TOXIC

You know that side well. Funny thing is, the old timers talk about a time when 6lbers were common over there. Best I've ever done was an 8 in the dead of summer in the back of a creek in pool 3.

I once worked a show with Gary Klein and he told me this "If I can find the fish, there are never fewer than at least 5 baits I can use to catch them". Any lake, any season, any conditions.

I agree, the retirement component skews my answer because if I'm retired, winter will not find me no matter how hard it tries. BUT.....my favorite lake? St Clair in Michigan would have to rank right up there. There's a group of us that have been going for 15 years and that lake never ceases to amaze me. Via the rivers you can get to Huron and Erie if you ever have a need to leave the lake. Had a chance to buy a house on an island a couple of years ago but passed and I am still kicking myself. As soon as winter showed up I would not be in the state, let alone the lake.

I'm a pretty honest reviewer and even though the usage is limited due to him having Lowrance electronics, it's a neat unit. Is it worth the price??? That's the big question.

I would love to make the switch but I bought my 112 (2016 model year) last year (from my buddy who bought the Ultrex) and I also bought a good set of rarely used 8ft Power Poles (gen 1) from a friend on lake Erie. I am up on my scheduled tire replacement for the trailer (dual axle) and I will probably do the brakes at the same time. My 3 TM batteries are about due for replacement as well and you know if you don't do it on a schedule, they will fail at the most inopportune time. I run a 250 HPDI and every other year it's about $300 in filters and guess what year it is....... I will definitely look at the switch sometime in the future but right now I am focusing on what keeps me on the water!! And just to answer the "most asked" question......Will it replace Power Poles? Nope, no way, no how. IMHO. It's not set up for shallow water and it adjusts the speed of the motor depending on the amount of correction that is needed. In the wind, it'll kick the thrust up pretty high to hold on a spot and in shallow water that would "blow out" that spot where poles would keep you there with less disturbance.

What a {{{{WINDY}}}} day on the water!! Went out to play with my buddy's new Ultrex and see if we couldn't scrounge up some hotside keepers. Lake is at least 4 foot low. Lots of docks/lifts high and dry. Wind was 20-25mph gusts and 10-15 sustained. Not good when the majority of the fish were deep and if I had to guess it was due to the low lake levels. Ultrex is da bomb!! Worked great in spot lock mode in the wind. We managed to catch fish all day on a varity of baits. The biggest fish of the day (no pic) came on a Yamamoto DShad weightless in the back of a creek but she inhaled the bait and so I did a quick release because she was bleeding. She was a good 4lbs. Second bigger fish is the pic and for the rest of the day we caught a lot of knotheads up to 2lbs. Best producers were Ned Rig, Shakey head, Dropshot and ball head in as light of weight as possible. Was great to get out, enjoy some company and a few good cigars..........In JANUARY!!

Just an FYI, all ramps open and only iced in the backs of some coves. Lake is pretty much wide open. As Sam advised, you can always call Anna Point or Sturgeon Creek to get information. I spent Saturday on the hotside in the wind!!

Just fished with the Ultrex for the first time Saturday on my friends boat, I still run the old style Fortrex 112 on mine. It was a great test for this new TM, the wind was gusting to 20mph with 10-12 sustained. I will admit it took a little getting used to when I jumped up front. The lack of "backpressure" on the peddle like in the cable steer models was the biggest thing. The TM reacted with the slightest pressure (heel to toe) on the peddle. Once you get used to that and the tendency to over-correct, it was awesome. Spot Lock in the wind was jaw dropping. We fished a roadbed in 20 ft of water and the spot lock worked perfectly. Things to note.....spot lock will keep the boat's nose into the wind (or current if river fishing) and if that so happens to be an awkward fishing angle, then you will need to get on the peddle. As for maneuvering in tight spaces, you will be fine on the peddle but I would not do it with the remote. We used the remote in open water to "jag" left right or forward. It worked well. The remote gives you a LOT of information like battery status and level of power to the motor. Overall it is a fine piece of equipment and well worth the price. We will really put it to the test on St Clair in May!! The ability to follow your "track" is promising for drift fishing.

