scaleface

I bet it feels twice as good as catching a five lber .

Yep , under these conditions I should have went with a spinnerbait early on . Often I make the wrong choices but finally made the correct one .

Went to a small lake yesterday that has a good population of bass . Strong but cold south wind blowing , mild temperatures . spent the first four hours with zero fish . Tried Crankbaits deep , worms , buzzbaits , swim bait , even tried a Wacky rig . Tied on a spinnerbait with silver willow leaf as the main blade and a small gold Colorado then proceeded to catch about twenty in the next four hours .Had a limit of fifteen inch plus keepers but nothing huge . The skirt wasnt bright , it had grey , blue and brown tones and the bass were taking it deep . These were the first spinnerbait fish I have caught since pre-spawn .

It looks like it will have to be either Powerton or the Il. river .

I catch fish with Texas rigs in cover when I can see it . Most of the time I run into it or cast in it before its seen .

I dont own a Whopper Plopper but dont see how they can even be fished in the same areas I throw a buzz-bait .

There probably is not many snags except maybe rocks . Bouncing a grub on a jig-head should be a good choice .

I would fish logs , stumps and lily pads with buzzbaits , spinnerbaits , worms... any lures that are relatively snag-less .

Thanks for the info . I have an old friend in Canton who is not doing well and he wants to do some bass fishing . The only place I can find in that area is the Illinois river . Hope there is a usable boat ramp close to Canton . I heard about the Asian carp problem and dont want those big things jumping in my boat breaking wind shields , depth finders...

I'm 61 years old from missouri . I dont have a boat operators card because I'm grandfathered . I want to go on the Illinois river . Will I need a operators license , safety card or anything like that ? I've looked on-line and cant find answer's to my question .

I hung a sack between the two seats for trash and a Homer Simpson figure hanging from the rear view mirror. I had to do that too . My wife can not climb into the truck .

I do not take multiple rods for jigs and worms . I just change lures .

I finally got some good pours and when I do get a unsatisfactory one , I immediately redip it , melt the lead , slap it back in the mold and re-pour . That second pour with the hot hook and wire always poured nicely . Then after the session was finished i just re-dip the hooks with lead to clean them off . Now I want to paint. Thinking about getting some powder paint at Harbor Freight .

The worst thing a non boater has done is out-fish me and win the tourney .?

I use Colorado blades at night because they come with the Midnight Special . Otherwise I use willows most of the time and in the early spring I love Strike King Spin Dance with the Turtle-back blades . They are no longer made but you can get similar blades from various tackle suppliers . I'm going to order some this winter and make a few baits since this is my last one .

You must be fishing some pretty clear water to see these fish following your bait . Are you fishing from bank or shore ? What kind of cover is there ? Describe your rod reel and fishing line .. Supply all the info you can you will get some good advice from the anglers here .

If you have a printer go to Jans Netcraft and print out a page . There are probably others out there too .

I'm mostly going to hit them with buzzbaits , spinnerbaits , crankbaits , Texas rigs and perhaps jigs . Hit a deep point or two and see if that produces then head to the banks and fish cover . They may be in the font of the creeks , back of the creeks , in cuts... Once something gets figured out then I wear them out . Thats pretty much my strategy spring , summer and fall . KISS

I use the same lures .

I bought some Drop Out , sprayed the mold . Made sure the hook and u-bend were in the middle of the cavity . Poured three without the hook and wire to heat the mold up and got three perfect pours . Then tried to pour six buzzbaits and every single one did not fill in the collar . Should I spray a second coat of drop Out in it ?

Fall bass are unpredictable but so are the other seasons as well . Well up into September I often find schools of bass deep . I try deep and shallow until about the time leaves start dropping in mass , then I'm usually concentrating shallow .

Wish I could stay and watch but have to get the mother-in-law to the Dr's . Good luck Nolan , my fingers are crossed .

and Bryan Kerchal .

ETS has been impressing me for a couple of years now , I knew he was good but...

I use to use the boat pedestal from my Skeeter .