Armtx77

Scum Frog for me as well, with Black being the top producer.

I think as a whole, soft plastics get worked slower and because of that, moody fish are more apt to take a swipe at it. I have never had much luck throwing hard baits, aside from Rat L Traps and buzzbaits. Both being obnoxious sound makers that invoke a strike. I catch the occasional fish on a spinner bait, but T-Rigged and top water frogs have always been good to me. So, I keep buying them and I keep throwing them.

One of the biggest reasons I own a Yak and not a boat. Even with that, the boat guys get peeved with the Yak guys from time to time. As it does take us a little longer to get everything to the water and sometimes, we have to use the ramp, to actually get the yak in the water. Keep grinding man.

60lbs braid, is considered cheating in this case;)

I have done it using both setups, but I prefer a 7ft M/EF spinning rod and have used a ML/EF a bunch too. EF may be too much for some people, but it works for me

I'm a righty and all mine are Left Handed. I dont know when LH baitcasters became mainstream, but I bought two Abu BlackMax baitcasters, that were LH in 1993. Motor skills will let you use either, but Im glad that just about baitcaster, comes in both.

Yeah, I didn't understand "sauce" until I moved to NOLA in 2005. It can be any color really and there are different ways to get to a "sauce". Here in NOLA, it goes by sauce,gravy,marinara and it is almost always rue based...equal part flour and oil with onion/bell pepper/celery(trinity)sweated into the rue once a color is achieved through heat and mixing the oil and flour. My crawfish sauce is an orange/red color. I add one 8oz can of tomato sauce to my rue, before I had the crawfish stock and finish with the finely chopped crawfish tails. You learn to make a rue and than add Trinity. After that, sauce making gets real easy. Food is a common thread for us all. It slows us down, brings us together and fills not only our belly, but our souls. Eat well my friends.

I take no offense to your disagreement. Would you rather I politely waited until they left what may or may not be structure and than kicked my Yak over there and scanned with my own gear? What if there was no structure there and they just found some fish on the move? I made mention that I dont fish the spot, but come back another time. Is my ability to discern people catching fish in open water and waypointing that area for further research, not using the most powerful tool known to man...Observation? IF it were not for TECH...Sonar, 2D and every underwater map made in the past 60 years. You would have to drag lures or weights across an open body water. You dont randomly troll weights around in open water, looking for structures, right? Of course not, you uses Hummingbird or some such thing and when it beeps, dings, chines...etc, you investigate further...you power of observation, has been amped up underwater or you see some one catching fish and triangulate using natural/man-made markers. All today's tech did, was make Sonar and 2D obsolete(ish)...paper maps are what they are. If you have bodies of water that go unchanged for the most part, they are a wealth of info, especially when paired with today's TECH. I will respectfully stand by statement, that with out TECH, these structures go unfound. Your point of using Sonar, 2D and Maps only further illustrates this point. As each of those is direct TECH or unable to be made without TECH. I will concede maps from man made lakes, may not have had much tech in order to make maps.

Fenwick HMG ML/F. DIAWA BG 1500 10lbs Sufix 832 Coastal Camo.

I think I told the story of fishing with a local Pro/Guide and his phantom hook sets and phantom fish fights, all the way up to the high fives in the back of the boat. That was all done to keep the "passer bys" thinking there were fish in a area, he knew only carp and catfish frequented. I do a lot of fishing in my Yak, that guys can't or don't want to get their $30k+ boat into. I time the tides and get into some SWEET holes back in the marsh. I have seen guys sit 30ft away and shadow me as I catch Reds, even seen them try to blow water on a shallow spot and than ride the wave into a spot. If you think you have some honey hole all to yourself, you are either on a remote spot or just fooling yourself. When Speck fishing, if I see Gulls diving into the water, you can bet I'm fishing that spot. If I see a guy pounding a spot, breaking heads and hurting lips. I GPS mark it and come back...I NEVER fish on top of those people, but I will surely come back another day. Claiming you did it all by yourself, when you used TECH to find undetwater structure is nonsense, because without the tech you would have never found it. TECH is another tool, I got a 600.00 set up on my YAK and it helps me catch fish. I will gladly tell you where I caught them, doesnt mean I am going to tell you what on, what depth or the weather conditions. Structures hold fish PERIOD and they will always hold fish DEPENDING on CONDITIONS. Getting fired up that others figured it out, is silly.

That sauce is made with 2 cups of finely chopped tails...jeesh;) Cast iron is a great way to go. Just keep in mind that men don't need as much Iron in our diets as we get over the age of 50...just something to think about.

Cheese gritts with two poached eggs and a crawfish sauce...a couple of crawfiah tails too.

