Rayraff

You can also get throw on a weedless hook with the o-ring trick. It works great. I caught 7 on the same senko last night using that technique

I'm going up to Apple River Canyon, IL for a weekend and I was wondering if any of you have ever been there. There are no largemouth bass there and I don't fish for smallmouth so I will probably fish for trout and carp. Has anyone been up there and have any tips?

dynamite jk

If there is a lot of surface activity try a topper water popper worked slowly. On the other hand the surface activity might be carp (I don't know much about them). Otherwise I would go with senkos or jigs and work them around the stumps you see. If they aren't hitting spinnerbaits/rapalas then they are probably not very active, so what ever bait you use, use it slow.

I just got skunked today while fishing a pond in the NW subs anyone out here have any ideas. The water was probably 2 feet vis and I tried everything from popers to slug-os

I fish a short rod w/ a pistol grip handle. My dad used to make all of his tournament rods this way so I grew up with the pistol grip. If I'm reading your post right the short rod and the pistol grip allows you to fish like that plus I think its easier to handle/pitch/flip with them

Alright so I'm right handed but I'm thinking about switching to a left handed bait cast so I don't have to switch hands after I cast. Has anyone gone through the switch and is it worth it?

The brookfield zoo? be more specific

I saw the mallet and I was scared you hit it over the head.

If you have a small inflatable tube I would go into the center and drop a sinker w/ a line and see how deep it is or you could get a pair of goggles and dive.

Last weekend I went out and tested a few ponds and caught nothing. Chicago just got a little snow Saturday night so it might be a while. :'(

I fished a pond thats similar only the branch is about 1-2 feet deep and 20 feet across. I have never found/saw a bass anywhere near the little branch.

Remember if you see a couple loons floating in the water or a heron sitting on the shore it doesn't mean a whole lot. If you are going to look for wild life to make predictions look for irregulars, 3-4 herons in one area or a large number of active birds.

I'm not an expert but I think that as long you don't sell the logo your aloud to use it for privatly. So basically as long as you don't sell the rods you could put them on yours.

A 4ft gar would have been a hell of a fight, good catch. Gars are know to be extremely hard to catch because of their long mouthes so it makes sense that you never hook him.

The second one looks great, you did a nice job. I love the look of carbon fiber on just about anything.

I've caught a 8lb bass in a pond that was stocked 10 years ago and I have seen bigger. There were probably bass there before they stocked it if not that about .8 lb per year.

I got all my materials from ebay but heres a website http://www.flyfishingjacksonhole.com/products/flytying/materials_main.htm I used Marabou Feathers for the body, Rabbit fur for the tail, Some standard black jig heads, Normal thread, and 5 minute epoxy If I had a website that gave you a step-by-step I would but I just did them by myself.

They work great, I went fishing with my dad in Manitoba for a week with 3 of the long ones apiece. By then end of the third day they were ripped to shreds. The guide we had said he never saw any jig like it. My dad caught a 43 inch pike on a bigger version of the fly. Making them is pretty easy 1) Find the color/material combination you want. 2) Using a pair of small clamping pliers you clamp the materials to the jig head. 3) I start with a clove hitch at the base of the head and wrap all the way down until I reach the hook and end with another clove hitch. 4) I seal the thread with epoxy so it doesn't come loose.

I have tried alkaselzers but they never last that long, I will have to go get some and try dry ice, It's probably cheaper too.

Not as good as some of the cranks that you guys make but I make jigs and flys for pike. I still need to trim the top of the red and black jig.

I got some Jelly Worm worm attractant in Grape.... Probably 20 years old

Bass probably won't be that active yet so whatever you do fish sloowwwwww

Our cabela's has this thing called the bargain Cave where they put all of their returned merchandise (marked down considerably). I could probably pick up a prodigy for $40 if I am lucky.

Sorry just an update, I want it to be low profile and I plan and using it for flipping.