aarchdale@coresleep.com

I have had my Xi5 for about 18 months with no issues. I absolutely love it. The only downfall is the foot pedal. It is pretty tough to use. It is nothing at all like a cable steer so if your used to one of those and like to run up and down banks it will be a big learning curve. I usually just put mine on cruise and let it run and just do small adjustments every once in a while when needed. If you try to leave you foot on the pedal you will end up spinning yourself in a circle. The spot lock is probably the biggest upsale. It changes the way you fish. I usually will anchor up on a windy point and go fish off the back deck if im alone depending on wind direction. Its also nice when you have to retie, to hit anchor and not get blown off your spot. I also do a lot of trolling with it and it is nice to record the route you want to troll and then go back and just hit a button and it will run the exact route. I could troll for about 7 hours straight on to cheaper orielly batteries, so i would say it is pretty easy on juice. I read a lot of people complaining about the Ipilot being loud when turning. The Xi5 is very quiet and it turns very fast

The whites usually get going on the James a little before Beaver in my opinion

Give me a ring this weekend Jerry, im gonna try to get out on Sunday not 100% sure yet .

I have had the same issues went through 4 of the middle of the road ones and they all have there own problems two of them literally broke in half towards the reel seat. Finally i got the Team Lews Gold last year when it was on sale for half price. It seems to be much better quality. Time will tell

If you buy at Sportmans factory outlet in Springfield they will usually give you the hoodie right there which is nice to not have to pay shipping. Just a thought if your in the springfield area.

Lews braid works great, I have it on a couple spinning reels. I threw a friends new tournment pro reel with the mono and i definitely wont be buying any of it. The 12lb pound test was so stiff

It was kinda a weird deal, caught all these in about 15 minutes and then it was done. adjusted depths with my float and tried different colors. even went on a boat ride to give the spot a break..... 4 out of the 10 had eggs. I still think its just a bit early. Im out of town for a week then ill be back at them.

Left BP at around 1030 and ran up to my normal brush piles in flatt creek. Nothing but a couple bass. I dont think they have moved in the creeks yet. At least not thick. Also picked up barely keeper bass on a wart on the rip rap around the the bridge in flatt. water temp was 56 in the creek. Ended up running back out to the main lake and caught 10 keepers in about 15 fow. Jig was about 6 feet deep where i got most of them on a little log. Water temp in the main lake around 54-55. Tried to duplicate the pattern in different spot but didnt work out, i was throwing a 1/32 oz chartreuse head with a white Bobby Garland baby shad.

Left BP at around 1030 and ran up to my normal brush piles in flatt creek. Nothing but a couple bass. I dont think they have moved in the creeks yet. At least not thick. Also picked up barely keeper bass on a wart on the rip rap around the the bridge in flatt. water temp was 56 in the creek. Ended up running back out to the main lake and caught 10 keepers in about 15 fow. Jig was about 6 feet deep where i got most of them on a little log. Water temp in the main lake around 54-55. Tried to duplicate the pattern in different spot but didnt work out, i was throwing a 1/32 oz chartreuse head with a white Bobby Garland baby shad.

Mine Bird did the exact same thing when i first got my Xi5. The power wire to my fish finder was just laying over the trolling motor power wires. i separated them and it worked perfect

Roark Creek. I dont think on the lower end up Bull creek very easily accessed by bank. We used to grab a lot in Roark creek. Park in that big parking lot and make a little hike through the woods

Thieves are horrible but i had someone pull the cotter pin out of my hitch pin a couple months ago after parking at the ramp by Scotties marina on Taney. I will always check from now on. The people taking money at Beaver Creek on Bull told me year before last that they were having people loosen the nuts on peoples balls <----that came out weird

Dang it Jerry i thought you were done tinkering!!!! It never ends. I just got home and ready to pick up my prop from Dyna and see if they worked some magic.

We were there a little over a week ago doing some testing on my boat. Ended up fishing for a couple hours when it got windy and we caught 4 keepers. 2 smallies a spot and a largemouth. All of them were under 16" and caught on bright warts real shallow

Finally stopped tinkering with that boat and caught some

I got one of the Freaks last year it is real nice, good action and dives deep even though it is hard to get a real long cast with

Man, that was ones of my favorite stretches to fish

Orielly superstarts have let me troll 7 hour continuously pulling cranks last year when the high was 27. 80lb thrust. They lasted a year and then started dying after two hours this year... took them back at 1 month out of warranty and they gave me new ones. good customer service, doubt i will buy them again though. Im on board with just buying new batteries frequently but i want them to last at least two years

Somebody caught them out of Cape today winner of the Sunday tourny had a little over 17lbs. I fish that area more than anywhere due to the fact its the closest ramp to me. It can be super tough. Your either ON them or pretty much nothing from my experience

So here is the question, did you guys at one point run miles of bank to find these spots? 20 years ago im sure graphing with accuracy wasnt near what it is today. I had a buddy that fishes table rock a ton tell me that after he got his GPS he would run banks and mark every spot he caught a keeper. And on return trips he would run those spots and fish 50-75 yards either side of where the keeper was caught. He said his keeper ratio greatly improved. But obviously it took some time to get those spots

Another good thing about the #7 flickers is that you rarely catch a sub legal crappie on them. Last year at Bull we trolled them and pretty much all we caught was 12" and bigger crappie, i think i only had to measure one all of last winter

COPD is a horrible thing. My dad sufferers from it. And i actually am a RPSGT so i deal with this on a nightly basis doing sleep studies. On the positive it is very treatable

No worries, i was just saying what will happen with these kinda posts. Glad you caught some, sounds like really nice ones. Were all getting Cabin fever. Taney is a Gem

I cant wait, gonna take some dialing in to keep up with your new rig though

I was not trying to discredit you by any means, but i have been a member here for a long time and i know the type of debate this kind of post will entail. Almost everyone here is very cautious on how they treat their fish. Phil has went the extra mile about putting fish in a glass box for a few seconds so the fish can breath while a photo is taken. I just dont understand why it needs to be questioned other than to strike up an argument. His whole business is built around the thriving health of trout on Taney