MrGiggles

I'm not a big hook setter. A small jerk is all it takes with a good sharp hook. Always cracks me up when a bass guy whips a 12" bass clear into the boat with a rowdy hookset. With a rod like a pool cue and likely braid or flouro, just seems unnecessary to me, but I'm not a bass fisher, could be way off base. With some hooks and fishing styles (trolling) a hook set is not necessary, but can help in others.

I have a Shakespeare ATS that works well. Got two seasons on it now, it's a little clunky and squeaky but still does what it's supposed to. I also have a Cabelas Depthmaster combo from BPS. The rod was crap but the reel is butter smooth. I'm going to buy more of these. If I'm not mistaken these are made by Okuma.

Had a 1448 Semi-V with a 25hp and it was a rocket. 31mph, and I never even played with props, probably had more in it. JMO but the max rating is what you should shoot for, weight permitting. You'll never wish you had less power.

Surplus tracers are loads of fun out of a 300 BLK. I always used H110 and Nosler BTs for hunting, had some Hornady soft points and 30 carbine round nose that I loaded up for plinking.

It allows the jig to pivot freely. Some say it gives it a more natural action. Some prefer any fixed knot that uses two passes through the eye, as it helps keep the jig horizontal.

I use a double albright with nanofil. Same steps just double the nano first. Whenever I have trouble getting the knot to hold, I strip about 50 feet off of the spool and that usually fixes it. I think abrasion from the rod guides makes it weak after hard use. I swap leaders when they get too short, and never have trouble with the leader knot giving up first. I've been running the same spool of 6lb Nanofil since late summer of 18, caught loads crappie, channel cat, some big drum, and walleye with it. I've got a spool of braid on deck to replace it, but the stuff just keeps hangin' in there. I'm probably the worst when it comes to knots, I can tie an albright and a trilene, that's it.

Yep. Deep brush is a safe bet. In some areas the fish never really group up on structure, most of them are in open water chasing shad. In that case spooning can work really well. Last year this was all that really worked where I fished, if just fishing brush I would pick up a few, but it was pretty slow with a short period of action right before dark.

1. Never made a rod rack. Screw in rod holders worked well enough. 2. Got a Terrova. It's not all that I hoped it would be, but works well enough. 3. Never networked. Not sure if I will, hoping to upgrade the console unit. Didn't make it to Bull Shoals either, but I did catch more walleyes on Stockton this year than ever before. Including a couple PBs which is currently sitting at 22.5 inches. Some notable catches from 2019. Haven't been fishing much lately, been putting a whole lot of time in trying to do the hokey pokey with a stick and string.

Crappie will usually come around if you give them kind of a hard toss back into the water. Either mouth first or slap them pretty good on the side. Seems barbaric but it's better than letting them flounder around on the surface until the birds get them.

I've done some something similar before. Go to one of those gift card reseller sites, buy the cards for 10-15% off and use them on whatever items you wanted. Saved a pretty good chunk off a toolbox from Home Depot a few years ago. Is this for all stores or just the one?

I have never gotten the side imaging to work that well on my Striker 7. For me, 455khz is a lot better than 800, but either way it has never been that useful. I think you really need a 9"+ screen to make use of it.

Honda put airbags on the Goldwing a few years ago.

You probably could but it will likely set the SRS light and disable the whole system.

Doesn't bother me that much. I probably caught as many or more fish when the water was up in the trees than I did when it came back down. Dunking a boat from the parking lot kinda sucks though. The flooding last year was an anomaly, although I am curious to hear COE's game plan if it were to happen again when the lake is close to normal pool. Looks like the lake was hovering around 863 this time last year, and peaked at 868 or so in January until the big floods hit. Perhaps they are keeping it high so Truman can be drawn down to winter pool first? It appears they have been dropping it.

You can link Minn Kota Ipilot trolling motors with Humminbird electronics. Allows you to control the troller and perform some functions right from the graph. Pretty neat but it is just a convenience. That 93SV for 599 is probably the best deal out there right now. I'd like to know where those $399 73SVs are, I'd buy one right now. All sonar functions (side view, down imaging, 2D) plus the mapping and livescope compatibility should you ever decide to upgrade.

Can't calibrate older ones without the heading sensor, and there are no settings to change like the Ultrex and Ulterra. Overshooting doesn't bother me that much, it doesn't happen that often, but the cable wrapping does. It says in the Ipilot manual that it shouldn't, but it will wrap them up, and cancel spot lock whenever it detects the extra steering tension. By the time it does all of this I haven't been paying attention and the boat is way off whatever I was trying to fish over. If it's relatively calm and I am spooning or doing anything else where I like to watch my lure on the graph, I won't even use the Ipilot. I can do a much better job just by running the motor manually with the remote.

Yep, bull hockey. He shot the cat just because and needed a cover story, or just felt like spinning up an interesting tale. I've only seen a few of them, all just glimpses. I don't blame them for being elusive since every knucklehead with a gun will shoot them just to say they did.

Looks more like a 10 and a 14 to me, may just be perspective though.

I always thought it was because those lakes had too many short fish, Pomme in particular, although this year has been way better when compared to the last couple.

Check ebay. Aftermarket companies are reproducing some of those obscure plastic doodads that are NLA from Merc, NLA Marine is one of them. There are some sellers with NOS stuff as well.

Occasionally I would mark a fish separated just above the pile but for the most part they were down in it. If I run over the pile at idle speed first, I will get a better snap shot of the pile as a whole, and any fish that are on the fringes will show up better, as compared to just hovering over the top of the pile. That reminds me, next time I need to run over the pile with DI, as that is supposed to be much better for showing fish that are close to structure.

I was out on Saturday from the dam down to State Park, whatever that big island is called between the main lake arms. In 2 hours I had 6 keeper crappie and a few shorts. I caught fish on just about every pile that I hit, but some were better than others. It was definitely a one here, one there type of afternoon. I was using a 1/16 oz jig and a blue ice baby shad. Almost all of them whacked it on a dead stick. No movement was best.

I have a first Gen Terrova and the spot lock is about one step above useless IMO. Drifts about 20 feet before correcting, over shoots, wraps up the cables, you name it. The new ones are way better but it'd be nice if it didn't take a whole paycheck to buy one.

Crappie were finicky. Caught more on cranks at dusk than I did jigging brush. Found a couple 'eyes too. Water is cooling off fast, 60*.

I can't help but wonder if those big time tournament guys actually enjoy fishing, or if it's just a job (albeit a good one). For me, the best way to ruin a hobby is to make a job out of it, the minute I have to do something, it becomes a chore. The money right now is in specialized trades, STEM applications (aside from teaching), and medical. College has become outrageously expensive, and unless you have a free ride from parents or a scholarship, stagnant wages and high living costs have made it next to impossible to recover from that debt burden, and most kids do not have the forethought to see the long term impact of borrowing that much money. College ain't the sure-fire path to a good life like everyone told me it was, and I got off easily as far as student loans go. The military is a good option as well. My younger brother has surpassed me in pretty much every way possible with the USAF, so there's that. Us young guys have it tough, being the first generation to have it worse than our predecessors. Make sure they choose wisely, times are hard and the future is uncertain.