BigAngus752

I used to wear neoprene gloves while working outside at my last job. I was pleasantly surprised by these. Bought them two years ago and they have held up well. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KCWJ37G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I just don't understand why people drag T-rigged worms around with a casting rod if they have a spinning rod in the boat.

Hilarious to see this pic and right under it is your signature. You need to change that to "everything in moderation...except...."

Regardless of what anyone in your poll here reports about any piece of equipment you want buy, you could get one that lasts eternity with never a single problem or something that is a major pain from day 2. I very much wanted to buy a Garmin Force. I bought an Ultrex because the private shop that takes care of my boat happens to be a Minn Kota service center. There is no such thing as a Garmin service center (for their TMs). If something expensive breaks, I want to be able to take it somewhere. Not take it off my boat myself, package it, and ship it somewhere at my own expense.

It's either a Whistlin' Bunghole or maybe a Spleen Splitter but the color is definitely Jewree Mouth.

Yes, that is some cool stuff. That's the rare kind of technology that can lower your stress.

Yes it sure does.

I drive an hour+ to take my boat to the most highly respected boat guy in the south half of our state. He's a factory repair center for numerous brands. He had two things to say about outboards: 1. He's a factory Mercury repair center and Mercury keeps things consistent in their engineering year after year so his techs know Mercury's backwards and forwards. He considers them to be highly reliable, parts are readily available, and parts are cheap. (I run a Merc 4 stroke) 2. He's a Honda factory repair center. He's thinking about dropping that. He pays a lot of money to Honda every year to be a service center for their brand but he almost never sees a Honda outboard because they never break. As a result, his techs move slower on the Hondas because they never see them. He's not working on enough of them to make up the cost of being a service center. Mercury and Honda are his highest rated outboards. His opinion holds tremendous weight with me. It's a long wait to get your boat in to his shop for work.

Fall is always my best days for numbers but today was fat fish day. 4-7 LM, 4-8 walleye, 8-1 striper. All on the same chrome Cotton Cordell Super Spot. The striper was in a foot of water in the back of a creek arm with about 10 of his buddies (that I also caught on the same crankbait).

And the time frame is too restrictive also, depending on the time of year. I went out Monday and caught 2 LM from 9am to 1pm. From 1pm to 3:30pm (fishing BACK THROUGH what I had fished that morning) I lost count of my catches at 25. I caught 30 plus LM in the same locations I had fished before. Window in the fall is always late in the day. Don't tell me I have to quit early!!!

^^^ 'Cause a bunch of us are going to copy you...?

Here is a comprehensive list of everything positive that can be said about bass fishing in Illinois: 1.

That's beautiful. It makes my chest tight to read it. That's a bucket-list life.

Here's something a little different for this thread. I pulled this lure out of the package this morning. Then I caught 16 LM and 9 stripers. This Super Spot had a rough day at work.

I had a dog named Dutch that really WANTED to be a good dog but just didn't have the willpower. I once had to pull (very gently) about two feet of electric tape out of his butthole. I was so thankful that it passed without necessitating surgery that I wasn't even mad.

Down here the bite is definitely not "on". It's as tough as late summer. Actually tougher. We had a massive cold snap a couple weeks ago. Dropped water temps from mid 60's to low 50's. Many of the bass fisherman assumed it would move the baitfish...but it didn't. Weather has come back to Indian summer but water temps are still holding 50-55. Still no baitfish movement. I stopped by a BFL weigh in an hour south of me last weekend. These guys are travelling tourney guys, not hacks like me. They were fishing a lake that always need 20lbs to place. None even brought in a bag. One boat had 4 fish. A few had 2. Most had none. The baitfish are still suspended over deep water. This just proves to me that water temps don't matter in comparison to date. Baitfish and bass defintely have highly accurate calendars in their heads. I'm looking ahead a couple weeks, then I'll be taking some time off work.

We don't have any water that anyone could believably describe as "clear" around here and still I make sure that use silver for sunny days and gold/dark for cloudy days or really dirty water. Dirty water, cloudy days, or colder water also bring out the Indianas and Colorados faster. Same thing for crankbaits. A chrome crankbait on a sunny day is most likely going to be the thing. Cloudy/dirty in the summer? Shad colored crankbaits. Cloudy/dirty in the spring or late fall? Red or chartruese cranks.

The Mississippi has hit a record low. The channel is 9-10ft down in many places. This means that the barges can't fully load corn and beans headed south to export. This also means that the barges can't fully load fertilizer coming north for the fall field prep. Shipping costs by river have doubled. They are trying to move the stuff that can't be moved by barge using the rail system. Rail costs have now tripled. You will all see this in your grocery costs.

Ned rig = start reeling Trebles = sweep and keep them pinned Light wire hooks or wacky rigs = good snap and then back off but keep a bent tip and let them pull for awhile T-rig with heavier hook, frog, toad, or any jig = slam it in reverse like a boss and yell "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!"

^^^THIS^^^ Unlikely that she brakes so hard or often that she is wearing pads out in such a short time (unless she's doing 60,000 miles a year). She has to be a left-foot-braker. That is extremely dangerous. Left-foot brakers have a much higher chance of collision. Men do it too. Heck, I've seen men who ride the brake with the heel of their right foot while their toe is on the accelerator.

Gotcha. I have the 115 version of the Merc 4-stroke and my mechanic says the only thing more reliable is a Honda. But you have to go with your gut. You aren't going to pick "wrong".

The engine tips the scales for me. If the two were equal I'd say it's a coin toss (except for big water) and personal preference. They aren't equal, though, and the 4-stroke is a hands-down winner. Since it's a Ranger I'm guessing a Merc Pro XS? Big winner. Buy an Ultrex and you'll be happy with it for the rest of your life.

One that says "SV" on it.

It's the sound. I keep some Rat-L-Traps, Red-eyes, Tungsten 2 Taps, and Cotton Cordell Super Spots in the boat all the time. Totally different presentations. Interestly, the Super Spots outfish the others by a large margin. I believe it's because they have much smaller rattles and no one else fishes them on my lakes. But if they won't hit a Spot they may hit a different lipless.