NBR

Neither am I a fisheries biologist but I have had friends with private lakes and their state biologists had them removing a lot of fish annually. I had permission to fish so long as I harvested what I caught, I would talk to your state DNR and ask for suggestions. I believe introducing more forage would be counter productive. Your body of water will support a finite poundage of fish. Absent suggestions from the DNR I'd start keeping the smaller fish.

I start mine with muffs at the begining of the year and then if I haven't gone for a while. At the lake we back down until I can get the lower unit in the water then start the motor before backing in the rest of the way. While it has never happened for it to not start some day it will and if the boat is not off the trailer it is easier to pull out and free up the ramp.

There is a tool called a "Barb-it" that has cutters so you put it in the fishes mouth down the line until you contact the hook then cut the hook with the tool. It also has magnets so the hook pieces come out of the fish.

I don't believe you can have too many vertical pixels. I believe at 50 feet a pixel is about an inch of bottom change so 12 pixels is not showing great detail. Both of my sounders are older (so am I) with the console being about 15 years (240 pixels) and the TM sounder probably 10 (320). When I really want to see bottom I always zoom in to the bottom. I only fish 50' deep in the warmest part of the summer summer and usually only 25' to maybe 40' even then. If I were buying a new sounder it would have more pixels than I could afford and color.

My boat is 18'11" and I run an Eagle off the console and an eagle off the trolling motor with no problems. If you have a problem you will see it clearly. I'd bet you will be okay.

My choices would be suspending jerk bait, jig and grub and spinner bait in that order.

Bass Pro Shop has a Daiwa Graphite Procaster reel and rod at a combo price of $68.98. I have a Daiwa Procaster that has served me well for 15 or more years. I prefer metal frames but then the price starts up. Bearings up to 3 and an instant anti reverse roller bearing pretty much take care of the fishing needs. Beyond that they might make the reel seem smoother. None of the catalog literature spells out the bearing quality so I suspect all reel manufacturers use pretty much the same level. I can't remember all of the letters but it is some thing like A****7( I can't remember all the letters), with the seven being the highest level of precision. I say precision because the tolerances on the components are tighter and they possibly select fit components. I think you are wise in buying a lower priced combo. You will be able to learn without spending a bunch. I have a fishing pal who first bought a moderately priced set up, Quantum reel/uglystick didn't practice and backlashed a bunch so he used his spinning gear. He couldn't figure out why myself and another fishing pal used baitcasters most of the time so he bought a Curado and a St. Croix rod didn't practice and still backlashed a bunch. He and I have fished together for 4 full weeks since he bought the Curado/St. Croix combo and I'll bet he hasn't used it a total of 4 hours more likely under 2 hours. The operative word in starting out bait casting is practice. Preferably in the yard and driveway; don't waste fishing time until you are reasonably skilled with the baitcaster.

Your boat and trailer will track a bit better if the hitch gives a slight down slope to the boat/trailer.

I went through the folder, plastic boxes. worm binders and about any thing else that has come along. Now I keep the plastics in the bag they came in or a zip lock freezer bag if the original bag tears then put the smaller bags into a 1 or 2 gallon zip lock bag by bait type and keep the whole bunch of big bags in a plasic tub with a lid that fastens to the top.

If not over a year old it should be replaced with no questions. Take it back to the retailer or ship back after talking to who ever on the phone.

Your talking a pretty wide price range to compare productss but of the group without price consideration I'd chose the BPS Extreme. I don't have one but I have other BPS reels and they have served me well. Don't worry much about the number of bearings since beyond 3 or 4 they don't contribute much to casting ability but might make the reel feel smoother. I prefer an all metal frame since I think it maintains alignment better than graphite frames but I have no data to support my thoughts on this issue.

I can put the lure in a spot smaller than a post card 3 times out of 5 or better at 30 yards and on the misses I know about it early enough to stop the flight. To do it I need a short 6' rod and I prefer a pistol grip for accuracy. When doing a cast for super accuracy I use a straight over hand cast even though I usually just use a roll cast.

