TOXIC

I never threw cranks much until I got sponsored by SPRO. Even then I was hesitant. I tossed my buddy a Little John in Cell Mate on one trip and watched him catch 6 fish in 6 casts. It was a game changer for me. We threw them a lot on St Clair and did very well. Smallmouth, largemouth, white and yellow perch, walleye and a few pike and muskies. I have a lot of all sizes of SPRO cranks and lipless in my tackle but since GSM purchased Bill Lewis, I have been migrating my cranks over to that line. I haven’t used them enough to have an opinion yet. The only other crank I ever throw is an original Manns baby minus 1 on the Potomac over the grass. Those river bass can’t stand it.

Well, after I cleaned up a downed branch from a tulip poplar that was the size of a small tree, we had this happen. No wind, no storm. The tree looked fully healthy. It fell on a sunny day and missed the house by about 20 feet. Freaked my wife out. You can see in the background a standing dead oak that is the same size as the one that fell and we have another in that line of trees the same size that is also standing dead. It is time to call in the professionals. The one that fell is across my septic drain field and the standing dead one can’t be dropped on it. Likewise, they can’t get any big equipment back there because they would have to drive over my distribution box. The other dead standing is close to the road and power lines so in addition to taking the downed tree out, the other 2 have to be rope lowered in sections. I’m also having them limb up every tree around the house because there are some with the ends of branches touching the roof. First bid $10,000. 😱

I have a very simple mindset. I take 5 steps back and look at a bait and see how it differs from the other 500 baits of the same style. Take craws for example. EVERYBODY makes a craw. What is different from 1 to another? Is is that % of difference required to avoid copyright infringement? More legs, bigger claws, added antennas? Or is it truly something “new” that gets more fish? I get it that there’s different plastic formulas but realistically there’s a 🦞 crawfish lookalike and that’s it.

True, but if you zoom in on the rig in the pic, it’s a ball head.

I am looking at the same thing. I have one for my truck and it has been ok. My complaints are that the grommets (there are 2 on the truck cover) are a little weak. One of mine ripped somewhat. Second, I have to fold my mirrors in for it to cover down to the running boards on my truck. There’s no pocket built in for mirrors and no opening for the antenna. When I called them about it they said the cover I have is the largest truck cover they make and said it is a semi fitted cover not fully fitted. It hangs off the front and back pretty far but nor on the sides. After a rain and I pull the cover off there is a slight coating of moisture on the truck. Almost like dew. I don’t know how that would translate to a boat cover where you don’t want any moisture to get through. I’m sure it’s because it is due to the “breathable” claim that this happens. I had the wind catch the front corner and put a 2” rip in the cover. They sent me a new one no questions asked. Their top tier boat cover has a lifetime warranty which I guarantee you I would use considering how the weather has destroyed my factory boat cover. I have no plans to tow with it either. I’m about ready to order one and would like to hear some feedback as well. I don’t trust google reviews.

If the rig you have in the pic is what you call a shakeyhead head, I don’t think it is. That is a ball head jig from the looks of it. A shakeyhead head is normally flat on the front side of the head so that it stands up when drug across the bottom. Take a look at the Spotsticker shakeyhead to see what I mean. As for the confidence thing, I worked a show with Gary Klein once and asked him about confidence and this is what he told me: ”I don’t know if confidence in a lure helps you catch more fish but I do know that lack of confidence will guarantee you to not catch them”

As a balance, I try to add something new when possible. BUT….it has to be significantly different from anything that I currently have. For example, my go to bait for a Ned is a 4” Senko. When Yamamoto came out with the Yamatanuki in the Ned size, I had to try it out. Now it’s in the rotation because it surprised me how well it worked. It is so different from the Senko it garnered a tryout when the Senko wasn’t working.

My “trash” fish, renamed from Northern Snakehead to Chesapeake Channa to make them more palatable. They are delicious but the name was off putting. We have all the other trash fish…Blue Cats, Pickerel, Gar, carp, Grinnell, and probably a few I am forgetting.

What size and kind of boat?

It really sucks. I almost opted for the 6.2 when I got my 2016 High Country but got a better deal on the 5.3 they had in stock. The new truck sales manager was also a hard core fisherman and he told me the 5.3 would tow better and get better mpg while doing it. I’m on a lot of Chevy sites and the numerous problems with them, more or less depending on year, has been pretty amazing. Torque converters, transmissions, collapsed lifters, AC condensers, thermostats, and on and on. I maintain my truck 100% by the book or better. It pains me to hear of all the failures. No manufacturer is immune either. Lists of recalls on all of them. What bothers me about your recall is that they are recommending a higher viscosity oil as a fix….Hope they get you fixed to your satisfaction because heaven knows, they can’t afford to lose loyal customers like us.

