T-Billy

10-4. Been there. I bought my boat at Paul's Marine, a bit north of Columbus in Lewis Center near Buckeye Lake. I live in a tiny town called Dellroy about 2hrs ENE of Columbus. I fish the MWCD lakes, Atwood, Leesville, Clendening, Piedmont, and once in a blue moon, Tappan. Also have the Tuscarawas river near by. It has a good SM population. OH isn't exactly a meca for bass fishing, but it ain't horrible either. 5's are hard to come by, 6's are really hard to come by, and 7+ is for sure the fish of a lifetime. Most of us never get one over 7, I've been pretty close at 6-10.

I didn't know that. Where abouts did you grow up?

Got out for about four hrs last night. Five LM between 12"-16", this 5.14# LM, a small saugeye, and a 3# ish channel cat. First 5'r of the year for me. The bite on the flats still ain't happening. This is the latest I've ever seen that bite go down. It's usually on by the first week of June. With the cool nights and recent rains, the surface temp is still hovering around 70. Need the gills to hit the beds in order for the mayhem to ensue.

I use the 3" ties. They work well.

Yeah, I enjoy fishing in the snow. Freezing cold rain sucks, but I'll tolerate it all day when the muskie are chewing A-rigs.

Rain is good, unless it's forty degree rain. I don't mess with lightning. No fish is worth dying for.

Johnson, red white and blue spincast combo. It was striped like a barber pole. My grandpa got it for me when I was four. My first fish was an 18.5" carp. 50 years later I still remember that day with him vividly. Man I miss that guy.

I vote Ark Invoker Pro 7'4" Mag H F. It has a pretty short handle for a rod that length, but still balances well. Great pitchin/froggin rod. Lew's LFS reel.

Same here.

Absolutely. I dunno how I forgot to mention these. I have the 3" and 3.5" molds. The 3.5 is my go to chatterbait trailer. The ripper has a tighter harder thump than the Keitech. I use Do-It essential plastisol.

28/30 degree 5/0 EWG with a screw lock has been best for me. I also throw em on a H MF rod. It slows my reaction time down a bit, and lets the fish get the bait better.

I bought impact fat molds from a Ukranian mold maker. Now I have durable keitechs. My second favorite is the rage swimmer.

She's awesome. Nobody on the planet I'd rather fish with.

I'd be looking elsewhere. You can get a lighter, more sensitive blank, with quality hardware in that price range without looking too hard. Fury's are moving bait rods IMO.

30# braid. No Leader.

There should be a thread on this in the everything else forum. I'm sure there are plenty of us here who've worked physical jobs that have no shortage of these stories. The first one that popped into my mind was the time I blasted myself in the nose with a 26oz framing hammer. I think Foxworthy was talking about @TnRiver46 with his, If you've ever had your nipple bitten off by a beaver line. ?

I looked up the definition of the word awesome. This is what I found.

Read what I posted again. Nowhere in my post did I contradict what you said. I was simply attesting to the fact that Ark builds/uses a tough 40T blank.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner? ?

Sure you do. I just got a new BFS rod today. Big Flippin Stick that is!!! LOL. Everyone needs a second 7'6" XH F don't they? I have two bfs rods (The Phenix Feather L and ML are fantastic btw), and at least a dozen H, Mag H, XH sticks.

Yes.

I've gone the other direction. I'll fish light stuff in cold water or when the wife's along and I'm looking for numbers, but for the most part, I'm hunting big fish, usually in heavy cover. I had nine rigs on the deck today. The lightest was a 7'3 MH with 15# YZH.

Good info above. I'll just add, The shallow cover with easy deep water access can be productive anytime the water is 38 degrees and above. The disolved O2 content is too high below that, forcing the fish to go to deeper, warmer water. Thanks to @WRB for that info. I'd experienced that shallow, sun baked wood bite shutting off like a switch below 38 in the fall for years, but didn't know why until Tom shared that in a post. As far as what I consider quick/easy deep water access, I wanna see that first break within a few boat lengths of shore during the colder water periods. I'll also gernerally be fishing the side that gets the most sun if the surface temp is below about 55.

I slept in a bit to get back on my work schedule. Only got about 2hrs of fishing in the dark. I got a little bit of redemption with a couple 2# LM, a dink, and this 5.25# sammich before daylight. I put a beatdown on the dinks after daylight. Low pressure, and low clouds had the milfoil full of 10-15 inchers. Hammered 'em pitching to holes in the topped out stuff. Not sure how many I caught, but I picked up 18 torn up Sweet Craws off the deck at the end of the trip, so easy couple dozen. Nothing over about 2#, but I saw a couple good ones cruising. Seeing better numbers of gills in the shallow weeds, so the nighttime mayhem isn't far off. Just in time for my vacation from July 3rd-13th.