Seth

I'm about on par with Skeet Reese's classic performance so far.

I found the real reason why people don't run Etec's. They are so fast, they rip your clothes off.

Speaking of Verado's, what is the difference between a regular Verado and the Pro four stroke model? Are Pro versions more geared towards bass boats?

I'm aware, but the how many Verado's do you see on bass boats compared to Opti's?

I've ran Etecs for the past seven years and they have been great for me. I swear, everybody I know running an Opti 250 has had to replace the air compressor at $1000 a pop. One guy is 3 for 3 at owning Opti's (2003, 2008 and 2014) that had it fail. A few had the power head shoot craps within 50 hours after that as well. They run well, but I'd be really nervous to run one once the warranty was expired. The 4 strokes seem to be a lot more reliable, but they are all 150hp and less.

Sounds like you have an Ulterra, not an Ultrex. The Ultrex still has rope deploy like the Fortrex, hence the name. It also has an updated version of Ipilot that is supposed to be more accurate at holding on a spot than the Ipilot that came on the Powerdrive, Terrova and Ulterra. Consumers have only been able to get the Ultrex for maybe a month.

The weather and the fishing was great, but the catching was tough! We fished all day and only managed 14 keeper crappie. Graphed quite a few docks that had plenty of fish, but could manage a couple keepers per dock. Sounds like a lot of people are having that problem right now. I didn't have any slip corks with me or I would have tried just soaking the jig in their face for a while. Seems most bites came after the jig sat down there for a little while.

I hear @Bluff-Bassin knows how catch a few on that pond. Maybe he can give you a few pointers.

You mean there are other patterns besides shooting docks to catch crappie on LoZ?

Well I guess I'll have to actually bring something besides a big jerkbait for that tournament.

Put an order in for a 6.5 footer. Hopefully it comes on time so I can try it out next weekend at the RAW tourney at Lilley's.

Tommy and I should be able to make it. Orignally I had agreed to help dad with butchering a cow Saturday morning, but it sounds like a couple of his buddies are going to help him out now so that frees me up. He's supposed to call me tonight and let me know for sure. I'm looking forward to it!

Got it. Thanks for the info. I know Ham has raved about those rods for throwing jigs for trout so I figured I would give one a shot.

Was this only for that day? I just checked and they show up at $59.99 on the website.

Sounds likes an awesome day! One of these days we'll get together and do some fishing as well Brett, even if it's throwing jerkbaits for trout.

I just watch Phil's jig videos and try to imitate him. Nothing more to it. I'm sure him and Duane would fish circles around me with a jig, but I manage to catch a few at least. The number of fish I miss is crazy though!

Definitely couldn't have asked for a better day to fish. I'm hoping to get back down on Feb 4 for RAW and bring my dad.

The same to you @Gatorjet. I mentioned it to dad and he was definitely interested. He is self employed and a land lord so as long as something doesn't come up that weekend, I look for us to be back down there. We won't know for sure until a day or two before the tournament though.

That is correct. He probably had a dozen trout to his name before he caught that brown. I've caught thousands and my best is only 19.5"!

Here's some footage of our day on the water during the Masters tournament (well me anyways since my partner was fishing on the back deck most of the time and I only have the one GoPro mounted on the console and facing forward). I won't lie, we got caught up in the moment on the big brown and our potty mouths kicked in so I've done my best to filter out any cursing. I apologize if I missed any of the really bad words. My buddies big brown is at the end. He's on the back deck on the hook set, but comes to the front shortly after to chase the fish down. Towards the end he has to run back to the rear deck again so you don't see the net job.

http://www.lilleyslanding.com/news/2017-trout-tournament-schedule

This was Nicks first time fishing Taneycomo and that brown was his 6th trout ever. It was caught just below Fall Creek on a husky jerk. I was caught off guard because he threw up in about 6" of water and the water just started boiling. Eventually I realized what he had and trolled towards it and told him to get up by me on the front. We followed it for a bit and then it ran towards the motor and I had Nick rush to the back and get the rod in the water. He did a good job playing it and I got the net under it shortly after. If not for that fish, we would have only had 6#. I have the commentary and part of the fight on GoPro. If it turned out decent, I will post it. Im sure it was chaotic! May have to bleep out a few expletives to make it PG.... This was my first trout tourney. I can't wait to fish some others. Hopefully I can get dad talked in to coming down for RAW. If not, me and another buddy should be down for the Elfrink tourney.

I'm finally going to make it down for one of Phil's tournaments. Anybody else on the forum besides @Gatorjet going to be fishing it? If you are, say hello. I'll be in the orange Legend SS WITHOUT a power pole. A guy I know is planning on fishing it and has a similar rig, but he has a power pole on his.

DUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!!

I guess you aren't the only one who knows me by the yellow shirt. Apparently there were some others form the OAF forum asking if I was the guy that wears the yellow shirt at the meeting. Maybe the TackleHD crew will send me another shirt in yellow so people don't forget who I am.