fishinwrench

I'm cheering for a full on flood over the next 48. Freezer is full of Crappie, nothing to prove with the green bass. I'm ready to start chasing Whites.... but we need alot more water.

Look how shook he is. Can't even say my name without loosing control of his tongue. Rest easy old man, you're safely outside of my 5 county zone. 😊

When I was in 3rd grade they shuffled us into the halls and shot us in the arm with something, and I still have the scar to this day. No parental consent, no warning, nothing. My mom and a bunch of other parents completely lost their mind on the school over that. I was too young to understand what was going on, but I'll never forget it. The shot hurt like hell.

Yep I'm sure that was a fine all-purpose bass rig. I never fish mainlake stuff, always up a creek somewhere, and I seldom run more than 15 miles from where I launch from..... therefore I don't need a 19-20'. But if I did long mainlake runs and liked to fish out in the wide open spaces there's a 201 Hydra-Sport one of my customers has that I really REALLY like. You can hold a square dance on the deck of that bad boy.

Not too bad on this end since there's no place for them to go. The big boat crowd doesn't run around much when they don't have destinations to head to.

Kim Jong is supposedly in a bad cardiac state right now.

Whatever year they changed their hull design on the 18 footers, that's when my love affair began to fade. Oh boy...motors.... I'm a huge fan of the old Evinrude XP/ Johnson GT crossflows, biggest gas hogs ever but tons of low end grunt and they just run forever....and sound cool as hell. The early Mercury 2.5L EFI's are pretty solid, but I cringe when I say it. Also love the Yamaha Vmax, which is honestly probably the best V4/V6 outboards ever made. Just about as close to perfection as carbureted outboards can be.

I kinda think most of it is because guys gotta sell their wives on it before they are allowed to buy the blasted thing....and women love overly technical gawdy things with lots of buttons and LOVELY SEATS. I mean you KNOW it was for the benefit of women that GLITTER ever got its debut. Seriously! And then came dual consoles. That $#!t is all for the ladies.

It's stupid crowded. Clearing nicely. The C-rig bite is on (probably the best bite going right now). You can't throw a wiggle wart because of all the snot along the bank. You can pitch a jig or a lizard behind docks and get bit pretty good. Flukes and wacky Senko's are starting to get bit good on the warmest days. Crappie are on fire, and they are running big this year. If you can find a bank that hasn't already been pounded 3-4 times you can expect to get bit really good.

You'd be amazed at what all can be done with a bundle of tie-straps. I carry a handful of 3 sizes everywhere I go. Everything from making a stringer, an A-rig keeper, bait keeper on a jig or spinnerbait, to turning a 7/16 wrench into a 10mm. Fix shoes. You can even light them on fire to help start damp wood burning, or weld a pair of broken sunglasses.

I'm not 100% sure on the Yamaha 4S SHO, it may very well die if the computer control lacks backup power. Wouldn't surprise me 🙄

Well, sadly whoever was allegedly worried about him doesn't have to anymore. RIP dude 😟

Y'all are really gonna pin me down on this, ain't ya? 😎 Ok here goes, and I'm sure I'll catch hell for it. I like flat across the back transoms in an 18 footer, no extended wannabe built-in jackplate designed into the hull...I want every inch of that floorplan available, single console because I like room to dance, enough front deck for 2 guys to fish up there. One good sized livewell with a timer system, not 2 half-assed sized ones...if it has 2 then I pull all the plumbing out of one and turn it into a lunchbox (they hold ice like a Yeti when surrounded by foam). A 24v trolling motor, and 150 pony's on the back because the 150 platform is tried/true and about as dependable as outboards get. An add-on 6-8" manual jackplate for a bit of lift. I'm still a fan of cable steering, and I hate Hotfoots with a passion. Plain old easy to replace analog guages, and either standard rocker or flip switches and a breaker panel (no fuses). And put that breaker panel somewhere besides on the console.... don't clog up the helm real-estate with things I won't be touching very often. Once the rigging and setup is done I have no desire to monitor water pressure, and I don't want a trim guage. Gimme a tach, voltmeter, and a fuel guage.... that's all I care to keep track of while running. In the 18 footers I'm a fan of Nitros, Rangers, the old Hydra-Sports, Stratos, and Triton. I mostly like those because they sit down nice and level to fish. I hate a bassboat that sits adrift all squatted with its nose up in the air (BassCat, Charger, Bullet, ect.) Drives me crazy.

