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.

Times have changed. Gamy EWG use to be the gold standard for soft plastics for many years. I do like thin wire offset hooks for what we now call " finesse " worms 😁. Probably have a lifetime supply of Gamagatsu, VMC and owner hooks and all have performed as expected.

I've had several people ask for my advice on a rod and reel over the years. I tell them to get a Fury 703C and throw an SLX on it and go fishing. Have a couple of Sierra's that have been work horses , very well built rods in there price point.

Been using original PowerPro since it's introduction and I'm sure there's better but haven't had a reason to change. I'm braid on every spinning rod and braid on baitcasters with moving baits and straight flouro on bottom contact. So many to choose from these days, don't wanna go down the rabbit hole.

My fishing partner has always asked me how I catch so many fish on a TRD Ned. Only explanation that I can give him is that it resembles a craw without it's pinchers. Idk

Terro is the best stuff I've used but never dealt with ants invading a boat cover. It's obvious that they are climbing up from below so treat below.

One morning on my way to the lake I noticed a cat toy laying on the rug that looked almost identical to the urchin except it had a jingle. I thought perfect, an urchin with a built in dinner bell. Took it to the lake and tried it T-rig, Neko, drop-shot, Shaky head and even as a buzzbait trailer...... nothing 😞

Regardless of how fast the water temps climb into the 80's, fishing slows down in comparison to water temps in the 70's. This one particular lake that I fish for 2 weeks every August to early September where water temps are in the mid to upper 80's , Catch all fish in 10 - 15 of water on points and steep banks. Look forward to it each year simply because they've become predictable on this particular lake.

@Matt R. Cole - Team Kistler I have a book by a Matt Cole - the art of drop-shot fishing. Welcome to the site.

Looks like it's going to take a 3.0 ewg and worked like a soft jerk bait. We'll be all over them..... of course.

I'm actually looking for excuses to keep from fishing in this extreme heat. Luckily my daughter texted and asked if I'd pressure wash her house tomorrow, I quickly replied YES. 😀 Next week looks much better as far as temperatures go but stormy.