dwtaylor

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.

You should be able to get a 18 footer with a 150 in that price range now. 2/3 years ago not so much. A late 80s to early 90s ranger 300 series is a great hull. I have seen a few repowered with new 4 strokes so guys really like them. They may be slightly outside your price point, but not by much. There are javelins, stratos, skeeter, and tritons in that 90s era that are good too. I probably wouldn't consider a nitro, but if you came across one that was clean that could be a good option too. The evinrude intruder and johnson fast strike are good engines as are the mercury xr6 but they are carb 2 strokes which can guzzle gas and be complicated in cold starts. Stay away from any optimax from the 90s or johnson/evinrude fichts. I am not 100% up to speed on the yamaha options back then as they were kind of an up and coming brand at that time.

Anyone have any details on the bps spring classic that starts next week?

Those zoom hooks are a lighter wire hook, just an fyi. They are mustad 91768 jig hooks with a screw lock keeper. I use the gamakatsu or berkley fusion19 ewg superline hook with a screw lock. I actually take the screw locks that come with the hooks and replace them with the owner center pin screw locks. Another modfication that I do is bend the hook point slightly down to keep the hook point from snagging, even when tex-posed. I don't like using weighted hooks for this due to the tendency to pick up fine algae and other vegetation.

The population in Calhoun county where my parents live is outstanding and has been for 5 years or so. I miss it a lot sometimes, but not enough to buy an out of state license. There are like 0 pheasants in my area of Wisconsin outside game/hunt clubs which release hatchery birds. I did pick up waterfowl hunting this year and found that I have a couple really good goose recipes...still not like pheasant though.

google "Best smallmouth lakes in NW Wisconsin?" and there are some good suggestions from another popular bass fishing forum. I have never been in that area though. I moved up to northeast/central WI 12 years ago from your neck of the woods. Rarely do I go more than 2 hrs from Oshkosh (where I live) and find myself fishing the wolf river by new london the most. Its good for both species and a smaller boat is preferred. Its not traditional smallmouth fishing though because you are fishing around a lot of wood and heavy cover so its really more or less like fishing brushy creek, but with current if that makes sense. The wolf is not as wide as the des moines river above the dsm metro area, but it is deeper and has a little more current. The water is cleaner as well.

There is a little bit of pedal pick up tension/stick that I only notice when I just start using the pedal. I tightened my pedal tension screws up though so that makes sense as why it does that. I came from a motorguide so I wanted a higher tension feel. With that said, I can get pretty dialed in after that. I have an lvs32 with a fish obsessed dominator mount that made a world of difference for me to get lined up properly. I can see my bait at 80 feet without issue by lining up my trolling motor with my line. Practice makes perfect here. I don't agree that 1 degree at 80 feet makes a difference as that is about 16 inches of error. The beam width is much wider than 16 inches at that distance so you are going to see whatever you are looking for if you are close. 10 degrees is a different story as that is half the beam angle. To me, it sounds like you are closer to 10+ degrees off than 1 degree off for steering.

I am aware of those, but the blank I have is actually the legend elite blank which had a size 3 tip instead of the 3.5 tip that is specified on this site and the normal legend extreme blank. At the time I bought my blank they actually offered both...one with the teal green (extreme) and the light green (elite) of which I bought. This smaller tip makes it much lighter and more of a true xf action than the 3.5 tip size.

I recommend Stardust and getting a cheaper $20 heat gun off of amazon, harbor freight, etc. Stardust doesn't chip like other powder paints and doesn't require an oven to cure. It is a little more expensive than other powders, but I like it a lot.

My favorite general use frog rod is a Dobyns 735c. I have the Dobyns Savvy 735c which has been discontinued for a while, but that same rod is available in just about all their series. Pick the price point of Dobyns you want and get that action. Reels, I go with a 7.something to 1 ratio. The fast 8.something or faster reels you lose some torque and that can wear on you a little bit with a lot of slop. With a 7something ratio you don't lose too much line pickup or torque. I run 50lb braid on frogs, but may actually go down to 40lb power pro after my bulk spool is gone. I have never actually broken braid that wasn't frayed so why not downsize a little bit to get better casting ability and cut through weeds better.

