Tatsu Dave

All type of views on this as it should be, no two minds think exactly alike. For recoil if its a consideration, think about a brake on the gun for load work, sighting in, and general shooting to stay sharp or for varmints in the summer or the like. Wear hearing protection and don't use a brake that vents down, $200. up will buy one and threads for installation. Lot of new guns come threaded or even with a brake already., you will be amazed at the recoil reduction. Screw it off and they sell a $10. cap to protect the threads when hunting. I will say with complete honesty that I have never felt the recoil of a gun when shooting at game, adrenaline or single pointed concentration, call it what you like I've never felt recoil even in a weatherby. A good quality recoil pad can also do wonders over the sometimes thin skimpy factory models. Now for cartridge choice, any cartridge that shoots 50gr or less powder charge has not been a shoulder bruiser unless in a very light gun. That's simply been my experience after years of shooting and hunting. I use a 7mm-08 and 260 in very light short 20" bbl. guns, they are very pleasant to shoot and easy to maneuver in thick regrowth and climbing trees. Do I have a favorite between them? yes I like the 7mm a little better for the simple fact I've had the most drop in their tracks kills. I use the same nosler accubonds in both guns at about the same velocity and I always shoot my deer in the scapula if broadside is presented at all. I always try to break a shoulder even on a quartering shot, up here they can be very hard to find in the thick cover and wet boggy ground. My son uses and loves a 308 with 165gr partitions, last four deer were dead right there. I reload so bullet make or weight isn't a concern at all, I'm an off the deep end accuracy nut so I build my own rifles and shoot a lot in late winter early spring before bass fishing starts taking up my time exclusively for the summer to end of Sept. There's a lot of choices out there from 24 - 35 caliber and everyone has their favorite, I guess for me its the 7mm-08 with 140gr nosler accubonds its a hard set-up not to like but 260 or 308 also please me. Thank You to all the members who took the time to respond and share their opinions and preferred cartridge's. Oh and Daubs.........AWESOME muley and some beautiful long range hunting terriority! Dave

I'm kind of on constant ready on this one, have had no problems but try to be prepared. Insisted on a new spare mounted wheel and tire when I bought boat package and got a pull up trailer jack along with a small quick lift hydraulic and Large 4 way lug wrench. Made sure I had the wrench needed to remove tire from trailer mount and keep the pressure checked like I do the trailer tires. Keep on high side pressure wise but you do get more trailer bounce on rough roads with a light boat and trailer. Lucky where I live its all rural and secondary roads so not as hard to get off road, but on the other side of the coin its easy to pick-up something in trailer tires when towing and launching in the willy wacks.

I really dislike carp, with that said I have caught bass under carp when they are up on or near surface. They can be spooky and other times you don't know your casting in to them. Fishing dam tailraces they will hit small plastics and good fight or not I hated it cause it wasted my time when I could be catching a striper or big smallmouth Moved north to Maine and left them behind now its bass or my new disliked friends pickerel. Always something I guess.

I just sold a box of all new plastic baits I never use or tried and didn't like. I was going to put it in classifieds on here and try to sell till I weighed it and realized what it was going to cost to ship. Ran it in a local swap, sell, and trade online site, sold to second caller and I met him local and didn't have to eat shipping. Takes me about 5-6 years to amass 60-80 pacs of plastics that I want to sell, .25-.45 cents on the dollar moves stuff out fast. I buy a lot more than I end up liking and using, fish quickly show me which ones caught me instead of them

For me the last 4 years its steady been a 5" stickbait........usually GY senko's, but sometime's BBB trick sticks, and of late SK ocho's, and I also have to include GB rattlesnakes and their snake'o the newest additions......did I mention both wacky and T-Rigged Runner-Up has been a pit boss burned at or near top over weeds and slow to medium speed deeper.

Use a small jighead, hook up thru the lips and cast and retrieve, or an inline spinner with a hook up thru head or lips. The best I found was redfin shiners for livebait fishing. I haven't fished them now for about 17 years as I have went totally artificial. For me its faster, easier, and you get far less deep hooked fish, they also have different regs up here for fishing live bait now. Knowing what I know now, I think I could outfish someone with a good plastic bait in the time saved with baiting hooks and keeping the livebait lively. I catch multiple fish on one plastic bait without pausing and unhooking is fast, plus when bass are hitting there's less time spent without your lure in the water. If it works good for you however rock out make sure and keep a bubbler running.........You also want as large a baitfish as possible they will swim on their own better and bass will tackle any size.

Wow really not your usual choices, have a friend that loves the swede as well. Have these cartridges caused you to reload or do you use factory ammo? Like when someone don't hunt with the same old same old Good Hunting!

I used to lug along a minnow trap baited with a long lasting ceral dog bone, drop it in shallows and fish for a while and come back for some local bait shiners tend to work really well but most local minnows will catch bass in the same body of water....they're the bass forage.

See told you I was an old guy.....my bad

I spend my summers trapping skunks, every year it never fails. They dig up the entire yard and make me nervous with the dog going out. Smell ain't pleasant but there's worse this year at eight and counting, they soon will hibernate and it will start next year. Gotta love it!

