FloridaFishinFool

I did. I figured I would cover that stuff in a dedicated thread one day. When I woke up today and checked the forum, I saw no replies and wondered if I had said something that could get me in trouble. Silence says I've been bad! I did go off on that brand some. But it applies to all of them. So I said to myself maybe that one should just disappear for now. Did you have any comments on it? I'm curious.

I just called my old boss Greg McIntosh who is shop manager and decades-long trolling motor repairman for all major brands in central Florida. He has taught me how to rebuild them and customize them when I worked at the shop. I asked him point blank- 24v, 60a, need to extend 24 to maybe 30 inches. Crimp or solder? Which is best? Greg: Solder, but crimp is fine as well as long as it is done right. So both work, but myself and Greg at least agree on order of preference. To the OP, it looks like my preference list is 1)new whole wire 2)solder 3)crimp 4)connector 5)move battery or trolling motor (kidding) Someone might start with #3, then after connector fails resort to #2 as quick and easy, and when that has issues, either new whole wire which is still an option here, or solder. All of us just try and offer up our best suggestions. Let us know how it goes. I would not worry about it getting wet. I would be thinking about corrosion on crimped connections and connectors and wire. If it is soldered well and right, then water is not even an issue. Water cannot get into a bonded welded metal connection. We gotta remember we back our boat trailers down into the water with lights on and they keep working because of the low voltage situation. And none of us get shocked either. So a 12 to 24 volt power run on deck with minimal water or moisture exposure, even to direct rain is not going to be an issue really. Shorting out and bad connections and corroded wire and crimps may be more to worry about. I would also use a corrosion inhibitor as someone suggested. Anyone use the red spray can? It keeps our military going at sea. Helps anyway. Its mil spec'd.

I have to disagree with some of this. No way a crimped connection has less resistance than a soldered connection. No way! Strongly disagree with this. Even artificial intelligence agrees with me on this one. See below. I included the AI text. Solder bonds with the metal. It is bonded welded metal to metal to each and every strand in the wire. And with at least a half inch overlap that is a good amount of wire bonded to make sure high current can transfer without resistance. Crimping is simply side by side touching and less contact surface area meaning all that current now has to travel through a smaller contact area which can only mean heat buildup. No bonding at all. No way a touching connection has less resistance than a soldered one. And some crimps allow wire to slip out between the gaps in the crimped area of the connector. I also would say that solder reaches every wire strand. Crimping does not. Its only success at a connection is depending on external pressure to keep the contact. Not good for high current! That resistance will heat it up! And yes, a wire coating for corrosion is a good idea. I use a red can recommended by military and used on ships and planes at sea with U.S. Navy. Best stuff on the market but I am leery of mentioning any brand names. I also do not agree with solder connections can crack. If done right he won't have a problem. Ever. But if not done right, then sure maybe it can crack apart. Key is quality of work. I mentioned I let my connection bulge a little bit. No way that solid blob of metal is gonna break. Either idea will work. As I see it soldering is superior to crimping any day of the week. And if a crimped connection ever gets corroded or loose heat will build up there. The last thing I would want in my boat is a crimped wiring harness. I want solid metal throughout. Even when I crimp on various connectors, once crimped on, I then solder them. Zero issues. Solid is better than patched in my opinion. But to each their own! The problem with soldering and crimping is that both require a learned skill. Most people do not have those skills and may not do it right leading to more problems. And one thing I forgot to say earlier, is that depending on thickness of heat shrink, I would double it up just to be sure. -------------------------------------------------------------- Artificial intelligence response to above claim: Generally, soldered connections tend to have less resistance than crimped connections. This is because soldering creates a more continuous metal-to-metal bond, minimizing resistance, while crimping relies on pressure to create a connection which can sometimes be less conductive. Soldering: The process of soldering involves melting a filler metal (solder) onto the wires being connected, creating a strong, low-resistance path for electrical current to flow. Crimping: Crimping involves using a tool to compress a connector onto the wire, creating a mechanical bond. While a well-executed crimp can have low resistance, it's more prone to variations in resistance due to factors like proper crimp technique and potential for corrosion. Resistance Variations: In high-vibration environments, soldered connections can be more prone to cracking, while crimped connections may be more durable. However, improper crimping can introduce higher resistance due to poor contact between the wire and connector. Practical Considerations: While soldering can be more time-consuming, it's often preferred for applications where low resistance and a strong, reliable connection are paramount. Crimping is faster and can be more suitable for applications where speed is critical or where the connection is exposed to harsh environments

