caposa

Being from Canada, I've noticed many of the tackles suggestions people swear by both here and on other platforms like Youtube just aren't as effective up north. Obviously up here you want to go with less visible line and more natural colours due to water clarity, but what else? For example, I bought a couple chatterbaits last summer after hearing so many guys rave about them, and so far I've caught a grand total of ZERO fish on it. However, I'll throw a spinnerbait of the same colour with the exact same trailer, and I'll crush.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I should have mentioned I have the following: automatic bailer, paddles, PFDs, and an anchor. So far I've been pretty comfortable casting while standing on the seats. I don't have any great pictures of the boat right now - here's the best I could find:

I recently purchased a 14 ft Starcraft tinner with a 15HP engine (my first). The engine is reliable and the boat is in reasonably good condition, even if it is a bit of a beater. Boat and Engine are around 20 yrs old. I found a great deal on a Garmin Echomap 9" side imaging fish finder, which I have since bought. What upgrades should I look into next? Trolling Motor? Some DIY TLC?

IMO, novice to intermediate bass fishermen (such as myself and 90% of anglers out there) would still be wise to throw spinnerbaits and cranks solely because of their ability to cover water. They can be fished in basically any weather conditions and can work a variety of depths. That these baits can cover water far quicker and more efficiently than soft plastics outweighs the relatively small aversion bass might have to these presentations. I've found 3/8 white spinnerbaits with keitech swimbait trailers, or VMC spin jigs with keitech fat impact swimbait trailers offer a happy medium between the two - ability to cover water effectively while still offering a reasonably natural presentation.

I can vouch for High Percentage Fishing by Josh Alwine. E-book format is available too which is nice. It's not exactly revolutionary in terms of suggestions but it's a very quick and easy read and if you are a data-driven thinker (such an myself), he does a great job of separating relevant factors affecting fishing (pressure, water depth and structure, time of day etc) from the irrelevant (barometric pressure, lunar cycles etc) and offers plenty of data to corroborate his claims. He doesn't offer any technique advice - instead he focuses on where and when to fish, as well as what to fish with. I'm still fairly new to bass fishing but implementing his strategies has done wonders for my fishing success. I'd snag a copy on the Kindle app on your smartphone - that way you can always have it on the boat as a reference guide.

Not in a hurry so I think this is what I'll do. Any recommendations on gear ratio? Thanks for your help.

Hi guys. I've really gotten into bass fishing over the past 2 summers but still consider myself to be a relative novice. Moreover, the nuances of rods/reels/tackle still confounds me. My current setup is: 1. 7' MHF Veritas w/ Daiwa Tatula CT 7.3:1 - use with jigs, Texas rigged soft plastics, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits 2. 7' MM w/ Shimano Curado K 200 6:1 (can't remember the exact ratio) - used for cranking 3. 7' MF w/ Daiwa BG 2500 (spinning) - some soft plastics and very light crankbaits/jerkbaits I've recently been donated an additional 7' MHF rod. I was thinking of pairing it with another Daiwa CT reel and dedicating one to spinnerbaits/chatterbaits, and the other to jigs/soft plastics. However I thought I would seek the wisdom of this great forum and see if you guys had any suggestions. Much appreciated! Oh, and budget for the reel is ideally ~$150