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Berkley Creature Hawg, NetBait Bama Bug, or Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver. They're all pretty much the same thing. I just grab whatever is available, in the color I want, and cheapest. I use them either T-rigged or as jig trailers. They've pretty much replaced all of my other soft plastic craws.

My HOA is actually pretty cool. They don't have any silly rules and the cheap dues (about $100 a year) mostly go towards nightly patrols and the occasional road maintenance plus this section of grass along the entrance. But I've heard enough horror stories to know how lucky I am.

It's the cottonmouths that get thick around lakes down here. I've seen probably 100 in a mating ball before. Most of the other venomous snakes around here are more likely to be found in the prairies than the woods. Every year I run into lots of snakes. Just watch where you step, especially near thick grass. If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. We're predators, not prey to them. There's a common water snake that lives near a spot along the bank of a lake I frequent. We're good friends. He doesn't seem to mind me and I don't mind him. Two years ago, he caught a fish that was bigger than he is and dragged it halfway across the lake just so he could eat it next to my feet. He just wanted to rub it in, like old friends do when they snag a PB. I've got video of the whole thing too.

I believe I'm a fairly decent human being because I'm poor. If I were super rich, I doubt that would hold. I'd buy mansions in nice neighborhoods and set them up as homeless shelters. Not to help the homeless, but to anger the neighbors. I'd buy a monster truck just to run over random cars in parking lots, because it wouldn't mean anything for me to replace hundreds of cars a day. I'd buy property just outside of large neighborhoods with powerful HOA's and build smut museums to tank their property value and stick a thumb in the eye of their HOA. I'd want immediate and devastating revenge for every perceived slight. So I would hope that if I ever came across that much money, I'd give it all away before I became corrupted by it. I might keep enough to pay off some bills, mortgages and maybe start a small business. But the rest of it needs to go in order to save myself from myself and a self-righteous crusade against all things not centered around me. Once I got used to getting whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, I don't think there's any coming back.

Yeah. It's a real type of wild dog over there that actually looks a whole lot like our raccoons over here. Legend says they bring good luck and prosperity. But it also says that they like to pull pranks on people. So buy the Yamatanuki at your own risk. It could bring you good luck. Or it could play tricks on you.

I've used it all at some point. I do a LOT of cranking, as it's my confidence bait. And to me, they all have their ups and downs. A lot of what I'll choose now has to do with the rod I'm pairing it with and what bait's I'm throwing on it. For example, if you're using a softer medium/moderate rod with something like a DT10 and making long casts with mono, you might have problems setting the hook with a lot of line out. On the other hand, with a stiffer MH/F rod and braided line, you might have trouble keeping the fish pinned at close range. But putting braid on that first rod or mono on the second will help to negate some of those issues. So I tend to choose the rod and baits first, and then match the line to it, rather than just using one line for everything cranking. Right now, my deep diving cranks (10+ feet) go on medium heavy / moderate rod with 30lb braid. The thinner braid helps to get the plug down deeper, and the MH/M rod has enough give to keep the fish pinned while still having enough backbone to set the hook on a long cast. With squarebills, I tend to opt for a medium / moderate-fast rod with copoly line. Copoly tends to stretch kind of like mono and be less visible, kind of like fluoro. A good compromise between the two. Plus it doesn't have the memory or cost of good fluoro. For really light lures, like a Rapala Shad Rap, I prefer a ML/F spinning rod with 10lb braid. And the reason for this is I can use that rod for a lot of other things, and not have to dedicate a third rod to crankbaits when space and money is limited. I typically don't throw a lot of those. Moral of the story: the line you choose is part of a system and it's best to consider the whole system and what role you want that line to play in that system. Any line can work well in the right system. And any line can be a poor choice in the wrong system. It might take some experimenting to figure out what works best for you.

White/Chartreuse for lightly stained water. Black/blue for heavily stained water. Maybe if I ever got to fish clear water, I'd try something different. I'm much more concerned with blade shape/size and jighead weight, as they'll determine the speed and depth I can fish them in.

