Tennessee Boy

Technically you were fishing Lake Guntersville. You don’t see a lot of Guntersville smallmouth. Nice fish. I use Chatillon and Sons scales. They last forever and don’t need batteries. They’re not cheap but you can buy used ones on eBay for $20 - $30. The old ones are just as good as the new ones. https://www.chatillon-scales.com/products/handheld-scales/in-series-fish-and-game-linear-handheld-scales

Just a thought. When you say you used ice packs, I'm assuming you mean the reusable gel packs that you put in the freezer. I don't know what's in them. Could one of them be leaking and killing the fish?

Before you make such an important decision by throwing a dart. We need to have a discussion about the dart. What brand of dart are you planning to use? The weight of the dart is very important and the material used in the point. It's hard to make recommendations without knowing more about your throwing technique and the distance you will be throwing from. You don't want to be fishing the wrong rod because you selected the wrong dart. Oh and then there's the issue of balance. It's very important to use a well balanced dart. Balance depends on how you grip the dart of course. If you can post some more specifics maybe we can help with your dart selection.

The bead should be glass so the weight will make a noise when it hits the bead. You could add a plastic bead below the glass bead to protect the knot. The main purpose here is to sell beads. ?

I’ve never been able to catch fish that are not there. I’ve never been able to know if fish are there until I figure out how to catch them. Wait… I have MEGA Live now. Never mind. ?

I have heard good things about Ship Shape Marine in Smyrna. They’re not to far from you. I can’t vouch for them personally. They’ve posted a lot of videos on YouTube detailing their work. Check them out. https://shipshapetn.com/

Suzuki makes great motors and they help make this site possible through their sponsorship. You have to appreciate that!

I’m starting to understand why everyone that moves into my neighborhood is from California. 4 ramps within two miles. No fees. Gas is currently $3.46 a gallon.

I usually limit myself to 10 on the boat. Which 10 depends on the lake I’m fishing and the time of year. There are usually no more than 4 different combos with duplicates making up the other 6.

I have it. You can freeze the subscription and mine stays frozen most of the time. There’s some good stuff on there.

What’s next? You guys gonna start gassing up your boat before you launch? ?

Much of this is speculation. I think 95% of the bass that are aware of you’re lure do not strike it. If I’m right then you’re locating 20 times more fish than you’re catching. The best proof I can offer is to compare fishing to electro fishing studies. Electro fishing boats always find fish. So finding fish is easy. Finding catchable fish is the key.

BINGO!!!! I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels this way. It is very hard to know exactly who is designing and manufacturing the stuff we buy. I usually assume that they don’t tell you what they don’t want you to know. Go to the website for company like Cashion and they proudly proclaim that their products are made in America. You can watch a video tour of the factory. They bragging about where they’re rods come from not hiding it. When Rather Outdoors bought Strike King they closed the offices in Tennessee and introduced Strike King fish line. Maybe they built the most advanced fishing line factory in the world and are producing the best line on the market. If so they haven’t told anyone. My guess is they are buying the same line made in the same Asian factories as half the line brands on the market. They’re just cashing in on the Strike King name recognition. I won’t buy it. Doesn’t mean it’s not good line. I’m probably using it right now under some other brand that has done a better job of convincing me they are a real fishing line company. There are too many brands in the fishing industry that are just names being pushed by companies that just do marketing. I don’t want to support them. You buy whatever you want for whatever reason you want.

According to Lews.com the Childre family licensed the Lews brand to Browning in 1989.

A patent would suggest that they are doing some of the design work or at at a minimum they are buying design patents. Can you share what you’ve found? I was only able to find where they trademarked ParaMag.

Here’s what Wheeler thinks.

I got FFS in April. Is it necessary? Of course not. I fished 50 years without it. Has it helped me catch more fish? No not yet. It takes time to learn how to adjust it and how to interpret what you're looking at. It's been more of a distraction so far. I am excited about it's potential. Forward Facing Sonar is like all marine electronics. It gives you information. What you do with that information is the key to success. My new MEGA live unit is giving me information that I've never had before. One of the things that I've been most excited about is the ability to watch schools of shad. I've always wanted to learn more about shad but good information is hard to come by. I've learned more about shad and their movement in the last 3 months than I did in the last 50 years and I'm looking forward to learning a lot more. FFS has raised the bar in fishing. It's one more thing that you have to learn and master to get better. You can always choose not to use it and there are anglers at the highest level that are not using it.

I can relate. When I was working there was a million things I needed to do but didn’t have time to do. I retired in April and now only have 999,974 thing left that I need to do. ?

I would bet it was sprayed.

Prayers sent.

I don’t consider myself an expert night fisherman by any means. I did catch the big fish in a tournament once off a dock fishing a Texas rig the same as I would during the day. I was also half asleep when he hit. ?

That sounds very tasty.

I’m getting adds for Lews. Imagine that?.

I tend to agree that you should fish whenever you can but there are limits. ?