12poundbass

Just joined. Just a reminder the first tourney isn't the classic. I got carried away and forgot. I set up my roster for Texas. Thank god I caught it! Lol

It was 4 Friday night. Tuesday....mid 40's and rain. Gotta love Michigan!

Awesome! I'll be joining soon. I too suck at it, but it's fun and that's really all that matters.

I say we do it. Anybody else?

Isn't there an option on the Bassmaster one where we could group up?

I understand why they blocked it, just wish there was a way to filter out certain uses of the number and let others go like my situation. I apologize for the bad info regarding the bearings. I was misinformed. Thinking about it some of my Abu's have 6 bearings and are smoother than some others I've used with more. My bad, I was misinformed.

As far as reels go, these ratio is is how many times the spool turns compared to turns of the handle. Example 5.3 to 1 the spool rotates 5.3 times for every turn of the handle. The lower the ratio the more torque. Another number to look at is how much line is retrieved per turn of the handle. Bearings: the more bearings the smoother the reel. Example *** bearings 12 bearings + 1 roller bearing the roller bearing I believe is the bearing used to prevent the reel handle from turning backwards. Seriously? *** is blocked when referring to bearings? I'm not referring to the brand of reel! Never used them not trying to plug them!

The Chinese would take your underwater drone like they did to the U.S. Navy a few weeks back! ?

My stepdad has one with rollers and it works great! I wish I had one, 'cause I'm like you I fish small lakes with boat launches but sandy and if we have a dry spell and the lake drops I have to push my boat off the trailer or risk getting stuck. He does have a 16 or 17' tin boat so like Way2slow said not sure how a glass boat would work. I'm guessing by your description of the lake you fish you have a tin boat too.

Used to be the pad crusher. This year I bought the Live Target Sunfish. I know it's not a frog but man it's fun to fish. The bass love it, and it walks great. The only problem is you have to squeeze the water out every time, a little super glue and the problem is fixed. It's a riot to fish though! Any frog or top water is just plain fun to fish!

I'm going to focus on this more this year too. I see some say peg the weight and some say bobber stop. What's the preferred method? I've seen the pros recomend a bobber stop so the lure can move freely. What's your inputs?

Pitch with the opposite hand so you're not switching. If you switch while you're making long casts you have time to switch. If you're pitching there's little to no time to switch before the bait is wet. I totally agree! This is something I need to work on in the off season. I'm left handed, use RH reels, and always cast from my left side. To be a more efficient and accurate caster I need to work on making casts from my right side too. There are too many times where I make a bad cast because I'm casting from my left side when I should be from my right side.

X2^

Your way of casting is pretty normal, and how most are taught. I am left handed but use right handed reels, that's how I was taught. All of the sports I do right handed that's just how I was tought, and to be quite honest the world isn't really set up for left handed people but we adapt. It is all about preference, but I think I have a slight advantage when using a right handed baitcaster, my hands are in constant contact with the rod and reel. I agree that I prefer to have my dominate hand on the rod. But it's all about comfort.

Rarely shop at either, almost always shop at a local store in my area. Maybe the price of their boats will come down. ?

It appears you got your chainsaw running in tip top shape! Lol

Was a frog, but now it's the Live Target Sunfish. Fish it the same way but they love that sunfish laying on it's side sliding back and forth. There's nothing better than throwing any hollow bodied top water into the belly of the beast and anticipating what kind of monster might bust the surface and grab it. Then reeling in a bunch of weeds not knowing what's underneath, it's like Christmas every time. Usually turns out to be a tiny bass but hey it's fun no matter what!

The fish don't care what kind of boat you have. They care more about your lure and presentation. Go with what works for you. I'll bet you might be surprised at the boats you see when you start fishing tourneys. If it floats I'll be you'll eventually see it.

A motivated seller should offer to meet you at a lake. No test ride no sale for me.

It really all depends on what you're looking for and what your needs are. At 4k I'm willing to bet you could go up in size a little which would give you more room and stability. Your concern about someone else's problem are valid. A couple ideas to think about...if you're handy enough you could buy cheap and fix what needs to be fixed you could do it pretty cheap and with aluminum you can pretty much make an old boat look new. Or save another couple grand and look for a bass tracker 2000-2005 or so model year. Another thing you can do to cover your hind end buying used is have a marine mechanic look over the outboard. Hope this helps, good luck with your purchase!

Look on-line for the Trokar Elite Pro assortment pack. $40 for 50 hooks. 3/0 4/0 5/0 6/0 assortment. Plus it comes with a cool case for them! Trokar and Gamakatsu are awesome hooks neither have let me down. Trokars are expensive though, but that assortment pack is a good deal.

Even if I had a 20'+ bass boat I still wouldn't go on the Great Lakes in rough conditions. I've seen the Elite anglers on tv with waves crashing all sides of the boat or the waves lift the bow so high the prop of the trolling motor is a couple feet out of the water, or making a run and the entire boat is several feet out of the water. That's not my cup of tea and never would be in any bass boat.

Mine have been good. I've seen some bad reviews too, but I've yet to have an issue. Like with everything you're going to have some issues/bad reviews. You can look anywhere on line and find what you want good or bad. I'm not giving you a sales pitch or say they're the greatest boat out there I'm just giving my experience. They are a good boat and they're extremely affordable for guys like me.

If you're looking for a bass boat then the deep v is out. If you look hard enough you could find a glass boat in the mid 2000's or later in your budget. If you want to go with aluminum then you could get one brand new or fairly new. Ranger, Triton, Tracker, and many others make awesome aluminum boats. Ranger and Triton (in my opinion are the higher end) but all are good boats. With the input of the guys on here and time spent doing your own research will land you a boat you'll be happy with. I personally have a Tracker I fish smaller lakes and have a smaller budget than most so Tracker suits me just fine and I haven't had an issue with them. Check out the Tracker Pro Team 190.

You thinking aluminum or a glass boat? Deep v mod v? What kind of fish do you mainly chase after? Answers to those questions will narrow your search.