Russ E

me too. for 30 years now.

If its anything Like our Kansas stocked trout, they are not the sharpest tacks in the box. I have unintentionally caught them on nearly every bass bait available, on line up to 20lb copoly

I would go with the Tatula CT, or gen 4 revo sx. both are nice reels. I own both. they are both usually in your price range on amazon or e-bay. usually cheaper on e-bay IMHO the pro max and revo x are overpriced for what they offer.

I don't see why it would not work. I personally hate the front seat. Only use it if the water is rough, to keep me from falling out of the boat. fortunately mine fits in one of the lockers under the deck.

where the high speed has shined for me lately, is on my shakyhead rod. In the past I always had trouble catching up with a fish, when using a standard speed real with the shakyhead. the new speed demon spinning reel solved that issue. It is 7.2 to 1, but picks up line at about the same rate as my 9.3 to speed demon pro casting reel.

And ticks. I can handle snakes, lizards, and spiders. When I find a tick, I panic like a little girl. They are little blood sucking demons. Permethrin and Deet is my friend.

Not sure what you have to rebuild on a tracker, that is any different from other brands. There are a lot of old tracker boats still in use. I had a 2004 crestliner cr1648 mod v boat with a 50 horse mercury. It was made by lowe. It was a very durable boat. It took a beating and never looked any worse for the wear. Traded it for my current fiberglass bass boat.

Trilene xl used to be my ultra light go to line. It's main drawback is it has a huge amount of stretch and is not very abrasion resistant. Lately I have been playing around with kastking flourokote. It's a flourocarbon coated copoly. So far I am impressed. It casts very well , seems to have decent abrasion resistance, and stretches less than trilene. It also is reasonably priced on Amazon.

used it all summer. Still going strong.

Merry Christmas everyone. I received a holiday greetings e-mail from Kast King, with this picture. Thought the Whitetails were an interesting take on the St. Nick theme.

I caught most of the fish after I talked to you in the cove past the outlet. didn't catch anything on the cold side of the lake, but I was marking a lot of fish by the power lines. I need to get over the winter cold water lake mentality. these warm water fish seem to hold a lot shallower.

Just got the boat Serviced yesterday and decided to try one last fishing trip before Christmas. Worked hard to get 8 bass in the boat today. a couple 2 pounders were the largest . One of these days I will figure out these winter cooling lake fish. Thanks @Bluebasser86. After talking to you I switched over to a rattletrap and got a few more in the boat. Even though the Shakyhead is my go to winter bait. It was not the ticket today. It always amazes me how shallow these fish can be in winter. the 2 pounder in the picture hit a rattle trap in 1 foot of water.

I know. I was stating a point , that a lot of hunters think the high speed cartridges make them great hunters. Out to 200 yards, there is not much difference between my 308 and my brother in laws 6.5 creedmoor. most people should not be shooting at deer past that distance anyway.

When bass are chasing shad in the shallows, I usually try a bait that is larger than the prey. I also try to make it look injured. I want it to stand out from the other baitfish. If they are on the surface, a super fluke erratically jerked on the surface will often get violent strikes. A hard jerkbait ripped through the fish also works. If neither of those get a strike, I will pump a lipless crankbait off the bottom. If none of those work, I look for other fish. For me suspended fish are the hardest to catch. I usually look elsewhere. The jerkbait, or lipless crankbait, can still work. A diving crankbait also works, if you can get it down to the depth of the fish.

unfortunately I see deer every year that are wounded by guys like that. they would be doing good to hit a deer's vitals at 50 yards.

that looks like my hat. bought mine on amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075GD8HSP/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bass are sunfish. Here is my personal opinion 1:Bass seek shelter to avoid overhead predators. 2: Bass are ambush predators, so they stay in the shadows to hide from prey. 3: Bass prefer shallow water, but will seek deep water according to climate, prey, and cover availability. deep is relative to where you are fishing. The lowland reservoirs, here in Kansas, are usually stained. I rarely fish deeper than 15 feet. I consider 20 feet deep water.

Most casting reels have less than a 25lb drag. Any quality reel should be able to handle that. If it fails, that is more a testament to the quality of the reel,than the ratio.

Thats deep. Just curious, what it has to do with a high gear ratio reel

I have a speed demon pro. Use it for worm and jig fishing. iI picks up line quick. I never understood the not enough torque argument. I don't use the reel to get a fish out of slop. I use the rod. if your rod is not heavy enough it does not matter what gear ratio you use in cover.

the cooling lake here does not close. the only thing that stops people from fishing is the ramp may freeze over if it gets really cold. since you mentioned the geese. Have you seen any snow or blue geese up there? We usually start seeing flocks on the local lakes in December. I have not seen any yet.

This is the third year I have fished there. I have not fished it much in January or February. Always had problem with cold fingers. found a pair of good gloves and plan on changing that this year.

You need one of these. May not be a pristine northern lake, but the water usually stays open all year

since it is nearly winter the shakyhead is probably my favorite. followed by a jerkbait and a ned rig.

I was out there today. according to one of the locals, a 7 pound bass was the largest. I caught 8 bass. none of them were over 18 inches. I struggle out there in the winter. catch plenty of short fish, but can't seem to find many big girls, when it gets cold. Now white bass are a different story. usually give up on them when my hands get raw from unhooking them.