stk44

Scott, I'm gad you mentioned that. I worked out a good deal on a camper in the fall, so I was hoping it would be the same for any recreational vehicle. I could definitely wait until the winter. There might be hard water until April anyway. Would you typically have to negotiate a winter deal at a boat show, or are they already heavily discounted?

That makes sense that the dealership would receive an incentive to finance, I didn't think of that. Do you think there would be any room for negotiation on electronics? I looked into financing, it looks like for 36 months and under it would be around 4.25% interest. At that rate, unless I would add the cash to my investments, it really wouldn't be worth keeping that cash in the bank. Thanks for your help. This is exactly the type of input I was looking for to get me thinking.

I have been looking to purchase a bass boat for a few years now, and in that period of time, my tastes have changed from an aluminum bass boats to fiberglass bass boats...without ever actually owning either . The only stipulation that my wife gave me if that I must pay it off in cash, so that cannot change. I've projected that I'll have enough cash by Fall 2018. I'm currently looking at Nitro Z18's which has an MSRP of about $29k + $1k prep/freight. Add in the Ultrex w/ ipilot, Helix 9 at the console and Helix 10 at the bow and I'm looking at around $35k. How much room for negotiation will I have? I would love to pay around $30k cash, and cash-on-hand SHOULD give me a little more purchasing power, but I wanted to hear from you guys first and see what is worth negotiating and what isn't. I'm assuming if I can't negotiate on the sticker price of the boat, that I could at least negotiate on the electronics or trolling motor. Thanks in advance!

Congrats! I have my new 2 year plan to get my bass boat. I was planning to get a Z18 but I want to check out comparable stratus' , bass cats, tritons and rangers(highest end of my price range) In a perfect world, Nitro would be the best for me, so I could afford my fancy electronics and trolling motor. Keep me updated with how you like it!

So he finished his casts, then you cast to his spots. When I fish behind someone, I usually don't choose the same bait as someone else. All else being equal, if someone picks a spot apart, they are getting the most active fish, leaving you to clean up. That's not to say that you still can't catch fish, but if someone is picking an area apart with a 1/2 oz jig, I'd be throwing a finesse jig, senko, or something a bit different behind them, possible enticing the more finicky bass that the guy up front didn't catch.

I guess the word giant is relative.... you just beat the PA state record. That thing is a tank! Did you catch her skipping those docks?

Yeah it was. I fished docks, lily pads, and weedlines. The boater didn't want to fish the wind so we were confined to the bays mostly. I missed one fish on a buzzzbait and and missed another on a t-rigged craw. The remainder of the fish wanted a 5" senko thrown in he pads and around stumps. The first place guy weighed in around 16 lbs fishing a ned rig on a 12-14 foot weedline. I'd love to hear suggestions for the next time I fish it. I hadn't fished that lake since I was a kid.

Tom, I'm glad you mentioned that. I'm considering ditching the MM, I could get away with using my MF if I need to throw shallow cranks, and I could snap it out of the weeds more efficiently. I was checking out the navionics chart, and there are literally docks around the entire perimeter of the lake. There's a good possibility I'll be skipping docks at some point during the day. Thanks again, I always appreciate your expertise!

I'm going to be fishing a 1000 acre natural lake that I've never fished before. From what I've researched there is significant weed growth and most weed lines drop off into 8-10 feet of water. The average depth of the lake is 19 feet and the lake has Both LM and SM. The latter would be found in he numerous offshore humps in the 8 foot range. The issue is since I am a co-angler, and my boater is randomly selected, I don't know whether I will be spending more time on or offshore. Not to mention I am limited to 5 rods. Here are 6 setups that I want to bring, but one needs eliminated: -7' dobyn's champ mag heavy, 50 lb braid- pitching -7'1 MHF LTB , 30 lb braid, Texas rigs, buzzbaits, worms. -6'8 MF LTB- 12 lb flouro, senkos, wacky, finesse jigs, shakey heads - 7-3 MHM dobyns champ - spinnerbait, mod- deep diving cranks -7'4 mojo MM glass crank- cranks -6'9" axid x - MLXF- drop shot - do you think I should drop the pitching rod, and take the reel with 50 lb braid in case I end up in the thick stuff, in which case I can put this on my MH LTB and take my MLXF for finesse applications (since I'm fishing behind the boater) or do you think I should stick with all of my baitcasting setups and dump the only spinning (MLXF)??? the touney is tomorrow so please let me know what you think ASAP! Thanks!

