lmoore

Surprised to hear it's that far into the spawn. Should be a fun one to watch.

Have tournaments both those weekends and thought we might be fishing the same ones since we're close. No such luck.

What tournaments are you fishing in May?

As I recall, it was a blank company called Hexcel that started using the IM6, IM7, IM8 designation for their rod blanks. Rumor had it that it took them 6 tries t get a blank they liked, so that's where the IM6 came from. Don't know about that part. Anyways, as is typical in business, other companies saw that designation and saw it as a good way to market their rods. Problem is, there is no standard for what each designation means, so all IM6 rods are not created equal. Consumers started buying into that way of rating, and it has caused plenty of confusion. In general, it means nothing, unless you are familiar with that particular companies was of rating. Modulous rating and ton rating are both ratings of strength of the graphite, with Ton being a worldwide "standard" and Modulous being a US "standard." I say "standard" because, similar to IM ratings, there are no standards to who uses what in rod building. In general, the US blank manufacturers use Modulous rating while other countries use ton. Finally, Modulous refers to the Modulous of Elasticity. This is the measurement of force per area (I believe rod ratings are PSI) which is required to cause elastic deformation failure, in plain English that means it will stretch and break. The higher the modulous, the less graphite is needed to get a similar "stiffness" which leads to a lighter and more sensitive rod. However, as mentioned above, it is far from the only consideration in selecting a rod or blank. As you get higher in modulous, the blank will also become more brittle, which is where scrim and resin make a big difference. What it comes down to, is finding a rod (or blank) lineup whose characteristics meet your needs.

Most importantly, pay attention to the details. Otherwise you may find yourself giving advice to someone who asked for it over a year ago. Just had to give you guys a little hard time, you gave some great advice.

Like the idea, but I have a hard enough time reminding myself to stop and eat, I don't think I'll be taking the time to set up a Subway in the boat

To add a little tip to this. I find that if I wrap a sandwich in paper towels before putting it in the ziplock, it won't get quite so soggy in the cooler. Worth a try if you like to eat sandwiches. I used to do like ww2 and not eat or drink anything during tournaments, but I was fishing one time and went to jump to the trolling motor and nearly passed out. Have always made a point to sit and eat something and drink plenty of water since then.

^Good point here. If you decide to go the homemade route, Google "worm oil" to use as a base. Won't make your baits hard. Johnson baby oil was an old tip someone gave me also, and I never had a problem with it drying plastics. I used them for bagging soft plastics, for just making a scent, you might not have to worry about it as much.

Some simple directions for the best scent you could ever want: 1) Log on to www.***.com 2) search "JJs Magic" 3) select preferred color 4) add to cart and checkout No need to "reinvent the wheel" in this case

Was just looking at the TBF national championship and remembered the name "LaClair" from this thread. I think that must've been the tournament you saw. Finished 3rd. Looked at his bio and he also finished 14th at the All American.

There are various products you could add to soft plastics to change the buoyancy and options for differing the "mix" from rear to front, but probably your easiest option for exactly what you want it to get a worm air injector and inject some air into the front of your favorite bait. You'll have to experiment with what amount of air does what you want, but it should do what your looking for. The air injectors are typically used for night crawlers and work better with a softer plastic bait.

I'm a big fan of the skeg guards. Had one on my champion for the last couple years. They break away easier than a typical skeg, but I always figured the cost of one or two of those per year was better than a new lower unit.

The biggest difference in the Marine grease you bought to any regular old auto grease is that it has a thinkening agent added to it. I believe it's some form of calcium, but can't remember off the top of my head. Anyways, the thickener makes it more water resistant and more expensive, but you should t have any problems using that on your outboard. might be a little thick and messy for trying to use on linkages, but should work OK.

"Why would I do that when I could do something fun?" She had just asked me to watch Days of Our Lives with her, and apparently my comment meant I didn't have fun around her ever.

I'd recommend getting a compression test run. Poor compression will make it almost impossible to start, and a test can be done for little to nothing. Other than that, are you getting spark?

It can be straightened, or they could look at a product like a Safe Skeg and just cut that bottom 4 inches off. Either way, won't be more than about $100 to fix it.

I've spent 100's of hours with a frog over the past few years, and Booyah gets my money. I still have plenty of Spros and a few LiveTargets and ***s around, but I feel like I get the better hookup ratio with the Booyahs. Probably just a confidence thing. I do lots of modifications to them to change the action, sound, etc. Probably the best "modification" I do is to soak a few of them in some type of attractant the night before I'll be going. I like an attractant with the consistency of runny snot. Gets the frog all slimy and seems like they hold on to it a little better. As for colors, don't know why I have anything outside of white or black.

Correct, before 2006. Not familiar with a Johnson outboard 4 stroke from after that as someone mentions above. I do know I've seen Evinrudes and Johnsons with he opposite name on the cowling, so that would be a possibility also if it actually has Johnson in it and is 5 years old.

What year/horsepower is the motor? To my knowledge, Johnson outboards have not been produced for 8-10 years (2007ish) and I believe they stopped producing the larger motors a coue years before that. In general evinrude/Johnson motors are of good quality. They do have a few year classes and models with some "quirks," but are generally a good motor IMO. Edit: I did some checking and 2007 is right on the last year of Johnsons, but it looks like that was the only year they didn't make the larger motors, so 100+ Johnsons would be from 2006 and later.

Just based off your description, I would guess either an air leak on the fuel side or a fuel pump diaphram failure. Could be any number of things, but those seem like the ones you hear about most that are fuel related.

I thought the same thing. The 2 young men in the photo must only weigh about 100 lbs a piece Congrats on the great start to the season, OP.

Size limit of the lake would make no difference in the scoring rules. They could say every fish over 6" keeps if they wanted.

32 gallons. Typically don't run more than 15-20 one way. Mississippi River though, not a lake.

Our BASS Nation club votes each year based on number of qualifiers, location, club funds, etc for the state tournament.

Looks great, can't even tell where the weights are on the picture.