MartyMar

I went to Silver Lake, IL i went the week after the opening and I saw maybe 5 fish get caught by other fisherman..

In IL the first sat of april was our trout opener (a bunch of lakes get stocked with rainbow trout). I couldn't make it on the opener but i was able to go this past sunday morning. I heard that during the opener ppl caught 30-40 trout.....i didn't catch one this past sunday I tried using spoons, spinners, trout power bait and worms. Any help?

I live 5 minutes west of OHare. I'm trying to grasp bass fishing but without a boat it seems really hard to do. I've caught a bunch of catfish, suckers, bluegills and other bottom feeders using live bait. I want to start catching bass! lol It seems pretty hard without a boat and without a fish finder. I rented a boat a few times but had no luck catching anything. :'(

Did anyone hear about a river called Wolf River in WI ?? There is a bunch of white bass there around Easter(late march, early april) ? I wouldn't mind checking it out...

Do you guys have any luck over there? Which spots are good and when is a good time to start fishing over there?

Anyone from norther party of IL? Where is a good place to fish and when do you guys start (march/april). ???

I'm going fishing this weekend an hour away from chicago. There was a cold front that moved in sunday to tuesday. Lowered the high temps to 40s. Wednesday (today) it is going to be in the high 50s (sunny). Calling for 80s thursday (sunny) and 70s on friday and saturday(sunny). I'm going fishing friday and saturday. Will this cold front effect my fishing? Are those 3 days enough time for fish to get active? Thanks!

Is there a real big difference b/w cheaper fishfinders and the really expensive ones? What do I really need? water temp..depth...structure..

yea the lowrance x 135 is nice but its WAY out of my price range.

Which one should i buy? a gps? or a fish finder? I don't want to spend over 200 dollars. I was looking at a Garmin 250c (fishfinder) for 200 dollars. What do you guys think?

haha..i know there was one...i'm just making a scenario...if there was no front for a couple weeks... That's a good topic...how do you adjust to fronts moving in?? Post cold front? How does the fishing change?

I'm pretty new to fishing. I'm going on a fishing trip this saturday in IL. It's supposed to be in the low 50s. Water temp about 40F. Clear water. No wind. No fronts have moved in for at least a week now. How should I rig my fishing poles and what technique should I use? I'm planning on renting a boat. Thanks.

yea so u like my title "Spooning techniques" haha....yea i did that on purpose..I was just waiting for somenoe to say something about that. haha

What are the best shoreline techniques to use? Drop shot? Jigging? Deadsticking? Hard lure retrieve? live bait? spinnerbait? Texas Rig? Carolina Rig? Wacky style? What do you recommend?

So ..spoons are probably used mostly offshore on a boat over structure...not shoreline?

Shouldn't we kind of go by what region u live in when selectin bait fish? Will shinners be good to use in IL?

see, that's another topic...everyone's always like use mono on topwater.. flourocarbon elsewhere...use 8lbs here ..use 20lbs line there...how many fishing polls do you guys bring when u go fishing?? I only use 8lb floucarbon and 12lb mono...and compromise.

How do you use your spoon? Deadstick? drag it on the bottom? Up and let if fall down a few feet? Also do you add anything to the spoon? like a grub?

How and where to fish the zara spook. I had little success fishing with the zara spook. I have the 4inch clear one and the black one and found little success with it. Where is the ideal place to fish it? I do a pretty good walk the dog technique with it and it has not worked for me.

I would think that using a nightcrawler would work better than lets say senko b/c nightcrawlers are real..they move naturally and smell naturally like a worm. You can't get natural action like that from a plastic.

Which type of live bait is best for BASS or PIKE in the IL region? Nightcrawlers, Minnows, leaches, or something different?

I prefer to use live bait. As a beginner, I found a little more sucess fishing live bait rather than jiging or any other plastic technique.

I usually fish lakes and I don't have a boat so I fish shoreline. I"ve tried the bobber and nightcrawler technique but it hasn't been succesfull. I usuall fish from the dock if one is available. I thought that maybe i'm not finding the fish but in some instances i've seen a bass or even a pike cruise right past my nightcrawler. Another technique that I use is. I put a weight at the end of my line and about 3 feet from the end i put a T Line with a size 1 or 2 hook and a nightcrawler. This technique lets me throw the line really far. This technique was highly sucessful fishing at a river in nothern paninsula michigana and I also cought a nice pike in the Wisconsin river. But on lakes in ILLINOIS it has not worked for me at all.

I've been trying to learn how to use live bait and I'm not successful. I don't have a boat and I don't have a fish finder/gps. What is the best way to use live bait?