mbtharp1

Yep I'd switch to Gamakatsu superline hooks. I use the same setup as you, line and all and I use the superline hooks with no problem at all.

Ended up catching 6 fish this morning at Sangchris. I caught all of them pitching rage bugs and sweet beavers into flooded weeds and laydowns. Black/blue flake and black/purple flake. Water looked like chocolate milk.

Think I'm gonna try my luck at Sangchris this weekend after the rain. If the water has come up a lot there should be some good cover for flipping and pitching ?

Yeah I'd like to think so. I'm near a lot of limit lakes so 25hp is perfect. This coming winter I'm gonna build decks in the front and back and make it more "bass boat" style.

Finally got a boat! Payed $800 and it runs like a champ and has everything to be legal ready to go. Goes 22mph even with 600lb of people and a bunch of gear on it. I'm a happy camper. Sangchris and Shelbyville better be ready!

Rage bug hands down. I tried an experiment last year. Tied on a summer craw rage bug and went flipping, caught around 5 fish. Took it off, threw on a summer craw pit boss, no bites. Put the rage bug back on and went to town on them again. They may be twice the cost, but I'd rather catch fish than have 2 packs of lures that don't produce as well.

Fished Coffeen in the kayak today. Caught 4 fish, 2 on the ned rig and 2 flipping a rage bug into laydowns. One fish actually jumped over a branch chasing a rage bug I was pulling out of a laydown.... not something you see too often in January.

Fished a local power plant lake today, bite was tough but a friend and I still caught ten fish between the two of us. Here in central IL, temperatures were below zero at night around a week ago. Today it got up to 55 degrees, and the water temp was around 53 degrees. We tried a lot of techniques- jigs, shaky heads, cranks, chatterbaits, etc. I finally tied on a shad colored strike king rage swimmer and threw it on a 1/8oz swimbait head. I ended up catching all 5 of my fish on this lure, and every single fish came in 1.5-3 feet of water, which was strange for the middle of the winter. Fish weren't grouped up at all, so we had to just keep covering water. Hope you guys are getting some good fishing in with this weather too!

Strike King Rage Bug for flipping or as a jig trailer, KVD fat baby finesse worm on a shaky head.

Sangchris here in Central Illinois is picking up. Shad are spawning and the fish are hitting reaction baits!

I've always had trouble fishing in the early fall/late summer transition. In my area this is when the shad are spawning, which can make fishing tough believe it or not. I think that the bass are sometimes too busy eating tiny shad to bother eating your lures. Despite this, I finally had a successful trip during this period. I was fishing a local lake here in Central IL, and caught quite a few fish fishing bluegill colored square bills and chatter baits in 1-5 feet of water. After the sun really came out, I got them on a Strike King fat baby finesse worm in green pumpkin on a shaky head in slightly deeper water. When I put my kayak in I saw a bass chasing little bluegill around, so that helped to point me in the right direction. Hopefully you guys can find a similar pattern where you live, cause it's definitely fun!

Do yourself a favor and get the Ima Skimmer. Comes stock with owner hooks, and has a unique shape and walking action. It's been my go to topwater all year. Also, it's not as overpriced as a lot of Jdm stuff.

I usually flip/drag creature baits cause that's what I have the most confidence in. That being said, I don't always catch big ones when I do that. I don't have a ton of confidence in a Jig, but all the fish I've caught flipping a Jig have been 3+lb. I think I'm gonna start using my favorite creature bait as a trailer to gain some more confidence in them.

The regular rage bug instantly became my favorite flipping bait and soft plastic in general.Something about them just gets the fish fired up. Gonna have to take a look at these.

What he said. I've got two of these that I bought two years ago from academy and they've taken a beating. I throw my squarebills in rock mostly and they've held up really well. The hooks are pretty good too.

Caught a bunch of fish at my local lake on topwater, and quite a few on a rage tail structure bug pitching it and swimming it along the bank. Water ranged from 85-95 degrees depending on how close we were to the hot water discharge. The fish were schooling on shad in the hot water and it made for an awesome day. Lesson learned: Don't ignore the discharge in lakes even in the summer. Also, don't be afraid to fish shallow when the water temps are high. We probably could've caught bigger fish out deep, but we didn't have the good depth finder on the boat. My camera died pretty early in the morning, but I still managed to get some good video in.

P-line c21. Dirt cheap and a great line for crankin and topwater. Bulk 1200yd spools are $8.99.

I think that there's definitely a time and a place for baitcasters. What kind of lakes will you be fishing? Is there a lot of heavy cover? If there is, you may want to get a heavy action rod and a baitcaster with a fast gear ratio so you can flip into heavy cover and muscle some fish out of it. If you're mostly fishing open water/light cover, I would get a 7' medium action rod, a 6:4:1 reel, and some 12lb copolymer. This is a great setup for throwing crankbaits or topwaters with treble hooks. As far as reels go, you can't go wrong with the $99 speed spool. They're great reels. If you reel with your left hand while fishing with a spinning rod, get a left handed baitcaster. It will reduce the learning curve quite a bit.

I'll be finding out soon! Just got a black 70 size spittin wa for night fishing

Fished some new water this weekend. Found out I have a couple of rock quarry lakes about 45 minutes from my house. Took the kayak out and tore them up! Most of my fish came on a Ima Skimmer walking bait, which was kind of odd for the conditions. They were hitting topwater out in 10 feet of water! I've never fished water this clear, but it's a blast. I also sight fished a few on the dropshot. It's trolling motor only, so I think it has a lot less fishing pressure than some of the bigger lakes around here.

I had no confidence in a jig until I got bored on a slow day and started fishing one. Ended the day with 3 fish over 4 pounds, which is really good for my area. Like WRB said, try fishing one in spots that you're confident in.

I would say yes, there are probably days you're missing out on a lot of fish. If the fish are agressive, covering more water with a fast moving lure is probably going to get you more bites. There's a time and a place for everything.

Found out that I have a few rock quarry ponds near me here in central Illinois. Went out in my kayak the other morning and tore them up on a walking bait! Got a few on the drop shot as well. Still, I know these presentations won't always work. Do you guys have any lure/technique suggestions for fishing this type of lake in the summer months? The water has about 8 feet of visibility, and there's a lot of grass and weed growth around the edges. Kind of makes it difficult to fish. The banks are steep, and the lake is really deep in the middle. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks for the input! Yeah I was using 8lb braid with a 10lb copolymer leader. It's just what I had laying around the house. Next time I'll probably switch to 8lb fluorocarbon for my leader. I'll definitely check out those videos!

Haha I would have gone crazy without it! I'm gonna have to make a makeshift anchor for it sometime soon.