Tennessee Boy

I'd like to participate but I can't think of any food that I've eaten that I wouldn't eat again at gun point. If BB guns count, I would never eat anything with mayonnaise. I hope that's good enough. 😃

You need 8 LifePo4 cells to get you to 24 volts. It doesn't really matter if the cells are in one case or two. Two batteries would have two BMSs which would double the chances of a BMS failure but that's not likely. If you have two batteries and one fails you might be able to use the other for something else. For me the choice would come down to what fits in the boat the best and the cost. I've never owned a pontoon boat so I'm not going to offer an opinion on how much power you need.

No fishing guide could afford my modeling/acting royalties. 😆

Almost all LifePo4 batteries use prismatic cells that are 3.2 volts. Five of these cells in series gives you a 16 volt battery. They are available from many manufacturers and are marketed as electronics batteries.

I don't claim to know what a bass is thinking so I can't say for sure how much stealth has contributed to my fishing. I can think of example where it seemed to make all the difference. I can also think of fish I have caught in the noises of environments. I think bass tend to get used to the noise on a busy Saturday in June with fishermen and jet skies everywhere. In a quiet out of the way spot that sees an angler maybe once a week, I think fish can be easily spooked by almost anything. Those are the places I try to be as stealthy as possible.

Rest in peace Tom.

My Siebert Jigs served me well in 2025. Looking forward to using them in 2026. Thanks for making a great product.

You gotta remember to put the plug in! 🤪

This almost certainly will not work. Most chargers will not apply a charge if they don't detect a battery connected. Lithium chargers will apply a charge for a short time even if no battery is detected to restart them. If you don't have a lithium charger you can use another battery to jump start the battery. Many LIFEPO4 makers say you must use a lithium charger with their batteries. I would never tell someone not to follow manufacturers recommendations but my guess is they just don't want to deal with people submitting warranty claims because their battery won't take a charge when it's just asleep. The manufacturer of my battery (Battleborn) says you can use a traditional charger on the AGM setting. On my charger the AGM and LifePo4 charge profiles are identical. The only difference is the LifePO4 setting will restart a sleeping battery.

Some very nice fish were caught. Congratulations to the winners. Don't let the fame and fortune go to your head. 😀 My only suggestion for next year is to open up the entire year for competition. The prime southern smallmouth season is December through February. I'm sensing a conspiracy to exclude southern smallmouth fishermen from competing is this prestigious competition. 😀

I've always replaced my trailer tires when the rubber gets so thin I can see the air inside. Going on seven years on my current tires. I may regret this approach someday. So far I'm 39 years without any problems. Not even a flat.

I used to love college football... until yesterday. 😪

Have you checked it with a voltage meter? Have you synced the app with the battery before? My guess is the battery is fine and the app is not synced to the battery. Anything that requires 12 volts could be used to test it. If you don't have anything, you can buy something like this. This tester is $4 at Harbor Freight.

I agree! It's more accurate and computers are not biased.

We see very different opinions about a lot of topics on this forum every day. While we all love to fish, it’s clear we all fish for different reasons. Thoreau would say we’re all hearing a different drummer. Some of us hear the drum played by the bait monkey. Others hear different drums. I think it’s important to try to understand the drummer we march to, in fishing and in life. It can take a lifetime to figure that out. By looking within, maybe we can understand what really motivates us. Will a nicer boat make you happy? If so, why? Those are not simple questions. When I ordered my current boat in 2018, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I should order. It wasn’t just about what I wanted or what I could afford; it felt deeper than that. I went back and forth for a couple of weeks on motor size. I had two options: 90 hp or 115 hp. The 115 was about $1,500 more. I could afford it, and it made sense for resale. After a lot of thought, I chose the 90 hp. It’s hard to explain exactly why. I realized I was already very blessed to be able to buy a new boat, and if I couldn’t be content running 40 mph, going 45 mph wasn’t going to fix that. I also had to admit I felt some pull to impress my friends with a nicer boat and a bigger motor. Was that really a drummer I wanted to march to? I decided a long time ago that it shouldn’t be—though I still hear that beat from time to time. I’m still trying to truly understand why I love bass fishing so much. As I grow in that understanding, everything gets simpler. It goes much deeper than boat selection. @Swamp Girl I’m sorry it’s getting too cold to fish your ponds up there in Maine, but I really enjoy your winter posts!

or pick out a backlash or spend time in your back yard learning how to cast. To me improving your fishing is about spending time on the water and through real experience, figuring out ways to get better. Casting further is not always the goal. The OPs real problem is too many backlashes. He can spend his time getting better at casting a baitcaster or he can stop using baitcasters. Only he can decide which makes more sense for him. I agree with all of the advantages that a baitcaster can provide but those advantages do not always lead to more fish in the near term.

