MendotaBassMaster

Mine without a doubt would have to be patience. My wife and son always comment on how can you just cast and cast and cast. I love using soft plastics and I work them very very slowly and it doesn't bother me at all. Fishing is very relaxing to me and it doesn't matter if I catch one or I catch a dozen I keep the same mind set.

I have learned to fish on my own as well. I started out using a cheap six dollar pole with a bunch of pre-rigged worms. I read every magazine and book I could find and then one day I was fishing at this pond and threw in a pre-rigged pumpkin seed worm and my pole seemed to bend in half and I knew there was no way no how I could bring whatever it was on my line in so I turned and ran from the pond and drug that sucker out of the water and onto the bank. It was a really big bass and it was one of the coolest things I ever saw but since then I have tried to become a better angler. Thanks to this board and the good people here, I have learned to use a spinning rod and actually spool it myself. I am in the process of learning my baitcaster and can side arm cast it pretty good. I can now fish texas rigged worms, senkos, lizards and flukes. I have a personal best that I just caught last week of two pounds. I know it is not a giant but we have a lot of dinks in the local lake I fish at and the big fish I drug ashore years ago doesn't count as I don't consider that I caught it since I drug it onshore. lol. It has been a long road to get to this point and I have probably nagged a lot of guys on the board but not a one has conplained or failed to explain or help me and for that I am truly grateful. My wife who it my best friend goes fishing with me and is becoming a better angler as well. I know with the knowledge that I am obtaining and the patience that I have that that big ole hawg will come and I cannot wait for the day I post that picture to my friends here on the board. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

According to the Illinois Department of Resources book the state record largemouth was caught 2/15/76 Stone Quarry Lake and weighed 13 pounds one oz. Needless to say my percentage is not quite what I would like it to be but I am continuing to work on it at every chance. lol

Well I have one spinning rod 6' rigged with a t-rigged senko that is very productive on my lake here and I also have a little longer spinning rod 6'6" that I t-rig worms with. I am just learning my baitcaster and I am not as apt at setting the hook on senkos, worms with it as i am with the spinning reels but I can and have caught with the zoom flukes. I keep all my plastics in a tupperware container that I bought at the local dollar store and have no problem getting around the lake with three poles and my baits. As you can see the fish are getting a little bigger.

I bought this at a local Wal-Mart last summer when of course I did not know how to fish it and I have found that now the fish on my local lake love it. My wife says it is army green with purple and light green glitter in. My question is this. Does anyone know where I can get some senko take offs with the slit in it like this one has? It seems like you can really tell when you have a bite better with the slit. I have searched all the Wal-Marts around here with no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated and if someone could explain if the slit makes a difference or if it is all in my head. I think the real question is which brands have the slits in them. Thanks

You can buy pre-rigged worms at any Wal-Mart and Ace Hardwares. They have all sizes and I have used them alot. I am trying to use nothing but T-rigs now but I have caught allot of fish with the pre-rigged worms. Here are a couple of websites as well. www.thewormfactory.com www.ikecon.com Hope this helps you out.

This site is the best. Everyone is very helpful and always willing to teach you and answer any questions. I should know I ask enough of them. lol. But it really helps me as everyone always can put it into words I can understand. Good luck to you.

Bill Dance is by far my favorite as he just seems like a good ole boy and would drop everything to help a fellow angler. I try to buy whatever tapes I can find off ebay of his. I'd take his course if it wasn't so expensive. I like Hank Parker as well..

I am with everyone else on this one. I love the really active bass that jump. I had one Saturday that looked like it was jumping towards me to attack. lol. I didn't lose that one but have lost more than one to the every tricky jumping bass.

Welcome the members here are very helpful and always willing to help a new angler out. I should know I bug them all the time. Welcome again

Well it absolutely poured most of the day but when it let up I told the wife let's go fishing so we did. I caught four and yes the one I am holding I caught on a senko type worm. My wife caught her first bass ever off a pre-rigged worm. She has caught them before but never off a worm and this is where the excitement began. My friend was using a popper and came over to me and moved to the right side of me as we were getting ready to leave and landed the mother load toad that I have ever witness personally. I helped bring her in with a net. He was using a beat up popper ugly stick and an ugly cast reel with six pound test. The fish weighed 61/2 pounds and was 20 inches long with get this a 16 inch girth. It was really cool to see him bring her in but of course would have been cooler if I had done it. lol Hope I post the pictures correctly.

I would have to say the funniest thing I have ever caught was a frog on a frog. Just to make sure I wasn't losing my mind I called my son over and said watch this and the frog attacked it again. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen.

