Junk Fisherman

Actually, I did end up buying #4 Mustad hooks but not the sickle style. This quote from Ned himself is why: "A 1/16-ounce #4 mushroom is the most unbeatable jig in the history of the world. We already talked about how this shape performs so beautifully around cover. But it really allows an ElaZtech bait to do its thing — shake and shimmy — without getting in its way. I know a lot of anglers think a #4 hook is too small, but to me, a bigger hook doesn't slide through brush or vegetation nearly so well as a #4, which is almost snag-free."

I would prefer not to use Eagle Claw but 3 recommendations force me to give them a shot. Thanks for the advice.

Anyone have a #4 hook they recommend for this mold?

Sorry for your loss. I can relate. My Dad is also 80 and he is in poor health. It is really a struggle for him to launch his boat and he can only fish for a few hours. I spent a couple days with him last week and was happy to get out with him for a few hours fishing. You young fellas, fish your Dad as much as you can.

I haven't really noticed that much of a change in the places I fish. I fished a very popular lake in Illinois during the week twice a few weeks ago and it wasn't crowded. Fished a popular lake twice this past week outside of Chicago. It was crowded but nothing I couldn't manage.

Fished Shabbona twice this past week. Tuesday was a tough day with bright skies, high pressure, and cool temps to start the day. I didn't catch anything till 11 or so but ended up with 4 keepers the biggest being 17". Caught one on a brushhog on a point and the other 3 on a sharp sloping shoreline. Had a small club outing on Saturday with 13 boats. Overcast skies and light SW winds made for a much better day. I caught 5 keepers for 13.5 lbs which was good for 2nd out of 26. Winner had a little over 15. Had a 4.01 and a 3.66 with the rest being 14"-15" fish. All my keepers were caught using a finesse worm on the same steep shoreline I caught them on Tuesday. Also caught 2 5ish pound catfish, a 4-5 lb drum, and a bunch of shorts. Fun day overall.

Stuck to my main area and caught a limit for 13.5 lbs which was good enough for 2nd place. Winner had a little over 15 lbs. Happy with the results.

We have predicted rain and possible thunderstorms. I am hoping it is nasty to keep the fair weather fishermen home.

Just curious how you guys would approach this scenario. Would you camp out in a couple areas or constantly move around even knowing that there will people everywhere? I know a few productive areas that fish to my strengths where I should be able to get a few keepers maybe even a small limit which I would consider a success. On a slow day earlier this week I caught a number of keepers and feel confident that fish will be there this Saturday. Would you start with your numbers, finesse baits right from the start or use traditional sunrise, powerfishing tactics looking for active fish and then move to finesse later? The number of people fishing and the anticipated pressure versus my limited knowledge of the lake is why I stumped on my strategy for the tournament. I signed up for the this tournament since I was available but didn't realize that I would be playing bumper-boats on a such a small, pressured lakes. Could be a long 8 hours. Any thoughts are appreciated.

You just have to know the right ponds. I have always thought that if I wanted to just catch big fish I would spend time hunting different ponds. That's the easiest place to catch 5-6 lb bass in the area. But I like fishing from a boat too much.

I'd go one of two ways: 1) Make a lot of money in your career so you have great toys and can take a lot fishing trips. Research growing fields and income potential. 2) Get a career that offers a lot of flexibility and time off so you can fish when you want. For example, teachers have a lot of time off. My buddy is a fireman and he always has days off and the flexibility to line up his schedule to travel the way he wants. Nurses can work schedules that give more time to fish rather than the traditional M-F routine. My niece used to work 3 12-hour shifts and then have 4 days off. Think about that schedule! You can always dabble in the fishing/boating industry on the side as either a Pro Staff or field tester or part-time employee. Maybe it turns into something bigger but I would be very hesitant to try to turn your hobby into a career. I worked part-time at a tackle shop and it was not nearly as glamorous as you'd think. I know it is not what you asked for but this is what I would tell my students or kids if they had this idea. Good luck.

This is excellent and sums up what I was thinking as I read this thread. I am a much better fisherman than I was 10-15 years ago and it is due to having more confidence baits for a variety of situations. I was on a fishing trip last week and had great luck on a number of different presentations including swimbaits, Ned Rigs, Carolina Rigs, shakey heads, jigs, and a scrounger. Due to years of fishing and getting proficient at those presentations, I feel confident in throwing them. And I am at the point where I don't feel I have big holes in my arsenal that hold me back at least at the types of lakes I fish. I am constantly trying to gain confidence in new presentations but I feel I have enough to fall back on. Case in point- I have a tournament this weekend on a lake I am not very knowledgeable of. It has a lot of weeds and slop which are not really my strong suit. Tomorrow when I prefish, besides scouting I want to continue working on fishing a stupid tube and a weedless swimbait that I feel would shine at the lake. Maybe I gain enough confidence to throw them this Saturday. But regardless, I have enough other confidence presentations that I feel I should be competitive. Great topic.

