Dirtyeggroll

Why? What source of information tells you that? I think you have bad information. A deep cycle battery is designed to handle relatively low current (amps) over a sustained period of time. Electronics draw are relatively low <100 amps continuous generally and are constantly on. A trolling motor also has a relatively low current draw. Whereas a starting battery is designed to have a high short current draw (750-1500 amps).

Did you ask about squarebills in cool water? I like them best in the cooler water… the big bass seem to as well.

I don’t have a dedicated electronics battery - most of the time I would never have run my starter/electronics battery down. I basically kept the emergency start on board in lieu of a small dedicated starter battery. IF it were charged I could probably get 15-20 starts out of it. 99% of the time, I could probably use it as my sole starting source… just gotta make sure it’s charged.

*Edit* - after reviewing the instructions and trying again later at home, the emergency jump pack DID have enough charge. I just had to override the safety features because the battery was too low to detect.** About 2 years ago I bought a NOCO GB50 emergency starter. Most of the time I’ve got enough electronics/starting battery to last me a minimum of two hard days of fishing. Well… recently did some electronics upgrades and haven’t taken the old stuff off so got about twice as much juice being pulled. Fished yesterday for about 6 hours and forgot to plug the charger in when I got home. Been on vacation so got to go out again today. It crossed my mind more than once that I might get low on starting battery. Really didn’t bother me since I was going to a small lake where there is no wake. Sure enough I ran that battery dry, not even a click turning the key. It was a windy day and I wanted to get to the other side of the lake a bit quicker, so I pulled out the GB50 - low battery. Fortunately I just trolled around. It was a bit tricky to load the boat without the big motor on a steep ramp in the wind, but got it figured out. Turns out those emergency starters need to be charged about every 18 months. I’ll probably make it part of my spring and late fall routine to charge.

Bac-rac https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Bac_Rac_Rod_Rac_Version_2/descpage-BCRCV2.html

The electronics and bells and whistles can certainly be a distraction.

Did you end up adding any toys to it?

AGM batteries tend to have a little longer lifespan, don't require any water filling and can be mounted any position. Only you can decide if that's worth the cost or not. A new charger ain't cheap. Personally, I'd keep buying the cheapest battery possible and make sure to practice good charging habits to promote longevity until lithium comes down a bit more and then upgrade charger and to a lithium battery.

Uni knot. 100% knot strength. Easy to tie.

For the last 5 years either the last week of March or first week of April have produced a fat mamahachi for me. Life’s other responsibilities have me too busy to get out this year it seems for the next couple weeks, so not sure the streak will continue. GET OUT AND FISH NOW if you can.

Anytime there is vegetation is my favorite time.

How does one get the rebate?

I am all for live sonar. I think it’s great at every level. No one is forced to use it. The cost restriction argument is bogus in my opinion. Tournament fees, gas for travel and the mostly costly thing of all, time on the water are more costly than live sonar. I have the latest and greatest tech on my boat and think it’s fun. I also like fishing from the bank or from a jon boat without any electronics and still do it frequently. I find satisfaction in both. I don’t like the concept or practice of tournament fishing.

That makes sense if you just want one unit in your kayak. if you were ADDING a standalone unit for live imaging, I do think Garmin is quite a bit ahead with their offering. I run Mega Live and have been satisfied with it as I have all Humminbird / Minn Kota products. As far as a stand-alone system is concerned, I actually don’t think it’s all that important to have the other graphs integrate with the live imaging system. I already had a Humminbird unit that was capable of running Mega Live so I only needed the transducer. IF I had not already had a unit capable of such, knowing what I know now I would go with Garmin for live imaging as a standalone system and keep my others for Mega 360 and Side imaging. As far as deals are concerned you missed out on about the best deal of the Spring with Bass Pro Marine sale. You can get up to 5x bonus points back (example: $750 back with $3,000 purchase). If you are interested in a USED Mega Live, I see them floating around the $1,000-$1,200 range and see the Helix 9 for about $1,000 on other fishing sites with buy/trade/sell avenues.

Why are you wanting to go with Mega Live vs Livescope?

I have both. the 6’9” tip isn’t as forgiving . It’s a great and sensitive jig rod though.

I guess they’re smaller but I wouldn’t consider them micro. Micro guides IMO are much smaller. I don’t know the measurement. I used a leader on my 6’9 H without issue.

No micro guides

It’s an OKAY open water JB rod. But there are many better option IMO.

T-rigs, bladed jigs, spinnerbaits, traps, dark sleeper it’s a great all purpose rod. All of them are very sensitive despite that the blank is not exposed on the handle / reel seat.

The 7’3 i think is the Brent Ehler rod I have all of the Tatula Eite rods. I wouldn’t call any of them truly fast rods, the all seem to be a bit slow/load up on the tip. The 6’9 and 7’1 heavy are the Andy Montgomery skipping rods. Set the hook deep with these rods as the really load up. Strong back bone but you really have to lean into to get to it. The 6’9 Ml rod is the Seth Feider rod and it’s a damned noodle. I use it, but it’s nothing like the Cabela’s ZX 6’9 jerkbait rod I used previously. It’s hard to work a jerkbait because it absorbs all the jerking and you’re not gonna really be able to shake grass off with it.

Can you do mine next?

Thank you all for the condolences and kind words.

The only way to overcome this will be to get to know their problems and them get to know your problems. You have to separate yourself from the things you have or do that they don’t like. You have to get to know them. They may never like your parking in the yard or the swamp pool - but that doesn’t mean they can’t like you. I guarantee you they see life from a different perspective than you do and it’s a great opportunity to learn something new and for them to as well. Invite them over or out. Make a damned effort to become their friend.

I don’t think there will be a big jump in improvement of the quality of these live sonar images. I think there will be small incremental improvements and a plateau that’s near. What I do think will really change is how the day are processed and displayed. The information will be begin to be displayed in 3D (think like those cute little 3D pregnancy ultrasounds) rather than 2D and the beam width will begin to grow to cover a wider area.