T-Billy

I vote T rig. Flippin stick, flippin hook, 40 or 50 pound braid, compact bait with enough meat to it to securely hold the hook point, and whatever size tungsten sinker it takes to penetrate into the heart of the cover. Lock that drag down and get in there after 'em. Edit to add: Peg that sinker.

No.

If there's fish up shallow in cover, there's a good chance I'm gonna pick up a flippin stick and grind ALL.. DANG... DAY.

7' MH Lightning was my jig rod for a long time. Outstanding for the $$$.

Right now? Well... Waters finally into the high 50's. Bass are moving shallow into the bushes. Pitchin season has begun, so I'll go with my Ark Tharp "King Cobra". Moves bigguns out of heavy cover like a champ, and throws <2 pounders clean over the boat. That said, the whole Tharp series are my favorite rods for their intended tasks that I've ever had.

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Definitely a black trick worm. No wait, definitely an original culprit. Wait, make that a Zoom Mag II. Hang on....... Um... I'll go with a Zoom 4" curl tail. No, wait........... Uh, I'll get back to ya. ?

Swing Impact Fat sees alot of action these days. Ice out till ice over.

Works well for me too. I take Osteo Bi-Flex Triple Strength. I've broken both wrists and have tendonitis in both elbows. This stuff has made a big difference for me. If you're not wearing them already, try a pair of fishing/sun gloves. I'm really happy with my Fish Monkey gloves. I never fish without 'em anymore. Tendonitis has reduced my grip strength. The added grip I get with these gloves does a great job of compensating for it.

Yeah, been throwing CB's and lipless on them. Nothing over about 2.5# yet but I'm 100% happy with them. Great tip, plenty of backbone, great distance, and more sensitive than I expected. Glad I bought two. I usually have a 3/8 and a 1/2oz CB on when night fishing. Sometimes a 5/8oz CB or a topwater toad too, so I think I'm gonna pick up a third.

Bananananananana...... Cattman!!! ?

Careful. Before you know it, you'll be buying a cabin on a creek in Montana.

But... Not as awesome as a Lew's LFS. ? Lol. All three are solid. I like the Lew's best straight out of the box. Fuego 2nd. SLX are ok, but I wouldn't buy another with the other two as options. The Fuego with a bfs spool is awesome for fishing light Trigs on braid. I wish there was more aftermarket support for Lew's reels.

I never tried kvd because real magic works well and I tried it first.

I was in a similar situation last week. Water in the high 40's low 50's and clear. Found a shallow cove full of small LM soaking up the sun in 2' or less of water. They were super spooky and short striking my speed craw and beaver. Pulling the claws off. Switched to a 4" zoom worm and a TRD bug, and wore them out alternating between the two. Nothing over 2# but it was fast and furious with the dinks.

Ah... So that's how merc quit building junk. ? Same story in my area from several dealers. There's maybe two weeks a year when you can actually order a new jon these days. Then you will wait till the following fall/winter before you see it. I wanted a Lowe 1852. I drove 4hrs in January to buy a 1648 Polar Kraft instead, because those were the only jons in stock in OH that I could find. It ended up working out ok. I'm really happy with the boat and it was 2K less than the 18.

Key word being YET!!! Just wait till you meet the Mold Monkey.? I don't even know how many I have anymore!!! ?

LM 6-10 Black and blue jig and craw. SM 6-4 Green pumpkin chatterbait.

I absolutely have to have a 7'6" MH F. Most prefer something shorter for an "all arounder", but the 7'6" gives me the tip to pitch light Trigs or launch a weightless senko, while still having the power to move fish out of all but the nastiest of tangles. This is a rod that can do a lot of things very well. I have quite a few technique specific rods, but that's the one I MUST have. Current favorite is the ARK Tharp Offshore Special.

Preachin to the choir brother. I've bought a dozen ARK rods, 8 reels, Lord only knows how much terminal tackle and baits, and a boat since last June. Oh.....And a house by the lake. Closing on it next week. Whole tribe of monkeys on my back. ?

I did the same. One other thing about 7' and shorter rods is, you can find some pretty solid performers at a very reasonable price. Budget rods ($50 or so) pretty much stop at 7'. I caught a lot of bass including my PB LM pitching jigs and Trigs on a 7' MH Lightning rod.

Boat monkey likes it when you play hard to get. ?

I caught a 4-9 pre-spawn smallmouth a few years ago that spit up a bunch of teeny inch long crawdads on the deck of my boat. The little TRD Bug I caught it on was huge in comparison to the craws it had been eating.

Blink Blink. Been on my back since the early 80's. Rides me hard. Puts me away wet. It's shameful I tell ya. I'm especially vulnerable to him due to my disability. I was born without a willpower.

High dirty water is my biggest nemesis this time of year for river smallies. When the Tuscarawas does get down to fishable levels this time of year, I do best in slower stretches with lots of chunk rock and rip rap. They'll spawn in these areas in a couple/few weeks.