You will get thru this and should maybe change some things in your diet. Better than the alternative of not knowing and having a life changing event. See you out fishing next year on the mighty potomac river!

I hesitated to post my boat on here just due to the fact its a little low dollar set-up when compared to the high end boats I see. Well I guess we're all proud of what we have and use so here's mine. I used to have a bass boat and sold it after 14 years when we went thru a big move and bought a house in another state. When I went looking for something my son and I could fish in I had new budget restraint's and completely different fishing spots and launch area's to deal with. I had three different things that were must have's and the rest I could work with, had to have a walk thru hull design - had to be small enough to navigate the smaller shallower places we would fish - had to have an electric start engine with alternator to charge starting battery. Found this Lowe as a package locally and it fit the list, just needed me to turn it into a fishing boat. Here it is all set up to fit the two of us and well in the budget, motor sips gas and Tacoma pulls it effortlessly, it will launch in 20" of water and don't need a ramp or launch site. If the truck will get it in and its clear to the water we're good Four years of hard fishing and its worked out fine for us.........

OK you have a great answer here to explain the difference in lines, now the better and higher quality your rod is it will allow you to feel the bottom, vegetation, pick-ups, and limbs as you pull thru wood. For me a good rod (best I can afford) coupled with FC line (best I can buy) really lets you develop a feel for what's under the surface that you can't see. Tight Lines

Wow lot of math for an old guy........if you wait for a sale (15%) at TW its $68. a gallon. To buy that same amount in 4oz bottles it would cost you $136. exactly twice as much. I think its the way to go for less memory and much better casting distance, it also lubes the line roller and bail as well. What I like about it is it's not greasy kid's stuff like a lot of them are, it dries hard and slick.

Don't think coffee scent will hurt no more than garlic. If its like my experience some days it will work other days it won't do any different than unscented plastics. I will warn you that reel snot is very greasy/oily and as such attracts dust and dirt to your reel, I like the KVD that dries hard and don't attract anything. Nothing to do with fishing success just a sticky substance on spooled line ,spool, and bail. Good Fishing! For the guys discussing coffee, I love blue mountain Jamaican coffee better than even the Kona. Best in the world far as I'm concerned

There are days when the 8 sided coffee scent Strike King Ocho's just outfish any other stickbait I try, one trip, my son had the only pac of ochos in junebug. We fished everyone till it wouldn't stay on the hook, when they ran out our fishing got real slow Was it the multi sides catching light different or the coffee scent making them hold on longer? Maybe both who knows.

Cooler for sure and a place that for decades has always provided a small lake type ecosystem. More baitfish and deeper cover and ambush points for smallmouth to lay behind in the ever present current.

Yes it did create deep water behind and that lasted sometimes long after mill dams were removed, in my state where they are removing these dams to this day, some long abandoned, the stripers are making there way back upstream. Both mills and electric production produced a lot of dams on local waterways. Same principal as where small trout streams are blocked by beaver dams producing tiny 1-2 acre ponds that produce much larger trout. Smallmouth love these deeper water havens.

A bulk buyer as well, it gets so much cheaper that way!

You would think that would have been the last thing on the list of grub, for that fish.

I have found the KVD L&L to be a good way to tame FC line and add distance to casts, both those effects go away during the day as you fish. I don't think it makes a difference in bass seeing line as no line is totally invisible and its effect would be far less than colored or tinted line and much less then braid. I use KVD as regular addition to my tatsu line and do think it improves abrasion resistance and don't seem to attract like an oil coating the rest use, reel snot is the worst of all for this. A happy and regular KVD user

Guess its no mystery with my handle, it was a long slow curve to Tatsu........ not overnight. Tried mono, braid, and several other FC lines first, I strictly use spinning finesse tackle and smaller lures year round. Tatsu line has really been impossible for me to beat, couple weeks ago I posted about considering some of the new hybrid lines and appreciate the feedback I got from many members. Thing is it seemed they all were a compromise in different ways and I had to give up something I already had to make the switch. Decided to stay with tatsu FC line and accept the added cost as the major drawback. Invisible as you're going to get, stretches but very little, amazing sensitivity, it sinks just right for my style of fishing, and the stuff is really strong and resists abrasion. No I don't work for seaguar or sell tackle, just my own personal on water experience. Buy your KVD line conditioner in bulk and learn to push the line a couple times in a days fishing. I spool 5 rigs at a time and I'm happy.

Well my son and I both hunt quite a ways away but where there's doe there will be bucks. Hope you are successful in helping him get his first deer Leaves are coloring fast and starting to drop some as well, couple more days of warm weather and then it cool's down towards the end of next week. I'm thinking about putting one more stand up........never can have too many really, allows you to rotate around and not over scent an area. Good Hunting Dave

Thats A pretty Good Deal! Got A Garmin 5" CV and use the features a lot....only wish I had gotten the 7" screen instead. Its all I need for a 14' tin boat, just a bigger screen. Dave

Thats about sums up how I feel as well, never have had a problem and never have damaged any optics. Don't have any scope slipping or moving issues either, Burris sig z rings and talleys have served me well Understand the lapping process but haven't needed it in more birthdays than I care to admit. Good Shooting