BigTerp

Straight 6# Yo-Zuri Hybrid, no leader.

The answer to that is A LONG time ago. I played major Division I baseball in the early 2000's. Even though baseball is a non revenue sport at probably every school, it was still clear early on that the focus was baseball first and academics 2nd. As long as guys stayed eligible that was all that really mattered. Look at UNC with the fake class scandal they had (and MANY other examples) of how schools have "helped" to keep student athletes eligible. Now, when you consider schools with football teams that are generating well over $100 million in revenue a year it's easy to see why athletics take a front seat. It's all about the money.

I have a Tracker 1648 MV that is riveted. I've replaced plenty of rivets on my boat (re-did the transom wood, customized a control and stick steer console, custom deck extension/storage, etc.). Anything that was through the hull or under the water line got a solid rivet with a dab of 5200 under the head. All have held great and been leak free for over 5 years of hard running. Everything else (aluminum floor, hatches, etc.) were locked down with closed end blind rivets. I've had a few of these where the heads sheered/popped off over the years, but it's an easy fix. I'd definitely go with solid rivets over closed end blind rivets for anything on the hull bottom or below the water line. I've also had a few factory rivets on the hull bottom that ended up being leaky. Unable to buck the rivets without removing my floor, I coated the heads with 5200 and they have been leak free since. I tore a hole in my hull bottom a few years ago. Had it welded up successfully, but I also covered the weld with 5200 as a little added insurance. I run a 50/35 Johnson jet on my boat in a shallow, rocky river and am routinely bumping rocks/bottom, dragging my boat through gravel bottomed riffles and occasionally hitting a rock/river bottom at speed. Some of the 5200 on the hull bottom has a bit of wear, but overall is in good shape and still leak free. Just my experience with rivets and 5200. Hope it helps.

And they still out produce anything for me, in both numbers and size. The ned rig has been a close second though the last few years. I find the smallmouth in the UP shy away from larger profile baits. 3-1/2" tubes, pointer 100 size, spinnerbaits, etc. I get to fish the Susquehanna occasionally, and that's a whole different world. Although the larger baits produce well up there, we still tore them up last spring on 2.75" tubes.

In my local river (Upper Potomac) I always have either a 2.75" Mizmo Teaser Tube rigged on a 1/8 oz internal tube jig head, or a 1/16 oz ned rig with a TRD tied on one of my two rods. I'm not shy to try other presentations, and frequently do, but the above far outproduces anything else for me.

Just the cost of the bilge pump, hose and thru hull fitting. Yes, you need to drill a hole to install the thru hull fitting. I'm guessing the livewell hole is for passively filling while on the water and then a drain for when trailered. Like @ J Francho said, your pump outlet needs to be above the waterline.

Fair enough. But another consideration for the OP in regards to cost is it's less expensive to rivet down a floor or deck than it is to have it welded. And I'm with the others who have drains in the back of their floors that get water off the floor, to the hull bottom and then back to the bilge.

Most boats should have the ability for water to drain from the front of the boat back to the bilge area. In my boat (Tracker Sportsman 1648) the strakes on the bottom of the hull create a channel on the inside of the hull that allows any water to drain back to the bilge. A bilge is necessary IMO, and in my case running a shallow rocky river where rock strikes and hull damage are almost a "when" and not "if" a good bilge pump is an important safety feature. I actually run 2. If I punch a hole in my boat, I want the water out ASAP!! Even on a calm lake with little risk of bottom strikes, if you take on a big wake you could be in trouble in hurry without a bilge pump.

I was referring to ease of removal of a blind rivet vs a weld. But yeah, a blind rivet is also easier to remove than a solid rivet. Appropriate size drill bit fits right into the head of a blind rivet. It's then drilled out in seconds. A solid rivet you need to be precise with the drill bit, or create a dimple in the head to get the bit started. Then it's fairly easy to do. But also easy to wallow out the rivet hole. With a welded in deck/floor your talking grinder and cutoff wheel. Several reasons a deck may need to be removed. Ease of wiring access, access if something needs repaired/replaced, hull bottom damage that needs repaired from the inside, etc. Certainly not a necessity, and probably more reason to need to remove a floor than a deck, but IMO, it's nice to be able to have the option if needed.

