Scott F

The Garmin's built in HD maps are very very good. Depending what chip you have for the Lowrance, you might have to do a side by side to see which maps you like better for the lake you are on. Then use one for mapping and the other for sonar. Either way, you will have a lot of options with 2 units. Plus, if one breaks down, you are not running blind.

You guys are lucky to have water clean enough to wet wade. Around me there is run off from farms, and lots of geese that leave waste behind that translates into e.coli bacteria in the rivers. That, plus there are always tick infested forests and poison ivy that lie between me and the river. I wear breathable waders when I wade.

The wires that connect the electric trolling motor to the battery.

If you can't do it already, you will need to learn how to back up a trailer. If you are mechanically inclined, you can save a lot of money when doing maintenance like repacking or replacing trailer bearings, replacing water pumps on the motor, repairing trailer lights, and replacing bilge pumps. Installing depth finders, trolling motors and other accessories is also a valuable skill. There are a lot of new skills you can look forward to learning as a boat owner.

Is that what "fly" fishing is all about?

There was a device called a color-c-lector out many years ago that was endorsed by touring pros that is exactly what you described. It looks like you can still buy them. I have no idea if it actually picks the right color or not.

The transducer does not read the water temp. There is a separate thermistor built into the transducer housing that senses water temperature.

I don't know enough about the river you are fishing, even what part of the world it exists in. If it has gobies, I can only assume it is connected to one of the great lakes. Because the river you fish has gobies, follow the gobies. I don't see bass leaving an area that has that kind of forage. You might have to find a way off the bank to get to more spots.

Was catching a bunch of bass on the Zman jig and TRD. My boat partner had nothing like it so we went to town and all he could find was a 3" Yum dinger and a crappie jig. The next day, he out fished me with it.

It looks like your transducer is bad.

I purchased a Frabil Conservation Series net for about $80 a couple of years ago. Small mesh, no knots, better for the fish. I was fishing with light line and small, expensive, Lucky Craft jerkbaits. I don't like swinging decent size fish with this set up as the line could break and i'd lose the fish and the lure. The small treble hooks on the jerkbait took too long to remove from the net. I bought a rubber net to use instead, but I took the long handle from the Frabil and put it on the rubber net. Best move I could have done. The smaller basket of the rubber keeps the fish from getting "lost" in the net and the hooks come out easily. I still use and like the Conservation series net but only when I'm fishing from my personal pontoon where I use mostly single hook lures.

Store them in a new Ranger. Rods up to 8'6" can be stored in them.

Make your life easier and skip the leader altogether.

Over the winter, I was talking to a guy who services Honda outboards who told me they replace the water pumps every 2 years. I was not aware they needed such regular service. When I told him my 20 year old Mercury had never had the pump replaced, he was shocked that the motor hadn't quit years ago! I don't use my boat that much, I probably average about 20 hours a year, but he got me nervous so I ordered a pump kit and put it in myself before the start of this season. The impeller I took out was in nearly perfect shape. Still soft, no nicks or wear in the blades. There was some curling of the fins which is to be expected but I probably could have gotten more use out of it. As has been stated above, replacing it is cheap insurance. I viewed a few Youtube videos on how to do it and it was easy to change. I guess I was lucky not to have had problems, but maybe because most of my boating is in clear water, there wasn't much material suspended in the water that could speed up the wear on the impeller. It won't be 20 more years before I replace this one.

Take a look at St Croix Triumph rods. Available almost anywhere and run $90.

I skip the docks that have people around them too. It's not because they might think they own the water. I'm just not that confident in my ability to pitch to that dock without throwing the bait on top of the dock, or in his boat.

A lot depends on where you're at. In my neck of the woods, northern Illinois, it takes about 10 years for a smallmouth to reach 4 pounds. Last week, my friend hooked this specimen in northern Wisconsin. It sure looks like a smallmouth. They haven't spawned yet up there so this one must have been born last year. It doesn't look like it weighs a pound to me.

While I was eating lunch at a restaurant recently, a gentleman at another table asked if we had been fishing. We were up in northern Wisconsin where 90% of guys fish for walleye and panfish. He asked us if we caught any walleye. We told him we were bass fishermen. A few minutes later, he dropped this napkin on our table.

Just like for bass, there are hundreds of muskies lures that could work well. It all depends on the water and conditions, just like bass fishing. Muskie lures are usually a lot more expensive, and the tackle needs to be heavy duty. Count on having your bank broken if you get into it. Google "The Musky Shop" it's near Minocqua, WI. They have the largest selection of muskies lures in the country. Bucktails, surface lures, crank baits all can work. Muskies are crazy, nobody knows what a musky might hit next.

It's not pressurized water. It's water that has a lot of people fishing it. Fishing pressure. Non pressurized water has few people fishing. Right now, I'm on vacation fishing a lake where only a few people bass fish. The spots I fish haven't seen any lures and are not as wary. I've been on other lakes where there is a boat every 200 yards all the way around the lake. You can't find a spot there that hasn't been fished several times in the last few hours. Much tougher to catch them.

After reading all the positive reviews posted here on BR, I bought a couple packages of Z-man TRD's and mushroom heads. I'm currently on a trip in northern Wisconsin on a lake that's known as a numbers lake and the Ned rigs stayed in my tackle box for the first half of my trip. I've been doing very well with small jerkbaits but I noticed a lot of hard bottom areas with gravel, small rocks and not too much downed wood that were perfect for "Ned". I have to say it worked exactly as described. I got some bigger smallmouth, lots of largemouth of various sizes and rock bass. My fishing partner was suitably impressed enough, after being greatly out fished, to go to town and buy the jigs and plastics. He was too cheap to spring for the VMC finesse half moon jigs, so he got some painted 1/16 oz jigs and some 3 inch Yum stick baits which worked just fine. Thanks guys for turning me on to a new, very effective addition to my arsenal.

I have a non-CHIRP 73sv and it works on mine, so I'm sure it will work on yours. If it doesn't, contact Garmin support. You can also look up the operator manual for Quick draw contours and it might help.

The software update for the echoMap series includes the 4,5,7 &9 series units. I haven't used the home port feature.

I river fish for smallmouth from a personal pontoon. I carry 2- 7' ML F spinning rods and 1-7' M spinning rod. I throw inline spinners, Senkos, a few jigs and top water baits

Thanks for the tips guys, I tried it for a while this morning between the rain showers but the fish have turned off for right now.