Category: Monday Morning Bites

Always explore new waters.

– Alfred Einshtain

#TheHuntFor250 continues!

For some, the smallmouth bass is a common occurrence. For me, the smallmouth bass was a special catch – a rarity, something that was only available in a very limited window when we would vacation in Wisconsin.

No doubt, they grow ’em big up there…

But someone mentioned “smallmouth” in a discussion about local fishing the other day and I just assumed they misspoke. Largemouth, boy. Largemouth is what we got here in Illinois.

Well… maybe not… this year we’re going to look for these powerful little bruisers, and this trip is the first clue that may help put together the pieces of that puzzle.

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 24

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 2nd Week of May – Late Morning
Weather: Calm & Bluebird Skies
Air Temperature: 60°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: Baitcaster w/ Z-Man DieZel Minnow on an Owner Beast Hook w/ Spinner
Finesse Rig: Spinning w/ Ned Rig & Zman Hula StickZ

Oh hey, check this out – you can still get a free copy of Ned Rig Secrets – guaranteed to help you catch more fish!

Let’s get better.

Shout out to alllll the ladies!

Airuhstottle

#TheHuntFor250 continues!

As an angler, what’s one of the best ways that you can spend a free morning or afternoon?

Yup.

Looking for little largemouth honey holes!

Sounds crazy – but bear with me – the more “spots” you have to fish, the more options you’ll have in your repertoire when the need arises. When you only have 45 minutes to fish (like we did in this video) and you’re headed out of town, you won’t be able to launch the boat, you won’t be able to load the kayak – heck, you won’t be able to hike the trail. The only thing you will have time to do is grab your bag, grab a pole that’s already rigged up, and hit a local largemouth honey hole for some fast casts and shoreline fishing.

We’re going to talk more about this concept throughout the year, but on busy weeks this strategy has allowed me to still get out and catch fish.

250 is still a long way off… and we have a lot more work to do. It’s time to get after it. Let’s go!

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 22

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 2nd Week of May – Afternoon
Weather: Clear & Calm
Air Temperature: 56°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: Baitcaster w/ Z-Man DieZel Minnow on an Owner Beast Hook w/ Spinner
Finesse Rig: Spinning w/ Ned Rig & Zman Hula StickZ

Oh hey, check this out – you can still get a free copy of Ned Rig Secrets – guaranteed to help you catch more fish!

Let’s get better.

#TheHuntFor250 continues!

Sometimes fishing is easy. Sometimes fishing is hard… and even though you feel terrible, you know that you need to go anyway because everyone else is home on the couch. This was one of those days. I’ve already had the ‘Rona, but when I woke up this morning something was in the air that was destroying my eyes and nose.

Still, as the lakes I have access to continue to warm up, we need to be out no matter what… or we won’t hit 250 this year. Sickness aside, it’s time to get after it – let’s go!

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 18

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 2nd Week of May – Late Morning
Weather: Overcast & Calm
Air Temperature: 48°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: Bass Pro Extreme Baitcaster w/ Zoom Zlinky & Trokar Pro-V Worm Hook
Finesse Rig: N/A

Oh hey, check this out – you can still get a free copy of Ned Rig Secrets – guaranteed to help you catch more fish!

Let’s get better.

#TheHuntFor250 continues!

Let’s get one thing straight right now. We support the boys and girls in blue here. Thank you to ALL emergency personnel!

Sorry I did that thing…

Run-in aside, on this trip we started to notice some bass up shallow. Finally. They also seemed interested in my Cabin Creek Baits Salty Sinkin’ Worm… and they had a bit more size to them as well.

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 16

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 1st Week of May – Morning
Weather: Bluebird Skies & Calm
Air Temperature: 50°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: N/A
Finesse Rig: Spinning Reel w/ Cabin Creek Salty Sinkin’ Worm & Trokar Pro-V Worm Hook

Oh hey, check this out – you can still get a free copy of Ned Rig Secrets – guaranteed to help you catch more fish!

Let’s get better.

#TheHuntFor250 continues!

Do you know what you’re supposed to do when life gives you lemons?

That’s right… catch more bass.

This was definitely one of those trips to a new lake where things seemed to be going from bad to worse. Poison ivy seemed imminent. Not even a tap for the first hour… frustration setting in… but then I came upon a cool little area that was tucked away, and it all turned around. Really a fun day.

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 14

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 1st Week of May – Late Morning
Weather: Clear & Sunny
Air Temperature: 51°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: Baitcaster w/ Z-Man DieZel Minnow on an Owner Beast Hook w/ Spinner
Finesse Rig: Spinning Reel w/ Cabin Creek Salty Sinkin’ Worm & Trokar Pro-V Worm Hook

Oh hey, check this out – you can still get a free copy of Ned Rig Secrets – guaranteed to help you catch more fish!

