FatBoy

I haven't had any problems with BPS. I got a trolling motor and some miscellaneous stuff last month and it arrived within 5 bus days. Then a smaller order last week of just some spot removers and some other small things got here is 4 days. Guess I've just been lucky.

Man, avid, I know what you mean. But the only thing you can do is strip off all the line, run it through the eyes backwards, and spool it back up! :o :o I hate it when that happens. ;D ;D ;D

Well, my report is less exciting than I'd like. Turns out that instead of the 12 mph winds forecasted, the wind was blowing at a steady 25 mph with gusts up to 35-40 mph, whipping up waves about 1-2 ft high . The wind was blowing straight into the boat launch. We unloaded my little plastic pontoon and put it in the water, determined to go out even in the chop. But my 30 lb tm wouldn't even push the boat off the ramp. We just couldn't go anywhere. (It made me think of "the harder and harder I push, the righter and righter I go!" which got me a chuckle out of the situation at least. ;D ;D ;D) So we loaded the boat back up and went home. Ugh!!! I won't get another chance to hit this lake for 2 weeks.

Thanks for all the good ideas. I'm heading out tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to try the lipless cranks and x-raps (since that's my April challenge) parallel to the edges first thing. I'll have a report tomorrow evening.

I think there's a few reasons for why bass are so popular. They're at the top of the food chain. They get plenty big and fight good. And most importantly they're found everywhere, north, south, east and west. Muskie, pike and walleye are mostly a northern thing. Trout are mostly big out west. Redfish...well let's just say we don't have a lot of those in Illinois...

This weekend I'm fishing a flooded quarry for the first time from a boat. It's really deep (probably 50-70 feet). I haven't been out there yet this year, but the water is usually clear with up to 10 ft visibility. Around most of the shore there is a shallow shelf, then a steep drop to about 10 ft, and another shelf that's probably 5-10 ft wide. There are a couple of points and one broad grass covered (in the summer) flat that's about 6-8 ft deep. There isn't much shoreline cover to speak of, at least at this time of year. There are a couple of beaver dams that have always looked promising, but I've never cuaght any fish off them. I don't know the water temp, but it's still pretty cool here in Central Illinois. Very few if any bass are on their beds yet. The weather's supposed to be sunny with an air temp of 72. 12 mph winds out of the SSE. Where would you look for the bass first? What would you be throwing?

Amen, brother! Black buzzbait all the way.

I'll add one more vote for the circle hooks. And the o-rings work great. Just slide or roll them up the senko. When I first saw it rigged up I was skeptical. But the hookup are great. Like butter!!!

I'm not sure what you mean about using a spinner with a cork. You cast out a spinnerbait and reel it back in. You don't want a bobber at all. I'd recommend you read up on some of the great articles on this site. Go to the Fishing Articles menu at the top of the page. Check out the articles for beginners and the Bass Lure Techniques.

Nice bass... ...but what is up with those panfish? I've never seen em that color. They look like bluegill that have been dead for about a week!

Welcome! ...and if you can't SELL that boat, I might be able to take it off your hands for you

Hey, Roger. Glad you'll be back soon. You're one of the guys on here that I ALWAYS trust. You know you'd rather be fishin or talking about fishin than whatever else you've got going.

Welcome! Great advice from everyone so far. The one thing I would add is to change baits more often. If you fish a couple of good spots for 30 min or so and you're not getting a bite, it's time to try something different. Sounds like today the key was something with a faster pace and more vibration. You may have had better luck with a spinnerbait, lipless crank, etc. Experiment! Let the fish tell you what they want.

Some good advice already. But... How big is the pond? How deep is it? What kind of cover is available? How big were those bass you caught already?

Not sure exactly which baits you're talking about. Can you post a catalog number or a link to them on the BPS web page?

Here's a thread from last summer that has some great tips on chatterbaits: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1149565473

Welcome aboard! All the advice above is right on. But I'll second the suggestion to pick one or two baits/presentations and work on those until you get them down. Then move on to something else. I'd start with texas-rigged worms and senkos. There are a bunch of great articles on t-rigs on this site. And the senko sticky is excellent http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1121527643 Good luck!!!

Welcome! That series of pics covers quite a range of fashion (or lack thereof) ;D ;D ;D ...but the fish keep getting bigger. That's what it's all about!

Ooooooooh...now there's an idea! I love super flukes, but nearly always rig them weightless. I'm going to add this idea to my list of things to try.

Fooled me today, a day late. The April Fool's prank that keeps on foolin'. Very nice!!!

Very nice! Hard jerkbaits are my april challenge, so hopefully I'll have a similar story to tell in the very near future.

ok, that's the last straw...I'm moving (back) to Cali. way to go! 8-)

Hmmm....seems like I've been doing this all wrong. I was fishing them real slow like a shakey head. I'll have to try out swimming them back.

I've used both the yum buzzfrog and zoom horny toads. They are definitely different b/c of the different shape of the "feet". In my limited experience, the zoom frogs are better for pulling across the surface. The legs get kicking a lot better and make more of a commotion on the surface. BUT, the yum frogs work better under the water. Let them sink to the bottom and then hop them through and along the edges of weeds. The legs kick good as they hop and look kind of realistic imo. If you think about that makes sense since the shape of the yum legs is kind of like the shape of the tail on a lot of swim baits like the storm swim shads.

way to go! my goal for this year is 5 lb so a fish like that would be a major score for me.