gnappi

A fisherman that sold me a GPS recommended the RAM system of mounting it and other devices and that was some of the best advice I've ever had. Using variants of them, I have two GoPro cameras and a GPS mounted in my boat, two dash cams in my cars, and a cam and RADAR detector on my motorcycle. Gads these mounts are terrific! From suction mounts that really work, to articulated extension arms (in plastic or aluminum), flat surface screw down bases, and ball sockets to swivel adjust to any conceivable angle, if RAM doesn't make one for your needs, I doubt you'll find one anywhere else. If you haven't looked into RAM mounts, do so. The flexibility of this system is nothing short of staggering.

We ordered (one for me and one for my buddy) two SS over length clevis pins and SS washers and hairpins, that will fix it. What a crummy design.

In freshwater, in So. Flo. we're likely to readily encounter only three: LMB, Peacock bass, and snakehead. The odd pickerel, cichlid, sunshine bass, panfish, oscar, carp, catfish or alligator gar are too infrequently encountered to try and get more (in one day) than the three above I commonly get.

I'm old enough to remember the commercials FOR installing cable that went... (paraphrased) "Sure you pay for cable... but you don't get those annoying commercials that you HAVE to see on broadcast TV!" The cable business model was built around making a LOT of money without commercial interference, then some MBA came up with the idea of sneaking commercials in. The day the very first commercial showed up, had subscribers pulled the plug En Masse we wouldn't have ever seen another commercial. I have absolutely no qualm with OTA broadcast TV commercials, and I never had cable ? This "It's OK" mindset has made other things pop up till things are shoved down our throats and we say and do nothing about it... 1. New tolls on interstates. We pay to build the "Speedpass" lanes and have to pay to use them. 2. Noise abatement walls (we pay for) for communities that build up next to interstates. Then there are laws to prevent OTHERS from breaking a law, passive law enforcement and other "safety" issues most to do with cars. 1. Blinking yellow lights in school zones. ??? To avoid hitting kids (at speed) who jay walk. 2. Speed bumps. Force you to slow down in areas already with a posted speed limit 3. Four way stop signs... In case the OTHER driver didn't stop ? 4. Red light traffic cameras. Jeez, why not hire unemployed to take pix and take attorneys out of the loop making fines MANDATORY. 5. SRS ("supplemental restraining system") or airbags, designed " FMVSS 208 continues to require that bags be engineered and calibrated to be able to "save" the life of an unbelted 50th-percentile size and weight male. Black eyes, broken noses and arms for those of us that DO use seat belts ? Oh, and helmets are NOT required for motorcyclists in Florida... go figure. Next up? total interior (passenger) and exterior (pedestrian) airbag and interior roll cage vehicle encapsulation? Nah, why not just erect a wall in front of our driveways and keep those nasty unsafe cars off the road? Flame off ?

What are the chances of there being THREE wine colored full sized trucks backed in the parking lot from all of the major U.S. makers Ford, Dodge, and Chevy (mine at the right) at the same time, unplanned??? I HAD to take a pic of them.

Where and how it's used should make the decision. My 10' tinny has a Garmin Striker 4 (can't get lower end than that) to see the bottom. I didn't need GPS or maps or side scan in 12' wide canals and small lakes. Any more would be an exercise in waste ?

I always told my students that the safety on a striker firearm is between the ears of the shooter. I've seen more AD's with "safe" guns than I can shake a stick at.

I've had little luck with the big water management system canals. They're heavily fished down here, and water flow / quality are hard to deal with too. I now fish small canals, ponds and lakes and do not drive as far either.

Last year (for the first time ever living in So.Flo since 1977) I had three on the line, they've taken to chasing or hiding submerged waiting for frogs. In the past I never had issues with top water lures, weird. In all cases I yanked the hooks from their mouth but was prepared to cut the line if needed.

My friend has a (lightly used) MK Riptide TM and the hinge pin had been drifting out the last time we went out. My Endura C2 has been used a lot more and mine has never drifted out. They were both new in 2017, so I'm wondering is this a known problem on some Minn Kota TM's? I'm suspecting that the molded hinge hole has elongated?

I guess fish wildlife don't count? Seriously I "get" that states don't want the local rock / jazz festival ticking in the lake, but some laws go too far. Oh well, the next time I need to go maybe I'll take my rangefinder with me! ?

An Excel or Open Office spreadsheet would be a snap. I made one to better understand local fish habits. A spreadsheet can be one continuous L-O-N-G document, can be sorted and printed by any field, exported to a text file or even a delimited file to import into another database. Here's basically what I considered useful data, for all fields all I have an abbreviation lookup table so it doesn't get wordy or messy. Date, Last rain date, Moon phase, species, # fish caught, weights, H20 clarity /depth, Weather , Location, Notes

+1 here! I moved over to the "heavy" 6' Ugly Stick years ago, and I can get a hook set on the feistiest LMB or snakehead on the planet. The short ~ 9" handle is also a cool feature, it doesn't clank on me vest or the bench seat in my boat. They also fit the overhead rod holders in my Sierra bed topper which is only 6' long. I bought four of them for something like $45 each delivered. For big fish I doubt you can spend a LOT more and get a substantially better rod.

