[ParishRat22]

Can’t recommend the Heavy Hitters tournament enough. It’s made me a more patient and I think better angler. That said, I found myself getting worked up every trip earlier this spring, pressuring myself to land a stud. What once was a fun, good thing, suddenly started to feel like the pressure related to a job. It’s not really a drawback of the event itself, but more how I reacted to it. I imagine other anglers on this forum could get stuck in the same mindset, so best to always keep a good perspective and reserve trips for catching whatever might bite and/or exploring new areas.

[ParishRat22]

Love the Double D, but it can be a little pricey. Thankfully I took advantage of the Speckled Truth sale a few weeks ago. Quick tip, I noticed after changing out the standard hooks on a Mirrolure XL to the Owner ST-36 hooks, it substantially decreased the weight of the lure, basically turning into a slow floating subsurface lure. Not sure what the action looks like underwater, but I have caught some nice ones this year with that setup (and saved about seven bucks).