MarkH024

My family has a summer home in the area. I fished Buffalo a lot in the past few years and its a great fishery. They will be doing the draw down this year I believe in September to fix the Montello dam. I'm hoping when they complete it and fill Buffalo back up that they do a hefty restocking of it because the fishing numbers have definitely decreased in the past 2 years. One of my best years was 2009 and I caught HUGE LMB and lots of numbers. Since then it has just been average. Overall still and awesome lake, especially if you love to slop fish. Which happens to be my favorite. I was up that way this weekend on a different lake close to that. Had only a handful of bass and a few pike. Biggest lmb was 3 lb 13 oz. Water is toooooooooooooo hot. High 80's all day long.

I just got back yesterday from a long weekend of fishing at my families summer home in central Wisconsin. My lake is only about 65 acres with an average depth of 3.5-4 feet. A lot of slop fishing. I was getting average water temps of 88 degrees. Some spots hit 90's. Surprisingly, there hasn't been any summer kill due to the extreme heat. Water is about a foot and a half low. Fishing was ok, landed a few largemouth biggest being 3 lb 13 oz. Got a few pike too but the warm water definitely was keeping them all from being aggressive. We need some good cold rain storms to just crush the midwest for about a week straight.

http://www.caneycreekmolds.com/Worm-Oil_p_192.html This is just one product of many. If you google "Worm Oil" you can probably find a few dozen products. Being that you're in South Africa, you might have to battle shipping. Some of the oils are scented, some are not. Best of luck.

You could try buying Worm Oil which is what they put on plastics so they don't dry up in the bags. To be honest if they're really dried up you may not be able to restore them to how they should be. The only thing to do is try it. If not, go buy some new ones.

Man I would only fish a lure like that in a lake with nothing but bass in it. Up here in the North, pike will smash a bottle cap if it's tied on your line. I've lost a lot of bass topwaters, mostly frogs, to 16-20" pike and I'd just be too plain scared to throw a $30 popper thinking it won't get bit off. Hell of a good looking popper though. Maybe if I get down south I'd throw it sometime.

I love throwing buzzbaits at dusk. What I don't love is the snakey northerns that demolish them and end up bending the crap out of my wire or ripping the skirts off the bodies.

X2, and I reapply while fishing. KVD line conditioner works great. I'd recommend it to anyone who's not already using it.

I get Bassmaster, I like it. I would be interested in BAM but how big is a typical issue? (page count?) I only ask because its 4 issues a year. Just curious.

As far as I have ever seen, all hard body poppers are fitted with treble hooks. I think the frog style poppers that are hollow or soft body is your best bet. I'd be curious to know if there is a hard body but I have yet to see anything like that.

I also use the palomar knot on my FC ties, and never have had an issue. Chances are it was a bad knot tie. Also...some fluoros are better than others from my personal experience. I like Vicous and Bass Pro XPS. I have had terrible experiences with Berkley 100%.

Love that Aurora Craw color! Nice job

Awesome smallies! Welcome

Ditto

Waiting on my goods too. Got to love free stuff, and from a great company too!

I think DVT nailed it. Sounds like you're trying to throw the bait with everything you got and I see that problem with more baitcast users than ever. If you have a good rod you should be able to sling your bait with a nice easy stroke. It is similar to a golf swing, if you try to over-do it, you'll shank/slice. A nice precise stroke will give you the best results. Also, what kind of Fluoro are you using? That could be a portion of the problem as well. I also like to use a line conditioner like KVD brand. That stuff works really well in my experience.

What kind of line are you using? If you try a braid or heavier fluoro you may be able to work them out, just don't go crazy and break your rod tip. If you're using mono, i can see why you would get a ton of break offs, especially if you're grinding that line against the rock edges to work it free. I guess it just comes with the territory that fishing boulders you're gonna get in a few tight spots that you cant work free. Also if you're fishing from shore.........try casting 45 degrees to the left or right and work on an angle, not straight out and back in. You'll cover more area and the fish are more than likely facing toward the inside of the lake or up river current. Do a few casts changing the degree of angle. You may find you're getting more hits just from the angle of the presentation.

I would like to add that at least KingMidas shows that he cares about the fish and its survival which I assume 99.9% of the Bass Resource users do as well. I have witnessed some pretty foul things with people handling fish before and those people don't deserve to have fishing privileges. So props to you KingMidas for at least attempting to find a preventative method to this. It is going to happen, so just do you your best to remove the hook the best you can. If you feel really bad, you can always snip the barb off and try to ease the hook out but the fish will be blind most likely anyway. Best of luck

New to the site, another fellow IL fisherman. I do fish mostly in Wisconsin but I get out around the Chicago land as much as I can. Looking to hook up with a BASS club next year possibly.

I use Vicous on my crankbait rod. I love it and its easy on the wallet. I've used BPS XPS fluoro too, not bad either. I did not like Berkley 100% fluoro. I had a lot of break offs using it compared to the other 2 mentioned. The lines are getting better every single year so there are a lot of "trial" spools to be had.

I am a loyal, very happy St. Croix rod owner. All of my rods that I fish with are St. Croix. I have 2 Triumphs, 2 Mojo, 1 Avid, 1 Premier, and a Rage. I haven't caved into a Legend of any sort simply for the money. I have yet to break any of my rods, and they're all in outstanding shape. Honestly, no matter what class of St. Croix you go with, they are worth every penny. Since Avid is being discussed the most, I have the 6'8" Medium XF avid spinning rod for finesse fishing. The rod is amazingly sensitive. If you're grip choice is not a factor and you're good with cork, go with the Avid.

Hey fellow fisherman, just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Mark and I am from IL (NW Burbs of Chicago). I am about 3 weeks away from entering my 30's. I am a new father to identical twin boys born just this past May. My boys and my fiance are about the only things I love more than fishing itself. The birth of my children have put quite the hault to my fishing this year but I'm hoping that I can have a good fall season and then come spring be able to get back out on the water more often. I do most of my fishing in Wisconsin waters, but I do fish locally here and there. By day, I work as a graphic designer for a contract screen printing and embroidery company. We focus mainly on athletic apparel for sporting goods dealers and promotional product vendors. In my heart I do feel I need to find my way into the fishing industry, I just haven't figured that out yet. I truly believe you are happiest doing what you love most, and I intend on getting to that point some day. A little bit about my fishing. I dream about fishing day and night. I am constantly browsing websites and forums or reading magazines about fishing soaking up as much knowledge as I possibly can. Had I only had this same passion about my careers choices in college, I'd probably be in a better place. I primarily go for LMB and SMB with a little bit of musky fishing when I can get at it. I am fascinated with the entire fishing tackle industry from rods/reels, to lures, to plastics...and everything else that goes with it. I already have started my "bucket list" of places to bass fish, and I have a lot to accomplish. Thanks for reading. Feel free to message me in general about anything. Tight lines, Mark