Woody B

I'm with DVT on this one. I'm an automotive technician, and a dang good one. I still occasionally make a mistake, or give a customer bad information. I correct these mistakes, just like the person doing the service for the OP did.

Both are semaglutide. "They" mess with the names and usage so "they" can mess with pricing.

They work long shifts, with irregular meals and breaks. The long hours they work leaves most making the choice to not make time for getting/staying in shape. The same it true for a bunch of professions. It's easy for people who work long hours, especially those with fairly physical jobs to not make time for targeted workouts. (this includes myself) Notice I say "make time". For most who "don't have time" it's just a choice. (including myself) Regarding a gym membership, a comedian said "I'm not going to pay someone to let me pick up heavy stuff after I've worked all day". I applaud AJ's and others dedication to staying in shape. It's a choice many of us "should" make.

Howdy from Grover NC. I've got an Uncle that lives in Burlington, but I'm not familiar with the lakes around there.

My job is physical. I've got Popeye forearms due to my job. It also requires quite a bit of walking. I average between 12,000 and 15,000 step per day while working. I have a few extra pounds but my work has done decent in keeping up my strength and stamina. However, since having Covid (and I wasn't very sick) I'm getting winded way too easy. My Dr says it just takes time to get over it. I recently went back to doing the daily sit ups, pull ups, jumping rope and speed bag I done years ago. I'm not sure how much that will help with getting winded but I figure it can't hurt. Recently I've also managed to eliminate most of my muscle cramps by targeted stretching.

I had a Hook 4x for a short time. Although @txchaser is correct about auto range being best for most units, in most situations my Hook 4x worked better when manually setting the range.

I've just skimmed the replies, so someone may have already said this. It may be related to quitting drinking or it may not. Regardless of what you do, or drink fishing could make him want a drink. He might have had a habit of fishing, and drinking years before he started going fishing with you. I've got a Brother in Law (Wifes brother) who's a good guitar player. He quit drinking and won't touch a guitar anymore. I guess years of playing and drinking makes if hard for him to want to play without alcohol.

Since you're not buying any tackle in 2024 I'm going to see if I can make it all the way through 2024 without getting a haircut.

Post a picture of your last Bass of 2023. I wasn't able to go New Years weekend. My last Bass of 2023 came on Christmas day. I had another 45 minutes or so to fish, but I stopped then so my last Bass of 2023 was on my last cast of 2023.

I won't be able to go until Saturday or Sunday. I hope to be posing a picture then.

I've caught a bunch of carp, but I've never caught on bass fishing. Decades ago a 15 year old kid I took fishing snagged a 28 pound carp in the tail while bass fishing. That experience turned him into an avid carp fisherman. I always thought carp were herbivores but he says they're actually omnivores. I suppose their small mouths keep us from catching many or any small ones while bass fishing.

I've caught one this year (last year now) that was 37, and one that was 42. Both of them were on DT6's I don't remember which one this is. I caught one in April 2022 that was 53 pounds on a Bandit 200. I never caught any over 15 pounds back when I would target cats.

Flathead caught on a DT6. Blue caught on a Bladed jig.

It's 2024 now. I was asleep last night by 9:30. I have to work today. A few years ago when I was on second shift we were supposed to work until midnight on Dec 31. Pretty much everyone left at 10 that night so we weren't on the roads after midnight with the impaired drivers. I wish everyone a great 2024.

Automotive prices were settling down, but the recent strike cause some shortages. Prices are all over the place now. Many people around here seem concerned about the cost of "professional fishing". One of the keys to many of these guys making is it flipping boats. I'm told that they don't get their boats free. They get a decent discount, and get some equipment provided by sponsors. IF their plan works they sell their year old boat and make enough profit to cover the interest for that year. If there's a boat market crash these guys are going to get hit the hardest. I'm happy with my boat. It's going on it's third year. If prices dropped and it was 10 years old I might look around a little.

This is one of the reasons I didn't fish this weekend. I took this on a test drive Thursday. We had over 5 inches of rain. This is the South Fork river 10 miles of so North of Lake Wylie. 1/3 of Lake Wylie's water come from here. It was reported to be 10 feet high. There's a small rock dam here and another about 3 miles down river. You can see the other side of this dam from I-85.

