Glaucus

Here in Illinois, we don't have a lot of monster bass, and I don't fish too heavy of cover, so my 5 favorite setups in which I find I can do everything I want to do are adjusted accordingly. I don't use frogs or braid. I prefer 6'6" rods over 7'+ rods. I feel like I have more accuracy and control, and it feels more natural to me. I'm an average 5'11" 185lb guy, so I'm not really sure why 7' rods feel so off putting to me. Baitcast: 7' MH/F, 17lb Mono: Used for everything from Jigs to the Texas Rig to the Whopper Plopper. FC leader when appropriate. 6'6" MH/F, 14lb FC: Spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits, mostly. Certain Topwaters. 6'6" M/F, 12lb FC: Crankbaits, Lipless Crankbaits, Jerkbaits, mostly. Certain Topwaters. Spinning: 6'6" M/F, 8lb Mono: Used mostly for Smallies, downsized baits, and finesse baits. Certain Topwaters. FC leader when appropriate. SpinCAST!!!: Here's a weird one. I like having a spincast setup. I only use it for Senkos. It allows me to do a lot of cool, ultra accurate, super controlled stuff. And as I said, the cover I fish isn't considered very heavy (usually) and we don't have very many monsters, so I never run into trouble. 6'6" M/F, 10lb FC.

Thing is, I almost brought some bass gear, but I didn't want to be rude, since he was the host and enjoys the cats. Would've been happy to just have had a Whopper Plopper with me, to take a few shots.

I never fish for catfish, so my boss invited me to go fishing for catfish with him yesterday. It was a great time. But. And but... I saw a bunch of smallies smashing the top, and it grieved my soul. I felt like I was drinking Bud Light when I could have been drinking Bell's Two Hearted Ale. All fine and well, of course, but a man has preferences... Tis the season for us in the North!

Cringe.

Illinois here. I'm going out for what looks to be my last fishing trip of 2017. We've had warm 50-60 degree temperatures for about a week or more now. I'll be starting with a slow rolled finesse spinnerbait, and a quarter ounce lipless crankbait. After that I'll be moving to 7 inch ribbon tail worms with a quarter ounce bullet weight, as well as 4 and 5 inch weightless Senkos. Hopefully it's gonna be a good one...

I've gone ultra finesse and ultra slow, especially with jerkbaits and shaky/Ned/drop shot, on light fluorocarbon, and it's been dead for 3 weeks. I'm not sure how else I can adapt to the conditions.

I'm a northerner. As such, does there come a point where the bite is just "over with" until the spring? The water isn't hard yet, but it's been 3 weeks and I haven't had so much as a sniff. I have tried: Senkos (Texas and Wacky, weighted and weightless), jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits and inline spinners, Texas Rigged worms and lizards, jigs and tubes, shaky head, Ned Rig, and drop shot. I fish a half dozen ponds from shore and it's been the same at each one of them. I fish almost daily, at various times of day. This is the first time I have ever tried bass fishing past the month of October. So far, terrible! I have tried various rates of speed, all the way down to ultra slow, and when I thought I was going ultra slow, I slowed down even more. I have gone down to the lightest line I can get away with and in straight fluorocarbon. I'm not sure there's anything else to do?

1. 5" Green Pumpkin/Black Senko, Texas Rigged weightless (end of summer) 2. 3/16oz Strike King Spinnerbait (beginning of spring) 3. Green Pumpkin/Black Zoom Original Trick Worm, Texas Rigged weightless (dead of summer) 4. 3/8oz Strike King Spinnerbait (beginning of fall) 5. 1/2oz Gizzard Shad Rat-L-Trap (middle of fall) HM: 4" Watermelon/Black Senko, Wacky Rigged