This Week's Podcast, Just Some Fishing Stories

This Week's Podcast, Just Some Fishing Stories

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Second Time on the In-Fisherman Website!

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2012/11/26/midwest-brush-hog-bass/

ORIGINAL STORY HERE

I want to get good at the traditional bass jigs. Last night was no exception. I made a few casts but I just don’t have the confidence yet, so I cut it off and tied a 3/o hook, bullet weight and a Zoom brush hog on my heaviest bass rod. The Bait was black with red flake. After a few casts I moved to a rocky wind blown shore line. I was already freezing from the dropping temps but decide to make just a couple of long casts with the brush hog parallel to shore. I was using a drag and pause retrieve when I felt just a slight tap and my line started swimming off to my left. I reeled down and slammed the hooks home. I was shocked as my big meat stick rod doubled over and my take no prisoners corsair cs300 started giving up drag! Then she broke the surface and my knees got weak. This was the hog I was hunting all spring and I was pretty scared I would lost it like I did last season on a crank-bait(still play that over in my head). I drove the hook in one more time and brought my second largest bucket mouth ever in! I taped her at 22×15. Wow that was cool.

Species: Largemouth Bass

Date Caught: 04/27/2012

Kept / Released: Released

Region of Catch: Region 1

Length: 22

Weight: 7

Lure / Bait used: Lure | black/red flake zoom brush hog

Beard Headed Walleye

Beard Headed Walleye

Like most angling days it started at O’Dark Thirty. It was cold…very cold. I had dressed for the weather but what I pictured in my head was warmer. I met JC1Crappies and Redhook62 both DuPageAngler.com members. We all sported floats and crawlers for the lion’s share of bites. We caught a mess of small fall walleyes, a couple bass, and red caught one very nice white bass before the sun was even out!

The cool thing about today, it was our first day field testing BeardHead.com products!!!

The hats themselves are very good quality and did the job of keeping our heads and ears warm while fishing. Just look at these things!!!! They rock!!! On their site they have a wicked selection of BeardHeads. When I first got mine, the kids and I ran around the house with them on. These are perfect for fisherman. Why? Well besides the whole fishing in the elements thing, there is the fact that these are a guys guy thing. Besides the Oxy Clean Guy (God rest his soul) and DA Member Wilks what guy does not dream to sport a full blown in your face beard? Also, do you know why there is a “Talk Like A Pirate” day? Because guys like it!! I mean I always wanted to be a Viking! We, as fisherman, are out there many times to hang out with our friends, have some laughs, catch some fish and these BeardHeads help us do that.

My head was the only part of me that was toasty. My fingers and toes were shot. Once they get that cold, even hand warmers don’t help any more. Bad part about a constant bite is all the baiting hooks and getting the ice off your guides.

I want to thank Chunsum (Crappie) and Tom (Red) for going Barbarian and slamming some small cigars today. 

November 21 Quick Trip Night Crappie

DuPage Founder Martin Rogers aka Wacky Bass and I went for a quick angling adventure for crappies at a local pond. The issue right now is by the time we get of work grab our stuff and meet it is already dark. (sucks right) Crappie do hit at night. There is one pond I know that it does not even turn on until the sun drops. Catching Crappies at night just takes some different equipment. Night bobbers and flash lights are the two must haves. Then the addition of glow products such as jigs and plastics also helps. We managed to catch a few in the short time we had while catching up talking about DupageAngler.com 

The floats we used are for making far casts. Although the wind was minimal and this was a little over kill. This floats are Lindy's Weighted Foam Cigar Floats

There are many night bobbers on the market. One cheap way to accomplish this task is to use Rod and Bobbs night sticks with assorted rubber fittings. This will allow you to use floats you already own!

The Glow Ice jig I used tonight was the Dave Genz Glow Red Ice jig

If you want to make your glow lures really work I suggest using a hand held flash unit like this one!

With just some simple specialize night products. You can find bites at the end of the night fishing tunnel.

