tkunk

That's, what, five minutes per cast? Do you only t-rig when you're highly confident that there are fish around? Mostly asking because I'm impatient and usually get outfished by guys like you.

Keep in mind that smallies can be anywhere. Normally, at this time of year, I get the vast majority of my fish drop shotting in 10-20 fow. In the past two weeks, I haven't caught one deeper than 6 fow.

The guy who services my muskie reels says to tighten the cast control knob just enough so that the spool doesn't move side-to-side and never touch it again. Any thoughts on that? Maybe it only applies to heavy baits.

Nice. How long are you pausing your jerkbait in water that cold?

Side imaging is awesome for finding structure. You can find and mark every transition, bolder, and weed edge on a huge piece of structure in less than an hour. Good mapping (anything with 1' contours) is also important, especially for smallies. If you didn't have these tools, it'd take weeks or months to figure it out. I'd never skimp on electronics.

Some guys are lucky, because they never have to throw light baits in windy conditions. I don't know any musky guys who use spinning gear, except in late fall, when levelwinds freeze and break.

Texas rigged senkos are great, even in open water. They tend not to get snagged on docks, trees, boats, people, or anything else.

Smallies on beds will hit anything. They murder my calves and ankles when I help my neighbors put their docks in the water.

I feel like the recommended lure weight ratings on St Croix rods are too low. In my experience, the ideal lure weight usually seems to be near the upper end of the recommended weight range on the rod.

I only use a ML rod for 1/32-3/32 oz hair jigs. They work really well in the spring, and you can't really cast them using anything heavier, so it's worth it IMO.

Fishing a jerkbait as fast as possible is effective and a great forearm workout. Burning heavy spinnerbaits and chatterbaits with a few added rod pumps to get a burst of speed also works well. To avoid blowing baits out of the water, it helps to use a long rod and keep the tip in the water. I've had days when it was impossible to fish a spinnerbait too fast. Pausing a crankbait when it hits weeds and ripping it free is a good technique. Popping tubes and drop shots out of snags is good too.

I use XF rods for everything except crankbaits and flipping.

This is probably what you're looking for. In general, it's a good idea to watch all Seth Feider instructional videos on youtube.

I suggest looking at DNR surveys. Where I fish, it takes a bass 12+ years to get to five lbs. According to DNR surveys in the lake, less than 5% of bass reach this age, so big fish much more are rare than average-sized fish. A lot has to go right for a fish to reach that age.

I have both. The Metanium is smoother and casts farther than the Curado K. The value of that is up to you.

Sharpening hooks is therapeutic and productive. You'd be surprised by how dull hooks can get, especially the big ones. Examining and changing worn split rings is also a good time killer. Servicing your own reels is also worth doing. Also, I've found that when I resist the urge to buy stuff I don't need, I have enough money to do a trip to the keys each year. Plus, I sneak onto golf courses at 3 AM to get my bass fix.

The 300 actually has a bigger spool, which means you'll cast farther with it.

I've heard some people say that you should only fish weeds when they're holding bait. This recommendation is obvious, but how do you know if there's bait around when visibility isn't very good? Around weeds, I don't think it's easy or even possible to see panfish on side imaging or sonar. The only that works for me is looking for groups people fishing for panfish or the presence of birds. Is there anything more reliable?

ML/F or ML/XF is fine for single hook applications. I have one of each. ML/moderate fast would be too whippy.

Thanks for the tip! After reading the suggestions here, I found out that I'm getting low voltage readings on both of my graphs. Then, I had someone check the battery, and the voltage is a big higher there, but it's still too low. I'm getting a new battery.

Check some smallmouth tournament weights in the spring at some of the famous locations. There have been some tournaments where it takes more than 6 lbs per fish to win. I'm pretty sure nobody's every had to average 10 lbs per fish to win a largemouth tournament. I'm done trying to debate the distribution of bass weights by species across various lakes in the US.

It's definitely a cranking battery, but I'm not sure of the group size. I don't keep my boat at my house, so I can't check right now. I have 3 deep cycle batteries for the trolling motor, a house battery, and a starter battery. My onboard charging system charges the deep cycle batteries and the house battery. If I'm not on the water, the boat is plugged in. Until the last couple of months, I could get around 12 hours per trip out of my electronics. Based on what I've seen in this thread, I think I must have an issue with the battery itself.

Thanks guys. That helps a lot.

Thanks. The house battery is mainly responsible for running the electronics. It handles the livewell, baitwells, and lights too, but I haven't been using those. I have separate batteries for starting the engine and running the trolling motor.

Thanks for the info on voltage ranges. If I'm not on the water, the boat's always charging. The last few times I went out, I checked the batteries, and all of them were fully charged.