Definitely more in hotter water. But that might just be because I'm throwing them more after the water warms up. In colder water, I tend to choose more subtle presentations with smaller profiles, if for no other reason than habit. I'm kind of impatient with lure selection, so I tend to get an idea, and if it doesn't work, I move on to something drastically different. I don't do a lot of fine-tuning baits. So lets say the jig with the lizard trailer isn't working. My next choice will probably be a sqaurebill or spinnerbait. And if I work my way back around, I might go with Texas rig or Ned rig instead of a jig. Also, the waters I fish don't have a lot of big bass in them, tend to be pretty stained, and have a lot of fishing pressure. So I think the smaller profile (girth), increased action, and different look from what most anglers are throwing works to my advantage. Or maybe I've just convinced myself of that and refuse to think otherwise.

I use lizards a lot as a jig trailer. Just tear the head off to make them more compact. I also fish them T-rigged. I pretty much stick to 6" Zoom lizards in Junebug. I find they work great in stained water and when the fish are more active. I'll fish them year-round. On the scale of subtle to loud, they're pretty much at the top of the soft plastic scale, so they get used quite a bit.

I hope not. Every year I get suckered into thinking all of these new lures coming out are better than anything else I already own. And I waste time and money finding out that, at best, they're just different versions of what I already own. This year, I'm going to try really hard to convince myself that my tackle box isn't the problem. And that I need to concentrate my efforts on finding fish and recognizing patterns sooner. Which means I'll probably decide I need a new sonar at some point, which makes no sense now but...

In my region, yeah. There's not a large smallmouth population around here. They exist, but I think our large white bass populations (our official state fish, go figure) keep them in check. Though we do have a lot of spotted bass, which can school up. But I don't think they school up in large numbers like the smallmouth that I've read about. Or I haven't observed them to around here, anyway.

Outside of the safety equipment (PFD) and trailer maintenance, I'd just take it out on the water and see what you actually need. Everyone's going to have different preferences. Everyone fishes a little differently. You'll know what you need, as you start to come across those needs. Like I wouldn't deck that boat. And if I did, it would just be the front 1/3rd or so. Just enough of a platform to stand on and pitch from. You'll have more stability, storage and be less likely to lose things by working from the bottom of the hull. Plus you'll save some money and time. I'd get a large sponge for a bilge pump. You shouldn't need it, as you'll likely not want to be out on the water when waves are big enough to come crashing over, and should you spring a leak, you just need to get to land as quickly as possible, and not fight it. I would also install some kind of sonar unit right away. But that's because to me, the whole point of having a boat is to fish offshore structures, and they can be hard to find without a sonar. But those are just my preferences. Other people will have different ones, and that's perfectly fine and valid.

I don't do well in the winter. Water temps hit the low 40's, high 30's most of winter. I'll struggle all day in the cold and maybe get one or two bites, if I'm lucky. But I still go fishing because in the spring, it's usually too windy to be safely out on the water. As bad as the temperatures are in the winter and summer, they're the only two seasons where I don't have to fight high winds. So while the fishing might not be as good, at least I can try. The next four days have wind speeds in the low 20's with gusts in the 40's. I've fished in those conditions many times before, and it's no fun in my kayak. Saturday is 10mph with gusts around 21. If that holds, it'll be the first time I've fished in three weeks, and probably the last time I fish for another three weeks. By late May, early June, it usually calms down enough to get back out on the water, at least semi-consistently.

Not really. I have many times caught 5 or 6 off a single spot before the bite dies down. But I've never experienced, with black bass anyway, a day where you can catch a ten or more off a single piece of structure. Now crappie and white bass are a different story.

