A few short years ago I never saw anyone spider rigging on our section of the river. I learned how years ago at Ross Barnett, one of the most junk filled lakes in the state. I got a lot of funny looks and comments when I showed up at the river with my trolling rigs, especially from my old paw-in-law. He was a dyed in the wool single pole guy. When he passed away I found a tite-loc rod holder amongst his fishing gear. In my humble opinion, It doesn't get "too trashy" to spider rig. I can run a six pole, double hooked spider rig combo on some very thick stuff. IT's ALL ABOUT BOAT CONTROL. You can't force your way through it. You push up against it, slide around, and hover over, and drop down into the stuff. Hang-ups can and do happen but after a lot of practice you will lose very few rigs. With all of that being said single pole fishing has its place, mostly during the spawn, I too like to feel THAT thump.