Jermination

They're still chomping it here in east TN. Tough weather conditions(22 mph wind with gusts up to 35) on a lake that wide open make your vertical presentations nearly impossible...think i caught 13 total this past saturday with 11 coming on the dt6---caught 4 largemouth too which is strange, dont think i've caught 4 largemouth in my last 7 or 8 trips combined I like the DT10 and have an arsenal but this year specifically the fish like the smaller profile, i usually swap over to a rock crawler spring craw if they're out a little deeper. The only thing about the DT's that drive me crazy is once every 2 or 3 trips i sling one out and the plug snaps off from the bill, want to talk about a massive birds nest LOL

no no no i didnt mean for that to come across that way, matter of fact im taking him back saturday for redemption. I was just relating it to the curiosity of smallmouth, the ones who work it differently and have different cadences gets bites that others dont

Gotcha! I fish deep pretty regularly on these clear resevoirs. 25 ft is usually the standard on Cherokee & Norris when they are on the Ned/footballheads. Ive learned that smallmouth are extremely curious creatures that working your baits different ways definitely trigger bites. I have some old x-calibur shad-R's suspending model that they will still choke. I usually use the suspend dots on my dt 6's especially if i am fishing behind someone out of the back of the boat. I can always tell who the good fisherman are with me based on how they do out of the back of the boat. Took a former pro musky fisherman out last Thursday and i think he had 8 or 9 over 3 lbs same for me. Took another buddy back on Saturday and he didnt catch a fish while i still caught the same

I wish theyd spit up more often in mine! Do you guys know if fizzing the fish have an effect on that? I feel like more often than not if i'm catching them deep and require a fizz they spit up less than the fish i catch shallow? could just be something in my head but would like to know if there's something to it

thats a toad sir. i throw the spro spring craw & rootbeer chart a bunch when the time gets right. Did you guys know Bass Pro quit carrying spro? very disappointing when i went the day after christmas with my gift cards to stock up

can anyone convince me to throw any crankbait other than a DT6? i literally have 3 tied on deck at all times, one on 10lb one on 14 & one on 17 to control my depth and that's about the extent of my adjustments. I've caught some good ones throwing shad raps and lucky craft cb350 but a balsa with some suspend dots on it just cant be beat in my opinion. Thoughts?

you are the man my friend. ordered a few off cabelas

cherokee has been hot folks!

Guys is anyone able to identify this squarebill? I had 3 of them, broke a bill off one last week and for the life of me CANNOT find any company that makes this tomato craw w green flake color. It looks like a bomber pattern but doesnt have a name on there anywhere, any input would be appreciated!

left rod locker far as my baitcasters go. Missing my ned, drop shot, & shaky head spinning outfits in this pic, but this covers most of it

Several. year round sexy shad zman chatterbait with an electric shad rage swimmer produced multiples over 5 throughout the year 3/4 oz strike king football head with a bit off rage crawl caught quite a few mud minnow zman 2.75 ned rig on 1/5 oz zman nedlock prespawn booyah double colorado blade solid chart with white zoom split tail lucky strike tomato craw squarebill academy brand lipless cajun craw post spawn/summer 7 in strike king rage cut r on a 1/2 oz shaky head DT16 carribean shad 3/8 pure poison jig w electric shad rage swimmer fall chrome/blue back bill lewis trap heddon spook chrome/black megabass 110 jerkbait or rogue winter deadly nedly shad rap or lucky strike cb 350 DT 6 or DT10 demon

ive not really had a problem with the skirts thinning on me as much as the hooks getting rust while doing nothing but sit in my spinnerbait box. There are times on a few of the lakes down here in early spring where there is absolutely no point to throw anything other than a solid chart/split tail zoom double colorado booyah

i'm interested to hear some responses on this--i always cast football jigs and just downsize the weight. any real advantage to using a "casting jig?" usually if i'm skipping docks or flippin slips i tie a pure poison 3/8 jig on

look at the booyah blades, i think they're 5.29 a piece or so at academy. they do absolute work and always run right. white/chart double colorado blade with a white zoom split tail trailer. february-april there are days where it is hard to pick anything else up

strike king rage cut-r7 inch hard candy color on a 1/2oz shaky head if its hot. if not hot usually go burn a bill lewis chrome/blue back rattle trap covering water

Never catch jack diddly squat throwing a buzz bait or whopper plopper. Meanwhile i have spooks that look like this that STILL get demolished

i always try to keep the boat at 45 paralleling the bank when i have someone in the back, often times giving them a better angle than i have being able to keep their bait in the strike zone longer. If we get into a tight creek i will either tell them to come up front with me or i'll throw something that moves to stir them up & have him clean up behind me

happens all the time on good ol fort loudon

I do everything right handed except fish, hit a softball, and play golf left handed. I would imagine most people would use a left handed reel when flipping banks or docks, it would drive me off the wall having to swap the rod hands every single flip

Sonar is pretty useless in shallow water. Usually if i'm fishing a big flat or something i completely change my HDS up front to the map chart. Once you really learn how to read the things they can be helpful in shallow water, but 9/10 times when fishing shallow water I am trying to cover as much as possible rather than pinpointing one random fish in 3 feet of water. There are fish deep & shallow at all times of the year, I'd recommend getting the Navionics app on your phone and set up shading on certain depths. Check these spots out & then use your sonar to pinpoint unique cover within the spot. Really about the only time i catch fish that i see directly on my sonar are fishing for smallmouth, carolina rigging/football head offshore structure, and skipping slips. Those Texas lakes around you are full of big fish. When i was down there this past summer caught 17-18 2.5+lb fish paralleling rip rap with a square bill in about 2 hours. The ponds around you all you need to do is wacky/neko a red shad senko or yum, guaranteed fish. I suppose I would focus more on learning what type of cover the fish in your lakes relate to then apply time of year/water temp/water level. On several of the lakes here in East Tennessee there is really no reason to ever fish anything other than rocks. In the summer i fish deep rocks, in the spring/fall i fish shallow rocks, in the winter i fish deep rocks. Deep is obviously relative to your body of water but I rarely if ever catch fish deeper than 25-28 ft.

praise dale raise hell

gotcha--wasnt sure because the guy i was thinking of told me he went out a few days ago with an old friend catchin crappie on melton hill...i fished a tournament on norris saturday and it was slim pickins buddy!

you didnt happen to go out with a guy who has the initials DE did you? lives up the road from me we've been out a couple times lately

The only difference ive ever noticed with mine is skipping forgiveness. If you let it go a little high and drill the dock 10 feet from your boat theres a pretty solid chance you'll get a healthy birds nest--dc seems to forgive that. I would recommend just getting reels with centrifugal or magnetics and playing in the yard with them. Loosen your spool tension to where it falls freely, and adjust magnet based on what happens to your spool after it hits ground. Crank it up until the line stops when you hit the ground without backlashing. sling and adjust. Get it dialed in then change up your outfits and restart LOL

cumberland is the exact same as norris. d**n nearly identical on patterns anytime of year. norris was tough saturday, only 13 boats out of the 46 in our tourney weighted in fish. we had 2 greenfish for almost 6 lbs(my partner lost a big smallie at the boat & i broke off---makes me sick!!) you can bring and throw whatever you want, but all you really need to throw is a zman trd "mud minnow" color on 1/5 ned & a big brown 3/4 oz football head jig in 25 foot of water. Find the random laydowns on deep banks in creeks/creek mouths for green fish--or scan over rocks at points & islands and drop down the deadly nedly if you see the smallies. spray your plastics & jigs with gulp nightcrawler scent