TOXIC

Normal boat battery setups have the cranking battery for starting the motor, running pumps, electronics, lights etc. and 1 -2 or 3 batteries dedicated to the trolling motor. That depends on the required volts of the troller (12-24 or36). For your cranking battery, normally your motor will have a minimum Marine Cranking Amps (MCA) requirement. Depending on how many accessories you wire up to it will determine how much above that minimum rating you will go based on the battery’s Reserve Capacity which is usually stated in amp hours.

I have absolute confidence that my go box contains baits that will catch fish nationwide. While some bodies of water may have special colors that work better than others, I can get a bite on something I have with me. This has proven itself over and over from coast to coast and north to south.

You need to make some decisions beyond what will fit in your garage. Tin vs glass, average waters you will be on, motor size, tow vehicle, etc. I always say to go to the ramp of your favorite lakes and see what the average angler is running. Then refine to your needs.

Last time I fished a night crawler was on Lake Michigan with a PWT Walleye pro using crawler harnesses and planer boards. The first time I ever used them was as a kid gathering them, early morning after a rain, out of my grandparents farmyard and riding my bike 5 miles to a stream with a spillway and catching bullheads until I ran out of worms. Good memories.

Another one of the “Old Guard” stepping away. It was refreshing to see Hackney pull in another win. I worked some shows with him and he’s a real hoot.

@Lottabass I have in fact found pellets and some that are encased skeletons of mice. Since I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge but still in a wooded neighborhood that has a wooded tract with 2 streams that runs behind us, we get every imaginable critter, reptile, insect, and bird life native to Virginia. Pics show the back of my property with the same ancient tulip poplar in both winter and summer.

All this spring we have had a pair of owls. Finally got a glimpse of one of them living on the property. The crows were divebombing outside the great room window and it was one of the owls they were agitated at. We hear them calling all the time but this is the first time I've seen one. My great room is 78 feet off the forest floor so I was actually looking down to where it was perched.

@casts_by_fly water temps were 56-62. Heading to the Rappahonock River this Sunday for our first trip of the season.

I’ve been going to St Clair for 22 years straight. I can’t count the number of 4’s and high 5’s I’ve caught. There’s probably a few that made the 6 mark because we weren’t as good about weighing the fish in the early days and even now, it has to look special to get on the scale vs a quick pic and release. My personal goal is a 7 that would get multiple pictures and measurements for a replica mount. There was one trip where I hopped boats from my Virginia buddy and jumped in with one of our Michigan pals and he said he would try to get me a 7. Born and raised on the lake and an avid tournament fisherman, he had some secret spots that he didn’t share with us. He took me to “the tree” which was an ancient huge sunken tree trunk out in the middle of nowhere. Third cast in I hooked what ended up being a 5 and as I fought it back to the boat, I saw it was flanked on both sides by 2 smallmouth that dwarfed it. My buddy commented, “There’s your 7”. Unfortunately after about an hour of trying, we couldn’t get one of the big ones to bite. Still eagerly chasing my 7.

Thanks. Wasn’t my smoker so it was a little drier than I personally like it but it had to stay on the heat a little longer than I wanted waiting for the wives to get home from shopping. 😂

While I agree, that is not my boat. It’s my fishing partners. My boat is a hoopty compared to his. It’s his boat pulled by my truck when we go on our cross country trips. We are getting ready for Lake St Clair next month and we just got back from Headwaters in Florida in February. While I do have power poles and a Ghost trolling motor with spot lock, I have much older electronics and my rig is used for my trips to Wisconsin and our local trips to lakes and rivers. We took his because there’s no way my lead acid batteries would have lasted all day or at least we weren’t willing to risk it. 😂 Pic is my boat.

Headed off to Lunga lake located on USMCB Quantico looking for some Lunker bass that supposedly reside there. Electric only on 447 acres and a 20 foot Ranger present a bit of a problem but thank heavens for lithium batteries and a Power Pole Move trolling motor because we ran out of steam before they did! Caught a few nice bass, no monsters but lost a lot of gear to the pickerel. Water was still too cold for spawners. I don’t see heading back unless it’s too windy for the rivers. Fun time though. Pickerel pull hard.

