WRB-2.0

Battery acid is undiluted sulfuric acid that is very aggressive attacking aluminum sheet alloys. Trackers have battery trays that should have prevented the battery from cracking tied down properly and contain acid leakage. The fact the OP didn’t discover the cracked battery and do anything to mitigate the acid spill is troubling. As long as the acid is wet and in contact with air it continues to corrode the metal. If the drain plug was out the acid could also damage trailer metals and the OB lower unit if sprayed from towing speeds. Any white corrosion products indicate aluminum oxide. Clean off the corrosion products with baking soda solution and rinse throughly. Tom

About 60 miles. Tom

There is Ultra Sonic thickness measurement gages around $150 to accurately check the aluminum thickness. To the best of my knowledge Trackers are 5052-T3 aluminum and can be repaired. Tom

Bomber has a red/orange color apple red crawdad. Lots of red color lures and a few orange, not too many red/orange. I have had very good success with orange belly lures of several types and red deep diving DD 22’s over the decades of bass fishing. My 1st 40 lb limit was on a orange black 300 Bomber. Tom

4 months without neutralizing the acid is a problem. Not knowing the boat make or type of aluminum the hull is made of it’s impossible to suggest a cure. Most aluminum hulls are 5052 and weldable. I would 1st use baking soda and warm water to neutralize the acid. Take everything out and turn the boat over to inspect the bottom for any weak spot and to drain out the soda water. You can push on the aluminum with your hand palm to determine thin spots. Tom

What you see above the water is almost always continued below the water. Be observant! Tom

Contact Dobyns to determine if they offer Hollow tip models, the Sierra Finesse states solid carbon tip section. Major Craft has BSF casting models at a similar price point as Dobyns. Tom

I use Owner darter jig for rocky structure lakes. Good hook and sizes from 1/16 to 3/8. Dobyns Light Wire Swimjig for longer horizontal casting. To,

Being analytical to a fault and curious I did start a log in the 60’s to early 70’s until deciding to write my Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar trying to put together what I observed about bass behavior. Now I simply follow the seasonal periods and recall what and where I catch. Memory is getting old so my memory log book is sunsetting. Tom

Have you tried the Fury 795 for the application you described? Tom

A-Jay explanation is spot on. I don’t like the expression feel the bottom preferring keeping in contact with your lure of all types including bottom bumping lures like jigs and T-rigs. Strike detection requires time on the water bass fishing, it’s a skill developed over trail and error. We are not all safe crackers that can feel the slightest movements with out finger tip but improve with practice. I only have been jig fishing about 7 decades and can’t tell you the feel difference between mud and clay but my finger tips can. We have 6 senses; sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch and motion. All come into play when bass fishing. It’s our sense of touch that comes into play predominately when jig fishing. We also use sight to determine if debris has fouled the lure and smell to make sure unwanted odors are on the lure. I watch my line closely when jig fishing for movements that tell me the jig has stopped or is moving before it stopped. Touch tells me if the jig has changed weight with added pressure or ticks indicating something is trying to eat the jig trailer. My finger tips feeling the line tell me what’s going on underwater. You can feel the line going over a branch or through aquatic vegetation, bumping into rocks or some other hard structure element. Keeping focused and in touch with your lure will improve your strike detection because you eliminate the feedback of everything that isn’t a strike. When in doubt set the hook. Tom

It’s not the size of the trailer....it’s the hook size! Tom

Ridiculous is all I have to say. Tom

Braid floats regardless if diameter. Braid being very small diameter will let a sinking or diving lure run deeper but not deeper than equal diameter FC line. This is where strength vs diameter comes into play. Tom

Smaller diameter wins sink rate all things being equal. Small diameter steel line sinks faster then small diameter mono line do to density. Coefficient of line drag increases with diameter but all line types are different. Fluorocarbon coefficient of drag is less then both mono and copoly lines. Braid is the lightest density of all lines, it floats! larger diameter FC doesn’t sink faster then smaller diameter FC. Tom

I am not a fan of Zebco 33 spin cast reels for kids with small hands. I know it’s very popular. I made up a 5’ light power spinning rod with Zebco Omega 144 trigger spin outfit that can be 2 handed to cast and perfectly balanced. Start with a practice casting plug no hooks. After the kid has the motion down then put on a lure with a single hook. Small Keitech and jig or a split shot small 4”-4 1/2” curl tail worm works great for all ages of new anglers. Tom

Ray Scott set up the blind partner draw derbies for B.A.S.S. to help eliminate caged bass cheating and it worked! As long as prize money is involved a small group of anglers find a way to cheat. We had bass events where cheating was involved in California last year. We have a lot of smaller regional team tournaments, Opens are blind draw events with big prize money. Tom

OP search using “knot” upper right hand corner of this page reveals 764 pages regarding this subject. knot tying is a big part of fishing and learning to tie knots correctly under Fishing conditions takes practice. If you can’t tie the knot correctly in the wind, rain, poor light and rocking boat in the waves don’t. I use 6 knots starting with the arbor to fasten the line to the reel spool. The Palomar knot, without twisting the loop, to fasten hooks and snaps. San Diego Jam knot for lures. Alberto for leader to braid. Braid knot, double line clinch, for braid to lure. Perfection loop knot for loop on leader or to hooks. Tom

Good reels but you may need to upgrade the Drags to Smooth Drags. Value? Tom

I wrote 2 articles for the original In-Fisherman magazines “ A Rare Chance for a World Record” 1986 and “Horizontal Jigging” in 1995. Enjoy the BR experience and community. Any jig fishing questions you may have will be happy to help with. Tom

Using 25 to 30 lb mono or FC is too large diameter for smaller size bait casting reels IMO. Line diameter over .018D increases the memory causing coiling resulting in poor casting performance,

Deep cycle Marine battery applies to Lithium also, avoid general use. The reason a charger needs to be higher charging voltage for faster charging a deep cycle Marine Lithium Battery. Good brands are Ionic and Dakota. IMO a 50 AH 12VDC will run the op’s TM, 100 AH for a weekend or windy and current usage. Tom

We tend to take it for granite that the pre spawn bite coincides with our calendar but it coincides with the Bass Calendar. The transition from cold winter water to slightly warmer pre Spawn is a crap shoot at best. It’s the old adage time on the water and some days are pearls others are stones to quote an Ole Cajon😎 Tom

^^^^^this^^^^^ Tom

Basstrix invented the Hollow body, Worm King the paddle tail and Huddleston the soft boot tail and 3:16 Mission Fish the 1st line through to the best of my memory. Tom PS, Megabaits LA Slider had a removable internal jig weight that was unique.