I own three BG 1500's and use them for wading rivers for hybrids, taking Reds in the marsh and riding biatch in local LMB tourneys. My 15 year old nephew has been putting a beat down on one for 3 year now and it still runs smooth, looks beat up, but runs smooth. I will say it again, if you learn to maintain a reel, it will give you years of use.

Rooster Tails are a GREAT option, as well as the Panther Martin's. You can find both from 4grams on up. If you are fishing that fast of moving current that it will affect the action of a crank bait. Yo may want to walk a little ways and find calmer water.

The Fox River is pretty well known in your parts. It will get a lot if boat traffic in the summer. You keep heading North, following the Fox and there is a bunch there to fish. I spent a summer interning in Gurnee and lived with my Uncle and Aunt. Now that was 20 years ago, but that water is still there...LOTS of pressure, but if you are willing to do some wading or shallow canoeing, the fish are there. Open up Google maps and start looking at the layout of the Fox River and the chain of lakes around it. West of you, a little town called Millington is where I would put my canoe in and fish the Fox to where it met up with the Illinois River. I believe it is called Bridge st and it is a bridge that crosses the Fox. Good luck

Check out the Fox River and work your way North and West of there. Where at in Chicagoland are you exactly? I know some good fishing west of the Metro, but depending on where you are, it may be a bit of drive. Busses Woods(Schaumburg)...I missed it. There are a bunch of good lakes as you work north towards Fox Lake...keeping going north, following the water. Go west an hour and start picking up all those small rivers that you can canoe/wade....LOTS of smallies and hybrids in them.

It is brutal and the 60acre urban lagoon about 2 blocks from my house is getting wrecked. I have counted 8 dead 3+lbs fishnin the water and a bunch of asshats keeping stringers of the same size. I know I shouldn't be upset, but this WAS a great hidden fishery and now I am afraid it is being ruined.

Men and our gear, are very fickle things and my wife has tried several times and it does not always work out. It is the thought that counts and last year, she got me one of those bow fishing hunts in the marsh at night...it was an EPIC experience. At 500 dollars, you can get into some high end gear. I would have him show you his favorite set up and than buy him another one or you may be only to get one of them. Good luck

I got my order Friday and the braid and one pack of hooks was BO. Not too bad, considering the odd circumstances.

Opposable thumbs and the lures look cool to us. The fact that they will eat neon green colored lures, that look like they have been dipped in nuclear waste...amazes me. Toss in snap rings, 2" plastic lips, treble hooks and other various color scheme and I question that any color matters, but as I said in another thread: I go out of my way, to match the hatch.

What we don’t know, is whether the color perception of bass is the same as humans (We may never know) I go to great lengths, to match the hatch, especially in clear water. I feel like it is the single biggest factor in catching clean water fish. They get too long to look at bait and figure it out, not make sure you are close. With that said, braid,snap rings, plastic lips and treble hooks...been catching fish for a long time. So confused.

I can honestly say, that I have NEVER caught a BASS in 15ft of water. Thanks for posting this chart, very informative.

Cool water will be critical for a transport over 1HR. I would fill the cooler up with native water the fish was caught in, have the aerator going and than stick a couple of frozen 16oz bottles of water in there. When you get to your destination, scoop out some "cooler" water and replace with new water from the lake you are putting them in, wait 10 minutes and repeat. Do that until you have all new water and give the fish another 10 minutes. While a tedious process, this is easiest way to keep that fish alive in the new environment. Check local laws...it is illegal in some states.

I have 3, Diawa BG 1500's that are hooked into 7ft ML/F action rods. 1 Fenwick HMG and two Doybns Sierra Micros. They all run 10lbs 832 Sufix in Coastal Camo. I think the BG 1500, is the best reel under $100 on the market. I called up Diawa and ordered spare spools. As I do a lot of wading and evey once in awhile, I need a fresh spool. I throw 5" Senkos on a 1/16oz weighted EWG and weightless, BizzBait killer Craws on the same set up. 1/8-1/4 oz Rooster Tails and Rebel wee Craws , without issue. The BG is built like a tank, it is not the lightest reel out there, but I have turned the heads of 5-7lbs Bull Reds with my set ups and the BG helped keep them in check. If I catch them on a super sale, I will most likely buy 2-3 to set back.

I fish it on 10lbs Sufix 832, straight braid. With that said, I am not fishing a bunch of rocky areas to chew up braid. If I was having issues with braid failing on me, I MIGHT run a FC leader, but I run straight braid when fishing rocky bottom rivers for Spots and don't lose many lures on straight braid. I inspect the knot and about 3ft of line after every fish. If you are doing that, than I feel you are on top of things.