ElGuapo928

It’s spawned some of the most ridiculous stuff I’ve ever seen. There’s an older 17’ tin boat that shows up to some of the tournaments around here that has no less than $8000 worth of electronics on it, with a $7.98 Force outboard running on 1.5 cylinders pushing it around. To steal a slur from Ish Monroe, there’s too many “Facebook Pros” out there that have taken a big chunk of the fun out of tournaments. Spending $20,000 preparing for a shot at winning $40 and a Waffle House coupon in a Wednesday Nighter doesn’t make you a pro, neither does quitting your job to practice for it. There’s a bunch of us now doing our own little “outlaw”, winner takes all derbies for $50-$100 a boat that have brought the fun back into it.

I don’t believe so. I’ve got my leads siamesed into the one connector.

I like the Owner weighted tube hooks (1/8 oz 3/0)

I like either a split tail trailer or just a 4” straight tail worm.

Another for the home team: Copperstate and the Hook Up.

This is one of those multi-faceted deals: Sometimes it’s better to risk taking the “L” and appear as the “stand up dude” to sponsors and fans than it is to be the “fierce competitor” trying to salvage a season at the last minute. If you’ve been hitting .125 for 161 games, you are likely to be fighting for your job in the spring, regardless of a 9th inning double against the Rockies on September 28th……But if you’re one of those guys that “puts the face on the franchise”, they tend to keep you around even when your production has fallen off.

The snowstorm one was in 2022 - it was cold and cloudy when we left the house, but I wasn’t going to let my day off be a wash. I told myself that I’d just fool around in the cove right by the ramp until the sun broke through the clouds and then run up the lake a ways to hit some shallows. First cast with the spinnerbait got a 3, then for the next hour it was fish after fish - mostly little bucks (1-1.5 lb). After that died off, fired up and ran across the lake to a big flat and started throwing the spinnerbait again, and started noticing the snow blowing in. Ended up pulling another 25 plus off that flat before it settled down. At this point the snow/fog was settled in enough that I pretty much had to idle back across to get on the trailer. The thunderstorm incident was a night tournament on Canyon Lake (which is notoriously stingy for numbers) in 2005. We launched at 7:00, headed to our usual starting spot and immediately dropped our “secret” weapon (single tail Hula Grubs on a dropshot). Within 30 minutes we were already culling, and headed to a submerged point to try and get some bigger kickers. Between my spinnerbait and my partner’s jig, we picked 10 or so off that point, but nothing over a 5. With the wind kicking up and lightning starting to show off to the south, we went to the marina to try and get our kicker before we got ran off. My partner got an 8.2 on the Hula, I got a couple quick hits that didn’t connect…thinking it was either yellow bass or bluegill, I switched to a Westy Worm and started flipping it toward the bridge pilings. I ended up with another 16 fish, unfortunately totaling about 15 pounds. By the time we weighed in at midnight, we figured that 60 fish had come in and out of the boat, yet we came in one place out of the money (6th). Big fish ended up going to an 11.3 tank, and there was a 5lb catfish that won the goon pot.

During a tournament on Toho, Keith Poche came into the lock hot and ran into Ish’s boat. After things got a little heated back and forth, Ish made a beeline between boats to adjust Poche’s attitude for him. There was not a single punch landed, but Poche fell out of the boat while backing away (after inviting Ish to come at him-twice). Ish got a misdemeanor battery charge out of it and a hole in his gunwale, both got DQ’d.

I absolutely HATE driving my partner’s boat with a single 10 mounted at the top of the console. I am always straining to one side trying to get a better view. I wouldn’t want to try and deal with multiples.

Original bags are best, I do keep a box of Ziploc baggies in the boat for thinning down bulk bags/worm bar purchases or catastrophic packaging failure (OG Robo packaging with those ^*£@! staples for example). I do have a couple 3600’s in my travel bag just for plastics, all separated by color and size, and the yellow Slider box will forever live in the boat as well.

