Johnbt

I don't need any more rods or reels. Until I buy a second boat. A big bass boat. Maybe next year. It's more of a storage problem than anything. Well, there's a supply shortage.

"The last time I was at the marine service shop, the tech said every battery is made in China now." Here's one example to prove him wrong. www.eastpennmanufacturing.com/about/facilities/ "East Penn is proud to operate a massive, 520-acre single-site battery manufacturing complex in Berks County, Pennsylvania, with world-class facilities that are the most advanced in the industry. We also operate a facility in Corydon, Iowa to help accommodate our widespread growth." They make East Penn, DEKA and the deep cycle batteries sold at BatteriesPlus and Sams as Duracell. I've been using three of the Group 31 Duracell AGMs from Batteries+.

No problems with TW here. Last week Suntrust refused to pay $4958.00 charged to my Visa card. They didn't even ask me, they let me know later. I've been with them since '75. They overnighted a new card. Nice of them. Oh, almost forgot. The attempted charge was to the... Jamaica Customs Department. Fwiw, the real one is the Jamaica Customs Agency

A day on the water is less expensive than an hour reading "The latest sale thread"

I'm too lazy this morning to go take a pic of my wife's shoe closet.

I remember when pistol gripped rods became popular. I tried them a couple of times and never liked them enough to buy one. One of my buddies has a few left in his rod racks, but never uses them. He tried to sell me a couple of them many years ago for little or nothing, but I refused and laughed at him.

Since the '80s my go to artificial bait for panfish, small saltwater bait, crappie, and generally really slow days when you wonder if there are any fish left in the water has been one of Charlie Brewer's 1" or 1,5" Crappie/Panfish grubs on a teeny weighted hook of some sort, and nearly always in green or chartreuse glitter. And sometimes the big fish bite 'em. I never leave home without a bag. https://sliderfishing.com/shop/ols/products/1-1-slash-2-crappie-slash-panfish-grub-chartreuse-csg5

I would start by buying either a Tiny Tach for $49 or a no-name tach just like it on line for $20 and get a reading of your rpms with the throttle wide open and the boat normally loaded. It sounds like you're plowing water and might only be getting rpms up into the - here comes a guess - 4,000 to 5,000 range when you should be running 5k to 6k. It's like driving weak 4-cylinder car uphill in 5th gear. I'm basing this on my experience with a 2014 Grizzly 1648 loaded with carpet, 3 big batteries, 2 big guys, a deck extension and a Merc 9.9 long shaft 4-stroke. Brand new, straight from the dealer with the factory 8.5P prop I was only getting 4550 rpms and 5.5 mph. I bought a Merc replacement prop that was 6.5P" and the revs went up to 5800 and the speed went from 5.5 mph to 12ish. And the engine was still buried too low in the water. Bass Pro measures the length of the transom sheet metal and not the actual vertical drop from the top of the transom to the water when they advertise transom height. YMMV, but you won't know if your engine is running at the top of recommended range where the power is unless you measure it. The Tiny Tach has a little battery in it and all you do is wrap a single wire around one spark plug wire and adjust the setting for number of cylinders, etc.

I usually start large. I like 3/8 spinnerbaits and chatterbaits with 3-, 4-, or 5- grubs, etc. Or even larger. Normally with two people in the boat one will try a trailer and will try without. Or we'll try different things entirely at first. I carry these for every depth. Some are more gray than white depending on the maker, but they also work in our stained water. When it gets some mud in it I might switch to Firetiger. This is a Rapala DT. Here's my backyard lure that was hiding on the table behind my laptop. One of the smaller ones - 6th Sense.

I'm 30 minutes from Cabela's, BP and Green Top Sporting Goods (decades old Richmond favorite that took the Gander Mountain building on I-95 when they left town years ago.) Locally on Route 5, we have a bait shop with some freshwater gear, saltwater gear, boat gear, local honey and fresh vegetables and flowers. And great live bait. Being just below the fall of the James and near the county's Osborne Boat Landing there's a demand for all sorts of bait.

