Swimbaitstud

I’m not much into creatures. I like a jig. But I like two. As mentioned, a brush hog works well. I like black ruby. And the other is a hidden secret but I’ll spill the beans and it’s old school! The Arkie salty crawlin grub in GP. If I had one creature forever it would be this one

A few I can think of: I won’t cast a jig without a rattle Slow down in your thinking. If it’s tough, sit and eat a snack. Ask yourself where should the fish be, and why/when should they be there. Do something other people aren’t doing. Fish the bank that nobody goes near. If you would pass it up, so would everyone else and these “nothing banks” I call them often have quality fish. Your eyes will ALWAYS be more reliable than your graphs. People get so wrapped up in “seeing” with their electronics, they forget to look with their eyes.

Yup plenty of cranking amps. I think a major problem is the charging system of your motor. Some have a stator and some have an alternator. And the issue is that you’re trying to charge your lithium battery with a running motor that’s not capable of charging lithium. It would be like charging your lithium with an sla charger

I appreciate all that info, and everyone else’s as well! The sad conclusion is, I called Mercury and they said definitely not compatible with a 2 stroke of that age and that they really only recommend lithiums for newer 4 strokes. Sooooo…..I’ll probably just end up going with an AGM once my sla battery dies. Thanks again guys!

Here’s the wild thing: if I replace both deep cycle with the mini 100ah, the cranking battery with a lithium cranking battery, then I can actually fit a 3rd 100ah on the rear compartment just for the graphs! Side question….you think the bilge and aerator would be fine still on the 20ah cranking lithium or would I need to swap those over with the graphs? I’m thinking I’ll contact Mercury directly to check on running a lithium with a 2001 motor

Hey guys. I’ve been living in the dinosaur ages when it comes to lithiums but finally gonna make the switch in my tracker 185. Going to LiTime batteries powering my fortrex(soon to be ultrex) 80lb. So I’ll go with two bluetooth 100ah batteries. My big question…..are people also running lithium for a cranking battery? I’ve always heard you don’t want lithium for cranking because you don’t know when the battery is getting drawn down like an sla. But I see now they make specific cranking batteries, so apparently it’s a thing. LiTime makes a 20ah, 800cca cranking battery. And I’m only equipped with a 90hp Mercury two stroke. Is it still best practice to stick with sla for cranking or is that a thing of the past?

Fished a tourney with a young guy last year who told me how he hates a black and blue jig cuz it’s so over-fished. I proceeded to catch all of our fish on a black and blue jig that day lol

Black and blue jig is hard to beat in green water. I always use a rattle too. bladed jig….red craw.

I’m 3000 miles from Cali, but I do well on the highsider 172 in that purple back color. I think it’s more natural than the green

I’ll be making the switch on my tracker this spring with a 24v system. Think I’m gonna go with the LItime 100ah batteries. That’s gonna shave 85lbs out of the boat, and that’s if I don’t use one for cranking. I see they have lithiums for cranking now but idk how those work. Gonna do some research. Glad you love it

I think you’re gonna be happy! What did you end up getting?

You’ll be looking at $247 shipped after the BS tariffs…

Keep in mind, more bearing doesn’t mean better quality bearings.

I just back into conventional tackle and have acquired about 20 setups. Almost all of them will do a couple things. My light cranking rods double as a jerkbait rod or blade bait. Heavier crank rods double well for big jerkbaits or topwater. A frog rod might double as a flipping rod. That said, I prefer to have a dedicated setup. Last year I was switching between frogs and flipping on my Dobyns hp 746. Great for both. But I like to run a short mono leader flipping, straight braid on a frog. That’s not good having to keep cutting off and retying a leader. I only have a few more rods on my list to get and I’ll have everything I wanna do covered.

Haha for real. The boat uses it through winter haha

It’s a slippery slope. One you’re griping about $50 spro Chad shad and then one day you wake and your garage looks like this 🤣

Pick a pond or lake that has an inlet that’s slow moving and shallow. I fish some lakes around 4,000 acres. They have shallow, swampy inlets with a bridge where they dump into the lake. That’s your spot. If the lake is 40 and the inlet is dumping water that 42, it’ll be on fire. I’ll attach some examples

Legit spot on! And the 734cb Kaden is great for small squarebills, light traps and lighter jerkbaits if you don’t mind the length

Jerkbait time!!

I came to post this too!

I forgot about this one…..the bait was not mine per se. But I had a guy who wanted me to find him a Drt frenzy when they were first released in Japan. For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s basically a 16.9” klash. There’s were only a few at this time that had made their way to the U.S. and this guy wanted one bad. In the end, he gave me $1,050 for the one I was able to import. I’m not sure where I draw my line on a bait, but it’s definitely less than that lol

Ya it’s been hot and cold here in central Maine…..well, except for the hot part. Next week isn’t looking any better. Highs around 40 🤮 I suspect we are in for the latest ice out I’ve seen in 10+ years

Sadly, I feel like a lot of guys try a fury or maverick even and make their judgement of Dobyns based on those lines. I know not everyone can afford expensive rods, and this top revolves around the fury, but as you move up the lines of rod they become exponentially better imo. If you can get your hands on an extreme hp…..now you’re really talking about a professional level rod. I know of a lot of guys who have left the Loomis nrx line and switched to HP and xstacy lines, stating that the nrx is significantly lighter, but that the high end Dobyns are significantly better balanced. I still think the Kaden is the best bargain and again, you can find a lightly used one all day for $140. I own the 711sf, 610-4, 744, 745, 734cb, and 735cb and like em all. I have some champs I like. But the champ hp is another level. I have a 745 and 746 that I never wanna put down. Going forward, I’ll pay the extra every time to get the better line. That said, I now have acquired 3 xstacys over winter. So I’m guessing I’ll be spoiled forever after using those.

Huge Dobyns guy here and I agree. I’ve honestly only used the fury a few times, but for the price I think the Kaden an amazing rod. And never do I pay full price. I’ve bought all my rods on sale or even used. You can find used Kadens all day for $140. And they come in a pretty good line of different actions, especially having the crankbait models. I love those.

Another good one that’s not used a lot is a chunk jig trailer. When I’m fishing red/orange bladed jigs it’s always a red zoom super chunk. I also let it fall to bottom often. I really think this mimics a craw. The vibration must be similar to the water that’s pushed by a craw when flicking its tail I’d assume