I'm no industry critic, I just know what I like and what I dislike. Some hulls sit down nice, flat, and stable, and are a joy to fish from, others take rough water better and are usually faster. Some slip and slide around hard corners (BassCat/Phoenix) and others bite the water like a Corvette during hard turns (Champion/Charger). I don't like 20+foot barges with dual axle trailers or motors over 150, but that's the leading seller now, so my personal viewpoints don't mean squat. 😊

Woah now. I didn't dog Vexus boats. I was just pointing out things that jump out at ME, yet most likely don't generate a passing thought to others. When looking at NEW boats (of which I'd never write a check for) I see lots of things that WILL FAIL and will someday require a replacement. So when I see cutesy little specially shaped touchpad switch panels, trick guages, and things like that, my first impression is "yeah...good luck getting another one of those in 8-10 years". I haven't met the NEW bassboat that I like best yet. So far I like AND dislike all of them pretty equally. I don't work on NEW BOATS, I only start working on them after the warranty period expires. So a "new" boat to me, is typically 6-7 years old.

Eric is The Man ! He pokes fun at Scotty all the time.

If swamp cleansing is still the initiative....then YEAH. Not kidding

Just for kicks.... Let's see if he stands next to the president and offers tidbits into his briefings from this point forward.

Huuuuge .... Fauchi (sp?) conspiracy theory going now. That peckerwood is behind it all ! 🤔

This old creampuff here made ALOT of river miles. Zero busted lower units, and only one trashed prop.

It only takes knee deep water to safely run a prop outboard. You just have to run it slowly a few times until you learn where to go. Go ahead and smack the prop (lightly) a few times so you can get a feel for what prop smacking water truly looks like. You'll be surprised at how shallow you can run. And it's really not a big deal to hop out and pull over a shoal on the way up. No worries on the way back down.... just raise the motor and drift over it.

Yeah, Scotty Kilmer is a hoot. 😅 It doesn't matter to anyone but me which bass boat I'd buy if I were buying new. I'm a maintenance freak that 100% chooses boats built on the premise that it has easily sourcable components installed where they can be quickly and easily serviced. Downtime closest to zero gets my vote. Stupid pointless amenities like "livewell pumpouts" make some guys feel cool....but to me that equates to yet another electrical circuit, yet another pump, yet another bunch of hoses and thru-hull connectors, and more switches. When it's just as easy to PULL A FREAKIN' PLUG and let it drain out. Nobody needs a pumpout system, and nobody needs a livewell aerator that recirculates the water in the livewell unless you need to keep fish alive for a 200 mile trip back home. Way better to just recirculate with fresh lake water. But yet everybody wants all that crap....which is fine for ME because I'm putting kids through college and I need all the money I can get. But MY BOAT has none of that ignorance, it's all been reconfigured so that if I have a failure of some sort I'm back to working properly in a heartbeat, and I don't even have to get my hands dirty. Good ol' flip switches are perfect, I don't need or want a TOUCHPAD.

Yep, it's just like people who run for elected office knowing full well that they don't have a chance. They've learned how to make money by running a campaign. Same type of deal.

Lawyer tricks. They are hungry I suppose. 🙄 Hint: Any lawfirm involved in this is NOT one that you'll want to hire in the future.

Nice boats, but way overpriced, and not built for the long run. The guages, switches, ect. look really TRICK but in 5-7 years they won't be available for replacement, so you'll have odd shaped holes that nothing will fit in, similar to what we have here.... This multi-function guage is no longer available.....So what do we do with this gaping 5" hole? And where do we put tach, water pressure, and trim guages now? On the Vexus, and many others, when one switch goes the entire switch panel board must be replaced (ALL THE SWITCHES).....Better hope that cute stylish looking switchboard is still available AT ANY PRICE when you need it. Need to change a livewell pump or drain/hold valve? Good Luck !!!! Prepare to have the entire backend of the boat disassembled and put back together at 130.00+ per hour. They sure are pretty and very 2020 looking though, aren't they? 😍 Basically they are a smart phone that floats. Expect them to last about as long as any other smart phone.