RRocket

Excellent recommendation on the Atwood. You have it mounted to a swivel?

I LOVE my Scout 365. Unfortunately, my old back (and backside! ) ache after spending the day on the aluminum planks! I think I'd be content with something simple...perhaps even a stadium chair. Don't think I need swivel chairs, but am open to suggestions. I do prize lightweight (my boat+ motor weighs 100 lbs) so nothing bulky or large. Thanks for any insight!

Do you currently do any sort of mindfulness or meditating daily? If not, you really need to start there, as this is also something that takes plenty of practice. But can be soooo worth it.

I am extremely committed to a finesse, minimalist fishing style. Therefore I only bring one rod. And one small backpack. I prize tackle/baits that have multiple uses. For example, my drop shot hooks are also my wacky hooks. My weights can be used for drop shot, Jika Rig, Free Rig, etc. For me, it's about doing more with less. To get to this point, I had my own "world series of bass rigs" to find out what would work best for my area and my minimalist approach. So I learned and fished most every bass technique. Almost obsessively. And this took quite an extended period of time as I had to learn the technique, then fish it extensively, figure out the optimal tackle and bait for the technique, etc There's really no other way to know what will work for you and your area. You've got to put in the time. This can still be fun and rewarding, particularly so if you use fishing as part of your daily mindfulness routine. But that's another thread altogether! So yea, learn something new and out of your comfort zone. Just try to do it intelligently. For example, if you're fishing a small pond, a new finesse technique might be more useful than a new power technique. Assess your needs, your wants and pick a couple of techniques that most closely match those...then have at it! And, as pointed out, have fun!

Congrats!! Just a matter of time before you pull in old Ocho Bass!

Billy Goat, eh? Go big or go home, huh? It's a bit surprising how much churning and racket the Billy Goat makes on the top of the water for what it is. Also, these Goats skip under docks, tree hangovers, etc like nobody's business. Just about the easiest bait to skip I've used thus far.

Yea! Did you like the little bubble trail and mini whopper-popper sounds? And yes, if you miss a blow up, just pause...twitch, twitch..and they'll usually hit it again! What size Goat were you using?

Oh! And please let us know how you do! The Goat family is so productive for me, it's my topwater "go to" these days. Hook up ratio extremely high. I'm guessing the narrow Goat profile is helpful in this regard vs wider frogs/toads. You'll know your retrieve speed is correct when you leave a bubble trail. You can also use these like a popper.

For the Baby Goat, I use a 1/0 or 1 hook. For the Goat, a 3/0 All weightless.

I'd throw some finesse topwater here. Rigged weedless, it wouldn't matter if you dragged it off the bank into the water...sometimes that alone with prompt a strike. It really is surprising how much water a weightless Z-man Baby Goat or Goat displaces. And bass seem hard pressed to pass these morsels up when buzzed by them.

I believe I understand what the OP is saying. I started off my fishing life throwing jigs. But for walleye. That's all we used, ever. Would the walleye bite on something else? Sure. But jigs outperformed everything by a large margin. No rhyme or reason. When I switched to bass fishing, a jig was an obvious starting point for me. One of my main goto now is a Jika Rig, a type of jig. It would be correct to say I am extremely comfortable with jigs. And yet, they just don't produce here. I go to a local spot that produces smallies on tube jigs. I've tied in a skirted jig in identical color...and nothing. You literally re-tie with a tube jig...and you get fish. No rhyme or reason. And I'm finding much the same with largemouth here. I LOVE the look of the Bitsy jig! That thing should put stacks of fish in the boat! And it just doesn't. It gets thoroughly outfished by other rigs. I have absolutely no doubt skirted jigs catch fish in large numbers...and consistently. But just not here. I really do think there are some techniques that produce much, much better depending on region, body of water, etc

I've done this. Drop Shot up top and a Jika Rig on bottom.

I too reside in Canada and the price of Whopper Ploppers are eye watering. So I looked for alternatives and one of the best ones I've found for noise and "plopping" is the Culprit Incredi-Frog. It's also casts a mile, is quite weedless and seems to be rather durable. All for about $1 a piece. I have since replaced it with another topwater I prefer more...But always keep a couple in the box if I need a real attention-getter.

As others have pointed out, fish structure. If you don't know the topography of the lake, fish around visible structure.....particularly boat docks of which I'm sure there are many.

With Z-man baits (Elastec) the baits absolutely do not come off due to the excellent keepers on the previously mentioned hooks. So good are the keepers with the Elastec that you really have to tug and take some effort to get them off. I have yet to lose ANY Elastec bait in combination with those keepers

A guy I know uses shrink strap on the rear hook. It points it straight out (almost like a trailer hook) and keeps it more weedless.

The Roboworm ReBarb light wire hook is indeed an outstanding hook. That and VMC Finesse Neko hooks are the only ones I use. Both outstanding hooks. The Roboworm ReBarb light wire hook is indeed an outstanding hook. That and VMC Finesse Neko hooks are the only ones I use. Both outstanding hooks. Also, when I do weedless on a work with one of the hooks, I just skin hook it on the SIDE of the worm rather than going through the top. Seems just as weedless this way. Anyone else do the side skin?

I'm committed to a "minimalist" fishing style...so no electronics for me. Thanks for all the comments, gents.

If you want to cast a Z-man Finesse Wormz and still float it, try a Free Rig or Ryugi Black Bean Rig. On my UL gear, I can cast these a long ways with a 1/16oz weight. If you need the worm to float, just put your rod tip down and slack in the line..and the worm will float. It's more or less described in this video, albeit with a larger worm.

When using the Carolina Rig to search areas for bass, what is your methodology? That is to say, if you're fishing a new area, point, grass edge, etc how do you search it? Do you target the area in a fan shape with several casts? How long do you spend searching until you move on to the next area of interest? Just wondering what your effective, efficient methodology is in this regard.

First, I'd like to say how grateful I feel to have found this forum! I am dealing with this from a position of ignorance; I've never had to adjust much of anything on any watercraft I've operated. So now that I have to, I'm totally clueless! I am hopeful some of the experts here can guide me to where I need to be since the local "experts" seem to know as little as I. DETAILS: My boat is a Scout 365. The transom height from factory is 12". My Suzuki DF2.5hp has a transom top-to-cavitation plate distance of 17.5" despite being a short shaft. So that would put the cavitation plate 5.5" below the water, which is too deep per the outboard owners manual which calls for 0-1" below. WHAT I DID: I asked for some advice from various locations and how to get a more appropriate depth. It would seem I'd need to make a riser. Which I did. A small issue with asking the local "experts" was whether the cavitation plate measurement should be from 0-1" below the TRANSOM or below the PONTOONS, which are the absolute bottom of the boat. Opinion was 50/50! So I went with BOTTOM OF PONTOON. RESULTS: The transom turned out well and looks OEM. See images. This puts the outboard cavitation plate .25-.375" below the pontoons. For further troubleshooting reference, this puts the same plate approximately 2" below the transom. So not a great deal of difference between bottom of transom and absolute bottom of boat/pontoons. At up to 1/3 throttle, boat runs 8km/h. Beyond and at full throttle..no change. Bow rides high. Boat not planing. Not a sharp, beautiful wake behind boat. Now I understand this boat/motor combo isn't meant for speed. But similar boats with same power reach nearly 15km/h when they are planed out. My question is...what now? I'm clueless how to proceed to "fix" this. Lower engine? Raise engine? Hydrofoil installed on cavitation plate? Go on a diet? LOL ? I'm 185lbs and realize having more weight forward is helpful. Any ideas?? Thanks so much for any insight!!