Jleebesaw

I have never used their lures. I just can't imagine them being so much better than the competition that they justify that price. That said, I have heard nothing but good things about them. That one ten is very popular. We have all had normally dependable equipment fail on us. It happens. You can buy another one. If it doesnt hold up, dont buy a third!

Is the water dirty from all of the rain? If it is you could try fishing a spinner with a big Colorado blade. Fish it a little slow. Also, senkos are my fail safe. They seem to almost always work. Especially if you're hitting flooded shallows. Sometimes you just have to try a bunch of things to find out what they want.

Pretty bold statement! Also, for bass fishing, structure scan is more important that 2d. I know you say you dont want it, but structure scan and mapping are the most important functions for me and most other bass fisherman.

I have an elite ti. I dont know how much different the ti2 is, but I really like the unit I have. Fish reveal is great. It basically takes the arches from 2d sonar and overlays them on the down scan. It's a really nice feature. I upgraded from a hook2 tripleshot also. Its a huge difference. The pictures are way better than the hook had. I have no experiance with the helix. I have heard that mega imaging is better si than lowrance, but the lowrance is pretty good in my mind.

You have 12v at the cable where it connects to the head unit? If the wiring got wet it could have a corrosion issue at one of the connectors. Also, is the fuse good? It sounds simple but I am a mechanic by trade and have seen experiance guys forget the simple stuff occasionally. Also, if the fuse or holder got wet, make sure there is voltage going through the fuse. Even if the fuse is good, there may be a connection failure in the fuse holder itself. Pulling the fuse and putting it back should take care of that unless its badly corroded.

Maybe, depending on where you live. No way I could wear my ice fishing bibs and coat in august. I have another set that has removable liners. They keep me warm enough if its 40 degrees or so. With the liners out, they are comfortable in the summer.

Looks like a walking bait. Like a different shaped spook.

Berkeley powerbait max scent dries up and is super hard to get off the hook. I like the 5" general PB max scent. They are basically a really stinky senko. Dont leave them on a hook though.

I never got the red cranks either. They do seem to work. I have caught a lot of smallmouths on red craw colored cranks and rattle traps. I have never seen a red crayfish before. All the ones I have ever seen have been brown/gray/greenish. I've never really researched crayfish. Maybe they are red in the spring and I haven't seen one.

It should be towed with the engine vertical in my opinion. You may need a drop hitch. There should be plenty of clearance between the skeg and road. I have to use a 3" drop on my tracker and a 6" on my 14' boat. I just have a 1/2 ton ram and it's way too high for those low tongue trailers.

Big cats are fun to catch.

That's something I do a lot of. I drop a marker bouy and then cast by it from a little way off. Maybe 30 or 40 feet away. Thats if I'm using a jig, tube, or something like that. Sometimes I'll literally get right on top of it and use a dropshot or jigging spoon. I can watch it on my fish finder doing it that way.

Man, if you want a brand new bass boat, I think they are all going to be good. There are some amazing boats being built these days. As far as the engine goes, they all will offer pretty much the same sized engines for the same sized boat. I think they all offer several engines for a particular model boat.

I go to a spot for big cats in the early spring. We put in a boat and then shore fish on the other side of the bay. This place is very popular for bullhead fishing too. On the shore with the launch you can see fires and lanterns all the way down the entire bank. Every time we go there, there are people sitting on the launch. Most of the time they make way for us but sometimes they get lippy. The last time I was there some guys actually had a fire built on the ramp. We got into a pretty good arguement there. They were all drinking heavily too. Luckily we had my 14' boat with an 8 horse and 3 guys so we could still get the boat out. This was the one and only time I've ever called the police on someone. We waited for the police to get there. They arrested 2 of them for dwi. They had their trucks parked on the launch and nobody to claim to be driving for them because they were all drinking. The DEC showed up as well and they were throwing tickets around like crazy. Several if them had no fishing lisence and they were obstructing a public launch. I just dont get people sometimes. How hard is it to enjoy yourself without bothering other people?

I'm in the keep some category. I keep a couple limits of bass a year if I get some 12" fish biting. I dont keep big ones. I eat a lot of perch, crappie, bluegill, walleye, and even northerns sometimes. I dont like messing with northerns though. They smell bad, they are slimy, and they are a pita to clean. They taste good though.

