J Francho

Copoly or mono, sure. Fluoro, rarely necessary. I do use KVD L&L religiously.

Correct, you must be moving a few mph for the SI to correctly render. Once I'm stationary, I switch to traditional sonar, usually on the hybrid setting, and focus on the RTS bar on the right, like I would watch an old flasher.

It's a lot easier to just color half the spool with the marker. I've done this in the past. Then you just marker up the last foot of line up to your bait.

Beautiful boat! Much prettier than mine!. I'd be crying for sure. I'm actually selling mine too. I need a smaller, more open boat for big water, with a kicker for HP restricted lakes. My buddy has a nice Lund tiller that fishes three comfortably, so long as they all know how to fish. Good luck in your search!

Everything Tom says is true, if I'm on a lake like Conesus in mid summer. Swap that out to Hemlock, and what I say is true. Swap that lake out to Ontario, and it's more critical. So, from my perspective, what's the issue with taking the most cautious approach? Never mind that I much prefer the types of line I use over Big Game, or some other premium mono. As far as modesty goes, I've posted my personal best basses from NY enough lately. And I'm not even close to offended. I consider Tom a forum friend, ans respect and look up to him for advice. I also enjoy a healthy debate with friends as well.

You can do a search as easily as I can, and we've debated this as recently as yesterday. You can go on your witch hunt of fluorocarbon, and I will offer an OPPOSING point of view. Every single time. It doesn't make either of us right or wrong, it just reflects each others' experience. If you want to blabber on about catching fish on a drop shot using 20# pink mono, have at it. You won't catch too many in my neck of the woods. Fluoro is dense, sinks, has better abrasion resistance than mono. It transmits bites better, and happens to be clear. It also works better for a few applications that use a lot than anything else. If your favorite line works better for you, then use that. But don't sit around and "snicker" because you think you know more.

I use fluorocarbon leader material for leaders. Much stronger, and abrasion resistant that any reel fill line. I prefer Seaguar.

Way too many anecdotal testimony for it not to be factual. It may not be a hard and fast rule, but it's not untrue.

I get it. I toil with setups for hours the night before a trip. There's usually a beverage involved, lol.

I think you're over complicating things, but if it's what you enjoy, have it it.

You got it @padon.

Hold on to that spool of coply. Keep it in a cool, dark place. You can use it later when you get into a baitcasting setup.

When I'm in 30+ on Lake Ontario or Erie, I'm using a 3/4 oz. gumballs. 3/8 - 1/2 oz. is a good weight. You're really just looking to keep the bait in one place, and keep the line somewhat taught.

Always, man. Reading structure and cover, and how and why they all relate to fish location and how you fish seems like the biggest hurdle.

Of course they relate to structure. However, you're referring to a technique for overcoming COVER. In winter and early spring, you're going to do to well when it's either frozen over or the weeds haven't come in yet. In southern climates, this doesn't occur, and there's cover year round.

I leave the math at home, and simply use time on the water, actually fishing the baits to see what works with what, and when.

I can't tie a reliable FG knot for the life of me. I keep practicing. I'm not convinced I need to add another knot, but I'd like to at least be able to tie it reliably.

We did this for as long as I can remember, for all sorts of species of fishes. We even did the double hook thing, especially for crappie that could be suspended at different depths. I learned it from my dad, who learned it from my grandfather, who learned it from his father. It's not exclusively an 80s Japanese invention, rather the term "drop shot" and the variation of passing the line back through the knot is. I once watched a local pro demonstrate DS in the tank at BPS Auburn, NY. He was using braid and leader. That tank can't much more than 12' deep. He was only giving it an underhand pitch cast of about 10' out - pretty common practice if you're moving slowly over deep structure. The bow in the line was remarkable. So much, the speaker did not feel 30"+ steelhead in the tank grabbing the bait on the drop. He had another set up with straight fluoro, just to show the two styles. No bow in the line, and no issues detecting strikes. I don't think the issue is braid and leader, but the oft recommended tine weights. I see so many people using these tine 1/8 weights all the time. Meanwhile, I start at 1/2 oz. You want to feel the strikes? You need a straight line connection from the tip of you rod to the point of the hook. Can you get bit using lighter weights? Of course. Can you detect the strike? Maybe. Some are better than others. I'm basing this off many, many hours of watching paint dry and water boil, while fishing a drop shot. Yeah, not the most fun, but surely the most effective on certain deep structures.

"Kinda expensive" is the norm for boat parts and accessories.

Some good perspectives. Thanks for that!

I've been throwing some Boo-Yah spinnerbaits lately. They're not as nice as the custom ones Siebert has made for me, but man, they're durable, and get the job done. Decent head shape for weeds, too.

Those wouldn't all be my #1 brand/bait choices, but other than spinnerbaits, it sounds like covered the gamut.

Sounds like you have a 20XD. I have a 21XDC, and I would have no issue taking two clients on that boat. Have you considered looking for a used 21xx? You would know as I do, that these hulls are solid and don't lose too much value, but still priced less than some of the newer boats out there. Also, sorry to hear of your status. We owe you more than that.

That's a tough break!

That's interesting. You have any thoughts as to why?