Nothing more than sales gimmicks pandering to people's likes and dislikes. Psychological keys to unlock specific minds... I agree with ya on this one, but I never pay attention to sales pitches anyways. Its one reason I have a hard time watching any pro bass shows. Every word out of their mouths is per contract and designed to sell, sell, sell. A lot of time when I watch pro bass fishing I just keep it on mute. Changing subject, I for one would like to learn more about your past in writing. I have also written professionally for around 30 years or so. Its why my comments around here are so full of words- or something else!

That connector may do fine, but could get wet and be subject to corrosion on deck and could get kicked around as well. Another alternative is to contact your trolling motor company and see if they have a longer power cable that you can go inside the trolling motor housing and maybe quickly swap them out easy enough. If not, I solder my wires. I don't like areas of potential failure when on the water. Another issue with that particular type of connector- its used on wheelchairs as well for their batteries sometimes. And what I have seen with this particular connector is that the plastic housing breaks and splits apart. I removed this very same connector from my elderly mother's wheelchair for this same reason. I had one battery cutting in and out and it turned out to be one of these connectors breaking. And as I recall the contacts or pressure for the contacts to keep the juice flowing depends on the plastic housing to remain intact. If it starts to break and split apart, your connections will begin to fail. So it might work fine at first, but over time this connector could become a problem. If it were me, I would just cut off the wire and depending on size or gauge of the wire dictates solder overlap and thickness, but I would solder my wires. Get some heat shrink. Thickest you can find for durability. Maybe even some heat glue on inside so after you do your connections you can cover them and seal them up somewhat. And due to the large size of the wire, it takes some heat to do a thorough solder job. So locating a soldering iron with more than 50 watts up to 100 watts would make quick work of it and be sure to use rosin for good flow and adhesion. I am not a fan of crimping power wires with this much current flowing through them. That's why I jump straight to soldering them and covering with heat shrink and be done with it. This first image shows the "problem" connector that contacts depend on the plastic housing for making contact. This type of connector can heat up and cause more problems as it slowly fails. Exposing it to the elements will speed up that process. This connector bad: This next connector shows round contacts inside. These do not depend on the plastic housing for making electrical contacts. This connector good: If you choose to solder the wires, make sure you are very careful when stripping off the wire coating. Some people unfamiliar with this invariably cut into the wire strands inside damaging and cutting through some of them reducing the wires overall current carrying capacity leading to heat buildup- if a problem. And make sure to have a decent wire overlap at the solder connection of at least a half inch or so. Here is a video on soldering wires if of any value... And its a good thing you said your wire is new. This means soldering to it will be easier. Older trolling motors, their wires get wet over time and the copper begins to corrode. Solder will not stick to it. So at the shop and at home I keep a small glass jar in the solder cabinet with muriatic acid in it that I - and the shop does as well- dip the corroded tips of the wire to be soldered into the acid for a few seconds to let it remove the corrosion back to clean copper wire. Rinse. And add rosin and then solder. I also have a separate little glass jar of rosin on the bench as well to dip those wire tips into to help adhesion and flow. And yes, most solder comes with a rosin core, but I need those wires coated in it before the solder reaches the wire. As soon as it heats up enough the solder will flow like magic. The solder technique for this large of a wire is to strip all 4 wires. Make sure copper is new and clean with no corrosion. If any corrosion is found, use weak acid to clean it. Rinse off acid. Apply external rosin to all 4 wires. Apply solder to all 4 wires separately. I then add in a little bit more solder to each of them so when two are brought together, the solder to make the cross connection is already on the wires. All I gotta do is melt them together. I may or may not add extra solder. Depends on how thick that cross connection is. I like it to bulge out a little bit to be thicker rather than see that cross connection of solder thinner than the wires being connected. The solder is the transfer conductor so plenty needs to be there. Too much tends to drop out by gravity and the wires will only hold approximately what they need to get the job done. When soldering is finished, check for sharp points or edges and smooth them off and cover with heat shrink. Now you won't have to worry about it.