That was the first time I've been there, but I'm definitely going back next year! Sounds like the perfect water for a kayak.

Maybe I'll give that a shot the next time I'm in the area. Thanks for the info.

I didn't catch a single smallmouth the entire trip. I figured that's all I would catch...

If you are at work, just shoot them an email and you'll have a response probably today- info@tacklewarehouse.com

I came back from the Ohio trip with my family. The fishing was phenomenal although I didn't manage any outstanding fish over 3.5 lbs. I had about 15 hours of total fishing time, but I'd guess I landed 100+ LM bass, which for me is really good. I can't even imagine how many more I would've caught out of my kayak. The theme of the trip was SB crankbaits smacked off rocks near docks in about 3-4 feet of water and soft plastic jerkbaits twitched along mid-depth weedlines. The biggest heartbreak of the trip was a 4+ lb bass choking a DT Fat crankbait. I got her close to the dock and I could see a little blood coming from the gills. Since she took the crank so well, I decided I wouldn't rush this one since I don't like flipping 3+ lb fish on medium powered rods. Right as I went to belly land the fish, the crankbait popped right out... I learned a lot this trip, and I'm even considering buying a place for the weekends in this section of Ohio, the fishing opportunities are endless. Here are a few pictures of the short trip:

Thanks for the help! It's not often I get to fish for 5-6 consecutive days. I made a lot of observations and I learned a lot in the process. I've never experienced river largemouth during the spawn, nor have I targeted them.

Someone from a local Ohio forum told me that the bass were spawning the same days I was fishing. I'm guessing I could have either stumbled on late pre spawn females or post spawn/ presummer bass? I learned a lot from this trip, I'm just trying to piece together the last bit of the trip. Also, in addition to the carp, I saw a lot of gar, sometimes swimming in small groups of 3-4. They were cruising right along the walkway of the docks closest to shore. Could they be after the bass eggs/fry?

Tom, The more I thought about it, they were probably late prespawn fish, especially the way they were choking the cranks. Yesterday and this morning they were just swatting at crankbaits and I was catching smaller male bass. I didnt see beds, but then again, I couldn't see much of anything. Most days it was a foot visibility. In the shallowest parts I could just see rocks, still no bottom.

I'm not to the point where I change glasses or lenses based on every single condition. I typically use Amber and dark iridium lenses for overcast and sunny days respectively. Im an Oakley fan and have never felt the need to look elsewhere. You may or may not know that they have military/ vet discounts which would save you some $$- www.oakleysi.com ; I believe you will need to send a copy of your dd-214.

I've been fishing a river that's new to me for a few hours everyday. The fishing spot is at a private marina that thouses approximately 100 boats. Starting out, I thought I had the bass figured out and they were in the full-blown spawn, but after fishing today, I'm a little confused and was hoping I could have some opinions and open some discussion on this. Day 1 - When I arrived I caught a half dozen or so LM on Texas rigged craws. The conditions were overcast with an 8-10 mph wind, 1- 1.5 feet water clarity, upper 60's water temp. It also rained heavily the week before, so the water was a little high. Day 2-4, I tuned a crankbait to run right under the main walkway of the docks while also banging off the numerous chunk rock just out a little from the docks. I started catching A LOT of fish about 2 dozen per outing. Most in the 2-3 lb range. Water clarity the same as day one, although we did get some pretty heavy wind which helped the bite, but on days with little wind and on sunny/overcast days, the bite was still on. Some bass, including big females were choking the cranks, and many were eaten head first. Day 5 (today), it was sunny, hot, no wind probably upper 60 water temps. The first thing I noticed were the carp causing all kinds of commotion under the docks, inside the boat bays, under jet ski docks, etc. The water was lower and a little more clear- maybe 2 feet visibility. I had one 2 lb bass that was barely hooked on my squarebill that I lost right off the bat, and then I caught one dink on a crankbait. I fished hard for the next hour with no bites on various square bills, finesse jig, and jerkbaits. I then switched to a swimbait and lost a good bass. I had about 30 minutes of fishing time left and landed another 2 lb bass on a spinnerbait. At this point, I'm not sure whether the bass were in the spawn or post-spawn. I'm guessing either the majority of fish finished spawning after day 4, and I'm experiencing finicky post spawn bass OR the bass were post-spawn but with the heavy rains and the water levels being up, it pulled the bass under the docks ultra shallow and now with the lowering water levels, the bass are out a little deeper. Please share your thoughts with me on this. I thought I had these fish figured out, but I'm stumped today as to what affected the bite. Thanks in advance! *EDIT: The more I think about it, I think it was probably the end of prespawn-early spawn for the fish that I was picking off.

