Bird

In 1981 I remember a song by John Denver " some days are diamonds some days are stone ". There's a ring of truth there. Hoping the next time out is diamonds.

Man, what an ordeal going on. Hope everything goes smoothly going forward. I recently finished a great Smallmouth lake in Maryland / WV....... Jennings Randolph but that's way west of you. If you're planning on staying awhile I'd get a boat and fish pretty boy.

I can certainly understand your frustration, I'd be ticked 😡. Point blank, it's a issue with the motor itself and Mercury has a long standing record of making it right. I don't buy into all this prop flexing hupla because it's aluminum. Why offer an aluminum prop if it's problematic 🤔. I will say that when getting on plane, I'm full throttle trimmed down and gradually trim up.

You can run an aluminum 4 blade on your 150XS but I'd go with the Black Max made by Mercury but thinking that's a 3 blade. I've also only run 4 blade aluminum on all my boats over the years.

Never saw that before. Was the hook made of solder ?

Welcome Matt and looking forward to your shared knowledge.

I keep 2 in the boat and replace the bobbin's every other year. Have not had the pleasure of relying on an inflatable yet. Glad you're doing well.

Wow Billy the kid, awesome.

Can't imagine socking a bunch of money into a frog rod where sensitivity is non existent. Paid $99 for a Speed Demon pro and it casts 1/2 oz well and yanks them out of the junk.

I'm on year 4 on a set of Interstate's and will definitely go lithium when these expire. Have always gotten 5 - 7 years service life out of deep cycle batteries when properly maintained and as long as the charge is not deeply depleted.

For braid - Palomar For Flourocarbon - Fish-N-Fool For leader - Alberto

Great report, enjoyed it 👍.

Drop-shot is a valuable tool here in the clear water reservoirs. I've never strayed from a med light rod with a circle hook and 1/8 weight. It catches fish and hook-up ratio is good. Maybe your exposing the drop-shot, it's not necessarily a finesse technique. 😁

Those are more like the swivels you'd use for a Carolina rig. I've found that light braid actually encouraged twist and some spinners simply twist more than others. I've culled mine and tossed the ones that misbehaved. Mainly use Mepps #3.

Severe storms the entire weekend kept everything like a ghost town around here.