The FI's and FJ's were at the peak of that line of reel

Looks to me like Wright McGill? If I am right, it was instant recognition from the W and M. Can't read the rest of it.

I keep a small plastic box on the boat just for this reason. Just toss lures into the open box and let them air dry before putting away. When bank fishing I don't go through lures same as in a boat. Not an issue there.

This is a huge problem for satellite generated bathymetric images. They are NOT accurate. There are no satellites that I know of that can "read" the bottom contour through the water. So what they come up with does not always match reality. I gave up on satellite bathymetry years ago. As you have discovered hands on mapping is the most accurate best way to go.

I am also having trouble getting the lures I want. I am finding that I have to order them online now because all local stores no longer carry some of the items I want. So when I inquired to store employees I was told that because they sell their own line of custom rubber lures, they want to sell theirs above all others. And so over the years at my local tackle store what has happened is their store brand has taken over the store and other brand names have been getting less and less shelf space and when I inquired about a particular lure I wanted to purchase I was told they would no longer be ordering it because it competes with their store brand which I don't want. So my local store has pushed my brands out steadily to the point that today I only go into that store for convenient must have's and everything is now coming from somewhere else. What are we to do? So I have decided that at some point in the future I plan on getting into making moulds and pouring my own rubber lures with designs tweaked for my choices. Just how it goes sometimes I suppose. Tackle shops only want to stock what flies off the shelves. When it stops flying. They stop ordering it. So I am stuck! I tried contacting the lure company and no one would bother to return a reply. They lost a customer. I have moved on.

