4 hours ago, softwateronly said:

I'm running out to Arlington Heights for an errand tomorrow and know nothing about fishing out that way.  I have a couple rods, finesse jigs, jerkbaits, and small keitechs with me.  Looking at stopping and throwing around Busse, Songbird Slough, or Bode Lakes.  I know this is sensitive stuff, but I'd love a chance at something.  If anyone wants to recommend somewhere near there, it'd be much appreciated.

 

scott

Busse can be decent if u know how to hit it. Also a boat helps there. They got some crappie too.

@softwateronly If you're shortish on time I'd recommend the North Pool--it's smaller and shallower so you'll find them easier. The deepest hole in that pool is on the south side.

54 minutes ago, Jig Rookie said:

@softwateronly If you're shortish on time I'd recommend the North Pool--it's smaller and shallower so you'll find them easier. The deepest hole in that pool is on the south side.

Is there any size in that little pond?  I have never fished it assuming it was basically cut off from everything else.

Don't waste your time at Bode. Sent you a PM

Looking for volunteers on August 20th.

My father, myself, @cadman and Mrs. Cadman, along with a few others volunteer annually to teach kids ages 5-15 the fundamentals of fishing. This is part of a program that introduces kids to the outdoors, hunting, archery, flushing and retriever dog training, shotgun and plinkster firearms. We have use of a 1 acre pond stocked with bass and bluegill. You will be showing kids (and some adults as well) how to use closed face, spinning, and baitcasting reels. Most of the time is spent untangling reels, retying hooks, and hopefully unhooking fish. We supply the equipment and gear and bait. It's catch and release and takes place on private property in Pleasant Prairie WI so a Wisconsin fishing license is not needed. Lunch is included for volunteers. 

If interested, send me a PM. Once the enrollment website goes active I will forward it to those that are interested.

Here's a link to the Halter Wildlife website. They haven't updated the Youth Day info yet as the date was just secured this week.  http://www.halterwildlife.com/

 

7 hours ago, dgkasper58 said:

Is there any size in that little pond?  I have never fished it assuming it was basically cut off from everything else.

Definitely some size in there--I've caught fish over three pounds from that pond so I'm sure there are 4+ easy. The north pool also gets trout stockings and there are two fishing walls, one on the north side and one on the southeast.

On 3/10/2022 at 7:18 PM, slonezp said:

Looking for volunteers on August 20th.

My father, myself, @cadman and Mrs. Cadman, along with a few others volunteer annually to teach kids ages 5-15 the fundamentals of fishing. This is part of a program that introduces kids to the outdoors, hunting, archery, flushing and retriever dog training, shotgun and plinkster firearms. We have use of a 1 acre pond stocked with bass and bluegill. You will be showing kids (and some adults as well) how to use closed face, spinning, and baitcasting reels. Most of the time is spent untangling reels, retying hooks, and hopefully unhooking fish. We supply the equipment and gear and bait. It's catch and release and takes place on private property in Pleasant Prairie WI so a Wisconsin fishing license is not needed. Lunch is included for volunteers. 

If interested, send me a PM. Once the enrollment website goes active I will forward it to those that are interested.

Here's a link to the Halter Wildlife website. They haven't updated the Youth Day info yet as the date was just secured this week.  http://www.halterwildlife.com/

 

PM sent! This would be a blast to help work and teach!

Got out Thursday to a new (to me) small pond in McHenry Co, maybe 1.5 acres--water was murky, less than 2 feet of visibility and it was pretty windy.  An angler I met there told me the deepest hole in this pond is about ten feet so I targeted that area with a Hudd 68.  She hammered it on the slow roll near the bottom and absolutely choked it; she went 18.5 inches, 3.30lb.  Not bad for the maiden trip, super excited to fish this place in the spring months.

After the fact. I just bought my license online on the ILDNR site. $15 plus a $4 processing charge. Could I have saved the $4 had I gone to a brick and mortar to get my license? Not complaining about the $4, just that I have to give the state an extra $4 now to do the same job they did before. 

Fees for online transactions are absurd. It costs them less. 

