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Shallow Cover Shot.......

A downed cypress tree in four feet of water full of ambushing crappie and largemouth.......

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Comment by John Sheehan on July 17, 2019 at 6:21am: Wow , great report and different experience than mine1 Thanks Jeffrey , nice work!

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on July 16, 2019 at 4:17pm: Hey John thanks.......in this region there is scarce water over ten feet deep for miles.........despite that I still remain amazed that these shallow trees were so productive with water temps near 90 degrees........great spawning locations in the spring and they also load up in the fall getting fat before going deeper.........one of the main keys is the WIND tide which moves the abundant forage across this cover..........a coangler and I only fished until 9:00 because of the intense heat and already caught over 50 crappie and two dozen largemouth...........we also determined early that the trees were reloading rather quickly by moving back and forth between trees and returning to previous hot spots.........many fish were hooked in only one foot of water marking near 90 degrees.......

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on July 16, 2019 at 4:06pm: Thanks Bruce......initially I was casting but couldn't get the bait to the sweet spot efficiently.........I back off and get the telescopic gear out and that turned out to be the difference.........you could place the bait exactly where you wanted as there was very little wind........there's always a chance to spook fish by getting to close but it was worth the risk.......quite a few snags below the water as well as these cypress trees just don't break down easy.........not pictured is big grass beds holding millions of grass shrimp which had pulled these feeding fish in.........these trees are knocked down during tropical storms and hurricanes forming the fish magnets........this same tree has given me hundreds of fish in recent years as it has reached it's prime after setting several years in one location.........

Comment by John Sheehan on July 16, 2019 at 3:20pm: Is there relatively deep water nearby Jeff? The best downed tree I was successful on that held lots of Crappie and Big Bass was an oak tree that was dropped in 3-6- 12 ' .

Comment by Bruce Tomaselli on July 16, 2019 at 5:00am: Great instructional photo. Thanks for posting, Jeff.

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on July 14, 2019 at 12:49pm: Fish as tight to this tree and root as possible for best results.......the fish attach on the down current side which was closest to the boat today.....