BigAngus752

Great day on the water Sunday. Barometer absolutely bottomed out and it was going to be pretty windy so I picked a fairly sheltered lake and launched 15 minutes before dawn. It turned out to be perfect. Immediately identified a good pattern (vegetation on rock near deep water) with three fast catches on a whopper plopper. Caught one more on a KVD 1.5. When the sun got up and shiny I kept the same pattern and switched to a bladed jig. Ended up with 9 in the boat (that's very good for this particular lake) and all but one were keeper-sized. This is the biggest of the day and my best of the year so far. She was 5lb 3oz. The fish on this lake have been very fat and healthy this year. This lake is on it's way "up", which is wonderful.

Bass and women...I have no idea....sigh...

Something that looks kind of green and something that looks kind of black/blue. The details don’t matter. The only specific color I have found that truly stands out as a fantastic performer is a Zman ZinkerZ in Coppertruese. When all else fails, this catches.

That sucks. We were on a good run down here but it has suddenly slowed in the last week. I went out this morning on a small forest preserve lake from 0630-0930 and the water was 84 when I launched and 85 when I left. I was fishing painfully slow letting a jig sit on the bottom just where the rip rap ends in about 10 feet of water. I think I was the only guy on that small lake this morning that caught a bass. The doldrums are here. It's going to suck until September.

This is what my plan usually degenerates to day or night. This I already do. I just consider it fishing a ledge. I haven't really thought of it as the "end of a flat".

I use only two different lines on my baitcasters, braid and Yo-Zuri Hybrid. I highly recommend it along with KVD Line and Lure. I have tried Yo-Zuri Hybrid on two spinning reels. I do NOT recommend it on a spinning reel.

These answers make perfect sense. Thank you very much. I have really only looked at the creek beds and the points after spawn. It make sense that they will come up on a "flat" area at prime feeding times. Are you guys ever looking for feeding activity on the flat as a clue that some bass may be there? I will be fishing rip rap or a point and I'll see white bass or panfish feeding on baitfish in the middle of a "flat". Do you consider that an indicator? I have half-heartedly thrown stuff through them but I don't spend much time doing it because I have no confidence in it.

I never fish flats. Never. Why? No confidence, I suppose, which is the result of never fishing flats. I fish shallow structure and cover near shore or isolated structure/cover, I fish channel swings, points, rip rap, etc. I would like to hear from you why you choose to fish a particular flat and what techniques you use. If I get some examples of when and how you pick them that will encourage me to give it a try. Thanks in advance.

Well...maybe next time I'll just mail you $85. Seriously though, thanks for the tip. I just stocked up on ZinkerZ's for less than half price. Unbelievable.

X2 on what @Bluebasser86 said. I own Tatula CTs, a CT-R, Fuego CTs, and one Tatula SV. If you are in the need for the speciality that the SV provides then I highly recommend it. If you just need the best baitcaster for the money, buy yourself a Fuego CT. The Tatulas that lie in between the SV and the Fuego CT are just pretty. Seriously, my CT-R is really good looking but it offers nothing in the way of performance that I don't get with my Fuego CTs. At least not at my skill level.

1. Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm 2. Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm 3. Berkley Maxscent Kingtail (when I need a big worm)

My first fish of the day was a one-eyed pirate bass! It just so happens that I was fishing a cooling lake for a nuke plant today....coincidence? LOL

? on the KVD Line and Lure. I use only braid and Yo-Zuri Hybrid on my baitcasters. There is a noticable difference in the Yo-Zuri when I use the KVD.

We were there only for hiking and sightseeing, but we had a tiny pond that came with our cabin and I caught every bass in that pond at least three times. LOL. I did spend 45 minutes fishing from shore on Dutchman lake. 40 minutes of that was on the riprap fishing clumps of grass. I couldn't believe how successful that was. I caught a few short ones, four keepers, and missed what would have been my best of this year and possibly a PB. I set the hook and struggled to pull her from the grass. When she came free I thought I had her and she raced right past me into a laydown and tangled my line. I jumped in to try to grab her but she broke off before I could get ahold of her. I've caught 5lb fish and she was at least 5lbs. I'm going back to Dutchman when I can. It seemed like it was chock full of bass and it was a really beautiful lake. That is very interesting that you found the same thing at Glenn Jones and Shabonna. It's great to be on a solid pattern. I'm going to try it again tomorrow and hope it still holds. Good luck

