J-Doc

Probably by the wake from another Donzi. (Irony)

Okay I have to ask why the patrolman was not in the boat. There must be a story here

If you have a standard throttle where the motor will stay engaged and at the throttle used while underway until someone backs off the throttle........ Please for the sake of others. Use a killswitch for the safety of others. If you're ejected from your vessel, that boat will keep right on going until it hits someone or something. I have a hotfoot so mine will at least shut down to idle if the killswitch was not used. And I use mine every time. It's the law.

That's no joke. I would have zeroed Sat. morning out of my buds boat if I had not have picked up the Varmint. Tried watermelon candy. Nothing. Went to the old reliable and bam. Two fish. Ended up with a small walleye later. Skinniest thing I've seen yet but he fought like a 3lb bass. Really taking a liking to the Varmint.

Dang. Another victim to not wearing a life jacket. http://5newsonline.com/2015/04/19/man-drowns-at-beaver-lake/

I thought the swing head was supposed to be used as a "crankbait". Just throw it and retrieve it. I chunked it quite a bit with a Rage Tail Space Monkey this weekend. Never got a bite?

Odd that the shad was hooked. Must have been curious. Great photo.

Ahhh...... Well that could be a reason. Explains it a bit more. Well Ihope it works for them. I really do.

Walmart has dropped them before. If they did, they could get them back. Possibly. Dpeneds on if Walmarts proffit margins increase back to where they were. They have been taking a hit in the last couple years. Hit is relative but compared to what they are used to, it's created concern for them. Why they changed? Not sure. Trying to reinvent themselves because they have not been as successful as they once were. I see this as a bad change. Trying to open the door to other boat sponsorships is probably the main reason. But Fishing League Worldwide sounds like New World Order to me. Lol!! Why not just change the organization altogether? Completely new name and structure? There is BASS and Major Leaugue Fishing now, why not Bass Championship League or some other way cooler and catchy name? I get trying to keep the previous heritage or not reinventing the name (probably too difficult to come up with a great name), but taking Forest L Wood out of FLW is a mistake I think.

You guys are killing me with the mid week crappie reports. :-)

Sounds like he cleaned the honey hole. Lol!

Sounds like a banner day for me. Wish I could have gotten out. My problem is that when I find them, I can't get them to bite. Now I'm thinking, I'm just not feeling the bite good enough because I'm used to bass fishing. I'm now learning to feel for weight differences. Even more so than before from bass fishing. Crappie can grab a bait and you don't even feel it even with the line in your fingers and only 10ft from the boat. (had that happen twice recently) Not everyone can go out and catch 20 crappie. Especially up to 15" so I'd say you have a great day on Beaver. Congrats. Now.......... Stop doing that. LOL!! Save some for me! (Welcome to the forum by the way)

I typically have a split screen on the front. Standard color sonar and a small screen for GPS. Sometimes I turn off the GPS to max out the sonar screen. If I'm on the move looking for fish, I may turn on side scan but it's not often.

If I was wanting to stay on a particular spot, GPS for sure. They are built in the units now days. Downimaging only works if the boat is moving. It's not a good picture unless you're moving over a certain mile per hour. I think it's .5 or .7mph? At least for Lowrance it is. I have the ability to use side scan, downscan, sonar, and mapping on my 7" screen on the bow but honestly, I don't use side imaging or down imaging that often. When I do, it's too hard to see at that size and my structure /down imaging transducer is at the back of the boat, not the front. In your application, it would be on the front. Chirp sonar is a higher defined sonar image. If I were to get one as you're describing, chirp sonar and gps is the way I would go. But I don't think Birds offer chirp technology yet.

Totally foreign?? Why do Table Rock folks think they don't have any. Lol!! Stripers were around the islands at 12 bridge.

It was a courtesy dock big enough for about 3 bass boats. One on each side and one squeeze in on the end. There are two of these docks where this occurred. About 98% of the tournament anglers beach their boats, weigh in, and then load. There are the exceptional few that are afraid to skuff their keel and use the docks. Now when I had an older glass boat, I used the dock to load every chance I got. It was old, didn't have a keel guard and I wanted to keep it looking as good as I could. I still use a dock with my aluminum boat when I can. But if there are hundreds of boats trying to load, I won't. The point was he had poles. He could have beached easily without the keel even touching the bank. So in my mind, tying off to the dock vs. using poles makes no difference. Y shouldn't tie up the dock while you weigh in. That can take up to 20-30mins sometimes if there is a long line. Especially when 98% of the field is beaching. Just my perspective I guess.

Here's one for ya...... A bass angler with dual power poles pulls up to dock, drops both poles and doesn't tie to dock but parks at dock. Gets fish out and goes to weigh in. That's just as bad as the party barge crowd that takes 45 minutes to lunch. No respect or thought for others. Not hating on the bass guys. I am one. Just saying.....it's people in general sometimes. Not a specific group or type.

Sounds like a good plan breeves. Welcome!!

My bad..... Lol!

I meant in person smartly pants. :-p

I see a Nitro and Champion. Looks like bass anglers than meat anglers. Must have been testing boats or something.

Oh if it would have only gone that low this winter. I'd like to see all of the amphitheater just once in my lifetime. And the old bridge would be a super bonus. I'd wade in muddy boots up to my knees to go see it if I could.

I see. Check the General Discussion forum. There is a sticky on sonar interpretation I started. Within that thread are videos and articles. Lots of good information.o Most of which covers basics and you're looking for advanced information I believe. Adjusting your settings can help show trees better even on standard color sonar.

I agree with F&F. It's way easier to explain it in person. Fish icon/ ID? Turn that off. :-) I no nothing of the Quickfire feature but sonar is sonar. If you understand what you're seeing, that's what's most important. Does this model have downscan or sidescan features? I'm assuming no. Of not and only seeing traditional sonar, understanding images shown is strictly interpretation. It's not exactly. It's educated guesswork based on experience and understanding of the technology and how it works. I have the two Doctor Sonar DVDs and its more specific to my HDS models. For what you're wanting, you just have to learn how to better interpret the images shown on your graph. If you see stickups you want to fish, nark a waypoint. Without sideimaging or downimaging technology, it's much harder to find and locate logs. All you will see is a blob on the bottom if you're directly over it.

Several of us (including me) have complained about ski boats and jet skis having no respect for docks, other boaters and such leaving big wakes behind them. But I've seen just as many bass boats do some rude and disturbing things as well. With that said, anglers need to be extra courteous to other anglers. No passing between boat and shoreline as noted above, don't leave a wake on another boat just because you're ready to leave a spot, etc. This past weekend in Louisiana. I had spinnerbaits flung at trees within 10-15ft from me. I was fishing in a grove of cypress trees and a bass boat inched closer and closer through the grove. Eventually, the baits became very close to my boat. Where I was fishing. I started to speak and be courteous and friendly but after that, I remained silent. I guess down there, the fishing pressure on a smaller lake folks are not bothered by such things.