TOXIC

I travel every year (been doing it for 20 years) to Wisconsin from Virginia. It requires a 1 night stay in a Hotel on the way up and on the way back. Call me lucky but in the 20 years I have never had anything stolen out of the boat and I have had to stay at some places that made me very uncomfortable due to where I had to park the truck/boat. First, don't stay in a cheap shady hotel. 2nd, get a Lok-R-Bar. My electronics are removed and locked in the bed of the truck (hard cover and alarmed). All of my baits and reds/reels go in the front compartments covered by the Lok-R-Bar which has an alarmed padlock. The rest of my compartments are left unlocked. I don't want a thief to break into a compartment that has nothing in it anyway. I do lock my battery compartment. I lived in Florida for a few years and there's a special kinda thief there. Since there are so many fishermen who travel there, they are very proficient at stealing and believe me, they know what is valuable. I had a dock/lift on the St Johns and for a while there was some serious prop stealing going on from boats on lifts on the river. Finally caught the guy and it was a local tournament fisherman and guide. My best advice is to pony up the cash and stay at Roland Martins marina. Totally safe and geared to fishermen.

Things we do to fish!! Lucky for me I have access to a nuke discharge lake of 3,000 acres. Never freezes or drops below 50 degrees no matter what the outside temp. If I can get there, I can fish. Little tip.....don't take the plug out of your boat before you drive to the ramp or you will have to sacrifice a whole thermos of coffee in the bilge to thaw the ice that now is now frozen in the threads.

All bets are off on St Clair where you get the wind blown waves, 600ft freighter wakes and 3,000 different boat wakes all coming at you from different directions. No timing, no rythum, no rhyme or reason just big waves.

I may be the oddball here but I don't like tungsten in a lot of applications. It can be a little too sensitive for me. Especially in dropshotting where the smaller size can hang up easier and I get too much bottom feedback.

Aruku Shad Cell Mate

To me it's all about safety. If you are fishing the big water and doing tournaments, you do not get to choose whether of not you fish in whatever mother nature throws at you on tournament day short of it being bad enough the tournament is cancelled. Obviously, you always have the choice not to go out in bad weather conditions. What if weather moves in after blast off and you have to get back? I have fished big water on Lake St Clair for 15 years (not my home water), the Potomac River for 30 years and a lot of big water lakes/rivers up and down the East Coast. The "general" rule for big bad water is usually 2 camps. Guys who want the biggest boats possible (21-22 ft) and guys who want smaller (19-20ft). Each has it's pro's and cons and those pros and cons change depending on the body of water. For example, the bad days on St Clair are nothing like the bad days on the Potomac. You add tide and wind vs bad weather and big cruisers and the wave types are totally different. For another example, when I got my 21 foot Ranger I read where guys on Lake Michigan hated them because the had a tendency to spear waves on that body of water. Those guys wanted either a 20 footer or a 22 footer for that reason. The smaller boats with a good driver drive the waves whereas the longer boats "as a rule" are not as nimble. My best advice....go to the lakes you are going to be spending the most time on and see what size boat dominates the preference of local anglers. Personally, I have never had an issue with a larger boat loading/unloading or fishing around docks. You do have to weigh the fact that a bigger boat will require a bigger tow vehicle and the bigger boats trailer will be dual and will need more maintenance as in tires/brakes/bearings, etc., compared to a single axle. Motor maintenance is a wash because they all require about the same. As for it being your first boat just take your time and consider a used rig so that you can get all of your rookie mistakes made before you sink (no pun intended) your cash into a pristine new rig. Good luck.

I'm fairly confident that Hammer doesn't manufacture their own blanks and that's where I start with any custom build. If I know who makes the blank then I will know how it presents itself compared to other builders who use the same blanks. That being said, build quality is always a concern but there should never be any question as to what type and length of handle, exposed or solid reel seat, type/manufacturer/placement of guides, cork or EVA or Winn Grips, butt style, etc. After all, a custom rod is just that. Made to your specifications. Now an off the shelf rod I understand, you get what you get and as for the "Made in America" angle. You won't know that until you know the blank/guides/reel seat manufacturer. It may be made in America with parts from out of the country.

