Capt Steve

I recently installed a Garmin 93sv in the console of my Z20 Nitro. I'm thinking of adding an inexpensive GPS/depth finder as a bow mounted unit. I mainly fish shorelines so I don't need to go overboard on electronics but I do have a few offshore brush piles and grass beds that I fish. Usually I just throw out a marker bouy and cast near it. However I think it would benefit me to have a gps on my bow so I can see exactly how far I am from the target. Any thoughts on what unit would fit my needs? Again I doubt I'll use this very often so I don't want to spend a lot. Also should I get a Garmin unit and connect it to my existing Garmin? do I need to connect it to my existing unit? I live and fish in Florida so most of my fishing is flipping and / or anything in grassy shorelines but I'm learning to fish offshore a bit. I'm thinking of just adding another 93 DV or even a 73dv. I plan to attach the transducer to the trolling motor so I don't want another side scan unit. I'd like to keep the cost to $500-600 if possible. Any thoughts ? Thanks.

Are you talking about Lake George near Salt Springs or is there another lake named George's Lake?

Just FYI. My plans are to have the inflatable jacket just for while I'm fishing. Especially when I'm fishing alone. Which I do quite often. I've never worn a jacket while fishing before but as I get older, I feel like it may be a good idea. You never know what may happen. I have almost lost my balance, standing on the bow of the boat and hitting the trolling motor button when the motor is turned 90 degrees. No matter how good of a swimmer you are, if you fall out of a boat and it's very windy, wind can push the boat away from you before you could catch it if you were an open water. I have a full vest that I keep connected to my kill switch. I always wear that when I'm running the boat. I hate the thought of wearing any kind of lifevest when it's 95° here in Central Florida but I'm trying to get used to it.

I know there have been several posts in the past on this subject, but I need some advice. A friend of mine gave me a nice gift a few weeks ago. It was a bass pro shops, A/M 24 inflatable life jacket. He knew I wanted one. I used it twice while I was out fishing then each time put it away in my dry storage. Plus, my boat is kept under a canvas cover backed inside of my carport. The next time I went to use it and when I opened up my dry storage locker I found the jacket had self inflated. I called customer service at bass pro and after some discussion, they agreed to send me a re-arming kit. As much as I appreciate them helping me, I did not agree with their suggestion. We decided that it must be the Florida humidity, causing the jacket to self inflate. If that's the case, I feel like that's a poor design. They suggested I keep the lifejacket indoors. I reminded them that it was a life jacket and belonged in my boat. After I re-armed the lifejacket, I kept it indoors for about one week. Then I took it outside and put it inside my boats dry storage hatch. A few days later, I opened up the hatch and found the life jacket had self inflated again. I took it to bass pro shops, and thankfully I got my money back. I do not want another one of this type if that's gonna happen every time They had an AM33 model. I'm not sure what the difference in this is other than it appears you can make it manual only. They also have the Mustang brand jackets. I assume they must be a better quality because they were over $250. however, one of the reps there told me the Mustang jackets do the same. My question is do any of you that live in high humidity areas have the same problem? Or did I just get defective jackets? if I have to pay the extra money to buy a better jacket, I will do that. But I don't want to spend the money just to have the same thing happen. I would prefer to have one that self inflates just in case I get thrown out of the boat and hit my head. Sorry for the long post, but I'm sure we have some life jacket experts out there that can help me. Thanks in advance

@Captain Phil don't forget. You and I planned to meet this summer for lunch or to fish. Then the weather was like the surface of the sun for most of the summer. Now that it's cooler maybe we can try again.

Every so often I get a flare up of tennis elbow I can barely hold up a coffee cup. I'll take Alene for two days and it goes away. I usually don't have it again for months

@Jig Man Do you get a lot of turbulence and interference there. I guess not or you wouldn't have it there huh. I assume it's out of the water when you're running on plane?

