MGF

One more couldn't hurt. In DuPage county I grew up fishing the "East Branch". I also fished the West Branch, Mallard, Blackwel, Pratt Wayne and so on. Some of those have changed a lot since I used to fish them regularly...I mean real physical changes.They don't even look like the same places. My dad still lives in the area and fishes a couple of them regularly. He catches some bass. It's not what I would call great fishing but it's nice for something close to home. Believe it or not we had some quality fishing in those places in decades past.

I spent a lot of time on northern Il forest preserve lakes over many years. They get a lot of pressure. Being bank bound probably keeps your from reaching "wintering holes". Once things start to move all the old standards work...sort of. Signs? I think when you start to see life (bait fish, bluegills, bugs) on the bank the bass should be around too. Early last fall I spent some time fishing with my father on a popular forest preserve lake. I walked all the way around it bouncing a ned rig and never got a bite. My father was fishing a Texas rigged worm and he never got a bite. There were other folks fishing and I never saw any of them catch a fish. They do catch some nice fish there (including muskies) but it must be a million casts to the fish. Believe it or not, years ago when there was less pressure and fewer people knew how to catch bass, we used to do pretty well on some of those lakes.

The baits I use usually change once or twice through the day and it changes a little through the season. I have a small boat and a canoe. I most often fish our local river. An outing usually consists of mostly floating, depending on water level. Meaning that not all my fishing is at "prime" times of day nor am I necessarily at the choice spots at those choice times of day. I carry 4 or 5 rods in the boat and two in the canoe. I almost always use at least two of them. I go through stages where one or two baits are my "go to" or favorite and I have to force myself not to be a "one trick pony".

Yes! It looks like they used a hatchet or something and the cuts look fairly thin. I've brazed many holes in our boat at work...including some pretty big holes. I can't even guess what a welding shop would charge but if you were near me I'd do it for nothing. Go watch some utube vids. I don't see why you couldn't do it yourself. Get a piece of aluminum plate from the hardware store and practice a bit before going to work on the canoe. It's not that hard...a burnzomatic propane/map gas torch will work and they aren't that expensive. The other was to do it is to rivet a patch over the hole. It's best to use solid rivets...utube vids on this too.

5 or 6 times/season I have a pike take the lure and just cut my line as clean as can be. I'll see the line jump, feel little or nothing and it's cut as clean as if done with a razor. I've lost so many expensive jerk baits and crank baits that I hesitate to use them in "my" river anymore. I lose some jigs and worms to pike also but not as many and they're less expensive. I've tried using bite-proof leaders but then it seems like I just don't get any bites at all.

My PB walleye was caught on a buck-tail (large in line spinner) fishing for Musky. You never saw somebody so disappointed to catch a big walleye. I've caught all kinds of stuff (including big carp) by junk fishing small jigs.

I keep my colors kind of simple partially because there's a limit to what I can buy and carry. The jig is usually a green pumpkin or brown (natural?)...could have some orange or other "highlight". I also use black/blue or black. For a trailer I have green pumpkin and the blue/black (whatever they call it). I also like the bama craw. It's a green pumpkin with orange on the bottom. That's what I've been using lately but I've used and caught fish on all sorts of stuff over the years. I used to use different color grubs for trailers and I caught fish.

The trailers I've been using most are the Rage bug...for swimming. I think the other rage stuff looks pretty good too. I may be late to the party but I just started experimenting with paddle-tail swim baits last year...as trailers and as a stand alone thing. It doesn't sound like a big deal (maybe it isn't for some people) but every time I get into a new thing like this ...a few sizes, weights, styles and colors comes to a sizable bag of stuff with a significant price tag (to me) and it takes some time to sort through it and find what you like.

Most of my smallmouth fishing is in the Tippecanoe river but I use skirted jigs a lot. Often a swim jig sort or presentation. It's "skinny" and sometimes very clear water. Skipping a wacky rigged worm or ned rig type bait gets me up under shoreline trees but skipping a swim jig in there lets me cover water a bit faster with a little more bulk. There are so many presentations possible with the same lure...swim it, bounce it, dragit or just let it roll down with the current.

Yes, I haven't been using them much the last few years but I don't know why. I've caught a ton of fish on them in my river. Don't overlook the sinker/count down either. I've caught even more fish on that.

I think a lot of this is what you have confidence in. It's hard to catch a fish when you don't have confidence in what you're doing.