If you don't mind, I'd like to post some fishin' details for sunshine bass in Florida. So if lots of words and long comments are an issue, then click out now! I am giving up some of Florida's more hidden fishing secrets... Years ago when I worked for a rod and reel repair shop, some of our biggest customers was the state of Florida. The shop is also a trolling motor warranty repair shop as well. So we saw a lot of state of Florida biologists. I got to know some of them over the years and they told me some of their secrets about what they were up to all across the state of Florida. One of the greatest things they taught me was about water quality and how important it is to fishing. And with Florida wanting to establish itself as world class fishing tourism destination, it is the biologists working here who are making it happen. The sunshine bass is just one of their projects. Some of you may be familiar with places like Stick Marsh, Farm 13, Headwaters, and Tenoroc. All of these places were "created" for fishing by state of Florida biologists. Each subject has a long history and story behind it, especially our Florida phosphate mine recovery and reclamation process is amazing. I plan on getting into that one later on. One of my favorites. So all across Florida, the fishing enhancements go hand in hand with water treatment projects. Lake Okeechobee is presently under intense biologist activity. Lake Toho was a biologist project which made it so good and now it is time to do it again! Lake Apopka once had a terrible reputation for being one of the most polluted lakes in Florida. Lake O now owns that title. Today in 2025 fishermen are now flocking back into Lake Apopka thanks to the biologists and their water cleanup work being done there which includes basically turning the lake into a swimming pool for cleanup operation as they build huge water pumping station to pull water out of the lake and flow it through new plant based natural water filtration system at the side of the lake where the farm polluters used to be. Lake Apopka is now back to healthy and improving thanks to biologists. And it is this water quality issue that is at the root of Florida's best freshwater fishing. So the state of Florida has been building "water" infrastructure around the state since the 1970's. And in 1980's it greatly increased and steadily increasing to this day. And all of that water infrastructure is now online. So we as fishermen can go to state of Florida websites and go to "dashboards" where we can begin to look up the pertinent water data to our situation or where and when we choose to fish a location, we can access the water data and use it to our fishing advantage. Water quality dashboard: https://protectingfloridatogether.gov/water-quality-status-dashboard National water dashboard: https://dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/app/nwd/en/ Florida wastewater dashboard: https://efc.sog.unc.edu/resource/florida-water-and-wastewater-rates-dashboard/ Many fishermen do not know that when the i-4 interstate was built, that the interstate cut through numerous watersheds and cut them off from each other. The Peace river nearly dried up. The Green swamp was suffering as was other areas. So biologists got the chance to takeover an old abandoned phosphate mine called the Coronet Mine near Lakeland. After a thorough examination and study of the area, the biologists came up with a plan to use the old Coronet phosphate mine to RECONNECT more than 5 watersheds! An amazing project most have no idea about! So plans were made, drawn up, and bid plans sent out and engineering firms bid on contracts and BCI was awarded the contracts to bulldoze the mines. They took once individual separate mine pits and connected them all up into a water maze of numerous lakes and counting flowing water through them using pumps and computers. There are new mine lakes coming online all the time. So Florida's mine reclamation projects are well worth paying attention to! But, information about Coronet mines which is today the word Coronet turned around backwards to create a new name of Tenoroc Mines wildlife management project. Another long, long story! But worth it in fishing knowledge because of what it opens up to fishermen all across Florida most do not even know about- yet. Watch what a local Florida bass fisherman stumbled onto at Tenoroc mines! He tried to hide the location this video was made, but as you can see from the engineering blueprint diagrams I acquired, his secret hidden spot has been fully revealed. John here tried to hide this location... the map below video blows his hidden secret spot wide open! Nice try John! Here are just a few images the public really does not have access to, or direct access to. The only reason I have these images is because of the education the biologists gave to me over the years along with access to some of their projects of which I am a huge supporter of. What you are looking at are the BCI engineering firm blueprints that go back and forth between the engineers and state of Florida biologists. You are looking at the water pumping stations all across Polk county basically and nearby counties. Each of those little blue and yellow dots represents junctions and pumping stations. All of the water flow data for each of these can now be found online. So you can know ahead of time what water is flowing where and in what quantity and directions of flow. You are looking at decades of biologists working hard in Florida. And with the state's Trophy Catch program, you can now see where the largest Florida bass are caught. And right now in 2025, thanks to all the hard work of biologists and engineering firms who built this infrastructure and are the same ones working on Lake O, and Headwaters, and Stick Marsh, and Farm 13 and many other projects across Florida. All done for us. And most of us don't even know about it. Here are the results of Florida biologists down in Polk county where large numbers of some of the biggest bass are now caught... this one is a 14 to 15 pound all natural strain Florida bass! The secrets to this success are IN the water! Well, getting back to the sunshine bass and St. Johns River... This sunshine bass was released all across Florida to give bass fishermen another fish to target using the same rods, reels, and lures we already have for largemouth bass. Here is a link to the state of Florida government website for locating the state's fish stocking program and locations across Florida: https://gis.myfwc.com/FishStock/ Side note, recently a new member came in asking about where they could acquire Florida natural strain bass to stock in places outside of Florida: This is the list provided by biologists: https://onlinetools.sodapdf.com/document/3f0516ad-ccf9-4064-ad09-990b1aacd5ee?ref=sodapdf.com%2Fsodalite&uid=1019209&venid=web-opera&wid=7773 This next link is also very important fishing information for those who care... For years now, more than 15 years I have been following closely the biologists stocking program. The way to use this information is simple enough... download the last 3 years of PDF reports from the state biologists. In the report it tells you what fish were stocked and in what numbers and where. So about 2 to 3 years from the time of the stocking, we can go fish for them! But you gotta know what is where! And this is how you do it right here: They are called "Completed Stocking Summary" reports. They are free to all. All of this is for us! https://myfwc.com/fishing/freshwater/stocking/ This next image was sent to me by a state of Florida biologist who worked on the sunshine bass stocking program. This image holds fishing information. But can you decipher it? Florida's sunshine bass is created in the laboratory using the eggs of a female white bass and the sperm of a male striped bass. Together they create the sunshine bass. A fish that is sterile and cannot reproduce in Nature (that we know of) and Florida stocks them all over Florida but in very specific chosen spots! The locations are chosen based on the genetics of the fish species the sunshines are made from. The stripers are a cold water fish. They prefer cooler water. So this is the first thing to put into the data bank for catching them. Now ask yourself where around Florida is there cold water? And for Florida that answer can only be our natural springs. So this is key to locating the sunshine bass throughout Florida. They do move around quite a bit from the stocking locations. The St. Johns river has these fish by the millions swimming up and down the river and the best time to target them is in the winter time and cooler water times when they are really on the move up and down the river. When the summer heat is on, these sunshines tend to congregate around the spring vents. And that is what the image from the biologist shows us all. We are looking at an image taken by state of Florida biologists in the field taking