tyrius.

Very good jigs at a very good price. I'm working on another order as we speak.

Almost 7 lbs. This is the biggest bass I've ever seen out of the water.

Saw 1.99 on the way to work this morning!!!

If they're breaking the law then I'd call DNR on them. If they're not breaking the law (limits or creel size or anything else) then you'll have to get the law changed or just deal with it. If no laws are being broken then your only avenue seems to be having a conversation with them.

Earlier this year, I got a call while I was at home in IL asking me if I just ate dinner in Mexico! That would've been a bit difficult to actually do. End result - new credit cards on their way. The fraud investigation team about ruined my surprise to my wife about getting engaged though. They called while I was with her verifying the charge and it was quite difficult to verify with her sitting right there and not reveal the nature of the call.

Just one of the many reasons why I do not have a debit card.

I usually cook this in 2 lb batches, but below is the base "recipe". 1 lb ground beef 2 cans hot chili beans 2 cans tomato sauce (if non-spiced I'll add my own) serrano peppers (I prefer these to jalapeno's. There isn't enough heat in a jalapeno pepper) chili powder garlic onion (1/2 of a medium onion) cayenne pepper salt pepper Cook in a crock pot on the lowest setting for a long time. I pretty much cook it to taste and don't really have any set measurements on any of the spices. Substituting 1 lb of chorizos for 1 lb of ground beef is good. Using ground turkey instead of ground beef is bad.

I got the idea from here!!! And actually used it a month ago when I caught a nearly 7 pound monster. I didn't have anything to measure girth so I just used the fishing line.

Now go back out there and catch her again. And THIS time measure her!!!

It's a lot better than filtering through the garbage that was cluttering up this thread before RW took the knife to it.

Next time use your line to measure the length and girth. Just cut the lure off, pull the line the length of the fish and then cut it off. That's the length. Wrap the line around the fattest section for the girth and you have measurements even if you don't have a tape measure. If you just want to get length then measure it along your rod and go back and use a tape to get the length later. BTW NICE FISH!!!

Don't remind me!!!! IL's gas taxes are terrible.

In my opinion tournament angling is a way to keep score on how good of an angler one is. The actual tourney isn't the time to improve. That's done pre-fishing or before one becomes a tourney angler. Liken this to any "real" sport and those athletes don't necessarily become better athletes during the games they play, they improve by doing their homework, learning the fundamentals, practicing the fundamentals until they become second nature, and then repeating the above as often as possible. The actual game time is a showcase of the work they've already done. If you haven't done the work then don't be surprised if you get smoked.

Just bought another Symetre over lunch today. For $50 it was VERY hard not to buy all three that they had on the shelf. I also have a president and prefer the symetre so much so that the president will more than likely now be retired. However, the new symetre's are in a different price range so the comparison isn't really valid anymore. If you can find last year's models of symetre's then I'd buy as many as you can find a use for.

Gman's jigs - because they are a high quality jig at a really good price. I bought a bunch of evolution jigs from Dick's when they were on clearence and like them too, but I have a real hard time paying full retail price for them.

Don't have to worry about that in IL either. There is no concealed nor open carry in IL. Well, legal ones that is.

I actually didn't own any guns while living in Chicago. Chicago is a mess of high crime, even higher taxes (highest in the nation), corrupt gov't, etc, etc. I moved out to the suburbs and am much happier. Only gun I now have is a 12 guage shotgun, but I don't have any shells for it. That was my gun from high school that I used when I went hunting with my dad. It's got a little bit of sentimental value. And finally, this seems to be the perfect reason not to move in with the girlfriend. I thought I was doing him a favor!!! ;D

Illinois sucks big time with respect to gun laws. Chicago sucks even worse. You're going to need to get an FOID card from the state. Then you have to also register the gun with the Chicago police. My advice would be NOT to live in the Chicago city limits and if you can avoid it Cook county as a whole.

Actually, the table only shows the actual cents per gallon taxes. Many states also impose sales tax on gas. For example, IL's (where I live) tax looks ok at 19 cents per gallon, but then you've got to add in 6.55% sales and other taxes. So at 2.50 the full tax assessed is just over 35 cents per gallon which beats Washington. Now THAT is lame. At least it isn't as bad as New York though!

Many small ponds are severely overpopulated though. The pond I fished the most growing up was like this. It was less than 1/2 an acre and we'd catch a bass about 1 out of 3 casts. Never caught one larger than 2 pounds though. I'd look into that as the reason why they are so small. Other than that, try fishing bigger profiled lures near deeper water structure. Caught my 6 3/4 on a jig and rage chunk trailer. That leaves a big profile for the big fish.

I caught an almost 7lber (big for northern IL) out of a rention pond that's less than 10 acres. I grew up fishing 1 acre and smaller farm ponds and my uncle's got a fish mounted that was over 7 that came from a pond that I could probably cast across the entire thing. If the body of water is big enough to hold forage then the fish will be there and they'll grow, so long as they don't get overpopulated.

Another plainfielder here. I'm shore bound and mainly fish neighborhood retention ponds.

Typically state and local taxes play the largest role in this. From http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp Texas tax is 20 cents per gallon. That's only for state taxes too. That doesn't include the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax.

My son LOVES it. He's got one of those little Cars poles that collapse down and fit into a backpack. He'd take that thing to church if we let him!!!

: : : is there some thing you find ironic about what i said ??? Well, the fact that nearly every single bass fisherman who has fished for any length of time has been responsible for bass dieing. A fish may not have died in your hands or under your fillet knife, but the chances are darn near 100% that you've killed one. Gut hooked, gill hooked, hooked through the eye, broke off and the fish couldn't shake the lure, overstressed it, barotrauma, secondary infection from handling the fish, etc, etc, etc are all reasons why a fish can die after it swims away from you. Add to that the fact that fisheries management (biologists and the like) recognize the need for selective harvest in managing fisheries and you've also got one solid scientific reason why your opinion is incorrect. In summary, if your opinion were capable of being true, then there would be no true bass fishermen as that is the only way to guarantee that you have not killed nor will kill a bass.