Tennessee Boy

This is the correct answer. It really depends on how you fish.

Earlier this year I noticed a car parked by the ramp I was launching from. The windows were tinted but I could tell there was someone in the car using their phone to video what was happening on the ramp. There's probably good money to be made in videos of fishermen making fools of themselves. I can think of countless times I could have found youtube or AFV stardom if I had been on camera.

A term I uses in this area is "familiarity". When I was a teenager a long time ago, I fished several times a week and 99% of that time was with the same Ugly Stick rod, Trilene XL 6# line, and the same Rebel crankbait. Only thing that changed was the color of the bait. I got very familiar with how that crankbait felt on that rod and it was like I could see what was happening with it. I could feel the bottom. I could tell what I was bumping into. I could tell the size of the fish before I set the hook and I have no idea how I knew it. I don't recommend anyone fish with just one lure but I did learn some important lessons from those experiences. Time on the water is critical to fishing success. It's also important to focus that time on developing a few important skills. If you spend 100 hours a week on the water but you're throwing 100 different lures and those 100 lures change every week then you're not gaining the "familiarity" you need with what you're doing.

I've enjoyed reading this thread. We can always count on @Mobasser to come up with a good one. I'm not sure everyone here is working on the same definition of intuition. What I'm going to describe may be different than what you meant in your post. I've done some fascinating reading on the subconscious. Most people underestimate the role it plays and what it's capable of. The subconscious reacts much faster to sensations than the conscious mind. It can tell you to run from danger before you even know why. You hear a loud noice and you immediately duck before you even think about what caused the noise. That's your subconscious at work and it can save your life. The subconscious is also stupid. It tells you to eat a piece of pie when your conscious mind knows it will make you fat. It's tells those suffering from PTSD that they are in danger when their conscious mind knows they are not. When the subconscious and conscious minds disagree, the subconscious mind usually wins. That's why smart people sometimes do stupid things. The subconscious plays a roll in everything we do and that includes fishing. If you've ever had that feeling that something's different with your lure, that's your subconscious telling you to set the hook! If you train your subconscious to do the strike detection you will set the hook much faster. When we talk about training our thumb to prevent backlash, we're really talking about training our subconscious to control our thumb. The conscious mind is way too slow to perform this task well. The subconscious also wants to play a roll in decision making on the water. Because it's stupid, this is were it can steer you wrong. It may associates some spots with the great feelings you've experienced when you've caught fish on similar spots. It might be helpful in this regard. It might also like a spot because it associates it with where you caught that big one while fishing with your dad when you were 12. That feeling may be so strong that it overrides the 1000 times you got skunked on similar spots in the 50 years since that day. We don't need to make split second decisions about where to fish so the conscious mind is much better at making these decisions. It might comes down to a choice between what makes sense and what feels right. I think it's best to go with what makes sense. Again, I think people have defined intuition differently on this thread but I'm defining it as that gut feeling you get from your subconscious. When I'm fishing I want my subconscious to help with things like strike detection and thumbing the spool. When I make decisions I want to do that using logic that only my conscious mind is capable of. There will always be times when I just get that feeling that I need to go fish over there. I'm human so I usually go fish there for the same reason I'm going to go eat a bowl of ice cream right now. It just feels right.

What a great idea. Sounds like a great club.

After seeing your post I looked it up on a map. Looks like it's only about a 3-4 mile walk and a 4000 ft change in elevation! That would make for a fun walk back to the car.

Very cool. Thanks for all you do!

That's a very good list. They're all classics and they all still work. If I'm not mistaken, the Johnson Spoon is more than 60 years old.

By my calculations, two 6 AWG wires would be 26% better (less resistance) than four 10 AWG wires connected as you described. Given the age of the wires and the reduction in voltage drop you would see with 6 AWG, I would rewire with 6AWG.

Very well said. Life is not fair. Rich people have lots of advantages in life including nicer boats and better electronics. I'm all for having tournaments that appeal to different anglers. Nothing wrong with creating a trail that limits technology in the same way Kayak tournaments don't allow bass boats. The OPs original question was how do you design a tournament trail so the best talent rises to the top. To be the best you need to be able to select the best equipment for your method of fishing and you have to learn how to use it. Unfortunately, you also have to figure our how to pay for it.

Yeah, quit deer hunting and rabbit hunting. ?

I was replying to several post about limiting technology. Your post hadn’t shown up in my feed when I typed mine.

Why not go back to row boats and cane polls? I think limiting horse power is a good idea for safety reasons but if you want to find out who is the best angler in 2021 you have to allow them to use 2021 technology.

20-25 feet

It's true but I think most of them kill people by crashing through their car windshield.

I've known two women tournament anglers and they were both a force to be reckoned with. I think most men get distracted by things that don't put fish in the boat. A man will spend a lot of time, energy, and money to increase the speed of a boat that already goes 70 MPH.

If the goal is simply to determine who are the best anglers then make them fish for bigger fish over several days. If you are concerned about creating something that people will want to watch live then something more like MLF.

Some of you use the same email address and password for both your bassresource.com account and your PayPal account. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. It's common for people to use the same logins for many accounts. The problem is when one site gets hacked they take all of the email address' and passwords for that site and try them on PayPal. When one works they take the money. By adding a phone number, someone now needs your email address, password, and access to your text messages to take your money.

The problem with the battery powered inflators is they don't come with a battery and the batteries are expensive. I already had several of the batteries so my Ryobi inflator cost $30. I have 7 Ryobi tools that use the 18 volt batteries. It's a shame that every brands uses different batteries. You have to choose a brand for all your wireless tools or spend a fortune on batteries. Imagine if you had to have a different battery for everything on your boat that needs power.

Very interesting hobby. I’ve enjoyed visiting some of the sites in middle Tennessee.

When I was young and strong I could air up a flat tire with one of those in less than 2 hours. ?

I've had several cheap ones over the years. They all worked in a pinch but I was never impressed with any of them. They were slow and didn't last long. Not exactly what you're asking about but I have a Ryobi cordless inflator that uses their 18v rechargeable batteries. I have several of their 18v tools so I always have a charged battery I can use. I use it more than my air compressor. It's just easier. It's not as fast as the air compressor but it gets the job done and has worked great in the 1.5 years I've owned it. The built in pressure gauge works very well also.

I'm happy with my fishing shoes but the ones with the bass on them would make good church shoes. ?

I started digging into this very large report. One of the appendix has the evaluations of each lake's spawning potential. They have Kentucky lake rated as Very High but there is no evidence that they have spawned yet. They guy said in the presentation that young asian carp were found in Kentucky lake in 2015. The report says they found eggs in 2015 a short distance up in the Duck River. I'm not sure what to think. There's a lot of different habitat in the Tennessee River system. Maybe they just haven't made it to the right location to spawn. TVA may end up spending $200 million on barriers that just keep the locally spawned fish from leaving.

T-Rig & Jig but I don't keep them on the same rod all the time. I'm afraid the rod might start thinking it's a bait specific rod. ?