I have had to force myself to start cranking more and did it more last year than I ever had.

It helped getting a rod designed for them and making myself do it over and over again.

big senkos t rigged?

smallmouth crush mentioned in one of his videos 8 foot leaders....i think he mentioned 8 foot PLUS iirc. That dudes a pretty solid stick so ill trust him....since ill never have the confidence to try! LOL

Split shot rig a fluke/senko/4” hags or you could do it with a pegged light carolina rig. great way to catch em at lah

He's from the OT. Maybe forgive him and hope he sales more vehicles?

Guy, Guys, it is NOT "SALES more vehicles" .....ever heard of a verb? "SELLS" is a verb; try it some time!

JB

Yeah definitely don't try a Carolina rig for fish suspended in timber, unless you want to show them something they aren't used to seeing every day and are likely to eat.

When I fished regular baits, pre swimbait addiction, I had some great summer trips swimming a lighter c rig through tress. It takes some finesse touch to learn how to bring the weight over branches and not get the bait hung up but the technique works. I always used a 8" or larger worm, but a creature bait would work.

I remember reading about that well over 15 years ago.

Jerkbait in timber catching suspended fish is all the rage since the Walters win on Fork last fall. Wish I had more confidence in that bait. I'm making myself throw jerkbaits more this yr. Crankbaits work well to though. Those suspended fish will feed up so start shallow and work down. Some people would be amazed what they can catch with a 1.5 size square bill cranking tree tops in 20-50ft of water. I've found that the Rapala DT series cranks also work well . They seem to come through those tree tops better than many other brands and offer lots of options to target fish at various depths.

Thanks, that makes more sense re: drop shot.

Seems like hangups would be the result of most casts, even after you figure out how to finesse it, and a lot of break offs would occur when you hook a fish, especially with light line and multiple knots.

Interesting! Thanks for the link.

I’ve been Vertical jigging Timber, Points, Creeks, Ledges & drop offs for 50 years. Spoons & jigs in Winter & Wacky worms & Wacky Tubes & Wacky Flukes in the the Summer.
Winter jigging 20-60 ft requires Great Sonar (old school) and delicate slow movements of your bait. 90% of most spoon fisherman, use high sweeping motions of there rods which moves the spoon long distance at a fast rate and the Bass react to the flutter, I found accidentally that leaving the spoon still in the strike zone and adding an occasional side to side wiggle pause and lifting an inch or two allows the Bass to “Home in on” the spoon/bait. Summertime patterns where the Bass are suspended and moving in schools/packs; both fast Flittering and subtle techniques work. My biggest surprise was at Sam Rayburn in Five Fingers, Fishing the “guts” on each side of long points, I would just hold a Wacky tube perfectly still in 20 ft over 40 ft and caught 30 good fish that just swam off with it.
I fish Ray Roberts regularly and this technique works are RR also, summer & winter. I didn’t know I was going on a long rant I will try and add pictures ?
Hope this helps !👍🎣

Livescope is preferred, if they are very picky you can take an 1/8oz grub head and small swimbait and reel it through them with a fairy wand. Move up to 1/4oz if you throw it on a baitcaster on a rod similar to a weightless worm rod and light line (10lb). Don't need live scope but you need to know how fast you bait falls to reach 10ft and throw it out and count it down. Or as others have said get over the top and dropshot but you stand a pretty good chance of spooking them.