T-Billy

Lots of good advice above. I'll just add, be patient, don't over coach, and keep it lighthearted and fun. My bestest fishin buddy.

LOL, Yup. They're territorial, and at night they'll swim right up to the boat and tail slap. You're fishing along in the dark, usually dead quiet, and all the sudden it sounds like someone did a cannonball right behind you, and there's water raining down on ya. Sometimes they'll circle the boat and keep doing it. Fargen herons are another pesky critter at night. They'll wait until you're directly under their roost tree, then launch out of it squawking at the top of their lungs. Either they think it's funny, or The Lord does. Someone's getting a laugh out of my reaction, of that I'm sure.

Those dirty buggers will do that 2 feet from your boat at night.

Ark Invoker Pro 7' 4" H MF. Outstanding for swimmers, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits... basically any single hook moving bait, or baits with stout trebles like ploppers. I have four and they see lots of use.

There is nothing new under the sun.

I like a smoother braid that's quieter through the guides for chuck'n and wind'n. Fins Infinity has proven good for this at a reasonable price. I'm mostly cranking chatterbaits and swim jigs in and around weeds with it.

832 has been hands down the best braid for me in cover. I like something a little smoother for moving baits, but flippin, froggin, and anything bottom contact it's 832. It's been the most abrasion resistant of any I've tried, and I've tried quite a few. Handles great too. I just gave Vicious No Fade a go on my main flippin stick. It was better than most, but it got fuzzy on me, and not just the last couple feet above the bait. I'm back to 832 on it, and don't see that changing anytime soon.

Way to go Dwight!!! What an awesome day!!! Congrats!!!

Ark's 7' MH XF in either the Tharp, or Invoker Pro series is an outstanding light jig rod. It's called the hammer in the Tharp series. Light weight, very sensitive, and well balanced. Great for Jigs,Trigs, flukes, senko's... $129 in the Tharp series, $149 for the Invoker.

Dude... What he did is standard operating procedure for the amish around here. Sorry for getting sidetracked here A-Jay. I'll leave it at this. Back to A-Jay's regularly scheduled programming.

I'd say both, and add, some people are just clueless. I had a clueless/bunghole encounter today. I was fishing a cove about 50yds wide, pitching into pine tops on the sunny side, when a pontoon comes roaring in full throttle right past me. He goes near the back, runs smack into a laydown, throws his anchor in, fishes that tree for 5 min, and leaves. Full throttle right back out, couldn't care less, or is oblivious to, how he's affecting me. A younger me would have lit him up. Today, I just laughed, shook my head and went on about my otherwise enjoyable day.

I wanted to say thanks, like, and use the laugh emoji for this post, but we can only use one so... The laugh emoji won out for BR's most popular hat. LOL.

I as well will miss your vids A-Jay, but I 100% get it, and don't blame you a bit. Thanks for sharing with us what you have. Public waters are public waters, but parasites are parasites as well, and there's not an ounce of honor in them. I tease my muskie guide buddy about the crowds he draws when there's a casting bite on. I tell him, Elvis would be jealous of his crowds. We met last November at the ramp, and had a nice, mutually beneficial conversation. I clued him in on the A-Rig and how I fish it. He clued me in on a pattern that was setting up. We both had instant success, shared info daily, each did our own thing with it, and both had our best fall ever. Within days, he was surrounded by leeches throwing rigs just barely out of his clients casting range. He told me he'd never seen any of those guys throwing it before they saw him throwing it. It's one thing to see someone having success and trying to emulate it. It's another thing to follow them around and try to capitalize on their hard earned knowledge. Some folks just have no shame. That said, that bunch didn't have nearly the success he and I did, and neither will those currently feeding off of you. I'd wager you could follow those on "your" spot around and haul fish from their used water. You're a very good stick my friend. Anyhoo... Good talkin to ya. ? Looking forward to some big brown bass pics and fishing reports.