I wouldn't stick my nose up at moving baits. I too have trouble finding fish this time of year but I have at times had good results on spinner baits and cranks. While the fish might be harder to find in the cold I've caught largemouth through the ICE. I think the cold slows me down more than the fish.

Me too, I wish I had and I may start.

I'm sure the fish could be caught but I'm waiting for the weather to get nice enough for me. LOL It was 30 F this morning.

I just got some Creme worms. I started fishing in the 60's. My first reel was a Mitchel...probably a 300. I still have several 300's, a 410 and a 310?...the smaller one with the round body. I also have an old Pflueger bait caster with no free spool that my grandfather gave me. The first fishing I remember (age 5 or 6) was following my dad around the banks of a local lake casting those Creme worms for bass. Well, I was often just working to get untangled, LOL. My dad used to tie 2 or three hooks into the worm. We worked them unweighted and caught a lot of fish on them. I'm going to tie mine up the same way.

30 years ago...I used to do a lot of fishing on the backwaters of Mississippi river pool 13. I had some FANTASTIC bass fishing there. I need to make a trip back one of these days.

I've caught lots of cats on jigs...flat heads and channel. My father and I took a trip to a cooling lake and spent the day trolling cranks looking for walleye. I think we caught one walleye but we got a bunch of channel cats on the cranks.

These days most of my fishing is in a local river where the water is fairly "skinny". I go through "stages" where I using whatever my most recent urge dictates but I think I've done well on just about everything that's suitable for the shallow-ish water. For the last several years I've been fishing a lot of wacky worms and ned rigs. Before that it was jerk baits...they get too expensive when pike keep taking them. Before that it was a count down or floating repala. I do a lot of skipping and throw a lot of swim or ball head jigs too. Last year I picked up a couple of whopper ploppers and caught a bunch of fish. Last fall was the first time I got serious about fishing a fluke. Specifically, a double fluke rig was hot for a few weeks. I even got my first double. That was a crazy few minutes. I had two hooked at once and another 4 or 5 chasing it all trying to get hooked. If I had to pick one that hasn't worked for me it would be the spook but I'm pretty sure it's my fault. I'm just not good at walking for any length of time and I don't throw one all that much. I need to make a point of putting some time in with one.

I already mentioned that my wife is my primary fishing partner but at 61 years old I still fish with my dad 82 years old. I still talk on the phone with a friend that I fished tournaments with 30 years ago. Once in a while I get to fish with a cousin that I grew up fishing and hunting with. Last year my daughter and her husband offered to get me anything I wanted for my 60th birthday. I said I wanted a trip with them and the grand kids. They rented a cabin on a lake for a week and I brought the boat. It wasn't strictly a fishing trip but we did some. We spent a day on a pontoon swimming and fishing...found some crappies. I took my older grandson out bass fishing one morning and we caught a couple. I took my daughter and the younger grandson out for crappies and we hit it pretty good. We kept enough for a nice fish fry. I fish with my son a few times each year and I can usually get him into a few decent smallmouth on our local river. And it goes on.

Maybe you're too close and spooking them? What if you backed way off and made long casts to get to them?

There was definitely bait. Seeing bait being chased is what got my attention in the first place but the time of the day was still a bit of a surprise...to me. The same with the other case I mentioned...a surface bit lasting all day when I would expect conditions to stop it by mid morning.

We're ice free here. It's been in the 40's and 50's but we got some rain and cold with blowing snow today. I guess I'm going to get out someplace this weekend. My son is driving up and he wants to fish. I've kind of become more of a "fair weather" angle over the years. I catch a lot of fish in August when it's not cold outside. LOL

I've always been lousy about taking pictures and even worse about taking them to get developed. I was on the phone with my son this morning and we talked about a trip of many years ago. I got thinking about the pictures I took. I still have a bag of film in the fridge. I wonder how long it's good for. So you have the old days and hopefully a few new one's to look forward to. I'm off work using a couple vacation days to get the rest of my teeth pulled. That happened yesterday afternoon and I knew I wouldn't feel like working today. So my son called and wants to drive up to do some fishing. Right now it's blowing and snowing at 32 F. Like a cold from slam. The wind sounds like a freight train outside LOL. So I'm going to drive around today, check out some spots, get some water temps and try to talk to some folks to see if I can find some inspiration.

Thanks A-Jay. I just read that thread. My initial idea for this thread was more to do with the methods we used in "the old days" but I guess it all goes together.

I've caught lots of fish on spinner baits but I sort of got out of the habit of using them. I think line can make a difference. I tend to consider it more in relation to lure action and depth but I think the visibility can be an issue.