Tennessee Boy

I would use it for lures between 1/4 oz and 3/4 oz and line between 10 lbs and 17 lbs. No need to define the rod. Give it the freedom to be any rod it wants to be. 😁

Ray Scott held some light line tournaments after he sold B.A.S.S. Nothing preventing others from doing the same or holding a no drag tournament. ( assuming you can still find a reel with no drag) Personally, I don't view fishing as a fish fighting contest. If I did I'd switch to a harder fighting species. For me it's more about figuring them out and trying to out smart them but to each his own.

Be aware of all the changes happening right now with Humminbird. The larger Helix are being dropped and will not be network compatible with newer Humminbirds. A new Helix will work for you but will they continue to update it and support it?

I can’t think of a single public figure for whom I have more respect. He was truly an honorable and humble man. Five years ago, my wife and I went to his church in Plains, Georgia, to hear him teach Sunday School. It’s a very small, rural Baptist church where members used to take turns mowing the church yard. Jimmy and Rosalynn took their turn like everyone else. He would be mowing, she would be trimming the hedges, and the Secret Service agents would be keeping watch.

Know the rules and follow them and you should be ok. I think anything that a shore fisherman can transport could also be transported by a bird. They never follow the rules.

If your current units are Helix G4N models then you can add the current Humminbird MEGA Live transducer. If they are older models they will not be compatible. You will also need to connect it using Ethernet. If your current units are networked together then you will need to add an Ethernet switch so everything can be networked. If your current units are connected then you can just connect the Live transducer to the Ethernet port on one of the units. Humminbird has announced MEGA Live 2 that will be available in January. It is not compatible with Helix units.

Most of the time I can find bait in 30 seconds or less. In the fall there is often bait literally everywhere. So it’s more complicated than just finding the bait. Now I do pay very close attention to the depth of the bait.

If the goal is to maximize the life of the transducer then leave it in the box in a closet and try to keep the temperature around 70 degrees. If the goal is to catch fish then mount it to the trolling motor.

I’m 62 years old and I’ve never owned a car that wouldn’t get me where I wanted to go and I’ve never owned a fishing reel that wouldn’t cast a lure and reel it back in. What has not changed and probably never will change is that people love to obsess over the fine details of these products and the hype around new innovations. As long as anglers are looking for the next innovative fishing reel, the marketing people at Shimano, Diawa and others will find a way to sell it to them. It doesn’t matter if it improves their fishing or not.

I fishing out of an aluminum bass boat. I've fished out of just about everything at some point in my life. As far as small craft that can be launched anywhere I would rate them in this order in terms of fishability. Bass Raider Canoe Small John Boat Kayak There are real advantage to being higher up. You can see fish easier and other boats can see you. Paddling clearly has its advantages and going places where bass boats cannot is appealing. I'm just stuck in my ways. I think kayaks are cool and if I was younger I could see myself getting into the kayak craze because of the coolness not because of the fishability.

Since the announcement of Xplore and MEGA Live 2, Humminbird has rolled out software updates and published new manuals for many of their existing products. This makes it easier to understand the direction of their product lines. They have launched a version 5 software update for all Apex series and third-generation Solix units, providing these older models with the new user interface introduced with Xplore. However, this update also renders them incompatible with all Helix and earlier Solix units. The new Xplore devices and the version 5 updates integrate with their One Boat Network strategy. In recent years, Humminbird has been adding programmable One Boat Network buttons to their products and released the One Boat Network mobile app some time ago. The recent changes highlight which products will support the future One Boat Network and which will not. Many users will need to decide if and when they want to fully embrace the One Boat Network, potentially sacrificing compatibility with their older equipment. Personally, I own two first-generation Solix units and one third-generation Solix. Updating the third-generation unit would provide new waypoint management features between the fish finder and the phone app, as well as compatibility with MEGA Live 2. However, this would mean losing compatibility with my two older units and MEGA 360. I hope that MEGA 360 compatibility will be added in the future; otherwise, I may consider switching brands. If I install the version 5 software update on my 3rd gen Solix, I cannot downgrade to the previous version. There will be a lot of Humminbird user that have recently spent thousands of dollars on products that are quickly becoming obsolete. It will be interesting to see how these developments unfold.

