Functional

Looking to add one last BC setup to the rotation. Fairly sure I'll end up with a Tatula 7'3 MH-F for everything from senkos to 1/2oz jigs and looking for a new reel to pair it with. For my other bottom contact rod I have a SC Victory with a lews MB and size wise the LFS seems easy to palm and have my finger under the line in front of the reel. I've tried a daiwa fuego ct and Abu Garcia revo rocket and find the Daiwa too large and the Abu just an uncomfortable shape, cant put my finger on it. For reels I've been looking a SLX MGL 70 or a Lew's Team Pro SP Speed Spool. Local academy, cabelas and BP dont have any SLPs or SLXs out to try so I'm kind of taking a shot in the dark. For those that like the feel of the Lews LFS are either of the above reels comparable (despite the SLP being smaller) or at least smaller than a Fuego CT and not shaped like the Abu? Was hoping to get a reduced capacity spool but if I cant get good feedback here I'll likely just end up with either a MP/KVD or plain old speed spool LFS.

Filet it, soak in milk overnight and then dip in egg, flower then 4 seasons bread crumbs and bake in the oven. squeeze a little bit of lemon over it (or even place slices over the meat when baking.) One of my favorite ways to eat it.

I know i usually spam these FG knot threads with this link but its by far the easiest way and I use it pretty much only for my lighter finesse lines (10lb braid to 6 and 8lb floro). I've bent ned hooks before this knot has failed me getting snagged on dock supports. Easy to adjust the tension to the needed amount, might need some playing around with but usually I'll keep it tight enough where the braid wants to bend the floro, after 2-4 wraps ill pull straight the floro and it cinches up the braid wraps.

Booyah Counter Strike in 3/8 with either double willow or willow/colorado combo in Booyah Shad or Silver Scale White. Sometimes Ill thread in a few strands of red on the belly side and I'll use a zoom fluke or paddle tail cut to length/size as a trailer. Been working for me in stained and clear water and year round. Never had luck with chartreuse and white in any type of water.

Admittedly the conditions were poor, crystal clear sky, hardly any wind, water temps 75 and climed to 80 with 80+ degree air temp and the day before a front. Some muddy water along the shore of the main lake Tried main lake points, secondary points, flats in 10-20 feet of water, flipped laydowns along the shore off the main lake and down some of the fingers, tried fishing the muddy water line. My single 10" fish came from a a small 1/4oz spinner after it breached the surface after some bait fish. Found the food sources no problem just couldnt get bit. Jerkbait, walking bait, popper, frogs, jigs, large and small shaky head, senko T rigged, crankbaits of varying type. Any big tip I missed on this lake or was it just a bad day? Been hearing nothing but great things and made the 1.5hr trip to spend the day there.

I have an address yall can send the unwanted ?.

Thats it! Thank you both. Seems like i'm going to have to just rig a tube backwards and wire tie at the opening. $20 for a set of tubes with no jig heads or $20 for 5 with 1 head? All good until the first snag! Shame honestly they really did work well for us. Maybe ill pick up a 10 piece set and just sand cast some lead on hooks.

I recall some years ago these were a very good producer for me and my father. I cannot find a single one or hook leftover and so far my searches have come up with nothing. Was basically a flat tube that had a special flat weighted hook that slipped inside. It was fished with the eye coming out by the tentacles and wed run one tentacle back and hook it over the point to make it weedless. I attached a sketch to get an idea. Not sure what colors they came in, we only ever used black. Any idea what it is and if its still made by anyone?

was out on an all night trip up in NH in a little canoe. fishing about 30 feet off the bank offf a partially wooded peninsula and just heard something rustling through the woods, fairly small. All of a sudden the woods exploded in a bunch of heavy foot beats running and then a smaller set scurrying around. Huge tumble and heard a bunch of leaves and brush crunching, low aggressive cat growls and a rabbit screaming its head off. Saw flashes of the chase since it was a full moon but eventually everything went quiet. Not exactly strange and unexplained but d**n did it get the heart rate up to be so close to some cat making a kill in the middle of the night. Amazing how loud a rabbit can be.

I keep at least 3 plugs stashed in different spots on the boat besides the one I normally use. Only takes one time to forget the main plug and the backup plug breaks when tightening it. Also, if there seems like an issue dont wait for it to get worse. Find the issue and fix it, I promise the issue doesnt go away it only gets worse and more expensive.

