beardown34 Posted March 21, 2016 Posted March 21, 2016 wow nice ones slonezp and MarkH024! i on the other hand have my man card to hand in. i tried out a new residential pond i found on google maps. about 250 x 150 yards. tried a dirty jig swim jig + keitech easy shiner that i got from evilcatfish in the fleah market -- action looked nice but no hits. tried a 1/2oz lipless crankbait and a 3/8oz squarebill, both of which i found to be too heavy for that pond. finally before leaving i tried a spinnerbait from a company which can't be named but still got no love. on the last cast, my mind was already wandering towards what i was going to have for breakfast when i got a bump maybe 5 feet from shore. i gave it kind of a wimpy half hearted hookset and had him on the line for 2-3 seconds, only to see him spit the hook just as i was raising the line and going for his mouth. he splashed off in the mud and went merrily on his way. looked like 1.5# or so, but after being skunked all week, i would have been happy to have her! 10 hours ago, Skunked again said: On the profile side of posts, what does members + # mean? Beardown34 isn't that what winter was for? members (+) refers to the amount of "reputation" points you have, for people liking your posts. i thought winter was for snowblowing in the blissful absence of family ?? Quote
standman Posted March 21, 2016 Posted March 21, 2016 Caught a decent one in a neighborhood pond - 3lbs 8oz. The spinnerbait has been working great the past couple days. 4 Quote
beardown34 Posted March 21, 2016 Posted March 21, 2016 nice one standman. what size spinnerbait? any plastic trailer? and how are you working it? Quote
beardown34 Posted March 21, 2016 Posted March 21, 2016 Western suburbs folks, get out there now before the cold weather comes! The bite is definitely on. Got 3 in 20 minutes on a swim jig and a undersized jig + jr chunk. Plus at least 3 more taps that I missed because I wanted to see exactly how long the fish were going to hang on before I could set the hook on them. The answer on those three? Not very long 1 Quote
GetJigginWithIt Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 Boat not out and ready yet so hit the shore last night few a few casts. Loke starting the season out without a skunk. Got 1 pike. Surprised the see the weeds coming up already but was a mild winter. Quote
beardown34 Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 Fyi I saw and loudly heard two bass jumping and feeding at topwater last night. I didn't think it was warm enough yet for topwater fishing but I'll have my buzzbaits with me next time! Quote
Skunked again Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 Carp where rolling on silver lake end of last week. Quote
mbtharp1 Posted March 24, 2016 Posted March 24, 2016 Just went to my favorite pond for about an hour, caught ten. All of them came on a bluegill colored red eye shad. 2 Quote
beardown34 Posted March 24, 2016 Posted March 24, 2016 Yowza, yanked this girl out yesterday. What a beauty. It wasn't my intention to stick my fist in her mouth, but I didn't have pliers with me and she swallowed the red white chatterbait pretty far. 2 Quote
burtle1 Posted March 25, 2016 Posted March 25, 2016 I've been super busy. I haven't been back out. I'm off tomorrow (Good Friday) so I'll be going to Sangchris. Hopefully I have good luck. I may try to fish a pond too if I can get a hold of the owner. 1 Quote
Bear141 Posted March 25, 2016 Posted March 25, 2016 Burtle please give an update on Sangchris. Thinking about going down there next weekend. 1 Quote
Bear141 Posted March 27, 2016 Posted March 27, 2016 Went fishing today. Couldn't get the bass to bite but did catch a mess of gills. Quote
Weightless Lizard Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 Hit some small ponds here in Saint Charles and caught four large mouth in 30 minutes. 1-1/2 - 2 lbs. Used a craw color 1/4 oz swim jig with a keithtech 4" paddle tail plastic. The were hungry. 3 Quote
burtle1 Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 On 3/25/2016 at 8:36 PM, Bear141 said: Burtle please give an update on Sangchris. Thinking about going down there next weekend. I've been out twice now in the last week. No luck what so ever. A buddy caught a few small cat fish, but I'm not into that. I think this weather is messing things up. I'll be going back out again Saturday afternoon. 1 Quote
Junk Fisherman Posted March 31, 2016 Posted March 31, 2016 Anything going on in the far southern IL lakes? Headed down next week. Not sure what lakes I am going to fish yet. Egypt and Cedar are the lakes I have been hitting the last couple years. Thanks. Quote
Super User slonezp Posted March 31, 2016 Super User Posted March 31, 2016 8 hours ago, Junk Fisherman said: Anything going on in the far southern IL lakes? Headed down next week. Not sure what lakes I am going to fish yet. Egypt and Cedar are the lakes I have been hitting the last couple years. Thanks. Still waiting on the new rig? Quote
Junk Fisherman Posted March 31, 2016 Posted March 31, 2016 3 hours ago, slonezp said: Still waiting on the new rig? Yeap Quote
burtle1 Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 Went out tonight for about a hour. Caught this guy the first cast. Didn't have a single bite after though. My buddy caught a small, small mouth while he was trying to catch catfish. 3 Quote
beardown34 Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 Caught two tonight. One on 5/16 spinner and one on 1/4oz jig with blue speck chunk jr. But man, fishing on a cold and windy night is like spankin it with sandpaper. I'm still gonna do it to get the payoff but it's a struggle. 3 Quote
Bassman37 Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 Well done Burtle 1 and Beardown 34! Maybe the secret is night fishing. Quote
beardown34 Posted April 2, 2016 Posted April 2, 2016 this will be my first year experiencing the spawn, so I want to make sure I don't miss it -- is anyone in northern Illinois seeing any bass making beds yet? is it way too early? Quote
Super User MarkH024 Posted April 2, 2016 Super User Posted April 2, 2016 It varies by water temp, not necessarily by dates. Once water gets in the 57-62 degrees they'll start laying on beds for spawn. Females lay eggs then retreat to deeper water. Males guard the nests from pesky bluegill. Right now is prespawn and your best chance for catching big females and a potential PB. I personally do not target bedding bass. Quote
Super User slonezp Posted April 2, 2016 Super User Posted April 2, 2016 Ponds warm up quicker. With the early ice out, might see it starting the end of April early May Quote
Schuyler co Posted April 2, 2016 Posted April 2, 2016 Still pre spawn, I primarily fish a small shallow lake, water temp is about 52....been slow, been picking up fish with a jerkbait with a long pause Quote
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