Let’s get better.

#TheHuntFor250 continues!

Finally caught a few decent bass… unfortunately, I was not dressed for the weather. Amazing how cold you get when you’re soaked through to the bone!

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 10

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 4th Week of April – Afternoon
Weather: Spittin’ Rain & Overcast
Air Temperature: 58°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: Baitcaster w/ Z-Man DieZel Minnow on an Owner Beast Hook w/ Spinner
Finesse Rig: Spinning Reel w/ Strike King 4″ Ocho on a VMC Wacky Weedless Hook

Oh hey, check this out – you can still get a free copy of Ned Rig Secrets – guaranteed to help you catch more fish!

Let’s get better.

“The journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.”

– George Washington

#TheHuntFor250 continues!

Tough bite today… again. We missed a good one – and this was the first “good one” we’ve seen. So as frustrating as it is to miss fish, this gives me hope and reminds me just how much these little fatties get my heart racing. Let’s keep getting after it!

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 8 (+2 mystery fish)

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 4th Week of April – Afternoon
Weather: Overcast & Calm
Air Temperature: 58°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: Baitcaster w/ Z-Man DieZel Minnow on an Owner Beast Hook w/ Spinner
Finesse Rig: F4 Rig w/ 4″ YUM Dinger

Oh hey, check this out – you can still get a free copy of Ned Rig Secrets – guaranteed to help you catch more fish!

Let’s get better.

“When all you have is a hammer… everything starts to look like a nail… GET SOME.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

#TheHuntFor250 continues!

Our bass count for the season continues to climb… still no hawgs yet, but some quality bass this week and there are more on the way. Not to mention… another surprise fish?! Let’s keep getting after it!

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 6 (+2 mystery fish)

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 3rd Week of April – Late Afternoon
Weather: Overcast & Light Wind
Air Temperature: 42°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: N/A
Finesse Rig: Daiwa Magforce Baitcaster w/ YUM Dinger

Oh hey, check this out – you can still get a free copy of Ned Rig Secrets – guaranteed to help you catch more fish!

Let’s get better.

“Ned rigs catch everything. This video is proof. And that’s all I have to say about that.”

– Forrest Gump

Last week we caught our first few bass of the season. No hawgs yet, no tankers, no behemoths – but one decent bass – decent enough to get the blood pumping. This time we had one heck of a fight on 6 pound test line with a… with a… what is that?!

For more ridiculous fish names like “meanmouth” and “TOAD” make sure to check out our intro to identifying the black bass family.

If you’re interested in The Perfect Ned Rig used in this video, make sure to download Ned Rig Secrets:

The Hunt for 250 continues…

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 3 (+1 mystery fish)

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 2nd Week of April / Afternoon
Weather: Bluebird Skies & Very Windy
Air Temperature: 60°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: Baitcaster w/ Bass Pro XPS Lipless Crankbait
Finesse Rig: Spinning w/ Ned Rig & Zoom Zlinky

Let’s get better.

The 2021 season has started and we are off to the races. If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that 2 years ago when I started to “get serious” about fishing in my home state (instead of just waiting until we went to Wisconsin every year to really get after it for 2 weeks) I caught 9 bass.

9 bass.

… and that was a BIG deal for me!

I’m just a website consultant that loves to fish. I need a clean, uncluttered area to work and keep my mind focused and clear, and I try to apply the same concepts to fishing. I want to get better for me and my family – that’s it.

So anyway, catching 9 fish man… it got me all fired up for last year. Well, last year turned out to be a banger. I caught 193 bass in Illinois and Wisconsin (and yes, I kept a spreadsheet) and many of those trips turned into episodes of Thursday Night Fishing.

This year, the goal is 250 bass and posting video updates throughout the entire season as fast as possible – not letting the footage pile up. I still have Thursday Night Fishing episodes to go through from last year that will post, but that will take place simultaneously with this years updates.

Also bought a new camera, new microphone, I’m playing around with 60 FPS instead of 24 (which is killing me) and trying to edit faster and better, which is a lot of fun but a lot of work.

I wish I had someone to help edits my videos and make them look great, and save me time, but I’m only one man… with a full time website development job and a family. Very blessed? Yes. Very busy? Also yes 🙂

Enough about me – let’s kick this party off and get into some fish – it’s gonna be a good year!!

The Hunt for 250 continues…

THE HUNT FOR 250:
Bass Count for the Season: 3

CONDITIONS:
Location: Northern Illinois
Time of Year: 1st Week of April / Afternoon
Weather: Overcast & Windy
Air Temperature: 50°F

PRESENTATIONS:
Power Rig: Baitcaster w/ Killer Little Swimbait
Finesse Rig: Spinning w/ F4 Rigged Zoom Fluke

Let’s get better.