NW Chicago Troubles HELP!!

[CEMcGee]

I wanted to see how everyone else's luck is so far, been a terrible, terrible year for me up until now. I fish mostly for bass and walleye about 8-10 hours weekly and have only 2 bass and 0 walleye since the first wek of April. I primarily try to get out in the early hours but sometimes find myself out there in the middle of the day. I use mostly jigs, spinners, and a chatterbait here and there. Occasionally I use nightcrawlers. It just doesn't seem like the fish are biting at anything. All of the last weekend for 4th of July I spent about 10 hours at 2 different lakes/ponds and I only saw 1 guy out there bring in 1 fish.
I am looking into drop-shotting with plastic worms/crawdads and see how that works. Hoping that someone out there has advice or some other good spots to try instead of my usual areas that have been good until this year. There is one pond that has pretty high vegetation and I've been thinking about throwing my hula-popper out across the open spots and see what happens.

Last few years I could usually find myself averaging a few fish an hour but needless to say with these results it has been a demoralizing season. The places I go have calm and relatively clear water, I try to go deeper the higher the sun is and also use brighter lures when the sun is bright and black/purple lures at night. White/Yellow with red traces during the day. Any advice is deeply appreciated.
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[gdn443]

Sounds like my year in 07.[crazy] It maybe time to hit some new areas. You need to try sencos in watermelon with black flake. When the fish won't bite for me useing crankbait I can rely on the sencos to pull off the day. Try a small popper on top during the first two hours of daylight or at dusk. Your right about the weeds. When you have bluebird skys they will always go for shade. Lillypads,docks or over hanging trees. That doesn't work go deep with a dropshot. Look for a drop off into deeper water. Let us know how you make out.
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[CEMcGee]

Thanks for the info, I tried some Senkos weedless and wacky. Got some blacks and orange pumpkin in 4 and 5 inches. I would toss the weedless in the vegetation and let it sit for like 15 secs then start twitching it lightly while taking a few minutes to get it all the way in. Wacky I kinda played it all over letting it drop a little then slowly jerking it back but couldn't get anything to bite. Thinking about picking up some scenting oil. I usually keep my fake worms in baggies with salt and/or garlic powder after I've used them a bit and the original scent goes away.

I really like the senkos but concerned with how quick they seem to become useless and come apart with as pricey as they are. I got some 1/4" rubber o-rings to put around them in the middle so fishing wacky I could hook the o-ring and save the worm from the damage.

I did get a couple fish at least this weekend but all on spinners, a couple small LM bass and a 22" pike. I'm gonna keep going with the Senkos with all the great things I keep hearing on these boards about them just gonna have to learn some more and not give up.
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[gdn443]

Maniac makes senco type worms that don't fall apart as soon and they have the same shake as the expensive brands. When dropshotting try letting the weight stay on the bottom and don't move your rod at all. Seems to be the only way it works for me. Middle of the summer isn't the best time of year for us, but keep at it. My largest fish last week and I got three was 9"[crazy]
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