CSimon2

Great job! I am going to have to check them out.

There are no ugly smallies out there. I think they are all gorgeous! The other day I had a buddy of mine tell me that he doesn't know why I waste my time with smallies when largemouth are so fun to catch. I asked if he ever caught one and he said no. I told him to go catch a few and he will see why I like catching them.

I show you at 0. This is how many people like your posts. If you look, there is a box in the post that says "Like This." Kind of like FB.

Thanks for the info guys!

Welcome to the forum. I am from Plainfield, IL. It is always nice to see local guys on here. Tons of great info here. You will learn quite a bit and then some! Chuck

I would say to go. It would a great opportunity for you. When you take a vacation you don't get anything out of it in return besides rest and relaxation. You wind up spending a ton of money on vacation too, but there is no chance to win back money or maybe even win a boat. Unless you go to Vegas. Give it a shot, but change your attitude. A bad attitude while fishing is going to get you negative results.

I have been thinking about starting to tie my own hair jigs during the hard water time in IL. Yesterday, I saw a dead squirrel on the side of the road and seriously thought about stopping to cut off it's tail to use to make hair jigs. My question is, does something need to be done to the tail to keep it from smelling like rotting flesh? I just kept thinking that after a few days, I am sure it is going to stink. Maybe I am wrong. If any of you collect roadkill squirrel tails, please let me know if there is something to prevent the smell. Thank you!

Ya man, they rock! I have not seen them live. I thought about it the last time they rolled through Chicago, but I didn't go. A buddy of mine went and was disappointed. He said they played mostly new stuff. I have Flight 666 and also Rock in Rio. They look like they do put on one heck of a live show. I definitely would like to see them if they come around again. Then again with an album titled The Final Frontier, it does not sound like they are going to tour anymore.

My favorite is Iron Maiden too! I have been listening to them in my car for almost 2 years straight. I just got into them 2 years ago. I wish I would have listened to them sooner.

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I have been tying double palomar knots on everything for 15 years now. It is simple to tie and very strong. When I get a snag, the hook either bends to free the snag or I wind up bringing in the tree branch. I hardly ever break off due to this knot.

The top one I caught on a BPS Lazer Eye Nitro The Egg in chrome shad. The most recent one, I caught on a Live Target Bluegill crankbait. I know you have not had luck with your's, but I was having the same bad luck. I started using it again and I am getting better results with it now.

I got out of work a little early today and hit up a couple of my subdivision ponds and caught this pig.

Yes. I was fishing near a guy one time who had two poles. One for for catching sunfish and the other for smallies. If the sunfish were small enough, he would use it as live bait for the smallies. He was getting quite a few hits on them. He told my buddy and I that it is legal to use native fish as bait as long as the fish are caught where you are fishing. You cannot catch the bream in one pond and fish them in another. I hope this helps!

Keep it up! Like everyone else says, it gets easier as you go along. You might be crabby at first, but just stick to it. You will feel a lot better. You will be able to smell and taste food so much better.

Congrats on the new friend!

I went out this past Wednesday during my lunch break at work to a local pond in Bolingbrook and was able to land this pig:

You caught a crappie using a crappie swimbait. Those are some nice looking slabs!!!!!

Nice pig! Congrats!

When we were dating, my wife used to fish with me, but now that we are married she doesn't. She recently told me how much she hated going fishing with me. She says it is boring and she does not enjoy it at all. If I go out, she will ask me how I did and then make a comment about how bored she would have been if we were out for 3 hours and only caught 3 fish. That being said, I am glad she doesn't come out with me.

Congrats on your new PB!

I have had some plastics in a Plano box for 10+ years. No issues.

Weightless baby bass color. Cast it out, let it sink, twitch it, reel in slack and keep on letting it sink and twitching it all the way back, unless a bass nails it of course.

I fished Lake Michigan the end of June and the smallmouth were spawning. I had a lot of good luck using the 3" BPS triple ripple grub in the baby bass color rigged on a 1/4 oz jighead. I cast it out and let it sink and then slowly swam it back. I got most of my strikes when swimming it back. When that was not working I was using YUM craw bugs in the craw dad color. Good luck!

Nice Hawgs! Great job!