fish365

Looks like you are south of me. Not too familiar with that area, but up towards Vonore should be some decent fishing

+1. I prefer EWG's myself. Had way to many inhale regular worm hook deep.

Trilene knot goes thru eye twice

Had a patch of rough weather come through early this am, but managed a few hours this afternoon before round 2 chased me off the lake. Caught fish on cranks, jigs and t-rig plastics

Our smallies are catchable all winter. Besides Dale Hollow, most of the Tennessee River chain and TVA Lakes Douglas, Cherokee, South Holston typically take 20-25 lbs to win a tournament in the dead of winter

like the bomber squarebills, any livetarget lipless, rogue jerkbaits, and v-waking a long-a for topwater

to be more shiftless and fish more than i do now , if that's possible

you can also throw a lightweight version of the carolina rig. 3/16 weight range

keep in mind also that water temp you read is surface temp and if you go overboard you still just have minutes before hypothermia sets in. get a foot or two below surface and it is still much colder. be safe, wear a pfd and have a step/ladder/loop rope over side while fishing

+1 on what gulfcaptain says. once you feel it set the hook like you are hooking a grizzly bear

Buckeye Mop Jig in green pumpkin, black/blue and brown with uncle josh pork trailer in winter and netbait mad paca in summer

v wake a bone colored long-A and hang on

New Year's day tx 2 years ago. Oldest son and i went downlake in a misty rain that turned into a full blown snow-squall by the time we got to first stop. Caught smallmouth all day deep but only one keeper. Think i slept for 2 days straight after that.

Fishing deeper strucure with football jig and/or drop shot

Power Team Lures Texas Rig Jig Netbait C-Mac 15" MJ Rig

Burning a trap

Koppers Live Target lipless crank, Bluegill New Years Day

I have 3, 7'6", 7', and a 6'6" all MH. Don't have grass in the lakes here, but the lakes fluctuate around 30' from winter to summer pool and when they fill, the pockets of pollen and trash are where i go. Like to keep the 6'6" to help get way back under tree branches. Use 7.1:1 reel and 65lb spiderwire with a Spro Bronzeye frog. Use natural colors once sun gets up but love the "Killer" early and late in the day.

Water temps and type of water/cover where you are going would give you a start. Low 40's: silver buddy, lipless crank, shad rap and jig along rocky bank. Upper 40's-low 50's: jerkbait, small cranks, underspin with swimbait, jig , shakey head, and lipless crank. Probably throw A-rig for suspended fish in both water temp ranges. Key to others is to make contact with structure in both temp ranges, just pause longer if it's in the low 40's. Good luck!

congrats

$12.99 lure that you have to throw on $20.00 4lb floro that is probably lost on 2nd or 3rd cast

Only tie braid to floro in winter and use Seaguar Knot. It's fast and lets me get gloves on in a hurry.

My pride. Not much helps it go down.

live target golden shiner, live target bluegill and red eye shad green tomato in the winter and chartreuse sexy shad in warmer water

Never tried the CXX, but i use the CX co-polymer a lot. It is very abrasion resistant