dwtaylor

You can still get around brushy with a pond prowler. I would recommend launching at the north end of the lake. One of the things I miss most about Iowa fishing is the farm ponds. My grandpa has a farm pond that had an awful fish kill 3/4 years ago and it killed almost all of the largemouth in it, many of them over 20". A lot of core memories and the foundation from my fishing passion came from there.

Not to further complicate things, but omnia has some awesome content showing rod actions on their site and on their youtube channel. Idk if they have these rods shown, but consider it a good resource for rod shopping going forward.

I have the power target cranker and I think it is the best medium diving crankbait rod that I own. I throw wiggle warts, rkcrawlers, DT6, money badgers, etc on this rod and it is awesome for bottom contact cranking. Very sensitive for a crankbait rod. It is also good for 1.5 sized squarebills around cover, but I don't think I need the sensitivity like I do those bottom cranks and I have other mh action glass cranking rods for squarebills that I use over this. I don't think it would work great as a bladed jig or single hook rod as it is a moderate action and a little on the soft side for medium heavy. The mod-fast action would likely be a little better and feel a little true to rod power. I have 7'6"mhmf blanks from the legend elite and legend tournament lines that would make great rods for chatterbaits and single hook baits that you are looking for. I would imagine the 72mhmf rod would be way better than the 72mhm rod for this.

Overall used. I have at least a couple dozen shimano e series reels between citicas, curados, and chronarchs. They are easy to service, perform well, and deals can be had. I have purchased some newer reels, but mostly spinning reels.

Probably the 4.65 I caught as a kicker fish in a 3 fish limit (summertime wisconsin culling rules) on a jig I made. I also made the rod too. I won the tournament too which was cool as that was my first win ever. I have caught a bunch of good fish on baits I made though, just no giants. Yet.

All, I am getting into the "medium" swimbait game and need suggestions on storage for these baits. So far I have a collection of 5" and 6" magdraft/cullshad style baits (freestyle and regular), comeback shads, 5" and 7" nessie soft glides, osakana slides, some savage gear 4 plays, and some 168 sized s wavers so far. I might add a chad shad sized hard glide too, but tbd. Right now I am planning on keeping them in the oem packaging to prevent tail warping, kind of like how I store my keitechs. However, I don't think I need to do that with the glides. I was suggested to try the thin single compartment 3700 sized lurelocks, but those seem to be quite thin and potentially warping the tails on the soft baits. They would probably work great on the hard baits though and a local store has those boxes on clearance right now. Id like to keep one box if possible, but I am open to other options. Any thoughts?

IMO the cheapest route is to just get a cradle for the front with a power cord and a transducer and move the head unit with you from the console to the bow. Click it in, power on and go.

Haha, It was the right place at the right time, not angler excellence. My pb was 6-6 from the sturgeon bay area. Id like to catch a 7+ but typically that is a spring bite and the weather and wind can be very unpredictable and unsafe so I will be patient on that one.

The lakes here still have ice, but it is melting quickly. We have a river impoundment that is wide open now and guys are catching smallies in the main wintering hole. If I wasn't sick and had my stuff together I would be out there this weekend. Id like to get there before all the ice is gone, water levels go up, and the water clarity goes to chocolate milk.

For 6" baits I think you might be ok, but I don't think fishing them with a beast style hook on a freestyle/freeloader you will have enough backbone for hooksets. Rig them with a line through treble and you are golden. Lob casts and you should be good.

I have never caught a PB in the spring or fall window. I am dabbling into the 6"+ swimbait game this year to help with that. I did catch my biggest 5 fish bag ever at 22.5lbs last fall, all smallmouth on a tx rigged 3.5" tube with a 5/16oz weight flipping wood on mud banks and cut banks. I think the leopard frogs were migrating into the water for their hibernation which turned that bite on that day. It was amazing. Before that day, I had never caught anything above 4.5lbs on that river.

I had a person break into my storage unit last summer, but they didn't steal anything. They were interested in the receipt to my new trolling motor though. I think it was someone walking through with a backpack and couldn't fit too many big items in their backpack. I filed a police report anyway in case so if I did find stolen items or damage, I could reference it to insurance.

I went from a 80lb 24v motorguide x5 to a garmin force and I will never go back. It is quieter, faster, stronger, more weedless, and more efficient than my motorguide. It has gas shocks on the mount so it has lift and drop assist. My tourney partner has an ultrex and he loved my force for this reason. I also have spot lock now which is huge. Two downsides: the cost and the pedal sensitivity. I got a very good deal ~2500 for my force but normally its a ~3600 trolling motor (57" shaft). The pedal sensitivity is because it doesn't have the cables providing drag and its a stand alone pedal. I tightened the pedal a bit but is still way looser than my x5 was. I have used the original ultrex and the lowrance ghost as well and all are great trolling motors.

I am not trying to complicate things, but are you running the factory wiring harness from the battery to the graphs/fuse box? I had this problem with my humminbirds before I went with a dedicated wiring harness. I have since switched to Garmin graphs, but still. I have never seen voltage less than 11.6 even when cranking up my engine. Most of the time it is between 13.2 and 12.8 without cranking. The factory wiring harness was basically a 14g wire which is way low. I went with 8g from a cutoff switch to the fuse box and 10g to the units and livescope. From the battery to the cutoff switch I put in 4g starter cables. Think of small wires like your plumbing in your house. Bigger pipes get less restrictive flow and it kind of takes more effort (pressure) to keep the same flow in a smaller pipe. Bigger pipes feed smaller pipes to keep up pressure. If you have only smaller pipes, you are going to see a pressure loss on your sink if you flush the toilet. Same thing happens with electricity.