Doc, Call Greg at West Shore Marine in Bristol 744 2900(Lakes Region). He is the best OB mechanic I have ever used. If he can't do it or it's to far for you he might be able to give some referrals.

Run the line through a few guides, put the spool on the floor with the label up, make a few cranks. check for twist. If you have twist which will happen very seldom turn the spool over, fill the spool to 1/8" from the lip. You won't need to make sure the line is coming off the line spool properly. Make sure your lures are not spinning and soft plastics are rigged straight. Don't crank against a slipping drag. I back reel so reeling with the drag slipping is not an issue. I have been going to Canada for more than 25 years for a week or two of solid fishing and I can't recall ever needing to drag a line around to get the kinks out. My buddy relies on the drag and we need to get the twist out of his line every day or two. If you want to see how badly reeling against a slipping drag twists pull a few feet of line off and loosen the drag and crank. I do go a step further and put a swivel on the front of in-line spinners like Mepps and others that are prone to twist.

I have pinched the barbs down on everything fcr over 25 years and I don't see much difference in landed to lost ratio whether they jump or not. When fishing with guys who don't pinch down the barbs I don't lose any more than they do and the hooks are easier to get out of me, parts of the boat, clothing and the fish.

You have reels listed from about $90 to $120 (a 30% difference)maybe more each. Pretty hard to compare but if you are getting along with you 20 year old reels you should be just fine with any you mention just choose your price. I have reels from nearly all you mention and some like yours are 20 or more years old and frankly I can't tell much difference including the Curado I bought on close out just after the new models came out. I also have a BPS reel I bought at about the same time I bought the Curado and like them about the same.

Many palm the reel in their left hand during the retrieve and with a fish on. It is easier to move the rig from your right hand to palming the reel in your left if you cast and crank right. Think about it cast right, move rig to left hand and palm reel with right hand, and begin to crank. Admitted you can cast with a palmed reel and most do at times but I don't think it is very efficient.

Sorry, my typing skills are worse than my mechanic slills and both are better then my proof reading. gerring was intended to be getting

I have never had this issue so my comments are right off the cuff and with no science or skill behind them. However, it sounds to me like you are not fireing on all cylinders or your prop is slipplng. This percent drop is significant and unless you have added a lot ofweight you just don't seem to be gerring the thrust out of the prop.

Except in real bad and rare situations you should have no problem. Don't tow in OD.

Not knowing how your boat is set up now but assuming you don't have a unit on the console mount the display on the console and the transducer shooting through hull over the pad. This will give you a better shot for display at speed and the only possible display on plane. If you don't have a front deck unit you won't know where you are in regards to structure, depth or cover when fishing. Absent a front deck unit you ,ight want to think about a second unit with the transducer mounted on the TM. There are ways to network sounders but I don't have a clue as to the how's and why's. Welcome and good luck.

I bought a combo and I think the 6'6" ML rod. I cast 1/8 oz jigs with a small twister tail grub with 12# line. I plan on dropping down to 8# this year.

I have bait casting reels from nearly every manufacturer and none are any better than an old BPS reel that I bought as a spare to take to Canada probably 20 or more years ago. I broke a part on it this past summer and I'm very sure parts are not available so we will have a very sad burial before ice out here in the north. I bought a BPS Prolite finesse 2 years ago and it has become a favorite.

I always use the oil from the motor maker. There are probably others a little cheaper but you rarely change more than once a year so why push your luck!

We really need to know more before we make suggestions. How many batteries does your boat have? Did you buy a cranking battery expecting to run your trolling motor from it? If so don't expect much life out of the battery. An onboard charger needs a bank for each battery on your boat. I would get a proper sized on board charger it is so much more convient to plug in one charger and not need to be switching a seperate charger from battery to battery. Unless you run really long distances don't expect your outboard charger to keep your cranking battery up for several days fishing. Most boats are set up with the cranking battery running every thing but the TM. Depth sounders, live wells pull a lot of juice over time and outboard chargers don't put out a lot of watts at full speed and very little at idle.