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So unless the rules have changed at least in Indiana and Michigan you can send in records without naming the body of water. It’s also not required to show the fish in person. I submitted a dogfish with pictures on a certified scale and with length measurements being taken.The fish was released back into the water.Unfortunately I was just slightly off the record. Bow fishing is the same, lots of people send in records with video and or pictures.

I have a senior black lab(10). She goes with me sometimes. I always keep a life jacket on her. She’s getting to the point where arthritis is taking over. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if she went over and couldn’t swim long enough for me to get her back in the boat. I highly recommend dog vests with handles on the back/top of them.

Rage bugs or as much as I hate to say anything googan the Bandito bug works very well. I also highly recommend try flukes. I use a white or shad, black and blue or some dark variation similar to it, and a green and red.

Give me a super salt super fluke any day. I use a few different colors but pearl white or black and silver are the most productive. Baby bass works well in greenish tinted water or when bass are overly aggressive.I rig them weightless, t rig, as trailers, punch with them you name it. Lighter braid on a medium fast 6 10ft-7 2ft rod or heavy braid on a 7 4ft- 8 ft heavy rod when I’m in the thick heavy stuff.

Bill Dance Roland Martin KVD Mike Iconelli

Idk I’ve worked as a diesel tech since 2011 and built race cars as a hobby for about 20 years. Tape has always been my go to. Stops can be a hassle depending on space and stuff in my opinion but that’s just me. I’m probably also a little more familiar with my tools than others due to time using them and experience overall so that makes a difference as well.

I almost always prerigg the night before. Then if need make changes on the water. I’m finally fortunate enough to be in a place where I have enough rods to cover most techniques I would use any way. So generally it’s just a matter of retieing leaders, adjusting lengths, or possibly weights. I keep quick snaps on my jerkbait and crank bait rods so no need to retie those.

To add to what way2slow said use masking tape on the drill bit to mark desired drill depth . Ie if you want to drill 1 inch go up 1 inch from the tip of the bit then wrap tape around bit so you know visibly when the tip is at the max depth you want to drill.

You can buy a new lower for that motor for relatively cheap. I believe they are 12-1500. I have a 98 90hp. I would not repower with the older motor. The controls, electrical, and fuel system would all have to be changed. I don’t know what your mechanic skill level is but if the helicoil is a challenge for you , it might be in your best interest to talk to some local marinas about swapping the lower or if repowering is an option look into upgrading to a 4 stroke. I would also look into private non dealer boat repair shops.

I have had to disassemble the left side cover for the stow mech, I’ve had to disassemble the right cover to clean and fix the electric position switch, I’ve had to reset a few times on the water which requires a little bit of a hassle and if you have to manually lift it requires the strap the send and some disassembly.

I’ve had an ulterra for 2 years when it works it’s great. If you are not mechanically inclined or good with electrical be prepared for long repair wait times. I’ve had to fix mine 4 times on the water all due to factory issues all without help from dealers or tech support both of which who’s only option was take it to an authorized shop or send in and wait 6+ weeks before it would get looked at. I have not had issues due to weather or temperature. Spot lock can be hit or miss as can the auto stow and deploy. They cannot be abused and don’t like excessive vibration. It’s also almost impossible to mount a live image or 360 transducer to it.

Lower than normal psi generally leads to more active fish, higher has the reverse effect. That’s not to say they won’t bite you may just have to look in different areas. Like in my case right now fish have been up extremely shallow. Yesterday was high psi and muddy water but a ton of boat traffic and high winds. The fish that were shallow were not biting. Went deep 10+ ft and found fish that would bite on a C rig over rock piles.

I will definitely look into those jigs. I have a pretty solid understanding of how to fish this style ( I watch videos and read all the time) and have dabbled a little bit but it’s never as helpful as other anglers with real world experience who aren’t just trying to sell something. I was looking at Eco Pro tungsten jigs, Black Angle Lures, and the Ducket 4x4s. I’m interested in the skirt design. They have very unique profiles over most standard jigs but I don’t know if that has much effect under a mat. Also it seems like they may be a hinderance with a trailer. I also considered just making my own but I don’t have any experience doing it. I’ve seen it done and watched how to do it I just don’t think I’d have confidence in it.

