dickenscpa

Yes sir, I did on both.

I do want to carry my cooler with me. I don't get to go multiple days during the week but when I do i make it an ALL day affair. So I have drinks, lunch, a snack and dinner with me in a Yeti 20 qt. Here's my deal in a long drawn out nutshell - I have a 5 car basement level garage. My wife's side is a 2 car and my side is a 3 car. She needs EVERY inch of hers not to hit the walls. LOL! On my side I have my reloading bench setup, my "bow shop" with draw board, bow press, targets etc. A touring model Harley, ATV, boat and zero turn mower plus other yard equipment. The boat takes up the most space and every time I want to fish I have to move Congress to get it out and when I get back resituate to get it back in. I could've went fishing yesterday evening but I didn't feel like it. I could've went for a bit this morning but same deal. I've felt this way about it for 4-5 years now. I LOVE to fish but find myself not going because I hate rearranging the garage coming and going each time, I'm tired of launching the boat in a crowd by myself each time and tired of fishing the same old dead water EVERY trip because I don't want to pull the boat any distance. I could put a kayak in my garage and actually move around in there. Throw it in the truck and go. There are a multitude of ramps within 20 miles of me I'd like to fish but don't because I don't want to pull the boat that far and they don't have a courtesy dock. So I just need a yak wide enough to hold my cooler, a small Plano tackle box and I wind up using the same four rods over and over anyway.

I like MLF and consider myself to be a fairly bright fellow, but I must admit it confuses me as well - and I watched Wheeler's video explaining it.

I have to keep working, I can't hardly keep the 17 yr old fed!

My biggest fear is the way I see other boaters treat kayakers in my area. I fish the Cumberland River and there's also a lot of barge traffic. I dealt with a lot of traffic Saturday but it was on the lake and no barges. I don't like the wake a barge throws in my bass boat. Kayak fishing has gotten really big here in TN and there are a lot of good waters to kayak fish, but I'm afraid with my time schedule I won't drive to them to kayak fish for the same reason I don't pull the boat to other waters now. Thanks for the feedback, sometimes I have to type something out to get thru to myself. LOL! What I'll probably do is just get myself a fast/sleek pleasure kayak to enjoy time with my wife and daughter. Probably buy my son one and make him go. LOL!

This may be long, but bear with me: I have a 16-17' glass bass boat. In perfect condition, been garage kept its whole life and just upgraded electronics bow and console. I love my boat but not necessarily in love with it I guess, it's just a tool. 99% fish by myself. Wife and two kids don't care to fish. Wife wanted to go kayaking, bad. Me and our two kids were iffy. Son is 17 and daughter is 9. We get two tandems and my wife and daughter LOVED it. Our daughter is still talking about it. Our son was meh. Me I think I would've enjoyed it much more in a single. I think my son was a bit sketchy because it was Labor Day Weekend and pleasure boaters were buzzing around EVERYWHERE. That actually gave me more confidence in the stability that we survived that with ease. Anyway I want to buy my wife a tandem to paddle our daughter around in, but she says she doesn't feel good about going out without me. She wants me to get a fishing rig so I'll be out there if she needs me but also doing what I love. Being realistic I own a CPA firm with 3 office locations, I don't even have the time to fish and bowhunt like I want now. No way I could or would justify a bass boat and a kayak with my time. I could have my bass boat sold this afternoon if I wanted but has anyone sold their boat for a kayak and just really had seller's remorse?

I actually ran the wires thru the gunnel (painstakingly I might add) a week or so ago and it didn't work. I have the Striker 7 on the console and Striker 4 on the bow but they're not sharing. Maybe the 4 doesn't share, but if that's the case they shouldn't put the wires on it making you think it did.

I have a 92 60HP Johnson on a '92 16 1/2 Bumble Bee so mine was in the prone failure zone apparently. When I bought that boat the first 6 weeks of ownership saw that alarm go off EVERY single time on the water. I disconnected mine and started premixing oil/gas 26-27 years ago and never a worry. I almost didn't buy the boat because it came with a Johnson instead of Mercury. My Mercury before that was very cold collared but this Johnson to this day starts first start everytime. It sits in the garage Dec-Apr (I'm a CPA can't fish during tax season) and Apr 16th or 17th it starts right up even with the old gas in it. I do put some stabilizer in it every Dec. As a matter of fact I filled up my 10 gal tank in May 2017. I had a heart attack in late may 2017 and my wife wasn't keen on me being out on the boat by myself for a bit. So the boat sat until about two weeks ago. Also why there was virtually no posting from me during that time. I checked the carbs and they were clean as a whistle and changed LU oil and have taken 6 fishing excursions in the last 2 weeks and got 1/2 tank of that gas left. It was non ethanol as well. Now here's a caveat - this boat barely sips gas. I have an 8.1 mile drive to my favorite dock on Old Hickory/Cumberland River and don't do a lot of driving to get to my spots. I'll ride my Harley 80mph in interstate rush hour but speed on the water scares me. I give my boat just enough throttle to get on plane, tilt and back off throttle a bit and I'm at about 25mph and that's fine with me. I got brave once and decided to see how fast it would go and it wasn't floored and I was doing 37mph and about soiled myself and chickened out. I have a rational or irrational fear of air getting under the front and flipping me. So I'm a creeper. LOL!

