TOXIC

Because you want to trailer with it, custom is your best option. Having owned boats for 40 years, I’ve seen sooooo much damage (glass and tin) to boats either with poor covers or incorrectly attached covers. Most of my fishing friends do not travel with covers on. Those that do, take extra precaution with top notch covers with added padding and periodically snugging and adjusting the fit. With all of the different electronics set ups and trolling motors, unless you get a factory cover for a factory rigged boat you are tempting fate. I’ve seen the glass buffed dull on some and the paint rubbed off tin. I’d rather clean carpet than buff fiberglass. My cover is just for storage when parked. It’s a Sealskin brand and works just fine.

DC and my area in Virginia is in the crosshairs now. Hopefully the forecasters are over hyping it. I’m supposed to be heading south at the end of the month. Towing through ice is no fun, ask me how I know. 😛

My suggestions are not relevant if a bucket list trip and it’s not tropical. St Clair is numbers and size and probably the only one I regularly do risking cold weather. 😂

Fishing trip or bucket list trip? How much are you willing to spend? Goal? Numbers, size, species? I’ve fished a lot of the suggestions given and have enjoyed each and every one. We are leaving for Headwaters at the end of the month. Will be our 3rd trip to this lake. We have done Okeechobee, Kissimmee multiple times as well. We have also done St Clair in Michigan every year for 20+ years. I have done Champlain, the St Lawrence, Saskatchewan Canada, Lake Fork, Billfish in Hawaii and the Dominican, plus a lot of others. Never done Mexico though and it’s definitely on the list as is a Peacock bass trip to the Amazon and a Redfish trip to Louisiana. I’m not boasting, I’m just older and have enjoyed traveling to fish.

By all means learn how to “fizz” a deep caught fish. We fish deep Steel Shad blade baits up to 60 feet but normally in 35-40 feet. I have a fizzing needle in my boat at all times.

I didn’t think I needed steps but my Z21 has a good drop to the ground when parked and especially on the jack. Normally I just dropped a leg over the side onto multiple built in steps on the trailer. They are in the fender and along the frame up front. If I was feeling younger than my 68 years, I would just hop off the deck to the ground. Let’s just say I was getting some indications that wasn’t a smart move anymore. Where I have found the steps more valuable, is getting into the boat from the ground as well as exiting. I got Trick Steps as a birthday gift and it was an easy install. I have grown to really like them. Get used to seeing the hand pole shaking during trailering and make sure to periodically check the mounting brackets to keep them snug. Zoom in on my pic to see.

I grew up in Nebraska. Winter and below zero temps just meant put on another layer. When you couldn’t feel your hands or feet it was time to go in and warm up. I remember a few blizzards in my teen days. One I lived in an apartment and the snow reached our deck on the second floor. We took grocery orders from all of the people in our building and used old car hoods as sleds to bring back groceries. My first winter working for the FDIC and they brought in a lot of transplants, we had a storm and I pulled into the office parking lot with the front bumper of my Ford LTD pushing snow. I went in and the security officer asked what I was doing there and I said it’s a workday, he said they closed the office. 😂😝

You forgot the stories from your elders on how much worse the winters were in their days. 😂

I don’t see the need for a walk in store to buy any bait. The internet is your friend and allows you to find the best prices amongst all retailers. Many times cheaper than walk in stores even with shipping. I understand if you want to patronize local shops but you will normally pay a higher price for limited selection.

On my iPad the upper right notifications bell shows pending notifications but will only let me read and return for the next one about 3 times before locking up. I have reloaded page and it will not reset.

I’ve read the 2027 5.3 has been totally redesigned to eliminate the lifter problems. Time will tell.

Hmmmm….it’s no surprise, I fish the Yamamoto DShad in Florida every year. This year there’s a new contender I am going to try, the Hinge Minnow which is a bigger DShad with a segmented body.

Least we forget, the internet has become the biggest sales and marketing tool in history. My wife can tell me to buy some new socks and my internet immediately fills up with sock ads without me typing anything in the search bar.

Well, even though the trailer tires on the boat had good tread left, they were 8 years old. Don't want to be changing a tire when I could be fishing. Baby's got a new set of shoes. Let me just add, there's not too many tire shops who want to work on boat trailers. I had to go to a small independent shop. I watched them start to finish and they did a great job. I did have to stop them from jacking the trailer up by the axles (torsion bar axles can be damaged) but otherwise they did a great job. Pulled tires, buffed rim edge, new valve stems, balanced and mounted. Used an impact to tighten lugs but came back over all of them with a torque wrench.

