I agree with the jerk baits, and a buzz bait for sure, but I would first throw an assassin/fluke, maybe watermelon or white… post spawn fish do not like a slow moving/falling bait and are likely to pay attention.

My nickles worth

Vito.. first find the warmest water you can (upper 50’s to low 60’s right now), check points/pockets inside bigger creeks on north side of lake, spinnerbaits would be my choice, stick baits like a husky jerk too… cover water, if you find fish, then slow down.
I prefer silver/black skirts on spinners/buzzers at Twain. Fish will probably be prespawn, maybe a few on beds in far reaches of the lake. Fish should go to the bank in the afternoons as the water warms, watch for baitfish getting pushed around.

I will be there in 2 weeks, hoping for a big warm up in the meantime.

Ok on the call…. yes that fish came from El Salto, 12lbs 4oz… one of 5 over 10lbs I caught in a 2 hour period off a hump on a crankbait… my buddy caught 3 over 10 and a 13-0 at the same time. Very cool.

I will be fishing a club tourney that same weekend, and staying at South Fork. I would be more than happy to provide them with some of my spots…. I have several, but will likely only fish in one particular creek arm.

Have them stop by… blue Ranger 520, blue Tahoe with Illinois license Bluewtr 2. They will need a map and I will mark the spots for them. I will be throwing spinnerbaits-grey/black skirt, gold No. 4 Colorado blade, and white on white buzzbaits on secondary points, right on the bank…and white senkos farther into the pockets. Maybe a jig/frog on the wood in the pockets also.

Works for me, might work for them.

On the 20th, if you want to call me, I can have my map out and cover some things then. Send me a PM for the phone number.

Gene

Dusty… I use 7′ 844 Loomis rods which are heavy action… I prefer 15lb P line, and I use 5/0 Owner riggin hooks, the extra weight in the hook versus a 3/0 helps them fall if I want it to do that…. I prefer Bass Assassins over Zoom Fluke type baits as well…. or Sluggo’s if big fish are around. I usually throw white or shad colors…

I have confidence in a product called Kickin Bass-Crawfish Scent. A few years ago a buddy and I experimented with same color/size jig/frog combination for smallies at night, one with scent applied, one not… the scented baits were remarkably more productive. We even attempted to reel smallies to the boat without setting the hook to see how long they would hold it… now that is an interesting experience. None to the net, but close. For sure, they held the bait much longer when scented versus not.

While I have tried many scents, both impregnated and applied products, such as Berkely power baits, Real Craw, Yum, etc., and caught plenty of fish on/with each, I still catch most of all my bass on hard baits like spinners / buzzers / cranks, or soft baits such as senkos and tubes without worrying about the need for an additive scent. If it is tough, like post frontal slow, then a scent applied to a slow presentation might trigger that bite you may not get otherwise.

Noise or vibration producing baits seem to work better for me.

Some things, like Chompers , stink worse than a box of dead crawlers. They may work and some may love them…. but I do not care to use them.

Bassmaster’s new issue does a nice job with the “Trew Story”. They were clever putting a pic of a 21-11 against the purported 22-8. The depth of the each fish’s body, from the anal fin to the tail, is a good comparison point. I will join the naysayers on the Trew fish …

My wife lets me take her fishing on Mothers Day, so that is fun to look forward to! Here is a nice Mothers Day smallie. She grew up on a farm north of Hudson, and she loves the cold. Open water is just around the corner….

Here’s to Rebecca…

I saw the Midwest Bass show… very nice river smallies..looked like a lot of fun to have them cornered.

You might consider using Carbondale IL as a central point for your trip…college town, lots of places to stay. Several good lakes are within 30 to 45 minutes. I do not think much of Rend … better lakes are available. If it were my choice, I would go to Kincaid. I am not a musky fisherman, but seeing the fish that come out of this lake, I think I could learn. I like Crab Orchard, it has been recovering from LMBV for 4 or 5 years now. Lake of Egypt has some trophy’s. I have an Illinois lake map book… If you want some information on any particular lake, I would be happy to send it to you.

Hey… my “Blue Fleck” Ranger 520 is pretty cool and it catches fish…

http://www.barlowstackle.com is a good source… Berkley makes an all black power lizard, which they have for 3.95 a ten pack…

Barlows is also a good source for tackle making equipment.

