DogBone_384

@Siebert Outdoors are my #1 jig.

Most of them were. Our GS is 440+ lb/ft torque and has manual drum brakes. Kind of scary. It handles pretty good for its age. I upgraded the suspension with performance springs, bigger sway bars & urethane bushings.

Took a short trip to a Plymouth pond I've gone to since the '70s. I picked up two dink LMB straight away on an Emerald Rapala PXR Mavrik. That was it. 90% of my equipment is in my Ranger, so I packed very light. I threw a jig, T-rigged swim Senko, and a Kickin' Zako but nobody wanted them. I saw a school of 8-10" LMB cruise by and a few bait clouds suspended in 25-30'. One big LMB cruised by me late in the afternoon. I saw it sneer at me as he passed. There were a few other kayaks on the water and a handful of folks fishing from shore. Nobody else looked like they were catching much either. It was nearly calm and mostly sunny. Water temps were 74.x and air pressure was 30. Rapala's PXR's been a staple for me most of this year. They stop on a dime and have a nice downward stance, come in great colors, and PRODUCE! The hooks are MEH, but they don't cost $25 a pop like V110s.

At this point I'd say go find a Tundra with the 5.7L or an OLDER Silverado. I haven't kept up with Fords, maybe if you can find one with a V8? Best of luck. I think that's better than my '68 GS400, which is a 10.25:1 compression motor. My idea of gas mileage with it is FULL or EMPTY. And if memory serves me right, Buick didn't offer the 455 until '70. Did your Riv have a 430?

Yes, I agree that new cars and their technology are 'cool'. Do you work on them? Jeep wanted $700 to change the spark plugs in ‘boss-lady’s’ '18 Wrangler. The intake manifold has to come off to get to the driver's side plugs. It took me less time to pull the motor/transmission out of my '68 Buick GS. I also agree that until the late '80s or early '90s, you weren't getting much more than 100K and many folks can't do their own repair work. I'm lucky, I can, and do. I also had most of a friend's '24 Tundra apart. The build quality is good, but I'd call it 'delicate', meaning it's very easy to break the 'small parts' that holds much of the truck together. My neighbor's '23 Silverado's motor was just replaced under warranty. I could go on and on... I've worked on cars & trucks since the '80s and believe today's cars are built for planned obsolescence - no more than 7/8 years or 150K miles at best. The best were Japanese cars from the latter '90's through mid 2k's, at least for reliability and not needing a computer to fix them.

@Swamp Girl - that’s not yours, is it? Your canoe would look great on top. We have a 1968 Buick GS400 convertible. When we brought it home, our daughter climbed around it and said, “Dad, there’s nothing in it.” She was amazed that everything was manual and it has ashtrays in the back. @Jar11591, no, our ‘68 doesn’t have cup holders 😏. She’s a true Jeep girl. Her Jeep has to have manual transmission and ‘rollie’ windows. She’ll drive our Buick with me, but won’t take it out by herself. Kat’s commented that I can’t EVER sell the Buick: It’s the only thing she wants from our estate….. Yeah, they don’t make them like they used to …

Ditto. Another vote for @Siebert Outdoors.

....... 🤔 If your water temps are still in the high 60's, I'd go with any paddle tail or maybe a Hog Farmer Spunk Shad. Something in a baby bass color.

Congrats on your recovery. I have a similar scar from a craniotomy I had in 2005 after a fall from 15’. It’s amazing how they can open you up, fix your brain, and it rewires itself (mostly). Keep at it.

7'3" H/MF Kistler KLX. It's pretty stout. I like the MF action and the bump in the cork grip. My #2 is a 7'3" HMH/XF Kistler Helium, just like @Bass Rutten.

Maine is a VERY DIFFERENT PLACE .... Any-hoo, my Ranger followed my truck over the bridge to Cape Cod today. I did OK. Seven fish total, a few misses along the way, with a mix of SMB, LMB, and one white perch that thought it was a SMB making it onto the deck. The perch came in just over a pound and my biggest smallie was 3.02. A jerkbait, bladed jig, jig, tube, Senko, and Ned all produced. The 3# smallie was in 4' of water in the grass, exactly where I wouldn't have expected it. I played around with my Active Target more, and while I was admiring my jig bouncing in front of me, a little blip came up and ate it. I guess you could call it my first video game fish! Very cool to see. I marked a few bait balls, but didn't pin down any big ones with marks around them. There was the usual gazillion perch in and around the 30' mark. It was pretty windy until about 1600 hours, sunny, and very seasonable. Water temps were 74.x when I launched and 73.x when I left. Air pressure was 30.1.

