Tennessee Boy

Stand-on vessel & Give-way vessel - I'm sure you're familiar with it, in Tennessee we call it "Playing Chicken". 😆

I fish a lot of waters. Old Hickory Lake is right down the road. It's a 22,000 acre impoundment on the Cumberland River. I like it because it's close. If it was 50 miles away I wouldn't bother making the drive. It does have plenty of fish both Largemouth and Smallmouth but the size is lacking. 15 pounds will win most tournaments. It's a complete mad house on the weekends during the summer. I'll give it 3 stars.

I lived through the Disco era, nothing scares me. 😆

I do not loosen my drag. I check my drag regularly with a scale. If I'm setting the drag to 4 pounds and it won't hold 4 pounds then I know my drag is bad. This has happened a few times with very old (20+ years) reels but very rarely. It certainly hasn't happened enough to justify loosening my drag after each trip. It's possible it would be a bigger problem if I always fished with my drag locked down like many people do.

Interesting question. I typically fish on lakes so big I couldn't never come close to fishing all of it. Then there are endless techniques and baits that I could try in each location. So there are unlimited things to try in the limited time I have. The challenge is selecting the best things to try. If I'm unsuccessful, I know I tried the wrong things. If you're fishing from the bank or in a small body of water with a small tackle box, I can see where you might feel like you tried everything...maybe.

There is no magic solution. We must spend more time on the water. I like what @Pat Brown said. When you're on the water you deal with real problems, real weaknesses in your approach, real things you don't understand. You can spend your time working on these real issues and making real progress. For example, you find fish deep and you catch them when you get your crankbait down to them. You know if you could have gotten your bait deeper you would have caught more of them. You start looking at ways to fish a crankbait deeper. When you're off the water and on the Internet you spend your time working on imaginary issues. Problems placed in your mind by others, who usually want to sell you something. You think you should be using this hot new technique but first you must get the right technique specific combo for it. You question if you're using the best knot? even though knot failures have not been a problem. The difference between good and great is in the real details. What I need to do to get better at catching bass in my area may not work for you. We all have to figure out what it takes to catch real bass in their real habitat and we must learn to ignore the noise.

Humminbird is the only one with 360 Humminbird is the only one with Lakemaster maps. They also have Navionics as a option. Humminbird has the best side and down imaging. Garman has the best FFS. I haven’t used Lowrance in a while and I’ve never owned a Garman but they can’t possibly be as buggy as Humminbirds.

No, all bass are not the same. Let me explain why I say this. 1) There are genetic differences. Northern and Florida largemouth have been shown to be different. There are also hybrids between the two. It's also reasonable to think that if generations of bass live in a body of water that they may adapt genetically to thrive in that location 2) Much research has shown that bass have different levels of aggressiveness. Even in the same body of water in the same location, some bass are easier to catch than others. 3). Bass are versatile predators. They eat baitfish, crawfish, insects, birds, and rodents. They have a strong tendency to live in a defined range so they must find a food source that meets their needs. The available food sources may change with the seasons, time of day, ect. 4) Every lake is different. Different prey species, different structure, different cover, and different competing species which affect how successful they will be in feeding. Bass might be successful as a pelagic feeders in one body of water and less successful in others due to competing pelagic feeding species like striped bass. They must adapt.

Speed is one of the reasons I use a Chattilon spring scale. I can leave it laying out on the deck without worrying about damaging it. It's indestructible. When I catch a fish it is ready to weigh the fish. I don't have to power it on or zero out the weight. It is permanently zeroed with the weight of the gripper.

It is accurate to 1/4 oz and I’ve checked it with calibration weights. It’s not waterproof and from what I’ve read in reviews, a heavy fog can kill it. I haven’t had a problem but I take care of mine and only bring it out for big fish.

My comments about using a flogger being cheating were made a year and a half ago when Randy B was making headlines saying FFS was cheating and took the mystery out of fishing. The smiley face was added to hopefully indicate I was kidding. A flogger would allow me to see maybe 3-4 feet in most of the waters I fish so I don’t use one. If I thought it would help me catch fish I would own several of them.

