bwell

Who did you talk to in our club?

We fished it last weekend at Shelbyville. Now we are waiting on our classic at Rend Lake.

Right now the club is hurting, we have more non boaters than boaters and some tourneys people cant fish because there is no seat for them. I'm not sure if they will take in any non boaters or not but I will ask for you. Its a HUGE difference going from small ponds/lakes to these bigger ones, you really have to open your mind and try new things.

I haven't but a buddy of mine has. The lakes/ponds are really really clear, and hard to catch fish. A better place to go would be Lake Mingo.

You will see bass blowing up on shad on the surface of the water, shad will be jumping our of the water trying to get away from the bass. Find the jumping shad and you will find the bass.

Homer is one of those lakes where its hit or miss, if you catch it on a good day and you will have fun. The east shoreline that leads into the damns has a very steep drop off that holds fish. Drag a jig or deep diving crank you and you might pull something good out. River Bend in Mahomet is nice and the fishing is good. From the ramp go straight across and there is a shallow flat that always holds fish. If that isn't working look around for blow ups, the fish there are always schooling and once you find the school throw a senko in there and you will catch bass after bass. The north end is also very good. Windy days make it very tough because its so open, and in a john boat it can get scary, also make sure your trolling motor battery is FULLY charged because you will be on it a lot. Lake of the woods I wouldn't even bother lol, Check out those small lakes in Kickapoo like you said, Clear Lake, Hidden Pond, Deep Pond ect... Also Emiquon near Havana is AMAZING, but you definitely need a new battery and a good anchor if its windy because its a flooded field that is wide open.

I am with Champaign County Bassmasters, we meet the first Monday of every month at the VFW in Champaign at 7. We usually fish Clinton, Shelbyville, Mattoon, Springfield depending on the year. Past years we have fished at Lake Vermillion and Mill Creek. We fish one tournament a month on Sundays. One of our board members is running the Anglers Choice Circuit at Shelbyville and if you fish 6 your a able to get in the classic and possible to win big money or a Legend boat. Also a bunch of the guys are in the IBF (Illinois bass federation) and fish several sponsored tournaments. Let me know if you have any questions about the club or wanting to get into the Anglers Choice.

Nice bass, you need to get in one of the Clinton Lake 100% payout tournaments they have, I bet you could clean house. Nice catch!

We always put in a Wolf Creek but you cant tie on to the dock there, but Eagle Creek would be a better place to put in at.

Yeah, horrible! lol Its a great lake when the fish are biting but that wasn't the case Sunday, over 30 people fishing and only 6 people brought in fish.

Got a tournament this weekend at Lake Mattoon, they have some nice size fish in that lake. I hope to post some pictures of a monster

Only ended up with one in the boat, it went 2.43lbs, caught several other but they didn't measure out.. I caught most of mine around wood and cranking rock. The people that won the tournament were throwing in the grass using a jig and frog. I couldn't catch a fish in the grass to save my life, I was throwing jigs, shakey head, frogs, just couldn't get them to bite in the grass.

Thanks for the help! 4am going going to come real early, that's for sure.

That's nice to have on that lake, I cant imagine what you have seen at the end of the day when the pleasure boater are getting out of the water! Let me know how you do, I'm going to be in a green ProCraft. I think he is wanting to fish deep Sunday, fishing ledges. With this cold front I doubt they will be shallow.

What ramp are you launching out of?

I have a tournament this weekend coming up on Clinton, maybe I can post a picture worth posting.

Thanks man

I was wanting to but I wont be able to anymore. My mom is having troubles from her surgery and I need to be around to help my parents out. Maybe we can catch another tournament out there sometime this year.

M&P 40 with two loaded mags ready to go.

Tired of all the open tournaments and trails around here that keep 30% or more of your money, or send big chunks away to a classic that you have to drive across the country to fish? Our local Anglers Choice tournament has been drawing 12-16 boats, 180 dollar entry fee, and paying back 2 spots, 1000 for 1st and 2nd barely getting their money back, while the other 12-15 guys go home broke after paying 4 dollars a gallon for fuel and 180 to get in, A group of us that fish Clinton on a regular basis are putting together a tournament that will be a 200 dollar entry fee, pay back 100% at the ramp, and pay good back into the field, where 20-30% of the guys who fish it make money, and even more than that get their money back, if we get 30 boats the top 3 spots will be over a grand, 1st being over 2....if we only draw 10 boats 1st will be 1000 2nd 500,3rd300,4th200.....that's 40%of the field getting a check guys! You don't need to get a calculator out to see that this is the best value around. We wanna make this work and have a whole series next season, anyone who wants to volunteer to help can, this is just a group of guys fed up with horrible payouts willing to do a little extra work to make sure we have a great tournament on one of the best lakes around, and hopefully this helps everyone get a piece of the pie at some point in the season, we want as many people as possible to get their money back. There are a lot of b/s tournaments around here, hopefully we can finally have a good one.The first one will be Saturday July 6th. Message me if interested, I will give you the contact to get signed up and/or ask questions. Thanks for your time.

I think its a bunch of locals, it might be tough placing. Ill find the info

Hey nice_Bass, there is a tournament on Clinton July 6th. Would you be interested in fishing it? First 3 payouts are over a thousand dollars.

Is it going to be worth it to carry? Seems like you cant go anywhere with the law that has been written.

Any word?