@casts_by_fly that sounds nice. I know the newest update for the Ghost allows you to use the foot control while on spot lock to adjust the boat position and not release the spot lock. In other words, it will automatically spot lock in the new position. Previously, if you touch the foot control while on spot lock, it automatically released and you would have to reset it.

The seat posts I think you are talking about where you can put the cushion down to deck level is not the one you have pictured. The ones that sit on the deck are threaded bases, the one in your pic is a simple slide in with a locking tab. You can remove it by pushing in the tab and pulling it out but it’s the entire pole, not just the top with the cushion. The base in the deck determines which one you have.

Fishing can be so therapeutic and most don’t realize it. It’s what kept me guiding for so long. Helping a kid catch their first bass, helping an angler catch their personal best, volunteering to take wounded warriors and combat vets out for a day on the water have all given me much more than I could ever give them.

This^^ It also depends on if they are coming unbuttoned or if you are missing strikes. I don’t like braid on any of my crankbait setups. Even with a leader, the no stretch of braid either pulls the crank away from the fish or rips it out of their mouth. Try slowing down your retrieve too.

Spent early morning couple of days ago cleaning up storm debris out at 8am done by 10. It was miserably hot and worse yet, humid. I went through a gallon of water. The plus to be under all of the trees is that the house is shaded most of the day and that helps the AC units. We have one for the main house and one for the addition. So far they are working well with the thermostats set at 75. I have no plans to venture out unless absolutely necessary. 😜

I used to tell my clients that were learning to cast that a fishing rod is no different than a baseball bat, tennis racket or golf club. It’s more about finding the sweet spot that gives you the maximum result from minimal effort. Sure, power is part of it but not as much as most think. Casting is no different and you need to pair your equipment to what it is you are throwing to get the same result.

I think you owe it to yourself to at least go out with someone who has a modern fly by wire and see the difference from the older ones. For me, I’ve never really been in a situation where I need immediate response to input. Even with cable steer I had on my Fortrex, and being in stumps and trees, there was a lot of drifting with the steering. Im not spot locking in that situation either. The guy I went to the St Lawrence with last year has a Ghost and besides the constant use of spot lock in the current, he has more recent graphs and used the “go to” a waypoint function a lot. We would get close and he would use that option to allow us to fish up to it. Just another plus. We also used the “constant course” option on a lower power setting to allow us to drift and drag baits at a fish able speed in the massive current of that river. If it was just the constant on option on a non gps unit, you would have to stand on the tm to steer and keep the boat positioned in the current.

There’s 2 different HPDI motors in the high hp. I have a 250 series 1, supposedly the weaker of the 2. There is also a series 2 that was supposedly improved. My series one has 490 hours and is a circa 2005 model. It has been pretty much flawless. I did replace a lower unit and the shop that did it surmised it was vandalized before it failed. There was a teaspoon worth of lower unit oil in it after I filled it right before a road trip. No sheen on the water, no puddle on the ground where parked and they felt someone drained it. These motors require clean fuel. I have the oil filter size water separator/filter in the bilge plus there are 2 or 3 additional filters under the cowel that need changing every other year. Per my mechanic run mid grade fuel since they do not have knock sensors. I now run ethanol free with a minimum octane of 87. Maintenance is key. I have -0- complaints with my motor. Pushed my 21 foot heavy, tournament loaded, 1/2 tanks of fuel 68-70. After I trashed a prop and had it repaired with some additional lift added it now runs 62-65. It has always thrown my rig out of the hole with a 3-5 second holeshot.

I’m always looking for a good financial motivation and being able to make the topper investment last a couple of trucks would be great. My point was that I can’t trust myself to get the same color truck because I buy the deal not the truck and have never ordered from the factory because the deals have always been much better on existing stock. I wasn’t criticizing your choice. My 3/4 ton was a special order that the customer backed out of and my 1/2 ton was an on site inventory special.

