flukes, craws, and senkos.

Swim jigs, jigs and chatterbaits are currently working for me.

Jigs, bladed jigs, and baby brush hogs getting it done for me.

 

 

Jigs, bladed jigs, and baby brush hogs getting it done for me.

 

 

 

I see that you have a lot of the LTB's. I see another rod on your deck that looks to be a LTB with a non cork black grip? Is it an older model that did not have cork or is it a custom with a LTB blank?

I see that you have a lot of the LTB's. I see another rod on your deck that looks to be a LTB with a non cork black grip? Is it an older model that did not have cork or is it a custom with a LTB blank?

Academy Ethos. Both of the blue rods to my right in the picture are Ethos rods, and there's 7 more of them in the rod locker. Best rod under $100 (under $50 on sale), without question IMO. 

Topwaters (especially buzzbaits), squarebills, spinnerbaits, deep cranks, jigs, creatures, and plenty of other plastics.

Now that the water is warming up, what tactics are you utilizing? 

 

Been doing a mix of clear water Iowa bassing and murky state pond hoping.  I've done well on the clear water side uder docks fishing shaky heads paired to BPS Flicker Worms and a mix of weightless and weighted wacky rigged BPS Stick Os.  Some bigger fish have been caught punching mats of curly leaf pond weed that have been real bad this year using Lake Fork Ring Fry worms in shallow 'canal' areas.  Smallmouths have come on drop shots paired to Havoc Money Makers and Powerteam Lures Hammer Shads on rocky reefs and boulders.  Pond hopping has produced fish early season on shallow cranks such as the Rapala Scatter Rap Shallow and DT4 with more recent fish being caught on a mixed bag of weightless plastics and split shot rigs due to the abundance of dead veg still lingering around in the state ponds.  As we transition into summer and the weedbends reach towards the surface I expect the state pond bite to move to wake baits followed by frogs once the weeds reach the surface.  My summer is going to consist of lots of frogging and if I can swing another trip up north then some spinnerbaiting, swimgjigging and cranking on clear water main lake structure laden with weedbeeds and rock piles.