We went out today, despite the morning starting off weird with a C-R-A-Z-Y lady taking pix of us while we were staging the boat telling us we were trespassing in a public park, AND calling the police, we had mediocre results. Two ~1.5 lb LMB in the boat, one just over 2, and a small snakehead. The LMB released unharmed, the snakehead with a severe headache.

The old "It's not the arrow, it's the Indian" reply comes to mind. Professionals will use whatever stuff from makers who pay the most to put their name on it. They like us catch fish because we know where, when and how to fish. Tyros who buy and spend inflated prices because an endorsed name is on it may get no better stuff than one with only a company name on it. That said, I've used Ugly Stick rods so long if an expensive rod were given to me, I'd give it back.

I used Yo-Zuri for a while, and lost enough fish to slipped improved clinch knots that I stopped using it. Going back to mono and braid solved the problem.

When I was a kid, dad sat me down needing to "have a talk" with me. I thought it was THE "birds and bees" talk, I was wrong. He started out: "Listen here, these are facts, no insult meant, I hope none is taken... You're left handed, and not a big guy, so in a man's world of playing sports, you're screwed. Growing up you will have to learn to use the tools and toys of a larger right handed man, or you can stay home with mom." Message received! ? Shooting a firearm "righty" was natural, I guess it's because I'm right eye dominant, why golf just seemed correct using a right handed set of clubs eludes me, but maybe because lefties are compelled to be ambidextrous it seemed normal. Then came guitar. A friend of my dad gave me a HUGE German made acoustic guitar and at the get go putting my LEFT hand on the neck (where the music is) seemed the correct way to learn and for 60 odd years it still seems right. After all (in the mind of an 8 year old) if a tragic accident took my "weak right hand" I could have a hook installed on what was left over and STILL play (albeit only with chords) the guitar and not have to learn the "music" all over again. So after all this time, I chuckle thinking about "righty" players actually playing "lefty" ? What did not work for me was spinning reels. Casting with the right, and reeling with the left was just wrong and I lost a bunch of Mepps 0 spinners and Daredevil red/white spoons to bad casts. Then a miracle happened, Mitchell came out with the 301 for left handed fishermen, I got one and immediately stopped losing lures. WOW!!! I could cast. Fast forward to today, 4/26/19... I'm in a pawn shop and see all of these "lefty" baitcast reels, most all were brand new, and all silly low priced. Given that I'm value conscious and never liked baitcasting one of them just felt correct, and the price was right, a "Wright & McGill" Skeet Reese Victory 621. Come to find that some other of the other left handed fishermen looked at baitcasters like me, cast left, reel right, strong (left) arm battle the fish, right handle the mundane task of reeling and no changing hands. Seems like lefties are truly the only ones in their "right" (hemisphere) mind after all. Now to find a stiff rod (med/hvy or hvy) that's less than 7' long (sorry my preferences there's absolutely NO possibility of steering me into longer) with a shortish handle... I'm finding that this is no small task. Thank goodness rod makers never went into the "left" vs. "right" thing and make rods ambidextrous by nature. Oh well, if I can't get the casting / backlash thing down, I'll donate the rod to the Boy Scouts.

My first tinny was a used Topper I bought dirt cheap then I went about making it work for me. Once I fleshed out what I needed I bought a new Lowe and modded this one all over again with the experiences I gained on the topper. The new owner of the topper was totally stoked about the mods and they made selling it easy. The PITA with a new tin boat is outfitting it but you get a new boat with new mods. On used boats you can save a lot of bucks. The boat in the ad is pretty well equipped and if everything works and the mods were well done AND fairly recently, to duplicate them all of that would be pricey. But... on a 25+ year old boat all those mods (especially if modded long ago) are of little value. If you can get it in the water for a trial to check everything out do so.

I used to use my car GPS while driving around town. It worked spectacularly, then like a dolt I "upgraded" the maps and most of the small inland canals, lakes, ponds and other waterways went away.

No drugs, no excessive drinking, no gambling, no well nothing, hmmm... I guess it is boring ?

Man they didn't do that to me well into my 40's, see what clean living did for me? ?

Big MoFo

I've been a life member my adult life. If every niche weirdo cult agenda group has an advocate / champion organization, I figure anything unique to Americans and their constitutionally guaranteed rights need one and support too. Not political, fact.

When cute 20 something cashiers start calling you "Sir" ???

In a small vessel with minimal space, think minimalist... small and lightweight. A soft insulated kid's lunch box will serve for water, a pfd / vest will hold tackle. Consider going with one rod because a second would be in the way casting and landing fish. Spending a bit of time on it to flesh out what you need before jumping into accessorizing it is a sensible tack.