galyonj

Pages 9A-4 and 9A-4.1 in the FSM for your engine shows the wiring harness and its key. Those three relays mounted on the back of the powerhead are, from top to bottom: 4-wire relay (red, red/purple, yellow/purple, red/white) is the main power relay 2-wire relay (light blue/white, green/white) is the power trim relay 3-wire relay (red/purple, green/white, light blue/white) is the cowl trim relay

Cosigning everybody else. I've only had to deal with them once, but they went way above and beyond. I actually need to get in touch with them if I can't figure something out today regarding kicklever engagement on one of my casting reels.

Atta boy.

I started losing my hair the year I graduated high school, so there was never any other realistic option for me. Bald is beautiful. Cheap, too.

1/4oz bluegill swim jig with a chartreuse trailer that's got some thump At night I'd switch to the same thing in junebug or black/blue

I reckon it won't be long before we need a new pea.

WP/Choppo/etc are great (unless you're @TnRiver46, who has the same problem with them that I do with chatterbaits), but they're probably third or fourth in line when it's time for me to decide on a topwater to throw. I get bit on walking baits far more than I do anything else when it's topwater time.

That's alright. GAS is a chronic condition. Also, in an effort to stay on topic, were I you, I'd stop my search right here because that 2500-size Procyon will be a banger paired with that rod.

Maddening to me that even on a $250 reel they screen print the numbers on the dang brake dial.

The first graphite rod I ever owned that was "mine" was a 6' pistol-grip Shimano casting rod. Had to've been a combo of some sort.

Ah so. Thank you for the lesson.

For real? Not prepping for an argument -- I'm genuinely curious about this.

Came here to say this. At this point in my journey of discovery and education RE what features I'm looking for in reels going forward, I'm looking more at better support and alignment for the guts of the reel. Body material plays into it, but features like Shimano's X-Ship and Lew's P2 pinion feel like a bigger win(in terms of longevity and usability) to me than what the frame's made of. This probably matters more in casting reels than spinning, but that's probably my inexperience talking. Edit: Also, for casting, the brake system matters way more to me than it used to, now that I kind of have a better understanding of how each brake system works (and when a given system is doing the most work during the cast).

I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people (read that as casual anglers) have the drag set entirely too tight on their spinning reels anyway. Of course, around here, that group probably has a significant amount of crossover with the people that leave hundreds of yards of 50lb Big Game wadded up on the bank beside an empty cup of nightcrawler dirt and a broken Ugly Stik. Artistically, though. Like a little tableau about how much damage one person can do to the optics of an entire hobby if they try hard and believe in themselves.

They look like they'd work about as well as a Zoom Speed Craw, which is to say they'll likely be fantastic swim jig trailers.

Skinks are pretty rad. Good job saving and relocating the ones you could find.

Yeah, it's kind of in the works. I've already got a 1000-size Daiwa Revros without a home, and I've been wanting to try a Dobyns rod, so one of their ML spinning rods would match up with that reel pretty perfectly, and would have a similar feel to the ML/F rod she was using this weekend. She's spent yesterday evening shopping for boats. lol

Figure if I behave myself she'll let me hold it for her.

Just give it a squirt or two the night before you go. That's all I ever need to do.

And how. Bass aren't so smart (or picky) that they'll look for a 1:1 resemblance of a bluegill, for example. We all know this, but sometimes it's nice to be reminded. Skirted jigs are handy for combining a lot of stuff one might want into a nice, neat little package, with the weighted hook, a weedguard, a skirt to bulk it up and add some secondary movement to the lure, etc. But you ain't gotta have all that.

It's just like any hook sizing, yeah. A #4 is bigger than a #6, etc, til you get to the 0/ sizes. Academy's website says that lure has #6 hooks on it, so I'm going by that. I don't do a lot of size changing so much as I change the brand and type of hook with most of the lures that I would change them on (I like Gamakatsu, but that's because I haven't had reason to try different brands). For most moving lures like that I think you can change to just about anything either a size up or down without upsetting the lure much. With jerkbaits I'm a little more careful with sizing.

I'm...getting there. Y'all are being a lot more polite than I am -- I jokingly describe myself as a gear ***** (with no offense intended, and I'm sorry if it comes across that way). I just love all the...stuff in the hobbies I have. When I was more into shooting I was the same way. Now, with fishing, I just want all the things because they're all so neat. But I struggle with that of late, because most of the stuff doesn't fit how I fish, or it just doesn't catch fish for me, so I'm working to tamp down that urge to buy whatever new shiny and neat thing I see. Yesterday I took four rods and a whole backpack full of stuff. Ended up spending the entire day fishing a little paddletail swimbait on a 3/32oz head from a spinning rod, because that's exactly what the fish wanted. The bottom line is that if I bought what I needed and knew I had a use for instead of buying what I thought looked neat and didn't really have a use for, I'd not only likely end up catching more fish because it prevents me from analysis paralysis, but I'd save money in the process.

I love H2O Xpress hard baits (the Rattlin' T is fantastic and a staple in my gear), but their hooks leave a little something to be desired. I think you're fine going up to a #4 treble on that swimbait without it messing anything up. That lure's big enough that I doubt they'll affect the sink rate or action in the water very much if at all. I like EWG trebles, but you are, of course, free to do what you like.

With apologies to Herr Nietzsche, when you kick the kayak, the kayak also kicks you.

Well, after a lot of asking, I finally got She Who Must Be Obeyed out on the boat with @TnRiver46 and me. Rusty caught a skipjack and dragged it all over the Holston River looking for the striper that got away. By the time we got back to the car, she'd caught enough white bass that we lost count, declared that my good spinning combo was now her good spinning combo, and told me that have to get a boat. So I'm pretty sure we had a great time. I'm so glad she came with us. As for me, I caught my first walleye and may have broken a rib. Those two things aren't related, btw.