Russ E

my brother in law has a tracker pro team 190 TX.. iI's ok. my biggest complaint about that boat is it does not sit flat in the water like my fiberglass boat. rear is low in the water. Bow sticks up in the air. catches wind like crazy, hard to keep in position with trolling motor in the wind. If you are looking for Aluminum, Lowe , Alumacraft, and Triton all make good aluminum boats. I would think in a town the size of Tampa there should be a dealer that handles one of those

the one drawback of bass boats under 18 ft., is they are Made for 2 people. not much more. Mine is rated for 4 people 600 lbs. 4 people in my boat would be crowded. 4 average size guys will weigh more than 600 lbs. As of last year the trackers still have a wood deck. I think most other brands are aluminum or fiberglass. if you store it in a garage, rot should not be an issue.

While I sharpen a knife heel to toe, my reasoning for sharpening a hook toe to heel is less scientific than both of you. Its called, I have always done it that way. maybe not the best way, Just do it by habit. seems to work.

here is a 21 inch lean Kansas Summer Smallmouth..it was only 4.5 lbs.

same here sorry for deviating. on the topic of 4 blade. when I was trying to get the correct prop for my boat. the shop told me a 4 blade was good for getting on plane with a heavy load and gives better bite in turns, but you could lose a little speed over the 3 blade. in my case it wasn't necessary . my 3 blade works fine.

Same here

I have had success with a wacky rigged senko on a 1/32oz. Wacky jig. I throw it out in the general area of the missed strike and just let it fall. Something about that flutter on the way down will elicit a follow up strike

never tried suffix mono. is it limp like trilene xl? i tried several other monos and flourocarbon on my spinning reels, but could not find one that handles like good old trilene xl.

I have not caught much on weightless wacky rigs. I have had good success wacky rigging with a 1/32 or 1/16 oz wacky jig, and letting it drop along weed lines.

I tried the trick worm. it did not seem to get as many bites wacky rigged as a senko. I have used the BPS stick-o it seemed to work ok.

2017 mercury pro xs 115 with command thrust lower unit. Its geared lower. 2.38-1 and can run the big props. Wot was 5500 rpm with 24 pitch. dropped down to 21 pitch and bumped up to 6300 rpm. maybe higher I hit the limiter. (Cabelas did not have a 23 pitch at the time) went up to 23 and now wot is right at 6000 rpm. with myself and full tank of gas it will run just shy of 50 mph in the summer. A little over 50 in the spring.

welcome

Thats pretty good. i have a ranger z175 I think it is similar to the Triton. mine came with a fury 3 blade 24 pitch prop. it was real sluggish out of the hole. i went to the 3 blade 23 pitch tempest and It is getting just about the same as yours. I thought about a 4 blade, but wasn't sure if the 115 was enough motor for it.

braid for flipping and pitching wood. braid for carloina rig mainline. maxima ultragreen or trilene xt on all other bait casters. trilene xl on spinning tackle. still old school I guess. tried flouro this summer, but lost too many nice fish, so I went back to mono.

Congratulations. Hope it works well for you

That's too bad about the Arkies. 1/16 oz are usually well stocked in the Walmarts here. Shroomz are hard to find around these parts.

Arkie has decent mushroom heads. most Walmarts carry them. they are reasonably priced

I use lakemaster contour elite frequently. you can buy it for around $125.00 on amazon, cabelas, or bass pro shops. it is pc software with interactive topo maps for several lakes. you dont need a fish finder or gps to use it. it also has a 3d view, which is really nice. in the winter I will sit at my computer searching the software for new areas. I have hummingbird gps fish finders, so I can mark waypoints and move them between contour elite and my units make sure you buy the version for the region you are fishing.

You can get a lot of good information from this forum, but you could also learn a lot by hiring a guide for a day, like @wrb just mentioned on another post. $150.00-$200.00 might seem like a lot of money for a day, but you could learn a lot in a short amount of time. if a guide is not available, watch other fishermen, see where they are fishing and what they are using . maybe get to know a few. some will be willing to help, others not so much. on busy lakes you will see a parade of bass boats come and go, on certain areas.

one thing I do differently with the ned rig over other baits. I don't set the hook. I just keep reeling until I feel weight then lfit the rod. Nobody is forced to open a thread. the Ned Rig has several threads, because it is currently very popular . I could care less about a pennant race thread, or a fantasy fishing thread. they are on here frequently. I just choose not to open them. to each their own.

Your retrieve is the classic midwest finesse or ned rig retreive. It can Be very productive. I have learned that juvenile smallies and pan fish are notorious for biting the tail of this bait. Can drive me crazy some days.

There are several happy nitro owners around here. I was told the boats are better after Johnny Morris bought ranger and triton.

like most here I use 1/2 oz most of the time. heavier if its windy. if I am using a football jig, I want to keep in contact with bottom, usually rip rap or rocky banks, so rate of fall is not as important. If I wanted to swim the jig, I would go to a different style and usually go lighter.

to me they are a cross between a swim jig and a spinnerbait. I use a chatterbait 10 times more than I use a spinnerbait. Kind of a finesse spinnerbait I tend to catch larger fish on the chatterbait. they are good around weeds. bad around wood. their design snags wood a lot.

i had the same issue. looked long and hard at nearly every boat out there. those are all decent boats. one thing to keep in mind is having a reputable dealer nearby for whatever boat you choose. For me Cabelas is 5 miles from my house. they are a ranger dealer. I bought a Ranger Z175. its 17ft. 6in. long with the motor down, and tongue folded it is right at 20 ft. it has an initial higher sticker price than the nitro z17. If you buy all of the options to match what the ranger has standard the difference is not much. mine has a mercury pro xs 115 with a command thrust lower unit. It handles rough water surprisingly well. Jumps on plane fast. With full tank and livewell, it will run just shy of 50 mph in summer. 51 mph in spring. very easy on gas. I have nearly every option available including the Ultrex trolling motor. it cost $32000.00. you can get it for around $26000.000 if you don't add options.