jerk bait

Nice fish Paul. Glad to see you on some good fish. I was up north on a river system, almost broke into 5lbs.  My brother got one that was almost 5 too, same area, different fish. Was really good fishing overall. Opener will be great but sadly I can't go. Posted some pics in latest catch thread.

Fished a tourney on the Chain today. Weighed in 5 bass for 11lbs which was good enough for 9th place. On a positive note, first place weighed in 17.5lbs not too shabby for a mudhole. Water temps are 70*

Met my dad at my super secret panfish lake this morning to see if we could find some crappies. It was 40* and rainy. Same as it's been every day for the last 3 days. Sat in the truck for an hour and a half waiting for the rain to subside while catching up with my dad. He's all psyched about his trip to Alaska at the end of June and was going over all the fishing he intends on doing. He's trying to figure out something for my mother to do so he can book a 3 day charter. Think he said one day halibut and cod, one day king salmon, and one day grayling and another species I don't recall. So, at 8:15 we put on the rain gear and headed out. Fishing was disappointing to say the least. The rain finally stopped around 10am. First fish was a small bass who swiped at a jerkbait and hooked himself in the belly. Found some perch and bluegills but no size to any of them. Then, got a 13" crappie on that same jerkbait. Went an hour or so without a bite. Started getting some real small bites. Dad was using minnows and I had a Kalins Crappie Scrub on a 1/16 jighead. Said "I bet they are small perch." I hook into and lose a small keeper bass and not 5 minutes later lose one that probably went 4lbs. Line broke on both. So much for using surplus 4lb Mr Crappie line that I have in the garage. Switched over to my other ultralite rod that has fresh 6lb mono using the same crappie scrub. In the mean time dad confirmed my assumptions about the small perch. The bass were eating the perch and it just so happened the plastics were perch colored(bleeding Tennessee shad looks like perch). Ended up catching 4 more mediocre bass and a small musky, all on the jig and plastic. Dad was cold and we headed in around 2.

Went up to Newton last Saturday. Got a PB, heaviest bass I have ever scaled on my digital scales at 6 lbs even. Couple went 3 plus, 2 in the mid 2 lb range. Had a fun day. It was kinda weird, you had to be in the right temp range, too cold nothing, too warm nothing. There was just this one section where I caught all these.

Congrats on the PB!

Congrats! I've been trying to break 5#!

went to forrest preserve pond yesterday and today. one on a walking bait and 3 or 4 on frog yesterday. today 2 on a chatterbait. different ponds. nothing of size.

Just got back from Sturgeon Bay

 

Fished Powers Lake this morning, from 5:30 to 11:30, in Burlington WI. Was 3 hours of nothing before we got a bite. Then it was game on. Find the weeds, find the fish. Our last 3 hours of fishing before heading home we boated 10 bass, 2 walleye and 15 pike. Bass and pike were small, walleyes were 16" and 17" and too small to keep with the new walleye regs. 

I have a registration question for you guys. Here’s the scoop:

 

My father-in-law recently bought a Pelican BR 8 from his neighbor who was moving. He paid $50 and has given the boat to me. According to the sticker, the boat was last registered in Indiana way back in 2001. Some of the stickers for the boat ID number have fallen off. 

 

I do not have a title, bill of sale, or any other paperwork for the boat. As an IL resident, I am looking to get the boat registered and titled. 

 

Can anyone give me some input on where to get started with this process? Any help would be much appreciated!

Fished Shabbona on Sunday from 6am to 10:45am. I moved a musky early but only one look and she never returned. Caught one short bass and not a sniff after. It was a packed house there at about 9am and piping hot. 

1 hour ago, Toeshots said:

I have a registration question for you guys. Here’s the scoop:

 

My father-in-law recently bought a Pelican BR 8 from his neighbor who was moving. He paid $50 and has given the boat to me. According to the sticker, the boat was last registered in Indiana way back in 2001. Some of the stickers for the boat ID number have fallen off. 

 

I do not have a title, bill of sale, or any other paperwork for the boat. As an IL resident, I am looking to get the boat registered and titled. 

 

Can anyone give me some input on where to get started with this process? Any help would be much appreciated!

Are the Indiana registration #'s visible. If so, you can try and backtrack thru the Indiana DNR to get the hull ID#

1. Do you need a title for a vessel that size? 

2. I read somewhere that Illinois was thinking about doing away with titles for boats. If so, wait, and you won't have to worry about it.  Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Fished the Fox Chain today. Bass bite is on fire. Poppers, frogs, senkos, swimjigs, and craws were all productive although the topwater bite completely died in the afternoon. No huge fish, but action was hot.Probably boated 50-60 fish.

 

caught my biggest dupage forrest preserve bass a week ago on a black frog. dont think i have ever had a bass smash a frog that hard. just measured it with my rod and it was 19 maybe a little more. then went to busse on saturday, first time on the kayak this year. was catching fish pitching jig to shoreline cover. no big ones though... 

Been fishing alot since march. First tournament of the year was on Lake Sara. Lakes turning into a fantastic fishery. I think it stems down from them putting a slot limit on the lake. Won one of the hours with a 4.95 lb. Had a 4.5 lb that was 1/4inch shy of slot that i had to throw back.

 

Other than that, i have only placed twice now in my local club tournaments. Fishing was getting better and better here until last week. Now we are getting this silly rain, 7inchs in past week. I went to lake mattoon yesterday after a big down pour. Lake has to be up 4 feet.

4 feet!!! Good lord!

 

My kid got a nice one today.

3 hours ago, slonezp said:

My kid got a nice one today.

Looks like it's around 18in.  What lake? Somewhere on the chain I'm guessing.

On 6/12/2018 at 9:34 AM, FordsnFishin said:

Been fishing alot since march. First tournament of the year was on Lake Sara. Lakes turning into a fantastic fishery. I think it stems down from them putting a slot limit on the lake. Won one of the hours with a 4.95 lb. Had a 4.5 lb that was 1/4inch shy of slot that i had to throw back.

 

 

What's the minimum? 18in.or 20in.?

9 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Looks like it's around 18in.  What lake? Somewhere on the chain I'm guessing.

It was a solid 4-1/2 or bigger. And yes, it was somewhere on the Chain.

Went fishing several times this past week in south central Illinois and can't seem to figure the fish out. I've looked deep and shallow and caught a few small fish but thats it. Anyone having any luck?

it's been tough. We had a tourney last weekend in a body of water that usually puts out big bags. I got 3rd with 1 fish for 3lbs. Usually it takes a 3 fish limit of 10 pounds to even crack top 5. Took 9 to win. Even some private lakes I fish are spotty at best.

They were biting good yesterday, 4:45pm to 6:00pm, caught 10 bass. Threw ikas paddle tails. Then from 6-8 only 4 more. They were 14" to 17"

Hit the Fox Chain yesterday. Son was catching fish but I couldn't buy a bite for the first 2 hours. Picked up a few and the bite died around 10am. We headed to an area we hadn't fished for bass in a few years. It's a spot I regularly fish for crappies, but the bass have been hit or miss. Prespawn, I heard the bite was exceptional here, but never made it because my other areas were producing well. Anyway, we were greeted by huge pods of carp fry scattered all over the small lake. High noon, not a cloud in the sky with 80* water temps and the bass were gorging themselves on baby carp in 4ft of water. Had fun chasing them around for about 2 hours. We missed more than we connected with and didn't get anything over 2-1/2 or 3lbs. The bass were so wound up they were grabbing lures as we pulled them out of the water at the boat. I've only seen pike do that before. Was a fun end to the day.