I was lucky to work in mid/high end car stereo in the '80s - early 2K before the FD called me. As far as the sound quality debate between vinyl and everything else, Neil Young is right about the poor quality we get over streaming services. I listen to vinyl from time to time, but listen to 'digital' 99% of the time. Most of my digital music is downloaded @ 96K, which is twice a CD's resolution. It's shocking to hear the difference between the different broadcast types. As far as my library, it's full of everything from blues, classical, to rock from the '60's through current day. It's not as hard as you think. Finding a brick'n'mortar store with tubes might be tough, but they're available on-line. I have a tube driven headphone amp and a Telefunken radio (from Germany, pre-WWII) that still work. To me, tubes are the nicest, warmest sound you can get, regardless of media type. I've got some catching up to do.

I've got some time using SCOUT mode. I've tried DOWN and FOREWARD modes a couple times, but couldn't really make heads or tails out of either. My Ghost was OOS for a couple weeks. Something went bad after installing my new toys. Bass Fishing Electronics in NH replaced a couple boards they say are common problems with the Ghost TM. I can't say it's made me a better fisherman, but FFS really helps find bait balls. It's also really cool seeing you lure come back to you. The FS12 is GIANT when compared to the EliteTi2 9" screen I had before. I try not to use it TOO much. I don't want to get pulled down the rabbit hole of "staring at the screen and playing a video game"

That sums yesterday up. The bigger bass was just off the shallowest corner I was working. I let the worm soak a little while. The second one was in 3’ or less and bit as the jig hit the water. I must have hit that one on the head.

I have one rod with 20 # copoly for swimbaits and schoolie stripers.

I stayed close to home this afternoon, taking a chance at a SMB/LMB lake whose vegetation was killed off a couple years ago. There’s still little salad, but I found a couple nice Larries in the Northern shallows, going 4-2 and 3-3. The first one swallowed a 10” green/red flake Zoom Ole Monster. The second ate a @Siebert Outdoors green/red flake 3/8 oz. jig with purple Rage Bug trailer. Topwater, jerkbait, crankbait, and everything else I threw didn’t draw a sniff. Water temps were 74.x, winds were light, and air pressure was 30.2.

I have a ‘17 Ranger RT178 (pretty similar to the 175 Tracker) and changed the 45# TM to a Ghost. It looks a little big on a smaller boat, but I didn’t have any issues with the swap.

An extra $2G’s …. Is going in the stock market …..

I just checked off September. I've taken 57 trips this year, skunked 23 times, and caught 41 bass so far. Yep, you're in a funk... I gotta move to Maine.

I got my Ghost back from Bass Fishing Electronics (NH) and reinstalled it on my Ranger this morning. I went to a lake @Fishing Rhino and I used to go to a lot to test it out. The good news is my Ghost is back in service. The only other news is that I fished to my capabilities at this water: a micro sized perch and a dink SMB, which seems to be my pattern for 2025. I marked a lot of bait balls in 20+ feet of water, but no big marks around them. I threw a spy bait for a while, figuring it's small and might entice a few bass to bite. Only the micro perch went for it. The weather was nice and sunny, windy, and the water temps were 74.x. At least September's checked off. I'm still on track to catch fish in open water every month this year. I'm fishing with the Reel Northern Bass (YT) guys in NH in a couple weeks. They 'promise' me some BIG bass.... they've never fished with me before ... my Father nick-named me Charlie Brown when I was little and I've been missing that football EVER SINCE!

@Bazoo, do you hunt smallies? I read, and reread Tony Bean’s The Last Smallmouth. It’s detailed and well written.

I have an older Lowrance Elite 4 gathering dust in my garage if you don’t need the latest and greatest technology.

I’ll bet you can find those old videos on YT or somewhere!

You've caught 1000+ (in Maine, where the season's abbreviated) bass this year and you're in a funk? 😆

Hello, and welcome!