Slonezp - on the flip side, you can make as many copies of the online license as you want.

J Francho - I agree 100%.Just wait a few years, maybe we’ll have class action suit for the fees, like the illegal Foid card, and azzzociated fees. Yup, spelled it wrong on purpose.

anyone have luck on River smallies or walleye yet in northern part of state. I caught a couple dinks the other day, but got skunked fishing 3 hrs sunday.

On 3/19/2022 at 11:43 AM, Jig Rookie said:

Got out Thursday to a new (to me) small pond in McHenry Co, maybe 1.5 acres--water was murky, less than 2 feet of visibility and it was pretty windy.  An angler I met there told me the deepest hole in this pond is about ten feet so I targeted that area with a Hudd 68.  She hammered it on the slow roll near the bottom and absolutely choked it; she went 18.5 inches, 3.30lb.  Not bad for the maiden trip, super excited to fish this place in the spring months.

That was inhaled!  That is all I have been throwing along with a shellcracker. Might have to get the glides out soon...

On 3/19/2022 at 11:43 AM, Jig Rookie said:

Got out Thursday to a new (to me) small pond in McHenry Co, maybe 1.5 acres--water was murky, less than 2 feet of visibility and it was pretty windy.  An angler I met there told me the deepest hole in this pond is about ten feet so I targeted that area with a Hudd 68.  She hammered it on the slow roll near the bottom and absolutely choked it; she went 18.5 inches, 3.30lb.  Not bad for the maiden trip, super excited to fish this place in the spring months.

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.

@dgkasper58 You in Northern IL too? That was the last one I stuck--been out a few times since the weather turned, throwing the Hudd, Gantarel and TK, but haven't gotten bit again.

@Jp_midwest Hopefully the bite picks back up with some weather stability, it's been all over the place this week. 

I am- I rarely see anyone else throwing big baits so you will have to stop

4 hours ago, dgkasper58 said:

I am- I rarely see anyone else throwing big baits so you will have to stop

Just starting to get into it. I’ve made a couple hard glides, but also planning on picking up a couple off TW.

3 hours ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Just starting to get into it. I’ve made a couple hard glides, but also planning on picking up a couple off TW.

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.  

@Bdnoble84 @Jp_midwest

Blue Citizen 7s are still up on the WCZ site as of now. Drop was Friday so they've been available longer than usual. Get em while you can.

4 hours ago, Jig Rookie said:

@Bdnoble84 @Jp_midwest

Blue Citizen 7s are still up on the WCZ site as of now. Drop was Friday so they've been available longer than usual. Get em while you can.

who do you follow for the drops?  I am not on SBU every day just when I need something. But my insta-and twitter do not follow much.

9 hours ago, dgkasper58 said:

who do you follow for the drops?  I am not on SBU every day just when I need something. But my insta-and twitter do not follow much.

Go to his webpage and sign up for the email notifications--you get an email a week in advance of the drop date and time. 

19 hours ago, Jig Rookie said:

@Bdnoble84 @Jp_midwest

Blue Citizen 7s are still up on the WCZ site as of now. Drop was Friday so they've been available longer than usual. Get em while you can.

As someone who is diving head first into the swimbait game this year this is very tempting. Any input on these?

4 hours ago, JWall14 said:

As someone who is diving head first into the swimbait game this year this is very tempting. Any input on these?

No personal input--I've never fished them, I've got so many softbaits I won't be in the market for any more for years. But TONS of YouTube and online info, reviews and such. They definitely get bit (check the Swimbait Underground website for fish catches and reviews) and they go like hotcakes whenever there's a drop. As in, the drop happens at 8p and they're sold out by 8:09. Black market resale value is high on em too. 

Also, good luck with big baits and welcome to the game! I started throwing them in 2018 and it's awesome. Two things; first, be prepared to get skunked. Not sure what fishing stage you're in but if you're one of those "I NEVER get skunked when I go fishing! *beats chest proudly*" types, it's probably not for you. You will have skunk trips, maybe even skunk weeks depending how big the fish in your waters are. When I started throwing em I was at a point where I wanted to target the biggest fish in the body of water I'm fishing, not worried about the skunk. Catching a bunch of  1.5lb schoolies held no interest for me anymore.