A standard Folgers plastic tub. LOL- if it isn't big enough you've got some issues with your diet. On a side note, I fished with a guy in my old club a couple times who thought it was funny that you'd have to bring him in to the porta jon every time out fishing. Maybe if the guy didn't eat a pound of steak every night before a tournament he wouldn't need to crap every tournament day. Literally, all 4 times I got paired with him I had to take him to the toilet midday. Wasted 20 minutes or so. Kinda annoying. Never had another coangler do that. I was a younger guy in the club then. Nowadays, I would give him my container and tell him the back deck is all his.

I always carry an empty coffee container in my boat. Sometimes I even use it for a #1 if I am around people. Sit at the console, pee, dump it out, and go about your business. And if a #2 calls, find someplace private, and unload. I always carry baby wipes in the boat. Put the top on when finished and go fish. It's easy to throw away the entire container when you get back to the launch. Nice and neat.

Fished Newton on Monday 6-8 and Friday 6-12 and had very good results. Biggest was a 4.5 lber but I caught a lot of 16"-18" fish. Water temps were from 78 to 85 with a nice clarity. Caught fish shallow and deep on just about everything I threw from swimbaits to C-rigs to shakey heads to scroungers to jigs. Bigger fish came in deeper water. Had a few flurries on Friday of 5 fish in 10 casts when the fish seemed to go on a feeding frenzy. Mostly 14" to 17" bass. Good times.

Awesome job!! Wish I had that kind of skill. Nice Tacoma. What year? I have a 2008 in the same color.

Considering that you are fishing from a 20' bass boat on a regular basis, there is a chance that you don't care for kayak fishing. I bought a kayak 7 years ago and have definitely not gotten my money's worth out of it. It is very different than fishing from our boat and standing on our deck with our spot-lock trolling motors, shallow-water anchors, and our choice of a half dozen rigged combos. Boat control, standing on our deck, and the ability to pick apart cover by pitching baits are the biggest areas that I have had to change when going from a boat to a kayak. I have started to get a little bit more into kayak fishing since I've been home for the last 2+ months but the fact remains that I will always pick fishing out of my boat over the kayak. The kayak is great for the little lake down the street for a couple hours but whenever I want to do some serious fishing, it is out of my boat. So I would recommend getting a used kayak rather than sinking a lot of money into a new kayak. So many people are upgrading their kayaks so you can find a good kayak at a very reasonable price. If it turns out that you enjoy it, then upgrade to that pedal-drive kayak you have your eye on. If you are like me and do not enjoy kayak fishing nearly as much as out of your boat, you can sell the kayak and take a very small hit or just keep it with the knowledge that you didn't spend too much on it. And while I probably offended a kayaker in what I wrote earlier, my advice is going to a boater getting his first kayak. I have recommended kayak fishing to many people in order to get off the bank and investigate small lakes and ponds. I understand why people enjoy it and I hope to get into it more in the future.

16" is a "nice" bass around the tough pressured waters in the Chicagoland area. Up north in Wisconsin and Michigan, a "nice" bass is 18". When I take my smallie trips up north, I don't even bust out my phone for a picture unless it is over 4 lbs and once I get a few 4s I usually stop with the pics. My scale doesn't come out unless I think it might be 5.

I have the Xi5 and it has been a very good motor for me. Some people complain about the Xi5 pedal but I have no problems with it. The Tour Pro is a cable drive so it will turn faster than the Xi5 but I have no complaints with how fast my Xi5 turns. The anchor mode on the Xi5 is excellent. I don't use the other features but it has the same navigation features as the Tour Pro. Knowing what I know about the Xi5 and considering the difference in price, I would buy an Xi5.

Glad to hear this. I broke my #1 workhorse rod an 843 GLX this morning. Caught a 1.5 lb fish and just kinda grabbed the line and brought the fish in to me and the last 6" snapped. I was surprised that caused it to break. Maybe I stepped on it or damaged it beforehand. But I've caught hundreds of fish on that rod and it had quite a bit of sentimental value. It was my #1 pitching plastics rod and I had been using it for Dark Sleepers for the last couple years and it is perfect for that application. I've had that rod for over 10 years. Will they give me the newest version of that rod? That is not a bad deal for $125 even though I wish it never happened. Put a dark cloud on a very good day of fishing.

100% Berkley Trilene, P-Line regular fluoro, P-Line Tactical, Seaguar Invisix, Seaguar Red Label: all of these were fine and did the trick on baitcasters. For spinning gear I have used P-Line regular fluorocarbon in 8 lb and that has been my standard line and it is excellent. I started using Gamma Touch in 7 lbs a couple seasons ago and that is GREAT line. Very strong and abrasion-resistant. I highly recommend it.

I sure did. I have been saving for my next boat ever since.

I did something Sunday I never did before. Took my shad-colored swimbait and just dipped the tip of the tail in chartreuse spike-it since the water had a slight stain. Proceeded to catch 7 of my 8 smallie keepers on the day 5 of which were between 3-4 lbs. Now, would I have caught those fish if I hadn't dipped the tail? Not sure but this is something I will do again.

This is good advice. I put backing on most reels. When you are using 10 lb braid (2 lb diameter), I have 80 yards of 8 lb mono as backing and then about 75 yards of braid.

Hey Rob. Welcome. Lots of good information on this site. What part of Chicago do you live in? I live in the southwest suburbs but fish the Lake often. I also kayak the area and could point you in the right direction if you are looking for spots to go. Tight lines.