DogBone_384

My wife has a LV500 tied to hers, and like yours, does pretty well. She calls the LV her 'fishie'. I think she does well because she doesn't overthink fishing the way I do.

My savings account would LOVE it, but, errrr, NO. One rod just wouldn't do it. My wife, however, has only one. I had a Kistler made for her in her favorite colors. It's a 7' LMH/MF spinning rod. It's a great 'universal' rod. I feel better now ...

Got @Fishing Rhino’s Nitro up and running today after 3 years’ dormancy. We cleaned the piles of tackle and ‘stuff’ it collected in his garage and I took it to his local shop so they could take care of a couple things he wanted done. Hopefully I’ll get him out on it over the next couple weeks.

Maybe … just maybe … throwing trout swim baits is in order! https://www.mass.gov/info-details/trout-stocking-report If there’s open water, the season doesn’t end.

You and me BOTH. I've learned a lot fishing with @Saltysmalljaws. Jake's a deep water guru. I'll be on Cape Cod from 3/22 - 3/29 with my Ranger if you can make time.

Are you any good with Quadrajets?

Sounds like the FD, but we always find the incident. One of my coworkers was a Coastie before the FD. He found himself picking up 'pieces' of all sorts from Egypt Air flight 990 on his FIRST DAY of service.

I worked in the car stereo industry in the '80's & 90's, including almost 10 years with Alpine Electronics, when it was 'printing money'. I saw the end of that rainbow coming and was fortunate enough to get hired on the Fire Department in the city I've lived in my whole life. I have a few years left until I retire. I'll work after the FD to keep busy, but there is no better job.

Bass will bite with water temps in the high 30's, but you have to just about hit them on the head, and the kitchen's not open all day. Blade baits are effective, as are jigs and tubes (smallies). If you're fishing shallow waters, jerkbaits work too. The key is to fish S L O W. Painfully slow in many cases. I can vouch for that.... I catch my biggest fish in cold water.

I dropped into my 'home' pond this afternoon. I threw a 1/4 ounce jig, chatterbait, jerkbait, squarebill, Keitech on underspin, and a fluke. I couldn't get any type of groove going so it was a pretty short trip. I marked targets glued to the bottom. Water temps were 46.x. Another couple weeks or so and that magic 50* should be here!

I have two dedicated JB rods, a 6'9" Kistler KLX (M/MF) and Tactical Bassin's favorite 6'10" Shimano Expride A (M/F). I prefer the Kistler because its tip is fast enough to 'flick' the jerkbait and bends a little deeper down the blank than the Expride once a fish is on. They've both caught fish for me. I like the KLX's grip more than the Shimano, it feels better in my hand. It's also made in Texas and can be more than $100 less expensive than the Expride if you catch it on sale.

26 pounds might be higher than my running total for 2024!

Same here. I've been lucky to find higher end reels on closeouts over the years. I have two Cores that I don't use often and three Zillions. My Cadillac would be my 1st generation 13 Fishing Concept E that I also found on clearance. The E is sub 6 ounces, is S M O O T H as butter and casts a mile and just feels 'right' in my hands.

Sounds like you've done all the basics regarding power/ground. Do you have an old cassette Walkman around? If so, play it without a tape in it and hold it near wire harnesses. The tape head acts like a microphone of sorts and you'll hear noise w/in harnesses. It's an old Jedi trick from the OLD car stereo days. Worked like a charm. Try taking the transducer cable from where you ran it and drape it over the hull so it's far away from existing wiring. If the interference is gone, you'll have to route your cable accordingly. Lastly, check the transducer cable for sharp kinks/cuts. Another thing that just popped in my head, did you check your ground's resistance or for what kind of voltage drop you have between the battery & +12V @ the Garmin? Best of luck.

Ditto. I like the high back and the pockets. I'm 57 and wear it all the time. I've gone into cold water after a combo. It did its job nicely.

Plymouth, Cape Cod? It's open and the smallies are starting to liven up. If you have a 60 hp or less, there's Massapoag in Sharon. It holds SMB and LMB. I checked off March with five yellow perch and one smallie at my favorite little Plymouth kettle. Two perch were just over 1.5# and the SMB was 1.7#. The perch came on a gold/black/orange Damiki blade bait. All my smallie wanted was a green/black flake tube dragged S L O W L Y. Water temps were 43.x. Winds were pretty stiff from the East, and the air pressure was 30.4.

Welcome to your new bass family.

I use United Plastics' The Fish Grip. on my scales, but they make jr. & mini sized. They're made in USA. https://thefishgrip.net/collections/the-fish-grip-mini

I fished on the Cape with @Saltysmalljaws on Monday. We ground it out all day. I skunked, but Jake caught five or six big smallies, with the biggest just over 4 1/2 pounds. Winds were tough, but a day's fishing is a day's fishing. Water temperature was 38.x and air pressure was 30. I returned to the same water Tuesday morning looking for some redemption. I managed 1 decent 2 1/2 pound smallie on the same Damiki blade bait, in the same location as Monday. Go figure. I moved over to another pond I generally do pretty well at, but after 4 hours of marking 1 or 2 fish 'here and there' and unable to connect, I called it a day. Water temps at here were 39.x. I also saw two bald eagles. I'm heading back to Cape Cod March 10th for a couple days. I think I'm going to leave the Ranger home and bring my kayak. I can hit more ponds, increasing my odds. I'm going to see @Fishing Rhino on Friday to help him get the dust off his Nitro and give it a good once over. With any luck I might get a couple hours at a private pond near his house. Spring is coming. I hope everyone's got their gear ready!

I did well in math until differential equations and linear algebra..... but .... I don't really want to know spool weights. As long as the reel is light and casts well, I'm good.

I started fishing with @Fishing Rhino in 2014. Tom's 81 now, is slowing down, and doesn't drive anymore. He doesn't use a computer much anymore either. He always offered me the co-angler spot on his Nitro so I R&R'd an old trailer he had on his property and use that to transport him and his canoe to his favorite local pond. I put him in the front and take care of piloting, so he can get out and do what he loves. I talk to him regularly and try to get him out fishing at least a few times a year.

I'd love to, but it's 3,000+ miles round trip... way too long a walk....

Drove by Sunset Lake in Braintree yesterday. It's 30% iced over on the NE side. It's 23* this morning, hopefully we won't get completely locked out.

Welcome to your bass family.

I don't see Rapala phasing out 13's rods & reels. They're good products and it gives them instant market share. Keeping 13's lures might also be a good hedge for Rapala to increase their brand's pricing and market them as premium over 13. After all, Vision 110's are $25 each and are in a lot of tackle boxes.