a look at and checking on their Florida fishing enhancement project. One biologist is as far down into the spring vent as he can go and looking up to water surface snaps this image of the vertical current flow of 72 degree water out of the spring vent and what do you see the fish doing? They are circling the spring vent. Kind of like you and I hanging out in front of the air conditioner on a hot day. I catch these fish all up and down the St. Johns River, especially in winter and early spring when its still cool. March is a great time for sunshine bass. But in the summer, look for spring vents! One notable area on the St. Johns river I probably really should keep my big mouth shut on, but in Lake George on the westside of the lake is Silver Glen Springs flowing directly into the lake cool clear water. You will find sunshine bass here! Also in the lower SW area of Lake George (South of Palatka as requested) is a submarine spring vent in the bottom of the lake. If you know how to find this spring, then fishing success is almost guaranteed around the spring vent. Sunshine bass are there! In north Florida right at downtown Jacksonville where the St. Johns river makes a right hand turn to the ocean, the river channel narrows and deepens to nearly 100 feet deep in some places. Some of the bridges there can hold large sunshine bass down deep and natural stripers as well. I have heard stories of sunshine bass or stripers being caught over 40 pounds. My buddy up north catches them around 70 pounds, but Florida is not quite there- yet. The state record from 1985 is 16.31 pounds. It is long overdue to break this record! And I believe we can now do it if only bass fishermen would also consider sunshine bass too! The way you can tell a sunshine bass from a striper is a quick look at the stripes. Broken lines that look like music notes are a sunshine bass. Unbroken straight lines is a natural striper. Above a sunshine, below a natural striper. The black lines are a quick way to tell them apart. Now for a fishing secret for sunshine bass I have never told online before. I think it is an amazing story. Years ago when I was in the IATSE union doing stagehand work at tradeshows, I worked with a lot of Florida cracker fishermen. Lots of them. So one day during a show we had some time off and so I drove out to Leesburg, Florida to stay over with a co-worker who lived a block from the main Harris chain of lakes. He lived along the middle of the Southern shore of Harris lake. And he had a boat on the lake. So during our work break he and I go fishing on Harris lake. I think I am going for largemouth. At the time I was not very familiar with sunshine bass and had never really caught any. On this day my buddy and I followed the Southern shoreline west from his house. It was rough. Wind was strong and piling up on the Southern shore. Waves were rough and coming over the boat railing. Probably as high as 2 foot swells but old Ben was not going to let that stop us. So he moved west and found a spring run and he turned his boat up into that spring run. We slowly made our way all the way back in there to the spring. We were the only ones there. We could look down into the crystal clear spring waters and see the fish. Hundreds. Possibly thousands of them up in that spring run. So old Ben turns that boat around over top of the spring and slowly trolls back out to the main lake. He reaches over and hands me a wooden canoe paddle and tells me to start beating on the boat's hull to scare these fish. Ben was chasing them out of the spring run and out into the 84 degree warmer waters of the lake where those fish did NOT want to be. So we beat on the boat hull all the way out to Harris lake, and then Ben anchors up about 100 feet from the mouth of the spring run. We are anchored up or on trolling motor with spot lock, but Ben started casting the most obnoxious looking minnow lure he had. One about 3 inches long or 4 and with a feather treble hook with flash foil mixed in. Bright, loud, and obnoxious. Got it. Ben starts casting that sucker right into the mouth of the spring run to catch the fish he just chased out of there now turning around and heading back into the spring and feeding on their way back in. We caught those sunshine bass one after another right up to the legal state limit. That was 40 fish we hauled out of there on that day. All because of what Ben did in that spring run. Those fish were cleaned and cooked! I post this now in hopes of sharing the fishing love! I can't keep the secrets forever. And it is a shame our biologists are not telling the world as well! The info is public but we have to go after it and dig for it. I did all because I was taught what to look for, and where to look for it. I have spent years digging for it. And I can tell you that it was not professional bass fishermen who have shaped my fishing perspectives in Florida. Nope. I can say now I am shaped by state of Florida biologists. I am on their trail and fishing right behind each of their projects. And I am going to provide some details of a new project underway in Florida, but I DO NOT want to share the details on where because this is one project I plan on keeping to myself for the next 5 plus years. But somewhere in Florida right now are some really nice lakes that have been drying up since the 1970's. Man those land owners around those lakes have been squawking up a storm about fixing their dam lakes. So the state of Florida brought in the biologists and hydrologic engineers and have devised an ingenious plan to fix those lakes! Not far from the lakes is a creek that regularly floods over its banks and floods homes next to it. So all of this excess water that flows into Atlantic Ocean anyways will now be diverted to those drying up lakes. Florida has just completed building a 6 tank natural plant filter system so the water pumped out of the creek will now flow across Florida about 30 miles or so underground through brand new 24 inch and 30 inch pipes. Upwards of 10 million gallons of water a day can be pumped. This water will flow through those natural plant filter tanks and right into another creek that feeds the first of the lakes which will fill up and then overflow to all the other lakes in the area. When this water is turned on here soon, and the water begins to rise in those lakes with wide flat sandy beaches, what happened to lake Toho years ago, will now happen in these lakes! So this project will improve bass fishing there for years to come! Bass fishing there will explode when that water is finally turned on! And old FFF here plans on taking full advantage of it when it does! But this one I am keeping to myself for awhile. But is just one example of how biologists are reshaping Florida fishing for the better! Follow the biologists, not pro bass fishermen. They do not have a clue! Gotta love non-Florida fishermen who rush into Florida to places like Toho all because of word of mouth reputation. They crank up their video cameras and then begin to tell the world how to fish a lake they never even been on before. Nope. Don't have a clue! Florida biologists do. Just for the record, a lot of fishermen who know of Lake Toho do not know the background story on why that lake became so famous. One word: biologists. Again. What they did was "fix" Lake Toho according to the science. When the lake had all but died and became clogged up with vegetation, fixing the lake was necessary. So biologists came up with a plan to drain off the lake and bring in bulldozers and front end loaders and backhoe's. Once the water was drained off, they scraped the earth back to pure sand bottom and hauled off all that vegetation and decaying rotting vegetation destroying the lake. All gone. The biologists stepped in and took a look at the lake's bottom contour and did not like it as found. So the biologists planned to create large wide flat bedding locations for the bass to reproduce. Sandy bottom wide flats. When the water was turned back on, bass fishing exploded. But how many fishermen have you ever heard give credit to biologists and engineers for their fishing success and enjoyment? Speaking of which, if any of you have read this far, please keep in mind that what I am showing you about Florida is being done in all 50 states! So each of you in your own state can begin to do the same in your area. How many of you know what a BMAP is? I use them for fishing all the time. Dig. Uncover what your state biologists are up to. Get to know them. Help them if you can. These are our fishing super heroes! These are the people trying to undo all the harm humanity and civilization has done to our fishing waters! Learn their water secrets! Uncovering the water secrets will lead you to the best fishing you have ever known. And here in this comment I have only scratched the surface! I am planning on doing a lengthy expose of the St. Johns river and phosphate mines and other in the future.

