Topwater

A Secret Smile: Live worms a hidden secret? A Secret Smile: Spent a week in the lovely state of Missouri on one of my favorites, Table Rock Lake. This lake has been a gentle giant and full of bounty for our yearly family reunion. This year was no different. Within minutes of launching my boat at the Shell Knob Bridge I had begun the onslaught. Only took 30 minutes and I had 20 fish in my boat using a live worms drop-shotted around the pylons.

Perry Lake: Right Spot, Wrong Time: That’s right. Good riddance to that POS!!! This was a lake I just didn’t want to fish. The little bit of practice we got a few weeks ago didn’t go to well and I didn’t have the normal confidence that I rely on come game day. “Oh Perry Lake, I am so glad to be done with you.” Perry Lake Kansas Dam My fishing buddy and I caught a lot of fish in practice - some largemouth bass, a few hybrid striped bass and whites, and a ton of drum.

Early Fall Bass Fishing – Perry Lake Game Plan This weekend’s tournament takes place about 20 miles north of Topeka, Kansas, on Perry Lake. It’s only my second time on this lake—the first was last weekend when I spent about four hours scouting. Right now, Perry is 4 feet above normal pool due to downstream flooding. Conditions & Strategy The water has been high for a while, and there are no plans to release it soon.

Where to Start: Wow! Where do you start ? Figuring out where to start can send a lump to our stomachs some days. That can be the first feeling that comes over a person when they encounter a lake the size of Table Rock. Table Rock Lake Shell Knob Bridge Billions of gallons of water for those green ghost to hide in. Even if you have been to the lake 50 or 1000 times before, you still have to answer that question.

End of a Marathon: Tournament Day Gone Wrong Sure, we’ve all had one of those days. Today was tournament day, and after a long Friday at work, we rolled into Lawrence around 9 PM—just in time to discover it was KU Graduation Weekend. The scramble for a hotel room First stop? No luck. It quickly became clear we might be spending the night in the truck at the ramp. As luck would have it, the very first hotel we called had an available room.

The conditions were perfect for a buzzbait bite — post-frontal weather, a light chop on the water, and just enough surface distortion to hide the bait’s outline. A textbook setup. Every time conditions line up like that, I start hoping the bass will commit to topwater. When they do — wow. There’s nothing like the explosion of a big fish hammering that bait across the surface. Buzzbait Conditions When It Works Best Low skies and low light, especially on a slightly cooler day Shallow fish holding near visible cover — the buzzbait flushes them out Over wood, vegetation, or any structure that gives fish a good ambush spot Light wind to flat calm water Stained or clear water where visibility varies [!

Missed a Big One: Hit a local yocal today and found quite a few Big bucks running the bank. Had about 20 min to fish, so I had to make the best of it. Targeting spawning flats Started with a custom painted Pop-r and had a nice 8 lber blow up on it. Being my first cast of the day I choked and yanked it out of his mouth ! ARGH!