T-Billy

I love the cold water seasons. Little to no competition for spots, and it's the best time to catch bigguns. You know what else I love? Following people down a bank, hauling fish from their used water the rest of the year. I don't even get mad when people cut me off anymore. Either you can catch 'em or you can't. The OP would hate fishing in OH. No such thing as low pressured public waters here. Our little lakes get HAMMERED from May-Oct.

Dec. kiss of death ain't got me yet!!! Caught my second best LM today. 6# on the nose. No biggie to you folks down south, but that's a pig here in OH. Ended up catching 7 and had a 4+ come off at boatside. Caught them all pitching a T-Rigged Sweet Craw. Forecast looks even better for tomorrow. Light winds and sunshine for the second day in a row 40 degree surface temp. Should be able to find some more shallow.

Yeah, I was just poking the Catt. ? I remembered @Catt giving a similar response to the one he gave me in another thread when someone mentioned blackened fish being a Cajun thing. I downloaded that gif you posted to my phone Catt. My pastor will get a kick out of it.

Heckuva rod for the $$$ and well suited to the baits you mentioned.

10-4 Wherever it originated, I like burnt fish. Mustard fried in peanut oil is pretty awesome too.

Do y'all start with a blue bait and blacken them to get'em that way? ?

I think it matters more to fisherman than it does to the fish. With that in mind, black and blue or straight black are DEFINITELY better than junebug. ?

? I did that once. I've been using cheap Stanley needle nose from Wally World for several years. They rusted shut on me once. I soaked them with synthetic 2 stroke oil for a couple days and they worked right loose and have been good since. After the soak they developed a petina and quit rusting.

I'll try to remember to try that Monday. Not that I'll catch anything on it in 38-40 degree water but you have me curious. I have a couple bulk bags of hard bodied double dipped flippin tubes that should work well for this.

Competing with the abundance of bait makes it tough too. I was over a school of gizzard shad yesterday that was at least 10 acres in size, and was so thick my sonar was reading 2'-3' in 17' of water. Fish were aggressively busting them here and there, but I couldn't buy a bite, and I threw the kitchen sink at 'em. Ended up with that muskie and a couple 14" saugeye.

I'm DEFINITELY immature, and so did I.

I've never had a decent day for bass with a surface temp below 38 here in OH. Meat fishin season for me. Crappie and saugeye mostly. Musky and pike can make for some fun days in the winter too. Caught this fat 32 incher yesterday on a little rage swimmer 8# XT. Was fishing for saugeye. Surface temp 40.

Seems like an odd combination of baits for a Hack kit. Hack attack kit with none of his signature jigs or preferred trailers? Good price for what you get though.

2021 MVP by a WIDE margin. Texas rigged and pitched into the nastiest cover I can find most of the time. Ultra Molds 3.5" Sweet Craw. Welded to a hula skirt and threaded onto a jig head it's awesome for fishing structure shallow or deep. Also makes a great chatterbait trailer. Whether burning it over weeds or crawling it around the rocks, this rig right here puts lots of fish in the boat after the sun goes down.

Absolutely not. I only have 48 rods, a couple dozen reels, and twice as much tackle as my boat can haul. I'm not out of control like some of you guys.

ARK Tharp "Meterman" 7' M XF, Penn Spinfisher VI 2500, 8# Trilene XT when I throw them on spinning. I usually throw them on casting. Either, Tharp "One Eyed Jack" 6'10" M MF, Curado BFS, 8# XT, or ARK Cobb "One More", 7'2" M Fast, SLX MGL 70, 10# XT.

No wonder they're always outsmarting me. They have a brain three times bigger than mine.

7' MH XF with a soft tip. Perfect action according to Andy. Versatile rod. The soft tip makes it suitable for a lot of things.

Good looking bait, ol Fred is. Zoom Z craw gets bit, but the hook slot doesn't leave enough plastic to hold a hook well. I like this body design better.

I fish'em stupid rigged nearly always. 60 degree flat eye EWG. Do-It shakey head mold without the screw lock. Comes through rock great with an excellent hookup ratio.

Lol. It's a good one. I got it from a guy I ran into at the lake last spring.

We're scheduled for a warmup here in OH this weekend also. I took my last two vacation days. Gonna go looking for some more crappie and eyes for the freezer. I'll do a little bass fishin too, but the main focus will be on limits of fillets.

Fish eat twice a day. Right before I get to the lake and right after I leave. ?

Reading up on it helps, but if you want to get good with any technique you have to dedicate time to it. You can generally catch some fish on a jig or T-Rig under most conditions. They'll produce shallow, deep, and everywhere in between. Just put that rod in your hand and keep it there. It'll come.

3 Speed Spool LFS, 3 Super Duty LFS, 2 Tournament MB, and a Pro SP. Several of them have 3 or 4 years of regular use. My SD's take a beating pitching with braid on stout rods. All are smooth and quiet. Don't know what your buddy's using, but your experience with Lews is very different than mine.