IllinoisBasser

Wheel weights? That's a brilliant idea. I am still toying with the idea of making my own jigs and plastics. As soon as I get the boat situation cleared up,making my own jigs and plastics is next on the list.

7lbs.8 oz.

A beanie,hooded sweatshirt,and baseball caps are a great idea. A good quality hat. Not one of those gas station meshback hats.As long as the hoodies aren't 50 bucks,I'll buy one. Here's a suggestion,if any of us tourny anglers buy one and wear it to our tournaments,could we get a little knocked off the price?

And the name of them is Tri-County Anglers.

I fish with a club just across the river from St.Louis. It's all draw tournaments, and it's only 25 bucks a tourny.

Belleville,Illinois(15 minutes east of St.Louis)

You can replace a boat,but you can't replace a Dink. Glad you weren't hurt buddy.

What batteries do you use for your trolling motor? What's the most bang i can get for my buck? what battery charger do use? Keep in mind that this is for a 14ft. boat.

I bought his book.....Anyone wanna buy it cheap? I didn't care for it.

A boat i am buying is going to need to be redecked. Any suggestions as far as bracing goes? Durability,weight,and of course cost are a factor. It is an aluminum V-hull,with a front and rear deck. I am going to extend the front deck and possibly the rear deck as well as adding a storage compartment or two as well.The batteries for the trolling motor and for the depthfinder are going to be placed in the back. what type of plywood do you recommend? Thickness? Is there an alternative to plywood? Anyone got a depthfinder or a trolling motor they wanna get rid of?

What do you tow your boat with? I have a 14 ft. V-hull aluminum that i plan to tow with a Ford Ranger or Dakota with a V-6.

I noticed the same thing this weekend,i went on saturday and every one that i or my partner caught had the red lips too. All these fish were feeding on shad.

I just went from newbie to junior member! 8-)

Hey fellas,Picking up a 14ft V hull aluminum in a few weeks that is going to need total redecking and carpeting,will be posting some questions soon.

Getting skunked is just part of the game. All of us have been skunked. I loaded up yesterday,but zeroed the time before. Research,research,and then use this forum as another research tool. Every bit helps, I have picked up quite a few things off this forum,nobody here is stingy with info. Good luck to you.

If you are a boater,there are 3 tourny circuits out there right now. 1. Big John Winkelman's-It's about 60 bucks a boat. 2. Gene Cailey's- I believe it's the same as above, or a little cheaper. 3. Bass World Sports- Is about 160 bucks a boat. Coffeen is a great lake to fish,and it also has a max. horsepower of 25.

I fish Coffeen tournaments about once a month. Unless you have a boat, it's tough finding a boater. These are all team tourny's. The best suggestion i can offer if you are a non-boater like myself is put an ad on the wall at your nearest tackleshop. I joined a bass club here in Belleville,i found a guy who wanted to fish some tournys out there and couldn't find a partner. Now that i think about it, finding a local bass club might be your best option. Good luck to you, Tom

is there a website for it Chris?

Our tourney fees are the same for this new club. Pretty reasonable prices. I'm hoping to do a little fishin in Georgia this spring. Going to try to do a 3-day weekend there,one at Kentucky Lake,and if time allows, A few days at Lake Hamilton in Arkansas. Right now i'm fishin a few buddy tourneys on some hot-water lakes.Winter tourneys out here draw the same amount of boaters as spring and summer. We haven't cashed one check yet this winter. The season isn't over yet.

I have yet to fish any Georgia lakes, will most likely fish Allatoona this year maybe a few others if time allows. My in-laws live in Marietta,so everytime we go down there we pass over Allatoona and a few other places along the way.

Thanks, I fished with another club for a few seasons, they kept raising tourny fees.We also kept losing members because of it.The last tourny i fished with them we had 4 boats. The new one i joined has an average of 20-25 boats per tourny. This is going to be a tougher group to fish with. A few of the guys have been fishing the everstart/stren series. Can't wait until march!

There is a Cabela's in K.C. ,Mo. I heard also there will be one opening up in the St.louis area too. Any of you guys go to Dunn's? Some of their soft plastics are really good.On the Illinois side of the river in Alton there is a place that pours it's own plastics and has a good selection too.It's called Bluff City Tackle.If a Cabela's opens a store closer to me than St.Charles, i will be applying there.

T-rigged Zoom ol' Monsters. T-rigged sweet beavers, both in watermelon/red or green punpkin. carolina rigged french fry or 8 inch lizard. 1/4 or 3/8 oz. brown jig w/ Uncle Josh crawfrog in Crawdad color. I Every now and then i throw a jerkbait (Rogue). Superflukes produce well for me in the spring. Mostly i pitch plastics and jigs. Slow fishin suits me fine.

1. Denny Brauer 2.Shaw Grigsby 3. Mark Menendez 4.Chad Morganthaler (Southern Illinois finest). 5. Yeah,I know i can't count.

I joined a club tonight in southern Illinois. For the past few years i fished a local chapter of a national club and started looking after entry fees went up 3 times in three years ,we also kept losing members. So i go to this meeting tonight, i find out that entry fees are half what i was used to paying,with about triple the number of boaters that are members. I am the youngest member by about 10 years. If anyone here is from the southern illinois area and is looking for an AFFORDABLE club to fish with,this is the ticket.