BigAngus752

It's very poor right now in central Illinois also. I have just a couple suggestions; 1. If it's windy I find some rock that the wind is beating on and throw at it. Sunday I pulled four good bass off of a spot just like that. It's a half mile long causeway and I caught all four in six casts in a space of about 10 feet. I only caught one more in the next 6 hours. 2. Wait a few weeks.

That's a great story. I love the persistance!

1. How often do you go fishing? Every chance I get. That's not a cop-out. I mean it literally. Occasionally I'll get out twice a week, but occasionally it's only twice a month. My minimum goal is once per week. 2. What type of fishing do you usually do? (fresh, salt, target species) Bass. Sometimes when I'm bass fishing I'll start catching bluegill for fun for a little while but I never go out for anything but bass. 3. How do you hear about new products? Social media? Friends? Online? The vast majority of my info comes from word of mouth (friends) and from BR. 4. When buying a new product what makes you finally decide to purchase it? Reviews? Friends Recommendations? Online reviews and reviews on BR make the largest impact on my decisions when I can't try something for myself. 5. Where did you usually shop pre covid-19? In stores? Online? Both, and the plague has had little affect on where I shop. 6. Does the fishing industry have enough gadgets? Does a woman have enough mood swings? I'm overwhelmed by both. 7. How much do you spend yearly on fishing equipment? That's a good question. My rough estimate is $1000 for strictly "fishing equipment" but it could be twice that. Factoring in boat maintenance, lake stickers, licenses, etc. it continues to go up from there.

I was bank fishing in the western U.P. and felt this eerie feeling like someone was watching me the whole time...

1967 Cougar XR-7G. It was a big block car with a factory sunroof. My JV basketball coach had it sitting in his backyard when I was a 15yr old high school basketball player. I bought it from him for $500, had it towed home, got it running, and traded it for a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 before I ever got my driver's license. They now sell for six figures. On a side note, I've had seven Mustangs over the years but I still have a 1968 Mustang that I bought when I was 19 years old. I turned 51 today.

You bet. Rooster Tail and Mepps. My 17yr old son won't throw anything except inline spinners. He keeps a fishing rod and several inline spinners in his truck all the time. I can't say that either of us have caught anything huge on an inline but they will catch multiple species when nothing else is working.

1. It's much, much more difficult to get skunked in a boat. It still happens but you have so much more access that it's much less likely. Does that give you a good reason to buy a boat or kayak? You're welcome. 2. Ned rig. 3. Fish for other species. If I really think I'm not going to catch one single bass I will sometimes just start fishing for bluegill. There are lots of fish and all are fun to catch.

You will find a lot of different opinions on braid...and on everything fishing-related for that matter! LOL! For example, I have had nothing but terrible luck with Power Pro but there are tons of fisherman that love it. I use braid on several of my spinning and baitcasting reels. The only braid I now use (after trying several brands) is Sufix 832. It is the most versatile (again, only my experience) and it's buoyantly neutral. My spinning set-ups all have 10lb and I use two different colors on spinning gear, Ghost (white), neon yellow. Both help me see the line moving as my spinning techniques are always the slower techniques. I will use a leader in some situations to make it easier to break off or if I feel like the fish are finicky that day. Most of the time the leader doesn't seem to make a difference in the fish catching but I break off frequently in the manmade lakes that I fish. You have lots of respected name-brand braids to choose from. Pick something from 8lb to 20lb and just start trying them to see what you like best.

My wife and I leave on vacation tomorrow morning and NOW I find out I'm going to PACKER COUNTRY!? This is not a good start...

It’s funny, the little LMs fight like the devil and anything over five pounds is just dragging a wet lump in comparison. I’ve caught two over 5lbs this year so far and while I was thrilled, they weren’t hard to get to the side of the boat, even dragging one out of water willows. My toughest fights are always seem to be in the 3-4 range. Rod-bending fights to the boat.

Man I missed a ton of fish waiting for the “tap”. A ton! The hardest thing to learn is sensing that “mushy” or “weightless” feeling. I still swing too late sometimes but my summer fishing success has gone through the roof after learning what the “weightless” feeling of a big bass just holding my jig or worm in it’s mouth feels like.

