Johnbt

"I know we all want to believe our high end gear puts more fish in the boat" I'm one who has never believed that for a moment. I just like good tools. I'm 70 and if it costs two or three times as much to get a tool that's an honest 5% better I'm up for it. It's also fun to see and use what they've invented this time around and find out if any of the ad copy is bs. Reading about it is fun, but trying it out is more fun.

"We'll see who's comfortable come June." Two words - night fishing.

I use a single adapter on each large post for my transom trolling motor. It's mostly for backing out of jams and getting on the trailer. The two small posts power the fish finder, bilge pump, and lights if I them. But they make multi-post units too.

"Smaller diameter, nearly invisible and with strength you can believe in are a few that come to mind." I used to fish a lot of Silver Thread copolymer starting back in the late '80s, freshwater and salt, but never gave up on Stren before switching to Trilene XL a couple of decades ago. I still love XL, along with Yo-Zuri Hybrid, but have also fished a lot of Invisibraid for 20 years and have recently taken a liking to Tatsu. But I still use a lot of XL. Whatever works.

I bought a Conquest 783C a couple of years ago. It's a MHF and has done well with my favorite spinnerbaits and trailers, chatterbaits, toads, jigs, whatever. Even cranks down to 10'. Then I bought an 843C, an 844C and an 843C. That's 3 MHs and 1 H. I love moving baits, toads and 10.5" worms. Now I want a medium rod more suited to small cranks and such. I'm trying to decide between a MF Conquest and something like a Megabass Z-Crank Elseil. I'm in no hurry to decide, I have many less expensive rods that will do the job, but they aren't nearly as much fun as the Conquests. The best cheap rod I have is a Quantum Ultra I bought years ago at a show for $25. It's a 6.5' medium 1/8 to 1/2 oz with full cork and IM7 graphite. My buddy also bought one and it's still his primary spinnerbait/chatterbait rod. He has first gen Steez on it. We liked the rods so much I tracked down the last 3 in North America at their warehouse in Oklahoma. They'd been a loss leader combo and I got them delivered for a total of $19.85 each. We tossed the useless cheap blue reels and kept the rods. The show dealer had been selling rods for $25 and reels for $10 iirc. He had racks and bins of cheap stuff. I wish he'd come back.

I fish out of a 16' jon boat with two bass boat seats 9' apart and usually fish places that are 35 acres to 100 or so. From time to time I'll fish a small river or two 1000-acre reservoirs. The deepest ones are around 30 feet or so. I've had an 843C for a couple of years and never felt the need for a longer rod. I also have a 783C, 844C and 843S. I bought the 783 first and don't think it gives up a thing to the 843. I've never been tempted to buy a longer rod. Bass rod. I do have a variety of surf rods up to 11.5 feet.

"Shipping from California is painfully slow." I think part of the national problem is that the shipping companies are only taking a limited number of packages per day from some of the major sellers because the systems are flat out clogged. Everything else is left sitting on the loading dock for the next day. Otoh, I ordered a laptop on sale the beginning of last week from hp.com and spec'd a few things, but nothing fancy or expensive. It's just a 17" Envy model with a couple of minor upgrades. They started it the end of the week, printed the shipping label Saturday and said it would be delivered Monday the 18th. It came this morning, the 12th. It was shipped from the factory in Kunshan China. That's next door to Shanghai. FedEx can be very, very good. ___________________________________ My wife bought me a 10% off e-mail gift certificate on Thursday the 7th before the TW sale ended. She has an order number and "shipping date" of 1/13. TW must be slammed with orders. It's okay though, they've always come through and I haven't decided if I want a Conquest 842C or a Megabass P5 Z-Crank Elseil. I love my wife.

If anyone is ever on I-95 north of Richmond and south of Ashland, our old standby Green Top Sporting Goods is easily seen from the highway and is still giving the local Bass Pro and Cabelas a run for their money. Does the building look familiar? Those people left town years ago. Green Top has been in business since 1947.

It does. "Simrad Today Today the Simrad name is used by two distinct entities: one of these is part of Kongsberg Maritime AS and dedicated to the manufacture of electronics specifically designed for commercial fishing boats, while the other is Simrad Yachting, incorporated into the Navico group in 2006." _______________ "Navico was created through the merger of Simrad Yachting and Lowrance Electronics by their common owners, Altor Equity Partners, a Swedish private equity firm." https://navico.com/about-navico/

I've never called TW. I do have a lot of their t-shirts, bumper stickers and reel covers.

I'm sure they are. Kongsberg owns Simrad. www.kongsberg.com/maritime/products/commercial-fisheries/fish-finding-sonars

"the Ram-recommended 115-D ball mount? The thing is huge!!" That's the honest truth. I ordered on line and thought they must have sent two when the box arrived. And mine is just the short-arm D-115-C model for a Garmin Vivid 9sv. But I screwed it to the front deck of my jon boat with 4 oval head #14 x 1.25" stainless self tapping sheet metal screws and it isn't going anywhere. I love Bolt Depot. I also got Phillips pan head machine screws, washers and nylon lock nuts to attach the screen to the mount. I bought 50 different stainless bolts and screws and things for this and other projects and with the 33 cents tax and $4.95 shipping I spent $11.36. And didn't have to go to Lowe's or Home Depot. That's the best part.

