BigAngus752

If you are buying TRDs then you are definitely overcomplicating it. Buy a bag of ZinkerZs for the same price as a bag of TRDs. Cut the ZinkerZs in half. You have now cut your cost in half.

Love the ZinkerZs!!! I make sure I never have less than 5 bags of Coppertreuse ZinkerZs at all times.

Yum Dingers would have caught 70 bass at half the price....?

I am also in Illinois. You must be far north if you have water below 50 degrees. I’m central and our smallish lakes are still high 50s. Generally when the water is 55-45 I’m using moving baits like lipless, squarebill, bladed jigs relatively shallow and near anything that is still green or near rock/wood. At about 45 degrees I put away everything but the Ned rig. I have great success on a slowly twitched Ned from 45 degrees to ice. I’ve broken thin ice to throw a Ned and caught bass.

I am now blessed with a 1600sq ft garage with a 93% efficiency furnace. The boat does not get winterized anymore. I have great luck and fish as much as I can when the water temps go from 55 down to 45. I hang it up when the roads get icy, but I also am blessed to live 54 miles away from a nuke cooling lake (and 90 minutes from a Bassmaster top 25 lake that's also a cooling lake). Those weird, nearly 50 degree days that pop up once a while in Dec/Jan/Feb will find me off work and fishing 85 degree water in the warm arm of one of those lakes.

Finesse. I'd love a high end rod for Neds and shaky heads. Second place would be a 1/2oz and less jig rod.

I'm really confused now. I set my drag slightly lighter then I expect I'll need/want. I automatically clamp my thumb down on hookset and I can let up if I think the fish is pulling so hard as to rip out a treble or I can clamp down if I need to. I thought I was being really professional!!! LOL! Obviously I'm in the minority here!

For me it has nothing to do with mechanical aspects. I don’t use moving baits on spinning. Spinning is bottom contact and finesse. If I can feel a bluegill peck at my t-rig on a semi-slack line then a bass can sure as heck feel that bail slam closed when I crank the handle.

I happy when I'm fishing. I'm happier when I'm catching, but I still love just fishing.

If you are having trouble in general and have been fishing all year (or longer) and need help then you should immediately look at @roadwarrior 's topic that he created years ago. If you are just talking about getting skunked for the past month or two then just sit back and watch some football. None of us are catching right now. It will come back again.

The anthropomophizing of wild animals is all the rage right now. Especially on social media. No one has any interest in science or facts anymore. The thought that any animals "think" or identify humans as humans is childish. It's actually much more harmful to wildlife to attribute human intellect and emotion to them and acting on that idea ALWAYS leads to terrible consequences for animals and/or humans. Animals act on instinct solely for the purpose of procreation and survival. Of course fish identify us as a "threat" just as they identify a larger fish, a bird, or a snapping turtle as a "threat". There is no creature on this planet other than a human that identifies "pollution" as anything other than a change in the immediate environment.

I’m waiting patiently for a little rain (coming next week) and water temps to drop from 68 to 55 and below. Then I should be back in business.

I would love to try one but the amount of "Hulk smash" that would happen when I snag and break off a $30 rig holding $25 in paddle tail baits would be epically bad.

It is a 25hp limit lake and there is at least one IDNR officer at the ramp every day. You can, however, use your big motor to launch and load and just use the trolling motor on the lake. Not ideal but it's got the biggest bass in Illinois in it if you can find them. Make sure your boat is totally squared away. IDNR does random inspections all day long. The officers are all really good guys but they will write you up if they feel the need. I have only been there twice but I plan to make more trips now that I've "retired" into a more normal job with more time off.

Not just any power plant lake. If the OP wants to give this a try be very mindful of researching the lake. I will say that Newton Lake in Illinois is definitely worth a trip from Minnesota. Clinton Lake, Sanchris, Powerton...I'd have to say no. I know Egypt is good lake but it's fish don't compare to Newton. Fortunately they are close enough that the OP could come down for a few days and fish both. Newton has many a 9lb bass and I've heard that catching them during a snowstorm is an epic fishing trip. I hope to find out this year.

"Sixty percent of the time it works every time". Brian Fantana

You have to take into account a millions years of predator instinct and hereditary learning. The bass know where and when to sit and wait for the potential feeding crawfish. There is a small lake nearby that is in the middle of a forest preserve. My wife and I have both found carcasses of the largest crawfish we have seen in our lives on the dam rip rap in that lake while shore fishing. Why? Because raccoons come in the night, wade into the lake, and dig up huge rocks to unearth these giant crawfish. They carry them to shore and eat the best parts. Now just sit back and think about that for a second. This is a land mammal that has either learned through imitation or knows through hereditary learning that if it wades in a lake at a certain place at a certain time and does a specific, difficult thing it will be rewarded with crawdads. In the waters around here the bass are usually the apex predator. I can promise you they are better at finding craws than a raccoon.

Did you catch any more bass? Curious if the "bad luck on the first cast" thing is true...

I have reached a point in my life that I would rather sit shaking a Ned rig than sit on a bar stool. But I’m fishing for the peace. I’ve had enough “excitement “ for three lifetimes.

Like a burrow in the bank? You should Google an image of a muskrat. Edit: I just learned that your area also potentially has Nutria. You should look that up as well. Not good if you have Nutria.

Garmin Force. But only if I can find enough reviews to make me comfortable with it. Otherwise I’ll be buying an Ultrex.

I remember this feeling. As you spend more time on the water this is going to become second nature. I used to avoid windy days or main lake basins when the big pleasure boats were out. Just a few years later I am seeking out the windy days and casting backwards while using my foot control to swing the bow into a pleasure boat wake. You will surprise yourself with your skills by the end of next season.

Dang, I was all excited thinking we were going to talk about lipless......sigh.....?

Hey, did you learn something? Did you pay attention and make note of what DIDN'T work today in these specific conditions? Did you practice casting? Did you try a new knot? If you did any of these things then you were fishing my friend, and fishing is better than not fishing. That which skunks us makes us stronger.