When I modified my 16' jon boat into a river jet boat, I had never worked with aluminum before. I cutout the middle bench, fabricated side control panels to house my stick steer lever, throttle box and electrical control panel, installed an aluminum floor, and extended my front deck creating storage underneath. The only thing I had professionally done was the front deck extension and hatches. I did all the framing and sent the measurements out of what I needed and had it fabricated. Kind of cliche, but if I succeeded just about anyone can. Tinboats.net is a GREAT resource for stuff like this. Here is where I got my deck extension from. IIRC, it was under $300 for the whole thing which included 3 hatch lids installed, it may have been closer to $200. All I had to do was attach it to my framing. I was very happy with the quality of the work. https://www.fishonfabrications.com/ As far as time, tools, etc. It was definitely a time consuming project, but I took my time and wanted to do it right. All I needed was a blind rivet tool (cheap), solid rivet gun (cheap harbor freight air chisel with appropriate rivet setting head), angle grinder with cutoff wheels, appropriate blind and solid rivets and obviously aluminum angle and sheet. Definitely would have been easier to have someone else do all the work, but I would bet at LEAST twice as expensive. I disagree with this. If you ever need to remove the decking for whatever reason, you're going to kick yourself for having it welded in. Good quality blind rivets will hold well and be much easier to remove if you ever have to. My floor and deck are all attached to my framing using blind rivets. The framing is attached to the boat using solid rivets. I run my boat using a 50/35 jet in a shallow, rocky river with a lot of riffles, rapids, etc. In 5 years of HARD use I've had a few blind rivets work loose or the head gets sheared off. Easy fix in about 30 seconds.

I have the BPS brand and yes, you can disable the auto inflate and use the jerk cord to manually inflate.

This

I fish tubes probably 85% of the time chasing smallmouth on my local river. Mizmo Teaser Tubes (2.75") are by far my favorite.

It my small sample size using the Nikko hellgrammite this past year on a few trips chasing river smallies, it fished equal to my go to baits (Mizmo teaser tube 2.5" & ned rig w/TRD) in terms of numbers. But it did produce noticeably bigger fish compared to the tube and ned rig. I rig it on a ned head with a little lighter weight than I typically use on my ned rig. Just seems to have better action/looks to my eyes with a lighter weight. I also think it would work great weightless letting it tumble down riffles into an eddy, but I've yet to rig it that way. I have the natural color and it looks good. Definitely something that will be in the regular rotation this coming year.

I used 6' Berkeley Lighting rods fishing my local river for smallmouth for years. Throwing mostly tubes, neds and other smaller soft plastics. Worked well for smallmouth up to 20" and even an occasional large catfish. Balanced perfectly with my Pflueger President 6930's, casted light lures well as well as heavier ones up to 1/2oz. My only complaint was their durability. I broke several tips and had the real seat on one blow up. This year I replaced my lightings with Cabela's fish eagle spinning rods in 6'6" ML/Fast. Can be had for 50'ish bucks when on sale. Much nicer rod overall, IMO. And the best part is they have a lifetime Cabela's warranty.

I'm ready!!! But I'll be chasing geese instead of doves. Have some fields FINALLY being cut this week. As long as the weather holds out, we should be in good shape.

For my local rocky river it's easily a Mizmo Teaser Tube (2.75") in Penrod Purple with a 1/8 oz internal tube jig head. But becoming an ever closer 2nd choice would be a Zman finesse TRD in green pumpkin/orange on a 1/16 oz mushroom head.

This is the camera I purchased a few years ago. Zero complaints with it. The nice thing is it's compatible with all GoPro accessories, mounts, etc., which are easy to come by. For what I use it for, hunting and fishing, it works great. I notice very little, if any, difference between the quality of the videos I get and my brothers GoPro. I also use it in more precarious situations then I would a several hundred dollar camera, like in the pool with my 18 month old son over the weekend.

I have a 2 bank, 20 amp Gen2 Noco. Works great. Ran my batteries down the other week to almost nothing and they were charged up and ready to go fishing the next day (<12 hours).

I use paraffin wax on mine. Works well.

Very easy to do with lapping film. And the cost is minimal. I think I have $30 wrapped up in the different micron sizes of lapping film and the bull nose tile that I use as a honing surface. Google "Lapping Film, Try It" and you'll come across a pretty lengthy thread on another forum that explains the process well. You can get 2 to 3 usable pieces of lapping film from each sheet, depending on the size you order. And each piece can do 12 or so razors. Mine are in need of a touchup themselves. With 2 razors I can get them back to tip-top shape in about 30 minutes. Much better than paying to have them honed and waiting a week or more to get my razors back.

I've been using vintage straight razors for many years now. A little more time consuming than using a cartridge, but WAY less expensive. I take my time and go WTG for my first pass and then ATG for my second. This is what takes more time then a quick cartridge shave, but the end result is so much nicer. If I'm in an hurry I'll just do one pass WTG and it really takes no more time that using a cartridge. Those of you using straights should look into lapping film to maintain an edge. I used to send my razors out twice a year or so to be honed, which was really the only expensive with a straight. With lapping film I can do everything from setting bevels to touching up a razor. Super easy to learn to do compared to honing on a stone, and much quicker as well.

Yeah, the pictures I saw from McCotter's made it look like a mess.

McCotter's says it's back to full pool and Dominion's sight has the level at 250.2' this morning. Looks like you guys got all you needed and then some.

My Helix 5 gets a little finicky at times recognizing SD cards when trying to upload waypoints. I've found it seems to work better if you power the unit on as normal, let it load up and then insert the SD card. Mine doesn't like to recognize the SD card if I power it up with the SD card already in the unit.