T-Billy

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.

It happens. The lake I went to is the best SM lake around me, but it's a mess right now. The shallows are choked out with Chara and most of the shallow wood is covered in a blue/green alge. I fished some deeper hydrilla and some rock structure that usually gives up some SM and eyes, but it was the dead sea last night. I probably won't make the drive back down there until late summer, after the Chara dies off.

You'll have to keep looking. LOL. 10hrs two small LM. I SUCK!!! I hit a different lake. Hadn't been there since April. My plan didn't backfire, it blew up in my face. Back to lake #1 tonight.

She has a rather surprised look on her face. LOL.

I thought of you last night when I botched netting a 6# ish saugeye and watched it swim off, leaving my chatterbait tangled in my net. It was the only floater I snagged. I ended up with eleven 10-17" LM in about 4hrs of fishing. We had a cool front with heavy rains come through a couple nights ago. Water temp is down 4 degrees. Everything's changed since last week. Getting ready to head out on a marathon all nighter tonight.

I do it for several reasons, but none better than that. Jeepers, I hibernate in the A/C when it gets over 80F.

I don't do a lot of finesse fishing, but when I do, it's with a Curado BFS and a Phenix Feather L or ML. Spinning gear is for crappie now.

I've been through a BUNCH of rods looking for a chatterbait rod I was happy with. I found it in the Ark Invoker 7'4" H MF composite. I like this rod so much, I now have four of them. They're great for all things single hook moving bait, and baits with big stout trebles. The MH MF is too soft IMO. The H MF has the needed tip with plenty of backbone though the mid and butt sections. I also throw a chatterbait on braid and a 7 speed reel.

I still like a composite here, but I use a H action and braid. Second choice is a graphite blank that's on the slower side of fast.