TOXIC

@Johnbt here’s a little tip. Buy your Plano boxes during the spring and fall classic events at bass pro/Cabela’s they get heavily discounted. Second tip….make a stop at Lowe’s or Home Depot because they carry the exact same Plano boxes. As for long term capital management, I’m not the one to comment. I closed banks for 34 years caused by a lot who thought they were geniuses in financial markets. 😂🤣

2 to 4 for us today. 2 weeks before I’m Florida bound.

That’s really funny. That crankbait is what got me into the cranking game years ago. When I was sponsored by SPRO, I had a large supply of all their cranks but I was a dedicated plastics guy and rarely tossed them. I gave one to a friend on the water one day and watched him catch 4 bass in 4 casts. Made me a believer and I started throwing them. Specifically, I have had the best luck with the originals with the computer chip bill in various colors. I’ve caught hundreds of fish on the cell mate including smallmouth, largemouth, white bass, walleye, pike, musky, snakeheads, brim, crappie and on and on….different colors for some like walleye eat the olive Shad color and snakeheads like the brighter colors. Without knowing your gear, line and retrieve style, I couldn’t explain why we have such a different experience with them. 🙃

To be totally honest, to date the SPRO Little John in Cell Mate has been my #1 crank period. I just received a hefty supply of Bill Lewis cranks and I am going to give them a fair shot. Here they are, side by side.

No electronics used, just verticle jigging SteelShad blade baits in 60ft of water. Regularly use a dropshot in 45ft but normally on marked fish.

Big carp on St Clair ate a tube and the smaller one ate a blade bait here in Virginia.

Let’s also not forget there’s no standard for rating rod action and it can vary widely between manufacturers.

I doubt that 3 squirts in the gas would make it through the tank, lines and carburetor to help with an initial start. I’m getting funky about ethanol after seeing what it did to my boat after sitting for a year. I treat my 2 stroke Yamaha with stabil marine, seafoam and Yamaha ring free. I’m switching to all non ethanol going forward.

This^^^. I pay little attention to what a rod is “supposed” to be good for or what it’s labeled for and use it for what works best for my style of fishing. For example, I have a Woo Daves worm rod that works great for vertical jigging blade baits for me. Would it for you? I don’t know. I do have dedicated Ned and dropshot rods that weren’t specifically labeled as such and I do have a couple of crankbait rods that are.

If I’m going to throw a grub, no matter what time of year, it’s going to be a Yamamoto twin tailed hula grub on a 1/4 oz gamakatsu football head jig.

You’ve gotten solid advise on a lot of the setups so without adding more brands to the mix, I will give you my most “versatile” set up even though it’s technically too light for some spinning applications and too heavy for others, I could make it work. Rod: 7ft Medium, fast tip. Reel: 2500 size. Line: 8lb straight mono. Even though that setup is a little heavy for Ned and too light for some weighted plastics, it will work well for weightless Senko style, DShads and dropshots. You could also throw small cranks and top waters. I have dedicated setups for dropshot, Senko, etc, but the above setup is the most versatile if I had to choose just 1.

In a tournament my fishing partner hooked our kicker fish and as I was getting the net out it jumped an arms length away from the boat and I saw his lure come flying out of the fishes mouth. Without hesitation, I threw myself across the deck, slamming my ribs into the gunnel and with my one hand at the very end of the net, I caught the fish in mid air. We took second and I had some pretty bruised ribs to thank.😎

End of this month it’s off to Florida and Headwaters for the second year. Then our regular haunts here in Virginia of the Rappahonock and possibly back to the Potomac. Then it’s off to St Clair in May and I’m considering pulling the boat back up to Wisconsin in August. Since I’m getting my rig back seaworthy I might make some other trips. We usually venture out to the chickahominy river a couple of times but that’s a long hike.

Hmmmmm…..

Maybe so but remember I said the same has happened to me and I’m no rookie when it comes to filleting. I cannot feel the bones with an electric. I’m sure I could if I was willing to sacrifice some meat, staying clear of the bones. The vibration of the electric doesn’t allow me to feel the bones.

I’m torn on this subject. I’ve used both and there’s pros and cons to each. I’ve filleted literally hundreds of fish with my Cutco adjustable blade fillet knife. Maximum blade length is 7 inches I believe and it has the right flex to be a premium class knife. The adjustable blade is a plus and if you want to wear it via the belt loop, it has a line cutting area and knife/hook sharpening stone on the sheath. The sheath also doubles as a fish gripper. The main difference between electric and manual for me is the ability to fillet bone free. With the electric I’m guaranteed to just cut through some bones because I can’t feel them. With my Cutco, I can fillet around rib and other bones very easily. Had a buddy fillet a bunch of walleye in Michigan with an electric and when I prepped them for cooking back home, I had to de-bone every fillet.

I own my boat because a gentleman wanted a kayak in addition to a 21 ft bassboat. He was recently retired from Washington Gas and lived on the Potomac river. Took the kayak out in Mallows bay, turtled and got hung up in the aquatic vegetation and drowned. No pfd. I’ll go one step farther. I not only wear a pfd, I refuse to wear an auto inflate. As a matter of fact, I bought myself a new Mustang full collar solid vest for myself for Christmas. I wear it summer and winter. I have read too many stories of the inflatables not inflating. Even though I water skied back when all that was required was a ski “belt” that was no more than a piece of rubber coated foam you wore with a single strap. I don’t test the odds anymore. 😂

I’m no help. I’ve got the originals with wired stomp switches. 😂

Learned a valuable lesson with the new stove. Wife’s recipe for prime rib included an “oven off” period after bringing to temp. We like our prime on the rare side. The prime came out medium. Same recipe we have used for years. The only thing that changed was the stove. I am assuming the stove held temperature better than our older one and caused the overcook. Mildly disappointing but made for a great beef stroganoff leftover meal.

A toast! Here’s to you, here’s to me and if we ever disagree, here’s to me! 😂 Happy New Year!

I am currently going through my 2005 boat and bringing it up to speed. Fuel system, injectors, lower unit, power pole hoses, starting solenoid, upgraded jackplate relays, and more….I know of 2 fully rigged boats for sale and when I say rigged, they are maxed out. One is David Walkers boat at $80,000 plus and one is Hank Parker’s at $90,000+. Neither one is a consideration for me. Could I? Sure, but my common sense brain won’t let it happen.

From what I read, it wasn’t set up for the weekend warrior or common man. Per their own website it is designed for “touring pros”.

Couple of years ago reached the magic age and got a lifetime for like $35 here in Virginia. I also buy an annual in Michigan and a 10 or 15 day in Florida.

I use a Grass Goat. Never have sharpened it.

Buddy has it on his boat. Fished with it yesterday. Bottom and water column was alive with fish. I saw them. They would follow baits, they would ignore baits, they would shy away from baits. The one thing they wouldn’t do…..bite baits. We threw everything we had. Caught very few and some of the ones we caught we were just beating the bank. I don’t know what that proves, maybe that it’s not magic but we have used it to hone in on schools out in open water and we’re able to watch them bite.