Tennessee Boy

It's good to see the Lee brothers battling it out on their home lake.

Costas, Oakley, Rayban and pretty much every brand or glasses come from the same place, Luxottica. It’s a monopoly and should be broken up or band from the US. Any perceived difference in quality is the result of their evil marketing’s effect on your brain. You need to buy your glasses from Walmart, Sam’s Club, or Worby Parker. It’s humanity’s only hope. ? PS - I have heard that wearing Oakleys increases rod sensitive.

I don't think it's the Jigging Rap that's catching Wheeler's fish. It's his forward facing sonar.

I fished Smith Lake twice in the mid 90s. My combined weight for those two day would have me in 3rd place in this tournament after an hour.

If your Ultrex has I-pilot link then you will need to connect it’s Ethernet cable to an Ethernet switch and each fish finder will also need to have an Ethernet cable connected to the switch. Here is the diagram. https://www.humminbird.com/sites/humminbird_site/files/2021-humminbird-networking-diagrams-2.pdf

I recommend this guy and his YouTube channel. Lot of good info on electronics and offshore fishing. He’s young but knows his stuff. https://fishthemoment.com

Do you rely on Sidescan to help you locate structure or fish? I look for anything interesting, structure, cover, or fish. Once located structure do you always Waypoint? There's lots of structure and cover in most of the lakes I fish. I only mark the stuff that looks the most interesting. Do you use Sidescan when there is limited hard structure (but a lot of weeds)? Yes, I use my electronics everywhere to understand what's down there. It helps me find good locations and eliminate areas that are less interesting. Can you see fish "in" the weeds? No

Your problem is perplexing. I've never heard of bluetooth devices interfering with each other but that doesn't mean it can't happen. You could check this by hooking up the old battery but leaving the new one on the boat and connected via bluetooth. If it is a bluetooth problem then you would see that same problems with the old battery connected. I would tend to think it's a voltage problem. Your new battery could have a bad cell or something. Can you check the voltage of the battery?

What battery did you install? Brand and mH rating. Does the battery crank the motor?

Used cars cost more than new cars but you can actually drive one home.

Were looking for a new car. Only thing that matters to us is being able to go to the dealer, see the car, pay for it, and drive it home. They don't seem to have anything like that around here.

I have several Scorpion DCs. I like them. I like JDM because you get a slightly better reel for the price and because the JDM vendors can ship a reel from Japan faster than I can get one from Tackle Warehouse. There is the concern about the warrantee. In 45+ years of fishing I've never need to get a reel serviced under warrantee so I'm willing to take that risk. As far as I-DC5, I personally don't see any advantage to it but I prefer to use my thumb for breaking most of the time. I like the Scorpion because I like the way it cast with the breaks turned off.

I think heated batteries are primarily used for applications like solar power were the batteries might be charged daily in a cold environment. Battle Born batteries can be used down to -4F. Do you really want to be out on a Kayak when the temp is below -4? If you need to charge your batteries and it’s not gonna be above freezing for several day then remove them and charge them in a warm place. They’re not as heavy as regular batteries.

You can damage them if you charge them in freezing temps. The operating temperature is lower than the charging temp and is lower than I would want to fish in. It’s usually around zero. As already mentioned, follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.

I've noticed that pretty much every battery brand on the market sells what appears to be the exact same batteries. The color of the plastic is different but everything else looks the same. Makes me wonder if everyone is selling the same products from the same factory in China. The exception to this is Battle Born. That would be my choice. I’ve never heard anyone say they regretted buying any lithium battery so I’m not sure the brand matters that much.

I think the BPT rule is a snagged fish counts unless you are sight fishing.

You can say that again. Oops, you already did.

I would never bet against Wheeler.

I think @Team9nine is "spot" on . I have always caught more fish on community holes than on secret spots. I have a few "secret" spots but they are very small targets that might hold one or two good fish. I also have fewer secret spots than I did 25 years ago. Technology has made it much easier to find all the spots. You just need to out fish the other anglers by being dialed in to what the fish want and knowing the spot on the spot. Everyone knows the point is there. Fewer people know the best spot on the point. Even fewer know how to fish it effectively.

No, No, No. On a golf course they're not called ditches, they're called hazards.

I lowered the water in this lake (undisclosed lake somewhere in Asia ) to show you what I look for. The areas highlighted in red are prime spawning areas. The areas highlighted in blue are what I call ditches. They are cut when the water is low and are at most 3-4 feet deeper than the surrounding area. In the next few weeks, fish can be found in these ditches as they move up to spawn. I'll let all of you linguist determine the proper definition of the word. I've got ditches that need to be fished.

This time of year I call them the road to the spawning area. I find them with my electronics.

Haven't been there in several years but Waterfront Bay Grocery & Tackle in Scottsboro Alabama on Guntersville Lake. http://waterfrontbaygrocery.com/

Thank you for making yourself visible. Sometimes it's seems like Kayakers have a death wish. I had a close call with one where the kayak and everything the guy was wearing were almost exactly the color of the water. In choppy water I was 30 ft from him in a very busy and narrow boat lane before I saw him.

Are you asking about using the trolling motor to move you as you fish or are you talking about using the outboard to troll a lure behind the boat?