Tennessee Boy

You’re absolutely overthinking it and we’re here to help you overthink it even more. Welcome to the forum. 😀

I use the tool. I have one in the house and one on the boat. It's like any other technique, you have to get used to it and with practice it becomes fast and easy.

You can't expect good things to happen when you're hanging out with sinners. 😆

With warranties the devil is in the details. Dobyns has a "limited" lifetime warranty. It covers defects in materials and workmanship, so 50 years from now if you realize they made a mistake when making your rod they will replace it. How likely is that?

A lot of good suggestions here. Some ramps are just difficult. Are you able load the boat easily on other ramps without issues? If not I would get everything figured out on a good ramp before tackling a difficult ramp. My trailer is a pain and it took me a while to find the exact depth to back in. I gave a lot of thought to making some of the modification suggested on this thread but I eventually figured it out. While I was trying to figure out the magic depth I would error on the shallow side and then wench the boat up the rest of the way. One trick to making wenching easier is to wench it a few feet until it gets difficult crank and then back the trailer down a little more and wench it the rest of the way.

I watched part of the video but didn't see helmet. It's a good idea to wear a helmet if you are running a high speeds. If you are ejected from a boat and hit the water at 70 mph you need a helmet and a PFD that is designed to withstand that type of impact without being ripped off of you. DC ran 70 miles and I assume he has a fast boat so wearing a helmet makes sense.

We boomer might have money but we are not a popular target for marketing. Older folks have usually settled on the brands and products they like and it's expensive to convert them to a new products. They are more likely to already have what they need. Personally, I probably spent less than $200 on tackle last year. My biggest fishing expense in the last five years has been electronics because that's the only category where innovation demands that you regularly replace what you have. A tournament trail where they use old school technology is not going to affect my spending much. Personally I watch tournaments to see fishing not fishermen. The number one thing that determines how much I watch a tournament is the lake that's being fished. I don't care how old the angler's are. I want to watch good fishing not old style fishing.

Yes a lot of people die on the road even though we have speed limits. Does anyone think we should do away with speed limits?

In the 80s Dominos pizza had a 30 minute delivery guarantee. If they didn't get it to you in 30 minutes it was free. They penalized the drivers if the pizza didn't get there on time. This caused the drivers to take risk. The risky driving led to accidents. The accidents led to lawsuits against Dominos. The lawsuits led to Dominos changing their policy. No more free pizza. The stupid boaters get to the spot first in tournaments. That's not fair to the anglers who act responsible. It certainly not fair to the others on the lakes who might get hit by the stupid boaters. We have speed limits on roads. No reason we can't have them on lakes in tournaments. Tournament directors can disqualify those who break tournament speed limits. It's not perfect but it's better than the free for all we have now.

The faster you go the more fishing time you have. The rules favor those who take risk. I think the people who make the rules bear some responsibility. Before B.A.S.S. raised the maximum horsepower limit, you rarely saw a bass boat with more than 150 HP. Now 250 HP is common. This makes tournaments more dangerous but it also makes every day on every lake more dangerous. That B.A.S.S. change has killed a lot of people.

Thinking of you and your family and hoping for the best.

When this topic comes up I always go back to this graphic. I snapped a picture of this at the Tennessee aquarium. It's was about turtles but says a lot about bass. If something doesn't slow down the reproduction of bass we are all doomed. Their numbers will reach 145 sextillion in just 9 years. That's enough to choke out all life on earth. I appreciate everyone that does their part to prevent this catastrophe. 😆

Here's how I perceive the current mainstream. "I heard about this new bait on YouTube that looks really good. I'm gonna buy a technique specific rod, reel and line for the new bait and add it to my collection. Then I'll try to find some bass that will hit it." How I'm different. I find some bass and then try to catch them with techniques that have worked for me in the past. If that doesn't work I try different techniques. If I need new lures or tackle to effectively fish these techniques I go shopping.

It’s not unanimous. I disagree. Rod sensitivity seems to be an a confidence thing. No one has been able to measure it or quantify it but many people still believe passionately in it. Bite detection is the skill of interpreting what you feel. A rod can’t do that.

My most expensive spinning rod cost $460 (St Croix Legend Xtreme older version). My least expensive spinning rod cost $179 (Cashion Core). I regularly switch between the two when I'm fishing. There are things I like and dislike about both. One thing I can say with certainty is that I can catch fish equally with either rod. So to the OP original question, how much does it help. If we're talking about helping put fish in the boat, the answer is it doesn't help at all. If it helped put fish in the boat I promise you all of the pros would be using high end stuff regardless of what their sponsors want. People may argue that high end rods help in other ways. That's a more subjective argument.

Fishing is just sooo complicated. 🤪

I agree it depends. I’ll add to the conversation that it’s my personal belief without much proof that you’re less likely to draw the attention of the fish with the motor on low and always on vs pulsing off and on at higher speed. I spend a lot of time with the Ultrex on autopilot on low with occasional adjustments in direction.

Anytime the subject of polygraph test comes up, my mind goes back to this segment I watched on 60 Minutes many years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROhp2aS9pQU

Bass are able to reproduce at an extraordinary rate in a healthy fishery. Two bass could probably repopulate Lake Michigan in 5 years. The limiting factor on the population is the lakes ability to support the fish in it.

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Everyone used their FFS period today except the Lane brothers. Everyone that used it did so in period 3. Last year MLF started having the officials record if they thought the angler used FFS to catch each fish. They recently started sharing this information so we can get an idea how much they actually use it. Connell's official recorded that he used it on all his 3rd period fish. Strader's official recorded that he did not use it even though his FFS was unlocked. Paul Marks Jr moved deeper and had a good period 3 using FFS as did Jake Lawrence.

I was wrong about Redcrest. They did use the new FFS limits so we have another tournament to added to the data. The angler period FFS advantage for the total season dropped again from 77% to 58% as the impact of Stage 1 is further diluted. Redcrest Total Weight: 4548.9 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 12.59 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 11.41 lbs Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period: 1.18 lbs Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 10% Season Total Total Weight: 18180.6 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 13.41 lbs Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 8.48 lbs Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period: 4.93 lbs Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 58%

Incredible tournament. Never thought I would see smallmouth being a factor in a Guntersville tournament. I’m sure South Pittsburgh would like to thank Alabama for sponsoring this tournament. I’m sure they will need to increase the size of the parking lot at the South Pittsburgh ramp. 😀

I'm sure all of us who live within 150 miles of Nickajack Dam will be heading that way in the next week. We should have a BR meetup in South Pittsburgh. 😆

Certainly true today. FFS periods produced about 6 1/2 pounds less per angler than non FFS periods. For the entire tournament FFS periods are producing about a half pound more than non FFS.