Photos by Josh Rouse
The lakes and ponds have finally thawed, and the spring fishing season is slowly shifting into gear in Kansas.
 Josh Rouse holds up a 20-inch drum caught on a Googan Baits Krackin’ Craw rigged as a trailer on a Z-Man CrosseyeZ Power Finesse Jig. Photos by Josh Rouse When water temperatures drop, appetites increase and a variety of fish species come in shallow to feed.
A crankbait or bass jig fished during the right conditions can wreak havoc on a variety of feeding species during this time, as walleye, catfish, drum and other deeper-water fish move into sometimes a couple of feet of water or less to fuel up for winter.  Photo by Josh Rouse The last throes of a brutally hot summer are upon us, and if you’ve done much pond fishing recently you know that the weeds and other plantlife that inhabit the small bodies of water are at their peak.
 Largemouth bass caught on a live bluegill. Photo by Emily Steimel-Handy. ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON CJONLINE
Any time you can knock off a new milestone in fishing, it’s exciting. Sometimes, you knock off several in one go.  Josh Rouse holds his first rock bass, caught on a Strike King Coffee Tube. (Photos by Josh Rouse) I took some time off from work last week to relax after a busy month on the copy desk, which gave me the perfect opportunity to get some fishing in and try out some new things.
 Josh Rouse holds up a 19-inch largemouth bass he caught at a farm pond. Photo by Linnzi Fusco A lot of factors go into determining whether you’ll have a successful day of fishing — barometric pressure, water clarity, temperature, time of day, even the phase of the moon all play a part in determining fish activity.
 This bass bit on a 4-inch Senko made by B&P Jighead, based out of Carlyle, Ill. For those who have tried fishing Kansas waters in the past month, you may have noticed that the unusual weather patterns have been making the fish act a little wacky.
B&P Jighead allows for weedless, Texas-style Ned Rig or crappie jig fishing with sickle hook4/10/2018  The air may still be a bit chilly, but the fishing has been hot so far this spring.
Recently I got a chance to do some dock fishing and decided to try out some new jig heads that I ordered online. The company, B&P Jighead, advertises itself as the “Home of the Tru Set Weedless Ned Rig.” If you’ve read my columns, you know I’ve done a lot of Midwest Finesse fishing recently and have a lot of love for the Ned Rig, named after Lawrence resident Ned Kehde. One of the problems I have with Z-Man’s Finesse ShroomZ mushroom jig head, though, is that my hooks will often get tangled up in weeds or snagged on structure during retrieves.  When anglers sit out on the water, they tend to do a lot of guesswork about what’s going on below.
Sonar equipment takes a lot of that guesswork out of the equation, but if you’re not on a bass boat then you’re probably not using it unless you buy a handheld fish finder like the iBobber or Deeper, which have received somewhat mixed reviews from anglers for their accuracy.  Screenshots provided by Fishing Planet The “Fishing Planet” simulation video game has been hailed as one of the top fishing games on the market today, especially after making its jump to PlayStation 4 (free to play, no less!) in August.
However, an update that took place early Tuesday morning adds even more content to the already successful game, including kayak rentals, new fish species and topwater and night fishing. |
 AuthorJosh Rouse is an outdoor enthusiast from Topeka, Kansas. He is the Outdoors Editor for The Topeka Capital-Journal. 
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