Moved.

Anyways, I've recently moved to Central IL.

Sadly, I sold my boat - but once my old home sells I plan on purchasing a new ride.

However, I'm relatively new to bass fishing - especially where I trailer a boat all the time. Used to fish Lake Erie alot for Walleye and occasionally smallmouth. Recent years I've fished Eastern Ontario alot, but now that's a little too far for weekend/monthly trips.

Anybody have any suggestions? I suppose I'm looking for advice on type of boat to purchase vs. location and fishing options.

Lake Shelbyville, Clinton Lake and the Illinois River are the nearby fishing options where a standard bass boat would be suitable. There are numerous smaller lakes in the area, typically state park impoundments, where only electric motors are allowed, a suitable watercraft for most folks there is a jon boat.

Further downstate there's Rend Lake, Lake of Egypt, Crab Orchard, Little Grassy (almost a secret, it's one of my favorites), and Kinkaid probably the best of the Shawnee National Forest lakes for bass fishing. All would be suitable for either the standard bass boat or a jon boat.

Disclaimer: I have three boats, an 18' Grumman canoe, an 18.5' Wenonah Odyssey canoe and a 16' Kedros Cedar strip canoe so I know my lakes but not my boats. ;-)

I honestly don't know all that much about bassboats either (but I do know about normal boats), not having used them on Lake Erie. But, I'm learning.

;-), for those that need one.

But, one of the reasons I left Lake Erie for Canada was the people blowing through a fishing fleet, and they didn't even have bassboats. They just shouldn't have been allowed to have a boat period.

I'm in Highland, IL, close to St. Louis. I moved from Baton Rouge, LA in '97 up here. I run a flat bottomed alum. bass boat that I have modified over the years to suit my bass addiction. It has most of the bells n whistles on the expensive boats. I really enjoyed putting it togeather and I get a kick out of that sort of thing. If that is your type of thing...have fun doing all the reasearch, etc...I loved it! If not, there are many used boats for sale and this is the best time of year to get good pricing...look in the Southern Illinois Trader magazine...Horsepower limitations are all over some of the better/smaller bass haunts...consider two boats...one that you use with larger engine, etc...and one which is 10 to 15 hp for the small lakes. You are in the middle of a lot of good fishing. Look to Illinois state publications for an overview...then zero in from there. Hope to meet ya someday n wet a line.

Suthern

Unlike *SOME* people around here. ;-)