dwtaylor

1/8 oz is a good all around size for small swimbaits for me. I will fish 3/16 and 1/4 oz too, but getting bigger than that it is hard to find a small hook that doesn't steal action from the swimbait. For baits, its hard to beat a keitech swing fat impact 2.8 or 3.3 or similar baits. I also really like the big bite baits suicide shad in the smallest size for cold water fish. I don't fish underspins so I can't help you there.

not all beds are circular in nature, but that answer has more to do with bottom composition. In sand, both the bed and the fish stand out really well and that is typically where smallmouth like to spawn. In soft bottom around grass, it depends how well you see the beds themselves. Typically I see the fish first and then zoom in to get an idea of how the bed lays out. I have TVG off almost always, and ghost and noise reject typically turned off or low. I have found that having ghost and noise reject high you get filtering closer to the boat around beam intersections and I don't like that info being filtered out. FYI, I stand corrected on the depth. I don't have my depth offset or whatever set correctly and I would say that 5 FOW is more like 3.5 FOW when i click one adjustment down from horizontal.

for finesse applications, I prefer a ml power and a fast action. I have some rainshadow revelation blanks and I prefer the ml for finesse over m as their m power is a little stiffer than other brands. I also have some mhx blanks and those are pretty nice too for the money, although I do think the rainshadow revelation are a little better than the baseline mhx sj or mag taper blanks. Lurepartsonline is in springfield which isn't too far away from you. They don't have a storefront as it is a warehouse, but I was able to go inside and look at stuff. They have a rod building section that you may be able to handle blanks. They carry a lot of blank brands that may help you out.

The xr6 does not have an hour gauge on it from the factory. You cannot pull hours on this engine, unless there was a gauge installed by the boat builder, which wasn't common as the xr6 was oftentimes marketed as a lower price point engine in the 150 class, whereas the efi and later optimax were a slight increase and cost and therefore options.

Largemouth: PY-1/2 oz custom made gp jig w maxscent chunk trailer CY-1/2 oz custom made gp purple jig with a maxscent chunk trailer PB-confirmed weight 6.5lbs whopper plopper. unconfirmed weight 23.5" (length only) pre rigged purple with white dot worm Smallmouth PY-3.5" cast again tackle tube on a tx rig CY-2.75" cast again tackle tube on a 3/16 oz tube jig PB-6.5lbs dropshot yum crawbug

I use it a lot bed fishing and it is by far my most successful use of FFS. It has almost completely removed the need to actually sight fish for me. In fact, it also has shown me how effective deadsticking a bait is for bedding fish as you can real time see the fish's behavior. I have a fishobsessed mount and an lvs32 transducer. I have the mount in the horizontal/0 degree position in less than 5FOW. Deeper than 5FOW, go one click down, which is about the factory angle for the garmin perspective mode mount. I normally fish forward mode in 68 to 75 on gain and use the amber, moss, or blue color palettes. In perspective, I use amber only and 58 to 65 gain which are the only two true adjustments I make vs forward mode. Too much gain and you basically flood your screen out if you have shallow grass. Color limit on off, color gain on 60-65%, tvg off, noise reject off, and ghost reject off. I also set radial rings and only go to 40 feet max when searching and when I see fish, I go down to 25 or 30 feet or so to get more clairity. I will caution that it is hard to use around a lot of grass that is near the surface. Right now around us, we have curly leaf pondweed that is at or right below the surface in typical spawning areas so anything amongst those weeds are hard to find as the beam doesn't exactly get to bottom that well. However, on sand flats, perspective is amazing for finding beds. As far as aligning goes, point your trolling motor to a target that you know is directly in front of you (like a dock piling) and see where it shows up on the graph. For me, going from forward to perspective, I have to make one click clockwise to get it to align directly ahead.

I like them on a neko rig, but they aren't true floater worms. My favorite trickworm color is watermelon candy around grass fish that would normally feed on bluegills. This time of year before the grass/moss gets too bad and the bass are in post spawn, fry guarders typically bury themselves on the inner weedline between the grass and the bank and casting to the bank and bringing the bait out can result in a lot of fish. I like the neko rig for this because the bait sinks faster and the point of the hook doesn't get too fouled up from the moss/grass. Since its a lighter and relatively longer bait, it doesn't sink into a softer bottom too bad. Once post spawn stuff is done, I usually don't use it the rest of the year except for maybe a carolina rig offshore, but even then I prefer other baits.