I like my plano edge jig/bladed jig boxes. Super durable and waterproof. They can store a ton of jigs as well which is nice. Bulky, yes. I actually buy a lot of the waterproof boxes from harbor freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-storage-organization/parts-storage/large-water-resistant-storage-container-56578.html They are a cheaper knock off version of the similar style from plano. I too put silica gel packets in my boxes, but waterproof boxes are the way to go.

You should be able to get a 18 footer with a 150 in that price range now. 2/3 years ago not so much. A late 80s to early 90s ranger 300 series is a great hull. I have seen a few repowered with new 4 strokes so guys really like them. They may be slightly outside your price point, but not by much. There are javelins, stratos, skeeter, and tritons in that 90s era that are good too. I probably wouldn't consider a nitro, but if you came across one that was clean that could be a good option too. The evinrude intruder and johnson fast strike are good engines as are the mercury xr6 but they are carb 2 strokes which can guzzle gas and be complicated in cold starts. Stay away from any optimax from the 90s or johnson/evinrude fichts. I am not 100% up to speed on the yamaha options back then as they were kind of an up and coming brand at that time.

Anyone have any details on the bps spring classic that starts next week?

Those zoom hooks are a lighter wire hook, just an fyi. They are mustad 91768 jig hooks with a screw lock keeper. I use the gamakatsu or berkley fusion19 ewg superline hook with a screw lock. I actually take the screw locks that come with the hooks and replace them with the owner center pin screw locks. Another modfication that I do is bend the hook point slightly down to keep the hook point from snagging, even when tex-posed. I don't like using weighted hooks for this due to the tendency to pick up fine algae and other vegetation.

The population in Calhoun county where my parents live is outstanding and has been for 5 years or so. I miss it a lot sometimes, but not enough to buy an out of state license. There are like 0 pheasants in my area of Wisconsin outside game/hunt clubs which release hatchery birds. I did pick up waterfowl hunting this year and found that I have a couple really good goose recipes...still not like pheasant though.

google "Best smallmouth lakes in NW Wisconsin?" and there are some good suggestions from another popular bass fishing forum. I have never been in that area though. I moved up to northeast/central WI 12 years ago from your neck of the woods. Rarely do I go more than 2 hrs from Oshkosh (where I live) and find myself fishing the wolf river by new london the most. Its good for both species and a smaller boat is preferred. Its not traditional smallmouth fishing though because you are fishing around a lot of wood and heavy cover so its really more or less like fishing brushy creek, but with current if that makes sense. The wolf is not as wide as the des moines river above the dsm metro area, but it is deeper and has a little more current. The water is cleaner as well.

There is a little bit of pedal pick up tension/stick that I only notice when I just start using the pedal. I tightened my pedal tension screws up though so that makes sense as why it does that. I came from a motorguide so I wanted a higher tension feel. With that said, I can get pretty dialed in after that. I have an lvs32 with a fish obsessed dominator mount that made a world of difference for me to get lined up properly. I can see my bait at 80 feet without issue by lining up my trolling motor with my line. Practice makes perfect here. I don't agree that 1 degree at 80 feet makes a difference as that is about 16 inches of error. The beam width is much wider than 16 inches at that distance so you are going to see whatever you are looking for if you are close. 10 degrees is a different story as that is half the beam angle. To me, it sounds like you are closer to 10+ degrees off than 1 degree off for steering.

I am aware of those, but the blank I have is actually the legend elite blank which had a size 3 tip instead of the 3.5 tip that is specified on this site and the normal legend extreme blank. At the time I bought my blank they actually offered both...one with the teal green (extreme) and the light green (elite) of which I bought. This smaller tip makes it much lighter and more of a true xf action than the 3.5 tip size.

I recommend Stardust and getting a cheaper $20 heat gun off of amazon, harbor freight, etc. Stardust doesn't chip like other powder paints and doesn't require an oven to cure. It is a little more expensive than other powders, but I like it a lot.

My favorite general use frog rod is a Dobyns 735c. I have the Dobyns Savvy 735c which has been discontinued for a while, but that same rod is available in just about all their series. Pick the price point of Dobyns you want and get that action. Reels, I go with a 7.something to 1 ratio. The fast 8.something or faster reels you lose some torque and that can wear on you a little bit with a lot of slop. With a 7something ratio you don't lose too much line pickup or torque. I run 50lb braid on frogs, but may actually go down to 40lb power pro after my bulk spool is gone. I have never actually broken braid that wasn't frayed so why not downsize a little bit to get better casting ability and cut through weeds better.

The best aftermarket treble on the market IMO is the gamakatsu g-finesse aaron martens trebles. The standard and the mh hooks are both great options. They are pricey though. A really good alternative that is better for price is the Owner ST36 or the Hayabusa TBL930 with the NRB coating. That size of spinner is probably going to be a #4 or a #6.