Todays fishing through the eyes of my partner: Cold Wet Eyes and Warm Crappie Surprise

Darkstar72's Fishing Blog: Cold Wet Eyes and Warm Crappie Surprise: O'dark-30....... 38 degrees Fahrenheit ....... Why do Pondboy (Dan) and I always have to go wading in the dark and cold? The answer to t...

Darkstar72's Fishing Blog: Trying for Crappies

Darkstar72's Fishing Blog: Trying for Crappies: Temperatures rose to almost sixty degrees today as Indian Summer temperatures made what is likely their last appearance here in the mid-west...

HARD WIND CRAPPIES

 DuPage Angler Sooner Bass calls and tell me he has gotten on some crappie and thinks that Sunday morning they might be even better. We get up at O'dark Thirty and get to the small lake before the sun had risen. The wind was already blowing hard but we would find out that it was just the beginning.

 When I usually fish crappie in high winds I use a McThill Waggler float that is designed to cut through waves and it works great. I cast up wind and let the float drift parallel from me across the water. I am fishing to cover a large area and it is a deadly set-up. Today was different.

 I started with this rig and quickly scored a beautiful white crappie and a of couple bass. The wind picked up, picked up, and picked up some more. Sooner believed the best bite would occur where the wind was the worst. Unfortunately for me he was right. Wagger floats are very light. They cut through waves but do not cut casting through very heavy wind. Sooner, I noticed was catching 2 to every 1 fish I landed. We saw that he was able to out cast me by 20-30 yards. This was do to the  fact that he had these cheap clip on weighted foam bobbers. Once we figured out this was the key to success, we went for a quick trip to the closest store to buy some. 

When we got back the action was amazing. Crappies fell like scaled dominoes. The wind got even worse. 2 - 3 foot white caps on this small body of water were crashing the shoreline. We needed a break from it and decided to try the opposite shore for a while. We were comfortable, but skunked. Sooo back to the wind tunnel and blasting gusts on the windward side we went. Once there we picked right up again! The action was awesome! We ended up with around 70 crappie, 15 gills, and 7 bass.

 Some of these fish were just gorgeous. I used minnows and he used a tandem rig with a mini mite with a tube jig trailer. The weighted floats saved the day. I am not a fan of fishing into hard wind and prefer to use the wind as a drift of sorts. But in this instance head on was the only answer. From now on I will be ready for hard wind crappies.

THIS WEEKS PODCAST FALL CRAPPIE

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Fall Pond Hoppin for Crappie

 Well as much as I would like to ignore it, winter is on its way. I turn my sights to crappie often this time of year because they are active and closer to shore then the summer months in our local small ponds and lakes.
I call Bob (aka Brim on Dupage Angler.com) and we meet just as the sun is popping up. It is cold now so we are both bundled. Funny thing is 2 months from now we will think of this as a warm day. Not a good day for me to forget my dip net for my minnows. At our first pond the water is freezing in the minnow bucket, I bait as fast I can, dry my hand, back in to my gloves, and into my pocket were a warm hand warmer is waiting. (LOVE HAND WARMERS). My Thill disappears and after a short fight the first of what would be several nice gills appears.

 Brim sets his hook and has a funny look on his face. I look down and think he has a nice crappie but what I see is a beautiful dinner plate gill on the end of his line!! He said it may be one of the biggest he has ever caught.

We catch a some nice gills and some bonus bass in a flash. The bite died and the crappies are just not around here today. So we decide to move to another pond.

The second location was a small spillway that connects two ponds. The problem was that its had no flow. Bummer. No flow means no crappies here. Off to pond number 3. Pond number 3 is not the honey hole it use to be, poachers made sure of that. (Don't keep pond fish people. The damage caused by keeping fish is easy to do and takes years to reverse.) This pond is known for its summer weeds, the problem is the weeds didn't know to leave yet. Off to pond number 4. JACK POT!! Our floats disappear every minute or so crappies and gills are reeled in left and right. I am using Thill waggler floats, one rod with a ice jig/minnow combo and the other with a hook/minnow combo. Brim is using a small thill mini stealth float, ice jigs, and waxies. We must of caught 30 each. I even got a bonus carp that thought he was a gill to end a great day of fall pond hopping for crappie.