WRB-2.0

Perminate sand cast or investment cast steel not die cast. 5 star rating and thousands sold would indicate welding isn’t an issue. The installation instructions should provide a qualified welder the info needed. The bolt on units are a little longer, if the op doesn’t trust welding. It’s an option but as Catt is saying good boat cover and stored outside works for any length boat. Tom

Fulton and Reese make short weld on swing trailer tongue kits. It depends on the trailer frame shape how short the folded tongue is. Tom

Several options using a 18’6 garage depth. S few questions; Is this a 2 car garage? Roll up door or hinged door? Do you have a work bench and cabinets reducing trailer area? Boats don’t need to go straight back into the garage, you site the boat & trailer at an angle to shorten owner all length. Tuck the OB all the way down and turn it to shorten the distance. Trailers with swing tongs or removable tongue can only be shorten from the wench forward depending on frame design. Lots of bass boats are stored outside using a good cover. Grizzely 16’ w/40 hp should fit into your garage with a removable tongue trailer. Check with your local dealer and discuss options. My last bass boat was Triton SF175 (17’6”) w/115 optimax swing tongue trailer that fit straight back into my 19’6” garage w/ roll up door. At an angle it would fit into 18’6” deep garage. You have options! Tom

Double Z* Magnum 8” T-worm Nuclear Melon use owner 4/0 Cover Shot hook with 3/16 oz painted bullet weight and 12 lb Tatsu FC line. 10” Bull Whip June Bug 5/0 mag cover shot hook. Stand back from the shore line and keep a low profile. Tom * Floating worms

3M Scotch-weld DP420 epoxy is very strong and compatible with the materials. Get Color black. Get rid of the steel split ring it will corrode. Suggest .188 wide 304 stainless steel cable tie SSCT08, CTAM/Kable Kontrol. Tom

Year around lures Are jigs and soft plastics. T-rig w/brass ‘n glass, drop shot, slip shot finesse worms and Senko’s, hair, living rubber and silicone skirt jigs w/ pork ring, Yamamoto twin tail and Chigger craw. Winter, add structure spoons. Pre Spawn, add trout swimbaits and big 9”-13” T-rigged worms. Spawn (bed fish) add Bluegill swimbait, spinnerbaits. Post Spawn, add top water dog 3 1/2” walking lures, use 5” Senko’s wacky rigged. Summer, add top water poppers, jerk baits, crank baits. Fall, add crank baits, structure spoons, tail and under spins. Tom

Salt water rods don’t have triggers because the reels are usually larger size round without a level wind in lieu of low profile reel that you palm holding. Your rod has a fore grip to hold in front of the reel when retrieving resting the reel side against the thumb. This grip also moves your hand forward a few inches balancing the longer rod. You could epoxy the trigger shown in the photos. Tom

1” wide round 40 strand (.030D) living rubber is standard. Frog Hair or fine living rubber has less memory. Tom

If you removed the spinning reel spool and reinstalled it the problem maybe the spool drag isn’t seated onto the shaft pin. Take the spool off and install it correctly making sure the spool engages the drive shat pin, then tighten the drag nut, Tom

0$ for Mr all my goes to the fat lady. Tom

Stevia is 300x sweeter then natural sugar however your digestive system can’t dissolve it and it ends damaging your liver unless purged with Omega 3 Fish oils. If you use Stevia or any artificial sweetener double up on fish oil. you want to loose weight cut the carbs down and increase vegetables and exercising. Tom

That is exactly how the seat & bracket Way2Slow posted would position the boat driver, to one with a swivel seat except seat location is fully adjustable. Tom

That is good option. The swivel seat attached to the plate that locks into the front bracket sliding wherever you want it…..perfect 👍 Tom

Phenix Ultra MBX PHX-UMBXCL-S706M is 7’6”, Medium Fast, 1/8-1/2 oz lures. Tom

I made rebarbs for awhile using 1/16 shrink sleeve cut 1/2 long then cutting 1/2” piece in half at 45 angle. The 45 angle cut faces the hook eye about 1/8 below it. Heat shrink onto hook shank. Now I use a rubber Peg-It through the hook eye and cut the ends off about 1/16 to 1/8” depending on worm diameter. Holds the worm firm to the hook. TW carries Owner #4107 Cover Shot hooks and #5133 use with the Peg-It. Tom

My issue with micro guides is braid to leader knots that increase the line diameter about 3X plus tag end using bait casting rod with #4’s. My solution is no knots using micro guides. Spinning rods the smallest tip guide is #5 no issues. Tom

I would call your jigs small finesse jigs we use like Puff Ball and Skinny Bear jigs. Tom

When I had my boats and was fishing often my jig & worm rods were custom* made using Lamiglas blanks. 3 rods, 6’10” , 2 were 6 power fast action for jigs and 1 a 5 power fast action for worms or jigs. Today 1 jig & worm rod the 6’10” 5 power above. * Lamiglas made between 1980 to 2012, ALX using Lamiglas blanks 2012 to today. A Fenwick Techna AV 6’6” MHF was in the mix during the 90’s. Basically 7 total rods over 44 year period. Tom

It means set your drag no more then 1/3rd the line strength to avoid over loading your rods power rating. Light= 1 lb lifting power. ML= 2 lbs M= 3 lbs MH= 4 lbs H= 5 lbs using 6 lb line max drag 2 lbs. 8 lb line = 2. 5 lbs. 10 lb line = 3.5 lbs 12 lb line = 4 lbs 15 lb line = 5 lbs Using braid w/ leader use the weakest line strength or leader. Don’t set the drag higher then the rods power shown above to protect the rod from bottoming out. I use 1 pint plastic drinking bottle that = 1 lb. 3 bottles = 3 lbs etc. With the rod, reel and line through the guides as you use it, put the water bottles in a plastic grocery bag, hook the bag handles slowing lifting with the rod (do not high stick) and adjust drag when the bag starts to lift off the ground. Your drag is set near max and you can see and feel how the rod loads and drag force feels. Most bass anglers have no idea what accurate drag force feels like imo. Tom PS, I set my jig and worm MHF rod reels at 4 lbs, use my thumb if needed momentarily to stop a big bass and that rare.

$15-$20K think good condition 2005 Trident SR 175 w/ 115 opimax. Tom

Micro jigs Turner Jones 1/64 oz is micro you all are making Finesse jigs! Tom

I have no idea what the OP’s budget is? Owned serval bass boats and a few smaller aluminum boats. When op says he plans to fish tournaments at some point he needs a boat bass anglers like to fish out of. If I was to buy a bass boat today for the size of lakes the mentioned and enjoy the fun factor of owning a bass boat it would the I recommended Bass Cat Bob Cat w/ 150 hp 4 stroke factory assembled used or new. Tom

The is shaking the rod tip and I use the reel handle to do that, spinning or casting. Tom

Power ratings vary between each rod mfr. The reason I prefer using plastic grocery bag and pint plastic drinking bottles is it’s easy to adjust. Basics are; power rating vs approx lifting weight. Light = 1 lb ML = 2 lbs M= 3 lbs MH= 4 lbs H= 5 lbs Setting the drag in this manner gives you a good idea of you drag setting vs rod loading. 4 lbs of drag is all I use for my jig and worm rods, it’s a lot of drag force! Tom

VW should correct the Taos towing data! Always call the dealer👍