I’m somewhat in the Toyota camp. Wife has a 2016 Highlander that she loves and it’s been a good vehicle. I looked at the Tundra when I was new truck shopping in 2016 and almost dropped the hammer on a 1794 edition V8 but those who I know had them suffered badly with MPG. Now they don’t offer a V8 option at all, just the turbo’d 6. I got the supplier discount from Chevy, plus they offered me 3k more in trade. The real reason I walked was that the Toyota dealer pulled some very shady crap that I caught them in. I still have a first year model year Lexus SC430 hardtop convertible that I bought as a fun car when I lived in Florida and I commuted in it when I came back to DC. Now it sits parked in the garage since I retired and I’ve probably put 50 miles on it in 4 years. I’ve been toying with just selling it but it’s got a 4.3 liter V8 and is a fun little car. First year of production, hand assembled in Japan and shipped over before they had the tooling set up here. In Japan they are called Soarers.

That’s great since you get a carbon copy of your old truck to your new truck. 😄 I on the other hand, have had a black 3/4 ton and a pearl white 1/2 ton. Not very interchangeable 😝 My 3/4 ton had one of the original Undercover hard plastic one piece with lifts on it. It stayed with the truck when I traded it in. That truck had no bedliner (I actually waxed the bed) and the same stall mats I transferred over to my new truck. I do know the dealer told me they remove all the add ons from trade in trucks like brush guards, light bars, etc., because it lowers the value.

I am a slow adapter and when I do it has to make a measurable impact on my fishing and be financially responsible. That’s why I have down scan and side scan units and no FFS. The cost to upgrade to that technology hasn’t reached my threshold yet. The first upgrade I did to my 2005 21 ft big glass boat was Power Poles. Not the fancy Blade series that had wireless stomp switches and paired with your graphs (if you had a new enough version), I just got the original 8 footers hard wired with stomp switch’s up front and a hard wired toggle in the console. Where we fish in the Potomac River, poles were a very good addition due to the water we fished. I bought them used. My buddy who is the opposite of me and is an early adapter, had a Ghost trolling motor on his boat. It was only a year old when he decided to upgrade to a Power Pole Move. He can now control his TM, and Power Poles from his sonar units, the remote, phone app, or wireless stomp switches. He also upgraded to 5 lithium batteries and a Power Pole battery charger which allows him to monitor his batteries on his sonar units and the app on his phone. Since I fish with him almost every weekend, I realized the advantages of spot lock. He sold me the Ghost at a very good price and although I can’t utilize all of the functions, I can use a good portion of them and the remote. My only complaint is that there is a bit of a lag controlling with the remote but far less if I use the wireless foot peddle. Overall I am very, very happy with it. I still have my Fortrex tucked away in the garage for emergency use.

When guiding, I had about an hour drive to the lake and I always wanted to be launched and tied off to the dock when clients arrived so I was routinely traveling early pre dawn. Saw lots of deer and only had 2 instances where I was in conflict. Once one came from the shoulder and ran into the side of my truck bouncing off the boat. The second was when I crested a hill and there was a herd right in the middle of the backroads highway. I swerved hard, missed them all and when I looked in my rear view mirror, my boat trailer was up on two wheels. Luckily it didn’t pass center mass and continue over. It fell back on its wheels. We did have a deer bolt out of the shoulder coming back from St Clair one year and it went between the truck and boat, over the windshield and hit the motor cowling cracking it pretty good. That was an insurance claim.

With the high Country package, my bed came factory sprayed with bed liner. To help keep items from sliding around or bouncing on the hard lining, I used 2 stall mats from Tractor Supply that I trimmed to fit. Downside is that they are around one inch thick and it seems that’s just the space that puts some of my coolers too tall to fit under it. As for water tight, it’s been great. No leakage. Toppers that are paint matched usually have to be bought brand new and I’m toying with another truck in the future. My 2016 just rolled up on 105k so buying a custom painted topper might not be worth it. The tri coat pearl is not a very common color so finding one used might be problematic. I don’t know how toppers affect trade or sale value. Thanks for the opinions.

Wanted some opinions on truck caps. I currently have an aluminum tonneau that locks in the front and rear panels and folds up to the size of one panel on the rear. It’s served me well and I’ve hauled a lot of oversized items but nothing that wouldn’t fit under a cap. Reason I am reconsidering is two fold. First, when in Michigan this year one of my buddies opened my tonneau to get some tools out and I assume folded it up onto something they had sitting on top and put a huge crease in the aluminum. Second, another one of my close fishing friends, got a Leer for a real good price and put it on his GMC Denali and it looks pretty good and he really likes it. More room, pretty secure and clamps on so it can be removed if he needs to haul anything higher than the cap. It’s not one of the really high caps, it’s cab roof level. My problem is going to be matching the tri coat pearl color of my truck without going through the cost of painting it. I’m just throwing it out there for opinions.