gnappi

It was only a more elegant suggestion / solution. YMMV.

??? Why not just get an inexpensive waterproof dash voltmeter? I have three on my boat, one for each battery in dash a mounted pod. Search on Ebay: "waterproof dash voltmeter" and for mounting search: "dash pod" I just removed my gauges from separate pods and mounted one for each battery (in three different colors Red port, Green Stbd, and blue house batteries) in a triple pod. No plastic bags needed.

My striker 4 only has never had that problem, the connectors seat really well and do not wiggle out. I'm guessing the transducer is somehow the issue. The only issue I ever had with my S4 was it shutting off when I goosed my TM, or (electric only Jon) got bogged down in weeds. A 35Ah "house battery" fixed that. That was not the S4's fault it was the drop to below 12 volts that did it.

I use RAM mounts on so many things I never dreamed I'd want to mount. From phones to GPS, dash cams, to GoPro, there's a RAM mount for most anything to be mounted most everywhere. Maybe heavier stuff would be better suited for another mount, but I haven't found that stuff yet.

Back in the day on high dollar engines you could send an oil sample to companies for analysis, today on most engines few would pay the few buckazoids to check them out. In my saltwater days, if a motor were well cared for 400 +/- hours is nothing. Living on a deep water access island I put 200+ hours yearly on my boat's motors. Note that with twins, most of my trolling was with one engine and the hours on a motor did not reflect actual time fishing... but wifey didn't know that :-)

I dropped mono and hybrid for black 20 lb braid for everything. It doesn't break, slip knots, and I get more hookups with it because it doesn't stretch. Even in thick weeds, I can count on braid to be able to horse a fish out of them into clear water and to the boat. Historically, I've lost many fish due to slipped improved clinch knots (on YoZuri) , poor hook set and line breakage than braid which has never slipped a knot or broken.

I've found a number of places inaccessible by car to hand launch my 10' tinny and are only available by horse, walking or bicycle, no motorized vehicles. I have no horse, don't want to walk, and have a few bikes. I'm rigging my trail bike with a rod holder, and I'm wondering if anyone else is fishing places only available by bike?

As a kid, when trout fishing in the catskills at one spot I'd throw a lure upstream and retrieve it with the spinner blade turning slowly, and a second cast across the stream to let the lure come into the eddy from the opposite or down current side with the spinner going wildly, often I'd get a fish on the opposite side cast. I left no cast potential to go untested. Down here in So. Flo. we do not have any moving water so it makes no difference.

Very cool! Put me on your Christmas list :-)

They make fishing clothing??? Whoda thunkit? I always wear clothes that were ready for the wash anyway... jeans, old sneakers, a hat, and whatever short sleeve T shirt I'm wearing. In winter I'll use long sleeves.

I've been targeting them for two seasons now, I learned a lot and do not lose many fish. A HEAVY rod, and the cheapest frogs (I get 25 for $18 on Ebay) you can get with STRONG hooks will work. I use black or green 20 pound 4 strand braid without leader and up to ~10 pounds (my PB) I haven't lost a fish though I can envision trying to horse one out of dense weeds and losing one now and again. I have 30 pound but it's on my backup rod. My fishing buddy uses 40 or 50 pound, with even heavier leader... he refuses to even think about losing a fish :-) Stainless lip grippers are a must and they had better be very strong as snakeheads ruin cheap aluminum models. I use a boga grip, they let the fish spin around and do their insaneo dance and it holds them tight, and all of the models have a scale built in. On cheaper lip grips, if the grip has only a lanyard to let the fish spin that would be a second choice. If you use a net, get a long one.

The closest I get to the glades nowadays is the Sawgrass / West Boca, West Delray delineation of the glades. For me there's just no reason to travel so far any more as the bass where I fish are just as plentiful. Sure I know of guys that get REALLY big fish there, but they're far fewer than my 5 pounders :-)

Welcome. When I moved to the Orlando area we had area code from there to Key West, sigh so much change. I now live in the DEEP south of Florida's Broward county. Anyway, A GPS with good waterways already installed (meaning NOT nautical maps) by default will show you whilst driving by areas many waterways close to the road, invariably not on private land. Look to industrial areas, big box stores like Home Depot and Wal Mart for honey holes. Most industrial areas are empty after hours giving you plenty of places to fish, most not posted and many without much fishing pressure. Areas with a ramp WILL be fished heavily, so unless you hand launch your yak or Jon expect this as a fact. As far as telling private water, it's a given that most community waterways are private unless you have access to them from a shopping center or other public areas not posted. Otherwise assume it's NOT private if it's not posted. The worst that can happen is a Police officer tells you to leave. Failing to leave with get you cited for trespass. I ignore the very few residents who tell me places are private if I am not in someone's back yard. Even then if I'm in my boat and gained access from public land they have no cause to try and prevent me from fishing in their back yard. The vast majority of homeowners who do see me stop to chat about fishing most have no idea there are fish in their yard :-) I'm no attorney but per most Florida statues being a "reasonable" person I read the following in my favor as a boater. From Section 253.141, Fla. Statutes... "The land to which the owner holds title must extend to the ordinary high watermark of the navigable water" Regarding bass fishing, you're not "up north" any more, what worked for me (Rapala top water and various Mepps below) hasn't done diddly for me down here. Swim baits, frogs, plastic worms, live shiners, take your pick, they all work. If not change it up.