You're wecome. And I have to thank Florida biologists for teaching me about them and their other efforts to improve fishing. In the following video one of my former customers captain Tom Van Horn hooks into a 9lb sunshine in Lake Harney at north end where St. Johns river outflow is. You can see white channel marker so right at mouth of river as I mentioned above. In north Florida right at downtown Jax down deep around the bridges I've heard of much bigger sunshines. Like 4 times bigger. Maybe more. Florida allows us to keep 20 of them daily. They are good eating fish. Nice white meat and smoke up good to. I think Tom let this one go. I probably would have kept it. Smaller ones I think taste better. They sure fight hard. Never jump. Always nose down pulling like a freight train.

Not sure I would be adding additional weight, but do what you gotta do. One thing about rod balance is how? When? When and how is a rod balanced is the question. Is a rod balanced with lure hanging at tip? Or is rod balanced when lure is in water and not adding its weight to combo? When does a fisher person choose to have a balanced rod? For me, I like to have them somewhat balanced out when the lure is in the water. I don't want the combo balanced with lure hanging off tip. I prefer them to be somewhat balanced out just between the rod and reel. Changing reels can change the balance. Reels today, some are made with metal frames and some with plastic and carbon fiber. I will not buy reels with carbon fiber or plastic frames. So my metal frames tend to give me the weight I need to reach a nice balance. I am not fond of tip heavy setups. But with an 8' rod its kind of hard to not have a heavy tip. I also have one of those 8' MH rods but don't use it much. I much prefer the 7'6" rods.

