ILfisherman

Some great fish there.....man I gotta try nightfishing!

lol, no actually the marks are on the other side of the fish. It seems like there was some damage to its scales or something. My phone ran outta battery after I snapped this and another pic, but my dad got a pic in on his phone of the other side. What luck huh?

Those hooks seem to be suited only for weedless wacky rigging. I can see alot of weeds getting stuck in the gap between the hook and the worm that way, but still seems like a good solution for weedless wacky. I need it weedless and t-rigged like ALL the time lol. Alot of thick stuff where I fish.

Went out to a well known lake today, about a 2.5 hr drive from my house. > but oh well, caught a few decent sized fish and then this 4.5 lber CRUSHED my Stike King Zero. A near 5 lb fish in Illinois is like catching a 10 lber in Cali or FL, few and far between lol... It had a few strange marks on it, probably from fighting during the spawn.

So I heard some good things about the Strike King Zero so I went out and bought a pack of 6 yesterday for around 3 bux. The bait itself is awesome and no doubt outlasts a gycb senko by a longshot, but the d**n elastic material they made it out of makes getting a decent hookset nearly impossible. Today I had several bites but couldn't hook up most of the time. I fish it t-rigged weightless and weedless w/ the hook embedded on the other side of the worm(not too deep, just barely in there). Anybody else have this problem and how do you manage to consistently produce?

I believe the area used to be farm land actually. Didn't think of that. The pond is definitely man-made, I think, like many of the lakes around the area. Here's a aerial pic of the pond. Its about 5' deep max. Like I said, full of little dinks. Its an older pic but I drew her house in, lol, if that gives you any idea of how new the subdivision is.

Meh, throw him back, maybe you'll catch a Rolling Rock.

Yea, they're all the same size so maybe somebody caught a few dinks, put them in there, and they spawned out. Although, I haven't fished it thoroughly enough. I only used a fluke jr. in there, so I'm thinking maybe I'll toss a swim senko or spinnerbait in there and see if I can catch something a bit bigger. Hopefully, I'll get out there later today and keep you guys posted. Attached is a pic of the size of fish found in this pond.

What a couple of beauties! What is your setup? Rod, line, lure?

In case you're still wondering, the Trion is the BOMB. Casts smooth and long, looks great, feels great when palming....awesome. I like the daiwa's too so ur good to go either way.

So I was over at my sis' new house last weekend and this pond is literally in her backyard, sort of a subdivision pond I guess. I always thought that this thing couldn't possibly be holding any fish due to its size and lack of cover and forage for bass. I noticed a bit of vegetation at the bottom and decided "what the heck, I might as well try it out". So I throw a superfluke out and what do ya know! A bite! Turned out to be a tiny little dink. So I continued on and every cast, I had bites and I kept catching these little bass. So my question is how they got there!?!?!?!? I know it is a man made little pond and it couldn't have been made too long ago because the subdivision is like 2 yrs old. I don't think the contractor company would stock it full of fish. Anyways, I know I'm gonna try throwing out something a bit bigger to see if there's some Older brothers and sisters in there lol.

Time to discover the awesome value that Ebay can provide

Bill Dance huh? well unless you're gonna be fishing in a private lake stocked to the brim with large fish, you've got good odds! You should change the bet to have the loser take a "dip" in the pond w/ their clothes on ;D

COOL! for double the price, you can get the mattlures bluegill imitation which looks sweet. Do you use spinning gear to fish it? Seems too light for most baitcasters (balsa construction).

Well, I got it yesterday, spooled it up this morning w/ 15# big game mono....and I gotta say that this thing is AMAZING. Smooth as silk, the drag is the same. Idk what someone said about tossing light lures was a problem tho, I put on a super fluke t-rigged weightless and it cast pretty well. I don't think I have a lighter lure in my tackle box than that! Another thing I noticed is that this reel is built so solidly and looks awesome. I especially like the larger size that helps you grip it solidly for a firm hookset. Overall, I am very impressed! Hell, for around $70 on ebay, who needs Shimano?!?! I've got a question for those who own this reel, how many magnets do you have engaged?

I wouldn't fish a senko, or any other soft plastic for that matter, without a baitcaster. BPS MH rod, Pflueger Trion, 15# mono....all gravy baby!!

Yeah, mine is supposed to be the narrow spool version too. Wow, I'm glad it can handle northern fishing. I was thinking of putting it on my muskie rod too.

oh, lol... didn't read carefully enough. I thought he just had a camera. But still, I ALWAYS have my phone on me, silenced when I'm fishing!!! I feel for ya tho man!

.........and then God created the camera phone, and all was good. ;D

I am anxiously anticipating the arrival of my Trion which I bought off of ebay for a total of $72, brand new....to say the least. In the meantime, has anyone had any experience w/ this reel? I hear it outperforms some of the higher-end Shimano's and it casts like a dream. I'm gonna have to do a little review on it when I get it and post it up here since it seems like a very popular reel at a competitive price....

I own one right now. I believe they have it at BPS for 40 bux or so? I like it alot, I find it to be very consistent and great for casting. Good luck w/ your choice.

Well, my favorite piece of water is little known about and is lightly fished, to say the least. Another attributing factor to why it's lightly fished is because you have to crawl through the woods to get to any decent spots and weedlines. It is also a shore fishing only place and the weeds where the biggun's live is about 35yds out. So you can rule out anyone w/o a baitcaster.... In my neck of the woods, it also seems like EVERYONE is only using spinnerbaits and also live bait on bobbers. The only guy I ever saw using soft plastics was using a ribbontail worm and had a very nice abu baitcaster on a st. croix rod......go figure.

Bladesmith is right, I did forget to mention that I "load up" my cast by snapping it back a bit before I snap it forward. Usually, when I cast, my elbow barely moves from my side. The only part of my that is actively moving during the cast is my forearm and wrist. Once again, I can't stress enough how important the snap is to making an accurate, backlash-free cast. COMPLETELY STOP THE FORWARD MOTION OF THE CAST AT THE 10 'o clock POSITION!!! I was in the same position as you when I started until I read a gude to casting baitcasters that a guy on ebay wrote, which emphasized the snap. Another thing that helped was watching Bill Dance cast on his show. For some reason, I noticed that Bill Dance's cameraguy films him cast alot more than other shows. He has a perfect, accurate cast. If you watch closely, you will notice that his reel handles are straight up in the air throughout the entire cast and his elbow barely moves, VERY important!! Anyway, hope I helped!

I've found that when casting a bc overhand, the best thing to do is to cast from 10 o' clock(behind you) to 2 o'clock(release in front of you) with a snap at the release. The snap is VERY important to a long and backlash-free cast. Of course, all of this can be done assuming you set your spool tension and magnets accordingly....

def. the most productive lures....for me anyways