DaubsNU1

@scaleface thanks! I really like a 3/16th oz bullet weight for my t-rigs...paired with a 2/0 Gama EWG, this is one of my favorite ways to fish. @fishballer06 I love me a spinner bait...and usually work the timber with this technique. I'll have to give the brush piles a try. I really need to pick up some swimbaits. That's one of the techniques I have not really embraced. @casts_by_fly & @Functional the water is fairly murky...1-2' visibility at best. I do have a box full of jerkbaits...haven't had much luck with them. I need to break them out and give the brush piles a try.

Home lake opened in 2018, 220 acres. NE Game and Parks left most of the trees standing, and also created a bunch of brush piles throughout the lake. Most of the brush-piles are in 10-15 feet of water...tops of the piles are usually 6-9 feet below surface. Image below. What would you suggest? Here is what I've tried: Rapala DT-6 / DT-8: fun way to catch them. Bumping the brush seems to help trigger strikes. Rapala Shad Rap: same as above Drop shot: I get hung up a lot, can't seem to get the hang of it. T-rigged plastics: good success lately. NED: tried yesterday...had to pay close attention to keep the bait just above the brush...otherwise it is snag-city. Super nice 3lb. LMB hammered the NED yesterday. That was FUN! Lead-head jig: 1/16th oz with a 2.5" gulp minnow...again, gotta be careful for snags, but I'm landing crappie, bluegill and LMB's. C-Rig: tried running between or on the edges of the piles...but kept getting hung up. No luck with this technique. Squarebill: doesn't seem to run deep enough.

Whelp, we shall see. Best buddy of mine, and his wife, both worked for Cabela's for 30+ years when BPS purchased. It was just a matter of time. I hope Hobie fares better... Is what it is. Buddy and wife are in a great place now. Past is the past. Get busy living, or get busy dying...

Buy-once-cry-once... Not totally top-of-the-line, but tops to me...and both the Lund and DMax well worth the investment! Very close to top of the line...it's 2WD vs. the top-dog 4WD! I like very much.

I have a stupid-good memory for fish I have caught, on specific lures, in specific locations. Hooked in to a great fish under a dock a few years back. Skipped a t-rigged Senko under there...hooked a good one...got him to the boat, then made a mistake and broke off. I still toss a Senko under that dock EVERY time I am on that lake. You never know....

Holler at @A-Jay, he runs a Lund Pro V. I picked up my Adventure early August a few years back. It was used, I felt the deal was fair. Here in the midwest, I would say now is a pretty good time to find a boat. People are tired of them, might need some $$ for the holiday, and/or don't want to winterize or store. Good luck!!

I rough up Senkos...and that's about it.

Okay, I'm kind of giving away one of my secrets here... All nine of my casting reels are these They just work. Three were purchased new back in the 1990's, the remaining have been picked up via eBay and FB marketplace. Found used right around $50. Citica's are 5:1, and the Curado's are 6:1 (or something close). Lately I have found myself leaning more towards the Citita's and the 5:1 ratio. Good luck!

Nope

I run a split tail 99% of the time.

...I took my personal computer to get fixed. Been building my own computers since at least 2000 (maybe before that...hard to remember). Current build is from 2016. Pretty stout Windows 10 machine back in the day, built for photo and video editing. Core i7-4790k Intel chip, 32GB ram, three hard drives (two of which are SSD's), dual monitors, liquid cooled. Did what I needed it to do. Tried to update to Windows 11, but good old Microsoft said hardware incompatible. Thought about building a new box, but just not motivated. A buddy at work had a custom gaming computer with the same Win11 upgrade issue...he took to a small local shop....and they got it installed. Whelp, Monday I started getting BSOD's...and couldn't even get the computer in to Windows 10. I wrote down the errors, and was going to do some research. But found my motivation lacking. Dad's back in the hospital, work is a hot mess, and I just wanted it fixed. So for the first time in 25 years, I took my computer to someone else to get fixed....instead of trouble shooting, researching, and fixing myself. Tonight I am please to say the old computer is back up and running, with Windows 11.

FB marketplace can be excellent. Sold a few boats there and just recently purchased a John Deere riding mower. Take lots of pictures to show the best and worst of your kayak. That will help buyers understand your pricing. I would not pay to advertise on FB marketplace. It should sell itself. You might cross-list on craigslist, just to catch another market. My brother in law is 62, and scours craigslist daily looking for good deals.