My 2 best days by numbers both occurred during inclement weather. One was an early April snowstorm, the other was at night during an August thunderstorm. I don’t think there’s any “right” answer, the best time to get on the water is whenever you can.

Generally if I know I’m just donating (not in contention), I’ll let the guys in the hunt have the spot…..If I’m sitting on a decent sack, then all bets are off. If I’m working toward another competitor, I try and get 20 yards or so away and go around. It is really all just common courtesy- most in the tournaments subscribe to it.

Most everything prewired for a trolling motor since the mid-80’s will have circuit breakers in it, usually pretty close to the battery boxes. They might be even lower rating than expected. The Tracker we’re redoing had 30’s in it. Always worth checking into.

I’m stuck in the 80’s - I don’t think you can go wrong with the Tempress All Weather folders.

Being a ‘93, I’m willing to bet that your boat has been visited by the Bad Wiring Elves more than once. 32 years is a lot of corrosion and oxidation, and it would be a relatively cheap and easy weekend project. I put about $150 into mine, from batteries to bow, including new circuit breakers, plug/receptacle and a voltmeter for the bow that actually works.

Your boat may justify a complete rewire of the trolling motor. The newer motors require higher amperage, and most boats were built with the bare minimum for their era. My Ranger was wired up with 6 gauge from the factory - after replacing it with 4 gauge and eliminating several unnecessary crimp connectors, my old Motorguide ran like I had gone up a size in motors. It also quit doing the “ran too long in high” intermittent cutout.

This is why I think the 18’/150hp standard should have stayed….not only were speeds under more control, you thought more about how far you were willing to push it. And I don’t see the boat manufacturers having an issue with it - during the days of that standard there were a lot more manufacturers. Ranger had what, 8 different 17’10” models in ‘89?

I can’t figure it out, the manufacturers started putting the units in the dash, where they weren’t blocking forward visibility - but those weren’t big enough. Ram mounts were put off to the side for a second screen. Now you need to have a washer/dryer set right in your face, or you can’t be competitive? The size/position of the gimbals here tells me that odds are forward visibility absolutely sucked in this boat, and attentiveness probably suffered accordingly….. I’m not blaming the electronics, but I do believe the excess played a part. And let’s be honest, we’ve all seen or known “that guy”…..the one so dependent on watching the screens that common sense goes right out the window. There was a dude here over the summer that ripped his skeg off and tore up a brand new Z19 trying to navigate with his GPS at night….never even looked at the “reef” buoy that he ran into.

While I see an argument to be made for removing the oversized screens blocking the console, a return to the 18’ boat/150hp cap, and other rule changes (I strongly support the first two), there’s too many other variables at play to make a qualified judgement. I’ve heard multiple stories as to where the other boat was positioned - some stated it was in a really bad spot, others say it was in the open. Does anyone know for certain? The “foggy/congested” argument doesn’t hold much water either - these conditions are a regular part of tournaments, without incidents like this taking place. The only “victory” will be for the lawyers involved. They will get their cut and slither off to their next abomination with no regard for the chaos created in their wake.

I usually get 3-4 fish out of a Roboworm, but I hook them short of the keeper.

7’6 H/F BPS Tourney Special retractable is the main one, still have an old Fenwick 7’6” for nostalgia purposes.

I’d go ahead and replace the plug and receptacle. Cheap insurance from a meltdown. I’ve got the Camco/Trac on mine, and replace them every couple of years to stay ahead of corrosion/resistance (this is also about the lifespan of the little bulkhead/bushing).

My boat (89) has a rod locker, but it just barely fits 6’6” rods. I have to keep the 7 footers on the deck. This reminds me, I need new Rod Savers. My Tracker had some plastic/foam snap in holders on the side - held 4 or 5 horizontal, as long as they were 6’ or less.

I like a 3” Berkley Powerbait minnow on them. They have a nice subtle flowing movement and last just about forever as a trailer.