Boomstick

Are you actually losing them mid fight, or not really getting them hooked well to begin with? Once I get a bite and I know I got a solid hookset on a chatterbait, I'm usually landing that fish. Be sure to keep your rod tip down when retrieving the lure so you're in position for a solid hookset, and when they run with it try to use the rod to position them and keep them from jumping and reel up any slack when they swim towards you and repeat when they turn or try to jump. I am not familiar with your rod, but most MH/F rods are fine for a 3/8 or 1/2oz chatterbait. You should be fine with a MH that runs on the heavier side and a mod. fast even - you can get away with a slower tip on a moving bait when they're swimming at you and they straight up eat it as opposed to say an archy head jig because they're likely to eat it and let you know they did and if you're constantly reeling, you've reeled in all the slack.

^9. Sweet groove! I'll post this one since I just learned it the other day.

^9. On female vocalists, I've always been partial to Beth Hart.

I'm not sure I've broken a pound this year, so I'll gladly switch places with you.

^8. On the theme of highways...

I actually posted it earlier this year. We ended up getting the Kaku Voodoo. I actually wanted the Crescent SUP+, but with Covid19 it was sold out virtually everywhere it looked like I might not get one until later this year at the earliest. The Voodoo is pretty sweet. It's basically a flat top kayak and he can extend his paddle to the max and sit on top of the back of the seat. We rigged it like a kakak too. I still need to get him the bags to put on the side of the seat, but he has a life vest with some tool storage at least. I haven't taken it out myself yet, but he didn't have any problems in some brutal winds and choppy water and boat wakes. Here's a couple of his videos. Tossing his younger brother a Gatorade. https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhZmMB-Fz0_2jpEN0CYcz3zIZQItJQ?e=lkxRqH You can see it pretty good here. The comment about people abusing their children was in regards to one woman who was fishing with what seemed to be her daughter and grandkids in kayaks and they kept seeing a fish swim by. When it swam by her and she didn't get it, she threw a fit, telling everyone we're leaving and went on and on. https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhZmMB-Fz0_2jpEMk7rsNzNQOIXBbg?e=Ia0GGV

All units run on multiple frequencies, Hummingbird included. The higher the frequency, the better quality of imaging and typically the narrower the cone and the deeper the max depth is, since it's a focused cone. For this reason I wouldn't make too big of a deal about mix-matching the transducer. With recent advancements, the imaging quality at lower frequencies is pretty good too.

I'm not sure about the Motorguide issue, but as far as which way to go, chances are that at the end of the day, you're going to be happy either unit other than maybe controlling your trolling motor through it. I just ordered myself a Garmin EchoMap UHD 93sv to mount on my kayak. The reason I went with the Garmin is because they are easy to use and don't require a whole lot of tweaking in different water. They also have pretty good scanning, and they tweaked the cone to make it wider at higher frequencies while sacrificing depth - 70 ft is more than enough for me though. Lowrance units are also known to be fairly easy to configure, and I was strongly considering the HDS-7 until I saw the power consumption - I camp often for 5-7 nights at a time, so I want a battery that is gonna last me as long as possible, and with twice the power consumption, that ruled that out. The Elite would still be a good unit. The other unit I was looking at was the Hummingbird Helix 7 CHIRP Mega G3N. The imaging on those units is fantastic. Finally I will add that Lakemaster is said to have more lakes than Lakevu, but when I look up the lakes I fish on any semi-regular basis and plan to fish up in the northeast, they seem to both have the same lakes and be missing the same lakes.

I largely disagree. If you get on a school of big bass you're going to catch bass - even on a small lure like a drop shot. Did you know that if you get on bite of smaller bass, perhaps at dusk on a crankbait then often the bigger bass move in after the smaller bass are done feeding? At the same time, larger lures will often catch bigger bass for several reasons. Bigger bass will see a bigger target as a meal worth their effort. Many people don't realize this but you can catch smallies on a hollow body frog, but you're pretty much only going to get 3lb+ smallies - ones that can swallow it. But if you get your lure in front of a big bass, if the time is right and they want it they will eat it.