Follow big sacks bass club on facebook as they usually have wednesday nighter tournaments there. Last wednesday winning weight (2 fish, 18" min) went 7.76lbs. Prespawners. Otherwise, check out lake link, but typically bass guys here don't post fishing reports. I would guess that this warm weather this week is getting the first wave of spawners done. Saturday I was on bago and little lake butte des morts and they were not spawning, but we had a cold front come through and even got frost friday morning. WT on main lake was 57, but channels were in the mid 60s so they were close to going. I would imagine Fox Lake was a little warmer with the depth and water clarity there being a little worse than bago so I would expect them to be spawning right now. The cold front coming in Friday night might make the weekend interesting, but I always like a cold front when they pull up to spawn because then they don't lock down on beds and get back to feeding to maintain their egg production. They don't go far and power fishing techniques usually do well, even though its a cold front. I would guess you have a good shot at a 5+lb female.

The og squeaky dolphin was my favorite, but it was also the favorite of pike...which is why I don't have any left...or OG ri vixens for that matter. My favorite cheapo is the northland tackle buzzbaits. Slight mods for squeaking and a trailer hook they are good to go. https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/northland-fishing-tackle-buzzard-buzzer-classic-series-jig/0000101826675 I like cavitrons and lunker lures too, but the lunker lure is similar to the northland tackle, imo.

Prior to st croix discontinuing direct blank sales (yes I know rodgeeks sells them now), there were 2 versions of the 76mlxf blank. One used a size 3 tip (legend elite style)and the other a 3.5 (legend extreme). I have the size 3 tip blank and I find it perfect for light hair jigs and very light lures like 1/16 and 3/32 neds and the upper end of the lure ratings I would say is a 2-3/4" tube with a 3/16 oz jighead (probably 3/8 oz to 1/2 oz total weight). Because of the light tip, I would classify it somewhere between L and ML power. The 3.5 tip blank is basically what they make the current legend extreme and the current rodgeeks blank out of and the tip isn't quite as light and can handle the same as above and maybe up to a 1/4 oz 3.5" tube so there is a little more power out of that blank. I would classify this blank as a true ml power. I also built a 7'6" ml-f from a rainshadow revelation blank and would classify their power rating a medium instead of a ml. I really like this for 3/16 and 1/4 oz 2-3/4 tubes and that is about all I throw on that rod.

cast again tackle https://castagaintackle.com/ They have probably the most complete lineup of sizes and colors on the market. Goby Melt is a very popular color that does a good job imitating gobies, craws, shiners, etc and is a unique color in their lineup. They are also available on tw and omniafishing

You can still get around brushy with a pond prowler. I would recommend launching at the north end of the lake. One of the things I miss most about Iowa fishing is the farm ponds. My grandpa has a farm pond that had an awful fish kill 3/4 years ago and it killed almost all of the largemouth in it, many of them over 20". A lot of core memories and the foundation from my fishing passion came from there.

Not to further complicate things, but omnia has some awesome content showing rod actions on their site and on their youtube channel. Idk if they have these rods shown, but consider it a good resource for rod shopping going forward.

I have the power target cranker and I think it is the best medium diving crankbait rod that I own. I throw wiggle warts, rkcrawlers, DT6, money badgers, etc on this rod and it is awesome for bottom contact cranking. Very sensitive for a crankbait rod. It is also good for 1.5 sized squarebills around cover, but I don't think I need the sensitivity like I do those bottom cranks and I have other mh action glass cranking rods for squarebills that I use over this. I don't think it would work great as a bladed jig or single hook rod as it is a moderate action and a little on the soft side for medium heavy. The mod-fast action would likely be a little better and feel a little true to rod power. I have 7'6"mhmf blanks from the legend elite and legend tournament lines that would make great rods for chatterbaits and single hook baits that you are looking for. I would imagine the 72mhmf rod would be way better than the 72mhm rod for this.

