Bigbill, I fished tournaments for over twenty years, I have a large five drawer chest-of-drawers out in the shop that is packed full of brand new tackle I won over the years. Most have never been out of the box. When I go fishing, I take sever boxes of tackle tailored for the time of year and location, there is always several plastic bags of goodies in the boat too. Bottom line, I never use most of the stuff I take. In most cases I could reduce the boxes to several spinner baits, a few jigs, and a selection of plastic and catch just as many fish. Most of my fish are taken flipping plastic or jigs into brush piles, under docks, in the grass or along drop offs on creek channels, etc.
I totally agree, a piece of pork is a help, but don't forget the plastic look-a-likes. Sometimes a lizard, frog or just a curly tail on the back of a jig or spinner bait will increase your catch considerably.
And fishing this area, I always keep a good selection of buzz baits in the boat. I will use the spinner and buzz bait to locate the fish then go to the plastic to finish them off.
