J Francho

I think he lost count and exaggerated a few times or more. Not buying it. I have no doubt he has caught exponentially more fish than myself.

It's almost clear on the other side of the state, 6 hours away, so not really my neck of the woods. Suffice it say, get a NY and VT license, and fish the VT side up north if you can, for brown fish. Otherwise, stay south near Crown Point for green fish. There's guys up here that fish Champ regularly that can give more accurate advice. It's 5-6 years since I've been there. My last tournament out of CP, I took a gamble and ran north for green fish. I caught a really nice limit of google eyes, but they didn't count at weigh in. Saved my weekend with 22-ish lbs. of green fish fishing near the launch, ferry, and mill.

More than one bass every ten minutes, on average. Which means any time he went 20 minutes without a catch, He caught two in around 5 minutes. I'm calling foo-foo on this. This is a fish story in my book. And it's not me being jealous, so let's not go down that path. Unless he's fishing in a grow out pond.

Here you go, 12+ minutes of glory. https://youtu.be/VuHS-gjMiVw

Nobody put a score for the Pentatonix version. It's a zero because it's the default score for them.

This is actually funny.

Interesting that Powerbait was brought up. I had some original lizards from '89 or '90 that had chartreuse tails, and after a year in a Plano box, the tails came apart. I chalk this up to the newness of the baits and maybe they had an issue with the pours that was resolved. It wasn't a big deal, just a few baits. There was another slightly later advanced Powerbait formula. I can't remember the exact name, but it was pre '95. I had some pretty realistic crawfish baits that hardened somewhat. They might have been the precursor to Gulp!, and they probably needed to stay in their bags. At any rate, I've never seen anything really bad happen to any of the normal plastisol style baits, though I do notice if I put a few in a Plano box and they sit for a season or better, the box yellows a bit. I have no doubt it's from the plastics and UV exposure. It could also be from whatever is used to lube up the baits to keep them from sticking to each other. For the past two decades I have left them in the original bags, and put them in speed bags or taller Plano boxes without any issue. Seems like the safest bet.

All you need is in that lower left compartment

^^^yes. These all work well for me. I go a bit smaller depending on the bait for my smallmouth up here. I'll add the Gamakatsu split shot hooks to that list as well.

I think partnering up with a pro for a team format tournament where proceeds go to some worthy charity would be cool.

My ex did it twice.

Any bait that gets bit is a reaction bait. You got a reaction.

Do you have the exploded diagram? Something is not seated properly or put back together in the wrong order. The schematic will help you verify it's all in place.

There is a nice, long thread on traps, baiting, and ethical treatment of bacon if you do a search.

Blade choice for me is driven more by retrieve, not popularity. Retrieve is validated by bites.

I used Team All Stars after my Fenwicks from the 90s seemed outdated. They were great rods. I'd think they'd feel dated compared to what we fish these days, but very much still good rods.

Swim Senko

Any used boat I've had, the graphs were usually outdated. I eventually upgraded them when I could afford it. They were a factor in price. A basic graph is $500 these days, so it's worth mentioning in the negotiations.

I'd set it up to fish from the stern. I would not elevate the deck, but I'd want a flat floor, carpet on floor and gunwales, a graph, and rod holders.

I like capers. Another yummy idea!

I can't recall any point in the last 10 years or so wishing I had a real pork trailer.

Braid doesn't work well below freezing. Otherwise, 20 or 30 would be fine. I use a 3000 spool and 8# fluoro for kings, so I'd think that would work fine for you. You could go up to a 4000 but I think it may be over kill. Plain Stradics are bullet proof.

Looks like it. Several places you can get them.

What line do you plan to use?