J Francho

Who cares. Try it, and you'll see what the buzz is about. It's as required as hooks are for my fishing. Every spool of line gets pretreated, and any rods used get treated after every trip. There is zero down side to the product.

4/20 is an equally plausible explanation

Exactly why you want a bow trim switch. Very convenient.

It might be called "sensitivity." I'm using the old flasher terminology. Old habits...

Yep. I find I generally have to adjust the sensitivity every time I go out. It all depends on water clarity and how much debris is in the water. It helps if you put the unit in demo mode, and go through each of the settings to learn how each affects the clarity of the returns.

You need to turn the gain up on the down scan. Yes, they appear as dots.

There's a reason the design has been around for 25+ years. It's that tough a reel.

Better than what? Depends on the individual model.

Deja vu!

I use a SC Avid 6'2" MXF. It's roughly an inch or two shorter from the reel seat to the tip than a 6'6" rod, but has a shorter rear grip. Makes easy to walk the dog.

If you don't want to spend a ton, but want gear that won't fail you, my friend owns this company: https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Water-Saltwater-Fishing-Complete/dp/B002CFNK0I/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1524490085&sr=8-9&keywords=wild+water+fly

The thread that @Choporoz linked to will be an invaluable resource for anyone that wants to fish jigs. If you're looking for one jig to handle all, an arky style jig would work. But you'll soon discover there are better heads for each of the four situations you describe.

Could hit 70° today. Got out yesterday, froze my butt off for two brown trout.

Two dink brown trout and a massive strike on a jigging spoon on the city dump today. Froze my butt off, but it was nice to knock the rust off. Now scooping all the poop from the dog from this winter. So much poop!

As if Ned rig wasn't more complicated, we need Ned's approval as well?

Yep, works great right out of the package. No fussy mods necessary.

https://postimages.org/

Only the windiest of days did I ever feel like I needed more than 80 lb. on my 18' Xpress, and even then, it was probably too rough to really be out. I also have an 80 lb. on my 21' 10" Bullet and have no issues, though it's a glass boat, it weighs less than the Xpress by a few hundred pounds. You should be fine with an 80.

Figure - 8 that thing into biting!

Make a list on a small index card, and have it laminated. I have my own process in my head, but I've been launching boats since I was a teenager.

Pretty good baits. I prefer the RageTail Shad over them.

I track them in my head. I really have no clue what I actually have. One spring, I opened the boat and found a Zillion I forgot about in the under seat storage.

Xpress doesn’t have an online build tool. You’re best bet is to work with a dealer to get the latest options. I bought my H18 used, from a guy on Long Island.

The price is wrong, Bob!