crankbank

I think I may start using braid as a mainline. I have been doing quite a bit of drop shotting lately, and have been getting frustrated with my FC getting incredibly tangled up and causing more effort to get the line off the spool.

I picked up a 2015 tournament flyer about a month or so ago when I was in the shop and there are a few more dates. I do not have it in front of me, but there is a 2 day tournament up at Sebago towards the end of the year. It will count for double points, and they have a pretty good deal with a resort up there for 2 nights and food for a little more than the tournament entry fee.

I have 2 Tatulas (both 6.3) and 1 Type R (8.1). I use the Type R for jigs/pitching/flipping, and wanted a higher gear ratio. Although there are other differences between the regular and Type R, I only went for the upgrade for the higher gear ratio. Like most things, I think it is personal preference. If I was in your boat, I would go with the 7.3 Tatula, mainly because of the jigs and maybe frogging applications. I use both of my 6.3s for jerkbaits and shallow cranking. I know you also mentioned some cranking uses for your reel, but I would still go with the 7.3. I am sure someone here will be able to give you a better reason for choosing the 6.3 or 7.3, but I don't think you can go wrong either way.

I think it depends on a few things: 1. Size of the lakes you fish. 2. Amount of lakes you fish. For me, the lake closest to my house is rather small. After a few trips, I had the entire lake mapped and was really able to take advantage of it. Regarding the larger lakes I fish, I really wish I had Navionics as it would make things much easier. Insight has made some advantages where I think it would be definitely worth your time to try that before purchasing. For one, I believe you can get a lot out of it without spending the $99 on the premium subscription. You are also able to generate the maps for loading back onto your SD card with 1" contour lines. Back to my second point. If you're always fishing the same handful of lakes, that aren't massive, I would take an afternoon or two and try and map the entire lake. Social Maps is another feature Lowrance has been working on improving. You may be lucky enough to find some of your local lakes that have already had a good chunk mapped. As for installation, I had mine done by the service guys at BPS when I purchased my boat.

Awesome! I know how tricky it can be all too well.. enjoy it!

Great stuff, BlueBasser!

I think there is an option on the right menu to select which location to pull your map from. Also, you may have to upload the map from the SD card on your main menu. Check out page 27: http://www.lowrance.com/Root/Lowrance-Documents/US/HDS_GEN2_TOUCH_OM_988-13012-003_w.pdf

Few on ebay... steep prices, but such an awesome box.

Motley Crue- Wild Side

Ha! Well then, you make a great point.

It may depend on the color, I ordered the Morning Dawn color during the Black Friday sale and it shipped on Thursday.

Do you know if there is a feature to record the side scan mapping?.. similar to structuremap overlay?

Looks amazing...but I may be looking at the site wrong, is it $1,500 for each function (down or forward)?

I agree that when it comes to sensitivity the money should focus towards the rod, and for reaction the money should focus towards the reel. However, that being said my setups mostly fall into this range: $100~ for reels $200~ for rods

gobig, thanks for taking the time to write up all that info! Much appreciated, I can't wait for the Spring.

Totally get your point, and that is the boat I am currently in. Just starting out throwing swimbaits, picked up a few bbzs, s-wavers, lunker punker, and hudds. Not really anything bait specific, just liked the action of the freestyle from the videos I've seen, and all that is said about the 3:16. I told myself this upcoming season, I am going to fish those relatively cheap swimbaits, and then look more into the 3:16, Depps, 22nd Century next year if I have some success this year. The only other one I may pick up for this season, that I suppose is still 'cheap', is a ms slammer.

haha! No!!!

I have yet to invest the money in a 3:16, but I wouldn't mind getting my feet wet with a cheaper model... what would you suggest?

Ha, yeah... their site is a little archaic.

It was tough to pass up, but just passing this along: http://www.316lurecompany.com/

Flipping: 40+lb braid, no leader Cranking: 12lb copoly or hybrid

Thanks for the info, going to keep an eye out for a Champion 703.

In northeast Mass, it is snowing pretty hard and doesn't look to be slowing down until sometime early Wednesday morning. It is also quite windy so some of the drifts are pretty outrageous. Tough to say but I think we are around 18" so far.

Great ride! Love the colors and those shiny rims.

During the TW Christmas sale, I scooped up 10 of the Boze Sumo frogs. Looking forward to using those, as in the past I have mostly used LiveTarget. I also have a Spro Bronzeye Frog and Shad that I am dying to use as well. Considering all the frogs I have, I should be good for awhile... although I have always wanted to try out the Slither K...