"I wonder if the guy who fishes all day for that one bite catches bigger fish than the guy who boats 50 bass" I don't know. I haven't bass fished with too many different folks. My buddy had a Virginia certified scale on his boat back in the day before cell phones had cameras. One year he boated 50+ largemouth that weighed 8 pounds or more. That was a citation back then. There wasn't a length citation. I dug around a little and found some pics. And one of mine

"Was kind of expecting to see more Christmas gifts on here. Where are they lol." I bought a Garmin Vivid 9sv, mostly because my Lowrance Elite 5 HDI started freezing regularly and doing things like reading 124 feet in 10 feet of water. It's a Christmas present because my wife said, "Can I give you that for Christmas?"

" I’m used to going out catching 25 to 50 fish but all of them were in a pound and a half at the most." I will offer some motivation to help you change your ways. The guy who has tried to teach me to bass fish over the past 35 years or so likes his picture fish. For example, on the late winter day I took the following pics, he was driving my boat and we fished steep banks in a reservoir. I caught the first fish, the most fish, and even some 3 and 4-pounders. He was using a 3/8-ounce spinnerbait with a 6" curl tail grub and fishing it slowly down the bank on the bottom until it was under the boat in 10 to 15 feet of water. Over and over. After about 5.5 hours he caught his only fish of the day.

"Do you remember dirt being something new? My pet triceratops was named Charlie." No, but the guy who got me started with bass fishing 30 or 40 years ago has been known to tell people that I'm so old I sat behind Jesus in the second grade.

"Where you use door hinges, I would have use a heavy piano hinge that spreads the stress out over the whole length when you stand on it." Thanks, but the hinges are mostly to keep it from flying off at interstate speeds. And to keep it from hitting the motor clamps when closing. After cutting the sheet to size we added the length of 2" x 2" and then took the scraps and added two shorts pieces to the seat side. After walking on it and having both of us stand on it, we added the last two angled scraps on the ends for the heck of it and then installed the hinges. The unsupported part of the sheet is only 39.5" by 11.5". I had to go measure that just now. That was spring of 2014 and I haven't had to so much as tighten a screw or nut on it since. At the beginning we thought about ordering a piano hinge, but I decided to go wait in line at the local branch of BMG Metals and order partial sheet of 1/8" 6061-T6 and a piece of angle aluminum. After ordering and paying I had to drive to their warehouse near the airport to have it cut. And steering the boat from the stern has never been a problem. Turn the seat a little to the side and drop your arm back and twist away. I never fish with the rear motor on so it's just not a problem. Most of the time the 9.9 stays in the garage. The transom trolling motor is mostly for backing out of jams, off logs and stumps, and getting away from the bank after retrieving a lure. And unloading and loading the boat of course.

I read numerous reports of Garmin units running SideVu at 2 to 4 mph before I bought a Vivid 9sv. We will see. I don't have any trouble hitting 4.2 mph with a Maxxum 70 at half power or so and an Endura Max 55 on the transom and my 1648 is heavy and low in the water. Running a bank or down the middle of lake shouldn't pose any problems. The guy in the back - or my wife - can steer while I watch the screen. There were also some reviews like this one - www.boatingmag.com/six-tips-for-using-fishfinders "As with down imaging, side-imaging technology works most effectively at boat speeds of under 5 mph. "

I'm a bit surprised. I would have guessed any kind of rubber band would last at least 4 or 5 years. Not that I ever timed one.

"Garmin has QuickDraw where you can create up to 1 million (I believe) acres" Fwiw, the Garmin Vivid 9sv I just bought says "up to 2 million acres" None of the places I fish are on any of the map units, so who knows, I might map a few acres. I primarily bought it because the GT52HW transducer just barely fit on my Maxxum 70. And it even has SideVü.

I used to order enough stuff from Cabela's to get a hardback catalog instead of the paper ones. Now they don't sell anything I really want, like a Cabela's brand 3-in-1 Goretex parka with a zipout Thinsulate liner and/or a similar duck hunting coat. I should have saved all of those hard bound books. They're being sold on ebay as collectibles. www.ebay.com/b/Cabelas-Vintage-Hunting-Catalog/71135/bn_1860547

https://www.nadaguides.com/Boats/2012/Tracker-Marine/SUPER-GUIDE-V-16-SC__/32024075 From the position of the tongue jack I'd say there was one available. The pic isn't good, but there appears to be something - a hinge? - on the top of the tongue

There are a thousand and one variations of the saltwater fish finder rig for bottom fishing with bait. The one I've used for 40 years starts with a plastic slide and sinker on the line. The weight sits on the bottom and the bait is free to float away on the current. The fish can take the bait without having to lift the sinker. Surf fishing sinkers run from an ounce up to 8 ounces typically. The largest one I ever had to use to hold bottom was 14.

My 1648 is steady as a rock. Of course I've added glued down carpet, 3 x 67-pound batteries, a Maxxum 70, an Endura Max 55 if I'm not using the 9.9 Merc, 2 chairs, and usually 2 of us at 210 pounds each. It's also slow as a rock, even with 6.5 pitch Merc prop instead of the standard 8.5. I can still get it up to 12 or 13 mph on a good day. Might make 14 if I have my 104-pound wife and the 24-pound dog. It's okay though, the restricted reservoirs aren't that big and mostly we fish electric. The sturdiest part of the boat is the $100 piece of aluminum I bought and cut to size with a grinder. The boat in the background is my buddy's 30-year-old 1648 Polar Kraft. I took my new boat to his garage and started working on it. Didn't even put it in the water once.