A "house" battery (used exclusively for electronics etc.) solves the problem of electronics shutting off when the Engine starts, or the TM gets bogged down in weeds or mud. Also, since electronics use so little current, the house battery can be used to start the engine should the starting battery go dead.

I fish in generally clear water and use black 20# 4 strand braid without leader on all my heavy rods with rear drag Shimano 2500 and Daiwa 2550 reels. Anything less than 20 and snakeheads will break it. Actually, I used to use YoZuri hybrid and I'm hooking up and catching more fish now with braid. I won't use mono again.

Do you mean live baits like some sort of shiners / worms or lures. Shiners are fish catchers for sure, live worms less so unless you want panfish, when my son was young we did well on live worms. If you're looking to lures, I fish a lot of small ponds, and since you have LMB in those you fished a good start is wiggle / paddle tail swim baits. Without structure or weeds the exposed hook won't foul.

While, the "do not kill" and "kill em all" camps will argue the point, and researchers sit in air conditioned offices collecting data (gleaned from where?) fishermen have to deal with the fallout of invasive species. I'm 67 and have fished for trout and LMB (upstate New York) till I was 25, and have fished south Florida since the mid 70's so I have a fair amount of fish I have caught to see trends over the years. I do not record length vs. girth, or weights so at best my observations are visual and anecdotal, but here they are... Small lakes and ponds isolated from large drainage systems In some of these waterways that I fish, I have never seen a snakehead. The average LMB of 1-2 pounds seem generally normal in proportion, larger specimens over 3 pounds or so are fatter, head size is good, length is also good and girth is growing to what I'd expect to see in larger fish Small lakes and ponds directly connected to large drainage systems I catch snakeheads readily in these waters, and while scarce smaller LMB appear the same as smaller LMB in isolated waterways, larger fish of say 3-5 pounds are invariably thinner, almost anemic looking I'd say proportionally they look more like a longer version of a 1 pound specimen. Necropsy on snakeheads shows a fair number of species, but NO baby snakeheads. Unfortunately since I do not take LMB I cannot see what they are eating. As further anecdotal evidence I can say that areas I know of where snakeheads are relentlessly pursued by fishermen like myself and bow hunters, LMB of 1 pound and up are becoming more evident than in past years before the snakeheads had pressure on them. I truly wish there were research being done in this area, but till then, I take every snakehead I can, though ugly they make GR8 table fare.

Just for scale, it's a 5/0 hook.

If the neighbor you don't like has a dog, take their dog, ticks will go to it instead of you. :-) Seriously, long (light colored) pants and socks with the pants leg secured at the ankle with a rubber band or short bungee with some repellent sprayed on the pant legs for good measure will help. Stay away from higher grass if you can, and check the light colored pant legs often for ticks which are easily spotted on light clothes.

It was a bit slow today, two snakeheads, a few LMB, and a couple of peacocks. And a necropsy of snakeheads.

Oh, I "thought" I attached a pics of them. On the boat I have one aiming at the front fishermen, and the other on the rear fisherman. I also have one on my hat. The boat I rigged up with a dual 18650 "battery bank" that will keep my two gopro cams going for over 8 hours. The car GPS is invaluable for finding fishing spots near the road I can hand launch my jon boat.

So many opinions on a sandwich. I use ONE slice of bread, jelly on one side, PB on the other, fluff in the space between the PB and J, fold and eat. Option 2, replace fluff with honey. :-)

My Striker 4 fits those needs at well less than $125. It also has a small mounting footprint if space is at a premium. The Striker 4 will leave you a few hundred for other stuff like taking the missus for dinner... give and take :-)

I think Tom's fuel supply descriptions are worth looking at. Have you tried squeezing the primer bulb when you think you will next have the problem?

We're real big on snakehead fishing here in SoFlo, so much so that LMB are becoming a secondary target. The last outing got us ten fish, three upwards of 9 pounds, two at 10+ pounds lost and one lost after it leaped out of the cooler after being on ice for nearly a half hour. We're heading out again tomorrow the 7th.