tossed its genetics all over the place in the decades it's been floatin' about. Now its time for it to get dead so the next round of its genetics can move up in the world.

Would you prefer it just wash up on shore as a carcass?

This isn't a 50 lb fish that still has a ton runway in front of it. I can see some frustration in things like that. We have a tendency to pass on good bucks when hunting in the hopes of them turning into great bucks. Putting a 70 lb fish back in the water may make some sense there. But that fish IS that great buck. And it's almost certainly near the end of its useful life.

20+ years and it's not been caught; that's plenty of time for one of those rod and reelers to have gotten it. Now it's pretty much on the way out either way so why you'd have a preference for it ending up hooked over just keeling over and washing up onshore somewhere is a bit of a mystery to me.