T-Billy

Keeping you in my prayers Tommy. God bless ya brother.

You two are in my prayers every day brother. Sorry to hear Lynn's hit another rough patch.

We've had a few says above freezing here in OH, and a fair amount of rain to go with the warmer temps. There's some areas of open water on the local lakes, and the remaining ice looks to be 2" or less. If the forecast holds, my first muskie trip will be Monday the 10th.

Anyone else now quickly scroll through @Team9nine bass pics in anticipation of seeing some MONSTER crappie? 😂

Keeping you in my prayers @Catt. God bless ya brother.

I'd probably head for the deep blue with @king fisher in search of marlin, tuna, and whatever else he could come up with.

@Team9nine could turn Wally Marshall green with envy with those mad crappie skills. Good grief, those are some absolute monsters. Congratulations buddy!!! @AlabamaSpothunter slayin those winter hogs. Congrats to you too brother. You're on a tear.

Congrats on the new gig!!!

We got a bunch of rain over the last couple days. Temps plummeted from near 50 into the teens yesterday and it turned to ice then snow. Single digit lows and highs in the teens/low 20's the rest of the week. BOOOOO!!! On a positive note, I bought a 12" speaker baffle for my tweed Vibroluxe, and I've been swapping some speakers through it. After trying a few different American voiced speakers, I gave a Celestion Vintage 30 a go just for giggles. I was expecting it to be too mid forward in this circuit, but to my surprise it sounds glorious both clean and dirty. It's staying in there. I can't stop playing. Poor neighbors, I bet they're looking forward to when I can go fishing even more than I am. 😂

X2

I've been the victim of both those attacks. 😂 Pulling fish from the thickest cover around is where I really excel, but I'm pretty good at catching them in the dark too.

Just the opposite. I love 'em, and added them to several other reels.

@JN94 I have that rod and it does ok with a-rigs, but I prefer the heavier rated one. The extra backbone takes a lot of work out of throwing it.

When the shad are schooled up in those mega schools, I've done best by fishing the perimeter of the schools and nearby structure rather than in the schools. Trolling that rig just off bottom over structure can be killer as well. About 2 MPH seems to be the magic speed. I've caught lots of bass, eyes, and muskie trolling it like that.

Nah. If they did @A-Jay would have had one years ago.

Nice. I got to see a Red Tail Hawk take out a cottontail last fall. It was pretty impressive. Head shot with the right talon. Instant death, that bunny never even twitched. The hawk had to work pretty hard to get airborne, but it managed to fly off with it.

I would never limit myself to one. That's just silly. I could however get by quite happily with a green pumpkin Beaver and a black Zoom Ol Monster. Sometimes profile is a big factor. They'll either want one or the other. Weights are gonna vary from 1/8 to however much it takes to get through the mat. 7'6" HF rod and 50# braid. Snelled straight shank always.

Yep.

Yep. Chuck and wind when fishing around weeds. Make several speed changes during the retrieve. Bites mostly happen right after a sudden speed change. When fishing rock structure, I have two retrieves that work well for me. #1 I'll let it hit bottom, give a few turns of the reel handle to get the blade going, and let it fall back to bottom on a tight line. Most bites will come on the fall. #2 A slow steady crawl along the bottom also works well. Just fast enough to get the blade working. You want it banging off the rocks as it crawls along, much like a swing head jig. A bladed jig comes through rock really well, and when it does hang up I can usually free it. It's been my favorite bait for fishing in the dark for many years now, and second place ain't even close. I prefer a 3/8oz for fishing weeds and a 1/2oz for bottom bumping.

If you haven't yet, give a bladed jig a try before sunrise once the water gets up to about 70. Outside weed edges and over top of submerged vegetation are prime, as is bumping it along bottom on rock structure.

That wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary here in my neck of the woods. I passed a lifted 70's vega rollin on a set of 44" boggers yesterday. I love it here in Carrolltucky. 😉

The Ohio River would be locked up solid if it weren't for the barge traffic.

I could get by quite happily with a flippin stick and a heavy moderate moving bait rod. Beaver, worm, bladed jig, spinnerbait, swim jig.