@reelChris

Thanks! Are their deals any better than Midway's 15%? Thanks to everyone else for your suggestions too.

I missed the boat on Memorial day. Anyone know of an upcoming sale on St. Croix mojo bass rods?

17lb line with 4lb drag? I think you've already identified the problem. You're probably pulling drag on the hookset and not actually getting the hook into the fish. Tighten the drag some. I use 15lb braid on a spinning rod and have no problem horsing dock fish out without breaking line, but I have the drag set tight enough that the line digs into the spool as it starts pulling drag - maybe 12lbs?

It's a little more complicated than that but not too much so. This page explains the math behind it. It's basically applying the pythagorean theorem. E.g.: The device thinks it's seeing directly sideways when in reality it's looking diagonally. Therefore, you know the one leg (depth) and the hypotenuse (distance as measured by the device) and you solve for the other leg, which is the real distance to the object. There's a bunch of online pythagorean theorem calculators you can use to calculate your true distance to an object like this one. The important part of this is that if you put a waypoint using side imaging on an object, you're actually putting it further away than the object's true location on the bottom. The deeper the object is, the greater the distance error.

Well, to start, 7 rods for a back seater is a lot. If you limit yourself to 4, you'll have an easier time regardless of how you store them. Second, lure wraps are key to stopping your bait from catching on everything and a little over $3 each: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07958JB32/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 As a back seater with lure wraps and rod sleeves, I store my rods butt down in the footwell of the passenger seat on the ride to a spot. Once we start fishing, I flip them so the the tips are down in the foot well and the reels are resting on the passenger seat. They're easier to grab from the back deck like that. I've found as long as I use a lure wrap I can keep two rods out of their sleeves without too much risk of tangling or hooking the seat.

A local lake is reporting temperatures of 38-39 degrees. I don't know if that's true or where in the lake the temperature was taken, but it seems promising. In those temps, should I target the depths? Shallow? In between? And what kind of presentations? Treat it as winter water and fish slow or pretend its spring and go shallow with cranks or plastics? Maybe something in between?

You should be, but it's a Tracker, and depending on what day of the week the boat was assembled, some or all of the screws are under the carpet and impossible to find without pulling it up. It doesn't matter anyway, because there's a much easier solution. Unplug your trolling motor and remove the circled piece of carpeted aluminum in the picture below - it's held on by about 10 or 12 screws. Once it's off you will see the gap between the carpeted wooden deck and the red aluminum bow with a large access hole that you can stick your arm into and feel around. You will see that the last horizontal deck spar is back all of the way by the seat pedestal base. The distance between vertical spars (bow to stern) is your only real restriction in what size trolling motor pan you can put in the deck. Get a tape measure in there and take some accurate measurements. Once you get a pan, you'll want to install it as far forward as you can, front edge flush with the removable aluminum piece or even a little bit underneath it. If you put it any further back, it will be uncomfortable to use while seated because the foot pedal will be too close to the seat.

If you don't want to spend actual power pole dollars, there's the manual version available for much less: https://stickitanchorpins.com https://www.stayputanchor.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIncT1mp___QIVY2xvBB1JmgQUEAAYAiAAEgJ12fD_BwE DIY version: https://www.catfishedge.com/shallow-water-anchor/

If you're talking about lighting the interior/deck with colored LEDs, they're pretty fun. They're generally not bright enough to retie without an additional light source, but they are great at keeping you from inadvertently stepping off the boat during night fishing. They're also pretty good at stopping party pontoons from crashing into you in the dark. White attracts bugs. Red does not, but I believe that neither does green and green LEDs are much brighter.

Whatever you do, don't give in to the temptation of a smaller mount than D size. Rough water will bounce the screen around no matter how much you tighten it down.

That did it. Thanks

I just opened this Daiwa Fuego LT 2500 and discovered that I couldn't put the handle on the left side because the screw is recessed so far on the left that it protrudes on the right. Is there some way to fix that? The picture of the left side is blurry, but there's a phillips head there. I tried loosening it and it's so tight I somewhat stripped it, and it wouldn't budge.

I don't know Fisher, but everything on the smaller Trackers is the bare minimum necessary to function - engine, electronics, live well, TM, trailer, lights, switches, paint quality, wiring, seat foam, carpet etc. The storage compartments are usually not water tight - bilge water will migrate into them - and the only thing that holds the lids shut is the friction between the carpet on the lid and the carpet on the deck. Buy a smaller tracker and by next season you'll be jonesing for the bigger motor, 80lb ultrex, big livewells, and tons of storage the Fisher supposedly has.

The "1 graph on a swivel" method works great until you are navigating to waypoints from the bow while looking over your shoulder at a mirror image of what's in front so you should steer opposite than instincts tell you.

Probably the best and most expensive version of a sun dolphin pro 120 ever.

I can't imagine how it would matter either, but FYI - 12.4 volts is about 75% charge. 12.6 volts is approx 100%. If your battery can't get above 12.4 after a full charge, it's probably going bad.

In case you don't feel like guessing where... https://www.publiclands.com/p/shimano-slx-baitcasting-reel-18shmuslx150hgrlbree/18shmuslx150hgrlbree?sku=19546494&camp=CSE:PBL_92700066767208961_PLA_pla-507530652215&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIy83KjvSY_AIVA1NyCh18xgoMEAQYAiABEgJJtPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I think they're called.. ball head jigs??

Today, as promised. With the added bonus of box personalization under the shipping label. Little touches make return customers I guess?

If it doesn't I'd send it back for warranty service.

What did they list the boat at? Before checking it out in person, I'd give a call over to the marina and ask why the boat has such low hours in 6 years, why the motor was changed, what the white stuff that seems to be all over the boat and trailer and whether the talon was professionally installed. Based on the answers to those questions you can start haggling or not.

Haven't gotten mine but it supposedly shipped on December 2 and should arrive Thursday.

Think of it this way - you're probably looking at a $500 boat with $750 worth of labor put into it. One thing that stood out to me on the level of workmanship is the way the hinges are attached to the deck and compartment lids. It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like: 1) they're screwed on instead of riveted; 2) the screw heads are raised instead of flush; and 3 the screws likely are directly into the plywood with no backing. On a boat that small, you'll be opening and closing the few compartments a lot. The builder's lack of attention to detail is going to result in the hinges loosening up sooner rather than later.

For anyone interested in the origin of Ontario's smallmouth:

Today I spent a load of time trying to convert follows into bites without success. Was it the lure choices? Colors? Time of day? Environment: Bright, sunny day, 78 degrees, 1:30 pm. Water: 10 FOW, 68 degrees and ultra clear - you could see down to the bottom. Bottom: Sandy with scattered boulders After making long casts with a silver super spot lipless and a bite delight jackhammer with green pumpkin/white zako trailer, I got multiple follows back to the boat from 2-3 lb small mouth. Some followed closely behind the lures and abruptly changed directions when they saw the boat, others just kind of appeared and idled around the front of the boat without committing. I tried hopping and dragging a green pumpkin senko neko rigged and a purple dream shot on a drop shot rig in the area, including directly in front of the lurking fish, with no luck. Earlier in the day I landed a 3 pounder on the jackhammer so I know it was effective at one point. What's the secret to getting them to bite?