"hamma"

I installed minn kotas quick battery connectors, got em from walmart.com 10 bucks a set, well worth it and wally world free shipped it to store for me. I liked the connectors so much I bought some more to attach both batteries as well, even went so far as to add them to my charger in my tracker. (which really helps) Just plug them in and done. This is the deal! My basshunter came with thru hull wiring from the factory,. I just attached one of these connecters on the front hull wire, and the trolling motor,..and another connector for the back hull wire, and the battery. Quick easy clean connections both up front and in the back,... I used the clamp on posts for this battery so the wingnut terminals are open for me to attach it inline 24 volt on my tracker.

If that isnt hard water torture, I dont know what is. Now I'm itching to get out there. Thanks Catt, did u just release that? or is she hovering a bed? Dang I got alot of work ahead, to be ready for this season!

If possible,.. Id put it on the front of the console, in plain sight as you are "safely" navigating. This way your not looking down or off to the side. Just ensure it doesnt hinder your field of vison. I fished a tourney as a non boater and this one guys rig had the unit on the right, close to the gunnel, almost lost it on a laydown he got his jig hung up on while he was trying to get back. I had to grab it to save it. Then yet if you hang it out on the left, its kinda out there in your pathway to the bow. If I were you? I'd lose the windshield and mount it on the front of the console with a plain old ram mount, so it lays where the bottom of the unit is just above where the windshield was. within plain site, but out of the way if possible that is

Hair jigs, jerkbaits, bladebaits, jighead/swimbait, or reaper

Thats AWESOME!,... what better way to benefit a gut feeling than to put a kid on their PB! Congrats to you, and your son,.. Swbass,... way to go

There is what I was asking for, my whole reason for starting this thread, and asking this question. Although gut feeling is the title of this thread, it was really a doorway for me to touch upon a more in depth discussion. Because frankly, if you've done the info thing, but havent had much time on the water. It must be just a barrage of ideas that run through a newer anglers minds. To articulate all that stuff we see on the web every day, and not have experience to put it on the water must be a mind blowing concept. The only thing that truely produces not just a gut feeling, but a "productive" gut feeling is,... experience. Hey, anything can happen, my soon to be born grandson might someday "gut feeling" point at my winnipesaukee map while gettin his diaper changed, and find the golden ticket spot of huge smallies of all time for all I know. But what im hinting towards is this. Without experience your not on the right track, your caboose is headin the wrong way. The input your intuition is banking on was robbed by the joker, it does not exist in the realtime natural world anymore and thats where the proof is in the puddin! If you dont stare down mother natures wrath, she doesnt offer up her best. That realtime natural world will wear you out; To gut feeling your success, is a feat,.. be it big? small? medium?? doesnt matter. You've run the gauntlet of all the info, put in the time. Now you reacted properly and facilitated success. But can ya do that again?, and again? and so on? Each and every time I gut feeling a situation, I get a natural high, Im guessing you all probably do to. It's natural, but ever so important for a bass angler, our confidence playing a necessary part in our success demands it. I can go out on a day and just catch a few fish and be happy with that.,. But the days that you say to yourself,.."this could be one of those days", and all of your assumptions. pan out twice as good as you've expected,..you just did something there. Your experience and confidence are gaining a big boost whether your aware of it or not. Solidifying and adding to experience like a rolling snowball rolling down a hill gaining speed. Experience isnt the one and only true ruler of the bass angling worlds questions and demands, Timing, is another huge factor,..Opportunity, yet even another. I cant leave out the big daddy,..Location,.or Selection.. But the doosy of them all must be ,..Diligence.,..if you dont apply diligence all the others are worthless. What fish are you catching if you aint fishin? (hence why I sign off "keep ya line wet!") Sometimes I wonder if the natural high, is the addiction we all have, "I been buying all manners of tackle and I dont know why!",..."Im jonesin baby, I gotta go get more tackle,",..."IT'S NOT MYYYY FAULT!"...lol So In summary? Fish,...thats all fish,...the more you do it the more experience you gain and if you keep on fishing you will get better. Eventually you will gain enough experience to have these dead on gut feelings and if you follow through with them and they pan out for ya. You most likely will be on the best fish you've ever caught. The more experience? the more dead on the gut. In the end its like Catt said, Sometimes it pans out and sometimes not Put a period on the end of that sentence. Cuz, that's where its at.