I had had a 6,6 mh spinning rod and liked it a lot. It felt better than some much more expensive rods I've used. For the money I dont know if you could do better. When I was putting the boat away before winter I broke the tip off that rod taking it out of the locker. I bought a vendetta to replace it. I hope I like it as much as the vengeance.

I dont think it has any effect on the actual lake. Unless its someplace that gets a lot of tourneys on it. A few busy days a year aren't going to hurt it. Catch and release. Regardless of what anybody says, I have to think most of the fish survive. I'm sure more bass end up in the grease every year than die in tournaments. Big tournaments have pretty big effects on the area around the lakes. We get the elite series up here on the st lawrence. Everybody loves that. Its normally the highest attended event the series has every year. There are many people coming up here for that event. Theres not a lot of hotels around here. Tournament folks and spectators fill the rental cabins, campgrounds, and people rent rooms out for the week. All these people spend some money while they are here and it adds up quick. The tournament is based in a very small town and its huge for the local economy there. It's a big help for nearby towns as well. Of course, the small tourneys dont provide that. Theres no big benefit from it so it gives people the opportunity to focus on the negatives. People are pretty negative these days and seem to always have a complaint. If you think about the number fish caught on a popular lake in a given year you really have to admit that a couple tournaments a year aren't going to cause any problems. Ramp congestion is probably the worst part of it. I've never heard anybody complain about ice fishing tournaments. We have hundreds of them every year around here. Every fish weighed in an ice derby dies. Nobody cares. I think the fish mortality issue is a convenient talking point for people who dont like open water tournements for other reasons that dont have any gravity. They dont like all the boats, the speed some of them run their boats, ramp congestion, people fishing their spots, and God knows what else. All of these complaints can be countered with a simple, "it's a public lake". They think if they can convince people that it's bad for the fish, others will start looking down on tournements with them. They dont care about ice derbies because they aren't drinking margaritas and cooking dogs on the dock during them so it doesnt effect them.

I'm thinking about trying that too. They have a tourney a half hr from my house. It might be fun. I'm not sure what I need to do to get in on it. I am a bass member. Just the "in it for the magazine" type of member though.

No, can't say that I have. It seems like most people like catching bass. I get the weird looks if we start talking about fishing though. I find very few people in real life who take fishing serious at all. They are mostly fun fishing a few times a year. They think it's weird to know about seasonal movements, spawning habits of multiple species, and fish biology. Most folks dont take time to learn about fish as the people on here do. Dont get me wrong. I love getting limits of perch and crappie for the grease as much as anybody. Most people dont care about shad spawns, you know what I mean?

Walleye or bluegill. I haven't ate many saltwater fish. I've only gone a few times for cod. Cod is good. Better than haddock anyway. We caught those every time as well. I'm in northern ny so I'm lucky to see the ocean once or twice a year. When I do go I focus on hitting the pots. I love crab and lobster. I would like to fish more but it's always a family vacation when I'm in Maine. because of that I'm limited in my time on the water. I always use that time up catching crab. If the chance ever arrives, dont miss out on halibut in Alaska though. I went salmon fishing there last year and stumbled into a day trip for them. It's probably my favorite fish yet. I probably shouldn't admit to crabbing in Maine as a non resident btw! This is a work of fiction and for entertainment purposes only!

I feel like small rivers are tougher than lakes in general. I have a lot of time on the st lawrence and almost treat it like a windy lake because it's so big. I'm sure other big rivers are like that too. Fishing that particular river is pretty easy. I have a harder time in the smaller rivers around here. There are plenty of nice fish caught on them, but I have a bit of a struggle finding nice bass in them. I catch a lot of smaller bass. Other species seem easier in rivers to me though. Crappie and walleye especially. It's like anything with fishing though. So many variables.

There are plenty of good seafood oportunities up here in the northeast my friend.

Hey, frozen lakes do kind of suck. Ice fishing is ok, but I like using a boat better. One thing that florida doesnt have is walleye. That alone makes it not even on my radar. Any place that doesn't have walleye is not fit for mankind!

I would definatly ask that biologist who's coming to get some fish.

I would be very surprised if navionics doesnt have it mapped. The lake I grew up fishing near my home is 154acres and they have 1' increment mapping of it. The entire Indian river chain of lakes in new york are all very small except 1, and they all have mapping. Have you tried navionics+? Also be sure to turn on sonar charts in the settings on the graph. Without sonar charts turned on, many small lakes have limited topography.