I just bought a Garmin 93SV for my Z 20 nitro. I've mounted several transducers on saltwater boats, but never on a bass boat. At least not recently. I'm trying to find a place where there's no interference in front of the transducer. I have attached a photo of the location I have in mind. Anybody have any thoughts? thanks in advance

I don't think we could ever know what fish can see and what they cannot see. But I did my own test one time laying monofilament in the water along side Flourocarbon. Both were 20 pound test I could clearly see the monofilament while the Flouro disappeared. Not a very scientific test I know, but it made somewhat of a believer out of me. I'm sure it matters a lot more in areas where there's not much vegetation and the water is crystal clear. I have often wondered what a fish thinks when it sees the line coming ahead of a lure. Does he think it's grass? Or does he think anything? I'm probably overthinking this.

Another welcome from Florida

Welcome from Florida. It's great that you and your daughter can learn together

All the years I spent guiding I still never believed clients paid to watch me fish. Could I have brought in more fish if I "helped" them? Of course. These days there are so many guides that they must look good on Facebook in order to get customers. I know a bunch of them that catch 80-90% of the fish they bring in. I'm lucky I was guiding before it got so popular. I can't do that. My very first charter told me about his bass fishing trip with a guide. Said the guide caught 9 bass and he caught one. Then the guide bragged at the dock about "them" landing 10 bass! Before that I'd never thought about it. In saltwater, many customers (not all) can't make the necessary casts in all conditions. But I'd rather take in two fish that they caught than 10 that I caught. Unless a guide uses live bait I'm sure it's worse in FW since precise casts are necessary to catch bass with lures. But there's no need to be anxious while fishing with your guide. Just make him aware beforehand of what you can and cannot do. If you don't fish 4-5 days a week nobody can expect you to skip a lure under a dock 3 times a minute. I got so tired of people telling me they were all "experienced fisherman ". Then they held their reels upside down! Id rather them tell me they have no clue how to fish. Then I knew what I'm working with. I also think it's appropriate to tell your guide if you don't want him to fish. I've had customers tell me that when they booked. Sorry for the long rant. It's a subject near to me.

I KNEW IT!!

I've only been on this forum for a few months now. But I have come to a conclusion. One of you on this forum is the bait monkey, dressed and disguised as a forum member. After being out of bass fishing for a number of years and only saltwater fishing, I had to start all over again with new bass tackle One of the first things I noticed on here being talked about was a whopper plopper. Of course I had to go spend $14 on one. It's gotta be the best thing ever. But no. Soon after that, I hear the discussion going on about the Whopper plopper versus the Choppo. Hmmmm. What's a Choppo? Today while walking blindfolded through Wally World fishing dept I hear something calling my name. It's a whole rack of Berkley Choppos. Yup. I had to spend another $12 and buy one of those. So. What's next? Two months ago I'd have told you you're crazy if you said I'd buy a $4 tungsten worm weight! Yup. I did that too. Which one of you is secretly the Bait Monkey throwing out all of these expensive ideas for me to bite? it's working. Retirement is great though. I get to try out all these things

I'm very sorry to hear about your dad. Sooner or later we all go through this. But hearing this doesn't make it any easier now. I lost my dad about 15 years ago and I still miss him. But as Mike mentioned, the pain never goes away but it does get easier and more manageable. My dad was my buddy and taught me to hunt and fish. I think about him often while I'm on the water or in the woods. I know I will see him again. make sure to keep the good memories of your dad and they will continue to come back to you at times. Those times bring a tear to my eyes. But I think that kind of grief is a good Take care and I wish you well

Those blueberry and strawberry Jelly worms smelled so good too. whatever happened to solid black worms. They were very popular in the 70s

I’m sorry. I just realized these posts were from two different people.

