Russ E

Excellent info. I would like to add one thing, that you mentioned in other posts. In my opinion,Flourocarbon and mono lines have much more sensitivity on a semi slack line than braid. I always have a finger on my line with worms and jigs. As mentioned by others, that is a bad idea with braid. There was a short period that I fished worms and jigs on braid. After switching back to flourocarbon line, It was amazing how many more bites I felt. Braid is now reserved for topwater.

doesn't get much closer than that. that is an interesting trailer tongue. changing it to a swing tongue will not be an easy mod

^^this. It is better to have a shaft that is a little too long, than one that is too short.

They are a goid choice if you want something bigger than the standard utail but the ol monster is a bit much. I use them quite a bit in the summer.

They are spawning here. Raising quite a commotion in the shallows. Not sure what their spawning rituals are, but it seems pretty violent.

It is always windy here in Kansas. I consider anything under 12 mph a calm day. funny thing is if we do get the frequent calm day, the bass go into hibernation. If you want to get skunked, fish a Kansas reservoir on a calm day.

The only flourocarbon line I have seen at Wal-Mart was vanish and spiderwire. They are both poor quality in my opinion. My go to is sunline. Usually sniper, but I have been trying assassin lately with good results.

I have never personally used them but this company is in Bonner springs. https://www.customweldingkc.com/

my last boat and trailer would not fit in my suburbia garage. I added this to the tongue and it fit easily. my current ranger came with a swingaway tongue.

most of the baits I have found this spring were cheap walwart stuff. and a boatload of bobbers floating around. I donate them to my neighbor. the one thing that is getting annoying is the amount of braided line in the water. I have had to remove line from my trolling motor and main motor a couple times this year.

Thery are all fishable boats. if you can afford it, the lund will probably last a lifetime. while they all have a 6 person capacity, that many people in a 16.5 boat will be tight quarters.

The extra pressure has forced me to look for new spots on the local lakes. If you look hard enough it is surprising how many spots get overlooked. I am fishing spots I would have just driven by in the past. thanks to mega side imaging I have found quite a few overlooked spots and found some fish that have not seen much pressure. Most of the quality fish this year has been on finesse baits. Not my favorite style of fishing, but very productive.

these are my two favorite summer beers. honorable mention goes to the Fosters. we have drank our share of oil cans while social ditancing on the driveway. \

I believe I fished that same lake Monday. Water temp was 59. Crappie were hitting everything I threw. Ended up keeping a couple dozen for my neighbor. If it is the same lake, It might be a little bit iarger than 7000 acres.

Looks like that lake had at least one warmouth

A lot of good ideas here, but honestly it is only $7.00 for a wacky tool that will probably last a lifetime. It does not take much to spend $7.00 on tackle. I have jerkbaits that cost 4 times that much. add in a couple ridiculous priced glide baits and $7.00 is pretty cheap.

I believe they are standard on most new bass boats. My ranger has them. I was told as long as the bearings are not getting hot or leaking don't mess with them. The ranger rep also told me to jack up the trailer once a year and make sure the wheels don't have any play, when you try to rock them back and forth. If there is play you need to take it to a shop to get adjusted. This is the first trailer I have owned that has them. Four years and no problems yet.

I currently have 16lb sniper and 15 lb assasin on 2 similar rods. Assasin seems a a little softer. Sniper seems to be more forgiving on knots. sniper seems to stretch less. Sniper has a smaller diameter. They are both good line. Personally I prefer sniper, but it is more expensive.

To me fluorocarbon is for bottom contact baits or baits that often have a semi slack line like a weightless super fluke. The semi slack line sensitivity can not be beat by any other line. With braid you have to keep a fairly tight line to get its sensitivity benefit. Obviously flourocarbon or copoly will not lay on the reel as smooth as braid. Because it is stiffer. I don't use tastu, because the price does not warrant the performance, in my opinion. All I use is sunline sniper or assasin. For me Jerkbaits, spinnerbaits and crankbaits get copoly. Topwater I generally use the power pro braid.

To me a spinnerbait is a conditional bait. I usually want wind or overcast skies. if it were me on a heavily pressured lake, I would be throwing finesse baits like a shakyhead or ned rig. I can't count how many times I have followed somebody throwing spinnerbaits and crankbaits, on pressured lakes, with a finesse bait and caught a lot more fish than they did.

nice looking house. welcome to Wyandotter County. I have lived on the west side of WYCO for 5 years. like @pauldconyers mentioned Wyandotte county lake is the closest. it has a lot of bass, with a few nice ones. It cost around $50.00 a year for county boating and fishing permits, if you live in the county. other notable lakes within an hour are La Cygne, douglas state fishing lake, Clinton and Perry. if you want to drive 1.5 hours, Melvern has been producing some impressive smallies. Clinton and Perry seem to be on the rebound and should be good for largemouth and smallmouth in the coming years. La Cygne is my favorite. it can be tough, but there are huge bass in there. My best for 2020 is 7lb 6oz. I know of one over 9 from there this year.

when i was trying to learn how to setup side imaging, I would find a school of fish with the sonar. Then I would drive by them with side imaging, to see what they looked like on different bottoms. on soft bottom the fish were pretty easy to see. on gravel and rock, it was harder to see them. they were not invisible, just harder to see.

I dont have side scan. I have a hummingbird helix with mega side imaging. seeing fish in a weedbed with any side imaging can be tough. If the fish are hanging out on the weed edges my mega imaging will see them. it can't see through the weeds. It is easier to distinguish fish if the bottom is soft. The fish will be a light spot. In hard bottom areas the fish blend in with the background. often times on hard bottoms all you will see is the shadow of a fish. it will often show up as a black spot or line.

I have bought from sportsmans outfitter . Didn't have any problems. From my own experience when new reels go on sale on eBay, they are often old inventory. May be a couple years old, but unused.

Anyone that has had any experience with a t-wing reel knows you spool it over the top. when the reel is engaged the t wing holds it above the bar. in free spool the line still rides above the bar. if you spool it below the bar it is pretty obvious it is wrong. As others have said this is a silly thread. everyone needs to get out and go fishing.