BigAngus752

If you buy one of the cheap digital scales, keep in mind that the majority of them do not weigh in ounces. They weigh in tenths of a pound. You have to convert by multiplying everything after the decimal point by 16. So if your scale says "5.2" then you multiply .2 x 16 and your fish weighs 5 pounds and 3.2 ounces. I just had a buddy that thought he caught his PB at 6 pounds 7 ounces and I pointed out his new PB is actually 6 pounds 11 ounces.

thanks!

And now, if Tackle Warehouse sold funnel cakes, I would be buying them...

I don't doubt you but just to make sure you are aware, your area (which is where I'm from) has beavers as well as muskrats. A smallish beaver looks like a muskrat when swimming (I've made that mistake myself) and a beaver slaps it's tail when alarmed causing a loud sound on the water before it disappears under the water. FYI just in case you have inherited a beaver in your pond. Take a drive and bring your boat to Clinton Lake sometime. If you go back in the large no wake area behind the marina on a weekday when there's little traffic you are going to get slapped at. Especially in the fall. The big ones can slap like a .22LR going off.

No bladed jig slow rolls better or comes in more color varieties than a Fogy from @Siebert Outdoors in my opinion, and the price is just icing on the cake. I applaud the ops ability to fix the problem, but why buy from a company that makes a crappy one and sells it cheap and then tells you that if you want one that actually works you can buy their "better" models for significantly more money?

I get mad because I catch so many channel cats and crappie when I'm bass fishing, LOL. Good luck with those things.

I haven't caught huge fish by any southern guy's standards, but the bigger bass that I have caught I will agree that it was the head shake that gave them away. My outing before last I was slow rolling a @Siebert Outdoors Fogy (bladed jig) in less then 4ft of water along the trunk of a laydown. I felt a fish suck it in and then I got two massive headshakes and my M/H rod bent almost in half. I had a Mike Iaconelli moment and I actually yelled "It's huge!!!!". And 1.6 seconds later I said out loud, "It's not a bass". I could tell from the "dead weight" pull instead of the "springy pull" that it was a catfish or drum. Sure enough it was 10+ pounds of whiskered river pig. I dislike catfish almost as much as I dislike Iaconelli.

How do you try to get your lure back?

Our lakes here in central Illinois are all extremely high. Our water temps keep going up and down between 53 and 59. My buddy placed 4th and 5th in his last two tournaments by catching bass in 1-4ft of water. They are not bedding but most of them are very shallow. I have also caught them in 2ft or less. He and I suspect that the time of year makes the bass want warmer water and the shallows are the warmest place right now. No one is catching a lot of bass though.

It's not an old thread to me if I haven't seen it! I say bring 'em back! I'm trying @J Francho sliding rig this week when I go out. That sounds pretty neat. I can not catch twice as many fish with it.

Great advice, but I bought my truck a year ago. ?

That looks great! Congrats!

You could choose to fish any of those days and if you give us an idea of the water temp, water clarity, and whether the water level is rising, falling, or steady and we could probably give you better suggestions. If you choose the sunny day and your water is like mine (muddy, high 50's, high water) then I would go in the afternoon, pick the side of the lake that has gotten the most sun all day, and fish extremely shallow with something very flappy and very smelly. Notice @jimmyjoe was fishing shallow rocks because his water has been cold and the rocks will hold heat. If your water is cold look for rocks and wood that will hold heat. Like @The Bassman said, it's all about what the fish are feeling, not what you are feeling. Kind of like being married. And yes, flappy is a word. In my own personal fishing dictionary.

I would really love to but I would have to pay a guide to take me out. Two reasons; I've never fished like that before and, more importantly, I've only had my Ranger RT188 for two years and there's no way I'd take it out on water like that even if the forecast was perfect. I just don't have the experience/confidence. I may look up some guides up there though. That would be a bucket list trip.

I always try to look for a common denominator when diagnosing a "no start" (bear in mind I'm a car/motorcycle guy, not a boat guy). The common denominator here appears to be that when you have a problem you pull the cables off the battery which jerks the cables around. You already know your battery is good because you had it load tested. So you are just jerking your battery cables around and then suddenly you have power again. I would start by looking first to make sure you have a solid ground and then inspect the battery cables. I would then work my way up, inspecting the wires up to the next switch in line which should be the ignition switch or kill switch. The fact that you are getting SOME power some of the time is telling. On your first trip out your power trim didn't work (power trim draws a very significant load) but your Garmin did work (very small load). So you had some kind of connection, just not a good one. That would point me toward a ground or an interruption in a line (loose connection/failing switch/loose fuse/etc.) Bear in mind that these are just guesses. That what diagnostics is. I would grab a multi-meter and a flashlight and start following wires.