Prayers sent 🤞

The high end fish finders have all of the features you mention but only have one screen. Your screen can be divided into different views so you can view multiple things at once. Those who have multiple fish finders are doing it for the additional screen real estate. It depends on how thick the vegetation is and many other factors but generally it's hard to see fish in vegetation. That's a tough question. They all have some strengths and weaknesses but in general they all get the job done. Unfortunately, there's no Toyota in this market.😊

I can’t think of a single expensive thing I’ve lost overboard. I’ve kicked a few rods out of the boat but I’ve always managed to fish them out of the water. I kicked one out at night in 15 feet of water. I had a marker buoy at my feet that I tossed out immediately. I tied on a treble hook and hooked the rod on the first try. On more occasions than I really like to admit, I’ve cut my main line instead of the tag and tossed the untethered lure into the water never to be seen again.😮

I haven't connected all the dot yet but I'm convinced this incident is somehow connected to the drones that are currently terrorizing New Jersey. 😆

MEGA 360 and LakeMaster maps are the only reason I’m still a Humminbird user. If I had to choose between 360 and FFS I would go with FFS but it would be a difficult decision. There are many days when 360 is more useful than FFS. 360 and FFS compliment each other very well. Remember the FFS beam is 20 degrees wide so when you see something 30 feet out it’s somewhere within a 10 foot arc. My moving the beam back and forth you can narrow it down but with 360 you can see exactly where it is. When using both it’s great having a horizontal view and a live vertical view at the same time. FFS in landscape mode is useful but it leaves a lot to be desired. The 360 beam is 86 degrees wide. The FFS beam is 20 degrees wide and in landscape mode they stretch the image it so it looks like 360 but you are seeing a lot less water. This image represents what water you are actually seeing with each.

I don't think they even have their own separate catalog since Bass Pro Shops bought them and cabalas.com and basspro.com appear to have identical content. Before the buyout I did order stuff from Cabelas and I bought my Ranger boat from them.

We really shouldn’t talk about battery life in terms of years. It’s more about usage. Getting married doubled the life of my batteries. 😁

Humminbird has an enormous gap in their fish finder offerings. The high end Xplore without a transducer is $2500. The next step up is the low end Apex at $4000. You gotta think they plan to fill this gap soon with a 14 inch Xplore or a 10 inch Apex or both.

I launched on the Stones river for the first time this year. Unfortunately, I left my brain at home. I forgot my long rope to tie up at the ramp so I just spot locked the boat about 10 feet out while I parked the truck. I had several things in my hand as I walked back down to the boat. The trolling motor remote was not one of them. I went back to the truck to get the remote and it was not there. I searched for 30 minutes trying to find where I dropped it. Couldn’t find it so I had to swim out to the boat. I fished for an hour or so but I was wet and mad that I had lost a $100 remote. I left early and spent more time looking but never found the stupid remote. I like the area and caught a few fish. I’m looking forward to going back with my brain sometime.

There will probably be a bunch of used Humminbird that are not compatible with ML2 hitting the market soon. Great buying opportunity for those who are not interested in FFS.

I guess misunderstand your earlier comments about winter fishing. Sounds like you’ve had success in the past.

Digging through the Hummingbird website I found this. So it looks like the Xplore will have more in common with Apex/Solix than Helix. As a Solix user this makes me happy but I feel sorry for the guy who just bought a new Helix 15 and has no way to put it on the same network with a MEGA Live 2 compatible unit.

@Blue Raider Bob have you fished the Cumberland around the Stones River in the Winter?

I have target lock. It's okay. I like that I can use spot lock, and auto pilot on my trolling motor without giving up control of my mega live. Other than that it's kind of a pain to use.