Much to my surprise I put a beating on 'em today. Dinks that is. LOL. Slick calm and bluebird skies behind nearly a week of cold wind and rain had my expectations low. I started out pitching pine laydowns and it was on from the start. Could hardly buy a bite pitching anything else, but the thick, bushy, pines who's boughs hadn't rotted off yet were loaded. There were fish shallow, but they were SUPER spooky. The fish in the pine tops from 8'-14' were chewing though. Caught a few dozen, but only two decent ones. Two best weighed 2.84 and 3.28. This poor little fish is off to a rough start. Looks like a heron recently had a go at it, and it's got an old scar clear down it's side. Fat, otherwise healthy looking little bass though. Highlight of the day was a lost fish. I pitched into a huge green pine top in about 13', let the 'ol Sweet Craw hit bottom, lifted up and there was a fish on it. Cracked the whip, and got stopped dead. BIG fish. Kept leaning hard on it and winching away, and when I finally got it up through that jungle it turned out to be a 40" ish muskie. Just as I got it pulled clear of the tree, it bit me off. Not landing it didn't bother me in the least. What an epic slugfest it was winching that beast up through 13' of gnarly pine boughs. Hopefully someone will catch it soon and get that 4/0 flippin hook out of it's yap. Twas a fun day on the water.

Two weeks of cold, wind, and rain have 'em all messed up. Two weeks ago there were tons of fish shallow. Not so much now, but better weather is on the way. It was a grind this morning, with just two bites between 6:30 and 10:30. They got a little more cooperative as the day went on. Ended up with about a dozen. Couple two pounders and this 3.48 chunk. The rest were dinks.

A-Rig when the water's in the mid 50's on down.

No experience with the mini yet, but I'm a big fan of my Ark Essence 7'4" MH R for throwing keitech's on 1/8 - 3/8 heads with 2/0 or 3/0 hooks. It's pretty much become a dedicated rod for that. The Dobyns Kaden 744 is a close second for the same thing. Pretty much identical in power, with the Ark having a little softer tip, and a bit slower taper. I would expect either to work well with the mini, offering a soft tip, with enough power to move fish out of moderate cover, especially the Ark.

That's the Do-It mold I use, and it's my favorite jig ever. Very good in both wood and rock. I should have mentioned the horizontal line tie in my first post. It makes a significant difference IMO.

Same here. Not a fan of the brush jig at all. Regular ol Arkie style works much better. Arkie works great everywhere but grass.

I hear ya. I've cast a little TRD bug 15-20' out in front of shallow cruisers on 6# mono, and when they get to within 6-8' of it, gave it a subtle twitch, they ran from it. Pitched into huge wood tangles, the three or four laydowns all tangled together kind, landed my bait with barely a ripple, and had half a dozen bass come rocketing out like the boogieman kicked in the door. Early and late in the year, when there's no weed cover, especially if it's sunny and calm, they can be unbelievably spooky. It's a war of attrition. Put the bait in front of enough of them, and generally you'll get a few takers. Also, they like overhead cover when up shallow, (pterodactyls like to eat them) so big pieces of wood, especially gnarly tangles, are your friend. They'll get on the brushy stuff later after the weeds get going. That's generally how it works in my waters anyhow.

I've been dealing with super spooky bass up shallow myself. Two things get me some bites. Pitching into the nastiest wood tangles I can find and provoking a reaction bite, and finding cover that's a bit deeper. Just deep enough where I can't see bottom. For me that's been pine laydowns early and late in the year when cover is scarce. They like to suspend under the boughs. They'll get more cooperative once the weeds get going.

I have and really like the phenix feather 7'1" L and ML rods for finesse stuff. Light and sensitive with great tapers.

No reason to be embarrassed, it's simply a matter of preference. Targeting big fish doesn't necessarily exclude catching numbers either. That 3.5" Sweet Craw I spend so much time pitching catches lots, but it's also my #1 big fish producer. #2 is a chatterbait at night. It also catches numbers, but consistently catches bigger than average fish, including my PB smalljaws.

Well... put your signal on and come on over. Throwing 2 pounders clean over the boat is a hoot. ?

7# LM, 48" muskie. Both are attainable. Neither is easily attainable. Odds are better for getting the muskie.