Johnbt

This tube was completely broken in half. They sort of tried to tape the two pieces back together with a wrap and a half, but it was still flopping around when it was delivered. Our mail lady drove it down the driveway to the house and suggested that I open it while she waited. The Conquest 844 was not broken. And it's still going strong.

My buddy sent me this a few minutes ago. I forgot to ask where he caught it. Too busy laughing.

I looked at the Resolute batteries on Fleetfarm.com Some say "Made in US from US and imported parts" Some say "Made in USA" They're probably made by Exide, Johnson or EastPenn/Deka.

From page 538 of the 2020 owner's manual. http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/AH/ATHR2020OM/enu/ATHR2020OM.PDF "Trailer brakes Recommended for any trailer with a total weight of 1,000 lbs (450 kg) or more"

From the fwiw department. The 2020 Outback manual says 1,000 pounds without trailer brakes and 2700 with trailer brakes. That's for the 2.5L. The 2.4L is 1,000 and 3,500. page 431 of https://cdn.subarunet.com/stis/doc/ownerManual/MSA5M2003A-2004A_STIS.pdf 2.5 L models Conditions Maximum total trailer weight Maximum tongue weight When towing a trailer without brakes. 1,000 lbs (453 kg) 100 lbs (45 kg) When towing a trailer with brakes. 2,700 lbs (1,224 kg) 270 lbs (122 kg) _______________ They redid the towing standards for everyone. Here's one article. www.trucktrend.com/how-to/towing/1502-sae-j2807-tow-tests-the-standard

Yum, smoked eel.

"You say bomb a cast how far can you cast accurately into the wind? " Not very far. I'm old. But I have 9', 10' and 11' surf rods and with a chunk of cut mullet and a 5- to 8-ounce sinker I can get out there a long way. When largemouth fishing I use the trolling motor to cut down the casting distance to 50 yards or less. Usually a lot less. It's amazing the number of fish - including 8+ pounders - that have followed the lure to the boat and finally taken it when it was coming straight up.

This was my second reel in the early and late '60s. The first one was a J.C. Higgins casting reel. I quit using them a long time ago. I just checked ebay and there are quite a few for sale. They must have sold a lot of them. See, I started out using casting reels and working the handles with my right hand, and I still don't like them even though I'm righthanded. Here's the Higgins. It's on a metal rod. Those were the days.

"I'd try cleaning out the connectors for the transducer with some electrical contact cleaner and reseat it a bunch of times." My old Lowrance Elite 5 HDI went on the blink after a few years and started showing wacky readings every half a second - 2 feet, 30 feet, 6 feet, blink, blink, blink, etc. Same with temp and the picture went nuts, too. I cleaned the connectors and packed them with dielectric grease and it immediately fixed the problem. That was a couple of years ago.

"I don't feel like watching a long video. What happened?" I woke up somewhere near the end. I think he said the new one consistently cast 5 to 8 feet farther than the old reel he hadn't used in quite some time. I like my two old ones. I can throw baits up on the bank with them.

This is a low riding Grizzly 1648 with glued carpet, 3 x 60lb batteries, hinged rear deck extension, etc. The 42" shaft Maxxum 70 is 24" from the bottom of the mount to the top of the motor. It sticks up, but hasn't been the first problem during the 6 years I've had it. That's a '64 2-door Jetstar 88 Olds convertible in the background. It was renovated by my wife's late husband and belongs to her son. And no, I don't take the 16 gallon shop vac fishing.

Never heard of them, but they look really good. I know of private 30 acre lake with no ramp that would be perfect for one.

I've always unplugged the chargers when the charged light came on. During the winter I charge the batteries every month or so. I started working with computers in 1985 and like them, but I don't trust them. I don't care about ruining the batteries, I don't want to burn the garage down.

Do what you said and use distilled water and don't overfill them. A gallon is less than a buck at the local grocer. Fwiw, I bought 3 Group 31 Walmart Maxx batteries early in 2014. I used them for over 3 years and still have two that get fairly light use. They have never required watering. Almost 3 years ago I bought 2 Group 31 Duracell Ultra batteries that have had pretty heavy use and it seems like they frequently need a little water. So who knows. I use the same 3 Schumacher chargers on everything, so it must be the batteries. Beats me.

The first one of the day is always the nicest one. After that I can be just as picky as I want about weight and length. And I always expect the next one to be a double digit.