These debates about whether spinning or bait casting is better are kind of like debating whether an automatic or manual transmission is better. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Are you driving in a NASCAR race or are you trying to drive to work with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on your coffee cup?

Baitcasters do require a commitment and only you can decide if it's worth it. I still use both every time I go. I use BFS and it has eliminated finesse baits as one reason to use spinning. The one remaining thing I like about spinning tackle is how flexible they are in casting. You have to cast a bait caster correctly or you will pay. You can back hand, side hand, shoot, flick, toss, fling or any other creative way you can think of to launch a lure when using a spinning reel. This is useful when fishing in close and you want to backhand a cast under a dock while standing on one leg leaning out while holding a limb in the other hand to keep from falling in. I have a friend who fishes more than anyone I know who only uses spinning reels. There's no shame in going that route if it works for you.

I keep a baseball bat handy for when one starts churping in the middle of the night. 😊

I have an Ultrex 80lb on a Ranger RT188 Aluminum bass boat. I'm very pleased. I have Humminbird electronics and for me integration with the trolling motor is essential. I can't comment on Garmin but here are things you can do with Minn-Kota/Humminbird integration. You can see the trolling motor heading on the map display. You can select a spot on the map display and go to it or circle it. You can go to a spot on any sonar display, 2D, down imaging, side scan, 360, Mega Live. You can select a contour line on the map display and follow it. When you hit spot lock on the trolling motor or remote and it will create a waypoint on the fish finder (you can turn this feature off if you like) You can go to any waypoint or follow any path stored on your fish finder.

That's a complicated question. I'm not a lawyer but I think this question would have to be answered by a court if it came down to it. You would present your proof that you changed the oil. They would submit their case that you did not. I've never had a warranty claim on an outboard but in general I've found that companies want to treat their customers right and follow the law. It's not in their best interest to try to rip off every customer that seeks a warranty repair. They can also be hit with a class action lawsuit. Many years ago I had a Dell Laptop that the motherboard failed 10 months into a 1 year warranty. They provided great service and fixed the laptop quickly without cost. Four months later the motherboard failed again, two months out of warranty. They refused to service it under warranty so I bought a motherboard online and fixed it myself. 6 months later the motherboard failed again. It was getting expensive to fix the thing so I put it in a closet and bought another laptop. Dell met their requirements under the warranty but clearly had a problem with their product. A couple of years later I got a notice that they had settled a class action lawsuit and they gave me a new one year warranty and fixed the laptop for free. They also had to pay the lawyers who filed the lawsuit $700 when they fixed my laptop.

If a dealer told you this they are lying. They cannot require that. The law gives you the right to have someone else do the maintenance (including yourself) and they can use OEM parts. You are required to keep proper records of when the maintenance is performed. The law says they must show that the lack of maintenance caused the issue you are seeking warranty service on. They can't simply void the entire warranty because they don't like the way you maintain your motor. This is what my Mercury Warranty says: Purchaser’s Responsibility Perform all regular maintenance in compliance with the schedule in the applicable operation and maintenance manual. Maintain records of service and maintenance performed on Mercury Marine products. Mercury Marine reserves the right to make warranty coverage contingent upon proof of proper maintenance.

This is simply not true in the United States. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act gives you the right to do your own maintenance without voiding your warranty.

I don’t think I’ve spent anything on fishing this year other than gas and boat maintenance. The latest rods and reels don’t excite me like they used to. The bait monkey has all but given up on me. I have enough lures to last me until sometime in the year 2130. The only purchases I’ve made in the last 10 years that have made any difference in the way I fish were electronics. That requires about $5K to 10K every 5 years to stay up to date.

If I remember correctly, Digitaka lets you choose what currency you want to pay in. The price they quote you in US dollars is what they will charge your credit card in dollars. I'm sure that price includes what they expect their currency conversion cost will be but it's not really currency conversion. If you pay them in yen then your credit card company will do the currency conversion. You might get a better price if you pay in yen.