NBR

A regular wash, carpet vacuum and an annual wax job. If you ding it then patch it. I've had a FG boat for years and out side of wash and wax I can't remember spending any time on it at all.

Because of the trailer tongue I wouldn't touch #1. #2 would be my choice after some due diligence on motor and transom condition.

My favorite worm in a black top grey bottom. Used about an 8 " worm in Mich.

When you watch the big name pros they almost all bait cast right and reel right. Maybe it is for the same reason that I do it right/right is that I just started that way and now it's habit. With spinning gera I cast right and retrieve left.

I'd be wanting a replacement!

Shannon Twin Spinners and they worked in the late forties and through the fifties also.

I've been fishing for over 65 years and have read or heard or watched and tried most of the techniques. A few years ago I did a lure inventory and had over 5,000. Of course I've bought some since then and maybe lost a few but a computer crash lost my list and I'm not going to do that again. While the rules of bass fishing generally apply don't be shy about trying different things that seem opposite to what the books, TV programs, seminars and conventional wisdom would suggest. Years ago we were fishing a somewhat remote lake on the MN/ONT border. It was one of those days that varied from bright sunlight to cloudy & rainy as fast moving clouds passed overhead. Conventional wisdom says low light dark colored bright sun light colored. On this particular day it was just the opposite. Another time we were fishing a S.W. Michigan lake on a hot, dead still August mid day. We had been out for a while and activity had just stopped. We were off to fish some break lines when for some reason I stopped in a large shallow flat where I had never caught a thing except early morning, late evening or at night. The water in this area is no more than 2 feet deep. I had a buzz bait tied on and on the first cast had a fish. We fished there for 2 or 3 hours. Moral, don't be afraid to break step with conventional wisdom. When I'm having a slow day I wish I'd break my old habits more often.

My boat is a 19' Astro the original TM was 40#. When it failed I replaced with a 67# which has been fine. There are times I'd like bigger but rarely do I run the TM at over 40% power.

I assure you that Buck Perry did not have a sonar when he wrote the book on structure fishing. A string or rope with a heavy weight works very well in finding bottom changes I believe most natural lakes with charts were originally done by either the WPA or CCC with a marked rope and a weight. orked then works now. Not as fast as a sonar but it works.

Unless youcan find a well cared for used take a look at the BPS combos. They get panned a lot but I have one or more of almost every make and my BPS reels have served me as well as any.

Although I have used UL tackle over the years I avoid it unless that is the solution to hooking up with some fish. Playing a fish over long period of time stresses them big time and if I remember correctly builds up lactic acid which can harm or kill the fish. I never thought about this much until a bud hooked a good sized pike (16) an ML spinning gear with 8# mono and no leader. He battled the fish for quite a long time before wecould get it into my cradle. A picture and it swam away fine.probable 5 or 10 minutes later I happened to see something floating had drawn the attention of a sea gull. We went out to see what it was and it was the pike we released. This time we worked with her for a very long time befor she swam away. Now we get them in, get them photographed if they are real special and get them back in the water.

Shoot an email to Mercury re your area parts and service.

I was fishing a Canadian lake on a day when it was sun and the clouds and although I'd normally go with the darker lure during cloudy periods for some reason I didn't and on that day it was just the opposite. Generalizations are just that and sometimes they work some times they don't.

Did you use emery paper on all the connections and get them bright and shiny?

I unlike Crestliner don't ever want to hear the drag scream in any fresh water situation except maybe a big salmon on the Great Lakes. I never realized how much a slipping drag while you cranked could twist a line until one time when putting on a new line I flat out forgot to tighten up the drag after a winter of the tackle just sitting there.A few cranks and the twist was cut the line terrible. I back reel now for bass, walleye, notherns, musky etc. Northerns and musky sometime go faster than I can back reel so I just let the reel back wind. An ocassional banged knuckle but I haven't lost a fish because of it. The harder they go the more I point the tip of the rod towards them. When they are burning away from you having a rod flex is never or rarely needed to prevent slack getting into the equation.

Always goober up the line before you pull the knot tight.

My dad didn't fish. I started at a local creek filled with mostly rough fish, a few blue gills and other sunnies and a rare bass. Cane pole bobber and some worms. My dad bought me a bait caster and shortly there after got him self one. We fished together often IL where we lived, IN, TN, Wi and MBN until his passing. Now I think we didn't go together often enough.

Another good reason to pinch the barbs down!

It is a lot more dangerous driving t the lake or just being on the lake!

Especially when using soft plastics missed fish are normally due to a late hook set. Years ago I was at a seminar listening to Woo Daves. Woo opened by saying that sooner or later someone would ask about when to set the hook so he would get past that right now. Woo said," When a bass eats a soft plastic there are three taps, Tap 1 is when the bass eats the bait, tap 2 is when the bass spits out the bait and tap 3 is God tapping stupid on the shoulder because he missed the fish. I'm not sure I agree with this 100% but it is pretty close.

Add to your info sources. Ask at the local tackle store(s). Don't over look crawdads.There may be some lakes that don't have them but I've never fished one that I know of!

Nothing at all wrong with keeping a legal number of fish for the table. I never keep larger fish from about 1 1/2 #'s up. I don't think they are as tasty and I hope they will spawn some more fish. I've bass fished for over 65 years and God knows I caught and eaten more than my share. Now I only keep the few that I've hurt real bad. I don't think bass are nealy as tasty after they have been frozen as some other fish, (Think walleyes, bluegils, perch, crappy, catfish) so If I'm going to eat fish it will be the day I catch them.

Sounds like the light bow is blowing around. Since you are going to build a front deck for next year I'd just relocate the gas tank up front if the tank is portable and the hose is log enough. When you put on the deck keep in mind thar the weight of the deck is encluded in the total weight limit of the boat.

I can't say that I've noticed this in bass fishig but when I've seen this on the great lakes salmon fishing I know it will be a day of frustration. I think the fish are just hanging out and not acrive at all.

Goose Pond - Grafton. Not large and the state record smallie cam out of it.