Deephaven

I have no reason to take my long sticks apart. I had them all built to 7'10" so they'd fit in rod lockers that were only 8' long...had I realized when they were built that lockers would be getting longer I would have gone longer with many of them. Any presentation that I cast and reel to retrieve or use the rod to bring it back I find the 7'6-8'6" range to be ideal. The more I utilize the rod for the retrieve the more I lean closer to 7'6". Pitching around objects and roll casting to targets I prefer 7'2-7'6, but over head casting or normal side arm casts I don't feel the need to shorten. I used to have some 2 pieces for traveling, but now I travel with the boat so they became unecessary.

Be sort of tough here under the ice. ...and be sort of pointless when the ice is gone. If you removed jerkbaits from your exclusions it'd be a complete no. The jerkbait is one of those baits that I can almost use anytime however and be productive. Deep cranking is right up there with drop shotting as about the last things I ever want to do. The POS quantum KVD cranking rod I have doesn't help that though either.

Great work. Rewarding and frustrating sums up the process rather well

30lb power pro on and 8' mhf

And I would like to see Keith over engineer the support for said tarp. Glad the boat worked well. Looks like a fun rig.

Sounds like he caught as many fisherman as fish. Sponsors ought to be happy

Which swimbaits?

8" in my yard. Was fun, took the boys out on the lake with the snoscoot and my wheeler pulling a sled. Nice to have some fresh snow.

Depends on the slop you fish more than the bass size. If it is super thick and nasty I upsize to a custom built 904 I had made, if it is more sparce I prefer a MH. IMO you can't have only one frog rod, but I'd rather fish a frog over all other presentations.

For sure. Most are long for me, but my jerk and associated ones short.

She is wrong. You need more first!

Interesting. Most of my handles I have made longer so they tuck under my arm better. As for the original question, the Premier is a huge step down in sensitivity from the Mojo. Mojo is a great price point rod, the Premier I would personally spend money on another brand at that price point.

Van Dam told me the same thing in person. When a bait is on he will have at least 10 combos setup for that bait with slight variances and backups.

When I bought my Ranger it was from a guy ranked 7th in the FLW. He pulled 68 combos out of the boat when I picked it up.

If you all haven't tried a lighter rod with a faster tip for walking baits you should. MXF works great, doesn't wear you out, and is flexy enough to keep the fish buttoned on the hooks.

I am really surprised at some of the responses and the length of the rods. Personally I am a HUGE fan of long rods and have a bunch I have kicked out to almost 8' long, but there is one rod in my arsenal that won't ever be long and it is the walking bait / jerk rod.

Crappie wise you normally go off the front or back of the boat so that the lines all move together while covering more water without crossing each other. Having each line run over the same location albeit even with different depths isn't as effective.

That is not my boat, but I wasn't sure your goals and found that one on the internet. My buddy has a boat like that and controlled drift is how he usually moves otherwise he needs to ramp up the weights to keep the lines from tangling.

Keith - if you are looking into spider rigging setups they aren't legal here so I am not setup to do so, but on my tiller I do have 14 rod holder locations. Mine is setup for walleye though which means they are evenly spaced around the boat. For spider rigging I normally see either something like this in the front if you are using a trolling motor and seat: Or similar around the rear for a tiller. On my Ranger they are all around the boat about 2' apart with 6 on the transom area.

A frog. Even when it isn't right, I have a hard time not throwing it.

I regularly fished 3 out of my 521 Ranger, but the key then is to make sure you only have a SINGLE console. Dual consoles SUCK when you have more than 2 people. I now regularly fish 3 and sometimes 4 so to make that okay, I bought a 620T Tiller. When bass fishing with 4 I take out the three middle seats and then it is about as roomy as you can get. This year I am extending the front deck/storage to make that even easier.

Cork. Spinning with a hidden reel seat, Casting split is fine as long as all my contact points are nicely covered. Premium cork with smaller voids is even better.

6'8 MXF St Croix. Had it custom built with ultra light guides and cork for jerks & walking baits. Amazing how much it reduces fatigue.

Time to buy a new tackle box that floats... ....and has a TM... ...and a 250hp+ motor... ...just so you can store your tackle.

If you want to make the scampi 1) a bit healthier and 2) not a broken butter sauce then: I buy them whole (1.5-2lbs), peel and shell them and make a quick shrimp stock from the shells. Brown the shells, a 1 cup of white wine and a couple sprigs of thyme and then simmer for 5 minutes and strain out the shells. Soften 8-10 cloves of sliced garlic, a healthy pinch of red pepper, and some black pepper in some olive oil. Add the stock, then add the shrimp and poach for 3min or until done if they are larger. Remove the shrimp. Dissolve 1 tsp of cornstarch (don't skip or your emulsion will break) in 2.5 Tbsp of lemon juice. Whisk in the lemon juice slurry to the stock and once integrated add 4 Tbsp of cubed butter whisking to make an emulsion. Once integrated add back the shrimp, top with some parsley and enjoy instantly. The slurry will keep the sauce together so that you aren't eating butter and shrimp. Here is a pic along with some carbonara and a salad, but seeing the glistening lemony garlic love on the shrimp is what I am sharing for. Another house favorite is to make fresh tortillas and camarones a la diabla to dip them in. Roast 4 cloves of garlic, 6 guajillo chiles, 6 arbol chiles, 3 large roma tomatoes and a 1/2 a small white onion (quartered) in a dry pan until they get some color. Remove from the pan, soak the chiles in boiling water for 10min (just enough to cover, when done reserve 1/4 cup or so of the liquid). Put the veggies in the blender along with 1/2 tsp or so of kosher salt, mexican oregano and the 1/4cup chile water. Cook the shrimp in a hot skillet to get a little color on them and when 60% done add the sauce and cook until the shrimp are done. We like refried beans (heat them in lard and lighten them up with either cream or chicken stock). If you want a flour or corn tortilla recipe let me know. In the above the heat comes from the arbol. I use closer to 30...but my family can eat really hot stuff so I just arbitrarily shortened it to 6.