I found some horizontal rod holders at Cabela's years ago...mounted them on the sides. Could hold 6 rods in my old Rich Line. Held the rods very well, even when trailering.

In Nebraska, it's max of two hooks per each line. My brother continues to fish an A-Rig...he only has two hooks...the rest are dummy / hookless. Still catches fish.

^^ this is GOLD! ^^ Outstanding@Swamp Girl!! About 30 years ago, when living in northeast Missouri, a friend let me fish his family farm pond. It was maybe an acre total...so about as big as a football field. It was FULL of 8-10" LMB's. They hit on pretty much anything I threw at them. It was really fun...for a while. Found myself yearning to hit the bigger city reservoir, and chase larger bass.

Interesting theory. I've been logging my fishing trips since 1991...tracking things like sunny/cloudy, air temp, water temp, moon phase, wind speed, etc. My hope was to somehow crack the code and be able to identify days that will be good fishing. I also log deer and waterfowl hunts. I've gotten skunked on days that looked great on paper...and caught some hawgs on days where expectations were low. I'm no scientist, and no where near a statistician. I have given up trying to crack the code. My best advice...get on the water, wet a line, try different things, pay attention to what mother nature is telling you, and enjoy yourself. I do enjoy cloudy days more than sunny days. There is just something about a cool, cloudy, crisp fall day on the water (or in the blind...or walking the Sandhills chasing mule deer).

Thank you! I spent a lot of time pondering where to put things, researching, looking at other boats, other builds, etc. I moved the front seat back to give myself more room to stand. That little boat was very stable for how small it was. Very shallow draft...I think less than 4 inches total. It was really fun figuring everything out, routing wires, setting up switches, lights, bilge, etc. Great learning experience for sure!

I love throwing a 3/8 oz. spinner bait with a nice trailer. My favorite way to fish. Close #2 is a buzz-bait, followed by a 7" blue-fleck power worm. Just love that tap-tap-tap...

That right there is outstanding customer service!

Hang in there @casts_by_fly. The drive may come back. I lived and died waterfowl hunting years ago. Would plan out long trips with friends, even created a dedicated web site for our hunt back in the early 2000's to showcase pictures, information, even created awards...it was good fun. Got in to mule deer big time in ~2010, and tagged a few nice ones. @gim I cannot sit in a tree stand...drives me nutty! So I headed west to spot-n-stalk...much more to my liking. Had permission on 19k acre ranch for a few years...that was great. But lost permission. Since I got the Lund back in August 2023, it's been mainly fishing in the fall, until hard water season. Then I do a little waterfowl after that. I've owned a nice bow for about 6 years...but never had any place to hunt. I might consider selling it...We shall see.

I owned a 1960 Rich Line for 20+ years. It was a good boat and served me well. Did some major updates in 2021.

Fished Saturday morning. Family reunion of sorts on Sunday. It's going to rain all day today, so I'm sorting and reorganizing tackle. Enjoy Labor Day!

Home lake has a ton of standing timber, lay downs, etc. It also has really nice brush piles off shore and away from the timber. I struggle to catch fish off-shore on these brush piles. Have burned a Rapala DT-9, and caught a few. This spring I tied on a tried and true lure / presentation from way back in the 1990's...seven inch, blue-fleck power worm, 3/16 oz. bullet weight, pegged, and a 3/0 EWG hook. This was my GO-TO presentation for many, many years. I just love that "tap...tap..tap!" when the LMB picks up that worm. Yesterday I decided to work the brush piles with the Pworm. Depth around 14'...brush piles are 8-9' below water. Landed a 16", and 17-3/4" back to back. Good times!

^^ SUPER impressive!!! ^^ I have fished twenty-four times this year...too depressing to add up all the fish I have caught...maybe a hundred? I should walk out and dig through the fishing logs...

@GoneFishingLTN, I'm just west over here in Nebraska...same with job and hard water season. It seems like I'm always trying new lures/techniques/baits. Always looking to crack the code, and catch fish a new way. This spring I tied on one of my tried and true lures from way back in the day...a blue-fleck 7" power worm, 3/16 oz. pegged weight, and 3/0 EWG hook. This set up was a staple back in the 1990's. I've been fishing that set up really hard this year, and it's been producing! I've also gone back to the green-pumpkin Senko, texas rigged, weight less. Landed some really nice LMB's on that set up. I need to dig out the NED and toss that again...it's been a good producer for me through the years.