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@gim oh you know I will 😉

I found a Ranger Z185 I like and doing a water test tomorrow morning. If everything checks out, I’ll be towing it home tomorrow 🤞

No Lund dealerships down here. Used Lunds are non existent too. Phoenix not in my budget.

Thanks all. @Nitro 882 I would go bigger but I’m limited to my garage. Not moving any time in the future. I’ve found a couple of Ranger 185 I like and leaning heavily towards them.

@TOXIC @Jig Man any experience with the Ranger Z185?

Looking for input on 18-19’ bass boats. I’m limited to that length due to garage size. I can’t go over 23’ total trailer/boat length so 19’ is probably my max with a swing away tongue. Some of my criteria is single console with sufficient legroom for me (6’3” tall), minimum 7 1/2’ rod storage compartment(s) and large rear deck (4’ min.). Ride comfort is a premium. Looking at used only ( due to price) probably 5-10 years old to try and stay in the $25k range. I’ve owned close to 20 boats in my lifetime, with multiple bass boats, but this will be my last one at 73 years old. Biggest waters I fish are the Kissimmee and Harris chains, but mainly the St. John’s river, Stick Marsh/Headwaters and smaller lakes. One of my neighbors has a Stratos 189 which checks all the boxes ( but he doesn’t want to sell🤣) so it’s on my list plus Triton, Nitro and some others.

Traps won’t work in wood, only on the shell beds.

Wood and some shell bars.

With the extended drought and low water down here, the water in a lot of the lakes and rivers I fish have dirty water. Not muddy, just dirty. 1-1.5’ visibility dirty. And the bass have moved out to deeper water as there isn’t a lot of water along the banks anymore. Looking for brands and colors of crank baits that’ll run 5-8’ deep. I’m guessing having some type of rattles will help.

@Rucksack man I wish I knew. Used to be a spook, bang-o-lure or devils horse was money down here in Florida. Not so much any more. I know these are old school baits but they always produced. I’ve tried a lot of the newer baits too but haven’t much success with them either. I think having cleaner water helps the topwater bite. On the lakes and St. John’s river where I fish, waters not as clean as they used to be. I attribute that to the increased boat traffic that causes the wave action that dirties up the water. And the fishing pressure since Covid has probably doubled.

I’m with @A-Jay on his thoughts about treble hook baits. I’ve had enough hooks in me over my 72 years that I really don’t like to throw baits with 3 sets of trebles. 2 sets is a little better but still 6 hooks that try and reach out and get you at a moments notice. Because of this, I tend to throw single hook baits more often. And the topwater bite isn’t what it used to be, at least for me. My favorite now is a swim jig, for covering water, followed by a senko or speed worm and last but not least, flipping. Theses also seem to get bigger bites for me, so that helps.

Mike’s swim jig with his shot caller head is the best swim jig I’ve used. It comes through pads like you can’t believe. His head design is different from most other jig makers. Highly recommend @Siebert Outdoors products. Oh and his fogy vibe jigs, they really put out a different vibe than other makes.

Black or junebug with blue tail Green pumpkin magic

Zona has a video out where he talks about using the frog hooks on the urchin baits.

I did the same, buying off Amazon. I bought them a couple years ago and still have a ton of them. But what I have noticed is the rubber material has degraded enough to leave black marks on your fingers when installing them. No big deal as it doesn’t affect the way they work.