Second thing: gotta dedicate yourself to it. Have trips where you take only the big baits out--if you bring your trusty conventional confidence baits you'll doubtless pick em up as soon as you start feeling that skunk coming on, and you won't put in enough time to really learn how best to fish them and how fish react to the big baits in your waters.

Good job man, love to see another bigbaiter join the ranks. 

1 hour ago, Jig Rookie said:

No personal input--I've never fished them, I've got so many softbaits I won't be in the market for any more for years. But TONS of YouTube and online info, reviews and such. They definitely get bit (check the Swimbait Underground website for fish catches and reviews) and they go like hotcakes whenever there's a drop. As in, the drop happens at 8p and they're sold out by 8:09. Black market resale value is high on em too. 

Also, good luck with big baits and welcome to the game! I started throwing them in 2018 and it's awesome. Two things; first, be prepared to get skunked. Not sure what fishing stage you're in but if you're one of those "I NEVER get skunked when I go fishing! *beats chest proudly*" types, it's probably not for you. You will have skunk trips, maybe even skunk weeks depending how big the fish in your waters are. When I started throwing em I was at a point where I wanted to target the biggest fish in the body of water I'm fishing, not worried about the skunk. Catching a bunch of  1.5lb schoolies held no interest for me anymore.

Second thing: gotta dedicate yourself to it. Have trips where you take only the big baits out--if you bring your trusty conventional confidence baits you'll doubtless pick em up as soon as you start feeling that skunk coming on, and you won't put in enough time to really learn how best to fish them and how fish react to the big baits in your waters.

Good job man, love to see another bigbaiter join the ranks. 

Thanks did not expect that good of a reply! Those look very tempting! I am with you, I fish some water with big ones in there and I am really not interested in catching numbers anymore. I guess you could call my transition bait has been an A-rig but I am much more committed to throwing the big glides and softbaits. I agree with you in the sense that I should have some days where I only throw big baits. Not really concerned with the skunk as it will eventually get me a big one. Thanks for the input! 

3 hours ago, JWall14 said:

Thanks did not expect that good of a reply! Those look very tempting! I am with you, I fish some water with big ones in there and I am really not interested in catching numbers anymore. I guess you could call my transition bait has been an A-rig but I am much more committed to throwing the big glides and softbaits. I agree with you in the sense that I should have some days where I only throw big baits. Not really concerned with the skunk as it will eventually get me a big one. Thanks for the input! 

I'll add skunks happen more than often for me when I'm "dedicated" but when you get one its awesome... Even when they are small you just cant imagine why that fish bit your lure...

 

4 hours ago, Jig Rookie said:

No personal input--I've never fished them, I've got so many softbaits I won't be in the market for any more for years. But TONS of YouTube and online info, reviews and such. They definitely get bit (check the Swimbait Underground website for fish catches and reviews) and they go like hotcakes whenever there's a drop. As in, the drop happens at 8p and they're sold out by 8:09. Black market resale value is high on em too. 

Also, good luck with big baits and welcome to the game! I started throwing them in 2018 and it's awesome. Two things; first, be prepared to get skunked. Not sure what fishing stage you're in but if you're one of those "I NEVER get skunked when I go fishing! *beats chest proudly*" types, it's probably not for you. You will have skunk trips, maybe even skunk weeks depending how big the fish in your waters are. When I started throwing em I was at a point where I wanted to target the biggest fish in the body of water I'm fishing, not worried about the skunk. Catching a bunch of  1.5lb schoolies held no interest for me anymore.

Second thing: gotta dedicate yourself to it. Have trips where you take only the big baits out--if you bring your trusty conventional confidence baits you'll doubtless pick em up as soon as you start feeling that skunk coming on, and you won't put in enough time to really learn how best to fish them and how fish react to the big baits in your waters.

Good job man, love to see another bigbaiter join the ranks. 

 

Softbaits for days?  What do you have?  I seriously only toss hudd 68 and magdrafts freestyles.  I'd be open to experiment