RNSkeeter

While I've just started some moderate journaling of my fishing trips, what I DO have is an excel spreadsheet of every single piece of gear I own. It's tremendously helpful when I lose something and need to re-buy. I have a really poor memory and I'll forget what colors names are, who manufactured it, or what weight something is. I even use it in the tackle shops so I can fill in things I don't have. Having a spreadsheet of everything makes it a lot easier and I find myself referencing it a LOT!

Oh awesome that's great to know! I will test the turn on/off feature then try that overnight. I think I'll still try those low voltage fan/heater for the floor of the boat to make sure there's circulation there too. All of these things together should really keep it dry. Thanks! I DO have water left down in the bilge. It was because my old dry-storage place HAD to be the ones to pull it out of the water and put it away -- so I didn't always get the chance to drain the boat easily unless I waited around. Your trick of doing it on the water is a good one! Now that I have my own hydrohoist, I can drain it EVERY time I fish! I'll use your mop idea to ensure the bilge is bone dry as well. Thanks for the info. I've been having water in the bilge, so that makes sense it's a big cause of the problem. The cover does have good air vents, but I'm betting that bilge water would still be generating so much moisture that it still collects in these lockers. Unfortunately skeeter does not use rubber gasket lids. The lids have foam on the roof which wouldn't seal if there was a rubber gasket so not much I can do there I think.

It's a 2021 FXR, so it does have the dock fan. I'll try that and in combination with the small electric heat/fans I've seen like @Lead Head mentioned. I'm not always there physically to turn on and off the dock fan, but I can put an electric fan/heater on a smart plug or something. I'm curious about the lid seals -- it's the foam lid with the aluminum lip style that skeeters use. Does your's keep moisture and condensation out? This seems like it's water vapor and humidity thats trapped under the cover first, and then gets trapped in the boxes themselves -- probably happens overnight. Running water (like rain) it's great at keeping out though. I'm currently running an experiment by leaving the cover off and I'll check back in a day or two to see if the condensation is able to evaporate out.

So I just switched to keeping my boat on a hydrohoist over the water vs dry storage. (ca delta) What are the best ways to try and keep rods and gear dry? So far it seems if I have my factory skeeter cover on it (which is solid 'plastic' and doesn't breathe at all like canvas might), it really traps in the moisture and I'm seeing it collect all over the reels and bait boxes. Anyone keep their boat and gear on the water all the time? How do you keep it dry? (Or is this a lost cause and I need to bring my gear in every day?)

I think I identified it as a seal. I was able to hear their warning growls on youtube and it was exactly the same sound. It must have swum up and buried itself deep in the tules or was hanging out on the other side where I couldn't see it. I thought they would only 'chill' on rocks, land, or beaches, and not up in those kinds of places.

Can't speak to a Kistler, but I love my Mad Bull. I have two, and it's one of my favorite of all the MB rods I have.

It was a really low guttural growl, and sounded like a larger animal. If I didn't know better, I would have thought a dog or gator. It was definitely warning me. The setup: I was fishing just a few feet away from a tule island...the thin kind with no real dry land on it. I was just about 15 feet from the point and a few feet off a really REALLY dense large tule clump / edge... I could see the water about 6 feet away on the other side. As I'm going towards the point, this thing issues a pretty loud growl. It was very clear it was a warning me - a "I'm about to slap yo upside the head" kind of noise. I didn't question it, and backed off. But it sounded large. Way larger than a river otter, but I can't imagine how anything larger could get in the tules that were SO THICK, and why it would hang out with no real dry ground around. Anyone know what issues warnings like this? Anything like this happen to you?

I'll toss a +1 on the Dark Sleeper for spinnerbaits too. It also performed pretty well for my spinnerbaits. Ultimately I used the madbull, but I had both and either would have done well. I just keep it to swim jigs / swimbaits at the moment.

Any chance you could share the non-profit or in DM?

Reviving dead thread, but for the sake of searchers, I can chime in on two: Z-Crank: I can't compare directly to the cyclone, but I can certainly vouch for my Z-Crank. I have it paired with a '21 metanium, and it casts squarebills fantastically - both small ones as well as bulkier ones like a R2S Big Poppa . I'm often surprised at how well these smaller squarebills can be thrown. There's something about the tip and the last 30% of the cast that it adds a whip to, and it just sails a light bait with a lot of accuracy. Very happy with my zcrank and what I use it for. Blade vs MadBull I have both of these. The Blade was bought as my main spinnerbait rod, and the mad bull was for medium cranks. Right away I was not happy with the Blade. I'm throwing 3/8 or 1/2oz spinners with 3.8 kaitechs, and it just didn't have the umph or power for them. I can't quite define the exact issue. But I think the shorter rod length and weaker tip, meant I couldn't get any force for that last 30% of the cast to sling it forward and stright. The bait hangs down bending the last foot at rest, so the casts are sloppy. I found myself constantly landing short of my targets. (I throw spinners around a lot of tules and cover.) To experiment, I moved it over to other rods, one of which was the mad bull. Night and day difference. I think the madbull's length, more parabolic and medium bend, and little extra power made a big difference in properly loading the rod on the cast. (same exact reels btw) Now I can cast much further with less effort - which translates into getting my bait right up against my target in that 6" zone. I bought another mad bull for spinnerbaits now. So far the blade has been the only MB rod I wasn't very happy with for my use vs it's intended application. Hope this helps!

