Troy85

My PB Rainbow trout was caught on an inline spinner while on a family vacation in Gatlinburg when I was 8. I remember I cried when my dad made me release it.

One color for all conditions?!?!?! Get out of here with that blasphemy!!!!!! ?

Ah ok. I was pretty busy in the couple months leading up to this, probably why I missed the post. Thanks for the info. I'll wait for the next one.

I think affordable GPS made more of an impact. Anyone can get anywhere now without needing paper map or chart reading knowledge. Not that its a bad thing, I just think it lessened the learning curve, especially for fishing the vast marshes of SE Louisiana as well as offshore fishing.

When I first started reading these forums a couple years back, I thought I saw a post about a yearly BR fishing trip. Am I remembering correctly and is this still a thing?

Haha, need a "both" option. I think its a big confidence thing, but I do think it plays a part sometimes. I have had a few times when the catch rate dramatically increased after changing color, same bait, same spot but different color. Overall I'd say presentation is more important than color.

Most go into the flooded trees in the rivers I fish. Fishing gets really tough because so many of the fish are impossible to reach. I try to find back waters with exposed banks when the rivers are at flood stage, or I just fish a different body of water.

I second this. I think accuracy is more important than entry. As far as the fall, nothing is better than when you see the fall suddenly stop......

I wish I didn't have to fish in 20kt winds, but March and April down here are almost always very windy 15-20kt(at least on weekends, always seems to lay down during the week). I can't bring myself to sit at home and not fish for 2 months to wait for the winds to lay down. haha.

Not always. Its hard to fish a weightless fluke in 20 knot winds. While I think cover and structure are the major deciding factors in lure choice, weather conditions(mainly wind) can affect what lures can be fished effectively enough to make them productive.

What if these forums are just....one.....big....lie............

Its rare that its a true skunk, usually a tough day is catching a few dinks. It did happen 2 weeks ago though, I was out for about 7 hours and I had to show for it was 1 bite, and fish didn't even get hooked up, just swiped at it.

Yes. This drives me crazy. Also the people who back right down the middle of a ramp that is large enough to launch two boats simultaneously. Friends not rinsing the anchor before bringing it in the boat. They just slap this huge ball of mud right onto the deck. Jet-skis

I find my boat planes slightly faster with the engine not all the way down, because the engine can spin up faster. Its not a huge difference, but it is noticeable. How are your RPMs at wide open, are you able to get close or hit the max RPM rating of your engine?

I think I'll slap that on the back of my H18 .....It only weighs 952lbs....haha thats only about 150lbs less than the dry weight of my hull.

If possible, you should also have a small kitchen where you can cook up breakfast sandwiches. I always stop at the bait shops that also cook food. I'll call my food order in ahead of time, stop in and grab my ice, bait and bacon,egg and cheese on toast!

Check out Xpress boats. They have Bay and Bass models, I use my H18 for fishing Trout, Redfish and Bass in SE Louisiana. Most of their models have everything required for a tourney: livewell, running lights, built in fuel tank, etc. I bought mine used, for the size your looking for, I think you can get a new one for around 30k.

Topwater- White Tx Rigged Plastics- Junebug Weightless plastics/Senkos- Watermelon Red Jig-Blacknblue Crankbait- Sexy Shad

I've recently switched to tungsten. While they are more expensive than lead, where I fish is mostly just soft bottom and grass, so its pretty rare to lose weights. I like the added sensitivity of tungsten and of course the smaller size.

Same here. I'd still go, but I'd take cover or head to the launch if a T-Storm is coming thru, I don't mess with lightning. At the same time, a 50% chance of rain wouldn't keep me from going out at all.

Almost every where I bass fish has redfish roaming around, and they just love to ruin my spinnerbaits. Redfish- Chatterbait, buzzbait, zara spooks, spinnerbait, tx rigged soft plastics, jigs, rattle traps and crankbaits Trout- Zara spooks, Storm 360 GT and crankbaits

Yeah. I've always heard to him referred to as "mud divers" where I live. One of several different types of wasps waiting to lay into you while you're trying to do yard work in the summer.

The prop hub, not only an exhaust exit, but also a great place for mud divers to build a nest. Few years back my buddy took his boat out after letting it sit under his carport for a couple months. Engine started, but you couldn't throttle up, it would just bog down. He figured it was a fuel issue, he tried all sorts of stuff and couldn't get it running right. He brought it to the mechanic and they had trouble figuring it out, then one of the mechanics noticed some nasty brown sludge near the prop hub. Turns out the mud divers nest had clogged up 90% of the exhaust port.

I get excited after boating several fish as well, seems like even if I'm catching them by fishing super slow, after catching a few I just start speeding up if I don't pay attention. Especially if I'm fishing a swim bait or a spinner bait, I'll catch 2 or 3 reeling it just off the bottom. Then it will seem like they stopped biting, that's when I realize that I've sped up and I'm now fishing the top of the water column.

That's how mine is. Its not an automatic pump, I have to switch it off manually or it will just keep pumping in fresh water, once it fills the livewell the water just goes out the overflow. Every livewell I have ever had has been this way, and to my knowledge that's how most are setup. The livewell switch on my dash also has an "auto" setting, but all that does it turn the pump on for 30 seconds every 5 minutes. I never use the "auto" setting though.