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I would bet that they weren't fully committing to your bait. They may have sucked it in, but not the whole bait. Otherwise they may have just swam by and picked it up by the tail.

You might want to check out this little gizmo. If it works as good as it says, it could be a major time saver.

When it gets windy, you can still throw a frog but you usually have to make some adjustments. You can either upsize to a frog that moves more water like a Spro King Daddy frog, or you can switch to a popping frog. The other option you have is to find an area where the pads or veggies are thick enough for a distance to flatten out the water. There's times the wind will be blowing pretty good, but you can find a few of those places with flat water and still pick some off there.

I've got a few I've got quite a bit of confidence in: Rapala Shadow Rap Live Target Rainbow Smelt Luck E Strike STX Smithwick Deep Rattlin' Rogue Colors, for me, are dictated by conditions and forage so pick something that looks good to you and you have confidence in.

Sounds like it should be a good rod for anything close quarters as well as a topwater/jerkbait rod

There are plenty of other manufactures out there that make mod-fast action rods as well. It's just a rod that's in between a moderate action and a fast action so the rod will load a little farther down in the rod blank. People like to use these for moving baits, as well as heavy cover situations (pitch/punch/flip). In the heavier cover situations some people feel they will help to spring the fish through the cover as they will load more on the hookset but maintain the power to drive the hook home.

12 foot manuals might look like this on water

I don't find it as enjoyable as using an artificial. For panfishing it's alright, and it can usually out-fish artificial baits. When it comes to bass fishing though, I'm 100% artificial. Only time I would consider using live bait is shiners when trying to catch a trophy, but it'd be more satisfying to me to catch it on an artificial.

If you have another option than using your crankbait rod, I'd do that. I've tried using a moderate action rod for them and they just don't give the bait the same action due to a tip that's not fast enough. I use a 6'6" M/F rod for my jerkbaits. Although jerkbaits can be effective all year, we tend to fish them most during cooler water periods when the water is cold enough that the bass don't usually fight as hard so you don't have to worry about loosing many with the fast action rod.

My uncle had a Gambler 2200 with a 300 Yahama. I believe it was a 2005 or 2006 so I'm not sure if that's considered "newer". The biggest thing it had going for it was that it was insanely fast. I'm not sure what top end on it was. My dad had it into the 80's before he shut it down when we were driving it. I know that the internal fuel pump went out on his motor so it motor was noticeably chugging while running and it'd still run mid 70's. Aside from the speed though, the boat itself didn't impress me. The layout wasn't the greatest, lot's of wasted space sacrificed to keep it light. The back deck was very small for a boat of that size (to keep weight towards the back of the boat) but there wasn't a whole lot in the way of storage back there. They had bass chutes which were second lids for the livewell, you put fish in there and it'd slide down and into the livewell. I assume they were to keep others from jumping out, but it too away about a foot of storage space on each side. The compartment lids were flimsy. The rod locker lids were long and when you would lift them you'd see them visibly bow. The console was poorly laid out with the only location for mounting a locator being way down on the console where your leg would partially block the screen. I haven't really seen much on Gambler lately other than a few adds in Bassmaster for their Sterling model. I did find a video on the Sterling though which looks like they have corrected quite a few of those issues I commented on and made the boat a lot more fisherman friendly. Here's the video on it https://vimeo.com/8804545 Their website mentioned is kind of a joke and looks like some pages no longer even exist.

Just saw this statement this morning from Bass Pro: "Last week we regretfully accepted the resignations of three executives at Fishing Holdings; Randy Hopper, Keith Daffron and Mendel Hughes. These actions were voluntary and do not reflect any changes in philosophy with regard to management. We remain deeply committed to the Ranger, Stratos and Triton brands and have tremendous respect for the strong, independent dealer network. The dealers and fantastic team of associates in Flippin, Ark. continue to have our full support and admiration." I don't know that I buy that though. Randy Hopper had been with the company for over 45 years and Keith Daffron I believe is Forrest's son-in-law. I don't think they would all just resign if something wasn't up.

Empty the hull out. On those, if it's like the ones I'm thinking, they have a plug in the front to let any water out that gets in between the hulls as well and that needs to be drained. Otherwise, just flip it over. I had a Bass Tender for 11 years and that's all I did with it and never had an issue.

I think the guys up above gave solid advice with the crankbait rod if you're trying to keep your rod selection to a minimum.

I keep it pretty simple Flip/pitch heavy cover and frogging - 50 lb braid Finesse presentations (dropshot, wacky worm, etc) - 6 lb fluoro or 20 lb braid to a 6 lb fluoro leader Pretty much everything else - 12 lb fluoro

Welcome to the forums. If you have the means and you're dead set on a 18'-19' I'd probably go new especially since you're planning on keeping it for a long time. I know these boats won't be local, but when you're looking at spending that kind of money, it's worth a trip to go get it. After a really quick look, I see there's a certificate for a new 518 on there for $35,000 and you'd have to pay for accessories you want, but that's a pretty good deal on new.

If it were me, I'd go for an upgrade. Not that there's anything wrong with buying another one, but there are better options out there. Even if you stick with the BPS brand, the Pro Qualifier and JM Signature edition are both great reels. Neither have the smart cast brakes, but both have the DBS breaking system which works very well and I believe is similar. My first Johnny Morris reel will be going into it's 9th season of use next year and it's had zero issues. Even though it was around $150 when I bought it and it makes it to the 10 year mark, the cost per year is very low. even though some of the cheaper reels seem like they're a better buy because they're half or less that of a higher priced reel, if they don't last they're actually costing you more money in the long run.

A 7.1:1 will work great for that, they aren't bad for lures not moved with just your rod too.

You could try to find an old 4 blade ninja prop for motorguide and try to make that fit. The short blades were awesome at going through grass, but you lost a lot of speed in open water with them, so trying to make one fit might be worth a shot. You could probably reshape the blades on your current prop too.

I don't fish from the bank much, so I have a tackle bag. It holds more than the backpacks I've seen. When I'm in my boat, I don't use the bag.

Jerkbait, Crankbait, Swimbait, or a jig would all be good baits to start with.

I use a heavy power rod for a few applications. Frogging in pads or grass, flippin in heavy cover, punching, big crankbaits (10xd), and hollow bodied swim baits around thick grass, and A-rig. You might be able to get away with a MH with some of these applications if they aren't around heavy cover, but there are just some you have to step it up to be efficient.

I know the BPS in Springfield has either 2 or 3 full time biologists that work to keep the fish/creatures alive and well. I don't know if all stores have the same deal going on since Springfield has a larger number of aquariums. I would doubt they do though. I've been to quite a few BPS stores, and I haven't seen too many issues in their tanks. Cabels on the other hand is a whole different story. I haven't been to tons of their stores, but the ones I have, it seems that pretty much ever fish in their tanks is next to death. As far as the issues you're talking about, the open wounds happen. A parasite could have gotten into the tank, or the fish could have scraped itself on something in the tank. Being fat for their length could be considered over feeding, but look at fish in nature. We're always trying to catch the biggest fattest bass out there and to grow them large you've got to feed them that way. Bulging eyes usually indicate an old fish as their eyes generally keep growing.

Is it just straight concrete, or is there rip rap on either side? If it has some rip rap, I'd probably be throwing a crankbait at it.

All the social media links go to a single person's profiles too. Not that it can't be a one man show, but that's kind of raising red flags as well

We have a lot of wild rice up here and as it grows it comes up long and stringy. Any spinnerbait gets clogged with it, willow the least, oklahoma is a close second, and colorado....good luck haha. If you get a cast in without the blades fouled it's about like hitting a hole in one on the golf course.