I had seen my first Rivian about a year and half ago, just driving around town. I thought by now that I'd be seeing a bunch, but that was really the only one. I guess they ran into supply chain problems. There's another electric car company called Canoo that's supposed to be building a plant near me. Actually, three plants. But they've been saying that for years now, and don't seem to be making any actual progress. My bet is that with the market contracting like it is, they'll probably go under before they get their first car off the assembly line. But I'll keep my fingers crossed that they succeed, because we could use the jobs here. I briefly looked in to getting an electric vehicle two years ago when I got my last car. But they're just too expensive to be practical right now. Even if you factor in the price of fuel. My brother bought a Model S Plaid though, and let me tell you, that thing will literally hurt your chest when you drop the hammer on it! The best way I can describe it is to imagine driving 70mph and then slamming on the brakes as hard as you can, so that it tries to throw you out of your seat and into your seatbelt. Now imagine that exact same feeling, only your seat is facing the other direction. It's nuts! And the punch is immediate!

That top rod looks like it lost of fight with a meat grinder! Seriously, I've got some old, fiberglass rods with cork grips have lived uncovered in either the boat or the garage for the last 40 years that don't look anywhere near as bad as that! They've never been sealed, or probably even cleaned, either! I won't lie and say they look as good as the bottom rod, but man... that guy's had a rough life!

I leave mine rigged up until I want to switch to something else. I prefer to keep them fresh in the bag as long as possible, but I'm not going to waste a plastic bait over it. I only takes me a few seconds to rig up a soft plastic, so I don't worry about doing it the night before. Plus, sometimes I change my mind once I've found my spot. But there have been many, many times where I've left a soft plastic bait on a hook for months on end. And in the case of some jigs, years on end! And yeah, I've seen it rust the hook a time or two. But I guarantee you I would have wasted more money in needlessly swapping out plastics than I have in replacing the rare hooks. And most it's just surface rust that rubs off easily.

There's a lot of truth to this. About 20 years ago, everyone was up in arms about nutria, killer bees, and fire ants. But eventually everyone learned to live with them. I'm not saying they're not still problems. But no one loses sleep over them anymore. We've all moved on to wild boars and mountain lions. Which is kind of funny, because those all existed here 20 years ago as well, and probably even in greater numbers, but no one talked about them then. These days, nutria are less common than beavers and muskrats, and probably less damaging to the environment (due to their subdued numbers). Plus, people know to kill them on sight. So while they exist, their populations remain relatively in check, and no one talks about them like they used to.

In 2019 when I went looking for a new battery, I couldn't even find a gel cell available locally. Though, that might not mean much. I recently switched to lithium, and the only lithium I could find locally was the Bass Pro house brand. But there are probably 100+ brands available online of lithium batteries. The only gel cell battery brands I'm finding online (and admittedly, I haven't done a deep dive) are Renogy, Weize, and Mighty Max, plus a whole bunch of AGM batteries that are mislabeled as gel cell. I think it's going the way of the Carbon Zinc, NiCad, or NiMH batteries.

Yeah. I too was surprised at the difference. One thing I didn't anticipate was how much faster my kayak went with the LiFePo4 battery. Not only did I lose some weight (about 50lbs), but I got a higher nominal voltage just by the nature of the chemistry. So I gained over 0.5mph in top speed, which doesn't sound like a lot, but going from 3.1 to 3.7mph is pretty significant. And being able to use 90%, instead of just 50% of the battery's capacity means I can drop down to a half-sized battery and not lose any range. Or keep the same size and double the range! And the weight at the end of the day! You don't realize how priceless that is until you've experienced it firsthand! Those Noco Genius chargers are pretty nice. If anyone thinks they might be in the market for a lithium battery sometime in the not-too-distant future, I suggest you keep your eyes peeled for a suitable Noco Genius charger. They go on sale from time to time, and they work really well for lead acid and AGM batteries as well. So you can buy one and use it now, and keep on using it when you do make that eventual upgrade.

Maybe it's because I'm not any good at fishing, but I've always enjoyed the process of fishing more than the actual catching of fish. I'm not saying I don't like to catch fish, because that is the best part! But if I had the option of going to a beautiful and quiet lake and spending the day casting, knowing I would never catch a thing, or going to a fish stocking tank, knowing I'd catch hundreds, if not thousands of fish in a day, I'd choose the first option 100% of the time.