I run electric-only 90% of the time and recently decided to upgrade to AGM and get 3 matching batteries. (I have 2 Duracell Ultra Group 31's running the Maxxum 70 and one is slowly fading a bit on the volt meter. The new Minn Kota Endura Max 55 on the transom is running on a Group 31 Walmart Maxx battery that was purchased in 3/14 and still charges to 90%. I had been running a 1995 Minn Kota Turbo 65 that didn't draw much power putting out 36 pounds of thrust. I gave it back to the guy who loaned it to me 10 years ago. ) I looked at the Optima Group 31 batteries, but wondered why the C20 rate appeared to be so low. "we would recommend using either the D34M, D27M or D31M BLUETOP batteries for trolling motor use." www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/bluetop-dual-purpose-deep-cycle-and-starting/d31m "BLUETOP® D31M D31M Weight: 59.8 lb C20 Capacity: 75 Ah Post Type: Dual SAE & 5/16 Stainless Stud CCA: 900 Amp" I'm no electrician and got tired of reading battery reviews, so I went ahead and ordered 3 Group 31 Duracell(Deka/EastPenn Intimidator) Platinum AGM batteries yesterday. Fwiw, they weigh 67.5 pounds each. My back may regret it by the time I get my tradeins to the store and the 3 new ones installed.

"I was amazed how a H power rod can be light." Not only is the 844 light, it's much, much stronger than it looks. Here's mine the day it was delivered last July. The thick tube was completely broken into 2 pieces. They'd tried to tape it together with one wrap of clear tape, but failed miserably. I'm still using the rod everytime I go out. There wasn't even a bent guide on it. The first fish I caught on it was 5 pounds and I was pleasantly surprised the rod didn't snap in two or explode or do something dramatic. The dealer had told me to use it and if it broke he'd replace it. He also said he's seen the shipping companies break plastic tubes. All the companies and all types of tubes at one time or another. I worked my way up from a Conquest 783 to an 843 to an 844 and picked up a MH spinning along the way.

I went fishing yesterday with 2 friends and don't have any good pics to show for it. All of the bass were 1 to 2 pound dinks. One of the guys went with his neighbor today. The dinks were still there, but in larger numbers and the crappie were going crazy. The 3.75 was caught on a spinnerbait. The 2.75 was caught with a minnow.

I guess it wouldn't hurt, but I've never seen anyone do it.

I'm curious why you recommend 2 circuit breakers when using 2 12v batteries for a 24v trolling motor. Minn Kota recommends using one circuit breaker and that's all I've ever used. The drawing on this page references one circuit breaker in the drawing. www.minnkotamotors.com/sites/minnkotamotors_site/files/selecting-the-correct-battery.pdf

Virginia has a trophy fish program. www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/trophy-fish aka the Angler Recognition Program aka catching a citation No pins.

I wonder if the DNR officer was only talking about lakes with public access. I've never seen any state fish surveys done on the 20, 30 and 40-acre private lakes we typically fish... and most of them are heavily stained, overgrown, and sometimes just downright difficult to the point of having trouble getting your bait wet. Yet they produce good numbers of 8-pound fish and some as big as 11+. Who knows, maybe the state folks go places and don't publish all of the results. Maybe most folks avoid the difficult-to-fish places so the citations come from clear water lakes. I know many people who will go to Sandy River reservoir because Briary Creek reservoir next door has too many trees in the water... bump, bump, stuck, bump, bump, bump. It's restricted to 9.9 hp and that's going too fast. And not everyone bothers with the citation program. My lmb mentor hasn't applied for a Virginia citation in 30 years or more. I know one year not too long ago he caught over 50 8-pound or bigger bass and only took pictures. I've never applied for a Virginia citation of any sort. The only citation I have was for a 17.5# bluefish I caught in surf at Cape Hatteras in 12/83 iirc. Time to go meet the termite inspector. I'm selling a house in town and told the buyer I'd get the bug report.

"Ok... to the east coast guys" The Yankee east coast guys, the Mid-Atlantic east coast guys, the Carolina and Georgia guys or those folks in Florida?

"and then he'll mention "polaroid" sunglasses." There's nothing wrong with wearing Polaroid glasses. www.polaroideyewear.com/en-ww/home.html edited to add: "Edwin Land, born in 1909 in Connecticut, invented Polaroid, the world's first polarizing material for commercial use, in 1929. He founded the Polaroid Corporation in 1937 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company initially produced Polaroid Day Glasses, the first sunglasses with a polarizing filter."

"A baitcast is designed to be used as a winch, so it is the reel that retrieves the fish." Over 60 years of fishing and I didn't know that. I suppose I'll just keep doing it my way.