I have a keyed ignition that plugs into the keypad wiring if it fails. It will not operate any of the other functions though. Main concern is my 2 bilge pumps. I lived in Jacksonville on the St Johns for a couple of years for my job and had a house with a dock. I fished some tournaments on the river. Also got to fish Rodman, Harris Chain and Toho as well as some small no name lakes. I like Florida. We’ve considered moving there and we have relatives who live on Crescent beach in St Augustine but after 5 years in retirement, we’re leaning more to snowbird it rather than buy into it.

Yes he is and to keep the costs down, he is moving a lot of the upgrades he made to his current boat power poles, Move tm, lithiums, electronics) over to the new one. Thanks, my boat due to its age, was always deemed the “local” boat and although it made trips to Wisconsin in the past, it’s been a few years. Im going to do an article for Yamamoto’s Inside Line online ezine about maintenance for those of us who choose to keep our older boats. Now that I’m retired I get so much more pleasure from these trips than I do from the day to day trips. Make no mistake, I still love fishing but I can now add a new perspective to it.

While most of those north of the Mason Dixon Line (I’m just a hair below it) are freezing their behinds off, there is a group of us prepping to head south for our annual trek to Florida. In the past we’ve done the Big O, Kissimmee, Headwaters and some of them 3 or 4 times. Most recently, Headwaters has been the destination of choice. We’ve stayed at Roland’s on Okeechobee, Guy Harvey’s on Kissimmee but we found a neat place on Headwaters that is on a farm, 1/2 mile from the access road to the ramp and behind electronic security gate. Normally we take my fishing partners Ranger but he is in the process of selling it and moving all sorts of gear over to his new boat, a 2026 Vexus. We are going to pick it up in Flippin Arkansas the end of February. So my boat, which we use as the local ride, has been called into service for this years Florida trip. That means it’s time to go over it with a fine tooth comb before we leave. First order of business, my console keypad has been acting up. Rangers start with a push button code. All of the other boat functions are on the same keypad like livewells, lights, fuel gage (2 separate 26 gallon tanks) and some accessory switches. I called Ranger and the replacement updated console touchpad has to be installed with a new touchpad on the bow and a new “Brain Box” that the touchpads feed into. Let’s just say it wasn’t cheap. Load tested all my batteries and although still performing, they were weak. 3 new wet cells and 1 AGM installed. Trailer checked out ok, hubs and tires are good. A little up there in age but lots of tread. I carry a spare hub as well. Stay tuned. I’ll report back after the trip.

Mini split would be the way to go. My garage is just for cars (boat won’t fit) and if I need to do anything in the cold, I have an upright kero heater that will sweat you out. I use it for emergency heat in the house when needed.

Full spare hub and hub oil along with everything else that’s been mentioned. Oh, and the huge wrench and small sledge to get the hub off.

So sorry to hear. He was a great resource. 😞😢

My layers totally depend on temps and wind and precipitation. Normally, in anything around 40, it’s sweat pants under bps pro Qualifer gortex bibs. If guaranteed dry weather, I have found the most versatile piece of clothing is a sweat shirt lined hooded windbreaker. Cheap and very versatile. If there’s any chance of rain, it’s the pro Qualifer jacket over a vest or sweatshirt. Key is to not overdo it. It’s better to be a little cold than too hot and sweaty. Once you dip below 40 or have the chance for wind and rain, all bets are off and it’s a totally different wardrobe. The colder it is the more I layer.

Since I wasn’t keen on adding a bunch of additional liquors and trying to make it fancier than it is, I just added some vanilla coffee creamer and whole milk over ice for an after dinner White Russian style drink. It was good but no more than one, way to rich for more than that.

Thanks, I’ve done that but I was asking for suggestions on what others have tried and liked like @Banned User suggested.

Question….. I got a bottle of Skrewball peanut butter whiskey as a stocking stuffer. I’ve looked at all the recipes from straight to in coffee. How do you recommend I try it for the first time?

4 is my limit depending what I am hauling. Every one of my buddies who are retiring and are downsizing are only wanting single story houses. My wife’s sister and her husband have an elevator in their beach house retirement home and it’s nice.