Thats Awesome! a pb fish! Good luck next year hope you beat your new pb! thats beautiful. Your experience, and diligence, panned out! do it again dwh4784

Ailments? what are those? sounds like a hall pass to me,....lol As if any of us would miss a second of work to be casting a lure around. Geesh!,..lol

If your just fishing for fun?, as opposed to a tourney? trolling is definately going to help you "find" fish. But any other lure than a alabama rig outlawed? Lures? I cant think of any outlawed lures,.. your aforementioned "trolling" is a banned "presentation", but, then yet, if your just fishing for fun, the original outlawed presentation,... those two evil words: "live bait" will show you whats there or not. As far as the presentations outlawed? what do you think will happen with this "new" rod length ruling? How long will it be, before tough tourney days will be won on,... a fly?

Most cats only respond to the sound of a canopener opening a can of tunafish! Dang,.... he "IS" intuitive!,.,....lol And like a true cat,.curled up and took a nap! Just funnin with ya buddy! Hope ya doing well down there, God bless ya!

Good point Lonnie! Those times somethings telling you to direct efforts in one direction and it "doesnt" pan out. Appears to me as just a piece of the puzzle, and not a finished product. You have estimated actions and followed through with no success. So what was the reason?,..maybe it could be a weather pattern that blew through that you didnt equate. OR,.. a certain bug is hatching and baitfish are keyed in on that and drew your bite away.,.. Or any one of a few hundred reasons that your "gut feeling" was lead astray. Your gut is telling you this something for a reason. Im by no means stating that you are incorrect Lonnie! More along the lines of, we all do what we can as bass anglers to estimate whats going on. If we all had the clear picture of the days "antics" we would be catching and not "fishing",... Our "estimates" are just that, and those only arise from what we figure, think, and compute. If we enter into our computer, laptop, or cellphone a search for say,... herring, we will most likely get a recipe, a history, the actual fish, herringbone necklace, and so on. The search's results will hinge upon the amount of input we ask the computer to search. such as: Herring/seasonal migration/ atlantic ocean. Now the computer will have more input to correctly compute our search. I believe that this also holds true for our gut feelings. The more input we figure into a situation, the better. If we add up "all" the pertinent input in "the" correct manner our search for the answer is going to direct our gut feeling towards the correct outcome. Miss just one slight piece of the puzzle and the outcome will obviously be incomplete. Does this ruin my day? Heck no, I fish on as im sure we all would and continue my day with the new failed attempt added in. I may realize I guessed wrong, but I like you continue on without even a seemed hiccup, and actually a hightened sense of,.. What next, ,...And it does add into the days excitement. Finding your way to the fish after a gut feeling fails?,..adds confidence as well, it just proves that your "search" turned into a "quest" and when its been acheived? Your back into the right and lipping fish.,... This success is bigger than one would think, it adds to our memory what happened and how things turned out. Adding important info to our internal "search engine",...(so to speak) Good point Lonnie!

So, is it her gut feeling?,.. that produces for her,...or is she following rules of thumb, per learning and reading? Many situations arise where we "know what to do",... its from all the bass info we as bass anglers absorb. And that will eventually accumulate over time with experience to produce the "gut feeling" being spot on. Sometimes you can just stumble onto something and say to yourself. Im going to go here and do this, and it works Your welcome.,..and I got to agree with you,..gotta love it!

AWESOME! good big fish scenario! I also feel experience is guiding ones gut feelings to being spot on,..its necessary.

Oh,..im not knocking it at all, that was just hanging there so I went for it. I know many times, when I shut the truck off after finally returning home from a gut feeling day,.. that I wished I had a go pro, or someone with me to take pics at least.. Because without one? Im the only one that knows what I did, where I did it, and with what. OMG! that really just hit home. The amount of good days, with multiple pigs, I have experienced without a gopro, is right now freaking me out. If I had footage of all the pigs I ever caught? Holy moly,...there'd be volumes of videos.. How much is one of those? But with my luck lately? If I put a gopro my boat now? I'd probably be destined to catching nothing but dinks for the rest of my days,...lol by the way,...Nice bass A-Jay!, way to go buddy! good candidate for a pigpen! brotha!