Normally I would think it was nuts to try to offer you guys a suggestion on current patterns when I'm 2.5 hrs south of you, but bear with me. For the last 4-6 weeks the pattern on our lakes here in central IL has held fast. We (me and several fishing buddies) have been hauling bass off of rocks/rip rap with grass/vegetation on it and they are holding really shallow. It's very, very odd for us here because the water has been over 80 degrees and we normally wouldn't find fish on shallow rock like this. So why would I think this could also be a pattern up where you are? Last week my wife and I went to far southern Illinois where I fished two different lakes/ponds in Shawnee National Forest. We were more than 200 mile south where the fish should have hit their deep summer pattern much earlier than here. Where did I catch numerous bass? In 1-2 feet of water on rip rap with a little vegetation nearby. It's kind of crazy. Normally by end of June I am fishing only under docks and laydowns or dragging a T-rig in "deep" water. Would this pattern work up your way? I have no idea but next time you are out just give it a shot and PLEASE let me know. I'm curious as heck. Let me add that, after talking with a couple close fishing friends, we have a theory. One of the lakes I fish has an extrordinary crop of crawfish this year. The size of them is outlandish and they are everywhere. Perhaps central and southern Illinois have had a banner year for crawdads and it's keeping the big bass up on the rocks? It's jigs and long ribbon-tail worms that are doing it for us. Best of luck.

I have two different responses to this: 1. If my line is moving and there is no current then the fish has the lure and it’s an immediate hookset. 2. Any other time I’m on the “pause and be sure” bandwagon. I missed a LOT of fish by pulling the tail of the plastic out of their mouths until I slowed down a beat or two. And sometimes, rarely but sometimes, even when my line is moving they may still not have it fully in their mouth. I’ve more than doubled my T-rig and wacky rig catches by pausing on the swing.

I stumbled on these restocked at my Walmart last week. I bought 14 of them. At $2.46 each I'm not heartbroken when I break off a football jig in the rocks. Unlike how despondant I get when one of my beautiful @Siebert Outdoors jigs is stuck on something. I'll go in after those.

Soooooo...throw a frog I guess? This is the south end of Crab Orchard Lake in southern Illinois. The lily field is around 1000 acres. Yes, there is a boat ramp but a buoy line prevents boaters from venturing into the lilies. You can only motor along a causeway to a bridge which accesses the area to the north. So now you know where all the lunkers are...

I bought a 701HFB as a second or back-up HF rod to my Powell heavy casting. I wasn’t expecting a lot from a $55 rod when I have Dobyns Fury, Champion, Duckett Triads, Fenwich Elite Tech, etc in my arsenal. But I just realized last week how much I’m pulling the Aird X out. I use spinning for all of my bottom contact stuff except heavy jigs so the Champion and Elite Tech win that, but the Aird X is just a really versatile casting rod. Especially for a “heavy fast”. I drag half ounce football head jig with it and also won’t hesitate to put a spinner bait on it. It makes a great rod for bank fishing because of its versatility. Plus I won’t carry a $250 rod when I’m bank fishing because it’s more likely to get damaged. The expensive ones stay in the boat. I’m sure I’ll get another Aird X at some point.

It's spectacular on a lake I fish about an hour away. The little store on that lake sells minnows and a drop shot with a minnow on it catches crappie all day. My wife fishes with worms at our local lakes because we can buy worms at Walmart but not minnows. LOL

Mostly channel cats although the last one I caught was a flathead. I also forgot to mention that I taught my wife how to fish a dropshot and she will put an earthworm on a dropshot with a 2 foot drop and she catches panfish and 6-10 inch channel cats.

Agreed. There is one particular lake I fish that this happens regularly. Anything I'm dragging on the bottom, even in 2ft of water, is a catfish magnet. My wife was fishing with me once and I set the hook on a hard hit. Within a second I yelled, "d**n catfish!". She asked how I knew right away. I explained that it was clearly huge and it gave me two giant head shakes. Completely different feel from a bass. I hate those whisker pigs. My wife thinks they are "cute" when they grunt.

I've considered trying a sanding pad attachment or using the handle of a paint roller to make a "duck foot" but I haven't gotten around to it and yet my push pole has worked beautifully. I'm starting to think I don't need anything on the end of it. I fish entirely man-made lakes and I'm either pushing out of rip rap or muck. Still haven't had a problem with it sinking too far.

I use this. Granted I have a Ranger RT188 and, being aluminum, it's light and easy to push around, but this works beautifully. Not sure it will stand up to a pontoon boat but it's cheap enough for you to try it. https://www.menards.com/main/paint/paint-sprayers-applicators/extension-poles/mr-longarm-reg-twist-lok-reg-aluminum-extension-pole/9224/paint/paint-sprayers-applicators/extension-poles/mr-longarm-reg-twist-lok-reg-aluminum-extension-pole/9272/p-1444441210190.htm

I went out this morning just as the sun came up. I was stymied at my usual topwater spots and started to fret about the day. Then I discovered that the bluegill are spawning. I quickly found that the bass were stalking the bluegill from nearby grass beds. And then a bunch of bass discovered I was stalking them by swimming a jig through the grass. It was a good day today.