26 minutes ago, slonezp said:

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.

Nope not this time, my wife said they're not coming home with us as long as I'm on the boat.  She's fine eating them but not seeing the process.  She's a city girl.

On 3/7/2016 at 8:41 PM, slonezp said:

Fire fish tracker: your not alone!

I don't why it popped up with a quote from slonezp??

8 hours ago, slonezp said:

.

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

6 hours later and I'm DONE

Batteries charged, boat is vacuumed, tires are filled, bearing buddies greased, rods and tackle sorted and put away, life jackets and rain gear put away, all boat lights work and trailer light connections cleaned, aerator and bilge pumps come on, installed a tool holder for my scissors and pliers....and forecast for rain the rest of the week  

first cast today caught this on a Sebile 1/2oz lipless crank. their advertising is true -- this DOES catch fish!

 

baby bluegill?

then nothing until the last 2 casts of the morning, when i went back to back with a big bite super shad swimbait on a bitsy flip 3/8oz jig. 

 

i keep meaning to try the Sebile jointed swingtail minnow, but i look at all the pond scum (on and below the surface) and i never end up reaching for it. the other day i went back to back with a chatterfrog, and that seems to pull through/shake off the scum fairly well.

Went to coffeen Friday. Two right away, then nothing. A 10", and 14". The 10" hit a 1.5 squarebill in chili craw, the 14" hit a 3 arm spinnerbait in chartreuse. Temp at ramp was 56°.

 

 

On 3/11/2016 at 4:23 PM, slonezp said:

6 hours later and I'm DONE

Batteries charged, boat is vacuumed, tires are filled, bearing buddies greased, rods and tackle sorted and put away, life jackets and rain gear put away, all boat lights work and trailer light connections cleaned, aerator and bilge pumps come on, installed a tool holder for my scissors and pliers....and forecast for rain the rest of the week  

Should of had me come do the labor for ya, I'm fishing seven days a week right now. No work until I get back from my trip April first, but I don't leave until the 24th. I'll be out all day tomorrow, three oaks recreation in crystal lake bank fishing.

If anyone needs to know how to not catch fish on Clinton I can most likely help out with that. 

Was out Saturday and no fish for the trip.  First and hopefully last skunked day of the new season.

Still need to get my boat organized as I am still running around on last year organization which made me more mad than anything.  Luckily weather not great this weekend and should give me time to do it.

1 hour ago, Nice_Bass said:

If anyone needs to know how to not catch fish on Clinton I can most likely help out with that. 

Was out Saturday and no fish for the trip.  First and hopefully last skunked day of the new season.

Still need to get my boat organized as I am still running around on last year organization which made me more mad than anything.  Luckily weather not great this weekend and should give me time to do it.

Sorry to hear that! I'm still planning on going towards the end of next week for a couple days.

Which locations did you fish? I was thinking north of the bridge would be a great starting point.

How are you naperville area bank beaters doing? This wind is kind of annoying. Sure makes the trees on the banks hungry for fishing line. 

13 minutes ago, beardown34 said:

How are you naperville area bank beaters doing? This wind is kind of annoying. Sure makes the trees on the banks hungry for fishing line. 

Last weekend i went out, started seeing bass moving up in the shallows.  They're very skiddish. I couldn't get any of them to commit but i was throwing some larger swimbaits at them.  I did see some neighborhood youngins pull one bass up. Think they got it on a senko or something. A few more sunny days and the bite should start to turn on.  The wind is terrible though, that's never fun to deal with.

Ordered 5 6th sense 75X

Caught this little guy the second cast out. Caught another small one shortly after. Thinking it's still a little too cold in this area. Talked to several other guys and they were catching small ones like this, that's about it.

Burtle1 that's an overachiever right their!!!

You did better than me, went to Highland silver lake, Nada. One bite one a jig, missed it. Got a little sunburn though. Water temp was 56-60, clarity was mud. Could see mud swirls in prop wash.

Burgle 1 what part of central illinois are you fishing in? I've been fishing Peoria area and have only caught 1 decent fish in two trips.

