AlabamaSpothunter

I've said as much in my few replies already on this forum, but the only thing I know for sure about Bass is that it requires confidence to catch them above anything else. The more confident you are, the more fish you catch...you could honestly graph that over my fishing lifetime

Awesome stuff guys, it was just a juice issue, and I cut and stripped a new section of lead wire.

Lol, same here, but I got the baby duck being inhaled by a giant bass on my card. Watched a momma and her ducklings come around an Island bend, and then one of the most violent and loudest explosions occurred......a tank of a Bass ate the last duckling in the chain. Sad and awesome to witness. You see things out fishing that are wild. I watched Bass run themselves up on the rocks yesterday chasing shad like the Orcas do with Seals. Fisherman are some of the most blessed nature observers

"fishing 3-4 times a week" not sure you are going to get any better or faster improvements than simply doing this. The best fisherman fish the most....it's that simple. Be in their environment, throw multiple baits, document results and conditions, and start building your collective Bass fishing knowledge. Bass fishing is one of life's ultimate test in trial and error.

Awesome, thanks again brother!

You guys are awesome, really do appreciate the help. It's not easy being a newbie lol

Mine was, and I was paying attention to that, but I guess I wasn't the last hour or so, and I guess it dropped below the threshold for voltage if I'm interpreting the help I'm getting correctly. When it was working, I felt like a Wizard, and finally found an offshore place a buddy showed me years ago.....and pulled a fish on the location. Caught another fish because of it as well. I had fallen in complete love until I thought I fried it.....talk about a turn of emotions. Dang that's crazy, and very good to know as again I hope to set up a dedicated deck boat for this lake with front and rear motors. I'll have to spend the money and get a nice variable speed one. I had no idea or I would have likely bought one for the first. I did get a brand new Endura 50lb for 180 off FB though Likely a dumb question, but is it okay to cut this small section of black/burnt lead wiring away?

Caught 6 this afternoon trying out my first fish finder....and I can honestly say two fish came because of the new Garmin. It's crazy catching a fish out in the middle of a 500yd section of lake. I knew where to look in a general sense because about a decade ago a gent who was a real fisherman showed me the place, and was using a fishfinder. I always said if I get my own boat on the lake again I'd find all the offshore honeyholes, and start making new ones with PVC structures Only one went better than 5, the next best was likely in the 3lb range (two fish pics).....3 others in the 2lb range, and then finally a true peckerhead sized one. The biggest came off the fat free fingerling in threadfin pattern, and another smaller one, but the other 4 were taken off a 6" Roboworm rigged on a Spot Sticker hook. Finesse and cranking were the only hits, struck out on the chatterbait, and didn't have quite enough battery to start throwing a spitting image to quality fish that were busting big balls of threadfins at the surface. Almost went back out with a paddle....it's truly a sickness Very cool seeing the side image stuff....in the image below you can see the overflow drain at the dam, where I've caught a ton of fish

Yeah it came with that setup, and I just checked the fuse.....which looks a-okay. Thanks for the reply and help brother! 10-4 on that brother, and thanks for your help! I was planning on a second battery anyways as this lake being electric only chews up the batteries when moving from spot to spot. Hoping to build a new deck boat just for the lake, and in the interim using this d**n V hull jon boat. It's only second from fishing the bank lmao

Thank you for replying......I'm wigging out like a stoner at a Dead show right now haha.

Very nice used unit. Just picked it up yesterday and wanted to check it out so I set it up last night....worked perfectly. Then today I set it up and start fishing at 1:30pm........5:45pm the unit powers off, and won't power on again. Until then it was working flawlessly. It's being using on the same 12v battery as the 50lb thrust TM, and I could tell the battery was running low by the speed of the trolling motor when the Garmin died. That would be my obvious conclusion of the problem, BUT when undoing the nuts on the battery terminals to remove the battery for charging, I noticed the red lead on the Garmin power cord had a small section where it would have been under the nut that is blackened. So did it die because I just didn't have enough juice in the single battery running both it and the trolling motor, OR did I fry it somehow and the small burnt area of the red lead is the culprit. Dang I feel like an idiot, and hope I didn't just blow 500 lol. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Oh yeah in my college days at Auburn we'd sneak into the most remote water puddle of a pond and pull 7-10lb fish out of them that had never seen a bait I'm sure. Those fish were stupid, really really stupid I think

Wonder how many times that fish bite a bait, or broke somebody off......50/50 chance?

