Russ E

if you want to fish tournaments on any lakes, besides a small no wake lake, 25hp is pretty small. that price seems high, for a 10 year old boat with a 25 hp motor. if it had a 50 or 60 horsepower the price would be more in line.

they look old. Personally I would buy new rounds in the shot size you need. Just guessing here, but that combination was probably used for waterfowl, before non_lead shot was mandatory. generally speaking this is how i would use the different shot size. #71/2 is for small game like rabbit, squirrel,dove and quail. #4 works for pheasant or turkey. bb and #2 works for coyote. forgot the 00 buckshot. basically the only thing I would use it for is home defense.

Answer your phone and get shot. the threads title says it all.

use whichever is readily available in your area. they are both good line. in regards to the digging problem: i currently use 30 and 40lb power pro on my baitcasters, with no problems. I have had digging in problems in the past, but that was from using a large diameter line for backing. I now use trilene xl 8lb line as a backer. then fill with braid. it eliminated my digging in problems.

Don't own a sierra, but I have a couple fury casting rods . for the price they are hard to beat. I had a champion, which was a very nice rod, but expensive. Aaccidentally kicked it overboard and never found it. That was the last rod over $250.00 I owned. My clumsiness can't afford expensive rods.

Curious on how old it is. My grandparents had a Cushman, about 45 years ago. I used to drive it all over their farm. Even back then it looked like it was old and nearly wore out.

Finally broke a cold spell. Until today, it has been over a month since I landed a bass over 3lbs. Had several opportunities, but never got them in the boat. Caught this girl on a local power plant reservoir with a whopper plopper 130. She was 21.5 inches long and weighed 6lb. 2oz. It was the strangest whopper Plopper bite I ever had. Sounded like a carp sucking on the top, then the bait just disappeared. She jumped 3 times. I thought she was going to spit the heavy bait and extend my cold spell. Luckily she had a mouth full of bait with both hooks embedded in. Counting this fish I have been fortunate enough to catch seven bass over 5lbs.,this year. Three of them were over 6lbs., hopefully in the next couple months I can add a few more to the list.

I do the same thing, but with a Cabelas card. Fortunately you can use either card in both stores now.

Nearly all fish finders can get funky in shallow water. My hummingbird helix does that occasionally in shallow water. often times it is in 3 ft or less and reads 15-20ft. it usually happens when transitioning back and forth from soft to hard bottom. It seems to get confused. It usually eventually stabilizes and starts reading correct again. A couple thing you can try in shallow water, that may or may not help: 1: turn on the noise filter. 2: turn down the sensitivity. 3: if it is available switch to a lower frequency on the transducer. 4: if there is a clear or max mode switch over to clear mode. 5: if there is a sonar at the helm shut it off. sometimes two sonars bouncing around under the boat,in shallow water, can give weird readings. 6: I used to have an old lowrance that could not read shallow water in auto mode. I had to set the max depth at 10ft. to get accurate readings.

this is what I use exclusively for soft jerkbaits. usually with 12 or 15 lb copoly line. my rod is a Dobyns fury. it has a little softer action than some brands. I also use a high speed reel. it helps pick up line between jerks and also aids in retrieving loose line for hooksets. I use a fluke often in the fall. the mh 6ft 6in will help get a good sweeping hookset and it will allow long casts. I also use a smaller hook than you listed. with the hollow body of a fluke I use a 3/0 EWG most of the time. I will use a fine wire to keep it on top and go to a heavy wire if I want to go deeper.

it might not bother you that much. for me after an hour of cranking a 5XD with a high speed reel, my arthritis starts acting up and it becomes work instead of enjoyment.

Kansas City Kansas Cabelas, is still going strong. Just not many deals available. Still seems strange, to see Nitros and Trackers next to the Rangers at a Cabelas. This one used to be mainly Ranger and Lowes. Lowes is now history.

^^^this. love strike king cranks. Kvd 1.5 and 5XD are my top 2. plus in a pinch Walmart sells them.

I think of it like riding a mountain bike. In the lower gears,you can pedal at a slow steady speed with very little effort. if you put it in high gear and try to go the same slow speed it takes a huge amount of effort. until recently, I never felt the need for a high speed reel. I know use them often for jigs, worms etc. I do not use them for crankbaits spinnerbaits etc. they will wear you out.

if you are in the $50.00 to $ 80.00 range a KastKing assassin or speed demon pro are not bad. if you are looking in the $100.00 to $120.00 range, an abu garcia revo SX or a Lews Mach II are both decent reels. there are several others. These are the ones I own.

Here in Eastern Kansas we have shallow and stained lowland reservoirs and lakes.On most waters 2 to 3 foot visibility is considered pretty clear. When I stated in an earlier post that color is sometimes over rated, it was relative to these conditions. On most of the waters I fish, I think bass see a dark silhouette, more than a defined color. Green pumpkin, black/blue, or purple, probably looks about the same in these conditions. I may be wrong, but that comes from my experience. On clear highland reservoirs, I am sure color is more important.

from northern Minnesota natural lakes, Iowa farm ponds, and Missouri and Kansas reservoirs, the Texas rigged worm has caught me more quality bass than all other baits combined. You can often catch more fish on other baits when bass are active, but day in and day out, the Texas rig is hard to beat.

sorry when you mentioned a 110, I thought you were referring to a whopper plopper.

sometimes I think color is over rated. according to studies, bass don't see the blue spectrum well. when I was an engineer, I was programming operator interfaces screens for robotic welding lines. we often used a yellow or green background with blue, and red alarm banners. one of our machine operators was partially color blind. He could not see the blue spectrum. He could not tell much difference from the colors blue, purple, and green. a blue banner would blend into the green background. interestingly, if the blue banner was flashing on and off, he could distinguish it from the green background. this got me thinking about bass fishing (as nearly everything in life does). Maybe Bass home in on movement, more than color.

don't think it is much of a secret . Those are nice smallmouth. Smallies on a whopper plopper are a lot of fun.

i own a speed demon spinning reel. its a nice reel. high speed reels do not work well for all situations. if you are fishing baits like jigs, worms, shakyheads the high speed is good for picking up line quickly. if you are fishing baits like crankbaits or spinnerbaits a slower real works better. you get less fatigue.

If this were true, bass would starve to death. Most things a bass eat are a neutral color. crayfish and bait fish don't turn a bright color, so bass can find them easier. I catch bass on green pumpkin baits in clear, green, and murky water. they can find it just fine. the conditions you describe are ideal for using a green pumpkin bait.

it will also show weedbeds and submerged timber in reservoirs.

I fill the spool about half way with thin mono, usually 8lb trilene xl. Then fill the last portion with the braid. Braid is expensive. no need to fill a whole spool. I use thinner mono as a backer, because the braid will lay better than if you use a heavier mono.

I am no professional, but I have had my share of self induced trailer problems over the years. generally if it is coming out the back you blew a seal. if it is coming out the front the bearing is overheating. On my first trailer one of the hubs started leaking out the front. I did not think much of it and just made sure it always had grease. one day while going down the interstate, I smoked the bearing and ruined the spindle. first thing the shop asked is, was it leaking grease out the front. Lesson learned I guess. my next trailer had bearing buddies. I figured you just fill it with grease until the springs bottom out. a couple trips later one of the hubs started blowing grease out the back. I took it to the shop, because i did not want to smoke another bearing. they told me I overfilled it and blew out the back seal. fortunately, my current trailer has sealed bearings, so I can't do much damage.