J Francho

When they're a little older, these are fun, too....

I gotta say, shooting pellet rifles and pistols is about one of my favorite things.

Wow, that's COOOOOLD! It was 3° here this morning.

All the tributaries connected to Lake Ontario are opposite. In fact, the Genny is often cited as odd because it runs south to north. It's an unusual set of circumstances, though.

Well, that's the manu's website.

Use Susquehanna Fishing Tackle. They are nice, family operated business that carries just about everything TW does. Free Shipping on orders over $50. The price match as well. http://sfttackle.com/

Well, in the case of the Helix, there is a sonar/GPS model, then one that adds DI, and another that adds SI. It isn't deceptive marketing, it's them offering you only what you need. If I were to put two units in the same location, so I could have a full screen GPS and a full screen SI, then I wouldn't want to pay extra for the DI or SI.

By evening, the air temps have cooled. The NW side benefited from not only the sun, but warmer ambient temps. It's not always true, but it's a general occurrence up here.

There's a ton of brands of smaller AGM batteries out there. I use a generic one I got from Radio Shack for $20. It's around 5 years old now and still works.

Generally the northwest end gets the most sun during the day. That's the end that melt first up here, though depth has an effect, as does current. Some of the protected bays off Lake Ontario thaw in a weird way. I use the thaw to tell me what places are usually warmer.

The leader is usually about 3' from mainline to the hook, and whatever length tag I want to use after. I use a 6-9 MXF rod for shallow stuff. For vertical, I use a shorter 6-3 MLXF or 6-3 MXF.

Here's my thoughts on going shallow. Spoiler alert, I go even heavier when shallow. https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/dropshot-bedding-bass.html

I don't DS with less than 1/2 oz. More likely, 3/4 oz. I DO NOT want the weight to move, unless I move it. Anything lighter, and it's moving, whether you know it or not.

He doesn't like the speed, and the way a pad-v hull feels when it's up on plane. He was used to old school deep-v wood and glass boats.

Look for a 16' deep-V tiller. That's going to be affordable, safe, easy to maintain, and will serve you for years. It'll also be comfortable for your grandfather. My dad (68) loved fishing out of my deep-V tiller, but hated my bass boats. He in fact would not set foot in my Bullet.

Merry Christmas!

Is that really the state record? Seems like something bigger could come out of Erie. NY record is 41 lbs., out of Erie.

I've been guilty of it a time or ten. I try to curb that. Listening, validating, and fact checking helps.

Caught a lunker winner in a club classic years ago that was 22" long, and only weighed 4.9 lbs. Very skinny. Girth and "shoulders" is everything for max weight. It's why it's so hard to really tell without a scale. And honestly, who catches enough true trophies to even know? Unless you're Tom!

I'll probably never retire. I lost my grandmother to dementia, so it's on my mind, too.

I build a couple of reels from that platform for a guy. We found part from old reels via ebay. It was a fun build, and the reel was a screamer.

Oh man, it's bad here, too. Especially the things I hear coming from the shore people. I sort of feel bad about this, but this guy was carrying on loudly to anyone that was around about the 10 lb. bass he caught and put on a rope. I told him I don't think it's ten, more like three, though anything over three is really respectable. He got a little belligerent with me so I said tell you what, let's put it on my scale and see. Just a hair over three, with the rope. I'm sure I made his day.

This is me. I drop waypoints right where I catch fish. Those waypoints start to define how bass use that area. I find this aspect of modern units VERY helpful.

Nice!

Mine too! Performance seems fine this morning.