Tennessee Boy

So it changed from ice to glass?

They would have to introduce some smaller/cheaper Solix before they discontinue the Helix. The low end Solix is $2400.

Looks like baitfish to me. That's some interesting structure that you're graphing.

If I can find mine, I’ll let you know how they’re stored. 😆

I choose #2. If as could ask any question of the fishing gods before a trip it would be what depth are most of the bass.

Most places have some sort of household hazardous waste facility that will accept it.

I’ve always wanted to be an air nailer. 🙂

I agree. I said in another thread that reasonable limits would be good for the sport. I think 8 graphs is over the top even though I don’t think it gives a significant advantage over someone that has 4.

I guess you could get used to that. You would have a suboptimal view of the sonar and the real world. I think I would prefer the approach Apple has taken where you would place your virtual fish finder where you want it and make it the size you want. I can’t see myself ever wearing Apple’s product on the water.

I agree with @TnRiver46, the guy who studied fisheries in college. Fishermen cannot catch all of the fish in a healthy fishery. There is an enormous amount evidence to support this. Fishermen can however affect the size of the fish in a fishery. Fish can reproduce faster than we can catch them. It’s takes time for them to get big. That’s why we need limits. The great thing about limits is they can be changed. We don’t have to fret over what FFS will do to the size or number of fish in the lake because it can be regulated. Let’s say you gave tournament anglers a choice. They can have a trolling motor or FFS but not both. I can promise you they would all choose a trolling motor. It’s a much more impactful technology than FFS. There was a time before trolling motors, now everyone has one. The fish survived trolling motors just like they have survived every other new technology. They will survive FFS and I predict they will adapt to it making techniques like mid-strolling less effective.

I imagine there will be many obstacles to overcome but the concept is feasible. My initial concern would be the resolution of the glasses. I looked up the XReel glasses and their resolution is 2 million pixels. My fish finder is 860,000 pixels so to display it would take up 42% of the field of vision of the glasses. Now if you switched to something like the Apple Vision Pro that has 23 million pixels it would be a different story. I’m not sure I’m ready for Augmented reality on the water. It seems a little dangerous. You need to be aware of your surroundings. You need to see the jet skis, the stump you’re about to hit, the wake that could make you lose your balance and fall in. The possibilities of what could be done with AR for fishing are mind blowing. I wonder how long it will be before some company takes on the challenge. Is the fishing market big enough to justify the cost of developing such a product?

What size batteries are you replacing and were you happy with their performance?

Before retiring I was a software development contractor for 36 years. I worked on contracts for NASA, US Army, US Air Force, US Army Corp of Engineers, AT&T, a small company in the medical industry, and an online retailer. I've been retired for 2 years. Fishing is better than working!

If you don't have your manual you can always check the manufacture's website. The Mercury website says "When possible, Mercury Recommends using gasoline containing no ethanol."

As far as I can tell they are not doing that. Some have one transducer pointing down and one is prospective mode which is an advantage if you don’t have 360 imaging. Many are putting them on the transom. I would like to have one on the transom because there are times when I would like to take a quick look at something on Live but I don’t want to get up and put the trolling motor down just to look at something for 15 seconds. It would be more about overcoming laziness than catching more fish. It would also save a little time which would be a slight advantage I guess. I could be missing something which is why I ask for an explanation.

Well I guess I need you to explain how it’s that much more powerful. To me it’s like 250 hp outboard compared to 100 hp. You can go faster and fish more water but in the end it doesn’t give you that much of an advantage in a tournament.

It’s not my fault the lady didn’t know how to spell it. 😆

The TWRA has some problems. About 20 years ago I didn’t get the renewal notice for my boat registration. I went in to the region office, handed the lady my old card and said I wanted to renew my boat. She pulled it up on the computer and ask me if I still had the boat. Well it was in the garage when I left this morning I said. She said it was registered to someone in Milam Tennessee. I got a little upset that they had given my boat away. She said don’t worry it happens all the time and gave the boat back to me. 😆

I absolutely love FFS even though I’m past middle age. I love observing nature and FFS has opened up the underwater world and makes time on the water much more interesting. Fish (not just bass) are interesting creatures. I have so many stories of things I’ve observed on the screen. Many of them have nothing to do with catching fish. The technology is also teaching us that much of the conventional wisdom about bass behavior is wrong. I recommend everyone watch the first hour and 15 minutes of day 3 of the Toledo Bend tournament. Rick Clunn is the commentator and shared his thoughts on FFS and the state of Professional Bass Fishing. I always appreciate his wisdom. Here’s the video.

I agree there should be restrictions and there are also laws that they must follow. Determining what the restrictions should be is the hard part. Banning the Alabama was a knee jerk reaction IMO. I agree that live bait should not be allowed. Trolling is a difficult call. Now that they don’t have co anglers I would say it should be allowed. If literally every angler started trolling in every tournament then I would say ban it again. Every new technology that comes along requires that you learn new skills and it makes some old skills obsolete. FFS requires many new skills and makes very few old skills obsolete. People that don’t have it don’t understand that. A simplified description of its impact is it allows you to replaces random cast with precision cast. It replaces luck with skill. That’s an improvement in my opinion. I understand not everyone will agree.

Sorry, I should have clarified that I meant banned from tournaments.

The fan base is split. Some people think they should allow FFS and some think it should be banned. I expect that the number that think it should be banned will diminish as they get used to it and understand how it affects fishing. If I was BASS I would make sure that next year’s schedule is built to minimize its usefulness to give people time to calm down.

This is what the Operation Maintenance and Installation Manual for my outboard says about fuels with ethanol. Seems foolish to use the stuff when you have access to non ethanol gas. Even if it saves a few bucks.

It has been a great tournament season so far. KVD is retired and I wouldn’t be surprised if McKinney takes his place. I hope both tournament trails are successful. I enjoy all of it. I’ve been extremely busy the last three days and haven’t been able to watch much but I did check the score often. I personally would love to see more use of slot limits. It seems to have worked on Lake Fork.

Yes for new line but not line on the reel. I have a system for keeping up with what line is on what reel. Sometimes I lose track and use the caliper to identify the line. I don’t carry the thing on the boat like Pirch does. It’s a handy tool to have around. I use it to identify line maybe once every couple of years. I have used it see if the manufacturer’s are fudging their numbers. I haven’t found any that do.