Old Dog Learning New Tricks In St. Elmo, Il.

[FishinElmo]

Hello BR. I (Greg) fished a little as a teenager some 30 years ago and a couple times a year or so since. Always with the old zebco 33's or something like them. Last year I decided to dust off the old fishing gear and get my yearly fishing trip to the local lakes in (Tower Lake and Lake Nellie). I always fished blue gill, crappie and cat fish. I'm still not sure what happened to make that time any different from years past, but for some reason I really enjoyed myself and looked forward to going again soon. I had been trying to find some common ground to bring my wife (Joy), sister, mother, niece and sons closer together and asked if I purchased an RV if everyone thought they would enjoy camping once in a while. We took our first camping trip at a local KOA camp ground and had a great time. Needless to say it was a learning experience never having done much camping. Forgot to pack at least 50 or so essential items and made countless trips home or to Wal-Mart picking up things needed or to at least make camping more fun. One thing I saw while setting up the camper was the small lake we was near and the young lads bringing in the occasional blue gill. The next trip home I packed up all the old fishing gear and took it to the camp site. Most of us took turns trying our luck and I noticed my wife whom I had never fished with or even thought would fish appeared to be having a blast. That night we talked more about the trip and how much fun it was getting the whole family together and she said that she really enjoyed the fishing as well. The next day we made fishing official and purchased IL fishing license, and a couple new fishing rod and reels..... still closed face but new and much cleaner than my old dirty ones. She went with a really cheap rod combo. I on the other hand decided if i was going to buy one I would get something I had never tried and got an ultralight Ugly Stick Pro and a trigger finger Phlueger that matched the rod well. That thing would cast three times as far as any other set-up we had. She hated hers and loved mine, and we started fishing at least once or twice a week. Since I never got to use my new reel and hers was a pile of junk, I was excited to have an excuse to buy yet another new reel and picked the same Ugly Stick but decided to try an open face. Since I liked the Phlueger I went with a trion. Now I was out casting her new reel that she stole from me. There was no real learning to changing over to open face and we both switched over after hers started catching. Now with a Phlueger Supreme but I still used liked the Ugly Stick Pro. I was fishing a couple days a week with Joy now and a couple more by myself. It was not long winter closed in and shut us down fishing for the rest of the year. 2013-2014 winter was harsh compared to most IL winters and I could not shake how much I missed fishing. I even had the rod in the house side arm casting to a butter bowl in the living room. I tried getting a fishing game for the Wii. Nothing cured my want to fish and before you know it was the only person in the county trying to fish the winter. I now fish almost everyday if I get the chance, at least 5 or 6 times a week. Just a month or so ago I got a used baitcaster and the real reel fun started, bird nest after bird nest until was near to through in the towel and admit I was not good enough to throw a big boy reel. I felt destined to be an open face fisherman for life. A friend that used a one tried to give my advice and I watch a lot of U-tube how to's. Nothing helped (I was pathetic). Then once in a while I casted without a bird nest. Then more often, maybe... Just maybe I might get this strange new reel. I decided to give it a fighting chance and purched my first new baitcaster, an Ardent Edge Elite and G. Loomis GL2 jig and worm rod. The friendly salesman at Cabelas advised me to start over learning a different method and work my way up to casting side and over hand. He first had me to start just dropping a plug free spool and learning to feather and stop it with my thumb right before it hit the ground and then very short pitch and then longer until I was able to pitch. I still don't cast much with it but pitching is getting better everyday. My biggest bass to date is still only 2lbs. 7 oz. Joy has me beat at 3lbs. We love fishing and I am try to get used to new tech. At first I just threw rooster tails and had good luck with them but now I have tried crank baits, top water frogs a most recently with my new pitching I am using jigs. I hope I did not bore you all with my story. Hope to learn lot of new tips on here and use them to keep catching bigger and better fish. Thanks for reading, Greg

[whitwolf]

Welcome!

[Darren.]

Hi Greg, welcome aboard!

[A-Jay]

Hello Greg and Welcome to BR ~

 

 That's a fairly sizable introductory post ~ Congrats.

 

A-Jay

[F14A-B]

Welcome to BR... Nice Story Greg, sounds like the outdoor adventure has yet again pulled a willing family togeather. It's nice to hear. Enjoy the forums.

[FishinElmo]

Thanks to all for the kind welcomes. I have been doing a lot of reading on your forums already and there looks to be a wealth of information before I even have to ask any questions. Looks as if I should have joined the forum months ago and I think I may have made different choices on my starting gear for bassing. Thanks, Greg

[lanzbass]

Greetings Greg and Welcome to the forums

[Glenn]

Welcome Home!

[00 mod]

Welcome to the forums!

 

Jeff