Russ E

if you want a shakyhead to stand up when it is sitting still there are 2 options. use a floating worm or use a standup shakyhead jig like the megastrike. the only time I care if the bait stands while sitting still is in cold water. Then I usually use a floating worm. the megastrike heads are expensive and tend to snag a lot in rocks. standard trick worms do not float. my preferred shakyhead setup is an owner ultrahead jig with a trickworm. with this setup the worm sits at about 45 degrees while dragging or shaking it.

If it is hydraulic, you can move it up to run in shallow water., plus you may be able to fine tune it and get a couple mph faster on top end. Manual jackplates may get you a couple mph faster. On that boat, the only reason I would get a jackplate, would be to install power poles. Mercury will void the warranty if you put a sandwich bracket between the motor and transom to install power poles or talons. They will not void your warranty if you have a jackplate.

to me its a complete package. from trying to figure out how to get fish to bite, to the point of releasing them. The actual fight with a fish is probably on the lower end of why I fish. I rarely use ultra light equipment, because I want to land a fish quickly. Then release it unharmed. The most exhilarating part of fishing, is admiring a large fish after catching it, then watching it swim away.

There are no reviews of that web site. Looks like a possible scam to me. If it sounds too good to be true, I usually steer clear.

I had an old marlin lever action 22 that never failed and was a tack driver. don't remember the model, it was 30 years ago.I traded it for another gun. My favorite 22 is the good old ruger 10/22. I have put thousands of rounds through my current one without an issue. It will literally shoot the nastiest cheapest ammo without any problems. .It is also a tack driver. I think it costs around $250.00 10 years ago. My ruger 22/45 pistol will only fire a couple brands of ammo without jamming.

I had that same carger on my last boat. with a group 27 trolling motor battery, it took around 12 hours to charge a near dead battery. the starting battery was never discharged , so it went a lot faster. I used it for 4 years without any problems. One thing to watch with that charger is if you leave it on for long periods of time, it can slowly over charge the batteries. I am talking for a month or more. My current boat has a digital Minn Kota charger. it is a lot smarter. Once charged it completely shuts off power to the batteries until the voltage drops to a certain point. it also costs around 3 times more than the noco.

I have a map card in my bow and console helix 7s. I run a spilt screen up front with either map/sonar or map/down imaging. I would not own a bow fishfinder without a map card. I use it all of the time. With the map on I always know where I am in relation to structure.

I use a 705cb. I also use a KastKing speed demon pro squarebill cranking rod. To be honest it is a tossup on which one I prefer. Generally, with divers I use the 705cb and with squarebills I use the speed demon pro.

I may be the odd man out here, but texas rigs and jigs are the 2 lures I use straight flourocarbon. It has nothing to do with line visibility or sinking rate. the reason I use flourocarbon is the semi slack line sensitivity. Often times when a jig or worm is falling the line is not tight. braid has great sensitivity on a tight line. I can't feel bites on a semi slack line with braid.. Not all fluorocarbon lines are equal. from my own experience, Tatsu, shooter,sniper, and assasin seems the most sensitive.

My little home lake has curly pondweed, brittle Naiad, and coontail. the curly pondweed and brittle Naiaid usually does not hold many fish. They are also hard to fish without fouling the baits. Nearly any healthy patch of coontail has bass. In the heat of summer, when other lakes get tough to fish, this lake produces crazy numbers of fish. Dragging a texas rigged worm along the edges of coontail, is usually the most productive.

I have a 2017 fiberglass ranger Z175 with the 115 pro xs four stroke. the boat is 17 foot 10 inches long and has a 92 inch beam. It weighs around 2500 pounds fully loaded. After a lot of research I chose this setup, because it was right for me. The largest lake I fish is 10,000 acres. Most are signifitcantly smaller than that. after 3 years and a lot of hours in the boat I have no regrets. I love this setup. the 115 pro xs is very smooth and responsive for its size. Very easy on gas also. My 115 has a command thrust lower unit, So I can run the bigger props. even though it is only a 115, I get a crazy hole shot with a tempest 23 pitch prop. It gets a top speed of 49-50 mph. the next step up was the Z185. It was a lot heavier and only gets around 52 mph top speed with a 150. to me it was not worth the extra cost. The mod v rangers may be a little different, but I have had this boat in nasty waves and never felt unsafe or under powered.

I use both. Ther really is no set rule on which color will work better. As a general rule, clear to tannic weedy lakes Junebug is my choice. stained to dirty water I switch to Black and Blue.

Dicks around here has always been limited and overpriced for hunting and fishing supplies. A lot of the workers were also rude. occasionally you could get a good deal on closeout items. Since the latest changes, I have no reason to visit. This time of year I make a few tackle runs to Academy, Scheels, and Bass pro/ Cabelas. They can all have a few deals on closeouts. I did notice Bass Pro and Cabelas are a little stingy this year on the deals. Some of the old model reels are still at full price. and the pro qualifier sale is quite a bit more expensive compared to last year.

Nice to catch fish on the first solo trip. A sign of good things to come. After years of winter fishing stained midwestern lakes, I think the deep water bite is the least consistent. A lot of my largest fish have come from cold water. 99 percent of them were in water less than 5 foot.

Rest in peace Forrest. The world lost a legend. It amazes me with all of the different manufacturers, Rangers are still the benchmark that all other Bass boats are compared to.

As @jbsoonerfan mentioned. $1500.00 will not get you much in the way of a smart trolling motor. I have a minn kota Ultrex and love it. I chose the Ultrex because It has all of the advanced features, but feels like my former cable drive motor.I can steer it without watching the motor. It pairs with hummingbird graphs. I don't care for wireless trolling motors, because there is no feedback on the pedal. You have to watch the motor to see what direction it is pointing. I paid $2300.00 3 years ago. the same motor now is around $2700.00.

My last boat had side imaging on the trolling motor. it works ok if you keep the motor going straight. If you turn much the picture gets distorted. I only have down imaging on my current trolling motor. I use the side imaging on the transom.

sorry for your loss. you are in our thoughts and prayers.

I have the same kayak. I have a 30 pound minn kota endura,that I strap on it occasioally. It will scoot along pretty fast with that motor. If I am using the Kayak it is usually without the motor. You have to be careful with a motor on a kayak. sharp turns at high speed, can tip you over.

If it is like lakemaster for Hummingbird, you can make a copy to download back on the the original card, but a duplicate will not work. They do that so you can't copy one card for multiple fish finders.

I know a lot of people say the tatula ct and the fuego are the same minus the t-wing, but I disagree. I have two fuegos, four tatula ct and 2 tatula sv reels. . While the Fuegos are nice reels, all four of my Ct reels feel smoother. the tatula sv reels are a lot smoother. The one benefit of the Fuego is the standard line guide. If you run the line over your finger while retreiving with the T-wing, sometimes the line will not be level on the reel. I use fuegos for super flukes and plastic worms. With everything else I use a Tatula.

I have not caught much there either. I found a group of brushpiles there a while back with the side imaging. I fish it a little nearly every time I am there and finally caught something. It looked like you had a pretty good day lure hunting.

took my first 2020 trip to La Cygne on Wednesday. It was a slow day until this girl hit my jerkbait. I forgot to turn the camera on until I was weighing the fish.

Made my first 2020 trip to the local power plant. Prefrontal conditions made it tough. only caught one bass in 4 hours, but it was worth it. she was 22 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. Caught it on an H2O ultimate jerk shad jerkbait. I have caught a lot of fish on that bait last fall and early winter.