beardown34

I'm only talking about subdivision ponds, but anyone else seeing low water levels? This is my first full year fishing so maybe it's just normal for this time of year and I don't know it. Or is it abnormally low because of the little snow we got this year?

And now more snow and freezing temps

woo woo, first time using a suspending jerkbait, Xrap XR 8. my only bite in 30 minutes but i'll take it. i think i need more of a sweeping hookset as opposed to an upward snap. when this one first popped its head out of the water, the Xrap was actually sideways in its mouth, like a stick propping its mouth open. luckily one of the treble hooks ended up snagging its side lip before i could land it.

any luck with the warm weather in the western suburbs? i only had 30 minutes this morning and got skunked. the swimbait on the freedom jig head looked pretty cool though. same with a swimbait on a sling blade flutter (underspin). although they would have looked cooler with a largemouth on it!

naperville small ponds thawed out early this week, and then had a tiny bit of ice re-form two nights ago. should be a moot point tomorrow.

yeah i just printed out a couple copies. first bass of the year. 3/8oz jig with a pit boss in a subdivision pond. nothing huge, 14" maybe, but it was certainly nice to feel that tap on the line! 60 degrees tomorrow guys -- time to bust out the buzzbaits! just kidding ... (right?). i might mess around with a soft plastic swimbait on a freedom live action hybrid jig head though. i've been wanting to see how that looks in water.

Thanks for the warm greeting! Do you find that a particular profile size in terms of jig trailer works better at ice out? Bigger vs smaller? I'd like to try shakey head but the local pond has a ton of muck on the bottom, so maybe drop shot with a 12" leader might be a better idea. Oh I forgot -- not to stir up trouble or anything, but for the casual bank beaters (not boaters), does everyone buy a fishing license every year? This will be my first full year fishing and I bought one. Just curious if this is more of a situation like when my CPA laughed at me when I actually self reported online tax free purchases in the "use tax" column.

naperville area here. what do you guys tend towards during ice out -- smaller or larger bait profiles?

How do you get free shipping? Is there a code? The shipping is coming up $5.99 no matter what amount I put in the cart.

Good to know about the larger diameter. I will try the 7" and see how it goes! Thanks!

thanks for all the quick replies and the validation of having asked a valid question! Mosster47 -- yeah i was just looking at their hightail lizards too. i was wondering if they would work "shakey" style threaded down the hook shank of a jig. just curious about whether the tail would still effectively stand up, to allow for a shakey presentation but with an exposed hook. btw, what color of the hightail worm has worked well for you? heavyduty -- thanks for the input. that actually reminds me, considering the Zman TRD's are ~ 3", and the Ned rig works best with a floating worm, that would give me a great double purpose for a 7" hightail worm -- cut it into 3" for the Ned rig and 4" for whatever else! oops i just noticed the 7" is actually 50 cents more.

simple question -- i recently read about kicker fish hightail shakey worms and they seem like something worth checking out. i see that it is the same price for the same number per pack of the 4.5" and the 7" versions. for the sake of cost saving, is there any reason not to just buy the 7" version? say the head gets torn up, then you can just keep trimming that end down? or if you wanted to fish a shorter version, just cutting it before rigging? a lot of worms packages seem to include a lower number of the longer versions, but considering this specific item is the same for short vs long, i was just wondering why you wouldn't just buy the longer. i guess i could see not wanting to have to cut them if you prefer to fish the shorter length, but it wouldn't bother me.