Hez

Yes sir...we are patiently waiting on your feedback...although I do believe you did mention it would likely be July... haha don't come to Florida then. That is what the bass love to eat down here...soft plastics is king...

I have experienced this problem before and the solution for me was to get heavier pound braid. I throw 50 # braid on my baitcasting reels mainly for performance. The diameter of 50# is equivalent to approximately 12 # mono. Here are the diameter comparisons for Power Pro Braid and Trilene mono - so your 30 lb braid is approximately equal to 8 lb mono, which is very thin - leading to the braid digging into itself in the spool. You would experience the same phenomenon after a hookset. Power Pro US Sizes SIZE (lb.) DIAMETER (in) ~ Mono Equivalent 8 / 1 10 / 2 15 / 4 20 / 6 30 / 8 40 / 10 50 / 12 65 / 16 80 / 18 100 / 20 150 / 30 200 / 50 250 / 80

They are probably not the same horsepower, due to around mid 1980's outboard motor manufacturers changed how they rated the HP. Prior to the change, they always rated HP at the powerhead. After the mid 1980's, manufacturers (at different times, not all at once) started basing their HP ratings off the prop. It is discretionary, but most people say the difference in HP rating at the powerhead vs the prop is approximately 10%. So...in 1980...your 50 HP motor would probably be equivalent to a modern 45 HP motor, rated at the prop. That, along with other technological advances enabling denser and more efficient motors - probably is the reason for the difference in size you are questioning.

Got it. Great explanation, thanks.

@Mike L How do the skip gap hooks handle vegetation? Seems to me it would get caught a lot, especially some of these Florida lakes.

To me it's worth every penny.

http://webapp.navionics.com It shows the topographic details for Turkey Lake, good luck.

Fishing stuff is hard to find on kodi. I can't lie to you about that. other than that, it's unbelievable. You will wonder why you ever paid for cable tv again. Any movie/series/documentary you could ever think of can be watched. Live sporting events all over the globe (mainly soccer)....movies in theaters...the list goes on. it usually gives you a list of links for streams...and some of them don't work - but in the end, it's free. feel free to pm me and ask questions - I will answer any if I can

I did the same 6 months ago - have loved every minute of it. i actually got the amazon fire stick (box) and stream all my live sporting events through Kodi. It also has access to just about anything you can watch on cable tv. I'll never look back. cable companies are some of the biggest thieves

Nah - 65 lb test braid is approximately the same diameter as 16 lb mono, depending on the manufacturer. You will be fine

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006CUALLA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Found some Power Pro 50 LB test - 150 yds - $16.97....that's compared to the $22.99 from Tacklewarehouse. I believe there are 4 left.

Awesome guys! Congratulations, and thank you for your service. Great job to the ones who facilitated this impressive gesture of gratuity. This is one of the things that makes this organization special.

Hahaha - I fought the same battle mentally!!!

I just finished reading all 253 pages. It was a great read!! @Catt, @Bass_Fanatic and many others have done an amazing job keeping up with this. This thread has opened up the way I break down and fish a body of water, for sure!

The way his was installed, it was mounted on a bracket at the helm. The bracket had a male/female connector that the unit plugged into. That connection on the bracket malfunctioned

I recently had the same experience - except I couldn't get it out on my own

I had a boater that had that problem intermittently until it went out completely one day during the tournament. I believe his connection in the bracket was the culprit.

My son got a crank stuck in his hand and I had to perform the same extraction method. It works great as long as the hook only enters the skin and doesn't exit.

I noticed this as well

I have an old aluminum riveted boat as well. I always told myself that when it came time to strip it down, that I would sandblast it. I think that will be most efficient and effective, both inside and out

I fished griffin about 2 weeks ago for about 3 hours in the evening. Boated 8 with 5 keepers...it was a good time

Welcome Shipyard

I too have a black max 2. I work it hard too, every time I fish. It's on my dedicated shallow-medium crankbait rod...and I love to power fish.

Well - yesterday...I experienced the most pain while fishing yet to date. Me and my son were fishing shell beds and absolutely killing them. We were catching fish on every cast. It was the 3rd cast in a row that we had doubled up. We were catching hybrid bass and largemouth. The hybrids (if you've never caught them) are aggressive and fun to catch. While holding the fish by the belly to remove the treble hooks from his mouth, he thrashed violently - slipping from my hand...and catching my finger on the way down. I find myself on my hands and knees on the floor of the boat, with my finger hooked in the same treble that the fish has hooked in his mouth....fish still thrashing violently... I tell my son to leave his fish alone for a moment, and come unhook this fish - before he rips my finger off lol. Got the fish unhooked...and headed back to the ramp. My son, who is 13...was a great help. He helped put the trolling motor away, and helped trailer the boat... We were fishing Spro Lil John crankbaits...as seen above I went straight home, cut the hook and tried to expose the barb (it was lodged just inside the exit wound) to pull it out. I was unsuccessful and had to head to the ER. After a tetanus and a few shots to deaden my finger...yank yank - and all was good. One of the best days and worst days - all wrapped into one. A roller coaster of emotions. It was crazy. As much fishing as we do, I knew this was inevitable.

X 2...love the flat sided wobble they provide. Gives the fish a different look