wnspain

If ya don't catch the bite on top water EARLY, then you might as well fish deep. Unless you have depth charts, or some other means of determining depth, summer fishing can be frustrating to say the least. Try night fishing and see if changes your luck..you may be pleasantly surprised

So would proper weight and balance without adding anything

Well said A-Jay. Personally, I've never cared much for low budget combos .A super tight budget to me is under $100 and to get any quality gear, you would be looking at something used (rod or reel). More info will give you more choices but a Berkley Lightning Shock paired with a Abu Black Max should run about that (new).

Welcome to the forums Dylan, may your bass adventures be numerous and enjoyable

Nice bass. Congrats!!

You mean to tell us that it's not actually as big as your thumb?

Highly accurate measure of weight right there...

Sounds as if you have a balance problem. Is your trolling motor, battery, and you in the front half of the boat? I've seen that often and it easily correctable. A properly balanced boat doesn't need a rudder, the pontoons provide more than enough.

Ok, in the video above, Flair says the roughness on the rivet is the thing that makes them squeak. I can't believe the blade spinning will cause the required roughness, more the opposite. Dunk them in lake water and let them air dry a couple of times (or more), that will assist in making the metal degrade enough to make the desired squeak. Submerse them in Coke for even faster degradation, the acid will dissolve almost anything given enough time.

That may be true at the price point he's considering, but I've found differently when you get out of the low end models. What rod comes with that Abu combo?

if I had thrown every thing in the book and still hadn't caught a bass in a year, I'd be hunting another place to fish. I can say that for a fact!!

yep, sounds like carp to me. If legal in your state, take some corn and thread a few kernels on a 1/O. if the carp are that plentiful, won't take long. Can be fun but then you have to tell all the members here the story...

Honestly made me chuckle. It's been awhile since I've targeted crappie but that pic sure makes makes me hungry.

If I can't see the hook, I'll usually just cut the line and release without further harm. Glenn provides a good video for removing hooks deep in the mouth. Like Oregon said, caring for the resource proves ethics ...

I hear you on that aspect. I never outfitted my Raider with a rudder because proper weight distribution will provide more than enough rudder effect. I've heard of people spinning circles using a TM mounted on the bow but mine has a foot control that allows me to position myself aft of center which provides a balance that makes the rudder unnecessary.

I'd say your skepticism is justified. IMO it will possibly push 6 but I'd be inclined to to guess it's probably closer to 5,

My bait coffin holds all of my terminal tackle with no migration issues.Like iaBass8, the waterproof Planos do a good job also and they're significantly cheaper

to Ain't these forums great!

Don't attempt to keep track of #'s. Do keep a log but that is just to record specifics about date, water temp, general weather, and unique and/or significant events. I generally lose track somewhere between 6 and 12 no way to even guess for bass this year. Experienced my wife catching her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bass ever and also watched her rookie a nice one (between 5 and 6lbs.). I'm guessing I taught her well, especially the rookie move, I have that one down If I had to put a # on it, 183.428

Not that I own a Bass Hound, but I have fished out of one. Overall, a good fishing platform with some features that cannot be had on a Raider 10e i.e. live well I found that the hull design was less stable than a Raider but more so than a narrow Jon Boat.

That is true!! I should have rephrased that statement to be more correct - " extremely stable design with the vast majority of it's buoyancy derived the sponsons which are situated on the outside edges of the vessel and filled with foam for an added safety measure."

The pontoon style boat is an extremely stable design with the vast majority of it's buoyancy derived from foam inside the sponsons which are situated on the outside edges of the vessel. I've seen video of 2 adults standing on the same outer edge without it tipping enough to throw them overboard.