Turkey sandwich

Man, how shallow are your thermoclines?! There are a lot of factors that influence spawning beds, ranging from available bottom composition, relative depth, other species in the body of water, and proximity to deeper structure. Both largemouth and smallmouth have some differences in preferred locations.

I like the Pit Boss on a jig anytime I want a bigger profile than a plastic craw. Colors look sharp!

The water was much more clear up there, no?

In clear water, you want flash. In dark water, you want thump. Colorado blades are great if it muddies up, but Willow will serve you much better the clearer the water gets. Go with colors likely to be visible and match local bait. White/blue, and sunfish patterns are popular for southern clear water. Also, under most conditions I wuldn't fish anything over 1/2 oz in 5' or less unless I am absolutely burning it in. Usually if I need more resistance, a grub or small paddle tail makes a great trailer and increases the profile. If it's super clear and I really want fast reaction strikes, I may throw 3/4oz and bring it in fast right below the surface.

I think that KVD still has the potential to win. A lot. I just think that he needs to have conditions line up and/or learn to fish slowly as well as he fishes quickly. But as is, so long as conditions allow him to throw spinner baits and Crankbaits and reel like hell, he's going to have a shot at the big check.

Agreed. This is valid. I also think that his style is rough with chocolate milk water and very sluggish fish. Granted, mine is a statement more about this weekend than his general decline, but I also think that with the variety of lakes and conditions on the schedule now, it's a bit different than it was 15 years ago.

Sorry, must have missed an update on the weights. I'm looking forward to watching/reading how guys found success in those conditions. That lake looked rough this weekend.

Today seemed even tougher than yesterday. What a ridiculously tough tournament. Yesterday's leader (who seemed to be one of the few to figure anything out) only put up approx 10lbs and is still out front and KVD got skunked.

Somehow no one mentioned the old school Mepps spinner. You're going to catch dinks, and virtually every species in the water, but an old school in-line spinner on 4-6lb test line will catch something even when virtually everything else is shut down.

Not as much as I'd like. I don't have a boat down here, so I'm pretty limited. The plan is to change that, but the "Turkey Sandwich buys a boat fund" has been slowed down by a back surgery last year.

This is really important to remember. In fly fishing, lifting and adjusting the line on the drift is called mending. It's done to correct this kind of drag and to control the speed of the presentation. If you're using braid or mono, you'll want to pay particular attention to that drag because the line will float higher in the water where the current is typically moving faster. Also, consider the weight you're throwing. The general rule is to use the least weight you can get away with to present the way you want. Smaller jigs like Bitsy Bugs w/craw trailers tend to be ideal around weeds and lay downs in rivers. If there are no weeds, and the rivers are primarily boulders without crazy depth/current, I'm throwing tubes, grubs and maybe craws on 1/16-1/4 oz heads.

Agreed. Although they did mention repeatedly how a lot off the top 10 were almost identical in strategy to guys like Ike and KVD pulling just a handful of fish. Most of that lake looked like chocolate milk, man. Messy water + post frontal + no wind = one rough day of pre-spawn fishing.

Pennsport.

You don't need anything crazy. A 4 or 5X HDI will do the trick. You just need to see small changes in depth and bottom composition. You aren't going to be seeing a whole lot of fish because at that debth, the sonar cone is going to be super narrow.

Yep. Otherwise, it's the same stick.

I love jig fishing! It sounds like you've got the right ideas. One of the biggest things to consider when fishing eddies in 4+ feet of water is the actual location of the Eddy and where in relation fish are holding. For example, in 6' of water you may see a boulder break the surface or the boulder may only stick up 1' from the bottom. In both cases pockets of slower current are created, but fish may hold differently and may be feeding differently in the water column, which should impact how/what you present. For example, that Eddy on the bottom... It's likely going to have a smaller pocket of slow water in front of the boulder and the disturbance may show up on the surface several feet down stream from where the actual boulder lies. Almost anything holding to it is going to be on the bottom and focused to the nearest edge of the current break. I'm going to fish eddies like this primarily with bottom contact baits to keep them down and in the strike zone. Now, the bigger boulders can be treated differently. Because they're larger, there's a bigger still water pocket in the front (where the most active, though maybe not always the largest fish will sit) typically with the slowest water on the bottom. Also, just like the smaller Eddy, you have the seams and pocket behind it. Because of the size of this Eddy, you can fish the whole water column. One strategy might be swimming a soft plastic (fluke, grub, etc) on a light weight (1/16 1/8oz) high in the column and a heavier jig (1/8-3/16oz) fished closer to the bottom (tube, soft plastic crayfish, grub, etc). Still, though, as a general rule, use the lightest weights you can get away with to present the lure the way you want. I know that this is a bit more than what you were asking, but hopefully it gives you a better idea about how to use weight to fish effectively in current. A good suggestion for better learning Smallmouth in rivers is checking out guides like Jeff Little. He has several YouTube channels and has some really good season pattern DVDs.

IIRC, same rod, only the Avid Neo was branded differently for the European market.

170 feet is crazy deep for Florida. You're going to want to get sonar (you can get a lot for under $300) and actually check out the lake for structure.

I grew up outside of Wilkes-Barre, but have been in South Philly for 11 years. There are a ton of options on/around the Delaware in both PA and Jersey. Most of my free weekends, though, are spent making the drive to the north branch of the Susquehanna.

What conditions are you fishing them in and what depth/type of current are we talking about? A 1/4 oz football head can be awesome in rocky lakes and some river conditions, though, most of the time I find 1/4 oz too heavy unless fish are holding deep (10' plus in current). Typically, I'll favor a tube or grub with 1/8-3/16 oz jig for most of my river fishing (think about the lightest weight you can get away with, and for mostl on diction I fish 1/4oz and up is too heavy). The exception to the rule (for me) is if I'm finding fish on flats and looking to slowly walk a soft plastic crayfish across stone or right outside a weed edge. If I were bed fishing, I would have a football head/craw, tube, and weighted fluke rigged all day. Welcome to the forum, btw!

I'm a fan of Shimano and St. Croix. Not long ago, the Legend Elite series from last year was in the St Croix bargain bin for around $250.

I just tend to be more careful and buy from companies like St. Croix that I know will back their products. If you're abusing your gear/not keeping it organized/boat flipping most of your fish, it's on you, man.

I really like this idea for hitting different depths in the water column. I've never used a small swivel to slow sink or fish middle column. I like this. Do you fish it that way typically above submerged weeds? Does the swivel collect weeds/slime?

Any reason to not try throwing them on a spinning rod? I kinda look at Senkos as a finesse technique and usually throw them on a MF spinning rod with solid control and distance. To keep them from tearing, there's a simple trick with a stick bait tool. Place two overlapping rubber rings around the bait to form an X. this will allow you to hook perpendicular to the bait without hooking through it by simply hooking underneath the intersection of the bands.

Glad to see the good news!