Hey all I’m looking to get into fishing heavy cover this year. Im looking for insight on fishing premade punching jigs vs weighted skirts with a stop and hook. I fish jigs at times but I’ve never really find one I love or has a shape that seems reliable for getting through the thick stuff clean. Bullet or wedge weighted skirts seem like a good option, but it looks like the hooks would be more of an issue.

I did vinyl repair for a living. You are better off calling a pro if you want it done correctly. The products sold to the general public won’t work reliably on marine grade vinyl. It also requires certain types of products to get the colors to blend and stay in the material. If done incorrectly it can cause irreparable damage. Depending on your area and current damage you are probably looking at a minimum of 75 bucks to repair it. Most vinyl repair companies will come to you and do the repair on site. Stay away from Creative Colors Inc (cci) they are over priced and generally do poor work. If you have a Quality Repair Service (QRS) franchise in your area I would recommend them. They were both competitors when I was in that industry.

My hummingbird transducer broke for the second time about 2 months ago. I took the graph and ffs off my bass boat at the same time. I don’t miss them. I fish both rivers and lakes if I go somewhere new I check topo maps on my phone and figure it out from there. Graphs can help locate fish but can also hinder catching fish if you rely on them to much.

Man I went with Millikan, Fujita, Palaniuk, Palmer and Dowey. No good,no good at all.

Man that’s good info

You do not need to have trailer tires balanced. Trailer loads vary to much to make it beneficial.You can absolutely get trailer tires balanced if it gives you piece of mind but unless you have the same exact load in your boat every time you go out and have had the trailer alignment checked it’s not doing anything for you. I’m an ase certified auto/diesel tech. I’ve been one since 2011 I have worked for freightliner as a dealer tech. I currently work for a large towing company as an operator and road service tech.

We’re pretty lucky most of our Officers are pretty decent. We were given a hard time one evening by a retired guy claiming we were on plan after dark. He was more irritated we were bow fishing on a boat with bright lights more than anything. So he called dnr we waited they took information and gave a warning for speeding at night.Other than that I’ve had nothing but positive interactions. Most of the officers recognize my boat and truck so they stop to chat and ask if we’ve seen anything going on. I fish 3-5 days a week in my area.

Probably feels normal. Watching some of the other Florida tournaments the guys might as well have been fishing on a flotilla lol.

Water in northern Indiana is between 48-57 degrees right now. Mostly stained to dirty. I’ve been catching various size smallies pretty regularly on 4-7 ft running jerk baits in natural colors and coffee tubes(green pumpkin) yum black and blue. Edges of points with laydowns. With the jerk baits I find it helps drastically if I pop my rod tip upwards after a few normal pops.

I work in the utilities department of a well known college. We have 2 small lakes on campus. One is part of the power plant discharge and control of chilled water. It ties into the other lake which is for storms/water control etc. You can fish them with an Indiana license and a permit from the campus pd. Most people don’t know they are fish able or support fish lol. Some of the students do. I’ve seen a handful of 6lbers come out of the warmer lake and absolutely giant crappie unfortunately they are strictly c & r.

I wear prescription glasses. I got mine from eyebuy direct. I have worn glasses and contacts for 15 ish years now. My prescription sunglasses are uv, polarized, non transitional blue/black in color. I’ve also tried a ton of different brands for when I wear my contacts. In my experience no brand compares even remotely close to my prescription glasses. Color doesn’t make a difference but the quality of filtering the lenses have does. I also find the size of the lense and how it fits my face makes a big difference. The more light that can get to the lenses from around my head the worse the do like if the sun is behind me. Some of that’s simple to fix wearing a hat or hoodie. As far as actually being able to see depths that’s based on water clarity and how the sun light is filtered. If you ask people with bow fishing rigs they will tell you light setups are pick more by the color of light than watts. The color of light put off by high psi sodium lights tends to give the most light penetration vs white light which is more easily reflected and gives much less penetration.

We have a 100 ish acre lake that is spring fed. Extremely shallow and weedy like max depth 8ft if it doesn’t have Lilly’s and tall vegetation in it 90 % of the year on 70 % or more of the body your not at the right lake. It is absolutely packed full of pan fish, gar, big large mouth, all kinds of baitfish, small mouth buffs, common carp, huge bowfin, catfish and some others. Almost no one fishes it because you have to back a truck in almost to the floorboard before you can unload the boat and it’s all mud. If you brave it though you can have an unbelievable time.