mbtharp1

Went out in my new kayak while I was camping at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana with my family. Decided to go after some smallmouth for the first time. I kept it simple and only used 3 lures: A 4" Yum dinger, a rebel craw crank, and a heddon tiny torpedo. The fish were kind of picky but I expected that because sugar creek is really clear. The main pattern seemed to be the stick bait. I got most bites by throwing it into current breaks, such as rocks and trees. It was a blast and I can't wait to fish for them again.

I like the gamber little ez swimbait. Comes in a good variety of colors, and they're really durable. They have great action, and they're usually only 3.99 a pack.

I was hesitant to buy them first because of their price and they're not the most durable plastics. I'm starting to think that the extra $1.50 or so is worth it. The clamshells is awesome, I love how every bait is perfect coming out of the pack.

The hooks he suggested will work great. I like to use a minimum of a 3/16 weight, That way you can keep your line tight when needed.

Thanks! It was the first good flipping bite I've ever had. I think I'm addicted now

Fished Sangchris Lake in Illinois this weekend. It's a power plant lake, so the water temps were around 65 and the bass were up on beds. Early morning I had a decent topwater bite going, caught 5 fish, one weighing in at 3lb 11oz. Once that died down the flipping bite was on. Bass were on almost any piece of wood or brush in 6' of water or less. Shady banks were the best. Mostly caught the aggressive males but I lost two nice ones to the laydowns. Definitely a great way to start the spring. The only lures I used all day were an Ima lures skimmer, and a Rage Tail structure bug.

Got my first topwater fish here of the year here in Central IL. Been killing them on a bluegill rattle trap and chatterbait too. Made a little video out of it. How's the fishing up in northern IL been?

I throw weightless worms on a 7' MH with 30lb braid and that setup works great. Good to have some heavier line and a heavier rod when the grass starts to grow anyway.

Just went to my favorite pond for about an hour, caught ten. All of them came on a bluegill colored red eye shad.

As far as places to launch clinton marina or mascoutin boat ramp would be good. I like to fish rocks with cranks this time of year. I'm not sure of any hotels.

I would definitely fish anywhere you can find some rock or other structure. The dam is a good spot from the bank if you like throwing crankbaits. There's also a small cove with some laydowns east of the dam, and it has walking trails and docks, Unfortunately, I heard the power plant has been broken down a lot recently If this is true, the fishing is probably going to be pretty tough.

Fish are turning on in the ponds near me in Central IL. Lipless cranks have been the ticket the past week or so. Also, caught my first double on my last trip out, it was crazy! Neither of them were huge but catching two fish on one crankbait was crazy.

Lake shelbyville can be pretty tough early in the year. I'm thinking late march might still be a little cold for pre spawn patterns. Honestly, there's a lot of lakes in the area that are better for bass fishing than shelbyville in my opinion. Clinton and Sanchris come to mind. Now if you're crappie fishing, that's a different story..

John B definitely wins when it comes to video editing. He talks a little too much, but if you're posting as many videos as he does then you're gonna have to do a lot of talking. You don't always catch enough fish to make a good video so you have to fill it in somehow.

If you're looking for something affordable, try p-line c21 copolymer. It's 8.99 for an 1100 yard spool of 15lb, Low memory and strong.

Ever have any luck at taylorville? If it has more cover to fish than sangchris i'll have to check it out sometime.

Yeah you can have some awesome days on sangchris if you're in the right place at the right time. My buddy and I caught 60 bass on topwater there in the middle of December in only a few hours.. Most of them were small, but it's definitely a day I won't forget. I see you're in Central IL too, where are you located?

Fished a pond here in central illinois and got two on a drop shot with one of the zman scented leechz. Love the floating plastic on a drop shot in cold water. When you dead stick it, it just hovers in place and they hammer it.

Same here. As for lures that are good during the spawn, I like to use a 4" senko or a zoom speed craw. Texas rigged weightless.

Fished a local pond today, caught one that was around a pound and a half. Yo-yo ing a red eye shad out of the weeds on the bottom. It was a cold one!

Thanks for the tips bluebasser! You guys are a huge help. Watching for birds has payed off for me in the past, so I'm gonna have to remember to keep an eye out.

Thanks for the advice!

So my friend and I are going to do some bass fishing at a power plant lake near us this weekend. Water temps are probably going to be somewhere in the low to high 50's... does anybody have any suggestions or tips on where to start? We plan on fishing on the warmer side of the lake and fishing some deeper rock. I'm not sure whether to start deep and work shallow or vice versa? Any suggestions on lures would be appreciated from anyone with experience fishing these lakes in the winter. Thanks in advance!

I would call that stained water. It's about the same clarity as the water here in Illinois, but ours has a green tint instead of brown.

I like my BPS pro qualifier baitcasters a lot, and my 6'6 medium bps extreme spinning rod is awesome.