Jig Man

You seem to be getting some pretty sound advice. If it were me I'd concentrate more on the aluminum than the glass simply because there are lots of older glass boats on the market that have transoms rotting from the inside out and you for sure don't want to get stuck with one of them.

I expect you will have to contend with your boat porpoising with that much extra weight in the stern.

You might want to consider a deck boat. Lots of them have flat floors with trolling motor, front and rear fishing seats as well as a table for eating and a bimini top to get out of the sun. My wife had one for several years. She loved that thing.

Just don't over power. Insurance and liability would be major concerns in this day and age.

X2

I don't know how widely it is recognized but we have what they call MEANMOUTH here in MO. They showed up about 15 years ago. They are a natural cross breed of spots and smallmouth.

Get you a pair of gate shears and cut the spru off instead of trying to break if off.

Before you buy....Do what slonezp suggested.

I wrap with thread some times. I do it mainly when I am splitting skirt material and want it to be in a very specific place on the jig. Thread gives me more control when placing small amounts. After I am finished I can top of with wire or not. Other than that I just wire wrap and move on to another jig.

You can use a hot plate and pans but it is real easy to scorch it that way.

I track my fishing with excel. I keep about 20 items on every trip. I don't use it on equipment as I reoil reels when the distance changes on casts and reline when needed. I carry close to 30 reels and would go nuts trying to track them on the computer.

I make all of my own plastics. I put some type of flake/glitter in everything except PB&J. I even add a bit of black flake to bubble gum just to make it less monotonous.

I only use Shimano reels. I have several models with Curado 200 being the one I have most. I'd say anything from the Citica up will do you a good job.

Sorry to hear about all of your problems. If it were me I use the portable until I could get at least the 3x10. 6 amps will charge your batteries but after a hard day's use it will take a very long time.

I'd send the worse one to a reel repair tech and see what he has to say.

I pour my own heads. I like to use 1/8 oz with a 3/0 hook. Like stated strong enough to hold a good fish but light enough to bend when hung up. I normally use flukes but sometimes paddle tails.

Spinner baits is one of the way I make them. 2 things I have found: 1 you have to get the space closed all the way or you will throw the blade off and only get it back (especially if you hit anything on the cast), 2 there is no need to waste a full spinner bait wire on a chatter bait. I bought some 39 ga wire and cut it into small strips. I put a bend in it to place in the hook eye and let the rest stick out of the mold. I don't recall the exact length but the wires are less than 1 inch long.

When I turned 50 the place that I worked figured out that they could save a bunch of money by offering early retirement to some of us. I was offered 1/2 year salary and 75% of retirement. I took it. I tried a few other jobs and couldn't find any that would keep my interest so in a couple of years I quit looking and went to fishing. I haven't looked back. I'd do it again in a heart beat. Now my biggest decision is will tomorrow be too windy or too cold to go fishing. I'd recommend retirement to anyone who can swing it.

The only way I know is to open the hook eye. I find that I break as many as I am able to use and I lose some as I don't get the eye closed as good as I should. I've never seen or heard of an open eye hook.

My wife pulls my Z20 Nitro with a Jeep Cherokee Trail Hawk. She has no problem and we live in hilly southwest MO.

You might want to take a look at Lake Ouachita. It is bigger and even has stripers.

You have to have a federal tax ID number.

Count me in, jigs, plastics, chatter baits tell me what you would like.

I buy most of my hooks from Shorty's Hook sales by the 1,000 count. Otherwise I buy from Captain Hook's by the 100-500 count.

You might want to be careful about them. Newer ones have zinc in them and can ruin a bunch of lead and maybe your pot.