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Welcome to Bass Resource!

Welcome to the forum!

The beauty of fishing is there is no right or wrong way to do it, but rather catering it to your own enjoyment. If you don't like using technology, there's no need to use it, if you want to load your vessel up with it go right ahead. Saying that using technology takes the skill out of finding or catching bass is a statement I'd have to disagree with. First of all, you need to have the skill of actually using your electronics and understanding what you're seeing. There are a lot of people out there that spend a crap ton of money on electronics and have no clue how to use them and don't take the time to learn. For those that do take the time to learn what they're doing, side imaging sonar lets them see cover, structure, and fish deeper than what we can with our naked eyes. Does that mean an angler using the technology of prescription lenses or polarized lenses is also taking the skill out of fishing as they can see things underwater they wouldn't be able to without those lenses? Having anchor lock and power poles are a convenient feature that allows me to stay within casting distance of a school of fish, but they just as easily hold me within casting distance of nothing but dead water. Technology makes it easier, more convenient, and cleaner than carrying an anchor, but achieves the same result. I'm pretty sure nobody has called out someone with a rope and cinder block as someone with less fishing skill because they can stay in one spot. Lastly with the hot button topic of forward facing sonar, there seems to be this persona that if you can see them on a screen you're guaranteed to be able to catch them and it takes skill out of any sort of presentation. If this was the case, wouldn't every angler using it catch piles more fish than anyone else? If that's the case, any tournament angler using any sort of FF sonar should have no issues catching a limit, however looking at the results from the Elite Series, who are among some of the best bass anglers on the planet, that's not the case. I just ran the numbers from their tournament on the Mississippi River last year (because I know how tremendous of a fishery it is) and only about 86% of the anglers caught a limit on the first day, and that dropped down to about 63% on day 2. Then I checked Lake Oahe since it's a lake that would let FF shine and again only about 86% of anglers caught a limit the first day and about 74% on the second. As with all electronics there is a learning curve with FF sonar, and even when you're proficient, again it's not guaranteed success. Anyone who's fished for bedding fish can most certainly attest. After you've spent over an hour on a fish and thrown everything under the son at it you realize just how much time you wasted on a fish. Now instead of that just happening during the spawn it could happen all year long. I guess that's a round about way to answer your question that I don't think we've reached a point where technology has gone too far, maybe someday, but not yet. It also does not replace the skills of finding fish either. In the right hands it can speed up the process, but doesn't replace it. About the auto bait placement system... that's not something I'd buy into as I can already do that myself without assistance, but it might be fun to have a little remote control boat to drive around when I can't buy a bite! haha

x2 I have the glass version of this rod and don't let the name fool you, it's a pretty versatile stick. Being a heavy power it's got some strength to it, but the moderate taper lets you throw baits smaller than what you'd think to throw on a heavy.

Congrats on the new rig!

I haven't specifically used the War Eagle Finesse, but have used a similar finesse style spinnebait with the same blade combo. I've had some great success with it in clearer water or tough conditions. The Oklahoma/Colorado provides more vibration than a willow/Colorado does, but since the blade size is smaller, it's not overpowering for the finesse situations. The normal sized Oklahoma/Colorado combo is probably my favorite blade combination on a spinnerbait as I fish a fair amount of stained water and a lot of grass. The Oklahoma is like a best of both worlds type deal, where it gives off almost as much flash as a willow blade, and has almost as much vibration and lift as a Colorado without the added headache of it grabbing every blade of grass it comes close to on the retrieve.

Change the switch position on the side of the foot pedal to mom (momentary) If it's still running and doesn't shut off check the momentary switch. There could be something holding the button down like some gunk in-between the button and the foot pad body. It could be a faulty momentary switch though.

Congrats on the new rig!

As for trying to keep your glasses from fogging, you might want to try an anti fog spray, or the washing with soapy water and letting them air dry trick. Probably not 100% but they might help a little with that.

Hopefully looking to get a few new combos this year and add another unit up front. As far as baits go, I pretty much restocked everything I used up last year that are my go-to's. I do want to try a few new things I have yet to order like the FF Minnow, Spunk Shad, Chunky D, and maybe a few more hard baits like a few more colors of OG 4's, Shadow Raps, and maybe some spybaits.

I had the 100 mph gear and it was good. Living up here in the north, in the cooler months I loved that I could zip in a liner and say nice and warm. I purchased the size that I normally wear and it was a good fit. Big enough that even with a hoodie or a hoodie and the liner in it, it wasn't tight. I'd still probably be wearing it on a regular basis, but managed to get a good deal on the Simms Pro Dry which is pretty much the gold standard.

Over the past few years, I've been subscribing to the thought process of less is more...to an extent. I still like to have some choices when it comes to colors, but I have started to narrow it down. To stick with your example of jigs, I'd rather have 2 of the same color in different sizes than 2 nearly identical colors in the same size. For my jigs, I carry 5 colors and have multiples of each size. If a slight color difference is needed I can change that with my trailer, but the 5 colors I carry I have a lot of confidence in and feel prepared for any water color I might come across.

