T-Billy

I'll see if I can get ahold of them today.

Atwood. Been catching alot of them like this last couple months.

Some bass I've been catching at a local lake have these nasty looking sores with those white thorn looking things sticking out of the middle of them. Some of the fish are really ate up with them. Haven't been able to find anything on the web. Can anyone identify the cause?

Super speed craws, trick worms or smaller beavers.

3" Double tail grub. 3" Double tail grub.

I think Dobyns is a good place to look if you're looking to fish both bottom contact and moving baits with one rod. Nice soft tips even on their fast graphite rods. That helps with moving baits, while still working well for bottom contact. The 735 Fury is a solid all around workhorse at a fair price. You can cover alot of ground with that stick.

It was an awesome year. Only one bass over 5#, but several 4+ and best numbers and average size ever. Muskie in the pics were 42" and 49". Some nice cats on the T Rig. Had a couple GIANT flatheads eat the T Rig and drag me back into the wood piles and break me off on 40# braid. Freezer full of crappie, and saugeye. Last Sat had a 30" or so saugeye shake off at boatside. It was a beast, all fattened up for winter. Still have a few weeks to fish. I'll bundle up and grind away until the water gets hard.

Lol. Picking my brain won't take long!!! Feel free to PM me if you want, or resurrect this thread and we can all participate. Those B-Hittay's will see lots of use starting in April.

OUTSTANDING ADVICE!!! Once you've fished a couple from the same manufacturer/series you have a much better idea what to expect from the rest of the lineup based on rating and can be more comfortable buying them online. As to the original question, I haven't fished the Tharp composite rods mentioned, but I have handled the B-Hittay in my local shop. Taper is very similar to my Veritas 7'6" MH Winch which is awesome for squarebills, chatterbaits and topwaters with braid, but I'm not a big fan of the Abu reel seat. 1/8 is a stretch, as is 1 1/2, but 1/4 fishes ok, and the sweet spot is really in the 3/8 to 3/4 range. A-Jay's guesstimate is spot on. I've gone all in on the Tharp series this year. I think they're outstanding for their price point, and they've sidelined my Abu Veritas and Veracity's and relegated my Dobyns Kadens and Sierra to moving bait duty. I currently have the Guntersville, King Cobra, Moneymaker, One Eyed Jack, Meterman, and Meterman Special, and I ordered a pair of B-Hittay's and another Moneymaker from TW today. I managed to fend off the monkey until the sale started. ?

I do. Do-It mold, Mustad hooks. I've experimented with everything from a #4 hook to a 1/0. #2 is the sweet spot for me. I throw this bait alot on rock structure during the cold water seasons. It's a killer. Catches everything both big and small.

Another good tutorial. Tharp's one of the best in the game with a flippin stick.

I fish the lakes Fletcher cut his teeth on. There's a reason he packed up and moved to Guntersville. ?

Should be good to go. SLX's are fairly stout for their ratings. My 7'2" M XF is stouter than a couple of my MH rods.

LOL. Water snakes do love the shoreline brush. So do the bass, especially when they're green. They love that overhead cover. This is the first year I really went DEEP into that stuff after them. I don't know what took so long for that lightbulb to come on. Making the switch to braid and straight shank flippin hooks gave me the confidence, and frankly the ability to fish it efficiently. Jigs and skin hooked EWG's hang up too much in that brushy stuff, but a straight shank with the point buried in the plastic can be fished cleanly through dang near anything. A stout flippin stick with braid will get 'em out, and the hookup percentage is really good. I'm pitching into those little holes in the brush like you guys were dipping for crappie through, and it's paid off big time. This has been my best year ever for both numbers and average size, and as a bonus, it's my favorite way to catch'em.

10-4. Heavy cover is a relative term I reckon. I was thinking of pitching into the middle of stuff like this. Gotta hit 'em quick and hard. Get 'em coming at you on the hookset and don't give 'em an inch until they're clear of cover. Braid is a must have IMO. That said, they often don't move off with the bait in this stuff. They just pick it up and sit there munching on it.

Depends on the day and the fishes mood. Some days they'll hold it a long time, some days they won't. Some days they choke it, some days they bite very tenetively. If they're in fairly open water, and are willing to hang onto it awhile, letting them swim with it can lead to a better hookup percentage, as they're not facing you when you swing. In heavy cover letting them swim with it is the last thing you want to do. Hit 'em HARD ASAP in heavy cover, and don't give 'em an inch.

I use an Ark Tharp, One Eyed Jack for finesse swimmers and grubs. 6'10" Med Moderate. Normally a fan of longer rods but I really like this rod for this application. Fitted with a Curado BFS. 8# Trilene XT. Loads up clear into the butt section and does a great job of keeping them pinned. Designed as a jerkbait rod, it also does a great job with those.

I've done it three times. I'm not a smart man.

I learned it's sometimes a good thing when the bass don't wanna cooperate. Kept 27 fat crappie today. They are awesome mustard fried and served with jalapeno hot water corn bread. This year I also learned that an electric Bubba Blade is a sweet thing to have when you have a big pile of fish to fillet. It's worth every... single... penny.

Sorry, can't help ya there. Really. The Moneymaker aka 7'3" MH F blank is the 7'3" Mag MH in the other series. It's what I think of when I think fast. 30ish percent tip that transitions smoothly into the backbone. About the same taper as my 735 Fury, but lighter, more sensitive, and a little more power. Power is similar to a Dobyns 5 power flippin stick. The 7' is XF. I have no experience with it. The spinning rods I have are XF and I think they're right on. Say 20% tip. In my opinion, ARK's power and taper ratings are spot on. Well balanced too. My above comments weren't meant to knock Dobyns. They build nice rods and have FANTASTIC customer service and warranty, but FOR ME, ARK just provides a better product dollar for dollar, and I prefer their blanks. My local shop owner says ARK's customer service is first rate too. Sent TWO replacement Lancers for a guy griping about the guides fraying his flouro. Turned out to be the guide on his reel. ?

Very comfy. Great feel. Great blanks, tapers and solid hardware. I have the Meterman, Meterman Special, One Eyed Jack, Moneymaker, King Cobra, and Guntersville Special. They all have that just right feel to me for their intended task. It's all subjective of course, but I'm sold on 'em. They've sidelined some more expensive rods. Composites are next. Couple B-Hittays, and a Grinder come Black Friday.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this topic, but these are an outstanding value that fish well above their price point IMO. Offer me my choice for free.... I'll take a $129 Tharp over a $259 Champ XP all day every day and twice on Sunday. I'm up to 6 and I'm just waiting on Black Friday to add 3 or 4 more to the starting lineup.

Silly human. You cannot resist me!! HAAAhahahahahahahaha!!!

Me too. I switched a few years ago per Hackney's advice, and immediately saw an improvement in my hookup percentage. It makes the biggest difference with braid. Slacklining with braid will cost you a bunch of fish. One of the great things about braid is the ability to get a solid hookset without reeling down, as long as the rod tip isn't above 10 o'clock. I try to keep the tip between 9 and 10 while working the bait. From 10 on down I crack'em as soon as I feel'em with braid. With mono I drop the tip, reel out the slack until I feel them, then swing for the fence. They have much less time to spit the bait with braid.