Bird Watcher

Interesting. http://thestripedbasschallenge.com/index.html

life is good. nice job

Stupidity has no season. I took this last night at the gas station.

So, I called Motorguide. Apparently, my motor was right in the range of motors that had problems with the gps. They determined this by looking up the serial number. they sent a reflash kit to me, it took about two days to receive. I finally had a chance to try it out this weekend and it appears to have corrected my problem, well mostly. There are still little bugs with the autopilot but I can live with them since it now is back to mostly doing what I ask it to do. Thanks for the tip.

lol, they are an introduced invasive species. You guys need to buy your underwear a size bigger. ETA: The stinking mess is disgusting, I agree. Then again, I see people who are more than happy to live in their own filth every day. Be honest, how many of you drive a vehicle that is stinking disgusting mess or have a pile of dirty dishes in your sink? Did you all take the trash out before you left home this morning?

that was my favorite place to fish when i was a kid.

Pretty much this. I've had one for a year now. Just pulled a 20' fiberglass boat 1800 miles roundtrip last month. It does NOT get the advertised MPG, but it's a sporty truck to drive and has more power than I need for towing. We shall see how a blown V6 holds up long term, but it does come with a lifetime powertrain warranty. I love how quiet the ecoboost motor is because I'm not a fan of loud trucks. I wish I could put an aftermarket programmer on it, it sounds like that will really make one come alive, but I don't want to jeopardize my warranty.

No, I haven't. That's a good point. I'm going to try a couple other things that I've thought of from the Lowrance side and if I still have no luck I'll try that.

Well, to be honest with you, I'm having a little bit of trouble with mine. its 99% great, but it's the 1% that I cant get right that I'm obsessing over. When I plot out a route to navigate on my chart, I tell the motor to navigate it, it always skips the first 3 route points and tries to navigate to the third. I'll also say that almost every trip to the lake I feel like I'm playing IT tech while I fish. Reset data sources, power cycle, select defaults, configure device, it gets old. I guess it's to be expected when you run out and buy the first generation of something, but I'm getting a little frustrated with it. Lowrance isn't much help either if you call them. I did install it all myself and I do have multiple displays, nmea 2000 network, all that stuff so I realize that there could be room for error. Just wish I could turn it on and go fishing.

I listened to a great podcast on this very subject last year. Some fella from Min-ah-so-tah, eh? was talking about it. I think his opinion was the magic number was 64 degrees. Anything under and he used minnow type presentation and anything over he used worms and leeches. he carried a thermometer around on a string to check the temperature at the depth he was graphing and/or catching fish.

How do you feel about lakes full of hatchery reared, stocked invasive species and resorts and guides that cater to customers that come to catch them? Think about your answer before replying.

That's pretty awesome. I'm pretty sure the bass is smiling in pic 3. That's probably when he figured out Pat is a Catch and Release basser. tell her congrats

I've kind of been dissapointed in my Navionics platinum card on Stockton. I've found quite a few places with missing/incorrect contours. It's mostly correct, I don't know if I'm expecting too much that it's always correct.

The best sales on decoys at major retailers always happen earlier in the year. Rogers at the beginning of the season and Cabelas right after Christmas. that being said, now is a good time to pick them up in classifieds, either online message boards like this one or craigslist.

I'd say Honey Creek is more consistent because it's not as likely to muddy up. I like them both though. That being said, I've had some of my best days for all species of fish in Elk River over the years.

Weird. I have friends that stay there all summer long with their families. They love the ownership. Maybe the owner is a member here and has been reading your posts the last month?

I disagree. Politicians love them some tax money. I think what they are most ticked off about is that the 1/8th sales tax has been off limits to them to waste how they see fit. Almost like they are beside themselves that someone would tell them there is tax money somewhere that they can't waste on their special interest. This latest vendetta over the deer farming is just the straw that broke the camels back.

You're close...A deer farm, or rather the ability to farm deer as livestock and not as captive wildlife is the catalyst for this political cash grab.

LOL, don't be "duckydotying" us Jim. No head fakes or tall tales. People's hard earned gas money is at stake. Seriously though. We caught some up there this weekend. 25-30' up Sons creek. 40' in Hartley for us. They were biting well once you found them if you could stay on top of them

I'd go with the touch..especially for controlling the trolling motor. I really think it would be a little frustrating trying to navigate with the original HDS unit I had. Actually, I put the original HDS unit I had up on the bow and only use it for traditional sonar now. Being able to navigate sub menus and toggle pages, place your cursor, plot a route, etc. by touching the screen is such a convenience and a time saver...gets you back to fishing quicker instead of playing with your graph. Just my opinion.

Finally worked out all bugs on the autopilot. It's been a lengthy project. I don't know how much it would cost to have a technician install it, but I'd probably price it out next time. First things first, had to set up a NMEA network in the boat since I didn't have one already. After that is done, you have to buy the pinpoint connect module. I also put a second touch unit on the dash, mostly because I found one 30% off on Amazon during Christmas but also because I wanted the extra screen space to accommodate the autopilot control. It was a little bit frustrating trying to figure out how to sync and update all of my units, but I finally figured it out. Took it to the water last weekend, I could barely operate it enough to function. Came home, studied what information I could find online from motorguide and lowrance. It would really help if there was an operation manual somewhere, anywhere, for this thing. I can't find one Anyway, went back to the lake with it Today. Finally figured out all of the functions this afternoon. It's been a little frustrating getting to this point, but all I can say is wow! Once you learn to operate it, the boat drives itself!, THE BOAT DRIVES ITSELF!! Pick out targets on the side scan and tell the boat to go anchor on top of them. Back up your sonar to something you saw 100 yds back and tell the boat to go anchor on it. Plot a path along a contour and tell the boat to navigate it. Set your speed. It's pretty awesome.. Kind of blows me away really. And yes, it did make a difference in catching fish. I can honestly say that I don't think we would have caught any of the ones we caught without it.

A Richardson's cackler. They used to just be called Richardson's. Now all four small geese are called cacklers. You can kind of see the origins of what I'm talking about by looking at the name of the third subspecies above. b.h.(Branta hutchinsii) minima- common name "Cackling Cackling goose" Those are the only ones that were true cacklers at one time. That's why they are now Cackling cackling geese. The other ones were always known as Richardsons, Taverners, and Aleutians. Now, they've added "cackling goose" to all of those names and combined them all into one smaller bodied, tundra breeding subspecies. Taste? Tastes like a goose probably. a little one.