River was in great shape yesterday. water temp of 41 but muddy and lots of debris floating.

 

 

Never got the boat out of storage. Next weekend for sure. I did make a trek to BPS in Bollingbrook today and got my license, some line, and a push pole. Stopped at Cabelas yesterday to pick this stuff up and I walked out. Their wall of line is about 70% Cabelas brand line, 20% Spiderwire, and 10% everything else, and no push poles.   

the cabelas by us really does suck.  I pretty much only order from their online bargain cave and have a coupon

29 minutes ago, Allen Der said:

the cabelas by us really does suck.  I pretty much only order from their online bargain cave and have a coupon

BPS isn't much better. They've got a good amount of stuff but don't carry a few key brands.  Wish we had a bass fishing superstore in the city along the likes of the Cabin KY Lake

Anyone in central il catching fish?

47 minutes ago, tbone1993 said:

BPS isn't much better. They've got a good amount of stuff but don't carry a few key brands.  Wish we had a bass fishing superstore in the city along the likes of the Cabin KY Lake

BPS has stuff but to try and find someone to help me was a chore. I was looking for a push pole. I walked up and down the boating aisles and fishing aisles twice before I found some kid. Asked him where they would be and he said they only sell them in the southern stores. I went to look at the boats and a gentleman asked if I had found everything ok. I asked him about the push poles and he walked me to where they were at in the hunting dept

They usually throw those things in cabelas bargain cave after duck hunting season ends.  

15 hours ago, Bear141 said:

Anyone in central il catching fish?

Yes but only been out once.  It is either blowing 20-30mph or seems to be 30 degrees.  I imagine I will be out pretty consistently from here on out however.

If you fish Clinton please let me how the bass are progressing if you would. I am planning on fishing there with my son over his spring break (23rd thru 26th).

will do.

Picked up my first bass of the year and it was a pig (for me?). Went after work for an hour at a friends subdivision pond and got a 5 lb 6 ouncer and 21" long using a 3/8 oz black and blue football jig with trailer.  

One thing that sucks when you fish alone is you can't get any good photos and I had to lay him down to take a pic. But put him back in the water pretty fast. 

Nice fish Joey.

caught one my biggest bass, and my 4yr old was nice enough to take a picture of me. this is what i found on my phone AFTER letting the fish go! btw this was with a 5/16 war eagle spinnerbait that i found earlier that day for $1 at walmart. they were listed as $5 but rang up as $1!

 

Sweet

Nice fish

Fish are turning on in the ponds near me in Central IL. Lipless cranks have been the ticket the past week or so. Also, caught my first double on my last trip out, it was crazy! Neither of them were huge but catching two fish on one crankbait was crazy.

 

Signed up on here a long time ago.

 

Just checking in. I'm located near Springfield, IL. I'm thinking about going out to Sangchris to fish tomorrow afternoon. I've really never got into Bass fishing but I want to this year. I've had fun the few times I have caught them. Any tips? Advice? Suggestions on which side of the lake to fish on at Sangchris? I don't have a boat yet. Just bank fishing for now.

I would definitely fish anywhere you can find some rock or other structure. The dam is a good spot from the bank if you like throwing crankbaits. There's also a small cove with some laydowns east of the dam, and it has walking trails and docks, Unfortunately, I heard the power plant has been broken down a lot recently If this is true, the fishing is probably going to be pretty tough. 

Thanks for the tips. I haven't heard too much about the power plant. That's too bad. I'll give it a shot this afternoon though. It's nice out!

Wow...they must be getting active down your way.

Went out to my local ponds for a few hours Tuesday and today with no luck at all.

Went out on the Illinois River out of Morris again yesterday. It was my first time fishing off the new boat, I got 4 stripped bass from10-14" and 1 large mouth that was 12-13"  Not to bad for being out for 2hrs.  Got them using my Abu garcia 2.0 7ft MH rod and the Revo STX with 20b braid with 10b flo leader, crank bait was a Rapala Scatter Rap size 5 Caribbean shad. Also took the wife and daughter with, I let my daughter crank them in she's hooked........  + what fish doesn't love getting a kiss before they're thrown back in.

Thats a smallmouth in the first two pictures. Nice fish. Way to get on them!

FYI smallies are C&R on all IL waterways from April 1- June 15 Nice fish.

Just finished breakfast after coffee I'll be getting the boat out of storage and prepped.

Ops lol it is a small, lol how embarrassing.   Yep I C&R everything. 

 

I was very impressed with the smalls colors, the scales were very dark green with hint of yellow shade  very nice looking fish

 

3 minutes ago, Firefish Tracker said:

Ops lol it is a small, lol how embarrassing.   Yep I C&R everything. 

Not accusing you, just informing you. You didn't take home the whites? They are actually quite tasty as long as you remove the red meat and belly meat.