WIGuide

I just don't run ethanol gas in mine. I use Sta-bil Marine for storage.

Foot pedal right in the center and locator slightly to the right.

Didn't know which brand you had. I'm not sure if you can modify one of those to work on a Minn Kota or not.

Absolutely love their baits! Their lipless crankbaits produce great for me (better than the Red Eye Shad) and I think they have one of the best squarebills on the market. I also picked up a few of the EEratic Shad jerkbaits earlier this year and have been fairly pleased with them.

Are the tails pulled off or cut off? (you can tell by looking at the plastic) If you have northern pike down there that's a possible explanation. Those toothy critters can slice through anything.

If it's breaking at or near the knot, you're probably having knot issues. Not wetting the line enough, sinching it down too fast, as well as poor knot tying technique could all be something to look at. You could be having abrasion issues as well. You might want to take one of your pre-made worm harnesses and test it out above the water. Hook the hook onto something and pull till it breaks. You'll find out pretty quick what's going on.

Generally I like to use a fast action rod for jerkbaits. It lets me make the bait dance a little better. However, you can use a crankbait rod. A lot of it depends on the power of the rod and how soft the tip is. Too soft and you'll pull the bait instead of making it dart. In cold water though, that can be deadly. Give it a try and see if you can get the action if you want. If you can then no reason not to!

I've totally got that sickness lol. Since you gave up that other stuff though you can afford some nice gear now!

In that price range, I'd check out the St. Croix Avid. I doubt you'll be disappointed!

Totally doable! Don't concern yourself with keeping up with everyone on here. I'd say if you get a nice quality 6'6" to 7' medium power/fast action rod you will be able to cover the widest variety of techniques. Is it perfect? No, but you can make it work. Pretty sure everyone on here started out with one. If and when you get more into it, you can start adding setups.

Glass is going to be heavier and less sensitive. A graphite rod with a moderate action will give you the same moderate action of a glass rod with less weight and more sensitivity. Graphite might not be quite as durable as glass but it's just as durable as any of the other graphite rods you use.

Depending on what tm you have you may be able to switch props. Motorguide used to have a 4 blade that would go through pretty much anything as far as weeds go, but because it's blades were very short and stubby your speed would drop because of it. For your situation this would be helpful!

I haven't heard of any issues with any of them.

^^ This!

With the exception of a few of my older reels that I'm phasing out, I fish all 7.1:1 or higher reels. I don't fish super deep crankbaits a lot but the times I have, I haven't noticed getting "worn out" from reeling them in. I like using the faster reels because I can always slow down with with them, where it's a lot harder to speed up with a slower reel.

It works with all sorts of electronics. It's a whole lot safer that using heat to try and evaporate the moisture because it can damage components and it's cheap!

Welcome to the forum! Although there are advantages to using a baitcaster, there is a learning curve and you also get what you pay for. The more expensive ones are easier and more of a joy to use but I'd say with where you are in fishing right now you don't have to have one. I'd say do some more fishing and be sure it's something you want to do before you go blow a bunch of money something you end up not using.

There are very few times you will be reeling a square bill slowly. It's a reaction bait that seems to work best when burned back to the boat. You can fish them around grass, just use your rod tip to control the depth of the bait. With a square bill you want it to deflect and change directions so you'd want it ticking the tops of the grass, the bottom, rocks, or whatever is in the water.

Depends on the day and my mood anything from rock to rap and from pop to country. 99% of the time though it's country.

Long stringy grass is tough for any trolling motor/prop combo It tends to pull out easily and offers little resistance for a prop to "chop" it's way through. One thing that can help is to sharpen the leading edges of your prop with a file to help the cutting action.

Don't get too worried yet. Just because it's not peeing water does not mean the motor is not pumping water and that you've ruined everything. First of all follow advice from above about checking the pee tube for clogs. After you do that pull the thermostat off of it and check that. It's possible some sort of junk got stuck in there and isn't allowing it to fully open. Third you'll want to run in on the hose again. Start it up and let it idle for roughly 3 to 5 minutes while feeling the water coming out of it. It'll get warm but it shouldn't be hot though. If it does get hot increase the engine somewhere in the 1500 range. The higher rpms should pull more water through the motor unless your impeller is totally gone and you should feel it get noticeably cooler. That's a tell tale sign of a worn impeller. If it needs one a kit. Also, your starting issue doesn't sound like a spark plug problem, it sounds more like a fuel delivery problem. Does the primer bulb stay hard after you shut the motor down? If not you probably have an air leak somewhere in your fuel system. A lot of times it's in the primer bulb itself

It sucks that that happened, but don't get too bent out of shape about it. 5 fish is not going to make or break the population even in a catch and release lake.

It's worth a shot since as far as the post goes the unit is still working fine. If the moisture got in through the case gasket somehow, it can get out the same way.

You can search the forums on here as I'm sure there are many. Another great site for information is ***.com

You can definitely walk a frog. It's a shorter downward twitch than it is with most hard top water lures. If you're using braid like you should be with a frog, you need to remember there is no stretch from the line so you need to give the bait slack immediately following the twitch. This will allow the bait to swing back around. If you fail to give the bait slack, it the front will swing towards the direction you pulled it but with no slack it doesn't allow it to keep moving past center. It will also make have the result that it sounds like you're having. Lastly take a look at the frog you're using. There are some on the market that just aren't designed to walk at all (even though you can still get them to a little) but there are others that are easier to walk than others. The Booyah Pad Crasher has been one of the easiest I've found that will walk with ease. I'd suggest you give them a try. Keep with it and keep practicing, you'll get it down!