WIGuide

Usually I just set it by feel. For rods/reels that have are used for single hook offerings have the drag set higher and those with treble hooks are set pretty loose.

I'm gonna be picking up another St. Croix LTB for pitching/flippin' and I'm going to try out the new Avid X as well. There may be one more rod too, but I'm not sure if I'll have the funds or not and also not sure what I'd buy for sure lol.

x2 Although I've haven't used the SX I own 3 Premiers and have used the Revo S. Knowing that the SX falls in between those two, I know it's gotta be an awesome reel.

I will fish just about anything and everything I have to in order to catch a fish, but I do have some go-to confidence techniques.

I fish by myself pretty often and have been since I was a little kid. Don't do anything stupid when you're out there and wear a PDF.

WI has some stupid tournament rules. They have a warm water restriction for permitted tournaments. Basically it states that if fishing a tournament larger than 20 boats and the water temp is above a certain degree, an angler is limited to a 3 bass limit. It's the stupidest rule ever as you can be pleasure fishing and still harvest your 5. Also, you can be fishing with a partner in the tourney and keep 5 fish in the same livewell that you were only allowed to keep 3 in if you were fishing it solo. Welcome to WI where idiots run the DNR.

I've drawn pretty decent guys so far but one left a sour taste in my mouth. First ever time fishing in the Bass Nation State Tourney I get drawn with a guy on the second day who didn't even catch a bass the first day. (It was a tough tourney out of 126 guys there were only 2 or 3 limits the first day) I was sitting in 18th place with 4 fish. I had a smallie spot that turned on the last 45 minutes of day one where I caught 3 nice smallies. Day 2 starts and we race out to that spot and in the first hour I brought in a small fish and my partner lost one close to 18" close to the boat. We left and came back with about 2 and a half hours left in the tourney to find out they got worked up again and I boated 3 nice smallies including the one in my profile pic that was over 4 lbs and my partner caught one over 17" and one just under 17". After he caught the second one, he starts telling me how it's stupid that he's even fishing at the moment since he had no shot at making it in the top 12 and I actually did. That was the first blow. It wasn't that bad, but sitting there 2 fish short of my limit I'm thinking to myself, "Why couldn't he have stopped about 10 minutes ago before he caught those two?" I tried not to let it get to me too much just tried to focus on catching 2 more. The second blow came about 5 minutes before we were going to head back. He's sitting in the back of the boat telling me how he's got a long drive to get home and he didn't really want to sit around at the weigh in. He then asks me if I'd take a picture of him holding the fish before he let them go. It definitely sucks having to take a picture of the fish you found that would finish out your limit, and then watch them swim off. At the time, none of the previous blows seemed as bad until weigh in when I found out that had I caught either of the two he threw back, I would have made the state team and got to advance to regional event! Oh well, just motivates me that much more to make it in the future.

I use 12# Berkley 100% Fluoro. I like the way it feels and handles. I don't have any issues hooking fish even on a fast action rod, although I'd recommend backing your drag off quite a bit if you do.

I wouldn't be too concerned that the motor is a little older than the boat. Personally not a Mercury fan either but they aren't bad motors by any means. I would use it as a bargaining point though, because not only is it a few years older, it's also smaller than what the boat is rated for. In the end that really doesn't matter that much, but it's something you could use that might help you get the price down a little more.

Your personal preference as far as length but I'd suggest anything between 6'6" and 7' Medium-Heavy/Fast action. With that rod and your current setup you can cover a vast majority of techniques.

Either will work for what you're looking to do with them. Try them both out and see which you prefer. Also, I tie a Palomar knot with my braid as I do with everything.

The Avid X is built on the same blank as the Avid, but it has a split grip as well as an advanced micro guide system. I haven't fished one yet but I will this spring when the water softens up around me.

If you get the regular transom mount pump get the 90 degree pump. It should look like this. https://www.google.com/search?q=johnson+90+degree+aerator+pump&biw=1164&bih=265&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=hE21VIHgHYb8yQTSs4KABA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg#imgdii=_&imgrc=o4nW3eIQ2E5OCM%253A%3BSAnFLqx50oPy3M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fassets.suredone.com%252F1814%252Fmedia-photos%252Fsd0157-johnson-pump-cartidge-livewell-aerator-pump-90-degree-750-gph.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fshockeysboats.com%252Fjohnson-pump-cartidge-livewell-aerator-pump-90-degree-750-gph-sd0157%3B1024%3B768They come with an adapter (shown in the bottom right of the pic) if you don't want to mount it directly to the transom.

Congrats on the good finish and welcome to tournament fishing. It's a whole different deal when you get on the tournament side as you found out!

I have a blaze orange BPS hat that I was wearing when I caught my biggest LMB, SMB, and biggest northern. My dad also borrowed it and happened to shoot his biggest buck while wearing it too. I've still got it, it's pretty faded out but I don't wear it much anymore. Maybe it should make a reappearance in 2015 haha.

St. Croix LTB 7'9" H/MF paired up with a Revo Beast and minimum of 50 lb braid.

Usually if there's a walleye series of rod that line includes more offerings in the ML to M power range and will be made up of primarily spinning rods. Many will also have a slightly different taper. Most will also be found in more traditional lengths vs the longer bass rods. Individual power ratings between a company's bass line and walleye line should be pretty much the same.

It's the same boat from the same company. It seems like they change the name every few years. They were Bass Hounds for a while and then Bass Tenders, and now Sun Dolphins. If you google it it'll show up as the page title on their site. To answer OP's question, just look for a used one. I had the 10.2 model and it was a great little boat. there's really not much that can go wrong with them as long as they don't leak. I've seen them as cheap as a few hundred dollars. The material doesn't wear out so even if it's from back in the 90's I wouldn't shy away from them as long as they don't leak.

There's a possibility that it's not actually taking on water, but rather moisture is condensing inside the pontoons. I used to have a Bass Hound 10.2 that had a plug in the bow so you could drain it because of that very thing.

The short answer to op's question is YES! I only started drop shotting a few years ago, but it's become one of my go to techniques. It seems to put fish in the boat even on the toughest days. Take some time and mess with it, you may love it or you may hate it. Only one way to find out.

You can use just about any soft plastic bait to dropshot with. My personal favorites include the Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper Jr., Missile Baits Fuse, as well as the Strike King Dream Shot and Baby Rodent.

It think it could be ok but, but it'd be a lot better to have it on it's own battery. If you don't have a starting battery or one for electronics, I'd suggest getting something a lot smaller series than a normal marine battery.

Not a problem! Best of luck to you!

There's quite a few good lakes down there (at least from what I hear). Only trouble is most are super busy.

It should be ok to use it for that.