DaubsNU1

While not as fun as @A-Jay's new truck day, or even new boat day... New rod-n-reel day is pretty cool! Fenwick HMG-W72ML-FS -- 7'-2", medium light, 4-10lb, 1/8-5/8 oz. Shimano Miravel 2500HG Wanted something longer as most all of my spinning rods are 6'-6" (they fit well in my boat's rod locker). This makes my third medium-light rod in the spinning rod stable...to go with three medium rods and one medium-heavy.

Shelta makes hats that fit my giant dome (size 8!), and I got their face gaiter and gloves. Wear the face protection pretty much every time I'm on the water. Dermatologist has already taken three cancerous spots off my dome. I wear the gloves when I'm going to be fishing all day.

@gim & @MN Fisher, I posted a picture on a FB Musky board holding a fish with a clamp and got absolutely ROASTED. I use the Berkley digital fish scale.

Golfed a little as a kit...there was a tiny public 9 hole course walking distance from home. Fun. Never golfed in HS...it was same as football season in the fall. Golfed a little in graduate school...buddy from Texas was left handed like me, and helped with my swing, even gave me a few clubs to add to my bag. We had great times scrambling two other guys from work. FUN! I have some good friends who golf a lot, but I never really got in to it. Would rather spend my time hunting or fishing. My soon-to-be son-in-law really likes to golf...I might have to pick up the sticks again. Some buddies have great natural swings...others have to work HARD at getting better. Best advice I ever got related to golf..."you aren't battling the other golfers...you are battling yourself...make your game better...don't worry about the other guys."

Love me some power worms. Been fishing them since the 1990's, and they still produce. Buddy ready some research a while back that talked about how good a LMB's sense of smell was. My brother got some smelly-jelly for our Canada pike fishing trip. that stuff STUNK! I don't think he caught many more fish than I did. I've had some scents in my boat for a while, but don't really use them. I have found the Gulp minnows really produce on panfish and even catch some LMB's. I am careful to not spill that in my boat.

I have been using the Trilene knot on everything since the late 1980's. With one addition...after step #3, I run the end back in the loop just made. This knot has served me well with mono, fluorocarbon, and braid.

That's a bummer @A-Jay : ( I've owned a couple GM 5.3's and a 6.2, but way back in the early 2000's. Great engines! I'm not a fan of the AFM or auto-start-stop feature. Just give me a good old-fashion GM V8, and feed that pig! I looked hard at the 5.3, 6.2, and even the Baby DMax 3.0 back in 2019 when shopping for a new truck. Opted for the 2500HD with the 6.6/DMax. Mine is the last year of that body style with the 6 speed Allison. It's not a daily driver, has ~59k miles to date, and runs like a champ (knock on wood). I sincerely hope GM figures out the 6.2 issues quickly. Good luck to you!!

Great suggestions @Glenn! Thank you! I have a giant dome...and finally found a sun-hat that fits. #SheltaHats

Brother and I made trip to Churchill River system last summer. We took 12" & 18" steel and titanium leaders. They worked well with our 40lb braid. ** Exception ** Brother had a huge pike next to the boat...it sucked in the buck-tail AND 12" leader completely...turned and snapped the braid like it was a knife through butter. How the heck it got in past the 12" leader was beyond us.... After changing to the 18" leader...and about 40 minutes later...had another giant pike do the SAME THING! Inhaled the lure and leader, turned and broke off the braid. Ugh! We caught tons of pike on that trip...and a fair amount of Walleye as well. Place was so remote, we were catching Walleye on 1oz. pike dare devils : ) Tasty!

Electronics very much changed how I fish. First non-bank fishing was out of a john boat, canoe or belly-boat. All we could do was throw to visible structure -- weed beds, trees, rip-rap, etc. Got my first boat, and found a Bottom Line Fishin Buddy...gave me depth and water temp. Pretty cool! Upgraded to Garmin Echomap and really LOVED side imaging. Opened new worlds! Was able to find off-shore brush piles, structure, etc. Ability mark spots is great. Biggest game changer for me...spot-lock on my trolling motor(!)

Holy cow! Two spring failures in one trip(?!!!). Glad things worked out!!!

Decided to give Hot Sauce another try...but this time changed things up. Got a bug-scrubber sponge, soaked with Hot Sauce and went to town. Kept the surface wet and worked that sponge lightly over and over again. Finally got the water spots taken care of. Hard to see in pictures but Marge looks pretty good. Took about 90 minutes total. Note to self, Hot Sauce the dang boat next time. Jeez.

Last Thursday hooked the 5th wheel to the DMAX, and then the Lund behind the camper...and headed to Central Nebraska to camp. Huge thundercell missed us Thursday night...Friday was triple digits...camper's AC worked hard to get us to 80 degrees inside(!) Wind blew hard all weekend. Caught a couple of nice walleye, and spent good time meeting my daughter's fiance's parents (they have a permanent campsite for their bumper-pull). Great people! Driving home was an adventure...headed east...and south winds 20-25 MPH with gusts to 35 MPH. Truck pulled just fine for the three hour drive home. Was cool and rainy today...and will be most of the week. Stay safe out there people!