I went to LaSalle Lake in Illinois today for the first time. I can say it is more of a boat lake than a bank lake so unfortunately I was pretty much out of luck there. I tried just about everything I had but without any luck so we called it a day and headed back home to Mendota Lake where I caught 5 in about 45 minutes. I guess I am just in my comfort zone there and I pretty much can make the adjustments to find the fish as I am familier there as well. I would like to get out in a boat sometime and hopefully try my luck there. I am enclosing a picture of one of the fish I caught today. Not a monster by any means but I wasn't shut out either. 8-)

My mother in law bought me a nice Bill Dance spinning reel combo but unfortunately when it arrived it was not spooled with any line. Could someone give me the directions on how to spool it correctly or am I stuck taking it to someone to do it for me? I am not the dumbest but I am going to need you to explain it in terms that I will understand. lol I bought 8 lb test Spiderwire EZ super mono lo-vis green if this helps. The spinning rod and reel is as follows Bill Dance select 20 Quantum 5.5:1 gear ratio. Thanks.

Thanks to everyone that replied. Going to try it out later today.

Can any of you good people give me a general hook size for rigging some basic worms, senkos, 3 1/2 tiki sticks. 5 inch kinami baits, 4.75 bass assassin worms. I caught my first 5 t-rigged bass this week on senko's and yes some of my family hooked me up with the rest of what I am asking here. Thanks you guys have been so helpful and bass fishing just gets better and better for me.

Thanks for all your help guys and now I will give you a little more information. Here is the equipment I am using at the present time. My number one comfortable rig is as follows: Shakespeare Excursion Graphite EXC66.1MM 6'6" (1.98M) Action: Medium Heavy (8-15lb Line) Shakespeare Ugly Cast (spincast) Have not been able to figure out a baitcaster Gear Ratio 3.8:1 Number two rig Daiwa Heartland-S Model # HL-S 661MRB-G 6'6" Medium Lure 1/4-1oz Line 10-25 lbs. I have to same reel on this one as the first. I am probably not using any of the line you mentioned so could you please give me some tips on what to get? Any other information you might need please let me know and I will be more than happy to give it. I bought a Bill Dance baitcaster reel off ebay 6.3:1 and it was really nice feeling but I could not cast it no matter how much I tried so I sold it back on ebay. Is there a really good spincast reel out there? I heard the Zebco33 is a good one. I saw a Rhino that has 5 ball bearings in it at WalMart but didn't know.

We fish on our local lake here in town. Medota Lake in Mendota, Illinois. My wife took this picture last night. It is a pretty little lake.

I fish a small local lake from the bank and I mostly use pre-rigged worms in the 6 1/2 inch range and have no trouble catching little ones all day long on most days. By little ones I mean I have caught a 1 1/2 pounder on a crankbait earlier this spring and a bunch of little ones as well. My question is I know that there are bigger bass in the lake as I have seen some jump and a guy caught one at night last summer. What is the best tactic to seek out these type bass and get some quality bites. Sure it is fun catching fish when others don't seem to be but would really like to caught some bigger ones if possible. I have tried tube baits and some t-rigged worms but can't seem to tell if I am getting bites and have never once set a hook t-rigged. Help me please! I tried to enclose a photo of the normal size fish I catch. This was one pound caught Saturday. Thanks in advance.

I have tried a couple of different baitcast reels and I just cannnot work them but I love to fish. I currently use an uglycast spincast reel that I bought for 12 bucks at Wal Mart. I like it well enough but was wondering if there is a lighter but better model of spincast reel out there to upgrade my fishing? Any suggestions would be helpful and if it would be better to use a spinning real of better quality instead of the spincast I would be willing to try that as well. I don't have the money to spend alot fo dolars but I could probably go anywhere from $500.00 to $75.00. Thanks for the help and good luck fishing everyone!

I just got back into fishing this year and man oh man had I forgotten the thrill and excitement of catching a bass of any size. ok so anyway I use a cheap 12 buck graphite rod from wal-mart and a ugly cast reel. I am mostly self taught and pretty good at catching with soft plastic worms and I love the top water. I have noticed that when the pros set the hook the entire tip of the rod bends. What are these rods actually called? Trigger rods? fast action tip rods 80/20 rods or none that I have mentioned. lol I also would like some advise on my first baitcasting reel to purchase. I am hooked on fishing but don't want to pay huge amounts of money before I can master the reel and the rod. Meaning fish with an understanding of what they are suppose to do and feel like and what I can actually do with them. Sorry if I rambled but I get really excited and don't mind going out in the dead of winter to practice to get better. Thank you so much. I love this site!