gulfcaptain

You also have Otay, El Capitain, Murray which you can fish from shore. And San V you don't have to fish deep.

Try some of the sloughs away from the central part of the delta. Go north or east, the further away the less tide you have and less wind issue's. You will still get movement but won't be ripping like Frank's, big break, state park, or bw. And wind won't be as much as an issue either.

So quick note for clear lake. Carry white vinegar with you. Put it in your live well, floor drain, and bilge. Leave plugs in. Wipe boat down with vinegar. This will kill any mussels without hurting anything or causing anything toxic in your boat. FYI, the vinegar tip came from the inspectors at clear lake.

So I don't look for bed fish and do fine. You see one cool catch it put it back. But there are lots of fish either pre spawn or post that are willing to bite. Look a little deeper or in deeper cover. Fished a tournament this last weekend and most of my fish came on a frog when everyone else was looking for beds. If water is above 59 throw a buzz bait or top water. Go get um.

Have you looked at Lews kvd composite rods? Or the xd lines. Might find what you're looking for and under your price point. Use the quantum kvd tour composite rods which are no longer available. 7'4 to 7'6 good options or even a bps crankin stick. Mh should cover everything other then say 8xd or 10xd size cranks

You won't regret it. I'd go that route. I put livescope on before I upgraded my trolling motor, and it was so worth it.

So go with the livescope. 9" screen no need for a 12". Now the why. You can scan the area with your livescope, see what you're fishing and look at what your trolling motor is pointed at. It offers you the ability to see real time information. Now on spot lock it doesn't work very well unless it's pointed where you want to fish. I want the 360, but then it's only so I can see spots to point the livescope at. So I use side imaging, look around where I wanna fish, if I see something I like I stop go back over and fish it with livescope. If I don't see any activity I leave. It's real time information. And have to say I chase shad schools pre-spawn to catch offshore fish that aren't on anything but bait. The bait moves, I can watch the bass interact with the bait in real time. See if they are interested in what I'm throwing by tracking my bait. Move with them, scan suspended fish, target them, see if they are bass or not. Why because its in real time. That's my opinion on your question. And if you do use thick guage wire (8guage) to run your power. I learned this from experience and if you go livescope, put in a toggle switch to turn your black box off and on that way you can kill the power to the transducer with a switch opposed to the unit. Hot days your transducer will overheat on runs out of the water if its not shut down.

So rule #1 it's their boat. I fish club tournaments and we are all competing. I try not to backseat my co. Try and tell them what my plan is and give them suggestions of what they may want to bring, but then they are gonna fish their way. If I'm fishing offshore spots I try and make it where we both can fish. But simple rules are as follows: Don't cast in front of the boat. Don't trash the boat. Windshields are not grab points and are expensive to replace. Don't be negative. Even if your boater is a well you know. If fishing is slow its slow. If he's catching and your not, watch what he's doing. Throw something a little different. But don't complain and make the day uncomfortable. Be there to net fish. If you're there for him, odds are when you need the net he will be there for you. Be ready to go when he is. If he says we are moving, be ready to go. Especially in higher level tournaments. He's fishing for 100k have yourself ready when he says let's go. He shouldn't be waiting for you . Now here's a question to ask your boater. If he's culling fish ask if you can cast in front of the boat. Odds are he will say yes. If I'm culling in a club event I'll tell my co to run the trolling motor or if I have to re-rig. Offer at the ramp to back him in if you can. If you can't do it let him know. If the ramp is tricky and he wants to do it himself and you think you can, be respectful. Ask if you can do anything to help out. Be open and respectful. Remember you helped with gas but he has $$$ tied up in his boat, tow vehicle, and equipment. You're getting to go fish for half launch fees and gas. If it breaks you're not out he is. Offer to help wipe the boat down. Help him clean up. Thank him. Remember you're on his boat. Being respectful will get you a lot further then complaining about what he's doing and you not catching fish. I've had my pro tell me to go in a big tournament and while winding in caught one. Made #4 for my day. That pro told me to keep fishing, put his boat down the bank with no rod in his hand and made sure I had 5 fish to weigh. Respect was given back because that whole day I respected his boat. If we were gonna drift into the reeds and his high dollar rods were hanging out and he was culling or had my fish tangled in the net with his I was quick to grab his rods so they weren't damaged. When he said let's go, I was ready. Respect them and more then likely they will do what they can for you. And I've had my co win behind me as well as top 3. They were catching fish I wasn't. So I was more stoked to do what I could to help them get their fish. But if you're ungrateful and complain it's easy for them to leave and have you catch nothing after that. Just remember #1 it's their boat.

Don't need a boat, Orange County Bass Club meets in Garden Grove. Look them up and maybe I'll see you at a meeting or event.

Member of Orange County Bass Club. No you don't have to have a boat to join.

Thanks, see a lot of the OGs are still here.

So last year after acquiring livescope I spent a lot more time offshore fishing. #1 the unit lets me see what I'm fishing as in I get a live visual reference scanning the area. Let's me see bait, fish, structure, etc. #2 I can read the mood of the fish. Decide quickly if they are bass or not. See if they want anything to do with the bait I'm throwing. Do they follow, run away, ignore, etc. Are they on the bottom or suspended? So I've broken down my offshore game, made it more user friendly by being able to read the water. Same thing we do beating the bank. We target fish, high percentage areas, but move quickly. Using modern technology I can now do the same thing offshore and fish productively opposed to fishing areas I mark that look good but don't have the activity I'm looking for and some fish people aren't even targeting which are un-pressured and easier to catch.