According to your rod specs, any lure that weighs between 3/8 and 1 1/4oz. You will also enjoy the casting distance of a 7'6 rod. And if you are tall (I am 6'4) a rod like that makes for great pitching from a boat. This could be a very handy rod for you.

I'm not switching the same bait to different rods. That doesn't make sense. It's when I'm fishing a pegged T-rig and I decide to go to a Carolina rig and I already have one rigged on another rod, or if I'm fishing a 4/0 hook for a big worm and I want to fish a smaller plastic and I already have a 3/0 hook on a different rod. I have a tendency to just pick up a different rod if it's ready to go rather than cut off and re-tie something new on. But many times I end up with a totally different rod action along with the new bait. It can take me a few bites to adjust.

I agree completely with the difference in the bite with different size bass. The 1.5 pounders are easy to feel because they hit it hard. The big bass always start off with a gentle tug of war. I think I feel something, I give it a little pull to see what's going on, feel that "live" pull on the other end, and then I hit her. I still struggle with one thing and it's totally my fault. I switch rods too much. I don't have 20 rods so I have a tendency to grab what's available when I want to switch a bait. If I spend an hour fishing with my Fenwick Elite-Tech XF casting rod and I want to switch to a Carolina rig and I already have one tied on my Duckett Terex fast spinning rod then I grab it and go. But the difference in "feel" between those two rods is a world apart. One being XF and one being F is not at all descriptive of the difference. The two rods are night and day. So I'll miss some fish when I'm bouncing around between rods too much.

There are two cranks that I pull out in an emergency to prevent a skunk: 1. Any reputable lipless (Red Eye, Rat-L-Trap, Cotton Cordell) in red craw (spring) or shad (summer/fall). 2. Original Shad Rap in silver size 6 or 7. I can count on one hand the number of times these have failed me in an emergency skunk situation. Not including cold, muddy water. There is nothing (other than dynamite) that can fix cold, muddy water.

10.6

^^^agree^^^ Best bladed jig for the money.

These guys are giving you good advice. For me, this is the toughest time of year. Is the water clear or muddy? Is the sun shining or is it cloudy? Wind or no wind? Any combination of these things will likely change what you need to do to find fish. I went out last Thursday for 3 hours after pulling the boat out of storage just to sort it out and make sure everything worked. I couldn't help but make some casts. The water temp was 49 and the water was literally like chocolate milk from all the rain. This is the kiss of death for me. But it was bright, warm sun so I was throwing loud, vibrating, slow-moving stuff all the way up into a foot of water next to all the rock and wood I could find. I saw several bass feeding in less than 2ft of water. The only bite I got came in 1.5 feet on a black/blue @Siebert Outdoors Fogy (bladed jig) with a black twin trailer and I was bouncing it off anything hard and moving it very slow. Next week when I go out if the water has cleared up and it's 51 degree water temp on a clear day I will totally change where I search and what I use. I'll be out on the points which lead to spawning shallows in 10-20ft of water. One day you're in a foot of muddy water with a moving bait and the next day you are in 20ft of water dragging a craw on the bottom. Spring is so weather/water dependent it can drive you crazy (er).

Walked through the Walmart fishing aisle (as you always should when at Walmart for any reason) and found these Strike King "jig packs" on clearance for $2.46 each. They each contain one jig and two Rage Menace trailers. I bought one of each style and color.

Central Illinois here also. I fished all winter at least once or twice a month. Either when we had a freakish thaw and I had water open nearby or I drove to Clinton Lake and shore fished at the bridge downstream from the hot water discharge. I caught at least small LMs each time and almost always on a Ned rig. I got the boat out of storage recently and put it back together. I took it to Clinton Lake today (North Fork) to sort it out and make sure everything was working properly. Unfortunately the water was chocolate milk and 49 degrees. I threw some lures around for awhile but it was pretty hopeless. Muddy water is my nemesis. The boat is totally squared away though so I should be set as things get better in the next few weeks.

Agree. Just to add to this; I tend to throw a smaller frog toward the end of the season when the lily pads are thinning out or if it's really bright/sunny and the vegetation is not really thick. I suggest you trim the legs, especially on the smaller frogs.