This has been one of the few winters where the mighty Potomac pretty much froze up. Lots of open water now but water temps are very low. Lucky for me I have access to the discharge side of a nuke power plant. Water was 58-65 Saturday and the big girls were eating. Sorry to rub it in.

I T-rig my dropshot baits for a couple of reasons. First, I fish a lot of grass/weeds and nose hooking gets hung up waaaaay too much. Second, anything longer than a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm tends to lay vertical when nose hooked. It's physics...all of the weight of the bait is behind the hook. You would have to use a pretty large Dropshot weight to be able to put enough tension on the line to keep the bait horizontal. The hook I use is a Gamakatsu #1 (not 1.0) EWG. It's a thin wire hook so I adjust my hookset accordingly. No crossing their eyes with this setup, just a sweep to either the right, left or up depending on my position. I actually caught fish Saturday on a submerged road bed by casting across it and slowly pulling the bait across both side ditches.

The video on the Grass Goat website is from friends of mine who tested it on the Chick in heavy cover and a trip to florida last year. It performed perfectly and is going to be a buy for me very soon. I have been on a boat in the potomac many, many times and we fish the weeds a lot and the Goat is on his boat. Very impressed.

6'8" or 7' spinning rod, medium action, fast tip and a small/medium capacity spinning reel (not a widespool).

SPRO Rock Crawler.

Brings a tear to my eye to see my favorites both mentioned. Yamamoto 5" Pro Senko and the Shad Shape Worm. Since I always T-rig my DS baits, those are my go to. If there are fish around, they will hit those 2 baits all day, every day and twice on Sunday.

Since I'm an old guide, I have been dropshotting for a very long time. I can say I was doing it before it really got popular. I have given many, many seminars and tank demo's on the technique. With all of that, I am no more credible than anyone else because different people have different styles and different rigs work better for them. I have tried the braid to leader setups, I have tried fluro setups, I have tried multiple line weights and types as well but I always seem to come back to my basic setup. 8-10lb mono with a Gamakatsu #1 (not 1.0) EWG hook (tied with a palomar) and a QuickDrop 1/4oz harped dropshot weight. I have caught both largemouth and smallmouth, vertical dropped, cast and retrieved, dragged like a tube and fished open water and cover. I am a firm believer in eliminating any "points of failure" i.e., extra knots, harped hooks, etc. But that's just me and it's what works. Eliminate line twist by always closing the bail by hand and either before or during every other trip srtip out your line to eliminate any twist. I always T-rig my bait (99% of the time either a pro-senko or shad shape worm, both yamamoto products) and make sure the bait is rigged so that it does not spin. Hookset is always a sideways sweep and not at full strength. That is what works best for me, your mileage may vary.

Since I am 80% a finesse fisherman, I am a dedicated line watcher. I want my line (small diameter) visible in the daylight. Of course the best line I ever found got discontinued. Berkley Trilene Tournament Strength in Photochromic. It was a fluorescent orange and totally disappeared underwater. I have experimented with many others since then but nothing has been as visible as that line was. I try not to fish at night. Not that I haven't but it's just not my preference.

At blast off this morning, the FLW guys were prohibited from running straight downlake.

Not only that....add to it that some washers are directional and have a right and wrong way to face. That's why I don't tear mine down any more than I have to. If I want a deep cleaning or a repair, it's better to send them off. Just to add....that lone washer is more than likely your problem.

Why is there never a right answer? It depends on the conditions. the bait, the line and the species. I set the hook totally different on a senko, than a swimbait, than a topwater bait, than a dropshot. Some baits, you have to let them run with it or re-position it but if you do that with a senko for example, you will gut hook them. Sometimes, it's one and done and others it takes multiple hits.

