fish-fighting-illini

Man both of those 2 teams were tough. It kind of made for an ugly game but you could tell it was because they werre both so tough. It has been a long time since I've seen players play so high above the rim! That was incredible, something we seldom see at Illinois.

It is a good thing that the ramp wasn't slippery. I figured there vehicle would have slid down it onto the ice. You gotta feel bad for the guys they were trying to improve themselves. Still funny though.

Several things to consider. Right now BPS is having their big sale so you should be able to find something in that prce range. The Shimano Citica on a BPS Extreme will do the trick fine. Shimano also has some sort of a rebate on reels so keep that in mind. If you can find it there are still a few of last years models of St Croix Avids to be had for around $100. Abu and Fenwick and Allstar have a special rebate going if you buy any Abu reel and a rod of the brands listed. You can find the coupon here on the boards. Any other time of year I would steer you to E-bay but not with the rebates and the BPS's on sale. E-bay has its drawbacks and some risks that you don't get in person. Another great option BPS has the Pflueger President BC for $89 and has their Extreme rods for $67 or so. That would be a heck of a combo for the money. Good luck and let us know what you decide. FFI AKA - Matt Crum

Her choice or yours? LOL Just kiddin hope she gets better soon. This thing is running rampant here in Central Il and the QC's as well on the Iowa border A couple of guys at work were sick and had to spend time in my office re estimats. Next thing I knew I was a gonner in less than 12hrs

I thought I had beat the bug season this year but have been off of work for 2 days. I'm going to need most of the weekend to finish healing. This thing is kicking my tail. I just hope no one else gets it in my family.

48 - 1/2

I was shocked that they actualy did this. It was great to see a university have some class and the balls to go with it. It almost makes me want to root for them. Local kid is signed with IN for next year. Maybe we can get him to change his mind and help out Illinois? Rumor mill: and Bobby just retired hmmmm???? I don't think IN will go down that road again fresh off this fiasco.

As combo's go the citica and Extreme might be the best bang for the buck out there. Make sure the combo qualifies for the rebate though before you buy. You might be money ahead to seperate otherwise.

I think I'm going to avoid the temptation and fish with what I've got. That $50 off a Pflueger president BC is tought to ignore though. The stren braid rebate is awesome as well so we'll see how I hold up!

The winter weather has been really wacky here. It is snowing for the 457th time this season! Has any of you in the parched areas caught up with your water shortage at all ??

congrats FLB. I hope it lasts many a year for you!

LBH the pyro>>> Learn something new everyday! LOL

Everyone knows your e-bay name!

Can we all agree on this... Swimbaits or whatever someone wants to call them ( Storms in particular it seems ) seem to be a very passoionate topic. It seems like plenty of diverse information has been posted on this thread. How about we just post and let the readers do what they want with the information rather than bicker with each other about which information is right. Otherwise we sound like a bunch of office women and their petty arguements. Sound like a plan?

I got to thinking about it and maybe there is more to it than meets the eye, maybe I'm selling myself a little bit short. Example: My younger brother comes in from out of state. We go to my favorite lake and both have spinning rods with swimbaits fishing within a few feet of ea other. I catch 2 or 3 and he gets squat so we trade poles. Another 2 or 3 fish and I offer to trade back. I catch a couple more and zip for him. It ended up like 10 or 12 to 1 or zip. We being no stranger to trash talking to ea other it was priceless at the time! It could be a case of what works for one person doesn't work for another. It also could be I'm a novice and he is even more of a novice! ???

Storms swimshads work for me period. I've seen tons of occasions where they seem to work for Doug Stange of In-fisherman as well. He has shown these on numerous occasions in print and media. We know the media has the ablility to make any bait "seem" like it works though. At roughly 50cents ea for the 3" they are a great bargain. Probably 98% of them work just fine for me. Once in a while one will run a little off but I just give them a slight adjustment and good as new.

Hey don't anyone take offense to this but my experience has been exactly the opposite of most of what has been posted so far. I throw mainly Storm swimbaits having a lot to do with price. I fish from the bank about 80% of the time and have no way to get most of the baits back. I do use medium heavy braid quite a bit so it helps to be able to pull them loose. I fish the 3" swim shad's almost exclusively. I've caught hundreds of bass from 1 to 4lbs of this size. I've tried 2" and I've caught probably 10 on that size. The 4" has given me very few bites or fish. I've fished the 6" and have had zero hits or fish on that size. I can't honestly say that I've spent near as much time with the big baits as I need to though. I honestly belive 100% that the paddle tail is the key as I think it sets up a very suttle vibration just like the tail does of an actual prey fish. Otherwise any big piece of plastic or wood bait or whatever would work but I have had my most success with the swimbait. I not sure what to think of the differences in information. I still consider myself a novice fisherman so I'm inclined to lean toward you guys that are catching bigger fish. At the moment though what I do seems to be working for me. I don't see people catching the size fish that I am out of the lakes I fish. They very well could be I just don't see them. I just wanted to present a different and objective point of view, not trying to start an argument.

If you can find a good used trion for that price maybe get it. I do not have experience with this reel but do have experience with several Pflueger spinning reels. I do own a Citica and for $85 to $90 it is an excellent reel and it would be new. As long as you don't buy via E-bay you would know for sure its new and WHO you bought it from.

I've noticed that the Yo-zuri is becoming harder and harder to find. The Ultra soft I hardly ever see anymore. I might stock up. Where are you guys buying the Ultra soft?

Some thoughts I forget who but someones bio message says " he who finds spelling errors can keep them! maybe some truth to that. Pretty much my opinion as well. Some are not really spelling errors they often are typing errors. The world is all about change ( not my strong suit either). I don't get the texting but the younger generation does. Change is tough but without it none of us would be on this forum we would be reading telegraph messages and fishing with cane poles! Many of the younger ones probably do know the language well. Maybe they are smarter than we think. They might just be saving time and thus more efficient. In that case who is right? hmmmm!

4lb LMB in late november other species Jan 4th before the lakes froze up

The one I wouldn't buy is the Rapala one. I did the trial version then bought the full. I still can't get that thing to cast. I've got an older copy of Pro Bass fishing and I like it for the most part.

Hey JWO I use roadrunners ( the underspin maribou type ) a lot. Don't underestimate them as I have caught several 4lb bass on them. I use them for bass only whan it is time to downsize during the heat season. During crappie season it is nice because while fishing for crappie bass tend to hit them as well. Twice the fun! To avoid the stir crazy winter I went out yesterday. I tried out the 12' er. I was fishing from a levie deal in a park along the river. The 12' came in handy as it let me get out from the railing a ways. I've got to admit casting was a bit of an adventure! No fish but I got out.

Hey Burley, Obviously the spandex is out ( I've seen the pictures ), but my first thought was a bike/cycle shop. Maybe they'd have something.

Tell her I got a kick out of that great comeback