VolFan

I started with a clamp-on seat but now have a set of cushions from Oceansouth for the split and the full benches. Having no seats makes it much easier to move around and no seat backs make it much easier to fish around. I sit to starboard and drive lefty, but that’ll be a personal choice. I have a 6 gallon fuel tank that I keep thinking I’ll change to a 3 but haven’t gotten that motivated yet.

With the deck across the seats there really weren’t any stability issues. I put a 30 lb sandbag in the nose to balance the boat some since you sit in the back with the tiller. I take my son and occasionally my wife along and it was hard to fish three with the deck in. With the deck out and the mats down, everybody gets their own well.

@Skunked again and I both have the same Lowe boat. It fishes great. I put a small aluminum plate deck up front for a Powedrive. I also had a deck on mine across the seats, but I took it out and just use stall mats over the floor. There’s more space that way. It tows super easy, drafts shallow and is low maintenance with a 20 hp on the back.

I have the grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer, and it does great for the volume that I do, usually a couple butts or 4-5 pounds of beef at a time. I grind beef a little coarser for burgers and I really makes a difference. I haven’t gotten into cased sausages yet more out of laziness than anything.

I am in the same boat…

Winter. Is. Inevitable.

Rage Tail Space Monkey. IYKYK!

I bought a new 100 amp one just after Christmas based on the same concerns.

Yeah agreeing with @A-Jayand @MediumMouthBass- that skirt is going to create a ton of drag and slow anything’s movement, much less erratic darting like a jerk bait. Your best bet is a skirt on some sort of narrow fish head-style jig head with a tall slender buoyant trailer on the back like a jerk shad. Still isn’t going to be perfect but it might work. Now fishing a lightly-weighted tube like a jerk bait? That’s the money right there.

TW seems to have them on clearance.

I concede - you guys that think you’ll get every rod broken are right and you really shouldn’t order from there. I however, will continue to…Que sera sera…

None of this is true on any sort of scale. It may have happened once and been inflated by the internet, but I have been buying rods on Amazon for a decade and never had a broken one. Or any problems with reels purchased there.

https://www.foxcarolina.com/2025/01/11/woman-hospitalized-after-four-people-anderson-co-rescued-sinking-boat/ Terrible reminder that going into 40-50 degree water is a huge difference than going into 70-80 degree water. Be safe if you’re out this time of year.

I’ve had a 65 ah and 100 ah of cheaper brands, both have worked great and weigh nothing compared to the previous lead battery. 100% would purchase again.

@TnRiver46 Blair was the blonde on The Facts of Life. Now that that’s settled, waiting in Charlotte on 1-3 or 3-5 inches of snow. Hide your babies…

Your annual pheasant posts with Cosmo are literally some of my favorites of the year. Such a cool outing.

7 yr old lower end one here that I’m replacing. Still works great, just putting in bigger and better.

No it probably wouldn’t be too small. Just don’t mix Daiwa and Shimano or vice versa…

Take the colors you just mentioned and get some RageTail Space Monkeys. You can buzz it like a toad and then let it fall in holes like a beaver/craw. It is a ton of fun to fish.

There are definitely more than a few people that hunt big panfish with lures and or flies, they just don’t talk about it much, and there’s not many big bluegill or shell cracker tourneys like there are for bass, crappie, catfish, and even walleye. It is every bit as hard to catch a true trophy panfish with or without live bait as it is to catch a trophy largemouth. But live baiting or jigging big panfish is much different than chunk and dunk bobber fishing. You really are looking for seasonal big fish spots just like with largemouth.

Drawing attention.

Drive it a little and see if it starts dripping, that is when mine was most noticeable.

I had a similar issue, but with a different vehicle - a 2006 4Runner. It was the sunroof drain clogged with pollen and a poplar seed. Putting weedeater twine through it and then some warm soapy water syringed through fixed it. Just a little water would run through the drivers side pillar and drip on the floor Matt. Drove me nuts because I’d feel a little splash on my leg but couldn’t figure out where it came from.

It’ll be a smaller, narrower head, if that makes a difference. Smooth is fast with the big danglies.