Jp_midwest

i run only zman slingz spinnerbait and war eagle 1/2 and 3/8ths size spinner baits and i ALWAYS run either a googan squad saucy swimmer 3.8 (the only good googan bait), keitech 3.8 or in a pinch the 4.3 fat swing impact, and lastly the strike king 3.75. i always throw a paddletail on the back im not sure if its from my confidence or because it gives it a more fish like appearance but i think it is a necessary thing when throwing a spinnerbait.

last year i killed up here in northern IL on a KVD 2.5 squarebill.

that is mike gilbert of working class zero talking about isolated bass populations, hes mostly tying it back to swimbait fishing but it can be applied to normal bass fishing. normally its always the location and not that bait or color.

i love the zman slingz spinnerbait. what they advertise as a straight running spinnerbaits is true unless it is snagged on some grass. i also like the war eagles mostly for deep running over rock humps.

looks good but i would rather throw one of the bigger walking baits like the black dog baits 6in wooden lunker punker

no its a thing. but i would say go belly weighted hooks because i feel like the lead being under the belly of the bait it gives the bait more head wobble and body roll. it might just be me but yeah. i only use owners. maybe try the flashy swimmer owner hook it may give them something to grab their attention.

man you are having luck. i have gone out with the big baits but i have no luck. hopefully sooner or later i can catch a big bait fish.

jig, jerkbait,any crankbait deeper than 5 feet, frog, buzzbait, popper and those are just a few of them.

cast and crank podcast is a good one.

um im not sure... you can probably reach out to schools in the area. vernon hills high school, mc henry high school, hersey high school etc. i would say just call the main offices and ask who you could talk to about donating stuff to the bass fishing team they will probably get you to the right people.

hey i have a question for all of you guys does anyone know who does rod repairs in the NW chicago suburbs i popped the insert out of the tip guide and i was wondering if anyone professional can do it. its a st.croix bass x and i know st croix has the warranty i feel like spending 50 dollars for a replacement rod when a repair would be cheaper im guessing.

a good starting bait is the gancraft jointed claw 178, its my best friend swimbait fishing?. expensive but worth it. other good ones that are cheaper are the huddleston 68, savage gear shine glide, and the normal magdraft and magdraft freestyle . and if your up to try you can go for working class zero citizens today just be ready with pay pal and everything.

sick!!!! i recently rigged up my big bait set up i have only really thrown it to dial it in. and also its also my first winter/spring swimbait fishing i hope i can get on them sooner or later i cant wait for a big bait bite.

haha sick. i went out yesterday too. no luck tho i just went out with conventional, i didn't even bother rigging up the big bait set up.

in northern Illinois there aren't many good shops and especially ones that almost specialize in JDM but the ones there are, are really good. my two favorite two are Anglers international resources in palatine IL. and LEE'S bait and tackle elk grove village/shamburg. both are awesome and carry a wide selection. anglers international have a selection of a lot of megabass, jackall and also "normal" bait brands (zoom, googan, ETC...) and LEE'S has more of that "JDM" feel they carry the more known "JDM" brands but then they carry brands such as Nories,deps,fish arrow, deps, gancraft. so if your more into JDM LEE's is the place for you. my favorite big box store is the bass pro shops in springfield MO

for me it was when i was a dummy and stood right behind a fishing buddy and he started to cast and right when he was flinging the rod forwards on a over hand cast, the weedless spoon he had on hit my phone and then straight into my thumb and full force drove it in. after the shock and adrenaline wore off oh buddy did it hurt. and also when the ER receptionist saw it see look super scared.LOL. one of my worst experiences fishing. how???!!!! do you just drive bearfoot or what

i haven't caught a fish with the this set up but oh does it look good in the water. its a missle baits d bomb rigged on the hook with the flat side vertically and taking the first small appendage off. it looks just like a small bluegill cruising through the water.

that's a sick collection.

gary yamamoto senkos are not worth the money. i would rather use yum. but when using hard baits. i would rather use a 25 dollar 110 than a 12 strike king jerk bait. i run all st croix and daiwa other than some outliers like my new shimano slx dc and my lews super duty GX. line type and color matters depending on the water clarity and how pressured the fish are. lure color matters but now im kinda pushing away from that. action of the bait matters if it looks disgusting to me i wont throw it. i dont know how i feel about topwater. i know it catches fish but i have only caught one fish on top water. i have never had big blowups on frogs or anything.

just go with gammie round head ball head jig heads.

hey whats up guys so i kinda fished my (old gen) tatula CT pretty hard this season and i feels like it needs to be grease and lubed up and i was mostly wondering how do you clean the worm gear? and what grease and oil should i use. i was planning on just doing a small clean and lube since it would be my first time working on a reel. any input would be awesome thanks!

this season my MH rod broke and my cranking reel took a crap on me so i put my daiwa tatula CT XS which is the 8:1:1 on my cranking rod and i LOVE it. i didnt watch the tactical vid i just did it to see how i would like. it at first i actually would not put it on the rod i kept telling my self, no no it doesnt work even though i have never tried it. but after trying it i loved it and this fall was the best producing squarebill/cranking season since i have started fishing i am planning to keep the set up but i did get a SLX DC which is a 7:2:1 which i am going to try to see if i like just because it has the DC unit but if i dont like it, im 100% sure the tatula is going back on my cranking stick. also i was using a KVD 2.5 which has more water resistance than a average 1.5 and it never wore me out.

for me it would probably be soft plastics. i love trying new ones and looking for better ones but last year i barely threw any i got like no bites on them. although i did notice that i have been focusing my attention to hard baits and recently i ave been loving the strike king KVD 2.5 squarbill its a awsome bait and in 2022 i am planning to do more of the hard baits and teach my self how to use poppers more efficiently, jerkbaits and walking baits. they only dark sleeper fish i have caught was a decent sized rockbass on a lake Michigan harbor bank fishing. i did get attention on it but only tat rock bass commited. i do want to go out again and finally catch a small mouth but that will have to wait until the weather gets better here in illinois.

what baits are you planning to fish?i fish all my glides on pline flouroclear 20 lbs which is a co poly i like it but im planning to switch to a true flouro this season. it just all depends what your going to fish really. normally guys use flouro really for soft baits like citizens and hard baits like glides, but then some guys also like using monos and copolys for glides and top waters due to the stretch factor and a lot of guys use big game and izorline XXX which i do want to try. so just think about it but most swimbait guys as a rule of thumb go with flouro. also ive heard the dobyns 795 is a more parabolic rod maybe you might want to a flouro line due to that there is less stretch and maybe with mono it is possible that you wont get the best hook penetration.

yeah they are i saw on japan import tackle's instagram. they are like sister stores and the guy from japan import tackle said hes bringing limited baits that where supposed to be for the chicago land show. hes taking some imakatsu and im guessing some jointed claw 178's because he liked my comment about it i hope he does so i can get on those limited baits.