Tennessee Boy

I bought one in the spring to evaluate. I will be buying more. If you’re willing to go with a JDM reel, it’s a good deal.

Carry an extra prop.

I just heard an update on the sales of these shirts. They originally only ordered 72 shirts because they wanted to send the kid a shirt with his design and that was the minimum order they could purchase. They have sold 109,000 so far. That's over $1.6 million.

Tom is right as usual. I’ve known one angler who was kill while fishing when he hit another boat head on. They were doing a dance trying to determine who would pass on what side. Collisions kill. Now as far as getting wet, around here an unexpected Summer storm can blow in with high winds and swamp you if you can’t find cover. I’ve known two guys that has happened to.

Very well said. We think a lot alike. I also recommend Alwine’s book. It’s a good attempt to accurately interpret a large dataset of fishing result. My only criticism is I wish he went into more detail on where he got his data and how he interpreted them. Also, there are times when his number’s don’t make sense to me. In the article you link to on wind, the table showing the percentage of time the condition exists does not add up to 100%. Same table is in the book. How hard is the wind blowing the other 23% of the time? The only values left are negative numbers. I’m sure it’s a typo but it kind of kills the whole argument.

Did you switched from straight fluoro to braid fluoro leader?

I have done almost no pond fishing for bass so I don’t claim to know what I’m talking about but I think ponds are different. If someone stocks a muddy pond with bass they will adapt so the fishing might be good. If half the pond has a muddy bottom and half has a hard bottom I would definitely expect the bass to prefer the half with the hard bottom.

I did A LOT of wading when I was a teenager. Mostly in creeks. I never encountered a bottom that was to muddy for wading. I’ve waded some ponds when seining for bait that were so muddy that wading was difficult. A hard bottom is very important in bass fishing so any water with a muddy bottom would not be water that I would want to fish.

Good question. I checked the book again. His numbers are fish per hour. Are there 3 times as many anglers on Saturday as there are on Wednesday? I would say so just on my observation. Is the difference in catch rate due to the fish being easier to catch or because fishing is easier because of less competition? I’m guessing it’s a little of both. Obviously, if your lure is the first lure a fish has seen all day you have a better chance of catching it than if the fish is seeing a lure every 15 minutes.

I hear ya. As far as dressing up to go fishing, I don’t want to look like a pro. Too much pressure. I’d rather look like I don’t know what I’m doing and surprise people than look like a pro and get skunked. Also, if someone sees you fishing in a $100,000 bass boat and wearing a jersey, they’ll mark your spot. If they see me they think I carp fishing.

Good info! Thanks for taking the time to post it.

If people ever stop caring what other people think about what they’re wearing, clothing sales will drop by 99%.

Well said, I catch a lot more fish fishing on Saturday than I do working on Wednesday.

Here's an old Far Side cartoon that I liked so much I got it framed.

Interesting question. I had a dream about a month ago that the world was coming to an end and me and a life long fishing buddy headed to Kentucky Lake where we planned to fish till the end. I don't remember what we were fishing with. Would probably be Zoom Lizards ?

Wow! really amazing work.

We don't have to guess the ratio, we can do the math. The OP reduced his IPT 6 inches from 31 to 25 by reducing the line on the spool. If his gear ratio is 7.3:1 then my math says the diameter of his spool and line was originally 1.35 in. To get the equivalent drop in IPT of 6 inches with the same diameter spool but lower gear ratio, my math says the new ratio would be 5.9:1. Someone check my math.

In his book High Percentage Fishing: A Statistical Approach To Improving Catch Rates Josh Alwine gathers data from a number of sources and runs the numbers. He says in the book "The data tells a different story, fishing pressure is the single most important environmental factor High Percentage Fishermen should consider on any given outing" He found that the day of the week makes a very big difference due to pressure. In his data he found that the number of fish per hour was three times higher on Wednesday compared to Saturday. The fish may not know what day it is but they do notice that there are fewer anglers on some days. Another quote from the book "As it pertains to catch rates, in the statistical sense, fishing pressure matter far more than all but the most extreme weather phenomena. I'd much rather fish an east wind on Wednesday than a west wind Saturday."

There are two options for the built in transducer. The MEGA imaging version only works with Humminbirds. The Universal Sonar 2 TD works with most units but will require an adapter cable. Here is a list of compatible units and the cable required. https://www.minnkotamotors.com/learn/technology/trolling-motors/universal-sonar-2

It looks like we've got a good ole fashion physics argument going here. I agree that changing the amount of line on a reel does not change the gear ratio. That's a number that applies only to gears in the reel. Changing the amount of line on the reel does change the level of effort required to turn the handle. Using the vehicle example. Low gear does give you more power and less speed but increasing the size of the wheels would give you more speed and less power. It's all part of the equation. Changing the amount of line on a spool is the same as changing the size of the wheels and it does matter.

Removing 20 yards of line is the same as making a 20 yard cast. Your IPT is constantly changing as you cast and reel line back in. How much it changes also depends on the diameter of the line. As you cut or break off line it continues to change. Lots of variables in the equation. Making changes in the amount of line spooled to fine tune IPT seems like more effort than it's worth to me but if you like the fishing with 20 yards less on your spool then do it.

When I got my first boat I used an anchor a lot. After the first year I don't think I ever used it again. I bet you'll get the hang of it with the TM. Like @WCWV mentioned, dropping a buoy can make it easier.

Most of the shallow water on Guntersville is marked with thick grass this time of year. There are exceptions so be careful. There are certainly places where you go from 35ft to 2ft very quickly. My rule of thumb on the Tennessee river is I only run fast if I have two things telling me I'm in safe water. That's two out of these three, navigation markers, my GPS, my personal experience. I agree with @TnRiver46, Guntersville should be called Frogville.

Welcome to Bass Resource and thanks for posting an interesting video. I view lures as tools. I don't have a go to lure in my tackle box just like I don't have a go to tool in my tool box. I don't ask myself what lure will they bite today. I ask myself where are the fish and why are they there. Then I ask myself what lure is best for that situation. If I could only use one lure, it would be a plastic worm because it can be used in so many different situations.

If you put too much stress on a rod it will break. You can keep this from happening in one of three ways. 1) Don’t put too much stress on the rod. 2) Use light line that will break before the rod does. 3) Set your drag so that it slips before the line or rod breaks.