Another hobby of mine is shooting long range competitions. I picked up a certificate for $125 worth of baits and $75 apparel from Zoom. I've only ever used their Mag II , Ol'Monster, Mag Ol' Monster, lizards and flukes/swimbaits. I'm planning to pick up some more of those and a few bags of trick worms but wanted to ask if theres anything in their lineup that I should give a try you have had good success with? Figured this was a nice opportunity to try something new, just dont want to take a complete shot in the dark.

me and a buddy were racing to get our kayaks in the water and fish against eachother...in my haste I got all harry potter with my rod movements and let a spinnerbait rip. Well I heard a snap and watched as my favorite spinnerbait launched across the pond and into a bunch of bushes up a steep bank. I looked for 15 minutes and couldnt find it and my buddy beat me. Was a sad day. Tip wraps sucks.

if I'm not mistaken my 2013 tracker had 8awg wire for the 12v motor it came with. If you are converting you might as well abandon those in place (future bow unit?) and pull new 4 or 6 awg cable. Its very easy with a fish tape you can buy from harbor freight for cheap. To do it properly youll probably spend $120-$160 in materials but youll be able to run anything up front after. I'm in agreement though, $2600 can be better spent towards a TM and electronics of your choice. 60hp is plenty for me, with a boat loaded with gear, full tank and livewell full I can get to 34-36mph depending on water conditions. Going from 30-36 you hardly notice the speed difference. Not sure youd notice 35-40 to be worth the money. In general I agree most HP you can get, just in this particular boat I dont feel its worth it.

double jointed floating rapala reeled in consistently slow just under the surface to create a wake or just a few inches below. aside from a cat I've caught just about every species my lake has to offer that way...turtle included.

My home lake Tar River Reservoir is kind of a tough nut to crack. I've manage to figure out enough to not get skunked anymore but finding anything of size is d**n hard. Supposedly there arent supposed to be spots in there either but I know for sure i've caught a few in there. Plenty of shad, evening time whole sections of the lake look like the surface is boiling. Also plenty of grass and an OK amount of docks and some wood so I'd assume the ecosystem is in there. Only thing I can think of is a huge drought a few years ago really killed off some of the population and its just taking a bit to rebound.

I think Tacklewarehouse has a 25% off sale when you buy a SLX rod and baitcaster combo going on right now while they have stock. If you want to stick with all SLX.

Same approach as J Francho. 3/4 oz double willow but I do use a zoom fluke as a trailer. I'll use a MH or M (if st. croix) and ill send her out and let her hit the bottom if im trying to keep it low. With that big of a spinner its easy to feel the thumping and I just keep it steady and at the level to just brush the top of the bottom or structure. EDIT: if I get short strikes on spinners in general I'll also try spreading out the hook portion from the blade portion and making the V wider. I've found that helps get solid hits. I'm assuming the V is too narrow and instead of engulfing the hook portion the mouth is hitting both and preventing it from getting in the mouth.

depends on what is in front of the reel seat. For a dobyns type rod with just threads and the nut I have the stem between my ring finger and middle finger. For something with a bit more substance in front like shown above, mojo bass, Victory, Expride, etc. I'll have the stem between pinky and ring finger. rest of the butt is against my forarm and body. Was just taught this way when I was young so I could feel the line with my pointer. My father basically only ever fished a purple worm texas rigged during the day and jitterbug at night so thats what I learned lol.

Yup, just leftover from when I did the mods on the front of my tracker or I'd have done it in .080 most likely. Cheaper and easier to find.

Just type "Kydex Sheet" on ebay and you get all colors, patterns, etc. They come in different thickness, what you see above is 1/8" thick or .125". For the work above it really serves no structural purpose so .080 should be fine. Amazon sells it as well.

Blade type possible but try changing up your retrieve speed in both directions.

There is a lot of weight put on the rod in this thread. All the sensitivity in the world wont mean a thing if your hands and brain cant interpret what you are feeling. In my opinion it will come down to a combo of both. Personally, I feel almost (there are definitely some duds) any rod in the $100+ range will let you feel what is going on at the bottom and detect hits. The difference is how the feedback is transmitted from the rod to the hand and how your brain can distinguish the small differences. I've realized certain rods have a different "tone" to their feedback, not necessarily sharper than the other but a different "frequency". I'm starting to believe people can interpret these different frequencies better than some others which is why theres a lot of different favorite rods. The way a rod transmits the feedback just molds better/best with how you interpret it. The other aspect no one has really touched on is comfort in the hand. Not everyones hands will hold a rod/reel the same way due to size and in some cases dexterity. How you can comfortably hold a rod will also effect what you feel out of the rod. Again, I love my Tharp, others hate it because its a skinny grip. I likely get more out of that rod for that reason alone. Might sound like jibberish but hopefully some of you get where I'm going with all that.

Not that its big money but I have rods in the 180-250 range and my Tharp hammer is still the one I have in my hands the most. Very under rated in my opinion for the price, especially when you can snag them for under $100 on sale.

I've had a lot of success throwing spinners past the ball and dragging it through. I'll usually work it from high to low in the water column until I start getting strikes. Typically middle to lower produce the better fish and top give me the smaller guys but test out the different levels for yourself.

Thank you both...I just now realize he was talking about the transducer the whole time and not the display. My little job wont do anything for that. Going to have to brush up on my reading comprehension!