JT Bagwell

I am in northern Illinois and the patterns are similar. Last week I was lighting them up on a Lucky Craft Bevy Shad and Siebert Outdoors swim jig with a Swim Senko trailer. Hopefully it is still going strong on Friday when the air temps are in the 30's when I hit the water.

You are right I am sure they would like you to spend $200 per month that doesn't mean you have to. I sure don't and the place I go doesn't try to up-sell me on anything either. Sometimes you can't get enough of what you need from just eating right. Especially if you are very busy and very physically active. I don't think there is anything wrong with taking protein, vitamins and things of that nature. So in conjunction with my exercise program (Insanity) I am going to take my supplements to try to get as physically fit as I can. Hopefully this time I don't become a big slacker for 3 months afterwards.

I did Insanity this Spring and was very lean by the time I finished. Then came Summer and I did not exercise at all. I noticed my stomach was getting kind of flabby so I went to my local Max Muscle store and had them measure my body fat percentage. I came in at almost 20% which is crazy. I also noticed that I got tired much faster when fishing and felt sore at the end of the day. So tonight I am going to start Insanity again and I had the guy at my local Max Muscle put together a good regimen of Protein, Pre-Workout drinks and vitamins. If anyone is interested in getting in shape before next fishing season we could keep this thread going and post updates about our success, tips and what supplements and workouts are working for us. Let me know if you are interested and I will try to post once or twice a week.

Our temps took a big downward dip this week. Last week we hit almost 80 twice and this week we have lows around 33 and the high today was 53. Hopefully it doesn't kill the bite for me.

I don't know if there is anyone that isn't a good candidate for a swim jig. My oldest boy will be 7 next week and he has several swim jigs in his little tackle bag. I would suggest buying a couple of the 1/4 oz Bloody Shad swim jigs from Siebert Outdoors and just give them a try. Once you get familiar with them you can experiment with different sizes for depth, distance, etc. Good luck

I only use 2 different trailers on the Siebert Outdoors Bloody Shad Swim Jig. The 5" single tail Yamamoto grub and the 4" Yamamoto Swim Senko. This past week I only used the Swim Senko as a trailer and the fish we slamming it really hard. Even 2 pounders felt like they were 5 pounds. It is going to be about 25 degrees cooler this week when I am out there so hopefully the bite is still hot.

Sam I actually did buy my 7 year old one of the big Artic Cat Prowler power wheels things (not a BPS). He loved that thing, it was pretty fast. Now he has a couple of gas powered 4 wheelers so he passed the Artic Cat to his little brother.

I look forward to seeing this episode. Glenn is a good dude.

I usually think about how to approach my next target or analyze the conditions to figure out how to get the fish to bite more.

I took my kids to Bass Pro Shops again the other day and for the 2nd or 3rd trip in a row, I did not get a single thing for myself. My kids were the only ones that got anything. What the heck is wrong with me? lol

Is the swim jig bite getting hotter yet?

I think it is so awesome on here reading everyone's posts because they vary so much depending on where you live. It is cloudy, cool and windy here in Northern Illinois. The fishing has definitely been very tough. Hopefully I can get another 4-6 weeks of fishing in before I have to put the boat away for winter.

Who is starting to see fall fishing patterns already?

Big Bill, I think you are right on the money.

The videos were cool.

Who uses Instagram to post/share pictures? I have an account but I forget to use it for my fishing pictures but it looks like it is kind of popular. My Instagram name is JTBAGWELL if you want to share fishing pictures with me.

That's cool. Should be a good time.

Skeletor, I really like their bluegill color too. It works very well.

I have only ate at the BPS in Bolingbrook one time. We had to wait a little bit for the food but nothing terribly long that I can recall. We weren't there at a really busy time either though. Actually that is probably my least favorite of all of the BPS stores that I have been to. I just didn't like the layout or anything.

Welcome to BR

Welcome to BR.

Some good advice in this thread.

While this seems odd because it is BD, I think a Medium rod for crankbait fishing is very common. Most people can't afford (or at least justify) to have rods specific to every technique that they fish.

Even though I don't buy much (because my garage already looks like a BPS) I still enjoy my BPS trips. Now that they have the restaurants in them, we make it a little family trip and eat lunch there too. The kids love it.

Thanks guys. The swim jig as a whole does not get as much credit as it deserves. This Bloody Shad swim jig is just awesome in look, performance and quality.