Added pics! No it doesn't say lucky craft, just pointer SP. Original fleabay listing specifically says it is lucky craft. I looked back at the Lucky craft site and it's definitely not a match, but it does match the image from tackle warehouse. I'm assuming they updated the line? I see two brass weights in the new model vs one in the TW model, and the eyelet is protruding from the nose and not the bill. Mine seems to be (or mimic) the TW model Lucky Craft pointer 78 http://www.luckycraft.com/luckycrafthome/products/jerkbait/pointer78sp.htm Tackle Warehouse pointer minnow http://www.***.com/Lucky_Craft_Pointer_Minnow/descpage-LCPT.html#multiview

I just tried out my first Lucky Craft 78 SP today. Bait was amazing - I hadn't used jerk baits very much but right away I could see I liked this kind of bait and need to a handful to cover various depths. Only problems was within an hour of tying it on it started nose-diving on pause. After inspection I found it was completely full of water! Has this happened to anyone else before? Here's the rub, I bought it off Ebay, out of package. It looks legit, It's a ghost minnow and I can see all the internals - doesn't look like a knock off. Has anyone gotten fake lures from Ebay, or do Lucky crafts sometimes just have a bad lure? *ADDED PICS*

Holding: 7lb 15oz Ground: 5lb 3oz

Man! I don't have enough posts! (And mostly I just posted this to up my count for next year )

Not sure why anyone in this thread is saying it's not a sport - none of them gave any reason. By the dictionary definition, it is. Not really much of a debate on that point - especially if you limit the topic to tournament bass fishing. Anyways I always use the term sport to describe it to non-fisherman. For instance "I fish for bass as a sport, it's very active". This helps people to understand it involves intense study, physical practice, mastery of brain-body coordination, reflexes, strategy, and a type of ruleset. It creates an easy to understand picture that differentiates what I do from passive "bobber" fishing, trolling around, sitting on the shore, and so forth.

Decided to try breaking in a new and older unused buzzbait with a fan. I pinched the rivet, and sanded off the paint from the base of the blade. So far it seems to be squeeking it up nicely. Anyone else use this method?

I recently got into 4 Lews tournment and 1 tourney pro. Really happy with Lews. When I switch fishing rods between my green curado bantams (the older reliable ones) and the lews - the weight, size, smoothness and cast-ability are all superior on Lews. From what I've researched the SS will share a lot of the same parts as my tourneys and fully believe they will be about 80% as good for less money. Lews isn't like shimano or diawa where their various reel lines can have completely different characteristics and go from good to suck.

That's strange of him to say because in my experience you actually do. When they flee from danger they dart and jerk backwards with each tail flap. It's not a vertical hop, so maybe that's what he means, but its more like a horizontal arc each time they flap. Poping the rod tip simulates it or how some people might swim a jig simulating a longer swim with multiple tail flaps.

Best success for me is around cover, especially vegetation. Right as it hits the water, pull up about a foot with your stick to pop the bait up on the water, meanwhile you engage the spool and start reeling your pole back down to normal position - but with a slow retrieve. If you coordinate it right it, the bait should start churning the second it hits the water. This also keeps the baits momentum slow so it stays in the strike zone. I've seen some guy burn the handle when his buzzbait hit to try and get the bait up on the water, he wasted a good 1-2 feet of his strike zone with a blazing fast bait and I know he was losing fish. I always felt it was a bait that surprises the fish into striking - getting bit either a second after you first hit the water, or pulling right over a hole or point in some vegetation. Rarely have I ever been bit on just a bare bank.

Ordered a whole bunch of North Star Jigs recently (can't wait to get 'em in!) and was going through my jig box. I'm not entirely happy with the way I store them now, just in individual dividers in a typical Plano style box. I can't really see the head or the skirt color all that well. How do you store your jigs? Anyone doing anything novel? A few ideas I had were to get foam strips and stick them in a row along the foam strips. I tested the idea on cardboard and I liked the visibility to see each jig properly. I didn't find any novel containers made by plano or flambeu. Any thoughts?

A better reel has things that affect your direct fishing performance and things that are just part of having something quality that lasts and feels nicer To me, things that affect fishing performance: Better bearings, lighter spools, better design = better cast distance. That's important for casting, but not for flipping rods etc. Higher quality drags. Smooth drag won't jerk when the fish runs, possibly saving more break-offs. Good for all fishing styles. Higher drag rating. Not as important for casting, but for heavy cover flipping/punching, you usually use heavy line and tighten the drag down for maximum hook set. Better braking systems. This lets you dial-in the right settings to reduce backlash for your given lure and rod. Things I don't think put more fish in the boat, but are 'nice' Smoother reeling, smoother anti-reverse Higher quality parts will last longer Lighter weight. Saves your wrists, helps you balance the rod better.

The main difference for me is tying my line on in the wind. With round split rings I'd occasionally have to fight to keep the knot in the doubled up portion and keep it from slipping down into the single portion and then getting between the metal curls. Oval split rings keep the line on one end or the other naturally, and thus it's a lot easier to tie your knot.

For all you Delta guys, how often do you find the fishing different (better or worse) moving between the big macro areas? For instance, on a given day, the bite being on or off in Frank's Tract vs Mildred vs Old River vs Disappointment vs Big Break, etc. Do you often find moving to a completely different area will change the bite you're having? (factoring out the tide difference ofc)

Really interesting idea. A few things that would be nice to see as the general public. 1) What a normal bait looks like next to your pretty glowing grub. and 2) What baitfish might look like in UV. Just to show off the idea that bass are really seeing more of the baitfish at lower light levels than we would. I'm assuming what you're discovering in bass vision is similar to this? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-473897/A-bees-eye-view-How-insects-flowers-differently-us.html

They really have to be careful using that name...when I first read that title I thought it said SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT. I'll wait here why everyone scrolls up and takes another look.