WIGuide

Could make for some good entertainment. Like others have said, shallow vegetation could put a damper on it though. If you're planning on keeping the pole in a fixed position and cast into the sonar beam, perspective mode might be the best way to run it as it'll give you a wider area to look at. Just be prepared though, using this type of setup could bring some "Karen's" out of their houses yelling at you telling you it's boring to see you look at a screen while fishing! Instead you should be staring off into the wild beyond like only a true fisherman would and that will up their entertainment value apparently. ?

@airshotyou beat me by 2 years! I bought my first one at 12. I 100% agree with you on the not being without one!

Not sure how long they'll be sitting, but if it's going to be more than a few weeks I'd skip putting trailers or plastics on that contain salt as it can wreck havoc on your hooks. Aside from that I wouldn't hesitate to rig everything else up. In the past there have been a few years where I started the year off and fished the first few trips with the rods rigged from the previous year without any ill effects. Up where I live that's a break of about 4-5 months.

A lot of mounts go for well above $130!

I don't have Garmin units, but I do have a 9" Lowrance up front on my boat and it's a good size for a dedicated FF sonar screen. I do have plans to add a second unit though because split screening shrinks it down too much for my taste. If you can swing it get the 12 and then you'll have the extra port to network everything together.

Not sure I've ever went swimsuit fishing.....not sure if the rod would have enough backbone to rip them off the unsuspecting victims. lol On a more serious note though, since you're just getting into it, buy a few and give it a try. Since you already have the rod you aren't out anything. If it doesn't work, then sell it and buy one that will.

You should be able to rig them multiple ways with small enough hooks. I purchased some with the intent to throw them wacky rigged on a drop shot. I have yet to do it, but maybe this year will be the year lol

If I had to just choose 5, it'd be pretty tough, but here's my list: Missile D-Bomb Missile Craw Father Eco Pro Tungsten Swing Shad 3.8 Missile 48 Berkley Power Bait 2.5" Power Tube It's not an ideal lineup, but I feel like the versatility of most of these baits would allow me to fish pretty much any way I wanted. I might have to do some modifications, but it could still be done.

I've got an old spinnerbait binder from BPS that I keep all my spinnerbaits, buzz baits, and chatterbaits in. It's similar to the worm binders but the bags have 6 compartments with zippers across them. It's served me well.

They'll still work. I've caught 10" bass on 12" worms. As Tom stated, bass don't know their own size so they will try to eat things bigger than they can handle. Around here musky fishermen catch some big bass, both largemouth and smallmouth while throwing musky baits. It doesn't happen all the time, but often enough and those baits are far larger than the 6-8" range.

Many here have weighed in and I'd have to agree to not purchase on a credit card. If the boat isn't what you want, definitely don't buy new. Just like a vehicle, a new boat takes a hit as soon as it's pulled out of the parking lot. Keep saving and looking for something used to get you out on the water. It's possible to find some good deals out there and keep trading up without paying as much. As a perfect example, I went from a 10' Bass Hound to a 16' Ranger and after I sold the Bass Hound it only cost me $400 to upgrade. I did it again and got a newer 17' Ranger for $1,200 upgrade cost. Obviously, you don't come across these deals every day so it's a long game, but it is possible. You won't lose nearly as much when you sell them and in cases like mine I was able to sell my boats for more than I paid even though I had used them for years. This past year I was able to sell my 17 footer and that ended up being most of my down payment to finance the boat I REALLY wanted.

Seems like a good start and should keep things pretty versatile. You may benefit from adding a MH/F to your arsenal as well for something like 1/4 - 1/2 oz. jigs and things like that.

If the 832 doesn't break in enough, you could take a look at some Suffix Nanobraid. I haven't used it on a baitcaster before, but I've been really impressed with it on spinning gear and gained noticeable casting distance after switching to it.

Fast action rods are generally the best all around rods. Poppers and swimming plastics depending on their size I mostly throw on a M/F St. Croix. Normally, I think of a MH/F as the the best do everything type of rod, but if you normally throw smaller baits like that, I'd go with the M/F. I know it's right at the top of the budget, but the Victory line has a 7'1" M/F spinning rod or a 7'1" MH/F that would be a good option, otherwise the Mojo has the M/F or MH/F in both spinning or casting.

Mine usually get a cleaning once a year or as needed. You can feel if they need some attention early, they'll feel off or will start to make little noises they don't normally.

Group 31 AGM would be the cheaper option if you wanted to keep it on 1 battery. I bought an X2 last year after seeing multiple positive recommendations. The longest day I fished last year was over 14 hours running a 12, 9, and active target the whole time. I also have a Mercury which has some of the highest power requirements to start amongst outboards and I had no issues at all. From what I was reading doing the research, it sounded like even guys running 4 units were seeing the same type of results.