I called Garmin yesterday and they confirmed opposite colors go together. I told them it looked like 20-22 gauge and they said it was more like 26-28 gauge and to use speaker wire. There's a West marine on the way home from the office so I plan to make a pit stop. Now that I actually have the ability to spot structure with fish on it, I want to be able to mark these waypoints and cruise up close with the big motor and get where I want with the TM. So sharing waypoints all the sudden became important to me. LOL!

Thanks for the heads up! Every time it goes to commercial my volume gets muted and when the commercial is done my live stream stops. I have to reload the page and unmute everytime.

I've never been real into the sonars and to be honest never made one work for me until recently. I bought a Garmin Striker 4 for the bow and put the transducer on the TM. For the first time I've seen arches and caught fish this way. Liked this unit so much I removed the Lowrance off the console and installed a Striker 7. I've read for years about people networking them together, etc and thought wow! they know what they're doing. LOL! Now I want to share my waypoints between these two units and they're compatible. I know to connect the blue to blue and brown to brown but what gauge wire are they? I obviously need to build extensions but boat's at home and I planned on stopping on the way home and pick up some wire. TIA Brad

Vehicle tow ratings are figured in large part for the ability to actually pull said amount of weight and the frame's ability to handle it. Another large part is the brakes. I've seen rigid vehicles with big engines that you'd think could pull a house off it's foundation, but lacking in the brake dept. When I was around 12 my next door neighbor was selling his boat. I was mowing our lawn when a guy showed up to look and ultimately buy the boat. My neighbor was concerned about the guy's truck. He pulled the boat with a 4WD pre-Tacoma Toyota truck with beefed up brakes. The guy won't listen and barreled out of his driveway with the boat. He had a big engined truck that jerked that boat right up. Came time to stop at the end of the driveway and I watched as the guy lerched across the street and ran right into the house across the street. He couldn't stop. At a young age, I learned a valuable lesson at his expense.

If you have a NAPA close by, what they don't have in stock, I've always had waiting on me the next day. I had a Mercury at the time and I "think" they manufacture the Sierra stuff. I have a Johnson now and I've gotten parts there for it too.

Someone always posts about being stupid or drunk. You are correct when you say it can happen to anyone. Instead of sympathy, ridicule. It is funny but, to accuse someone of stupidity or drunkeness is not necessary. I didn't accuse him of either. I was quasi defending the guy. That's why I don't laugh at other's misfortune. You never know what events beyond someone's control lead to a mishap. We all lose our concentration at times and it's impossible to avoid. Sometimes all it takes is a split second and the other half of that second is like, "oh crap!" I understood that you were sympathetic. I was talking about other posts. my mistake.

Someone always posts about being stupid or drunk. You are correct when you say it can happen to anyone. Instead of sympathy, ridicule. It is funny but, to accuse someone of stupidity or drunkeness is not necessary. I didn't accuse him of either. I was quasi defending the guy. That's why I don't laugh at other's misfortune. You never know what events beyond someone's control lead to a mishap. We all lose our concentration at times and it's impossible to avoid. Sometimes all it takes is a split second and the other half of that second is like, "oh crap!"

I used to laugh my tail off at stories like this, but not anymore. I did the forgot the plug deal my very first trip, but everybody does that at some point. Friday night I almost did a huge boo boo and made me realize, crap can happen to anybody. It was 11PM, dark and people waiting on me to get my boat outta the water. You know what happens when you rush yourself. I usually take my truck out of park and it starts pulling the boat out. Water was high and I was backed way in to get the trailer in the water. Took my foot off the gas and started rolling backwards a bit. Thought I needed to give it a little gas since I was so steep. Nah, I was in reverse. Backend of the boat took on a bit of water, I realized my error quickly and pulled her on out. I avoided an expensive and embarrassing situation, but saw how quickly a momentary lapse in concentration can cost you.

Thanks for the advice guys. I notice it more this season, but maybe since it's more recent. Had some gas that sat all winter which may had an affect. Will know more this Friday evening. Thanks Again.