The best aftermarket treble on the market IMO is the gamakatsu g-finesse aaron martens trebles. The standard and the mh hooks are both great options. They are pricey though. A really good alternative that is better for price is the Owner ST36 or the Hayabusa TBL930 with the NRB coating. That size of spinner is probably going to be a #4 or a #6.

^This. Otherwise, look on ebay or facebook marketplace for parts reels or replacement reels. My e series shimanos are in this category right now. I have lucked out with Shimano twice for parts and otherwise, I have bought parts reels too.

Depends on the day and what the fish are biting. I built a lime green MHX FP885 that I love flipping tubes or other t-rigged soft plastics with. This and the next rod below caught most of my fish this year. I have a 7'6" ml-f rainshadow revelation that I love for traditional tube jigs that I have caught many smallies on. I also have a 7'6" ml-xf st croix scv which is my nicest rod that I throw light neds or marabou jigs on. Its almost too nice that I don't use it a lot because I can't replace the blank anymore.

I recommend getting a Noco GB40 (or similar), which has 1000A or larger jump pack for this instead of using your trolling motor lifepo4 batteries. I have had to jump my engine several times due to my group 31 not having enough juice to crank the engine. I also recommend having a power switch isolating your graphs from the battery when jumping it to avoid damage to the graphs. I run livescope, a garmin 93 at the bow, a garmin 106 at the console, dual power poles, and the livewell pumps on a single group 31 lead acid battery due to my engine requirements. I have on multiple times had my battery too low over 6 hrs of fishing to start my outboard. Thus, I am going to buy a "budget" lifepo4 battery for electronics only to get my graphs off the main battery to improve reliability and also allow for me to add another graph and livescope for full time forward and perspective modes.

I use small bags that I buy from hobby lobby to store the jigs in. I also apply corn starch, talcum powder, or unscented baby powder to the bag to keep them dry. Keeping them dry and cool is the key to keeping the rubber from "melting" to each other.

I haven't lived in the area, nor have I frequented the store for more than 10 years. However, before that several folks I knew in college worked at that store. At that time, the fishing lead was Jamie and he was a very nice calm guy and I always liked talking fishing with him. I don't think he would ever be nasty to a customer. BUT...that was 10+ years ago. The Iowa State Fishing club even worked with the boat center manager on getting a used boat for the club, so at that time they were pretty decent to work with. It wasn't a bad store from when they opened until then. However, just about all outdoor retailers seemed to hit a wall about 8-10 years ago. I have heard that over time, the pro-staff and employee discounts got worse and so did the pay/hours/benefits. It kind of forced a lot of the good ones out of the whole retail space.

Core tackle weedless hover rig. The hook will come out the back of the tube like a normal tube jig. Rig like a normal hover rig bait, but try to stuff a bit of plastic worm in the middle of the tube before rigging. The hover rig lead diameter is much smaller than the inside diameter of the tube so fit is an issue without the extra plastic. If you don't care about the spiral, rig it on the back of a normal weedless jig like a flipping jig without the skirt (got the idea from James Watson). This rigging style has caught me some good fish this year and is my go to with fishing this profile of bait on a power fishing flipping/heavy cover setup.

What are your livescope settings? Also, what kind of transducer mount are you using? An LVS34 should be great out to 100 feet. In your depth of water, I recommend turning noise reject to high, turning off tvg, turn up color gain to around 85%. I run my gain somewhere between 75% and 90% depending on how clean the water is. More gain puts more stuff on the screen so it won't be very clear, but you are going to get stronger returns at a distance and that is a 100% need at 100 feet. I fish mostly shallow water and have an lvs32 that is clear out to 55/60 feet easy. I increase gain and can see a jerkbait out to around 90 feet. I recently upgraded to a fish obsessed 0 degree mount and it is much easier to line up casts now so its even easier to see my bait.