Cover....you name it we've got it. We have pretty much every aquatic vegetation known to man, stumps, laydowns, docks, boathouse tracks, fish cribs, brush piles, the list goes on. The most prevalent would be vegetation around here. Every lake around my area has at least some of and most have copious amounts. As for structure, it varies greatly by lake. We have a mix of natural and man made lakes. They can vary from big bowls of featureless bottoms to flat shallow lakes with small creek channels running through them, to relatively deeper lakes with a plethora of humps, points, holes, etc. The Mississippi has a mix of sand drops, wing dams, and closing dams. What I fish the most really depends on where I'm at and what the fish are holding on.

I really don't think you would....pretty sure that study was conducted somewhere in Randy's back-side before he pulled the results out and threw it out there on the interwebs. I do really find the amount of hate for FF sonar out there quite interesting along with the stated reasons for being opposed to it. I'm all for it, and I have it. It was on my boat for the second half of last season. The amount of information you can learn from it is pretty fascinating. From most of what I've seen put out there about being against it I would venture to guess is coming from those that not only don't have it, but have never been in a boat that had nor have they ever tried to use it. If they did, they'd quickly discover there's more of a learning curve to it thank what they think. I feel that there's a pretty strong persona among those people that this just makes it incredibly easy to catch fish. There's a lot more that goes into it and just because you know a fish is there doesn't mean it's going to bite. Have you ever tried chasing a school of busting fish and managed to not catch a single one when you know where they're at? How about a bedding fish? There are times you can stare at them and cast at them for a long time and they'll never bite. Also keep in mind in that scenario, the fishes instincts are keeping them around the bed where if you find them the rest of they year they can just swim off. There's comments about it taking the magic out of fishing....how? Do you enjoy the magic of throwing repeatedly in an area devoid of fish? If so, fishing can be wicked cheap for you since you can just fish in the puddle that clearly has no fish in it and let the "magic" flow naturally. Then you have the other good one about how it's made watching fishing boring because they're looking at a screen, but way back in 2012 they were staring at screens too using 2D sonar to watch their baits drop on fish. Even back then it wasn't considered a "new" thing. What is it that these anglers are supposed to be looking at though? If they're fishing off shore, are they supposed to be staring aimlessly into the horizon pretending their graphs aren't there at all like when you see an ex at the grocery store? To each their own though, whether you love it, hate it, or are completely indifferent, it really doesn't matter. You can do as you please to create your own fishing experience, and that's what makes fishing such a great sport. If you want to drowned worms from the bank, or stalk your prey down like a ninja in the night, or anything in-between there's nothing wrong with either one as long as you enjoy it.

The article also states he was a phenomenal crappie fisherman and that he was considered one of the best on the planet. One thing I've noticed over the years, is people who are great at fishing a particular species are also pretty dang good at fishing for other species. It's not like he's just some guy who just decided to get into fishing and stumbled on success. Also, Chris Zaldain and Gary Dobyns are very talented bass fishermen and they admit Josh is very good at what he does and they'd have to practice for a very long time to be on that same level, so what makes you think the average joe will have the ability? Pretty simple solution to not wanting to do it while you're on the water....don't. Nobody is saying you have to fish that way. When it comes to tournament fishing, take this into consideration. The first two elite series events someone using FF sonar did end up winning the event, however there were just as many guys NOT using FF that were right there in the running. A lost fish here or there, or a whiff of a hookset was all that separated them. If it was that dominant as everyone makes it out to be, or as easy as everyone seems to think it is from reading the article, shouldn't they have been won by a landslide? The way everyone makes it seem, the winner should have had a 10 lb. average going.

Honestly I don't pay nearly as much attention to the ratings on my rods as what some people here do. I know what I can fish on each and you can feel it if you go over too much, just like you can feel if the bait is too light.

@PawleysDude no problem! Glad I could be of assistance!

I've been told yes by a few people over the years, but have yet to see it be successfully done.

Well when it comes to boats, I've seen so many things that make you scratch you head and wonder what the previous owner could have possibly been thinking. Great example, on my previous boat, the small switch panel up front didn't work. The buttons were the type you push in and they'd lock down to stay on and press again and they'd release to turn off. They were all stuck down so before even pulling the plate I knew they needed to be replaced. When I opened it up though, I found the previous owner instead of pulling the female ends off the male posts to disconnect the panel, which would make the most logical sense, took a pair of side cutters and cut off every single wire. With you setup there, maybe it was installed before the previous owner bought it and he didn't know what it was either. Or he couldn't get the red caps off either. One reason that would make more sense is the manual breaker allows you to cut power when you're not using the boat so nobody can accidentally turn it on. The auto one is always on unless tripped and when it cools it reconnects again. The other possibility is the auto breaker may be rated for the amps the tm is specified for, and the manual one might be more. Leaving the auto connected would protect the tm where the manual one might not, but still offers the disconnect ability. Either way, you could put together a better, cleaner setup with the correct parts.

The little grey box is an auto reset circuit breaker. The red caps look like something they found to cover up the terminals.

I prefer to use these over a weight jig head. They're an Eco Pro Tungsten Pro Wacky Weight. it pushes up through the worm and you run your wacky hook through some of the plastic and the loop in the wire. It helps you get a few more fish out of your worms since they don't rip as easily and it also allows you to change weights without having to retie.