TOXIC

SPRO Aruku Shad. They use a wrapped weight ball for a different sound. Killer on smallmouth.

Some will put towels or saran type wrap on the rub points and gunnels. Nothing will stop possible wind screen cracking/crazing because the simple fact the cover has to be tight coupled with the extra force of the wind will put on them at highway speeds is just too much pressure.

Usually the formula is the darker the water, the darker the bait. The only place I've seen this change up is Lake St Clair where in 15 years of going there this pattern has held: Sunny skies Yamamoto 297 Green Pumpkin Black Fleck. Cloudy skies Yamamoto 308 Baby Bass. 308 is noticeably lighter colored.

It's the ones we lose that keep us coming back for more!!

I couldn't get my boat in my garage (2 1/2 car by the way) even if there was nary a car in it. Soooooo....the rig gets parked outside. Just as a note, I don't like it, I have never liked it but I have no choice. Although I have 4 acres, my house is built on a cliff and I cannot expand the garage. It sucks, so I expanded the driveway enough for it to have it's own "pad" where I can put both the boat and truck. That being said, I am SUPER picky about my boats finish and I cover it well. After 5 years, there is -0- sun damage and the gel is oxidation free. Yes, I have to wax and seal it more often and yes, in the event we get snow (rarely) I have to go out and clear the cover but it can be done. I never tow with a cover on. I just got back from a 2 day up and 2 day back pull to Wisconsin and I only covered it at night while in the hotel(s).

Line use is a personal choice, science be dammed!! Personally, since I am a finesse fisherman for the most part, so I was disenfranchised by FC early on....terrible memory......bad knot characteristics.........etc.... I am still a major mono user. I have limited my FS usage to baitcasters where I can spool larger test than really needed of FC and use it for my deep cranking applications because of its sinking properties that help those deep cranks get a little deeper. I am not a believer in line shyness since I catch smallmouth in gin clear water on 35lb test green braid, so that FC property is lost on me as well.

Not necessarily, it only takes a fraction to put a prop shaft out of shape and although you cannot feel it, it will wallow out your prop shaft seal allowing water intrusion and then you grenade a lower unit.

IMHO....and that's all that it is......I fight fish differently depending on the type of lure I am throwing. Trying to fight a fish using a lure that is weighted on the outside of the mouth when hooked (Rat-L-Trap, Shakey Head, C-Rig, etc.) for an extended time or with more of a fighting style, you will lose more fish because they have the advantage of being able to use the lure as a fulcrum. I keep those fish on a very tight line all the way to the boat. With weightless plastics and lures that pin better, I will fight them more. This is all predicated on the fact that you have the right gear/setup for the type of lure you are throwing.

You didn't say what hook you were using but I fish Senko's on mono a lot, it's my preferred line. With a 5 inch Senko Texas rigged, my hook of choice is a Gamakatsu 4.0 ewg thin wire. The Superline hooks are too thick and contribute to missed hooksets and also will tear the Senko quicker. I have caught 8lb largemouth and 5lb smallmouth on this setup regularly and have never had a hook straightened or broke.

I'll be doing a show in the Cabela's in Gainsville, VA this weekend, I'll put out my feelers and see what I can find out but as is the case in most large operations, rumors are rampant and the facts rarely match up to the stories.

My 250 Yamaha has both.

You'd almost be better served by picking your favorite rod manufacturer (or one you know the action of) to use as a base to judge against. Then everyone who has used that brand can weigh in on it's action vs other rods they have used. In spinning rods, you are lucky since they "seem" to be closer in action than casting and the options are much fewer. My biggest problem is not the action but the actual construction such as whether they splined the rod properly because I am a finesse fisherman and usually really put my rods to the test.

It's very hard to make a comparison since rods are not rated to a universal scale. They are rated to other rods in their respective lineup. If you want to compare rod of different manufacturers, you almost have to handle them side by side. For example, if I compare a CastAway to a Quantum, the CastAway will be stiffer in the same action but that may differ depending on which rod series I compare it to for example a Quantum Smoke rod and a Quantum KVD vs a CastAway. You can only draw general assumptions on the "published" action of any rod.

Just an FYI Yamamoto's top selling color is 297 Green Pumpkin Black Fleck. I have thrown it in water color from coffee to crystal clear and caught fish. It's the most universal color there is to me.

Lunch Money Tubes. Hands down. Also carried by Case Plastics. https://fishingcompleteinc.com/lunch-money-flipping-tube-4-10-pk/

Stop and think about it....We lock our receiver to the truck, the ball to the hitch, our tires on the trailer, our rod boxes, our props, our electronics, and on and on.

Always a "hot" topic and I'm glad to see a great exchange of ideas!! I just got back from Wisconsin where the bite was really really tough but I finally figured them out. I had to freefall a 4 inch Senko weightless off a 4ft ledge into 25ft of water to get bit. A really slow fall rate and a smaller bait than I am used to throwing.

It is a very odd shaped half-moon curved key (not standard style) and if in alarm mode, I would assume it would trigger before it could be picked because it triggers with movement.

It comes with a heavy duty alarm padlock. One tube slides into another tube and there are pre drilled holes that line up. The alarm padlock may be extra but it is worth it. When you unlock the padlock with a key, the entire top "u" bar comes off. Depending on which way you insert it, it is either the alarm or just a regular lock (for trailering).

Easily fixed by a good prop shop and a great time to have it worked to improve your performance. For reference, I had this prop repaired and worked to give my Ranger a little more bow lift. All 3 blades were trashed and some material gone.

If you are set on a glass boat, there's 2 main items you need to pay attention to 1. The big motor. That's where your $$ should be spent and #2, the transom and stringers. That is the backbone of the boat and a costly repair. Everything else can be fixed or replaced with a little time and know-how but the big motor and the transom/stringers can put you back on the bank with a cost to repair that exceeds the value of the boat. IMHO......

The bar itself is heavy gauge stainless double tubed so there's no bending or cutting it. If a pry bar was used (and I've seen the results) it would tear the mounts out of the gunnels and does a fair amount of damage. That's the 1 drawback to them. You are going for the path of least resistance because every kind of security can be defeated if the perp has enough time. The alarm lock will go off if moved and unless there isn't a soul around, would send most theifs running. So, most crooks know if they see a lock r bar that there's easier pickins somewhere else. The ones I have seen defeated were in a storage garage where there was time enough to rip it out. If you are staying in a hotel (which I do a lot) there isn't the time or isolation for them to work on it. So far so good.

Lok r bar when I am on the road and no electronics left on the boat. I just got back from a 2 day up and 2 day back pull to Wisconsin and I have done this trip for 20 years with nothing ever stolen. While boat compartment locks are a deterrent, you can break them with your bare hand. The lok r bar would take a pry-bar or something substantial to get it off. It also comes with an alarm padlock and it is plenty loud. http://thmarine.com/loc-r-bar-storage-locking-system

Learn the "through the gills" unhooking method. Upsize your hooks and use an EWG style. You will feel the bite sooner with an EWG. The wide gap makes contact sooner than a traditional hook.

We all do what we can. Sometimes it feels like you can't win!! As for the Potomac where I spend a lot of my time, every time we get a rain, all of the feeder creeks act like a trash chute to the river and bring storm water waste from city streets, trash from many sources that are upstream (even landfills, etc.) and if we get a big rain, it's not unusual to see full size home appliances and things like semi truck tires...on the rims!! My point being that it's just not the users of the river, it's the nature of the beast and we are always working against it.