Smokinal

There are some good, knowledgeable folks on here who are very willing to share their knowledge. Definitely helps us all be better fishermen.

Welcome fellow Mainah

Wow that looks awesome! Love to fish it. I'd have to try a TRD on a Ned head, small crankbaits, small spinnerbaits, white fluke and a drop shot in some of the deeper pools.

But what if he ends up testing positive for PED's someday? They'll have to add an asterisk to his name.

Well I gotta be honest with you. I put the free 15 day Navionics trial on my pad; I won't be buying it. I looked over my home lake, which I know like my yard, and it's highly, highly inaccurate. I was going to use it for a few other lakes that I don't know very well but can't trust it after seeing that. I looked at a few maps on gpsnauticalcharts and the one lake I looked at, that I know a little, looks much more accurate. I appreciate the tips; I'll keep trying.

^^^Thank you for the tip. I must admit I'm really ignorant to the whole map thing. I have a 798si at the console. What would I look for to get me some decent contour lined maps for Maine?

So there are many, either free or low cost, phone apps that show contour lines, depth etc... What is everyone using? Which are clearest, accurate, easy? I have my finders on the boat of course but don't have lake maps so I was looking for a low cost phone app for an IPhone to get some contour lines. Any suggestions?

I use 10 lb braid and 10 lb fluoro leader on all my spinning setups. I use the leader, not for shock, but for abrasion resistance. I fish all rocky water and braid will part in a pair of seconds if rubbed on rock.

Wow; just seeing this thread now. So glad you're ok; sorry to hear about the accident. I'm in S Maine...I'll pm ya

Here we are boyos: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Z-Man_TRD_Crawz_6pk/descpage-ZMTRDC.html Pre-order now

What weights do you prefer?

lol; that was me! Went out the side of the first, smaller one; then a larger bully came along and tried to take it from the young buck. Showed him....

So does this mean you really can't sore lip a fish???

A whole different view of this situation is that a reputable manufacturer or a reputable supplier would want to know about issues like this.

Good for you A-Jay!!! Glad to see it!! Anyone else not open yet? Can we close this dreaded thing down now??

Well she had scales on her back, sooooooooo.......

Last week I caught one that was 14 lbs, 3 oz. Had her right next to the boat and the line broke before I could lip her for a pic.

^^^Man you gotta be close!!

Are you fully open now?

Well not to rub it in but I finally made it out today for the first day. We opened last Sunday on my home lake. I let it get some sun for the week and took a couple kids out today. We had a good time, catching between 10-20 bass each, and somewhere around 40 big crappie. One of them caught 6 different species; lmb, yellow perch, crappie, pickerel, 1 brookie and 1 brown! All while targeting LMB on jerkbaits! They had a good time! Good luck A-Jay! Keep us posted!!

^^^WOW! Ima quit my crying! I checked my web cams on my home water and I'll be open tomorrow!! Some big changes happened today. I actually saw ripples and waves on the water for the first time in months!! So excited! Still some floating ice but it will be gone by tomorrow night. And I'll be out next Sunday, 29th, smashing em on jerkbaits!! Good luck everyone!

Well we are close now boyos! Getting some rain this evening and through the overnight. Temps going into the 50's tomorrow. My lake's web cam shows dark, dark ice. It's going to be mealy after this pattern goes through!! May be out Sunday!!

I think it's more important to have the correct charger, rather than the charge rate. My experience with this is I was using a standard automotive, single stage, typical battery charger and my TM batteries weren't lasting as long as I thought they should on the water. After a lot of homework, I learned that deep cycle batteries can benefit from a true marine deep cycle charger. I thought it was wichcraft but I ended up buying a Promariner Prosport marine charger and my batteries have doubled in their capacity. The same, identical batteries; not new ones of the same brand but the same actual bateries that were failing before, now outlast my days on the water with just a change to the correct charger. These chargers use multi-stage charging where the charger fully charges the battery, then automatically ups the voltage to over 14v for a designated time, then back down to a maintain mode. This process cleans sulfate off the plates; exposing more surface area of the plate to generate battery power.