Forgot to post my all day smoke of a brisket when we were in Florida. Trim fat and silver skin. Separate point. Marinate overnight with a secret recipe rub. Smoker at 225 until around 190 internal. Very good!

No need to go down that path again. “Non-native” and “Invasive” are 2 different things. 😉

@gimyep it seems the Florida sun bakes them on and luckily they are not the pesky Love Bugs that can take the paint off your vehicle. I learned that lesson when I lived there. Weekly washings were required when they were active. Since we stayed on the beach for the whole trip, I also have that pesky Florida salt dew. I only hand wash my vehicles so I can usually get stubborn stuff off. Now that I think about it, I’m going fishing with a buddy tomorrow on one of the lakes on Marine Base Quantico tomorrow, so I’ll probably wait until after that to get after it.

Back from Florida and going out today to get the bug splats off and make my truck white and not pollen green.

I think the overzealous push of conservation has mentally dissuaded us from eating most species of gamefish. I’ll agree that the water they come from and forage they are feeding on have a lot to do with the flavor of the fish. I don’t make it a habit to keep largemouth and smallmouth when there are so many other species that I will keep like crappie, bluegill, catfish, white perch, ring perch, walleye and more recently snakehead (Channa). I have eaten smallmouth and largemouth and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it and I don’t throw shade on anyone who enjoys them. I’ve caught smallmouth and largemouth for fish fry’s both in lake Champlain and in Wisconsin. St Clair has a large contingent of meat fishermen who include smallmouth along with all the other species, and there are a lot. Follow the slot and cull limits and enjoy your catch.

Sad day for tournament fishing. I have a feeling it will be a turning point for these big organizations like MLF, BASS, NPFL and even the opens. So sad for all involved and families affected.

Can’t beat a Yamamoto Zako offered in both paddle tail and forked tail styles. New to the market and I’m going to give them a good workout next month on St Clair, is the new paddle tail Shad shape worm.

Ask your insurance company that covers your tournament. If you don’t have insurance, that’s another topic all together. After all paid entries, you either assign takeoff spots in order of entry paid date and any who pay at ramp go to the rear, or you do a drawing of boat captains for takeoff position.

Back when I was sponsored by SPRO, the big complaint on the frogs was that the rubber was too stiff. To soften it up we used to put them on the trucks dashboard. Likewise, we used strips of rabbit fur in place of the skirt material for legs and we would stuff the bodies with worm rattles. I had a big bag of tricks for frog fishing. 😆

And when I see a “new” technique or bait my mind automatically goes to “what has already been produced that is nearest to this new bait and how is it different?” Keeping in mind that manufacturers have to constantly come up with ways to separate you from your $$. 😉

Am I mainstream? I consider myself more experienced. I’m not easily led astray from what I have found works well for my style of fishing. Will I try new things? Yes of course but it’s alongside tried and true methods that I’ve taken years to build confidence in. Usually the “new” things are variations of what I already have confidence in.

I’ve posted my drop shot setup multiple times but you just asked about weights. While there are a lot of ways to put a weight below your hook for a dropshot, from pinch weights to worm weights to bell sinkers tied on, I prefer to use a premium weight after my 30+ years of trial and error. I have used everything from the cheap bass pro dropshot weights in all the different forms like cylinders, egg drop, hexagonal, adjustable by snipping lead off, and many others. What I have found is that a premium weight with top notch components like the harp and swivel, hang up less, come through cover, structure and grass better and last longer. My weight of choice is a QuickDrop in 1/4 oz size but that is all dependent on whether I’m casting, vertical jigging and how much current and depth I’m fishing in.

I know the Northern Snakehead is a food fish raised specifically for that purpose and they are delicious with firm white mild meat, but are the other strains the same like the Bullseye Snakehead found in Florida?