BayouSlide

Yes, I have fond memories of the delicious smoked mullet from Publix supermarkets when I lived in Florida.

A Dobyns Champion XP DC 736 CB Glass, Shimano Chronarch MGL, Sunline Shooter 16# flourocarbon here. It's one of my best setups: invested more than normal because I fish chatterbaits on nearly every outing and this setup seems absolutely perfect to me. It's a joy to use. FWIW, after I went to the DC736 CB Glass, I seldom lose a fish: hookups are significantly improved.

A number of good ones but my all-time favorite is a Hog Farmer Spunk shad: been using it successfully on chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and swim jigs. Has become my go-to trailer.

I'm not conceding unless you can provide a length and a certified weight ?

In my best Crocodile Dundee voice, "Call that small? THIS is small."

Go with Mega+ DI built in, then attach a Mega 360, which can be used in either SI or 360 mode.

I'm assuming you won't have Mega 360 or Mega Live immediately, but you will be able to use them with a new 4G Humminbird. AFAIK, any Mega+ transducer in 2D should not require an upgrade. I'd call Humminbird customer service and talk it over with them: they've always been very helpful to me. They'll have the specifics. Or don't wait in a call cue: HB has excellent compatibility charts online: it clears up which unit is compatible with which of their products and covers everything. https://www.humminbird.com/support/compatibility

I'd hang until the G4 is available...it's the best way to ensure your HB will be compatible with the latest technologies. FWIW, I just sold as Gn3 Helix 7 for just that reason.

The downside of loving dogs is knowing that we will continue to outlive them. Sympathies on the loss of your friend: been there and will be again.

8# Sunline Sniper FC

How about a fully rigged aluminum G3 bass boat & trailer: picked mine up for $4000 a few years back. Didn't have to look too long to find a nice used boat at a good price. Things may be different now.

All my bird dogs (and my house dogs) have always been on Advantix on a three week schedule (vet recommended) rather than the four week recommended on the package. These dogs have spent years in tick infested brambles here in Louisiana, yard grass with fleas plus the mountains of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming where ticks carrying Rocky Mountain spotted fever are a possibility. Can't remember the last time any of them had a tick, and the few fleas I note on them have a short life, unhappy life ?. Easy application via tube to their backs and absorbed into the skin over a day or two.

As it's said, opinions are like *** and everyone's got one. Here's mine. A fellow Louisianan here who fishes the snagfest of shallow water around the Atchafalaya and who also locks down his drag tight...went to Sunline Sniper #16 with a Palomar knot and never had a reason to second guess this choice. ?? That said, I still keep my lure knocker handy (a 5 oz. bank sinker zip-tied with a swivel clip) on the deck. Lose very few lures with this combination.

Tain't necessarily so, buddy. Could be just someone like myself (also retired) who made a modest income but saved and invested wisely enough along the way so that now they don't waste time rigging or re-rigging when we should be fishing. No Pro delusions/imitation here. Only so many hours and minutes left on the water for us elders and I don't intend to waste any of it. ?

I saw a HB Mega Live available from a retailer a few weeks back and jumped on it! I was happy with it before the software upgrade and like it even more now. Able to find the HB Ethernet box and another Helix 10 so everything is networked and both Mega 360 and Mega Live hang off the Ultrex, feeding 2 Helix 10s at the bow. Seamless integration with other MK/HB products was why I was waiting for HB's iteration of live imaging. I live in landscape view because most of the water I fish is less than 4 feet deep but the mounting bracket allows easy switching to each of the different views and the software in the Helix automatically switches to the correct orientation. How detailed is it? The other day I watched my chatterbait bop a gar in the tail and his immediate backflip to escape ?? I find it more useful in shallow water than Mega 360 for what it's worth.

Take care of yourself, bro. You're a font of wisdom we all appreciate...to riff on the E.F. Hutton commercial, "When Catt talks, we listen!" I lost a bucketmouth this morning on a poor hookset and thought, "Catt would kick my *** if he had seen that ?."

A sky full of nature's own skeeter hawks, the purple martin, out in force on Lake Martin, Louisiana, this morning.

Another fishing bird photo: an osprey perched above its nest, high in a cypress

I run the trolling motor nearly fulltime, the big motor very little. Running into the same problem with electronics draw (2 Helix 10s up front running Mega 360 & Mega Live), to the point where I didn't have enough juice to get the motor trim to work at the end of the day. Solved the problem by switching from an Optima D34M to the larger Optima D31M.

A couple of biguns sharing a sunning log

Caught my first Neko rigged bass on one (#1/0) with a 5 in. Senko this past Saturday. Gently dragged it along some submerged wood, felt the fish, set the hook. Perfect hook up, needed pliers to remove. Don't see why it should be any worse than with any Texas rig. Don't find hook up problems there either, but then I try to maintain constant contact (tight line) anyway.

If so, somebody should tell Falcon. Their Lowrider series feature very small guides which I assumed were micro size and are nice rods at an execellent price point: I own a number of them now. They don't advertise them as micro guides (perhaps a trademark issue, don't know) but as "Fuji 100% tangle free K frame guides."

Did it look like this by any chance?

Probably right about the pretentious and lonely men part, definitely right about the casting all day. But calling it boring: them's fightin' words ?

Biggest bass: Black Dog Shellcracker (4 in., 1.5 oz.) in Bright Bluegill Honorable mention: Dirty Jigs Scott Canterbury Pro Buzz with black toad trailer Most bass: Owner Ultrahead Shaky Jig, 1/8 oz., #4/0, with 4 in. Zoom Trickworm in Sapphire Blue