Even with my Tatula SVs, the decision of if you want to use your thumb comes into play. Sometimes I'm out in my kayak and I don't need to cast that far, so I'll set it to a place I don't need to thumb, usually around 10. Then sometimes I want extra distance and I'm willing to use my thumb, and I'll lower it as low as 6 depending on my lure or rod. Same largely holds true with my Tatula CT and Tatula 150 as well.

I started using them when I made an effort to up my finesse fishing game two years ago. My favorites are the straight tail worms, I think the colors are Aaron's Magic and Aaron's morning dawn I've had the be most of luck with. I've also had luck with the Alive Shad in the Baby Bluegill color.

I thought about that, but after 20-30 years of being in a dark pit, they'll wish they were fed to a gator

That's just terrible. I hope they get who did this and throw them in a dark pit somewhere

Well I don't have a camera on me or the motivation to get one, but today I'm drinking an IPA, Birds of a Deather by Lamplighter Brewing Co. I hardly drink IPAs these days, but the store I was at has a huge selection of IPAs and this time of year not much else. I've been drinking a lot of red ales, golden ales, blonde ales, porters and stouts for beer. And some wine - usually pinot noir, merlot or cabernet savignon.

Too bad the other is just a G3, else you could networking to essentially view the screen of the console mounted unit from the bow with Hummingbirds. It's actually one reason I'm considering a Hummingbird in my kayak along with incredible imaging. If I get the boys some Hummingbirds as well, I can then interface into theirs and see what they see etc.

Congratulations to this young man! This will be the first of many I'm sure.

^9

Largely true. Some chargers will kill a lithium battery, I know this from experience. If you match the specs, it should be fine. I will also add that I am partially considering going with a Hummingbird just because if their fantastic imaging quality. The units are big though - the 7" is probably at least as big as the Garmin 9", but due to cost I'd be going 7" anyway. I did a bit of research into the two, and each has their overall perks. As far as lake maps, they both seem to have the larger lakes and not have the smaller lakes I'd fish but most of those are real small so that's expected so that's a tie. The Garmin seems to have a one up for range and scanning and overall ease and what I'm seeing is minimal tweaking is needed for cloudy water vs stained water. The Hummingbird has amazing imaging though, although the UHD definitely narrows the gap significantly. I'll probably be thrilled with either unit, but hey...

They all recommend using their chargers with their batteries. Dakota said it should work with pretty much any lithium, except probably the Amped Outdoors 18ah NMC which drops to 8v so I can't use it anyway I have everything on the way I need besides the battery, mount and fish finder. A local store was going to order me a Garmin EchoMap UHD 93sv, but they can't get them and seem to always be busy and haven't called me back. So at some point I may get it from somewhere else. I have narrowed the battery down to either the Amped Outdoors 18ah LiFEPO4 or maybe 2 Nocqua 10ahs - I could charge one when camping when using the other etc

^8

Well here's a thought. See if you can hollow it out and fill it with the fish equivalent of crack and leave just enough of a hole that it puts out a small amount at a time to give off scent. I know you can buy lures that do this from Odin lures and a few others, but if you're creative enough you could probably create something similar.

Welcome

The newer models seem fine from what I found. In fact if I went the Ranger RT188 route, I was leaning towards the Evinrude.

Well like I said I'm no boat mechanic, I'm just someone who was shopping used bass boats much like yourself until I decided to go with kayaks this year (due to cost). A new motor is usually a good thing. In other words, the old one was becoming problematic and costly, so they put a new one in it. As far as units to avoid, everyone will tell you something different. When I was looking into used bass boats, the only brand as a whole I found more complaints about than any other was Evinrude, primarily models from the 90s and earlier 2000s. For example many people may say Yamahas or Hondas make the most reliable motors these days, but I'm pretty sure Mercury is fine and it may be easier for me to get a Mercury serviced, so huge advantage Mercury. Instead of focusing on the best model, I would be more concerned with what is the newest and best maintained. A rebuild can be good too - if done right, that motor was gone through and brought up to new standards. It's just like your car engine - beat the hell out of it, and it won't last.

Beyond the basics (avoiding boats with wood, making sure the motor is good etc.) the only thing I can say is i looked at some older boats that people had went through and redid all the carpeting, upgraded electronics and added a new motor 3 years ago. While these boats were from 1995-2002, they looked brand new.