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I did some simplifying recently too, and my only craws are now Biffle Bugs, Rage Craws, and Rodents. How many craw style baits do ya really need?

Honestly, I haven't "found them" in like 2 years. I keep fishing though, it's fun and you never know when it will pick back up

I grabbed a kastking telescoping 8' heavy casting rod for $48 shipped. There's a spot close to my house that I can bike to where there's supposed to be some stripers, time to go find out Getting there will be MUCH easier with a telescoping rod that I can toss in a backpack along with a tackle box (try biking 2 miles with a rod in your hand...). I'm excited!

Today sucked!!!

Today was great for me, not so hot for dad! I caught 14 on a spinnerbait around grass, buck brush, and lily pads in Mill Creek. Several over 3lbs, one weighed in (actually the first fish of the day) at 4¼. By far my best spinnerbait day. Dad only caught 2. Our total fish count since Saturday is now 100, with 4 over 4lbs but no giants yet. Looking forward to better weather the next couple days

Today was a little slow for us again, we ran across a school this evening that helped us recover from a slow bite and end the day on a good note. First fish this morning was a 3+ but shook me at the boat. Caught 2 keepers right after that in the shallow grass on a craw but that was it for the rest of the morning. At 5pm we ran across a school in sandy creek. We hit spot lock on the ultrex and sat there for at least an hour and caught a dozen fish in 5-10ft on c rigs and an a-rig. I’ve heard reports of catching em real shallow but we haven’t been able to get that to work

Saturday we caught 11. Most on craw style plastics in dark green colors in the 8ft range. We caught a few real shallow too but most were pulled off the banks. We graphed a ton of fish in the 20+ft range, might try that this morning

I'll be there March 3-11. Looking forward to sharing reports (hopefully good ones) with yall soon. We'll be fishing south (mill creek, sandy creek, 6 mile mostly. maybe housen, indian mounds)

the cheapest available. I don't think any braid is made specifically for backing

@Scarborough817 those are some seriously good deals!!

@WRB I’ll be using it for deps 250s (6-7oz) almost exclusively. I ended up ordering the XXH with the pistol grip butt.

What power? The heavy is mod fast taper, and XH/XXH are fast taper in the “a” series. I don’t know why that is, but that’s what the TW info says. So for that reason I ended up ordering the older model which says it’s a medium taper in the description. That rod is going to be a baseball bat but for the price ($86) I had to try it. I didn’t want to go straight to high end on such a niche setup

The 3 TCS rods you mentioned sound perfect! I don’t have first hand experience with those but it’s hard to go wrong with just about any modern $100+ rod honestly

I'm looking at either the okuma guide select "big bait series" or the "a" series in XXH They are basically the same price but i'm leaning toward the older big bait series because of the medium taper vs the fast taper of the "a” (I’d be throwing treble hook baits). Thoughts?

Here in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area is a decent option. Lots of good lakes for both smallmouth and largemouth. My buddy has caught an 8lb and a 9lb largie this year, and 20+lb bags of smallies can be caught in some lakes here. We even have stripers and paddlefish.

Any word on doing this again?

If you need more affordable lures just buy h20 xpress, done

Yep. All this talking is just to try to understand the fish better. Like fishballer06 said, I don't plan when I go around what some data says, I just go as much as I can.

@Scott F I'm no scientist, but I analyzed 220 double digit largemouth that were caught out of Toledo Bend in the last few years to see if there was a moon phase connection. Here are my findings: Here are my findings when you exclude those that were caught the month of March (prime spawn season + exponentially more fishermen on the water here): Here are my findings based on March ONLY (2016 & 2017): Things that stand out to me: The new moon is no good The few days before the full moon in March is on fire These findings correlate with Bill Murphy's findings in California: He believed that the 3/4 moon phases (Waxing Gibbous and Waning Gibbous) were the best for big fish activity. Another thing worth noting is that 67% of days where 3 or more DDs were reported were during the 3/4 moon phases. @Catt you might find this interesting. I wonder how this compares to your personal findings.

As long as you don't exceed the rod's lure rating by much it should work just fine! I'd stick to hard baits though, most cranking rods probably won't have the backbone to drive a single hook swimbait

I have caught a few bass on mine, it works just fine. I haven't thrown it much.

Same here

That's what the bait monkey wants you to think

Surely you're not talking about baitcasting gear, right? That would be a nightmare

Back home in Orange TX people are being rescued from their houses in boats today. Lots of outdoorsmen out saving lives.