I thought Terra Ceia was near Tampa Bay not SE Florida. Nevertheless I can’t imagine anyone having a place that guarantees a bass of any size unless it’s a private stocked pond. Even then they’re still fish so no guarantees. I’m not trying to discourage you because I surely understand what you’re trying to do. But as others have mentioned, it’s been very hot here in Florida with water temperatures around 90°. Yes, you can still catch a few fish but it’s been tough lately. Florida has some big fish in its waters but big fish are not easy to come by on most of the public lakes. The fishing pressure on these lakes is enormous. if you can somehow gain access to private ponds or small lakes, you’ll be much better off. Some of Florida’s best fishing was in orange grove ponds. However, they were private and tough to get access to. Unfortunately, most of the orange groves have been replaced by houses these days. I’m sorry I’m not able to offer any more help to you. Good luck anyway.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. Especially Roadwarrior Kent for your generous offer. Even though I can’t make it this October I feel like I’ve made a new friend and I’ll be trying my best to make it happen next Spring or whenever you can help me.

Since I grew up in Florida, Smallmouth bass fishing was never on my radar. Now that I’ve retired I’ve had some interest in going somewhere to spend a few days trying to catch SM bass. I know it’s a lot different gear and water so I’m not expecting great things in just a few days but I do enjoy traveling and seeing new places so just fishing new water for different fish would be a success. I'm thinking maybe TN, AL, KY etc. Somewhere I can drive to hauling my boat in 10-12 hours. When I was younger and reading everything I could get my hands on about fishing, it seems like lots of SM guys anglers used jigs on spinning gear. But nowadays I notice many appear to use crank baits, spinnerbaits, top water and pretty much everything you’d throw for LM. Any thoughts on where and when would be a good place for me to start? Thanks

This doesn’t fall into the 80s/90s era but Dalton Special. Bang O Lure. I remember when the first “crank bait “ came on the scene in Florida. Big O and Big Bs. Berkeley was new and I think they had Flip tail worms. The biggest change I remember is when Mister Twister came out with ribbon tail type worms. At least that’s the first ones. I recall seeing. In the late 60s we fished a wacky rig, but didn’t know that’s what it was. That’s the only way we knew how to fish a plastic worm. They were fairly new and only few people used them. We used a Bagley hardhead worm or a Creme worm. We put a plain hook right through the middle of it and reel it in real slow to catch bass. We knew nothing about Texas rigs. The big debate back, then was how long to let a fish run with the worm before setting the hook. Dang I’m getting old.

As if it’s not bad enough trying to fish in 100° heat Yesterday I went out on the lake for a few hours of fishing. I was fishing a worm in about 10 feet of water when I got my first bite. Unfortunately when I set the hook, I missed the fish. A few seconds later, I realize my phone was no longer in my shirt pocket. Evidently, when I set the hook, it flew out into the lake. $1100 later I had a new phone. No, I did not have insurance on it. After all who would drop their phone into the water?Aaaaggghhh!!! After being a saltwater fishing guide in the Gulf of Mexico for 23 years, I only dropped one phone into the water. You would think I would have learned after that. You can bet the new phone does have insurance on it. Sorry for the long rant. I had to vent to someone.

Welcome from Florida Jacob. I used to hunt Northern Idaho. Around Babins Corner. Near Wallace. Beautiful area.

I need some rigging advice. I bought a 2018 20 ft Nitro. It only has a basic Hook 5 depth finder mounted in the dash. I want to get a gps/ side scan depth finder. Probably a Garmin 93sv. I’ve had the 74sv in my sw boat so I’m familiar with it. Although fishing in Florida I don’t know how much I’ll use it for bass fishing. Mainly for a few brush piles and offshore grass beds. I can’t buy two units. Bow and console. I’d like to use it while driving/scouting but I’d also like to be able to see the bottom while on my T motor. I thought about moving the Hook 5 to the front deck. The transducer is mounted inside. Shoot thru hull. Then put the 93v in the dash for scouting while driving. I even considered getting a swivel mount for the SV on the console so I can see it from the bow. With so many of y’all running electronics I know you have the answer for me. Sorry for the long post but wanted to make sure I explained it well. thanks.

I just “cooked” them last night to go with a brisket I smoked. We love the frozen boxed ones in butter sauce. Nuke them for a few minutes and you’re done but we’ve also drizzled with oil and roasted in the oven.