Too funny! Oh the stories I could tell might get me banned. Swamp girl is the real deal. A true bass fisherwoman. I cant tell you how many women have told me they like to fish. And then.... Never saw a one of them actually do it. I had one gal from Georgia, a Georgia peach tell me she likes to fish. So I took her bass fishin. Sure enough she did not have a clue. Spent her boat time adjusting her bikini, checking her hair and fingernails every 60 seconds. And in 5 minutes she says are you done yet? And she stepped on a rod and broke 8 inches off tip. Do ya think she ever made it out twice? Nope. I think I came up with some new boat rules after that one. Let's see... If she goes the rods stay home. If rods go then she stays home. I have yet to find a better half who really does fish. Probably never will. You go Swamp Girl! Us guys highly approve of women who fish- as noted above.

Glenn I did not watch your full video because what you were teaching I am already familiar with. So I don't know if it has been said by Glenn here or others, but concerning bathymetric maps and their use, Denny Brauer gave some great advice decades ago that still bounces around in my head just about every fishing trip. It was that important of a tip. And I still use it to this day all over Florida. Denny Brauer said with bathymetric maps you can eliminate upwards of 90% of the lake just by reading the map. Denny said that the biggest bass live in the deepest holes and try and expend as little energy as possible so when these large bass feed, they rise up out of their holes and begin to move towards shallow water or shoreline with cover that is closest to their living spot in the lake. Shortest distance between the two places. So Denny was saying to focus fishing on shallow water with cover that is closest to those deepest holes of a lake to increase your chances of catching the larger fish. One thing Denny did not say that I observed him doing in the past is that if Denny was focusing on that targeted shallow area where he thinks the larger bass are feeding, he would sometimes turn around and fish that pathway back to that deep hole. Denny used these maps to target the big ones!

Maybe my buddies are not using them slow enough? But when you say the lure was hit as soon as it lands tells me those fish would have hit just about anything that moves that came within range.

This is a lure I won't buy or use. But my buddies do. I have yet to see any of them catch a fish on it. I know when my buddies pull out the whopper plopper is when I can pull ahead of them with other things... I get a smirky smile going on when I see them pull out the whopper plopper! That is when I redouble my efforts and pick up the casting cycle just to take advantage of this opportunity. As soon as I catch a fish that is not on the whopper plopper watch how fast they put it away. 😎 Then my smirky smile turns into a laugh! Ha! I know they catch fish. But, how many times have I gotta cast it just to catch one? Nope. Going back to what I consider more productive lure presentations that are also more fun than watching paint peel! So no, you are not the only one not catching fish on it. I am with ya and I don't even use one!

I've been following this thread. Don't know why. Here in Florida bass fishing after dark comes with issues... Even in a boat these guys get more aggressive and less passive at night and come after you, especially if you are splashing around with some fish is like ringing their dinner bell. In a boat? Think you are safe? Better flip the fish into the boat and be wary of reaching down over the railing to reach down towards the water to grab your fish. Someone else might be right there to do the same... been there. Done that. I give these guys the night.