I did buy a thousand yards of 12# Tatsu, but I'm just quietly waiting on the release of the DT8, I wonder how many colors there will be. We'll have to see how it moves. "First, we kept the body size of a 6. That seemed to be perfect. But, to get it to run a little deeper we lengthened the bill and did a few other little adjustments. We now have a bait that’ll dive to 8-feet on 12-pound-test line, and down to 9-feet on 10-pound-test line. If you want to go even deeper with this fantastic crankbait, drop down to 8-pound-test. That’ll make it run at 10-feet or maybe a little more." - Ike's Blog

I have a Conquest 844C. It's amazing how useful it is. Late last November we were beating the banks of a long relatively shallow 225 acre electric-only lake. Around 2 p.m. schools of tiny bait began churning the surface out in the channel - it looked like 15' diameter circles of dense little raindrops. They'd pop up and before you could get there on the trolling motor they'd usually disappear. We fished a few of them but nothing we had tied on would hook a fish. We tried on the surface and we tried letting spinnerbaits and chatterbaits sink Finally, while we motored to another spot I grabbed a rod with nothing tied on it and quickly tied on a Rapala DT10. I cast far beyond the commotion and reeled like crazy in 9' of water. The rod was vibrating to beat the band, at least until a fish hit. I made 4 casts before the bait moved and caught a 2-pounder, a 2.5 and a 4.0. I was using my 844C with an 8.5 Metanium MGL loaded with 20# Tatsu. Toad rod, crankbait rod, what won't it do?

"If you enjoy high end gear and are not spending the mortgage, go for it." Paid off the mortgage in 1997. I'm lucky I don't own more junk - expensive and inexpensive - than I do.

Those 66-quart tubs aren't as big as they sound. www.homedepot.com/p/Sterilite-66-Qt-Clear-View-Latch-Box-Storage-Tote-Container-36-Pack-36-x-17571706/313237896 Here you go, a 36-pack of the 66 quart tubs, only $558.96. Be prepared.

I hit a stump four or five years ago and bent a Maxxum 70 all the way up under my 1648 and it hit the hull hard. We also had a 12v 35# motor running on the transom and were making 4 mph when we hit. It was a pretty sudden stop, but we were seated and nothing went overboard. The Maxxum still worked, but made a ticking sound that a new armature fixed. It also cracked the bottom half of the control box, but I replaced that myself. The best part was that the repair shop had an armature and I got the motor back the following afternoon.

I want one so I can dodge the numerous stumps and sunken logs at trolling motor speeds in the unmapped ponds and lakes I fish.

"We are looking at the science though human eyes" And I'm picking out lures with eyes that have a significant amount of red-green colorblindness. I once bought a 100-year-old house that had light pink tile in the bathroom and didn't find out about it for 3 weeks. I thought it was light neutral tan or something. There are different kinds of red-green colorblindness depending on whether you have defective red receptors, defective green receptors, or some of both like I do. I wonder, are some individual fish colorblind or partially colorblind? It's all in the genes. Who knows what they're seeing.

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Sometimes the fish are way back in the weeds.

I'd say the 843C, but it's a hard call because I really like my 844C and 783C, too.

www.tacklewarehouse.com/Booyah_Covert_Double_Indiana_Spinnerbaits/descpage-BYCDISB.html?from=gshop&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9fiz-pi08wIVkonICh0o6QpBEAQYAiABEgI0HvD_BwE Not much color selection, but white or chartreuse works for me.

"Next y'all gonna me if I buy a Shimano G. Loomis Conquest MBR I can out fish KVD!" I suspect you might need one for each hand to have a sporting chance. I hear he's pretty good. But I've never seen you fish, so who knows. Go for it.

"I try to stay away from E-Bay " I was buying 4 salad plates for my wife's discontinued luncheon set. You have to buy this stuff when you see it. Discontinued pre-2000 iirc. I don't visit fishing gear sites if I can help it... too expensive. Now where's my order from Discount Tackle with the Tatsu.

I didn't even know Line and Lure Conditioner came in a gallon bottle. https://www.ebay.com/itm/263008956858?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=263008956858&targetid=1263433205494&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9008466&poi=&campaignid=10459841979&mkgroupid=117435520970&rlsatarget=pla-1263433205494&abcId=2146002&merchantid=6296724&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlaTUmsWf8wIVBbLICh3l3Q_1EAQYAiABEgKoH_D_BwE

"Look I understand you are sensitive when it comes to your Loomis gear that is extremely apparent" Look? Okay, I looked and I'm sorry, I don't think you understand as much as you assume you do. First, there isn't anything at all wrong with my Shimano/Loomis rods. They are very well made and highly functional. Second, I'm certainly not sensitive, ask my wife. Third, I can see your mind is made up and I'll just go ahead and agree that you are right about everything that has to do with expensive fishing rods Have a nice day.