Wow! Bet that was fun to catch!

Docks were the name of the game today at the portage river. I tried my luck while my daughter took her nap. I lost count after the first dozen fish. There are rock piles A few feet off the docks that I tried fishing a spinner bait over. I quickly switched to my old faithful squarebill, the one with the cracked lip ( sorry@J Francho.) I started catching some bass immediately. I tweaked the line tie to the right to run under the docks. Now I was catching 2 lb fish. I realized that the bite was better around docks with adjacent jet ski launches and rocks. Wherever the wind was blowing, the fish were in that corner of the dock with a jet ski ramp. Best of the day was 3 lbs but these are much bigger than the river LM that I'm used to. Here are some pics of the day:

Thanks. There are so many places to fish up here, (although "this is not a fishing trip") that it almost gets overwhelming. I'm definitely going to make an actual fishing trip out of this one day soon.

My Wife, Daughter, and I are staying in the Port Clinton, OH area for a week. I managed to bring a couple of rods with me and some tackle and the fishing seems to be good so far. If you have any suggestions on areas I could access from shore (no kayak with me) please let me know... especially if there is a shot at large SM from shore... Yesterday I caught a few LM from the portage river skipping docks and managed one nice 3.5 lb fish. Today we went to east harbor state park and I tried middle and east harbors of Lake Erie. I saw a field of lily pads on the lake which always makes me smile. I anticipated fishing for SM without doing much research of the area, so the only semi- acceptable rod I had was my MF Ltb w/ 12 lb flouro. I started with a weightless 4"senko just to start catching some fish, I had one big strike off the bat and then got wrapped up in the pads. Then I started fishing the points of lilly pad weedlines and after the senko would hit bottom, I would give it a few pops and then work it like a jerkbait back to shore. After a three jerk pause cadence, I landed my first bass- a goofy looking little 12 incher. I tried the senko for another 10 minutes then switched to a 5" soft jerkbait. This was definitely the ticket... in 1.5 hours, the 3-jerk pause picked up and became constant jerks with a fractional pause to land another dozen average sized fish. The sun was now starting to set and I saw baitfish flickering out of the water. I worked the soft plastic jerkbait like a topwater on points and pockets in the weedline. I caught several more fish by doing this. The 12 lb flouro held up in the pads, and the MF LTB was stout enough to muscle them out. I ended my short fishing trip with about 2 dozen fish caught in total. I didnt catch anything worth bragging about, but it sure is nice to occasionally figure out what the fish want... I'm here for a few more days, so hopefully I have a couple more chances to get on some good fish and fish a couple new spots. * sorry for the sideways pictures, not sure how to rotate them while posting with my iPhone.

Wow that is a tank! Let me guess, after you landed her you found that the camera wasn't running? Nine times out of ten I never record any of the good fish on the GoPro.

I agree- I'm a big LC and 6th sense fan. I haven't had one that hasn't run true out of the package. Although I have had "issues" with the rattle chamber e.g. silents that one-knock and one-knockers that are silent but that's just being picky.