J Francho

I've seen some pretty scary waterspouts on Lake Ontario.

Dude, you beat the Jets.

Vertical Drop Shot, up to 1/2 oz. Flick Shake/Wacky Jigs up to 1/4 oz. Panther Martin Spinners up to 1/4 oz. Grubs up to 1/8 oz. Tiny Jigs up to 1/8 oz. Wacky Rig/Neko 3" Senkos. Tiny jerkbaits. I'd use it for shakey heads up to about 1/8 as well, if I threw them any more. When the weight on any of these goes any heavier, such as a 3/4 or 1 oz. DS, then I switch to the MFX rod.

90% of the rods I bought myself are Avids. I love them, have a couple dozen of them. Not a fan of micro guides. The SCIII MLXF taper is pretty special.

I pack two of the smaller speed bags in my crate.

Demand. Most people want a 6-8 or 6-10 length. I have 2x 6-3 MLXF and MXF. I recommend adding the MLXF. It's a very special taper, and great for a lot of things.

I wonder how many PBs you missed.

Original package in Plano speed bags.

I would NOT want anything super slick. I had some kind of plastic bunk covers for my Xpress, and replaced them with carpet.

I use straight Tuf-Line Supercast in 30# size. It's like the line was designed for topwaters.

Mine is a single pipe, doesn't really growl unless you're over 3500 rpms.

I fail to see where you mentioned starting anywhere! It's all good. Still my favorite quote.

For perspective, this could mean catching on a certain fallen tree - a log really - and backing off about 15 yards to find the sloping break at the first drop gets dramatically steep, though maybe only a 1/3 as deep as the the 1/4 mile of this ledge. To the other extreme, it could also mean Seeing the outlet from the bay to Lake Ontario, knowing bass use this (I've caught them a ton in the outlet) as highway, and locating some interesting breaks in 15-30' of water in the lake adjacent to the outlet. If you think I'm close to the outlet, you'd be dead wrong. I fish almost a mile and a half from it, but it's the closest visual target where I've caught fish.

Nice!

I agree! I subscribe to the techniques that Catt describes, but I think you *can* work in reverse by locating some shallow fish lurking near visible targets, and moving off from there. Without a ton of knowledge on a lake, I'm not too great at just starting off shore, unless it's something blatantly obvious on a chart. One thing is for sure, I try to figure out why I'm catching here, and not there.

If immediately released. Fizzing can work as well, if you're keeping them for weigh in, but I would never fish that deep in a tournament, even on Erie.

If you leave your boat in a slip, you'll want to the bilge pump to kick on when water gets in the hull.

When a visible target produces, immediately switch to "figure out why" mode. Meaning move back and try to determine why that one target worked. Start graphing a grid, moving a little deeper with each pass. You'll probably find a ledge, break, or channel nearby. Now, when you see something similar somewhere else on the map or the graph, pinpoint on the visible targets nearby.

I don't think I've tried deeper than 50'. I did pick up one, fishing for lakers in around 75', but I suspect that bugger was suspended in less. My bait never hit bottom.

That's sweeeeeet!

Map work/graph work. You can break a lake down into section, like "slicing" a map. Explore the likely depths and structural elements one slice at a time. You may blank at first, but the work will pay off. You can also just beat the banks, or skip docks. There's always a a few there. It's funny though. Until you figure out what the bottom structure is like, you won't unlock why some docks, small coves, lay downs hold fish, and some don't. Map work first, then line that up with what the graph tells you - is it rocky, a barren flat, weedy (what kind of weeds?), is there deep water or a channel near a dock or lay down... just keep observing and asking yourself these questions.

Two words: auto bilge.

That's how my 2010 GMC works. You flick the key, and it basically starts a "boot up" process.

Paul is in some weedy stuff, and he's in a kickboat:

Yes, and yes. Change oil every 3500 miles, and you'll be fine.