Fishingmickey

X2 six wraps per Alton Jones. PS. I'll add that Diawa Samurai is a fine fluorocarbon line too. FM

Couch cushions with a small gap for the spool. FM

Hello Alfred and welcome to Bass Resource! If your wanting to go places (spot to spot). It's the Torqueedo for me. If your wanting to hold position and fish a offshore spot then the Xi3 with spot lock is the way to go. I'm running a Torqueedo 1103AC on my PA14. Full throttle speed is 6.1-6.3. If I pedal assist and I can come close to hitting 7mph. Full throttle will suck the battery down quick at 1,100 watts draw. At 1/3 throttle (350 watts draw) I'm running about 5mph. It is much faster then the Xi3 will push it. Torqueedo draw backs, It's expensive! But take into consideration that you don't have to buy a battery. You have to use Torqueedo's battery (29volt 31 AH). An upside to having the Torqueedo is the throttle controller with the watts read out, range and battery charge percentage left is a big plus. The Torqueedo really gives me the ability to go much further from my launch point without losing nearly as much fishing time. We usually have a 15-30 minute window between launch time and lines in. I have yet to run my battery dry during a tournament. I'm looking at the spot lock motor's and thinking about maybe adding another kayak to the stable. The Xi3 is the only trolling motor that has a specific version built for a kayak. Regards, Fishingmickey

Skunk, I imagine you will see price go up (maybe slowly) and quality go down as the accounts and new management team decide how they can make the company more profitable. FM

I forgot to attach the link. Here it is.

Dragging a kayak up boat ramps with front handle in hand is like taking a rasp to the bottom. You can add a gator guard protective layer over it. But your going to eat through that too. I know of people that have used either pieces of a five gallon bucket or were able to find plastic from another roto molded kayak. and make very satisfactory repairs. It requires a delicate touch with a heat gun and some practice. I'd think especially with the thinness of the surrounding plastic it would take a skilled hand to prevent making the little hole into a big hole. I'd try patching it and then put a layer of Gator guard over it and then check it periodically. West systems makes a epoxy for plastic called G-flex. I have done the same repair your looking at with fiberglass cloth and G-flex and it worked fine. https://www.westsystem.com/products/g-flex-650-toughened-epoxy/ Here's a You Tube video of G-flex in action. You might find it a bit humorous. Regards, FM

Quit dragging your Kayak. It will love you for it. FM

We had the same stomping grounds, Class of 77 here. The Awful tunnel, and those fried grilled cheese sammy's from Little King's. FM

I make it to Omaha very rarely any more. Westside high grad, But I used to love me some Runza hut runza's and the greasiest cheese burger from Broncos on 72nd and Pacific. Chain Pizza- Pizza hut - Thin crust Italian sausage and mushroom is my order. Fishingmickey

People that change baby diapers in the parking lot and leave them laying on the ground, I feel is about as low as you can go on the litter bug scale. FM

Daubs, I use a Tilley hat religiously and a good buff. The Tilley hat has a strap in the back as well as under the chin. What I really like about the Tilley hat is it's dunk-ability and that back of head strap that prevents it from falling off in high winds. I'll sometimes dunk it in ice chest water. When I am summer time Bass fishing here in Texas (100°+days). Stretchy Under Armour type long sleeved tee with one of the collared long sleeve shirts over that and quick dry fishing pants. is the ticket. I've had a 3/4" x 1/2" chunk of Basal Cell Carcinoma cut out of my face and every six months is a Dermatologist appointment. She give me the strip to skivvies speech and reaches for her nitrogen gun when I come in the office door. I've had two smaller chunks removed from my chest. I don't like to use sun screen so covering up and then using a sun BLOCK (spf 70 or higher) on my nose and cheeks under the sun glasses before I go out on the water. I really wish I would have done better covering up when I was younger. The damage is cumulative. Protection, protection protection! FM p.s. it is also cooler being covered up then having skin exposed. Desert dwelling natives had it right long before sun screen was invented. Here in Texas and fair skinned you can be fried in a hour or less. p.p.s.s.- That Shelta hat looks pretty sweet. Do they have a light colored one