Sauger? Saugeye? I have no idea. The only thing that matters is that a Ned head with 1/2 of a ZinkerZ in the color Coppertreuse catches EVERYTHING. I've caught bass, crappie, bluegill, drum, catfish, and...whatever this is...oh, and a turtle. And a rusty Rapala Flicker Shad. I hope a pirate's chest is next.

Your local Dick's/Field and Stream store may have Storm lures on sale. Not showing on the website but I walked through my store and they had Storm Arashi "Circuit Board" squarebills on sale for half off ($4.99 each). Turns out the sign was wrong and they were actually 3 for $10.

^^^What he said^^^

This is the biggest scam trend of them all...

Walmart strikes again. I was shopping for other stuff and stopped by the clearance aisle to grab a few Rooster Tails for my son. I knew they had five bins of lures on clearance but the deals weren't that good. I got up to the checkout and instead of $2.10 the Rooster Tails were 25 cents. I immediately went back and grabbed everything that I would possibly throw. When I got home I added up all the regular prices and it should have been $146.81. I paid $33.75. The Red Eye Shad were 90 cents each. Anytime you walk through Walmart ALWAYS check the clearance aisle!

Went out Sunday to a nuke cooling lake. It's got the biggest fish in a 100 mile radius but it's always a tough place to do well. Even worse being August. Water temp with the plant going was up to 94.5 degrees. I launched before dawn and fished five hours. I saw at least 40 other bass boats on the water and I only saw ONE guy catch a bass and it wasn't a biggun'. I stuck with it and caught only one but she was one oz. shy of four pounds. This lake is hard to fish but the bass are all just healthy and beautiful. It was truly a blessing to get this one. On a side note, I really need to find someone else to hold my fish for pics. I'm 6'5 and I can palm a basketball off the dribble. All the fish look small when my hands are holding them. LOL

I've never even thought about it. I'm usually too frustrated with the skiers and wave runners to think straight. With Labor Day approaching I'm going to watch for this opportunity.

LOL! "60% of the time it works every time".

Glen Lau, Doug Hannon, and Tom Mann have all mentioned using a tactic of churning up a shallow cove with your outboard to lure bass into feeding. The idea is that you find a shallow area near deep water that contains some vegetation. You drive through repeatedly using your outboard to churn the water and chop up some of the vegetation and then you anchor nearby, eat your lunch for 30 minutes or so, and wait. The theory is that you have started up the food chain by dislodging the small organisms in the vegetation and the baitfish and bluegill will soon arrive to eat with the bass coming along shortly after. You are essentially creating your own personal feeding opportunity for the entire food chain of fish. Glen wrote that this is especially useful in the heat of summer during the day when the food chain is lethargic. I'm curious if anyone has tried or regularly uses this tactic? I'm always eager to hear the opinions of everyone on this board anytime I read something that piques my curiosity.

That his impeller has to be replaced.

Tacos for all members with fish in their avatar!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are times of the year where I will lose as many lures as I catch fish in one day, but I just haven't found anything more fun that fighting a bass out of a brush pile. If you are worried about the cost here is what you should try: 1. Pegged t-rig with a worm. Buy VMC hooks (EWG or worm) and Yum Dingers. You are out pocket change when you break off. Heck, my best producer in the spring is a weightless UV Speed Worm on a 3/0 worm hook that I jiggle into the thickest brush piles I can find. When I break off I don't even lose a sinker. 2. Walmart sells Strike King jig packs that come with a jig with a decent hook and two or three trailers. At my local Walmart they are $2.46. I buy them by the dozen. This is the only jig I throw in the huge piles of mess. I won't risk my Sieberts. 3. Sometimes you might need to try a treble lure. I buy Cotton Cordell lipless cranks from Walmart for $1.96. I have a whole bin of them. I will skip them under ANYTHING that looks fishy and not give a single crap if I can't get it back out. 4. Hollow-body frogs can be hung up, but it's a rare thing. Give them a try, especially in the surface vegetation. My biggest fish last year was in LESS than one foot of water. My biggest fish so far this year was in just about one foot of water. Throw into the worst mess you kind find and wait for the "tap"...

Sorry I just saw this. The boat that you and I talked about didn't have a floor either. The leaking rivets are caused by grown men my size standing on the hull between the braces. After I fixed up all the rivets in the boat I repaired I then made two sections of removable floor using treated plywood with some 1x2 framing. I made the floor removable so I could drag the boat around more easily by myself and then just drop the front and middle floors in and go fishing.