Scott F

The models with remotes are used by a lot of guys who are not bass fishermen. The walleye and muskie anglers for the most part only use the remote and never use the foot pedal. They probably buy more of these units than the bass fishermen do who still seem to prefer the cable steer. I could see mobile phone apps that control trolling motors to remove the computer power needed for stuff like voice recognition to your phone and not in the motor itself. Edit; I just looked this up. There already are phone apps for operating Minn Kota iPilot and iPilot link trolling motors. Voice commands are not supported. Maybe in future versions.

I think as far as famous baits go, the age of the fishermen might have an influence on your choices. If you are under 50, you may have never heard of a Creek Chub or Bass O Reno. I'm over 60 and had to look up what a KVD 1.5 was. It's not much different than Cordell Big O which I have and was catching tons of bass when KVD was still in first grade. Not a lot of baits are still popular that were once very hot. Lots have been copied to the point where few remember the original. Spinner baits, buzzbaits, lipless cranks, plastic worms and skirted jigs are some of the must have baits in every tackle box but the memory of the first versions is pretty fuzzy except to the old timers who were around at their birth. In my mind, The PopR, and the Mepps Aglia, should be in the fishing Hall of Fame. They may not have been the originals, but they are some of the most famous.

The only way you could get an accurate estimate of the cost would be to contact the boat dealer who might do the work for you. The cost my dealer charged me may not be close to what you might be charged.

You've been on here long enough that you've seen the leader-no leader debate many times. But I'll give you my opinion. I see no reason to use one. I don't believe bass are line shy. Even if they were, no line is truly invisible. Even in the rocky waters I fish, I have never had an issue with line abrasion. The extra knot going through my line guides would drive me crazy in addition to shortening my casts. The only advantage I see is that a stiffer leader could help reduce the number of times my braid gets fouled on my bait. That isn't a big enough concern to offset having to tie the additional knot to join the lines and having that knot go through the guides. Overall, I just can't see where using a leader is going to provide me with enough benefits to offset the additional bother.

Since you are asking what I would use, I'd use the medium rod with no leader.

Does she get your permission to buy more shoes?

If you copy the link in the box that says for forums and message boards, then paste it into your message here, the photo will show up

I don't know the Shenandoah River or what kind of structure you are likely to find. In general, for a short float like you are doing, skip over any deep holes or slow water. You are looking for active, feeding fish. Look for the fastest, current you can find, then fish the eddies, and break lines, next to the fast water. If the sun is out, fish the shade line. If there is mid river structure like shallow rocks that disturb the current flow, cast around it. Fish any lay down trees you see. Throw your bait to let it drift along the edges of those downed trees or get it behind any rocks that break the flow of the river. If you get areas where the current is slow, paddle through it to spend your time in more productive areas like I pointed out.

Fishermen who wade and carry landing nets using a magnetic quick release. The release clips to a ring on a fishing vest on the back near the collar. One piece of the magnet hangs from the vest, the other mounts on the edge of the net. The magnets are incredibly strong. When you need to use the net, you reach behind and pull it off the release. All you need is to get the edge of the net close to the other magnet and it will reconnect. The release in the photo I'm including is connected at the handle.

I think if fish can reason that any fishing line is bad, then they must also be too smart to eat that artificial lure you are using.

I like rubber nets for my bass fishing but for me the only drawback is the weight. The bag on mine isn't huge so the weight isn't much of an issue. I haven't seen one that was deep enough for pike or even walleye. If one was big enough, it would be pretty heavy.

Your definition of ultra light and mine are a bit different. 15 lb line is what I used to use for big pike. For lures as light as you are using, I'd be using 4-6 lb line with no leaders needed. Panfish have never shown me to be line shy. They'll certainly cast much better with light line. If 15 is what you have, go ahead and use it.

They don't get much love here, but I've been using nothing but Quantum spinning reels for 30 years. Under $150, ($139.95) The Energy would get my vote. For a few dollars more, ($159.95) I like the Smoke models even better. The Smokes are the best spinning reels I've ever owned

After watching 2 different MLF tournaments over the weekend, I noticed that EVERY one of the 12(?) pro anglers in these 2 events cast their bait casters with the right hand, moved the rod to the left hand and cranked with the right. Using a spinning rod, only Jacob Wheeler held the rod in his left hand. All the others held their spinning rods in their right hand.

Smallmouth in normally clear rivers are generally sight feeders. When the water gets muddy, it can really shut down the bite. Finesse baits can work very well IF you put them in the right places. The high percentage spots are VERY tight to the bank in spots where they can get out of the fast water. Small cuts along the bank, a rock, tree trunk or log can hold bass shallow that are staying out of the current. Casting into these often tiny spots requires pinpoint precision and almost no splash. These spots may be less than a foot deep. This is one time when bank fishermen might have an advantage if there is good shoreline access. Just a subtle dunking of a jig and plastic, held in place, can trigger those bass that still want to eat but won't chase anything out into the fast currents. It's tough to fish these spots from a boat. Drifting moves the boat too much. You have to anchor. Wading in these high fast waters can be dangerous. Finding a shoreline you can walk with access to those tight to the bank slack water spots is the key.

If you like posting pictures on the web, I suggest investing in some photo editing software (I use Photoshop Elements) that you can use to crop and resize your pictures and then use a free hosting service like Tinypic. I crop my pictures to remove unwanted empty spaces and zoom in on my subject and then change the resolution to 72dpi and a picture size of around 8x10. No matter how many pixels your camera is capable of capturing, the Internet still only needs 72 dpi at best. These resized pictures will reduce the amount of space the photo takes up drastically with no visible change on the screen. Uploading the picture to a free site like Tinypic only takes a few seconds and the reduced size uploads quickly. My full size originals stay on my computer where I don't have to pay to store them.

If the fish in a creek are heavily pressured, they will be more wary of someone moving around in the water. Stealth on your part will increase your chances of success more than using different fishing line.

I've been fishing clear rivers and creeks for smallies for a long time and have never found them to be line shy. I use straight braid with no leader, but if it would increase your confidence, go ahead and add a leader. In my opinion, it won't get you any more bites.

Of course you can. There is no reason you couldn't. I never fish wacky rigs, I fish them T rigged, but 10lb straight braid is my everyday set up on all my spinning rods. All the water is all I fish is clear.

It's probably going to cost a lot or the original owner would have fixed it. Instead of getting opinions here, you should send the picture to a Minn Kota repair shop for an estimate.

If you use reading glasses and haven't used the bifocal glasses, try to find some to try on before you buy. I tried the sunglasses with the built in readers and hated them. That's why I went to the flip ups.

I have prescription glasses now and use flip up sunglasses too but I prefer the clip ons

I used reading glasses for years. I used flip ups over my sunglasses like these. I thought they were great. Flip them up out of the way when you don't need them.

My wife doesn't let me go for strippers anymore. She does let me listen to the Blues while I STRIPER fish!

What size baits are you throwing? What are the specs on the rod? What size baits is the rod rated for?