Northern Illinois folks .. are we still supposed to be fishing more slow presentations with the recent cold air? Slowrolling spinnerbaits, slow yo-yo lipless CBs? I tried out a squarebill CB today just because I want to learn to use one and it looks pretty cool, but am I wasting my time with the squarebill until it's more consistently warm?

So far this year, since my first bass on Feb 27, I've caught:

  - one on 3/8oz jig with a pit boss (which frankly seems oversized for these residential ponds)

  - one on an XR8 X-rap

  - two on 3/8oz chatterfrogs

  - one on a 5/16oz war eagle spinnerbait

  - one on a 4" havoc subwoofer swimbait 

  - two on a 4" big bite super shad swimbait

Last catch was 3/13. I've caught an incredible amount of pond scum, definitely a limit's worth!

Considering I only get about 30 minutes 2-3x/week, it's hard to balance using presentations I need to learn to use, vs using presentations because they're appropriate for the time of year and weather.    

On 3/18/2016 at 8:15 PM, burtle1 said:

Ordered 5 6th sense 75X

Caught this little guy the second cast out. Caught another small one shortly after. Thinking it's still a little too cold in this area. Talked to several other guys and they were catching small ones like this, that's about it.

burtle1 - i'm strictly off the bank, and i use a snap on the end of my line too. every once in a while i will carry a second rod (usually with a trigged worm on it), but usually it's just one rod, so i like the ability to switch lures quickly. i only use the snap part of the snap swivel though. i pull the swivel off and save it for tying short leaders to R-bend spinnerbaits. 

i used to use duolock snaps since i didn't need the swivel part, but i find that the tiny little arm that sticks out (at the top of the picture below) loves to snag onto grass and pond scum. the enclosed snap from the snap swivel is much less prone to this.

 

Seems like this cold snap has slowed things down a bit around here. Lows are predicted below freezing for the next few days.

3 minutes ago, Bassman37 said:

Seems like this cold snap has slowed things down a bit around here. Lows are predicted below freezing for the next few days.

 so what are we supposed to do, spend time with family?

Hit Braidwood on Saturday for my first outing this year.  10-12 fish or so.  No size but it was good to get out.  New gear performed very well.  

On the profile side of posts, what does members + # mean?

Beardown34 isn't that what winter was for?

First time out this year. Hit the Fox Chain. Water was 42 when I launched and made its way to 47 when I came back in. Bass bit was non existent except for 1 jig bite I didn't land. After 2 hours of nothing, I figured I'd try for some panfish. Tied on a 1/16oz white jighead and tipped it with a Gulp 2" minnow. Got a couple bites here and there but couldn't land anything. Found me a decent dock and pulled out all keepers. The biggest one was almost 13" which I think is the biggest crappie I've caught on the Chain. Wasn't much sorting, I threw only one short one back.

Ice breaker fish today 3lb 9 oz on a flat side crankbait.

Slonezp: crappie Taco's???

wow nice ones slonezp and MarkH024!

i on the other hand have my man card to hand in. i tried out a new residential pond i found on google maps. about 250 x 150 yards. tried a dirty jig swim jig + keitech easy shiner that i got from evilcatfish in the fleah market -- action looked nice but no hits. tried a 1/2oz lipless crankbait and a 3/8oz squarebill, both of which i found to be too heavy for that pond.

finally before leaving i tried a spinnerbait from a company which can't be named but still got no love. on the last cast, my mind was already wandering towards what i was going to have for breakfast when i got a bump maybe 5 feet from shore. i gave it kind of a wimpy half hearted hookset and had him on the line for 2-3 seconds, only to see him spit the hook just as i was raising the line and going for his mouth. he splashed off in the mud and went merrily on his way. looked like 1.5# or so, but after being skunked all week, i would have been happy to have her!

10 hours ago, Skunked again said:

On the profile side of posts, what does members + # mean?

Beardown34 isn't that what winter was for?

 

members (+) refers to the amount of "reputation" points you have, for people liking your posts.

i thought winter was for snowblowing in the blissful absence of family ??

Caught a decent one in a neighborhood pond - 3lbs 8oz.  The spinnerbait has been working great the past couple days.  

Sweet! Good for you.