RyneB

I can only comment on gas. It will be expensive. But it depends what type of fishing you are doing. I have a 150, but my primary place to fish is a strip pit where I only start the outboard to load and unload. When I go to bigger reservoirs and run and gun, I spend about $70 a day. If I strictly fished big reservoirs every weekend, I wouldn't be able to afford my gas.

We stayed on Lake Kinkaid in southern Illinois a few weeks ago. We just left our boats tied to the "courtesy" dock that the place we rented cabins from owned. It was in the middle of a marina. Even if I got off the water for 20 minutes, I would put all my rods and reels away and lock them. All my buddies thought I was being obsessive, but I work to hard and spend too much on gear for some "insert bad word" to steal my stuff. I was at a hotel one time in Tennessee and saw some good old boys put a beat down on someone trying to steal stuff out of there Skeeter.

I use a leader with my Power Pro due to the fact I fish in gin clear water. I always struggled with straight braid and lost confidence. The other reason I like using a leader, is when I want to retie, I can just bite off my knot. That's not happening with braid. Its a confidence thing. Once I learned to tie a uni to uni knot and gained confidence in the knot, every braid setup I have uses a leader. I will not fault anyone for not using a leader though.

Those are some big shad, id chop them up and use them as cut bait for big cats.

I would only sell it because my 18 ft Ranger is all I need. I would love to have a brand new rig, but my garage only allows me to have a 18 footer. I would take the 250 off of it though and throw it on my 18 footer lol.

most of my setups have 50# PP. I fish a very very clear strip mine, so I always use a fluoro leader.

thanks for the replies. Im definitely going to be bringing down the rod/reel and a small tackle box. All will fit in my luggage. So far what im bringing will be -Pop A Dog -Live Target swimming mullet -jig heads and twister tails -white bucktails -small reaction strike swimbaits -Mirro Lure twitchbait -DOA shrimp Good selection?

I have actually slept in my Ranger on 2 occasions. Both while it was parked in the garage. The night of my bachelor party I decided to go play with my tackle when I got home. I ended up passing out and waking up around 7 am, I did have the drunken knowledge to use a couple PFDs as pillows. The other time was when I accidentally locked myself out of the house. I had an air mattress in the backseat of my truck, threw the mattress on the Ranger deck and was able to sleep.

menace, single tail grub, Roboworm Ocean swimbait tail (big profile but it lets off a lot of thump and is very tough), Havoc Devil Spear, and rage craw

swimbait

I have been into the flip/swim jig head, which is a poison tail head. I have even tied a California swim jig. Which is a bigger profile swim jig with a poison tail head with a big swimbait as a trailer. I have been catching some giants on that bait so far this year. But if I needed to make one cast and catch a fish, it would be a 1/4 oz Brovarney swim jig in crappie with a pearl Zoom Fat Albert. If your interested, PM me your address, ill send you a couple flip/swim jigs. The Hack Attack is another good flip/swim jig that will catch a lot of fish. The only problem is you are limited to Strike King colors.

iv taken my tracker into some nasty stuff. Tore up the lower unit, stuck on a sand bar and had to get out and push it about 75 yds, 4 trashed props, run in with a trailer, etc. But my Ranger doesn't get pushed to the limit, other than rough water. My buddy wanted to work a rock bluff wall a few weeks ago. He kept telling me "get within a foot of the rock wall" as 1 footers were smashing into the wall. I would have done it in my Tracker, but no way that was happening in the Ranger. Its a different ball game when fixing the Ranger compared to the Tracker.

Dwight on Lake Erie. No doubt. I love my largemouth. But I have caught 3 lb smallmouth and they are a tank. I couldn't imagine a 5+ lber.

Your the only other person who has ever mentioned the Brovarney swim jig on this site besides me.It is one of the originals out here in the Midwest. I have caught more bass on a 1/4 oz Brovarney swim jig and pearl Zoom Fat Albert trailer than all other baits combined. It isn't as pretty as other jig makers, but its tough and catches fish.

I will not tell you to not throw a swim jig, since it is my favorite bait to throw. But get yourself a couple packs of 4.5 inch blue gizzard shad swimbaits. Work that through or above the vegetation. 2nd choice, a Smokin Rooster, T Rigged with a 1/8oz weight. Swim that over the vegetation and hold on. I have been in your situation before, when the swim jig fails I resort to these 2 techniques. 1 of the 3 will produce. The thing I like about the Rooster Rig (that's what I call it) is while you're swimming it over the vegetation, you can drop it in little open pockets. The 1/8 oz weight is enough to get the legs and tail moving on the fall. I discovered this rig one time because I couldn't cast a weightless rooster with any success. A Space Monkey is also a good bait to use in this situation.

I will be heading down to Fort Myers in December. Just wondering if its worth bringing my travel rod and Revo (flying down)? This vacation is my wifes idea, so im just along for the ride. I might only get an hour or 2 to fish a day. Would I surf fish? Or find freshwater canals? Anything I do will have to be in walking distance. I have surf fished in NC, im a caster though, not a throw a bait out and wait guy..Also, anyone know of any good food/beer places down there?

I have to go a lot. It used to affect my fishing. I resorted to a 5 gallon bucket, a garbage bag and a roll of TP. But when you have a co-angler in your boat, that isn't an option. I tried eating right and all that stuff and it never worked. I eat a saltine, its coming out. So I decided to take an anti diarrhea pill before I leave for the ramp. I'm #2 free all day. For #1, a Gatorade bottle is my best friend.

i love Trokars. I still use gammys and such, but Trokars are my favorite. I love there tube hook and swimbait hook. The only negative I have is the hook point doesn't seem to stay in the plastic as well as others while rigging weedless. It seems to want to pop out a little more than most.

I wish Illinois would think like other states. Illinois does everything in there power to keep guns away from us. It is working, look at Chicago, no one gets shot there.

strike king shadalicious t rigged on a weighted swimbait hook, huddleston weedless shad, swimbait as a swim jig trailer. All very effective for me

in march of 2012 I bought a 2000 Ranger R81VS for $10,000 total. That included 2 down imaging units and new vinyl for the seats and all the tax,title and license. As far as costs go, I upgraded my trolling motor rope. $50. Gas is my biggest cost.

I have had dozens. We go up north everywhere for a week and I always get at least one. My buddy had one on his balls one time. He kept asking for help, he went at it solo.

Gen 1 Revo S with a Skeet Cranking stick Gen 1 Revo S with a skeet Gen 1 Revo S with a skeet Gen 2 Revo S with a Vendetta Gen 3 Revo S with a Veritas Gen 3 Revo SX with a Phenix Recon Gen 2 Premier with a St Croix Rage Daiwa Lexa 100 with a St Croix Rage Revo Inshore with a Kistler Carbon Steel Micro Spinning Orra S with a Duckett rod Pflueger President with a BPS Carbon

I have it on DVD, so I watch it a lot. When me and my wife met, she invited me over to watch a movie and told me I could bring whatever I wanted. I brought Super Troopers. CAR RAMROD

nice goat A-Jay. I had a black 2004 and there isn't a day goes by I don't miss my goat. 2 years ago I had a procharger installed and all the fun stuff. Then I met my wife and the car just didn't fit into the plans. So I sold it and bought a Ranger (I still need 1 toy). I drove 2 hours away to sell it, I didn't want to sell it in my area because I would never be able to handle seeing someone else drive it.