I’m Sandro. I’ve been fishing for bass for about three years.
That’s not a long time, and I’d rather say it up front than imply otherwise. Everything on this site is what I’ve worked out in those three years — on real water, mostly public, usually without the right gear for the situation. If that’s where you are too, this site is written for you.
Where I fish
Mostly Missouri and Nebraska. Lake Jacomo just outside Kansas City is my home water. Further north I fish Thousand Hills near Kirksville, and Thomas Hill and Long Branch around Macon. Midwest reservoirs, in other words: stained water, timber, riprap, and fish that see a lot of pressure.
Most recently I took the kayak to Michigan for four days. I’m not naming the lake.
The boat, and then the kayak
I learned a lot of what I know from a bass boat. I don’t have it any more, and honestly it changed how I fish for the better. I bought a modular kayak instead, and losing the boat forced me to think much harder about water I can actually reach — banks, launches, the first hundred yards. A lot of what I write about bank and kayak fishing comes from that, not from theory.
What I actually fish with
Nothing exotic. KastKing for my baitcasting setups and Lew’s for spinning — both of which do everything I need without costing what a boat did.
Two lures do most of my damage. A Yamamoto Senko in PB&J, weightless, on a Texas rig — it looks like nothing and it catches everything. And a swim jig with a Googan crawdad trailer, which is what I reach for when I want to cover water and still get bit.
If you see me recommend something on this site, it’s because it works, not because someone paid for it. Nobody has.
The tiger musky at Hazel Creek
Hazel Creek is a small lake near Kirksville. I was in the kayak with a PB&J Senko, fishing for bass, and something took it that was very much not a bass.
It was a tiger musky — my first — and it was big enough to tow the kayak. Twenty minutes of being pulled around a small Missouri lake on a weightless Senko and bass tackle, fully expecting to lose it the whole time. I landed it. It remains the best thing that has happened to me on the water, and it happened on the lure I would have been throwing anyway.
That’s most of what I’ve learned about fishing, actually: be on the water, throw something you believe in, and be ready for the day to hand you something you weren’t fishing for.
What this site is
Bass Fishing Blueprint is where I write down what I’ve figured out — techniques, gear that’s worth the money, and how to read Midwest water from a bank or a kayak. It’s aimed at people fishing public water without a boat, because that’s who I am now.
If something here is wrong, tell me and I’ll fix it. You can reach me at sandro232001@gmail.com.