Tennessee Boy

The BPT has embraced biggest five fish scoring! Kind of ?. Could add a very interesting twist to the tournaments.

So sorry to hear this. Your family is in my prayers.

I knew a guy that traded in his 3 year old Bullet that would do 80 mph and borrowed another $30K to buy an Allison that would go 88 mph. The bait monkey is a wimp compared to the boat speed gorilla.

Priceless video. She did a great job landing it.

You should set your drag between 1/4 to 1/3 of your line test or the maximum line test rating on the your rod, whichever is less. I set my drag regularly with a scale. If I'm using 16# mono, I set the drag between 4-5 lbs.

Congrats! Very nice fish

Double Digit - over ten pounds

The first day of the Classic was a great example of the difference between the two scoring systems. If my memory is correct Ott didn't catch his limit until around 1:00PM. Dean Rojas culled something like 15 fish. Ott's first day weight was 20lbs, Dean's was 9lbs.

I realize this is a serious topic but I'm cracking up thinking about it. I'm imagining a high jacker saying "I've got 4/0 Gamakatsu here and I'm not afraid to use it"

Welcome to the forum @Bluegillslayer. Your journey into bass fishing reminds me of mine almost 50 years ago. As a kid, the first fish I caught on an artificial lure was a bluegill. I unhooked the fish immediately but I was hooked for life. I slowly evolved from fishing for panfish, to panfish and small bass, to small bass, to larger bass. I used many of the same lures you listed. I loved the Rebel Teeny Wee-Crawfish. Like you I caught my first 3+ bass on a Mepps Inline Spinner. My advice to you in to continue to evolve your current techniques to target panfish less and target bass and larger bass more. For example, you've had success with inline spinners, experiment with smaller (non inline) spinner baits, then larger ones. They should work in the same situations as the inline spinners but can be worked through cover, will generate more vibration, and will target larger fish. Larger spinnerbaits can be cast further and can be fished deeper which hopefully will help you reach the larger bass in your lake. You can do the same with crankbaits. Take what works for you now and experiment with larger, deeper running baits. It can be very hard to replicate what you see in a video where someone is catching bass on a specific lake, in another region of the country, using a lure you've never fished before. It's been my experience that evolution is much easier than revolution when you're learning to catch bass.

As a Tennessee fan, I spend at least 30 minutes a day hating Alabama. That said, I was very sad to see the injury to Tua Tagovailoa. I hope this doesn't impact his long term NFL career prospects. He's a very talented guy.

There’s an interesting pattern in the boat industry. Johnny Morris buys the company and the key people start a new company in the same place as the old one. Vexus is the new Ranger and Caymas is the new Triton. The top dealer in middle Tennessee is carrying both. They look like very nice boats. Earl Bentz knows what he’s doing.

Thanks for the update. Continuing to pray for you.

Most states have ethanol free gas, you just have to look for it. This site can help. http://www.pure-gas.org

I'm guessing this was a Yamaha dealer ?. I'm sure it will do the job. IMO most of these fuel additives are probably not necessary unless you let the boat sit for a six months or more without using it. They're not that expensive so why not use them. It's peace of mind for us boat owners and increased profits for the additives industry.

If I'm doing some serious fishing where I have several hours to fish and I'm looking for quality fish, I spend a lot of time graphing. One day this year I was on the water for nine hours and spent around seven graphing. If I just have two or three hours to fish and just want to have some fun, I'll drop the tolling motor at the first good looking spot near the ramp and start fishing. Quality requires time and effort. Numbers requires a lure in the water. (I hope this doesn't trigger another BASS vs MLF debate)

I think it would be easy except for the cable connector issues. Ethernet is a standard so I would expect any switch to work once you got the cables connected. The switch I have at home takes 12V DC so that's not a problem. The question is, how long would it last on a boat? I'm sure it's not designed for the temperature extremes and voltage fluctuation you would have on a boat. Of course at $15 each you could afford to keep a couple of extras on board. Edit: I looked on amazon and they have a industrial switch for $40 that's operating temperature is (-22F ~ 167F). Thats well beyond my operating temperature. ?

Welcome to the forum

It really depends on how you fish and maybe where you fish. Time of year is also a factor. Most of the year, I spend more time looking for fish on structure than I do fishing. I have identically units on the front and back but it is absolutely more important for me to have the best sonar unit at the console. Wiring the boat so you can easily move the units around would be ideal.

On Kentucky Lake (my home lake) it seems like every major pro tournament in recent memory has been won on the ledges by someone that relied heavily on electronics to find the fish. However, tournament fishing at the highest level is changing. It seems to me that most BPT tournament are won on the bank where electronics are less of a factor. Yes, there are plenty of exceptions. If I was fishing a tournament in May on Kentucky lake with a five fish limit I would be idling around offshore staring at my electronic to find fish. If I was fishing a BPT style tournament, I would be throwing a trickworm along the bank. For me personally, electronics add to the fun but sometimes I feel like I'm cheating when I drive straight to a spot that I can remember spending half an hour looking for in the old days.

You can charge two batteries wired in parallel as one with one charger. My first boat was wire this way with a 46lb trolling motor on a Tracker TX17. I used a traditional external battery charger to charge the trolling motor batteries as if they were one battery and then the next day I would charge the cranking battery. If I didn’t have time to charge the cranking battery I didn’t charge it and never had a problem. The motor kept a pretty good charge on it. The two trolling motor batteries gave me way more capacity than I ever needed. One time on a trip, the power at my campsite was not working so I couldn’t charge overnight. I was able to fish two long days without a charge and had plenty of power at the end of the day. I’m thinking one TM battery will be plenty for you but of course it’s always better to have too much power than too little.

I use Sta-Bil 360 marine stabilizer.

I don't know how I missed this thread before now. Wishing you the best. I admire your attitude and courage. You are in my prayers.

I used to go every year but it’s been 20 years since I‘ve been there. A lot can change in 20 years. I camped a few time at the Bay Springs Campground. It had a ramp and you could pull your boat up to the shore by your campsite. It’s a fun lake to fish.

I've used that analogy myself. When you think about property values, the neighborhood matters much more than the house but the house does matter. A bare lot in Manhattan will be worth far more than a mansion in the middle of no where. So find the good neighborhood then find the best house in that neighborhood. Fish aren't always on structure but they always relate to structure. You can spend a lifetime learning how to interpret structure. Here a link to a very popular thread on the subject. It's about Toledo Bend but @@Catt goes into depth on reading maps and interpreting structure.