If your careful with your bass rods (it's the reel way more then the rod). Some of the reels aren't very saltwater compatible and some are depending on the bearing that are in them. If your careful and don't get them wet or if your do, make sure you do a good fresh water rinse off after you get off the water. Then a thorough rinse, cleaning and lubrication after you get back from your trip. Even if it is saltwater compatible you really want to do a thorough cleaning and examination after each trip. Sand is also another reel killer when your at the coast. The bearings in a reel can rust up dang near over night and if left for a day or so the reel can be locked up. I'm not trying to dissuade you from using them. I've been fishing "the salt" for many years with my bass reels. Good luck on your trip and post a report when you get back! Jig head and paddle tails work very well too. If your fishing a lighted pier at night. Live shrimp will catch everything and sometimes using lures will get you the bigger fish and not drive you crazy with the bait stealers like crabs, pin fish, piggy perch and hard head catfish. Hard head have spines in their fins that can stab and sting you pretty badly. Do not kick them back into the water. FM

Beetle spin used to work wonders for me. I preferred the white with red dot towards the head. FM

I've got a good buddy that I fish with, Usually it is saltwater offshore fishing in the Gulf of Mexico a few times a year, usually for a couple of days when we make the trip down to the coast. We've been fishing together for almost 40 years. It's hard to find someone that you can tolerate and can tolerate you for 10-12 hours on the water. FM

Invisx, Tatsu and Diawa Samuri for Fluorocarbon, Sunline Defier Armillo for mono. Feel free to use Big game just know that your 10# is 12#, your 12# is 15# and your 15# is 17#. I am erring on the light side. It's all in the line diameters. Not much of an opinion on braid. 832, power pro and PP V2. Been experimenting with the Varivas and Shimano PitBull 8. FM Diawa Samuri fluorocarbon is seriously good stuff, IMHO as good as Tatsu.

Lgmouth, check and see if it is compatible on the Garmin website or call the customer service. I believe that Garmin bought Navionics. Lake master may be proprietary to Hummingbird. This is a link to Garmin's chip. Now whether Lake Master will work, I don't know. Here's the link to Garmin's chip. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/125128

https://westcoastsailing.net/search-results-page?q=inspection ports https://www.velasailingsupply.com/sailboat-hardware/deck-hardware/hatch-covers/ Here's a couple of link's. Casts-by-fly is right, they all will leak eventually. I think the Allen one's with the larger/full diameter over lapping lid and the "O" ring that fits under the lid rather top are a better design and less leak prone then the screw-into the ring type. RWO, Ronstan are about the same and the "O"ring for them in recessed in the outer ring. Beckson is probably little better quality but you pay for it. You can usually get a year or two out of the "O" ring before replacing. Longevity depends on how it is used stored and maintained. FM

You've got it, Google inspection ports for boats. There is loads of them out there. A multitude of sizes and shapes. For some reason I think the ones with bags are called Barney bags. Some are much better then others. I've sailed small boats like the Laser for many years and have seen both the good and bad of inspection ports. FM

My sweetheart can tell when I am under fished. I try to go at least once a week. but often it is every couple of weeks and if it goes beyond that I am seriously jonesing. FM

Makes me sad to see a large freshwater apex predator like that get killed. Probably took a lot of years to reach that size. It's darn sure not any better in Texas but the fish are bigger. Keep a few of the smaller ones for eating and let those big breeders go back and keep adding to the population. FM

Using any sunscreen or insect repellent? I could see insect repellent easily removing the painted on font. I'm assuming that it is the "palming" or brake side of the reel. Reel Magic, WD40 or other lubricants might have the same effect. FM

I had a pair of the Shady Ray's. The protective coating on the lenses did not last long at all. FM

I normally keep my dangle to about 8-12". Either bait casting or spinning. Now throwing Carolina rigs is add another dingle to the dangle. FM

It's hard to say with out having numbers (amp draw and size of your batteries). But in my experience if your running the trolling motor on lower speeds and for just short periods of time (low amperage draw). The charge can last a amazingly long time before performance starts dropping off. Also having a 24V motor draws less amps. Maybe half the draw of a 12V motor for the same work.. Running on high and continuously running at higher speeds will suck the battery/ies down fast. FM

I'll be up in September for our annual Maine trip, Cricktety. Not sure if you can find a spot to launch but a couple of years back I had a epic morning of fishing catching Largemouth, Smallmouth and Pike on Belgrade stream. Whopper plopper 75 and spinner bait was the ticket that day. Keep them fishing reports coming! Fishingmickey