If your car has only 18k miles, keep fixing it. Keep on the maintenance. Should last you a good long while. I'm big fan of Toyota, Honda, and Subaru. Had many Honda's...current daily driver is a 2005 Accord with 144k. I change the oil every 3k miles, do all the maintenance myself. Got four new Michelin tires last summer. Runs like a top and knocks down 30 MPG every tank. The headliner has fallen in parts, and a few door lock actuators don't work...but the AC blows cold, and everything else works well. Wife has a 2017 Subaru Outback 3.6 we purchased new. Even got extended warranty. Yet never used it. Up to 115k miles, no major issues. Did have a transmission seal leak, but covered by Subaru technical service bulletin...no cost to us. She loves that car and wants to keep driving it as long as possible. I would avoid Kia & Hyundai like the plague! Daughter went through hell with oil consumption, failed engine, arguing with Kia on warranty...car sat in the lot for 4 months. 2017 Sportage. Nightmare! To add insult to injury, a few months after getting the car fixed and back, the Kia was stolen in broad daylight. Thankfully was fully insured. She took the cash and got a 2009 Accord and is very happy.

Growing up my Dad had a home-made construction box on his truck (carpenter). Great for hauling and keeping stuff dry. When I got a truck, never had anything covering the bed. Did that for many, many years, never thought twice about it. My brother got a roll up tonneau cover...I resisted. I finally got a roll up tonneau with my 2019 Duramax. I really like! Got dealer to throw in the tonneau cover with purchase...it was the inexpensive GM version. Lasted five years...I then went with an Access Laredo for about $600. Much better. I thought about a solid tonneau, but for my needs, the roll up version is better.

Fished for years with my cable steer trolling motor. It worked well and I was able to get fish in the boat. Brother got a fancy new trolling motor with auto pilot...pretty neat, but why bother upgrading when I could do the same in my boat, with the old cable steer. About five years ago brother got his dream boat, and outfitted with an Ulterra. Talk about a GAME CHANGER! Yep, has auto-deploy-n-stow, auto pilot, remote control, linked to the fish finders, etc., which are all very neat. But Spot-Lock was the true game changer, especially here in Nebraska where the wind seems to always be blowing. Worth every penny in my opinion. It's nice to lock in to a spot and fish, but what I like best is spot-locking and not having to worry about drifting in to rocks, or a tree, or anything else. I can spot lock, sit down in the boat and change lures, grab a snack, untangle a fish from the net.

Normally I wipe down the Lund with Hot Sauce after every trip to the lake. Last weekend pulled the camper and boat to central Nebraska, fished three days and figured I would just clean up the boat after getting back home. Bad choice. Hand washed with soap and water, and hit with Hot Sauce...got most of the water spots...but still seeing lots on the hull, motor and windshield. Tried 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water...no luck. Thoughts / suggestions? THANKS!

WeatherBug for 90% of my needs. MyRadar has pretty darn good radar imaging.

Buddy is a die-hard bass fisherman. Always trying to get me, my Brother and Nephew to his honey hole (6 hour drive). Keeps talking about all the 19-20+ inch bass they pull from these lakes. He's sent a few pictures...always grinning and holding the fish out towards the camera. I said send me a picture with a ruler...so we get a picture of his LMB...the ruler is tilted...and the fish is not even at the zero mark. HA! So I re-created his picture and sent to just my Brother and Nephew...and texted the following: "Nice 16-1/2" bass to start the day...or 19" if you measure right : ) " Made me giggle...I'm such a turd!

Nope. Not this prairie dog. In unrelated news: I was pulling up to dock and a guy was unloading scuba gear...I inquired. He was going to help a buddy who "lost a $1,100 set up" in the lake. It was only 9' of water and they had it marked pretty well. Kayak? Nope, rod and reel(!) I didn't know one could spend that kind of scratch on a "setup," but this thread helps me understand...

Fishing at the break of dawn in 5' or water near some standing timber and weed beds...huge fish swiped at the black buzz-bait and missed(!) I thought it was a pike...had seen one the day before hanging around that weed bed. I kept chugging along, throwing the buzz-bait...and WHAM, fish on!! Nope, not a Northern Pike.... An eleven pound, eight ounce catfish(!) HA! Heck of a fight...he was grouchy! I've caught catfish on cranks and spinner baits...never thought I would land a big cat on top water!

My home lake is 220 acres. There are sooo many sunken brush piles and much standing timber, I don't feel like I am over-fishing at all. It's a fun lake with 5lb LMB's, Master Angler crappie, and even stocked Northern Pike.

I've owned Garmin EchoMap and Humminbird Helix. Both are wonderful. I found the Helix to have better side imaging (if that means anything to you). Cannot recommend spot-lock enough! It has been a game changer!! If you are thinking Humminbird, check for compatibility with new Mega Live 2...I believe you need an Explore model to make that work.

I wear eye and ear protection a LOT! Running the shop-vac, ear protection. Working on the boat, eye protection. Table saw, ear protection. Mowing grass, eye AND ear protection. I have two sets of fishing glasses...one for low light, and one for bright situations...and they are always on my face.

Does not surprise me one bit. Very easy for me to give advice for someone like yourself fishing half the country away. I have benefited from the advice, expertise and wisdom of BR...it's very much appreciated. When it comes to my local lakes, and giving advice to those who are fishing same water, I am more guarded. My home lake is 220 acres in metro Omaha. A few weeks back I counted 17 boats/kayaks on the water, and 23 people fishing one stretch of rock dike. Lots of "internet-scouts" on the Nebr. FB fishing pages...and they get pissy when people post pictures and don't share location, lures, depth, water temp, wind speed, etc. HA! Do your own scouting and figure it out for yourself.