Scott F

I never fish in hot water so I don't know if they'll work. In the summer, I fish rivers that never get as warm as the lakes do, and they work for me in the summer, but not as well as they do in the spring.

I fish mostly clear water for smallies. Senko type stick baits work well in clear water. So do suspending jerkbaits. Actually, any lure will work in clear water. Clear water extends the strike zone so fish can see the lure from farther away. Clear water makes a stealthy presentation more important. Staying farther away from the fish, and making longer casts is important.

"Path of least resistance?" There is no reason not to fish what works for you. I don't use leaders, never have. I have never seen a need. Just because the majority uses leaders here doesn't mean that it's a requirement or you are doing it wrong if you don't use a leader.

Cabela's brand clothing is warranted for life. If it leaks and you haven't worn it out, you take it back and you get a new piece or your money back. That's good enough for me.

In my experience, most people don't get to choose their career, their career chooses them. Have you been going to the job websites like Monster, Craigslist or Career Builder? You send out resumes and see who chooses you.

Pike don't care about seeing leaders. They don't even care about seeing a boat. Plus, 60b test FC leaders are not invisible. Guys who are trying to prevent bite offs will use 100lb test FC leaders.

I don't mean to offend anyone, but long arming in photos makes the fish look better, but in my opinion, it makes the fisherman look worse.

I'm in the minority around here but I use 8-10 braid on all my spinning gear and never use a leader. For my fishing, I have yet to find any condition where a leader would have helped me except for maybe a steel leader for pike. The stretchyness of mono and FC lines alone keeps me from using it.

I don't know about the bass, but what's wrong with your arms that they don't bend at the elbows? ??

There is a boat that I think would fit what you're looking for and would fit your budget. Your biggest problem might be finding one. Today, Ranger offers the "Fisherman" series of boats. Over the years, they have evolved into huge, expensive, battleships meant for the walleye, musky tournament fishermen. Back in the day beginning in the late 80's they were smaller, lighter, inexpensive, multi species boats. The models produced in the 90's refined the design and were good for bass fishing, kept the occupants dry, but were not the very deep V's seen today. I still have mine from 1988. The only thing I'd trade it for is a mid to late 90's model with a bigger gas tank. Look for the model 681VS

The preloaded, high def contour maps for the lakes I've fished are excellent. Being able to create your own high def maps if the lake you are on is not one of the 17,000 pre-loaded maps is great too.

If you launch from the US side and want to fish Canadian waters, don't you have to go through Canadian Customs before you fish and then back through US customs when you return? You'd also have to carry your passport. There was plenty on water on the US side for me when I was there to avoid the hassle of going far out of my and wasting a lot of fishing time dealing with customs.

The whole keeping hydrated thing by using sports drinks was made up by the companies that sell the drinks. Most contain huge amounts of sugar. You should carry water for when you get thirsty, but dehydration rarely happens. Check out this video from "Adam Ruins Everything" I'm a Cliffs bars fan myself.

Kastmasters have very dull hooks. Either sharpen them very, very well or replace them. Dull hooks are the number one reason fish come unbuttoned.

I fish smallmouth the majority of the time and my most heavily used gear is spinning. I've been using nothing but Quantum spinning reels for almost 25 years. I always like their better reels and have never had a reason to change. I'm not nearly as picky about my rods a many of the guys who post here are. I just can't feel a big difference between quality rods. A while ago, a good friend of mine got into rod building and he only charged me for the components to put them together. When he quit building rods, I switched to St Croix. In my mind, the rods are high quality, do what I need and, I spend time fishing not far from the St Croix store so I can purchase the rods often at discounts not available anywhere else.

When I first got a boat, I asked my wife if she wanted to come fishing with me. She just said, no thanks, go enjoy yourself. As a kid, her father would take her fishing. He sat on the bank drowning worms. She was supposed to sit quietly and wait. She hated it and thought all fishing was like that. It was a few years before I got here out and she was amazed that fish would eat artificial baits and there was no just sitting and waiting. If all I could do was bobber fish, I'd quit.

I don't know where you are or what is in your creeks, but Smallmouth move out of the creeks in late fall to their winter holding areas. How far they travel depends on how far they have to go to get to habitat that suits them. Some creeks have those spots. Dams on the rivers will limit how far they go to.

I have found the built in maps on the Garmin to be excellent. The fact that you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars extra to buy map chips a big plus. The ability to create high def maps in real time even on the low end EchoMap series is a big benefit too.

I don't anything about the new Humminbird models, but for me the tipping point for going Garmin was the built in maps (17,000) and the ability to create your own high def maps in real time even on the least expensive EchoMap units. Not having to spend possibly hundreds of dollars on map chips or buy a high end unit to get the ability to create maps, sold me. Another thing, and I can't compare the maps to other quality map chips, but the high def built in maps on the Garmin were nearly perfect.

I have a 1988 vintage Ranger and there is a piece of conduit that runs front to back on both the port and starboard sides just below the gunnel. Is this where you are trying to pull?

This is why I stopped buying 150yd spools. when I find a braid that I like, I buy the biggest spool I can buy. A 1,500yd spool is expensive, but there is only 1, 15-25yd piece leftover to discard instead of 10.

There are a lot of free, online, services that will resize photos. I use tinypic for my stuff. Just google resize photos and take your pick. Sorry, I just reread your post. If you want to post videos, upload them to YouTube first, then post the link here.

There's a saying that goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." With limited funds for tackle purchases, spend your money where you'll get the best return. When your hooks break, or can't be sharpened, replace them but wait until you need them.

What kinds of problems are you having with the hooks that you feel the need to replace them?

During the winter, you should be looking for water with minimal current so the jerkbaits or any other bait, shouldn't be effected.