Every one of the pros fishing BASS or FLW tours, including those who did not win, have been able to get help if they looked for it. The new rule for BASS will be difficult to enforce, in my opinion….. websites such as this are great sources for local information regarding patterns, lure types, colors etc…. While I live in Illinois, I love to FTR on pool 10… and I have gained a great deal of knowledge from the fine people who post here, without having to ask….. Hopefully, I can return the favor someday. Anyone going to Lake Fork next year that needs/wants some help without having to hire a guide to watch them fish? Email me and I will give you my best areas, and patterns for the time of year you are going.

Back to the question…. It would be great to see Gary Klein win a classic!

Thomas Hill resevoir is a power plant lake, with a warm water arm that has some shallow brushy bays to the east and northeast of the discharge. Fish hang around the visible stick ups…spinnerbaits work well for me… also the west arm of the lake has plenty of rip rap around the bridge…try a jig/pork along the south/west side rocks, and at the bridge neckdown. The north/west side of the bridge gets pretty shallow halfway down. If the lake has good water level, there is an incoming creek northeast of the bridge by the ramp that can be good…way across a shallow flat with stumps. Some nice coves north of the bridge too. I like the inside of the island on the way into the hot water discharge creek arm…good depth and structure. Only iffy part of March is the ramp may be unusable if icy weather occurs during your trip “south”. This is a good lake with some healthy fish. If you could only figure out how to get your boat up into the discharge safely….

I learned….

That Pool 10 bass love white on white buzz baits, and black/grey skirted 3/8 spinnerbaits with #5 gold colorado when they quit eating the buzzer…. the schoolies love the smaller silver and black back frenzy traps…. That frog color does not matter, but musky master line on the frog rod improves hookups tremendously (especially when using the new Owner frog hooks)… That if you name your rat after your wife, (Rebecca the Rat), it might bring good luck, and give you something exciting to share with her when you get home…. but the coolest of all that I put together last year, while fishing Sturgeon Bay smallies, was the viciousness of attacks on the small Optima Swim bait in trout color… runs right under the surface. The worst lesson this year was running down river on the right side of the green channel marker at Mud Hen Lake on pool 10… lets say I added some new structure to the wing dam that was quite shallow in August. I was in good hands with Allstate.

and another….

I actually caught 5 fish over 10 pounds in a 2 hour period on that day, which got a mention in Bassmaster in an article onE Salto. Here is another one of them.

I have fished Mexico lakes for the past 4 years and have enjoyed catching some very big bass… 2 over 12 pounds, several 11’s and a flock of 10’s. The best lake for big fish, for me, has been El Salto. I spent many years fishing Lake Fork and caught many over 10, but over the last 3 or 4 years I simply quit going as the big double digit fish became rare. Largemouth bass virus really hurt Fork, while people say it is coming back, my many friends who still fish it regularly would disagree.

I was fishing a club tourney on Pool 10 July 18-20, the water was up pretty high, checked the wooden railroad bridge by the gambling boat on Friday during practice, caught a nice largemouth (3-12) on my first cast on the right side of the middle trestle…. Saturday, told my draw partner that I needed to check the bridge…same lure, same cast, same fish, big bass for tourney….

Found some pretty good fish last weekend on 10 also, main river schoolies in 2 different, very easy to find locations, lots of small fish with 2 to 2 1/2 pounders mixed in…. Anyone need something for this weekend email me… first email gets the spots and lure of fishes choice . Will only give this up to 1 person….

Hope it might help someone….

The bearing is visible when you pull the handle, drag/bushings off, but you need to get at it from the inside. When you have done it a few times, 10-15 minutes is all it takes. Shimano is real good about sending parts when you need them. Cecelia Acuna is a great contact (949)470-4196 for parts and help. They will also provide you with a small vial of grease if you ask for it … a little dab of that on your drag washers makes for a real smooth system. A few symptoms of anti reverse bearing failure include, freespooling on a hookset, screeching on the cast, and occasionaly, you might be lifting a bait out of the water and it slips back a few inches before it catches again. You can check it by pulling on your line in front of the reel in crisp jerks, if it is bad, it will give up line and the handle will spin backwards…

Hope this helps…

I have used Chronarchs and Calcutta’s for years…both use the same antireverse bearing. When it starts to go bad, they will occasionally slip on a hookset, sometimes producing a backlash… perhaps this is what you are experiencing. I have caught hundreds of big bass from Door County smallies to El Salto’s bruiser largemouth, and never had a drag system fail…. I think the Chronarch is the best reel ever made by the way.