Overall used. I have at least a couple dozen shimano e series reels between citicas, curados, and chronarchs. They are easy to service, perform well, and deals can be had. I have purchased some newer reels, but mostly spinning reels.

Probably the 4.65 I caught as a kicker fish in a 3 fish limit (summertime wisconsin culling rules) on a jig I made. I also made the rod too. I won the tournament too which was cool as that was my first win ever. I have caught a bunch of good fish on baits I made though, just no giants. Yet.

All, I am getting into the "medium" swimbait game and need suggestions on storage for these baits. So far I have a collection of 5" and 6" magdraft/cullshad style baits (freestyle and regular), comeback shads, 5" and 7" nessie soft glides, osakana slides, some savage gear 4 plays, and some 168 sized s wavers so far. I might add a chad shad sized hard glide too, but tbd. Right now I am planning on keeping them in the oem packaging to prevent tail warping, kind of like how I store my keitechs. However, I don't think I need to do that with the glides. I was suggested to try the thin single compartment 3700 sized lurelocks, but those seem to be quite thin and potentially warping the tails on the soft baits. They would probably work great on the hard baits though and a local store has those boxes on clearance right now. Id like to keep one box if possible, but I am open to other options. Any thoughts?

IMO the cheapest route is to just get a cradle for the front with a power cord and a transducer and move the head unit with you from the console to the bow. Click it in, power on and go.

Haha, It was the right place at the right time, not angler excellence. My pb was 6-6 from the sturgeon bay area. Id like to catch a 7+ but typically that is a spring bite and the weather and wind can be very unpredictable and unsafe so I will be patient on that one.

The lakes here still have ice, but it is melting quickly. We have a river impoundment that is wide open now and guys are catching smallies in the main wintering hole. If I wasn't sick and had my stuff together I would be out there this weekend. Id like to get there before all the ice is gone, water levels go up, and the water clarity goes to chocolate milk.

For 6" baits I think you might be ok, but I don't think fishing them with a beast style hook on a freestyle/freeloader you will have enough backbone for hooksets. Rig them with a line through treble and you are golden. Lob casts and you should be good.

I have never caught a PB in the spring or fall window. I am dabbling into the 6"+ swimbait game this year to help with that. I did catch my biggest 5 fish bag ever at 22.5lbs last fall, all smallmouth on a tx rigged 3.5" tube with a 5/16oz weight flipping wood on mud banks and cut banks. I think the leopard frogs were migrating into the water for their hibernation which turned that bite on that day. It was amazing. Before that day, I had never caught anything above 4.5lbs on that river.

I had a person break into my storage unit last summer, but they didn't steal anything. They were interested in the receipt to my new trolling motor though. I think it was someone walking through with a backpack and couldn't fit too many big items in their backpack. I filed a police report anyway in case so if I did find stolen items or damage, I could reference it to insurance.

I am not trying to complicate things, but are you running the factory wiring harness from the battery to the graphs/fuse box? I had this problem with my humminbirds before I went with a dedicated wiring harness. I have since switched to Garmin graphs, but still. I have never seen voltage less than 11.6 even when cranking up my engine. Most of the time it is between 13.2 and 12.8 without cranking. The factory wiring harness was basically a 14g wire which is way low. I went with 8g from a cutoff switch to the fuse box and 10g to the units and livescope. From the battery to the cutoff switch I put in 4g starter cables. Think of small wires like your plumbing in your house. Bigger pipes get less restrictive flow and it kind of takes more effort (pressure) to keep the same flow in a smaller pipe. Bigger pipes feed smaller pipes to keep up pressure. If you have only smaller pipes, you are going to see a pressure loss on your sink if you flush the toilet. Same thing happens with electricity.

I like my plano edge jig/bladed jig boxes. Super durable and waterproof. They can store a ton of jigs as well which is nice. Bulky, yes. I actually buy a lot of the waterproof boxes from harbor freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-storage-organization/parts-storage/large-water-resistant-storage-container-56578.html They are a cheaper knock off version of the similar style from plano. I too put silica gel packets in my boxes, but waterproof boxes are the way to go.