MOsmallies

I love popping a cork for crappie! Strictly use jigs. I prefer a 2" tube jig over any other bait but will use a BG Baby Shad as well. For this particular technique I prefer a pear shaped clip on cork. Plastic or Foam, but to me the key is no weight on the bobber. I want it laying on its side. On a lift bite or a subtle bite this type of cork will just flip over on the surface. The other reason for using a clip on float vs slip float is (1) you're usually fishing the jig 1-4 feet below the cork so it is still plenty castable and (2) I twitch the cork quite a bit so I want that jig to pop up and move towards me when I twitch. With a slip bobber, you are only pulling the line and jig up but the cork doesn't really move. So then you are just yo-yoing the jig up in down in the same spot. This is killer on LOZ in February-April... And it can be good in December and January too. You will be surprised how shallow those crappie get in that cold water! This technique caught my PB crappie (17") out of a subdivison pond about 15 years ago. I will use a slip bobber if I'm fishing minnows around docks, laydowns, or deeper than 5 feet.

Great rods... Wish I could justify buying them... Someone is going to get a great deal!

I believe parts of the Jacks Fork has them as well. I had one bull rush my bait the only time I fished the 11 Pt but never hooked up. I'd like to catch one too!

Wow! Impressive Walleye anywhere... Crazy impressive for LOZ. Congrats!

This is great info!

The water color was a little funky (grayish) in the Tan-Tar-A area last weekend but I'm not sure it was turning over. Didn't see any other signs. And the water temps were still 71-73 so I think it was too warm to turnover.

Yeah the action on the thing is unreal. Stands straight up and the tail almost starts curling up

Caught this football last weekend. I don’t think she was much more than 15-16” but was every bit of 3+ lbs. She bit a mag trick worm on a bluff end. That mag trick worm on a 5/16 oz shakey head catches a ton of quality fish from May through October. Lost 3 nice ones including a 5+ on the Whopper Plopper (Midway back in a big creek). Had them on for 5-10 sec before they pulled or jumped off. My bite to land ratio has always been awful with the 130 size. Going to try some #2 Owner Stinger 3X ST-56 Trebles and see if those will make a difference. Also caught a lot of solid fish on the new Tackle HD MF Shakey Head with their soon to be released HD Hellgrammite... This bait is gonna be sweeeeet so keep a look out for it in the coming months!!!

Awesome report as always!

Do some selective harvest with those 12" bass and crappie

How so? It looks pretty stock to me but you have a keen eye for this stuff

A few more pics from Facebook...

He had a short clip up on Instagram of him losing the other big one and he appeared to be fishing a bluff type bank with wind on it. Almost looked like he was working that big glide bait like a spook. Twitching his rod tip.. I guess to get that thing to glide out further and more erratic than a straight S retrieve. I believe this is the winning fish and bait...

According to Facebook and Instagram he has footage of everything. Including losing another giant after weighing in the winning fish. Looking forward to it. I've always enjoyed following him. Dude just travels all over the country catching massive fish and getting killer footage of it all.

Unfortunately had plans for this weekend this year. Hope you guys do it again next year and we can book that weekend in advance. Good luck!

Great advice there. If you slow down, a shakey head is a great option as well

Awesome David! Congrats on the new PB! That's a stud river fish no matter where you go!

I actually took advantage of the TW closeout price and bought it last weekend... Just showed up in my office mailroom!!

Wouldn't be surprised if it was @Moswimb8slinger

@mixermarkb and @Bill Babler do you think the 6'8" (MH) AOY Falcon Lowrider would be just as good for Spinnerbaits (3/8-1/2 oz)? I've been looking at this one for a while and I'm trying to decide if the extra $50 for the Cara would be worth it since it's a reaction bait. Thanks for your feedback! I throw Cara's for all my jig rods.

Forgot to post these earlier this week. Fished a couple hours last Saturday and Sunday mornings in the Tan-Tar-A area. Boat traffic got crazy so I was back at the house by 9:30 am. I think I only caught 6 but 5 were keepers. 2 came out of 15-20 ft dock wells on a Mag Trick Worm. 2 came in 10-15 ft off sides of docks near jet ski lifts also on Mag Trick Worms... and one KY keeper came off a deep dock corner on a spook. They were spread out from the back of cove out to the mouth. Only one was long and skinny. The rest were fat, healthy, and full of energy! Water temps were 80-81 all weekend. Looking forward to the fall bite but it’ll be a while before I can get back down. Hope everyone had a great Labor Day! This post has been promoted to an article

The 3 in top pics are Normans. Can't tell the exact model though

Awesome stuff Bret! Doesn't get any better than that!

Ran into that earlier this year on a quantum spinning reel. Hell of a deal on eBay and the seller had zero feedback. Took a shot and I was wrong. Seller was a fraud. Had to go through the 2 week process with eBay to file the cancellation and eBay refunded my money. First time I was ever burned on eBay but it was my fault. I should've known better. If it looks too good to be true it probably is.