Depends on a lot of factors. My boat or someone else's boat? My boat usually 8. 4 casting, 4 spinning. Partners boat I try to keep it to 6, 3 of each. Lake or River? Although the # of rods might be the same, the actual setups may change depending on where I am going. River, more braid setups and different baits (frogs/punching/weighted baits) from the lake where I'll throw more finesse and mono/floro setups. Time of year/current conditions? Will impact the baits but normally not the # of setups. Traveling? If I go to Lake St Clair for a week or Wisconsin for a week, I have carried 28 rods tucked in the port and center locker. Most of them will come out when I get to my destination and I will carry only what I need. I also carry extra rods and reels loose and not mounted or lined as "spares". Finally, a big determining factor is what I will be fishing for. If I am going out for Crappie, 3 rods/reels will do it. At last count, I have 78 setups but there's a lot of age and very different setups in that group. Some I have rotated out of use and some are very species specific. Catfishing setups to Surfcasting setups and everything in-between.

So far, the Smoke is my favorite but I have some Vapors on the way to review. I don't catch anything supersized enough to really test the drag systems beyond what a normal bass fisherman would do and I'm old and experienced enough that I can set brakes up for whatever I may be throwing. I keep them bait specific so once I set them up they are good to go. I have not had any problems with Quantum quality other than some of the older models flaking the chrome off the reel body. Cosmetic problem only.

I'm on their pro staff but don't push their product here due to the site rules.

I have a daughter 20 and a son 38. My son used to go with me wading and camping on the Shenandoah and we would catch smallmouth by the hundreds. He moved away from both our house and fishing. He is in to Tech (that's what he got his degree in and what he works in now) so our time is limited. I am content on introducing him to the sport and we occasionally go out on trips for him back to visit. My daughter fished and was pretty much outdoors all of her life but she is an equestrian and that takes up a lot of her free time and she is in college. They key in keeping kids interested is to make it FUN!! They won't stick with it if you roast them on 100 degree days and as youngsters you keep them on the water for 12 hours.

Something to remember, if you are outfitting an older boat (mine is a 2005) AGM's require a different charging profile than wet cells. I have a Sears PM1 (last of the last) for my cranking/accessories and 3 wet cells for my TM. My factory charger gets my wet cells to 100% but my AGM to only 90%. I have to top off my AGM with a portable that I have that has an AGM setting. Or....I could get up off my wallet and replace my 4 bank charger but I am cheap and will continue to top of the AGM. Special Note: If you have an older charger not programmed for AGM, some you can send back to the manufacturer and have the profile updated. Continued charging of AGM's where they are not fully charged will shorten the life of the battery. I was told by a Regional Sears representative that the reason for the discontinuation of the PM1 was the number of returns and that was due to inadequate charging.

Not a bad question at all. There are multiple things to consider when determining TM shaft length. 1. Type of boat. My Z21 Ranger is not going to sit in the water like your 188. The distance from the mounting point to the the water is what I look at. If your boat sits nose high, I start leaning to the longer shafts. If the head is going to be in the way when set to run shallow or stored is also a concern. 2. Type of water you fish most often. Lake or River? Deep or Shallow? Big or small? Heavy boat traffic? Current? Every one of these impact shaft length consideration. For reference, I have a good friend who I fish with a LOT. He has a Ranger 520, I have a Z21. He is rigged to run rough water and we take his boat to Lake St Clair every year. He has a 52" shaft. Why? Because St Clair can get rough and with a 20' boat there can be a lot of rocking up and down. The 42" shaft was never a consideration for him. My 21' boat doesn't rock nearly as much and I have a 42". If I were taking it to St Clair though, I can guarantee I would be surfacing the TM prop in rough water. Many multi-species boats have 60" TM Shafts due to the way their boats sit in the water and the type of water they fish. With all that being said, for your use, I would see no reason to go with the longer shaft since water bad enough to require the long shaft would likely be too bad for your setup to be out safely anyway. IMHO.