Yes I do know,. It does pan out, and when it does? You get that confidence boost, dontcha?. Now what brings you more confidence, a day like that? or,.... all the "schooling" ,..the learning, and reading? I for one see it like this. All the learning, and reading provide the logistics for our success, in a manner of, putting us in that situation to begin with. Without all that learning, and knowledge obtained we wouldnt be thinking as we do. Our gut feeling would most likely be telling us we're hungry, and in need of a beer...lol. But seeing as we do think the ways we do, our success when that gut feeling was right,.. is a giant confidence boost. The next time your out fishing after that gut feeling day is usually a quite productive day as well. The bite may have changed, but you havent, and your heart and soul wants nothing more than to keep things that way. If your still on fish? dont give it up! keep on em, keep at em, and I assure you pigs are in your future. lol,.......I see it in my crystal ball,...lol,...ha ha ha good luck with that channel Scaleface , I hope your right And I hope its a great year for you both,..but those gassy gut feelings? I got a good tip for ya,..stay upwind of us old timers. we fart dust and dont wanna sandblast ya's!,...lmao' Good story about the canal Darren!

Has gut feeling played out in your bass fishing? With all the available technology, information, known patterns, situations out there for us all to read up and study on. How does your instincts play into the game? Like your at work and notice the weathers been stable for a few days, sunny skies, light breezes, and you know a certain sun beaten shoreline thats destined to hold some nice bass, hiding in its shadowed docks, weeds, and laydowns. You figure that if the weather holds, 2 days from now you have a afternoon off, and somethings telling you to be there flipping/pitching that cover. The day comes, and your nailin' em for a full 6 hrs or so. You end up with a bunch of smaller fish, a boatload of 3's and 4's, a few 5's, a seven, and a nine pound slob! You get home with a huge smile, and know,..only you know whats just happened. (unless your A-jay with his go pro,..lol) ^5 bro Or, Your prefishing a tourney for a lake you know, found good fish, but to get to them you must pass over a main lake point that you've always figured, during the right wind should be a good area, but have yet to experience that wind. The day of the tourney comes, your heading to your fish and as you approach that point, the winds right and your finder is showing tons of bait, so you come off plane to give it a 20 minute "shot",.. just because of your hunch or, "gut feeling". You cast out a spinnerbait and within 2 handle turns, your baits been slammed by a four plus, you cast out again, and another. By the end of the day, you've not only beat up that spinnerbait, but took home a check to replace it with many of them. Outings when you nailed it, via consideration. When you figure "this",.... and "this" not just works, but pans out better than anticipated! If I recall correctly, "good days" were reported here last year, by many of you. But what Im asking about is, not just a good day, but when a good day came from that "gut feeling", by your intuition, instincts and following through to fruition. Are these instances more often than not? Or, are they few and far between? This could be good considering the vast audience here. Pb's are awesome by all accounts, but I think "gut feeling instances" can actually supercede a pb in many instances. (unless they are combined) As for me? "Nailing it" via gut feelings has been few and far between as of late, hopefully subject to change this season..,..lol So, heres a good chance for you to share, burn some time, tout thyself, cut up, even brag. But most of all, a possible chance to look at your approach, your gut feeling, and assess its effectiveness from a "typed out" perspective, and adjust if need be. Im also hoping that this will help some with confidence, and effective assessment. Not much will boost ones confidence other than recognizing successful moments produced by proper assessment, in conjunction with a gut feeling... Then yet,.... there is also the general "Hey, check this out!",..."I win!",.."Nanner Nanner!",. "I knew it" and of course, "I can die now". ,....lmao Lets hear it Whatchagot?

Try this,.. Start out with no info whatsoever. Pick a new water, go there and just fish your strengths. Like if you produce fish with a senko at other waters, go with that. Use your instincts, try areas that look good to you, are downwind from the past few days wind direction etc..., Fish around birds if present. At the ramp , before you launch, flip a couple rocks or a log thats entering the water search out a crayfish for color, keep an eye out for tiny baitfish jumping etc. These are small things that can lead you towards becoming adept at reading waters. It doesnt just happen, and although you can receive instruction and direction, these are things best served by yourself. You will gain a better grasp of the "big picture" if you help paint that pic yourself. Some tips needed for new waters will eventually come with just a few glaces towards weather conditions, lake type, water color/clarity, seasonal considerations, and if available? depth. No depth maps? no biggie, a heavy bottom bouncing lure can help with that. No idea of prevailing baitfish? again, no biggie. Most areas have one of a few, and whats found down the street to be prevailing "may" not be the same where you decided to fish today? they more often than not, are the same. Like Tennesse Valley authority lakes? shad,...Up here in the northeast? smelts, Great lakes ? maybe gobies etc. Using "your strengths' while you fish, a new place? ,...Will produce confidence via conformation. Sorry, the one thing we cant physically hand you, like say,.. a spinnerbait, or certain plastic. Is confidence,... And the quicker you gain it? The easier fishing anywhere will be

Probably all the above and then some.