I vote that it's made a disease and that way there's a possibility of having insurance cover the cure for it....since the only cure is buying more tackle our insurance premiums might actually finally be worth it lol.

My father had similar crooked experiences when he took his old boat in when it wasn't running right. It was bogging out, guttless, and idling like crap. The local marine dealership took a look and told him it'd need a full rebuild because the compression wasn't even across all the cylinders. At the time I think their estimate was $3k. While my dad mulled over what to do, he talked with a neighbor who was a little more knowledgeable when it came to motors and he suggested getting a second opinion since the variation in compression was within tolerances for brand new motors at the time. My dad took it elsewhere and found out the carbs needed to be cleaned. A few hundred dollars later and his motor was running good as new.

My thoughts exactly. If it's found to be a battery/power supply issue which it sounds likely, those aren't covered under warranty. Switching wires to a known good battery takes all of 5 minutes, requires no skill, and costs nothing. Doing the same thing at a shop will usually be charged a minimum shop rate of 1/2 hour and cost anywhere between $50 to $100. They'll also want to replace it for you and get you for more money there.

Give them a shot! If you're looking for other options as well, I really like the Rapala Shadow Rap Deep.

Wow...just wow! Reminds me of watching one of AJ's videos, but this guy is catching carp instead of giant smallies haha. Very impressive, now excuse me while I go try to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Welcome to the forums!

Cheap is a relative term so I'm not sure if they qualify or not, but I've been using a Berkley Precision Scale for the last few years and the total with 5 fish has been within a few ounces of the $2k protournament scale our club uses. That's close enough for me. It comes with a nice padded case for storage too. I used to have a Rapala High Contrast which I really liked minus that it was harder to hold with a really big fish due to not having a handle. Had that for probably 5 years before it was no longer consistent and you could weight the same fish or random object 5 times and get 5 totally different weights. Their touch screen tournament scale is something I see used by a lot of the pro's but it's also $70. I was tempted, but went with the cheaper Berkley option https://www.berkley-fishing.com/precision-digital-scale-35-lb-1285948

There have been quite a few that inspired me over the years, but not so much for the techniques they use, but more so their demeanor both on and off the water. They're fierce competitors during tournaments, but still managed to be courteous and respectful. Off the water they're some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. My top 4 would be Jimmy Houston, Hank Parker, Al Lindner, and James Lindner. I've met them all multiple times and they're great people aside from being great anglers. They're true ambassadors of the sport and have inspired me to try to pass the sport on the same way they have. That's actually an Illinois accent, most prevalent around the Chicago area where he grew up.

What impresses me most is you found the typo over a year and a half later! Going back to the OP's post though, I'm not sure if the 2020's are the same as the 2023's but it looks like the only compartments that have the rubber compression seal are the rod locker and the under seat storage. All the other storages look to be a plastic insert and although being raised slightly will help to keep some water out, if it can't get drained away quick enough it will spill over and into the storage. If you look very closely in the 2nd picture, there is a drain to help evacuate water to prevent it from overflowing the boxes, (there may be a few of these) check to make sure they aren't clogged. One other thing to check is the latches themselves tighten down through the lid via a big plastic nut on the bottom side. If those have loosened up it can sometimes let water drip down in through there as well.

Having one of these switches is worth the investment and it's pretty easy to set up. It's not great to jump from one of the trolling motor batteries, but I'd rather do that than be stuck on the water. When I bought a different boat earlier this year the previous owner put all new batteries in shortly before I bought it, but skimped on the starting battery. It met the minimum requirements recommended by the motor manufacturer but meeting the bare minimum isn't good when you fish all day and run pumps and bigger electronics. I owned it just long enough to put my bigger electronics on it before I fished my first tournament out of it and boy was I glad it had that switch. Used it a few times in the afternoon and it was a simple flip of the switch to get it started instead of digging out jumper cables if they were even in the boat yet.

@Justbass11 your trolling motor should be hooked to a separate battery from your starting battery. Since you've had it plugged in for a while and you know the trolling motor has power, try disconnecting the power wires from your outboard to the battery and put them on the trolling motor battery temporarily. Since you know for sure that battery is charged you'll know if you're looking at a motor issue or a battery/charger issue.

I've been pretty late to the chatterbait game. Tried then when they first came out and didn't have success so they sat on the back burner until the past couple of years when I decided to give them another try. I've had some killer days with them for sure, and some of the best have been when the water's in the upper 40's to low 50's. This past season the first fish I caught and last fish I caught were on chatterbaits the first one being in water cold enough to still have ice on it. Although I haven't personally tried the big blade version, I wouldn't hesitate to try one as long as you're moving it slow. I know there's a few other baits I throw in cool to cold water that produce in a big way while putting off a lot of vibration while moving very slow. If you're not getting bit on a slow retrieve, you might want to try Aj's method of fishing one like a jig.

GFI's can go bad so maybe that's the issue. Does the motor turn over? As others have stated, check the other switches to see if those work and see if it's not working completely. If it moves in one direction, but not the other, it's usually caused by one of the relays going out. You can swap them to confirm which is the good one. If it's not moving in either direction from any switch, check the fuses on the motor. If it's not one of those simple things, you'll have to start tracing wires.