NILBasser

Does anyone on here sell beaver type baits or know where I can get the best price on NetBait B-Bugs? I really like the B-bug and my local Gander no longer carries the colors I want and the Bass Pro here doesn't carry them in-store at all. I would like to support someone here if possible but either way I need to get a bunch before the season starts soon.

Thanks guys. Just getting started and can't wait to get my first baits done.

What are your experiences with plastic molds? What would you suggest as a releasing agent?

Fuzzy, I was looking into the POP method for my first molds and have a possible stupid question. I read that you need to bake them to harden them for use. How did you bake yours in foam?

My own PB is 7.5lbs which I have done twice so far. The first one was my first legit "big" fish, over 5lbs. I caught her on Father's Day fishing a chrome/black Risto Rap in open water where schools of bass were chasing shad. I was fishing solo that day and she was the first fish of the day about 5 minutes into the day. And yes I was pumped!!! The second was caught right here on the lake I live on in May of '06 off of a bed. This was the first fish I ever really "worked" to get a strike. I fished this fish for more than an hour before finally getting her to hit a jig. It took bringing the jig in over her shoulder from right to left and she just smoked it like she had not seen a bait before, awesome!!! And I threw alot of baits at that fish before she finally hit. God I can't wait for open water!!!!

I have to agree with what others have already said. My best luck under these conditions were to throw a jig or buzzbait up shallow. Sometimes it seems like they are sitting so shallow thier backs should be out of the water but they are there.

I really like those craws. I use a lot of them every year and the Paca Craw is the one I use. Thinking of pouring my own this winter as a project in the off season because I need some colors I just can't buy anywhere. Nice work.

Halloween til Thanksgiving is prime time here. It's like somone flips a switch right around Halloween, you can go from hardly seeing any deer to bucks runnin all over the place over night. Love it!!!!

Shakey head??? Where did you come up with that?

That's awesome!!! Very nice job.

I took 5th in one of the worst weather conditions days I have ever fished. 48 degrees, winds blowing at 25 with gusts to 45, water came up 3 ft in 24hr period and temp fell 10 degrees. Got my fish late in the day on a worm, couldn't get a bite on any other baits.

Lake Holiday. Thanks for any help guys.

I have a tournament coming up here on Sunday and here is my problem. We've had temps runnin around 90 this week and water temp climbing steadily to near 70. Sunday they are calling for 50 degree temps with a chance of rain. Where would you expect to find fish? We have little deep cover, primarily a rip rap and dock lake, avg depth of 7ft.

I agree with the others here. Let me know if you wanna sell some, especially those finesse worms.

Does anyone here fish the BFL Illini division? I have some questions.

1. Shakyhead with a 5in Berkley Powerworm 2. 1/4oz Jig, Baby Paca Craw 3. Bandit 300 series crank, Tenn. Shad I had only one tournament last season that this combo didn't put a limit in the boat for me. Can't wait for open water!!!!!!

I'm goin with Ike, with Skeet right there and a surprise contender on the top 3. Gotta feelin KVD is not gonna do real well, and I'm a KVD guy.

Well here we go again, more rain and another cold front. I swear for almost every tournament we've had these are the conditions. All week its been stable, mid 70's and sunny. Today clouds and possible rain, tomorrow(tournament day) 65 and thunderstorms. This is kind of a big tournament for us, it's a buddy tourney, and we are 1 spot out of making the classic. Hopefully we can find a couple.

Well, I ended up fifth on Suday but still qualified for our classic and won AOY for our club. I had a good bite goin early on a buzzbait worked real slow but had a lot of short hits, should have had a limit in the boat in the first hour. After that it turned real slow but kept pluggin away and finished in a respectable place.

Ok here is my dilema and I need some help. We have are final tournament of the season here this Sunday and I have never been able to fish well in the fall. Our lake water temp fell from 81 on Thursday to 65 on Sunday, holding around 68-70 right now. The lake has little deep cover, some cribs but not alot. No weeds or rock piles, mostly a mud bottom with the shoreline filled with boat docks and riprap. Any idaes where I should start looking or kind of baits. I've been doing well all season with a jig, a shaky head rig, and spinnerbait at times. I'm in 1st place going into the final Sunday by 4.5 pts and don't wanna lose it now!!!

What do you have in mind?

Thanks BLUESKY.

Do any of you guys/gals here fish tourneys here in Illinois? I have been fishing some local tournaments here the past couple seasons and doing really well and want to expand my horizons a bit and step up the competition to see what I am made of. As most do I always dreamed of fishing big tournaments but having a family put a hold on that dream but I would still like to try the next level. I am just curious what anyone else here may be fishing.

Anyone have any ideas?

Ok, I have a new Humminbird 788c that I just put on my boat a month ago. Everything was working perfectly until I was in Wisconsin for a week and on Thursday the sonar started acting screwy. It is getting a weak signal with all kinds of gaps. I tried cleaning the transducer and I checked my connections. I put the transducer in a bucket of water in the driveway and turned on, and I can here it "clicking" intermittenly and thats when I get a reading on the display. It seems like the transducer is only sending out a signal occassionaly not constant. I am no expert and could use some help here. Humminbird says it could be the mounting location or angle but it was fine up until then, no problems what so ever, but now it sucks.