What helps me is knowing that I catch more fish on my cheaper rods. Not because the rods are cheaper or even better (they're definitely not), but because I do better with moving baits, and don't feel the need to spend as much on a rod for moving baits. Anyway, it proves to me that I still haven't achieved that skill level yet where I actually NEED better rods to catch more fish. In other words, my cheap rods aren't what's holding me back, yet. Plus, the law of diminishing returns tells me that I might be a tiny bit disappointed. Jumping from $30 rods to $130 rods was pretty eye opening. I don't think I can replicate that level of improvement, even with a $1,300 rod. But, there's nothing wrong with wanting nice things. Especially when talking about the tools of the hobby you're passionate about. You will enjoy them. And everyone deserves a few nice things in their life. And a bit of delayed gratification will make the payoff feel even sweeter! So I'll probably own a Megabass one day. But I'm okay with waiting for it.

I'd still talk to some banks. Even with $93k in student loan debt, you might still be able to qualify for a loan. You just might have to put up more of a down payment to make it work for them. If you can put up enough down payment where the bank can make their money back and then some by reselling the boat should you default on the loan and they have to repossess it, the bank should be more than happy to give you that loan. At that point, it becomes a no-risk investment for them. And they love those. Do this. Figure out how much you can spend on a monthly boat payment and spend the next year putting that amount of money away into a savings account each month. That'll tell you if your figure is correct, without the risk of losing anything if you overestimated it. Then you'll have a healthy down payment to work with. You'll owe less on the loan and have lower monthly payments. You might even get a better rate. And all you had to do was delay the boat purchase for a year or so. The problem with Cabela's 9.99% interest rate is it's going to be variable. Even if they claim you are "locked in" to that rate, if you're late on just one payment, they can jack up your rates to a sky-high amount and keep raising them whenever they feel like it after that, even if you make the rest of your payments on time. And trust me, they will do things to help make sure that happens, like "accidentally" not mail you a bill one month. Or if you do automatic withdrawals, they might set it up so that your payment is withdrawn on the last day of the billing cycle, so if there's a delay due to a technical issue or some other problem, you're in trouble, even if it's not your fault. One tiny slip up can cost you tens of thousands of dollars here. That's way too risky. A regular bank loan is a lot safer and more flexible. Plus, with a credit card bill that size, there's a good chance the boat will soon wind up being worth less than what you owe, as it'll depreciate faster than the money you put into it. And each month, your minimum payment could go up, making it harder and harder to make those payments. Credit cards are designed to get you into trouble. That's how they make their money without you putting up any collateral.

For cover, I fish standing timber and used auto parts. Sometimes I'll fish the reeds and water willows, but they typically get so thick that it becomes impossible to get anything out of them. Sometimes I'll fish the edges though. I don't like fishing standing timber, but that's about all there is. And as for the used auto parts, well one of the lakes I fish is next to an auto salvage yard, and I guess if people can't sell it to the auto salvage yard, they just dump it in the lake next to it. Or maybe the salvage yard is dumping stuff into the lake. I don't know the details, I just know the results. About six months ago, someone dumped a fiberglass ski boat from the 80's, stripped of anything of value. No trailer, of course. As for structure, I fish points. These are man-made lakes, either water reservoirs or old mines, so there are no creek channels and no feeder creeks.

If you're like me, and you fish all of the time but don't service all of your reels at once, you'll know when it's time to service a reel. You can tell that it's not retrieving as smoothly or casting as far. Something will start to feel/sound off with it. If you don't fish that often, it might be harder to notice the subtle differences. In that case, once a year is probably on the safe side. Typically, for me, it's about once a year on average. Sometimes I'll need to do a reel after four to six months, or sometimes it can go two years or more. I have a reel made in 1974 that I still use from time to time. It belonged to my grandfather and he never serviced his reels. I got it in the late 2000's, so it made it over 30 years without being serviced, and still fishes fine after a cleanup and lube job. They're not super delicate items. So how often you service kind of depends on how good of condition you expect it to be in, and how often you use it. If you only fish a couple of times a year but take care of it in between, you could probably go a decade between teardown events.