Those carbed Mercs have always been a bear to cold start. If all of your maintenance is up to date and it's not something mechanical causing your hard starting, then everyone I know who has one has a special sequence they go through to start them, especially a cold start. You just have to find out what works for your motor. That being said, you do need to check all of the normal culprits for hard starting, Primer Bulb, fuel lines, fuel quality, plugs, carbs, battery, etc. If everything checks out then just experiment with your starting process until you get it.

If you say you caught a Rock Bass in this part of the country, you are talking about Striper.

You might want to try Virginia Outdoors * (trying to avoid the blocker so google it for the actual link).

As with any of the hundreds of Senko knock-offs out there you will find the majority of them are poured by a very few manufacturers and just packaged in the retailers bags. Yamamoto pours its own baits, some custom plastic makers pour Senko type baits but for the most part they are mass produced and packaged. My point being that many of the commercial knock-offs will all have the same action since they are all poured by the same manufacturers. For that reason, I wouldn't be concerned all that much about action. Lot's of fish caught on the Ocho's. Lots of fish caught on the Stick-O, etc. If I were buying a knock-off, I would just look at price.

I heard of it being used as an attractant in the past before they changed the formula. I believe it used to have fish oil as an ingredient.

From what I have read and from knowing a couple of Elite Series anglers as friends, the AOY title is respected more by the anglers themselves and the Classic title is for the public. Neither one is something to sneeze at!!

Save the little packs of desiccant you get in various things and just drop them in your tackleboxes. I have also used chunks of sidewalk chalk in the compartments of plano boxes. I also coat all of my terminal tackle and jigs with a quick spray of WD 40. Both as a general water repellent and rust inhibitor while stored. Also on jigs, it keeps the skirts from sticking together.

That's awsome!! I have 3 tackleboxes full of old Musky lures that were my wifes grandfathers. Some hand carved, some still in the boxes. I've been meaning to put together a shadow box with them. Problem is that they are Huuuuuge!!

Yes, depending on which part of the country you are from. A lot of fishermen around here target White Perch (which also have 10 different names depending on where you are from) so I make sure I call them what the Northerners call them. When up north (WI, SD, ND, MI, etc.) a "Perch" is a Yellow or Ring Perch. As you head south there are a lot more names for the same fish. Problem around here is that it's tough to catch enough for a good fish fry but if I catch a keeper size Perch while Crappie fishing, it'll go in the well. Normally, I don't keep Bluegills unless they are monster size. I also like to have a fish fry while they are still fresh and not frozen, I will freeze a couple of meals worth but no more than that.

While I do not use a piercing tag, the optimum place to insert it is at the point in the lower jaw where the soft tissue comes to a "V" at the front of the jaw. You put it as close to the jawbone as possible. Anywhere else in the lower jaw creates too much movement and tears the soft tissue into larger holes, especially if you lift the fish by the cull tags. Now there is a lot of controversy with the clip style as well with critics saying that the clips prevent bass from fully closing their mouth during the breathing process and in some cases actually killing fish, especially smallmouth.

I don't plan on getting back out there until I go for a freezer stocking trip. I have access to the hot side of Lake Anna and that will be where I spend most of the winter.

Went out Sunday to check on the migration of the Crappie in the Potomac. Currently, they are in the creek channels and canal channels. In the process of searching with 2 inch tubes on 1/16 oz jigheads we caught Bluegill, Catfish, Ring Perch Bass and of course a fair amount of Crappie. Key was to find them on electronics and drop the jig down to them. They should be pulling up under cover with the upcoming cold weather in the forecast.

Nice but the real interest will be in old lures!!

The mainstream media would ruin everyone's attitude if that's all you listened to. They have thrown true journalism under the bus and become headline grabbing, politically influenced, sensationalists. I watch for the local "bread and butter" stories and disregard everything that is obviously more editorial than news.

Cocoons. Made for fishing. https://cocoonseyewear.com/

When I owned a 135 acre farm in Iowa, during the winter a bunch of the landowners would get together on their snow machines and go out after wolves, yotes and feral dogs. These guys all were stock farmers (hogs/cattle/sheep) and they would lose animals to them.

When I replaced my bunk brackets, I left the boat off the trailer, put the new brackets on but left them somewhat loose, loaded the boat up and then tightened them up so that they had some movement but were not free floating. I want them to adjust to the weight and position of the boat when I load.

A lot of the sources for the reports have canned reports for certain ranges of dates. With the advent of Book Face and other Social Media, there are more up to date reports from people who are actually on the water.