Dang, thats a HUGE tilapia! I swear that looks just like your son Matt in that third photograph, haha.

I just got back from disney and I am ready to fish again. Pulled in that nice one on a mop jig just a day or so before heading out of town and I am ready to try and pick up wear I left off.

I have also read a lot of articles discussing theory of going small in the winter time, and i generally agree with a lot of what is said. However, there are also some very good anglers that I make sure to take note of when they discuss their tactics, and quite a few of them say to go big and slow in the winter time for big bass. Their photos are the "proof in the pudding" for me, and so this year I have dedicated my winter time to big jigs and big worms worked slowly and meticulously over spots where I know there are usually fish, just like mentioned in your post. I dont believe that I will catch many big fish, but I am willing to try this method for a while in hopes of catching a large winter time bass. I am sure there wont be many large bass, but the ones I catch should be larger than average for winter catches. If I can't seem to get anything large with the "big and slow" approach, then I will prolly eventually wear down and start downsizing the presentation because like you mentioned in your post above, smaller and slower presentations in winter work, thats a fact.