The Commodore

Since I have gotten the motor guide xi5, I have become much more confident in heavy wind. The anchor mode or heading mode into the face of the wind make it actually enjoyable. No need to worry too much about boat control.

Does the Xi5 hook up to a Elite 7TI? I thought it only synced with HDS Gen 2 and up.

Trig worm or jig.

Look around. You can find some cheaper tungsten than you find in stores. It also matters what cover you are punching into. http://www.alleystungsten.com

I have a tournament pro and love how compact it is. Haven't had an issue with it.

FIns makes a braid that has 8 to 10 percent stretch. I have not used it for cranking but for the people worried about lack of stretch and ripping baits from bass, this might be an alternative to look into. I have some Fins braid on one of my saltwater spinning outfits and have not had an issue with it. It's a Spectra braid like Power Pro.

Honestly there are too many to list. Everything listed so far is good imo. Some I haven't seen mentioned are gambler lures, big bites, z-man (if you want durable and floating plastics) and D.O.A. lures if you are in florida.

They are aggressive but I have never heard of them being that aggressive. Had one larger than the one you saw coil into strike pose behind me when I was weed waking some 3 foot tall weeds. I ran and skipped away like a little kid.

I just need to get a crankbait setup. It's one thing I'm lacking. The only rod I have for deep divers is a composite glass/graphite rod but it is a spinning reel rod and a little heavy and hard to sling baits. Also do you know of a good chart to use for the lake? My navionics gold that came with my dragonfly doesn't seem to know of toledo bend.

Maybe finesse jigs? I know of them but I don't hear them mentioned that often. Maybe it's the season.

They are great.

Caught I nice 6 lber on a shellcracker rigged to a heavy bluegill swim jig. Not the most durable but it has great action in its tail. Sometimes when I was bringing the bait back to the boat for another cast I thought a fish was swimming up to the boat. The tail on the shellcracker looks very real when moving.

I like Columbia stuff but find myself wearing my Under Amrour shirts more. They make a fishing line and I got both of them on clearance. They were normally $80 but I got them for half that. Oh and sunscreen sucks.

I got sick and tired of re applying sunscreen when I'm out all day. The only things not covered on me are my hands and feet (if I'm not wearing shoes). My under armor long sleeve fishing shirt is cooler on me than any t-shirt I own. I'm thinking of getting light breathable uv fingerless gloves. I cannot stand sunscreen and bug spray. They are making clothing light enough and breathable enough that I rather sweat a little more than apply all that crap. I save sunscreen for the beach now.

Ah crap! I didn't see your post till now, I have wanted to go into deep cranking for a while now but I get sidetracked. But, my brother and I did catch a decent number of fish today. Two of them were nice (one was at least over 5.5 lbs.) I will have to make a deep cranking setup my #1 priority. As I want to learn how to fish more offshore.