I bought a later model new-to-me boat last April. My previous boat was about 35 years old and had a same age Mercury engine. Smoked like a freight train and I associated that with its age. This new boat has a Johnson on it and I was leery at first, but I love this thing. Runs great, starts right up and I have to assume well taken care of by previous owner. The previous guy disconnected the oil injector and mixed his own, which woulda been the first thing I did. He had just put a fresh tank of gas in it when I bought it. Ran great and clean. Every since I've been filling the tank, the exhaust smells horrible and it smokes like a freight train. I was afraid I did something to the motor. A guy at the ramp asked me Friday night what oil I was using and he said, "BINGO. That's your problem. Mine did the same on that cheap Bass Pro stuff." Is that pretty much the consensus on that Quicksilver brand that Bass Pro sells? My little boy won't hardly go out on the boat anymore because the fumes make him sick. I am in the process of draining the residual and gonna try another brand.

I'm phenominally horrible at boycotting anything so I'll still watch just cause I love watching fishing, but I agree with everyone's assessment. People can say what they want about Zona, but he's a pretty good commentator and TBH, mine and his sense of humor line up perfect. I love watching his World's Greatest Fishing Show. I'm just like him on my boat. Have been all my life. I know I get on my Dad and brother's nerves, but it's my boat.LOL! The Elite coverage let's the angler talk more and when they do, it seems like good advice or they are saying something interesting as opposed to "One more in the Foldgers Pot!!" over and over. I'm not critisizing though too much, I'm just an ole CFO counting SOMEONE ELSE'S money and they're fishing for a living. :'(

You're exactly right. I'd rather be with my son and/or wife than eat when I'm hungry. He's such a fun little boy. He's a little me, and I love me! LOL! All the dirty diapers and spit up are forgotten when that little boy looks up at you and says, "You're the best Daddy in the world." and he means it.

My Bumble Bee runs like a top, gear is all in order and the conditions are crap. Took my son fishing this weekend (He's 6 yrs old) and I mainly launch in the Old Hickory Lake or Cumberland River offshoots. We've had some major rain this Spring. The first 3 ramps I went to, the courtesy dock was either sunk or the 15-20' walk way to get to the dock was under water. Went to a 4th location that I hadn't been to in years, knew we wouldn't get bit, but at least me and little man would be in the boat together. Parking lot was 60% flooded. My back truck tires never touched the ramp when my boat came off the trailer. I get out and have 20' of rope hooked to the boat and I'm 70' from the dock.LOL! I was able to park my truck in a way where I could get in and out without getting wet but my trailer was resting in a bit of water. Didn't get a single bite but my son was able to practice his casting and something clicked and he got it. I call him MasterCaster now! I fished two weeks ago and isolated stumps in 3-4' of water are now in the 8-12' of water range. :

BINGO!!!! I agree that men do not have inherent physical advantages over women in the sport of fishing. But if the playing field is so equal, why has a woman never qualified via the Opens, Fed Nation, Weekend Series, or Elite Series? (all of whom welcome participation by women.) When I read this thread the first thing that hit my mind has already been covered by other posters. No real physical advantages enjoyed by men where fishing is concerned, so no real shame in getting beat by a lady. As far as your other question of why no other woman in the past, I believe it's purely statistical. Mainly being a pro level fisherman has a lot to do with said pro spending countless hours on the water learning bass habits and how to catch them. Statistically I would guess without factual data to back me up that more men enjoy countless hours out bass fishing than women. So statistically the odds are greater for men to be more prominent on the pro circuit. Now that women have their own circuit and as more women get turned on to fishing, I'd say we'll see more women getting to the point that they can "hang" with the men.

Someone on another forum suggested Dual Pro the other day and come to find out, they are a tad less than 10 miles from my office. Drove over there to pick up the $75 recon unit. Got to talking to the salesman and we had something in common and he surprised me and knocked another $20 off it. I'm tickled with the transaction and the unit! Brad

No doubt. My Dad is an electric & plumbing contractor and although I went to college to be an accountant, he worked my tail off from the time I could walk 'til I graduated college. He made me sit for the electric and plumbing exam as "something to fall back on." I didn't want to but thank him profusely today. I got burnt out on accounting and took a year off and what did I fall back on? I can do anything on a house but lay carpet. I can roof OK, but you may not want me to do it if there's a lot of hips and gables. LOL! One thing my Dad was dogmatic about was neatness of the wiring, especially in a breaker box. He used to say if you did mess up, it's so much easier to trace. He used to also say that messy wiring might work fine, but it just "looks" like you don't know what you're doing. Don't know why I threw all that out there, but like you, messy wiring looks like crap to me.

Might just go this route and save some aggravation. Might save some battery life too. 'Preciate it! Brad