The first real reel I bought was an Ambassador 5000. I was 12. Before that I had used my Dad's pushbutton reels. I learned to cast it with the small weights. My current favorite reels are Shimano SLX XT's. I normally use them with one brake clicked on, and the other 3 off. For heavy stuff I'll click a second brake on. I had been using a Daiwa Zillion for skipping. Their aggressive brakes are really good for skipping, but I have a habit of keeping my index finger under the for "feel". This lifts the line up and causes uneven spooling with the "wing system". I recently tried a SLX XT for skipping with all 4 brakes on and really like it. If you accidently dunk a reel with centrifugal brakes pop the cover off and spray them with WD40.

I got a NC lifetime Sportsman license decades ago. I don't remember what it cost. I looked up the NC fees for this thread. Inland fishing for a resident is $25 per year. $45 for a non resident. My non resident SC license is $35 per year, or $105 for 3 years. No discounts for the 3 years license but that's the way I do it so I don't have to renew every year.

Shaky head, and bladed jig.

Lipless crank, and deep cranks. I didn't do much with either this year. I caught the deep crank, and lipless bass on bladed jigs this year. I caught several decent fish on top water but the bite was more sporadic this year than the past. I finally figured out by reading reports on here that a topwater bite is rare when there's Velociraptors around. (Herron). I also caught some fish on a T-rig but not as many as the past. Shaky heads, and wackys took a t-rigs place in many instances. Feel free to laugh at this one. I didn't catch a single fish trolling this year. I don't "troll", but when I'm moving a short distance I'll let a crank troll behind the boat. Occasionally in the past I'd catch a Bass or Cat, doing that but none this year.

I think species makes a BIG difference. Where I fish there's Largemouth and Spots. It's my belief that Largemouth are ambush predators. It's also my belief that Spots are hunters....or even wolf pack hunters. I target Largemouth first usually by going inside. Spots will be hunting/patrolling the outside. It's my belief that catching the Spots on the outside has a good potential to spook any Largemouth. I'm sure there's always exceptions. A few months ago I caught a 4 pound Spot off a stump(on a Devils Horse-topwater). A Largemouth followed the hooked Spot to the boat. After I netted the Spot I watched the Largemouth swim into a boat house. I skipped either a Wacky, or Shaky Head into the boat house. (I don't remember which) A 5 pound Largemouth engulfed it before it had time to sink. I was surprised the Largemouth wasn't spooked by the Spot getting caught.

The electronics are a drop in the bucket money wise compared to the rest of a modern Bass boat. A 250 horse engine is ~$25,000. It would be pretty much impossible to fit $25K worth of Live Scope/FFS/Mega 360 on a boat.

A few months ago I was on Lake Wylie in the worst fog I've ever been in. It wasn't that foggy when I launched but the fog really thickened as the Sun came up. There was a tournament. The guys in the 60-70-80mph boats were idling around. I was idling in an area of the lake I'm very familiar with needed my graph/gps to know which direction I was going. FWIW, I have a compass in my boat in case all the electronics fail. Edit: I'm just going to add this instead of posting again. When there's "weather" I run my Navigation and Anchor lights. I was pleasantly surprised the foggy day I was talking about because most people had their lights on.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Good point Glenn, and one I had forgotten about. When I was racing the gas I used in my motorhome was an expense. The gas I used in my generator was also an expense but I got an additional credit for the highway tax paid on that gas. I don't remember the exact numbers. I was over 20 years ago. I had a CPA doing my taxes back then.

I haven't read all the replies. but it's comical that a sanctioning organization is going to control cost by eliminating certain electronics. Let's look at the cost of these electronics. I didn't price shop, just done a quick search. Garmin Panoptix Livescope Plus with LSV34 transducer. $1699.99 Lowrance Active Target 2, with transducer. $1649.99 Humminbird Mega Live $1499.99 Humminbird Mega 360 $1299.99 The multiple graphs most people use are still legal, to nothing changes there cost wise. 2 Live Scope units, and Mega 360 combined cost ~$4900. Taking $4900 of equipment out of a $100,000 boat isn't doing much to cut cost. The entry fee is $5000. I don't see boat rules published yet, but if it's similar to BASS and others my $15000 boat isn't legal. BASS requires a minimum of 150 horsepower. A new 150 horsepower outboard cost right about the same as my complete boat, motor, trailer. A 250 horsepower outboard cost more than my boat, motor, trailer, trolling motor, lithium batteries and all of my sonar equipment. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I'm sure it will generate some interest. I don't watch fishing, so I don't care if they stare at screens all day. I wish the Christian based non profit organization all the luck in the World. I don't see it cutting the cost of "professional fishing" much. It could also tick off some anglers sponsors should they decided to participate.