Like @TnRiver46 said, it depends Here are the flows from 30 minutes ago for 3 dams near me. Percy Priest - 50 cfs Old Hickory - 6100 cfs Kentucky - 20,830 cfs

I would need to make a trip to the hardware store and at least two trips home to get the right tools.

Some people have a strong relationships with the bait monkey. I have an ongoing friendship with the scale monkey. I have 3 scales in my boat. I keep a 6# Chatillon scale on the deck while I'm fishing. I weight just about every fish I catch with it. If the fish weights more than 6# then I pull out my Brecknell ElectroSamson digital scales for an accurate weight. Then there's the concern that the digital scale might fail while I'm trying to weigh my new personal best. That's why I carry a 12# Chatillon as a third backup. It's only accurate to 2 ounces but it will do in a pinch. I'm thinking I need to start carrying a 4th higher capacity scale in case I catch a world record drum or something. 🤪

I'm sure doing it in the parking lot is easier for you guys. For me personally, I have never started and finished a project, any project, without having to make an unexpected trip to the hardware store. 😆 That's why I don't like the thought of starting work on my trailer when my boat is in the water.

I put one of the new bunks under the boat on one side to support/protect the boat then I put a car jack under that bunk to jack up that side of the boat enough that I can get the bunk on that side off. I install a new bunk on that side then lower the boat. Then I take the bunk that I just removed and jack up the other side and install the other new bunk. Be sure to remove your tie downs before you start. 😊 I hope that makes sense. Might be more complicated if you have multiple bunks per side.

I’ve jacked up one side of the boat in the garage to swap out one bunk then repeated the process on the other side. This has worked well for me. Might be hard with some V bottom boats.

The Dakota 100ah LifePo4 battery cost $795 and can be bought on Amazon. Compare Dakota’s Amazon reviews to some of the $150 batteries they sell and I don’t think you’ll be buying a Dakota.

I have a much larger images on the iPad. I cropped them so I can post with more detail. Navionics Pro LakeMaster

I'm with @Rockhopper. Every now and then a 20+ pound drum comes along to test me and my tackle. I usually pass the test. I was fishing with a buddy of mine when he caught a monster drum while we were fishing in a tournament. It was the biggest freshwater fish I have ever seen. He wanted his Rattle Trap back so he fought the fish for 30 minutes before he finally landed it.

Lithium Ion batteries have a reputation for going up in flames. LifePo4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries are much safer.

Group 27, Group 31, etc refers to the physical size of the battery not the capacity or chemistry. If you have a battery compartment that the battery must fit in then you may need to pay attention to the physical size. Other than fitting where you want to put it those numbers do not matter. Obviously, large batteries can have larger capacity but capacity is measured in amp hours (ah). You also need to consider the voltage your trolling motor requires. Is it a 12V or 24V? The tolling motor is going to use far more power than the other stuff you mentioned. I would think a 12V 100 ah battery would serve your purposes very well assuming you have a 12 volt trolling motor. Lithium batteries (LifePo4) are much lighter and last a very long time before they have to be replaced. If your trolling motor then you will need a 24V battery just for the trolling motor and a small 12 volt battery for everything else. Personally, I don't think the brand matters as long as they've established a reputation. All of the batteries are made in China with the same LifePo4 cells. I would buy one off Amazon that has a good price and a lot of positive reviews. Some people want a battery that has bluetooth so they can connect to it with a phone and check the charge level. If that's appealing to you then make sure you buy one with that feature.

The US2 transducer worked with Garmin with the cable adapter but is no longer available. Since they say the Dual Spectrum Chirp will work with the adapter, I think there's a chance that the 2D transducer inside the mega imaging transducer will work with the adapter. I have no way of knowing for sure. Minn Kota may not even know for sure. Modern fish finders can determine what transducer you have and adjust accordingly. If the Garmin gets confused by the MEGA transducer it might not work even though the 2D transducer is compatible.

We could start another thread about swirling water and smallmouth. 👌