Fly rod with a black gnat and/or 1/32 road runner with a black Slider one inch grub , on the ultra light .
Just keep it simple:
small finesse action lures on light jigs
small diameter line (braid is my choice with maybe a light f/c leader
light action rod
sonar for depth(s)
non-steady and slow retrieve
weed areas if present
One thing for sure: you will catch most species of fish most days on the above if fish are discovered via your lures.
Fly rod with a black gnat and/or 1/32 road runner with a black Slider one inch grub , on the ultra light .
hdhntr LIKED above post
My favorite way is with my own hand tied jigs using black sheep wool and a little white dental floss for legs.
I use the “itty bit jig heads. Small but very strong hooks .
Jig pole or under a float using ultra light.
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Head out to So. California where the true giant gills live. 9-10" fish are just average there. I fish deeper water with hand tied jigs tipped with a cricket. Here in Missouri 9-10" gills are rare so I target Redear which grow larger.
JJJ where do you find redear in STL region? I live in valley park with place at LSL too and would love to connect with them. always had great ponds and small lakes to ketch big bG's but no longer and havn't really figured out how to ketch them consistantly at LSL.
with ponds in the past my fav has always been the mr twister white curly tail grub the smaller one. Would ketch big BG, Bass and catfish with it.
at private 17 lake I had for a decade or so we would toss a fire tail small floating rapala out, twitch it a time or two and it was on! either a big BG or medium size bass would whack it and took a second or two to find out which. under trees or near brush was best or weed line. On UL tackle that is about as much fun as you can have. plus always had the same places for Beds for the Big males. Had to marry a nice lady to gain access or so my friends all thought! Course when she lost it in inheritance settlement we were divorced but that was just a coincidence, I swear! LOL
I fish St. Louis city and county park lakes from the bank, almost all of them have Redear in them but only a couple regularly produce fish over 10" for me. They are smaller lakes 5 acres or smaller that get fished hard and most of the bigger fish are caught during the spawn period.I release them all but I've seen people leave with baskets full of them at one lake. I caught two 13" fish at one lake in 2018 but it got wiped out by two fish kills in 2019. I do best with hand tied jigs that are small, 1" and smaller tipped with a waxworm.