I'll try to remember to look for the book and thanks,.. I've been attending a fly tyer's gathering looking for basics, tips, and tricks, of tying. And will look in the showroom next time I'm there. I do own a flyrod, I think its a 9 weight (been awhile) its intended for stripers, it works wonders when your on fish. As within any fishing goes much the same,.. right? Ironicly, the first night I attended, they were tying a striper fly, here's mine: I think they called it, not a popper, but gurgler. Mines a little light on the bucktail, but have to wonder if this would be smallie candy. This with a smelt patterned streamer trailing by using several inches of flouro, worked slowly trolling along after the ice outs would probably be a awesome salmon/laker combo, then yet maybe again, smallie candy. I'll have to check it out if I get to troll the cold water this year.

Plano makes a 3700 bag that holds four of them, big side and front pockets,.One strap easy "on/off" front pocket holds tools and such sides good for plastics. The larger main pocket will hold plenty of 3600s and plenty of room for more plastics, and "stuff". I have one and use it for my little basshunter, or when im on someones boat. Would be a decent shore bag

How many bass anglers wouldnt have at least 1 texas water on their bucket list to fish? Probably just the anglers that fish/live there.

OOOPs, I clicked submit when I shouldnt have,.. What I do that can be considered wrong? I dont use braid. At all, for freshwater angling. I tried it years ago, but scraped it for some reason. But, here I am again at that crossroad, I spooled up some last week for this season on my dropshot rod, (another wrong to some im sure,..LOL),... I broke it in last year with just one smallie, but it was spooled with mono then. So, im looking forward to hopefully doing some dropshotting with a light braid and a flouro leader. I feel that the technique kinda needs that clear leader for the clear smallie waters I fish, as well as the braids sensitivity and hookset. From frogging to flipping and many other presentations braid fits the bill,... BUT, I kinda look at it like this tho,.. whatever tool that works for you to complete the task? All the power to ya, I utilize the stretch of mono for treble hooked lures, and up the pound test for single hooked lures. And its worked for me, im used to it. The stretch of mono in this case may not produce as well, as the day I caught that smallie, I was getting hits but missing them, so I decided to try out the hooksetting power of a lighter braid, as well as the added sensitivity. So, here I go this season with a braid for bass. That wrong averted. HMmmmm,. another wrong? Lately, the actual act of fishing itself Ive been approaching all wrong. Im not getting enough of it!,....lol. Six trips last year? simply visceral, inconceivable, unacceptable and "blasphemy". The year before not much more either. As William Wallace's uncle stated "Thats something we must remedy".,..Segway to 2017's spring time? I hope its in the cards to be ready when the snow melts, and "remedy" my absence. Wrong not adverted, but to be decided soon.

I may "learn" a new technique, or trick. But the specifics as far as the actual companies lure used, I take with a grain of salt. Meaning: I will learn a tip while, say dropshotting, but the actual bait hanging off that hook? Im not so inclined to run out and buy. I may employ that tip, but use a bait of "my" choice while doing so

I understand the bait of choice by your daughter I I understand your daughters bait of choice as I too have daughters and some pink slugo's, 3 pink poppers, and a few pink skirted spinnerbaits that they "chose" by,... "demand". The continued rhetoric?,..I'd answer with,..."You try a dd cup and pink n chartreuse skirt and see how well you do!",.. that should either end any levity thrown your way, or reversely,.. open up a "fun filled conversation",...lol The fortitude to not change the bait just before blast off? Commendable!,...The results? Congratulations. Point taken just the same. Another great post Catt!

UMMmm,... ten lures? I only need six 1 topwaters 2 spinnerbaits 3 spoons 4 crankbaits 5 worms 6 jigs Now I take dozens of each while I fish, but,....lol In reality if I was only afforded 10 "specific" lures?,... Id be freakin out. Im sure I could pack just ten for a day as a "non-boater" But I'd still be stressing it, and confidence may drop if conditions changed during the day