Forever? I must have misread this article https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/07/tube-amp-designer-says-tube-amps-dying/ I thought I read down to only a handful of manufacturers and presently war is disrupting some of them. Meaning sources not just dwindling but more like drying up. Prices are set to skyrocket I bet.

Tubes are going bye bye like the buggy whip. Are there any tube manufacturers left in the world today I wonder? Its a dying technology unfortunately. Down the road aficionados will have to start making their own tubes if they can. The days of Dept of Defense grade black plate tubes are over. And guitar players will have no choice but to move on and leave tubes behind eventually. Its coming.

This reminds me of when I discovered my first full custom made spiral wrapped rod. I was driving around one Saturday morning and saw a garage sale with a 5 gallon bucket of fishing rods just standing out in open on driveway. So I pulled over. Went and took a look and damned if most of the rods were not top dollar rods and custom rods all in perfect shape. The woman selling them had each rod priced at $4.00 and she wondered if this was too high? I said no, its reasonable to me biting my tongue as I bought all of them on the spot. Come to find out she divorced her husband. Took all his stuff. And was now selling some of it in this garage sale dirt cheap. He should send his buddies over to get his stuff back. Nah. Too late. Sold for peanuts! But thanks! I say don't tell her so one day... 😎

Or sell the tubes system like he could in that clear water video he did. A lot of sight fishing in this one as well. I think this was filmed on a spring fed river near where he lives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLO-8gJJ80Y He pulled a hook out of Jason Christie one time... Ya know, I actually considered the tube system because of Shaw, but decided to not go down that rabbit hole. To this day I have zero tubes. And I don't think I miss them.

That is the same reel bass pro John Bitter has used for his entire career. He used to bring them into our shop to work on and one day I asked him how many did he have. I think he said something between 200 to 300 of them. Definitely a reliable old work horse of a reel.

Years on the bench in a central Florida rod and reel repair shop and I can safely say we never see reels- and rods- like these! Well, I mean in this condition. Reels like this represent like less than 1% of 1% of 1%. Very few people have the know how or means to operate at this level. I can tell you from experience that what comes in through the front door of a rod and reel repair shop is the opposite of this. We see reels used for decades without any maintenance or servicing just used and used and ran into the ground until they grind to a stop. It may be fun working on reels that don't have one tiny piece of dirt on them or any wear of any kind. Keeping and maintaining reels at that level is exceptional to say the least. I mean even the cork grips on the rods don't show dirtiness. Really a high level of care for sure. Now let me do some show and tell. These images are from when I did work at a rod and reel repair shop and these reels are what came in through the front door by customers wanting each reel fixed. Which I did. This first reel looks like it has half the beach in it. Years of saltwater use until it was ground to a halt. Then brought to our shop where I had the "fun" of making it work again. Here is a relatively new reel showing more beach sand and saltwater rust and corrosion in the AR bearing. Fer shame. And another. Same thing. This next one is a chronarch if ya can tell... This is what the Florida environmental conditions do to reels. I wonder what the techs in Montana see? I bet their reels are cleaner and less corrosion. Look how the pot metal gears bubble up like alka seltzer when saltwater gets on them and the salts start a chemical process deteriorating the pot metal gears... Oh and plenty more beach sand in this reel. Look at the saltwater corrosion on this reel's oscillation block along with more beach sand. All finished. Back to working. Maybe not looking like new, but back to working as good as new. They will get more years out of these old reels yet... I can tell you it takes more labor cleaning up reels like these than it is worth sometimes. I enjoyed the challenge for awhile. Must be nice working on squeaky clean brand new looking reels. Not like that around here.

Some great videos. Thanks for posting. I enjoyed the first one the most probably because I am a KVD fan, but dang he was all over top that other guy. I thought KVD was supposed to be in the back of the boat. Not climbing all over the other guys back up front casting all over top of him to the point of getting tangled up. Then KVD could not untangle it because he could not see it! And would not put on glasses so the other guy had to step in. Classic. Kind of surprised KVD is so rough with his rods and reels he is knocking out the inserts in his rod tips. I guess he gets those for free? Not often you get to see KVD fishing when goofing off at same time. He don't play when he's under a $100,000.00 prize pressure. Just ask Ike.