Trek

No that's Almond Joy not Snickers.

Yes I do. That is a gitzit glider. I fished in Midland Canada back in maybe 2003 ? And a guy up there made them. They work pretty well. Sort of has the fall of a stupid tube but is lighter. I tried to buy some off him but we couldn't get them to ship them across the boarder. If I ever get back up there I'm going to buy a 100 of them. They are great for skipping. If your fishing them, where did you buy them ? I only have a few left. I do make one that is a home made but doesn't work as well because of the way the hook slot is made.

If my partner got on my boat and said he just spent $600 on a reel and or comb ( I can't see it happening ). I would say sweat ! It's like all that fancy what ever ? Who cares ? If you got it spend it. Let's go fishing and catch some fish.

I loved my Optima's in my last boat. I choose last year on this boat not to buy them because I needed four this time with a 36 volt system. My boat is a 2010. The batteries always seem to poop out at three years. I bought Duracell from Sam's Club. They use to sell Optima but I don't think they do now. My starter battery went bad in about three weeks but they did replace it with no problems. The trolling motor batteries have held up all year with plenty of power. But it's that little thing in the back of my head that worries about them. I'm always checking to see their charged and backing off the usage because I think their going to die. When these die I will go back to Optima or what ever the best battery in the world is no matter what the outrages price is just to not worry about them again. There is nothing worse then a dead battery and the tournament is not over. Even though the last time that happened to me we won the tournament.

I use an otterbox because they are tough. I work in construction and they hold up. When I'm in the boat they go in the glove box and I don't talk on them unless I'm sitting in the seat. Period ! If you want your phone to last then set rules and stick to them. After all it's just a phone.

Skeeter and Rangers are both good boats. Your not going to have any problems with either boat. I have a Z519 Ranger with a 225 Mercury and love it. But I also live a half an hour from one of Ohio's top boat dealers that sell them. Plus they have two master mechanics of Mercury working for them. Truth is that's what makes the boat. They are awesome to me and always keep my boat running well. Before this boat they use to sell Champion and I owned one of them because that is what they sold. I didn't like that boat as well because it fished nose high and I fished mostly inland lakes and like to flip. The big open water guys love them. Skeeter and Ranger both fish flat and I like them better. Now when it comes to Aluminum or fiberglass there is a big ( very BIG ) difference. The wind will blow an aluminum boat around more but it will fish more shallow. I like a fiberglass for that main reason. Now consider horse power. What ever the boats max rating is have that and nothing less or you will not like it. Nothing worse then a boat with a slow hole shot. You need to remember with gear, gas and full live well you need the power and the boat has a rating for a reason. Plus it always seems like you draw the biggest guy at the ramp. No matter what you choose look it over well.

I'm new here and from Ohio too. What tour fishes Cowan Lake ? That's north east of Cinn. Or is this a club tournament ? I know of a few clubs that would fish that lake.

I'm with ya ! I carry a 380 sig all the time. Even when I'm in these pot tournaments. There's a lot of cash laying in one of those. Sort of surprised I've never seen one robed yet. At work or play it's just part of what I wear now.

It would be rare for me to fish a tube. I don't feel the hook ups are as good. As a norm when I stick a jig fish it stays on. For me the stupid tube is the worst one of all. Though I did have a partner one year that fished it all the time and he didn't miss many. It was costing me to many fish and had to put it down.

I carry a pair of side cutters in the boat to cut the hook if I can when it's to deep. I too have caught many fish with deep hooks still in them. Will the hook rust out or save the fish ? All I do know if you try to remove it and she bleeds from the gills then she's dead in your live well in less then one half an hour. I do have stuff to put in the water and I have seen in a very few rare cases that it worked. But most of the time she's belly up at the end of the day.

I got tired of not finding exactly what I was looking for. They always had something close. And then you would order it and it look different then in the pictures or the size was wrong. And the cost ! At the beginning of the season I would order 20 bags of jig trailers. One missed hook set and a claw would be missing. So about ten years ago I started making my own baits. Jigs, spinner baits, buzz baits, chatter baits, shaky heads and even injection plastics. For about the last three years if I catch a fish on it then I made it. Now I fish with a much better product and the exact color and style I want. And no more out of stock later in the season. I just make another one.

I'm new to this forum and love to fish bass tournaments. I've been fishing all my life and now am 55 years old. Until the age 43 I use to play full court basketball three time a week during the winter months so it kept me in pretty good shape. Then one winter I just had to give it up. My body just couldn't take that kind of pounding anymore. That next summer I noticed a big difference in my fishing. I had to put the front pedestal back in the boat to lean on because the standing for 8 hours was killing my back and my knees. I was putting on weight and my blood sugar was climbing. Finally I went to the doctor and he led me to a group of bicyclists. I believe it saved my life. My weight is down and so is my sugar. I also took that stupid pedestal seat back out of the boat. Now at age 55 this last past summer I rode 2800 miles and as a group we workout over the winter in a near by gym. I feel great. Sure this has cut into my fishing time some but when I fish i don't hurt. My wife has joined me and is looking and feeling great. Now we take those trips into Canada where we portage. Two summers ago we were in Newfoundland on a hiking tour. When we were younger we never had the money to do those things. Because we workout, now we can.