So been using braid to leader on all my equipment since 2013. 30 for most, have a few with 20 on them too for cranking, mainly smaller cranks and jerkbaits. Fill your reel with your mono first, add 75 to 100yrds of braid to your reel, no digging issues when cranking. Set your drag a tad lighter then when using straight mono.

What wire guage are you running to your livescope? I had power issues with mine but then realized my run to my buss bar I was using was too small. Moved up to 8guage and all power issues are now gone. Check your wire size your running first before diving off into lithiums

Hey guys, been a long time since I've been on but thought hey why not introduce myself again. Was active a lot before I bought a bass boat and then we'll fishing, tournaments, work, life, all happened but have to say the community here was missed so dug out my password and here I am. Looking fwd to hearing from the veterans and others from here. And have to say Siebert still has the best prices on tungsten and proud to have his decals on my boat.

You will get interferene (cluttered return) in your unit. Put one in stand by and see if your picture becomes cleaner. See if some of the clutter/feedback clears up and you get a better return.

First off, if both units are using the same frequency you will have interference when using the trolling motor unless you put the console unit in stand by. The lower the numbers on the Hz the narrower the band or scope of the area covered. The only way to get good with a unit is to use it and learn to interpret the information that is given and then learn to make manual adjustments on the settings over time to clean up and maximize the picture. Remember fish won't always show arches if you're sitting on top of them and not moving, it may look like squiggly solid lines. And I run my display at the fastest scroll speed as well.

I find myself only fishing a few different frogs. First, the Snagproof frogs (Phat Frog, Fred's Frog, and Poppin Phatty). All walk very easy, don't take on water, and come in a few different colors that other companies don't have. Found myself mainly using a few colors, white, black, smoke, and platinum/clear). Next would be the Spro Bronzeye Shad. Love the baitfish colors and walks easy as well as a great hook up ratio and like the skirt set up on these frogs. Now off to the Deps Slither K. Great little frog and the rabbit fur tail gives it great action and walks like a champ as well as it doesn't take on water. Pricey but well worth it. Then the Optimum Furbit, as it also has the rabbit fur legs and gives the fish something different to look at. Keep it simple. Few baitfish colors on the Brozeye Shad, black and white with others, and a few with some metal flake flash or transparent. Best advice about frog fishing, learn to walk them, every model and brand you fish, and carry a few different sizes and styles.

Unopned....probably a dozen baits. Now if we are talking unfished and in a tacklebox.....well that's a whole different story all together and probably a different thread too.

Look around and into Grand Isle. Has a lot of good redfish there. If you don't want to do the Misissippi Delta, then you can go to Southwest Louisiana as well and fish around Cameron LA and there are guides to be had in Hackberry up the river. Both places might be a little less expensive the Venice but have just as good fishing.

Depending on where you live, the closer to the dam (lower end of the lake) usually is the clearest water. That would be a good starting point.

Vinegar and water is the best and cheap. Also works to take the hard water spots off the boat and is non-toxic. A gallon of white vinegar runs about $3 and will last you all season since you mix it with water in a spray bottle. And get some micro fiber clothes as well to use on the screens to clean them so they don't get scratched.

I'm probably the biggest Quantum fan on this site and as stated there are mixed reviews. I don't fish that model but do fish the EXO, Tour MG, older Smoke 150's, older Accurists, and Kinetic's. ALL of them fish a bit different but they are all solid. The only other reels on any of my rods are from the company we can't speak of but make a great A and C reel. Sounds like it needs to be broke in, turn the ACS controller to off, adjust with the tension knob and oil the worm gear. It may have too much grease in the housing, but odds are if you have it over adjusted, it's not going to feel right. But I do know how you feel, feel the same way when I use any of my friends Diawa's or Shimano's and they don't like fishing my Quantum's.

Difference between a worm and a squarebill can be a huge difference depending on conditions. Prespawn feeding fish, you're going to catch more on a squarebill for two reasons. One, reaction, and two, you're covering A LOT more water. Your buddy can probably make 3 casts of not more with a squarebill to your one with a worm. Now cold water, hot water, non-aggressive bass not willing to chase a bait sitting on cover or structure, then a worm dropped on their head will probably equal more fish then a squarebill reeled past them. Fish what the fish and conditions are telling you. If you and your buddy are fishing two different ways and he's catching and your watching, I'd switch. But you can always cheer him on if you refuse to pay attention and adapt to what the fish are telling you.

I don't believe they are discontinuing the original Bucoo line. They added a bunch of rods to the Micro guide line not to long ago. As for the new SR, it's a little different. The back grip is differnt then the original line, tapers thinner on the EVA foam. Guides are quality and the rod feels and balances very nicely. Also like the hook keeper on these which I wish the originals had. Looking forward to seeing how it fishes the cranks I plan to use. All and all, it's a very nice rod for the price and has Falcon's quality for the price you expect with the Bucoo line. And there isn't a "made in the USA" tag on it, but then 95% of all the rods we fish aren't either. They might be wrapped here but they aren't made here.