Not in smallmouth country per say, but a peckerhead is a peckerhead be it a LGM, Spot, or Smallie. personally, not a fan of catching small Bass for a couple of reasons either. Firstly, it makes me worry over the fishery, this is many times a canary in the coalmine for a sick ecosystem. Secondly fishing is like a drug in that it releases dopamine when you catch a fish, then like any other drug you need more of the "substance" to get the same dopamine rush. So in fishing for myself this means I need a fish that at least gets my heart racing and that feeling of dread/joy over landing/losing it. Now I wouldn't stop catching 4-5lb LGMs, or 2lb Spots until they removed the fishing pole from my dead hand. I go fishing for Trout in the Sipsey that never get over about 15", most are 8-12" size........I'd catch those all day long everyday....so I guess species matters significantly at least for me. For example I have little desire to ever fish for Crappie, or Bream....but I'd fish forever for Shellcrackers....all three are of the same general size. I'd love to know the percentage of Bass of any sub species get to be age 14. Talk about one SMART fish if it survives a decade plus. Like really big deer, really big Bass don't get that way by luck. These are genetic anomalies not just in growth rate, but intelligence, and other traits that it must take for a Bass to survive 14 years in the wild.

thanks gents, that's what the guy who sold it to me said. with tax and all this unit would have been close to 700 new which was way over my budget just getting back into fishing, so I had to buy used. anyways I just went out and threw it on the trolling motor and scanned around for an hour, and dang this thing is cool, and I can already see the advantage of the Side vu. It's amazing seeing 30-50ft submerged pine trees that are 10-20 yrs old......and now knowing why that's always been a "honeyhole" of yours. I've always fished blind, so I got some serious learning to do. one thing that does kind of concern me that I didn't think about....being a night fisherman, this 9" screen is super bright. I guess I won't be using it that much at night, it's impossible to fish without natural nightvision....never been a blacklight guy, seems silly to use special line to see under them

Very nice rifle sir, and 1000 indeed for a tactical bolt like that. Once I started shooting my LMT MWS at 1000yd range, it became pretty pointless to take it out to a typical 100 or even 600 yd range. People out west don't realize how hard it is to find 1000yd ranges in the east. Two things I absolutely love to do alone.....fish and shoot. If I had more fishing or shooting buddies that would obviously change, but once you become an adult it's hard to keep and maintain hobby pals

took this man's advice and suggestion, and by the time I had done enough research to know it was for sure the model I needed, his had sold. nonetheless I just brought home this unit today. I have no freaking clue how these things work, but I do know it's the next evolution in my fishing game. I'm sure it will be months trying to learn how to target and catch fish better with this thing. I'm also going to be laying new structure, specifically lots of stuff offshore. Everybody loves have their secret honeyholes One last question for those who might can help.....I bought this unit primarily because of the Side Vu......apparently it's best to mount it on the transom for this application....is this true, and if so how would mount it to a small jon boat. Thanks all!

This is why if I hit the lotto I'd buy a 200-500acre 100% private lake, build my home by it, on the other side create a 1000yd shooting range, in the other corner has my garden. Packing/unpacking....loading/unloading......trailering.....boat launch/boat recovery.....drives to and from fishing spot. I mean you gotta really love Bass fishing to put up with all the BS that goes along with it. Just like many other hobbies.

Dang nice Alabama Spot pal! Just the way they feel is totally different, like a swimming muscle on steroids. That one looks over 3lb, bet it was heck of nice fight, and a great strike on that bait

Excellent post, and sadly it cost you a nice fish to make it. I was actually going to make this same post a few days ago after losing a 6-7lb fish right at the surface after a fantastic fight......got that same feeling you got......the one where you know the line didn't snap, but the bait pulled. I go to inspect my beloved fat free fingerling with excaliber hooks, and lo and behold, she broke off a single hook on the back treble. Made me sick because I actually do replace and change the hardware on the baits. I like to put a red treble on CBs out of the box in the first position.

Haha, just a nickname we always called largemouths down here......Larry the Largemouth

This is the ultimate chad play, and yes every diehard Bass fisherman will jump in at a moment's notice to save a rod/reel or to land a fish. I went swimming 3 weeks ago for a 6lb in weeds at night.....I'll climb over broken glass for a Bass haha

First night back out on "my lake" with a boat setup at night in 15 years+ Has always been a better night fishing lake for me, and especially so with the Alabama Spots. Caught a number of fish from about 10-130am, specifically 5 Spots, and then a few smaller Larrys. Only one Spot was quality and I'd say it was b/t 2.5 and 3lbs. All other fish were smaller. Every Spot came off a Zman weedless 3/8th bluegill chatterbait with a zoom twin tail trailer. The Larry's came off a 8" Berkeley Gulp 8" Junebug Kingworm T- Rigged with a 1/8th tungsten bullet weight. If Spots got 40-50lbs+, they'd attack/eat humans. It's always sporty handling Spots at nighttime, they are so darn mean.

In the world we live in today, especially if you lived in a city of any real size, a G19.5 with RMR06 and Streamlight TLR-7A carried inside an AIWB with a g17 spare mag would make perfect sense. If you're carrying for SD/PD, than one might be inclined to go with best terminal ballistic 9mm round on the market....the 147gr. HST by Federal. Then again I just like to fish

Newbie here like yourself, but welcome friend. Right down the road from you in Hoover. Sounds like you are living the dream with a Bass pond behind the home. Put a nice little shooting range, and call it heaven on earth for me.