WIGuide

Sounds like a rough weekend! Still a rough day of fishing is better than a good day at work....maybe a tad more expensive though. The old man in the john boat may just not have known any better. Had it been another person in a bass boat I'd be more offended.

I'd say keep it and use it for spinnerbaits, swim jigs, big crankbaits, or different colored jigs and t rigs or one of each at the same time.

Two basic things you have to do to improve: 1) continue to build your knowledge. Read up on everything you can on tips and techniques and learn all you can. 2) Put in as much time on the water as you can. There is absolutely no substitute for it.

I'm not in NH, but as far as where to fish for them, get around grass and throw baits with a lot of flash. Willow leaf spinnerbaits work really well. They're fairly easy to catch, so if they're around they'll let you know.

I'd go with this. It's a little above your high end budget, but you get a great rod with a lifetime warranty.

What year 175 was it? They are fairly stable boats in that category. I'd stay away from welding stabilizers on it if you aren't planning on keeping it forever.

I had a Basshound 10.2 back in the day. (same thing as the Sun Dolphin Pro 102) Why K&L keeps changing their names I'll never know haha. Anyway it was a great little boat. I had an 8 horse on the back and it did flex, but that's just the nature of the material. For a boat that wide it was nice and stable and handled rough water surprisingly well. Despite what the manuals said (at least the one that came with mine) they will get up on plane and it was actually fairly zippy at least until I out grew it. (I'm 6'6" and 225 so it was getting to the point I'd have to lean forward to help get it out of the hole) Overall though they're great starter and small water boats. I'd suggest getting either the 102 (used or new), a used Bass Tender 11.3 or the 120 Pro. You won't be disappointed.

Most use a 27 series or bigger. It all comes down to how hard you're pushing it and how heave your boat is.

I had a Basshound 10.2 with a 28# thrust tm and that moved it around just fine. It was a 5 speed and I could easily fish 7-8 hours with it. I also had an outboard though, so I guess it depends on if your going to be using that as your main propulsion and the bodies of water you're planning to fish with it. Before I had the outboard I had a 36 lb thrust and I could go roughly 5 to 7 hours with that. It's nice to have the extra power though when you need it. Make sure if you do get a higher thrust though make sure it's a variable speed, otherwise the slowest speed might be too fast to fish.

Show it a little love and it'll show you lots in return. Congrats on the new rig and double congrats for it being a Ranger!

Congrats on the upgrade man! just be careful and don't kill yourself with it lol. That's got a bit more speed behind it than that 35 lb thrust trolling motor.

Stratos is a good boat company. It's amazing how safe and durable companies can build a boat these days keeping us in mind. Check out what Ranger brings to the table. Even with a huge piece of the deck cap cut off (considered a large support) it's still good to go. Even with holes cut through the bottom the boat stays upright and level

I throw in another vote for Frog Toggz. Sometimes bass pro what looks like Frog Toggz rain gear for even cheaper. I'm not sure of the quality, but it might be worth looking into.

The city might, and most likely does since it's man made. If not the state DNR might have maps if you check with them.

x2 with the blood knot. It's small, easy to tie, and hold up well. If it's where it's supposed to be in the spool, it'll never come out anyway.

As others have said, I don't think you'll notice much of a difference.

Usually if someone asks and we've been just killin them I'll let them know that we haven't really been catching many. On two day tournaments if I did alright on day one, everything will be put away before I come in. I like the idea to tie on totally random objects. I'm never afraid to tell people where I caught them, even though that may or may not be where I did. Last year was my first draw tournament for the state tourney of Bass Nation. Had I not been so intent on trying to advance to regionals I had the thought to tie up a drop shot rig on my flippin stick. I was going to use a big 7/0 or 9/0 hook and use a casting plug or something ridiculous as a weight and then as a bait use a little 1.5" Senko type bait and rig it up wacky style on there. The bite was shallow anyway so I was going to pull up close to a bank and chuck one way up on the bank start reeling it till it hits something and just jack on it like a giant hit it and put on an act like I really did get bit. No doubt for the first 5 minutes of the day that Co-angler would be wondering what the heck did he get himself into.

I don't know how much of a difference there really is. I haven't fished a mouse yet but I've fished a lot of frogs. I'm sure it has a slightly different profile, but I don't think it'd make much of a difference. I might have to buy one this year and give it a try to see for sure.

Up the Jump, the backwater that connects the Jump River and Main Creek has a few smallies in it. Main Creek has probably gotten a little cleaner, with no more feeding on the ice. There's a lot of grass back there now. The bay right across from where saw that Musky gets choked out as well as the backwater to the south east of the bridge.

x2

I thought it looked interesting enough to try too. I bought it late last year and didn't get to use it much but hopefully this year I can give it a go.

Congrats on the deal man! I've got 3 Walmart's that aren't very far away and it's worth stopping at every one of them because some will discount things the other didn't, or they'll have things cheaper at one.

I've always struggled with a jig so this year is the year I'm going to figure them out!

Been there done that lol. Maybe I'm just stupid, but I still take my chances without a leader on Holcombe most of the time I'm throwing a spinnerbait there anyway which I've actually lost fewer baits and fish without using a leader haha. If I'm fishing for bass out there it's usually up the river for smallies and the abundance of the toothy critters goes down a bit.

Personally I think they look retarded, but I'm getting to the point it might be worth function over form.