Russ E

I am a long time member. agree with you on the soliciting. Constant e-mail, phone and snail mail. Still better than the alternative. I think 2A folks have a lot more friends than they realize. right now a lot of people don't want to admit being a member, because of the current public shaming.

I totally agree with the lake peaks and valleys. our local claim to bass fishing fame was Perry reservoir here in northeastern Kansas. a few years back it was mentioned in Bassmaster as a destination for bass. it was hit hard for a few years. then unfortunately a bass virus decimated the lake. It is now on the rebound. while it is no longer at its peak, several tournaments there in the last 2 year took a 5 fish limit of 25-30 lbs to win. that is a big bag of fish in Kansas. Many locals will still will not fish it, they say there are no bass there.

If everything above fails, there is a good chance they are not bass. the reservoirs here are loaded with drum and they love spinnerbaits. they often hammer the bait, but sometimes don't get the big spinnerbait hook in their small mouth. they are very good at removing trailers from spinnerbaits and chatterbaits.

I just assumed this post started from a local that was trying to deter others from visiting Toledo Bend. the reports here and all other literature of that lake, tells a different story. It is still on my must visit list for Bass fishing destinations.

most reservoirs around here are dissected with bridges, that attract large numbers of crappie fishermen. all bridges have no wake signs. the only way to pass is going right through them. I just idle through slowly. most of them understand they are in the boat lane and there is no other way to pass. most fishermen are friendly and ask if you are having any luck. unfortunately there is always the guy that stakes claim to a spot and thinks no one else should come close. while he is growling at me, I just bid him good luck and go on my way.

I have owned tiller and console steering. Console is definately more convenient in my opinion. Never had any problems with console steering failures.

I would follow this thread. should be a lot of feed back in the near future on the type of boat you are looking for.

I agree, the older rangers had a wet , fairly rough ride. The new boats have a much smoother and drier ride. From my own experience smoother and drier than a comparable Nitro. Honestly you may lose a couple mph, but like you mentioned, where a ranger shines is when the trolling motor is down. That extra weight gives a stable platform, especially in the wind.

neither will handicap your fishing. more than likely he gets a brand new fully decked out boat every year. that is not the boat you see on the BPS showroom. If you spend the money to deck out a nitro to match the ranger, the price difference shrinks. he also does not have to worry about resale or trade in value.

I priced the ranger Z175 and Nitro Z7 last year. I have fished out of both. the ranger is heavier and seemed more stable in rough water. It also did not get blown around as much when fishing in the wind. This was a big deal to me. the Nitro was a little faster. The ranger has true dry storage. The ranger definitely has a better trailer. neither are bad boats. It all depends on what features are important to you. with the exact same layout there was not much difference in price. A lot of the options on the Nitro came standard on the Ranger. I went with the Ranger.

I have wanted one of these as a carry gun in the woods, since they came out, but the cost was more than I was willing to spend. I had a Glock 23 and a Daniel Defense rifle, I have not shot for a long time. The local gun shop accepted them in trade for this. A 10mm Sig Sauer P220 Hunter in Kryptek camo. shoots like a dream.

Revisiting a month old thread. I owned my last truck for 12 years 180,000 miles. The truck before that was 16 years old 220,000 miles. Bought my current truck 2 years ago. bought my current boat 1 year ago. the accents on the boat match the truck, but it was unintentional. I just liked the colors of each. I will probably own both for a long time.

Noticed that sign last summer. Up until last year the eastern side of the dam was off limits to boats and only available for bank anglers. Still not sure why it changed. with the dam being the northern side of the lake, it warms first. fish seem to stack up there in the spring. By making the dam off limits from shore, they removed a good portion of the accessible fishing for bank anglers.

I use them occasionally. I use a stop and go retrieve most of the time. give a few turns of the reel then let it sit a few seconds. you can also use as a steady retrieve like a crankbait. for the price they have a decent swimming action. I have the 3.5 inch size. They cast well on a medium action spinning rod. I don't use a fast action rod with these baits. if a bass jumps, they can spit it pretty easy with a stiff rod.

I had my first last year at age 54. kept putting it off. my family finally wore me down. They removed 8 polyps. None were malignant. It took 20 minutes. all I remember is laying down then waking afterwards and walking out. The anesthesia they use gives no side effects.

the transducer does not have to touch the motor housing to get harmonics or interference. the ground wire acts like a shield, that takes motor harmonics away from your transducer to the negative side of your graph battery. when cables are shielded, one side of the shield has to be connected to a ground to work properly.

I agree. I have owned a couple with this issue. Minnkota is notorious for this. They now run a separate ground for built in transducers, because of this The best way I found to fix this is run a seperate wire from the negative side of your graph battery, to a bare spot on the trolling motor head. If your transducer is mounted to the motor with a clamp, just make sure the clamp is touching bare metal and connect the ground wire to that.

Nice Smithville bass. That lake can be a lot of fun in the spring. It kicks my butt in summer. Without the weeds, I have trouble there when the water heats up.

$100.00 is pretty high. As a wyco resident it cost me $50.00 with a boat. I will say I caught more bass over 4lbs at wyco last year, than all other lakes combined. Including a 21 inch smallmouth.

I have seen people do it but, have never felt the need for back reeling. it seems to me, one more thing to worry about in the heat of catching a large fish. I make sure the drag works and just fish.

i use both spinning and baitcasting. depends on the weight of the shakyhead. I use baitcaster whenever possible. spinning only when necessary. most of the time I use a 3/16 or 1/4 oz. on a medium action baitcaster with 10 lb flourocarbon. caught my largest largemouth and smallmouth last year on that setup.

Perhaps this thread could force them to fix the issues. The new heritage is a good deal, that will help a lot of anglers own their first new boat. let's hope it is turns out to be a good experience for all.

I fish them weightless. actually don't know how much they weigh but the super fluke will cast easily with a baitcaster. I use a 7ft medim heavy baitcaster with 14 lb Sunline sniper for weightless super fluke fishing. I like flourocarbon for the fluke, because fishing weightless there is often a little slack in the line. flourocarbon seems to have the best sensitivity with semi slack line. Yes the fluke sinks.

Back in the 90's, the super fluke won me more in tournaments than all other baits combined. I still use it often when fishing shallow water. Texposed and the standard Jerkbait jerk-jerk-pause retrieve works well. It also works well on a Carolina rig. If you want to use a Fluke on a finesse rod, nose hook it with a hitchhiker and a circle hook. I have had success fishing it this way in clear shallow water. It acts a lot like the Banjo minnow when nosed hooked. So the answer to your question. Has anyone had success with them is, yes.

I agree to a point. You can have too many regulations. From what I have seen, in Kansas the catfish is king and it shows. the catfish stocking programs have created fisheries that can rival anywhere in the country. Granted our lowland lakes and reservoirs are near perfect habitat for catfish. I Just wish the state would put a little more Effort on the Bass population and habitat.