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Something easy to throw in for your first aid kit would be super glue. You can use it to seal up cuts and stop bleeding as along as the cut isn't too big.

There will be a slight bit of the law of diminishing returns as you get towards the upper end. The biggest difference in the St. Croix line is between the SCII and SCIII, but there is a noticeable difference between that and the SCIV and again into the SCIV/V blend. It's not as drastic, but it's still there and it's a difference you can feel. Whether it's worth the difference in money is up to you. I know I could get by with all Avid's as they are great rods, but by far my two favorite rod lines are the LTB & the Xtremes as I feel they are worth the money.

I'd take a good look at the new gen Mojo Bass from St. Croix. Length would be up to you, but if it were me, I'd stick with the 6'8" MH/F.

All 3 of those techniques are great applications for a fast reel. I go with 7.1:1 for all 3. Granted I used a fast reel for just about everything, but those are applications that will excel with a faster reel.

Around here, you find both northerns as bass mixed in together. Musky's usually tend to move bass off their spots, but northerns don't seem to. Like I said that's around here so it could be different elsewhere. Steel leaders are crap and not worth it. I've lost more fish using those than line alone. If you're really careful and basically throw them out after every use you might be ok, but I don't bother anymore. The tie-able wire works though, but I have snapped that too. I could have a bad batch though. They make really heavy fluoro leaders that can work, but I think they might kill the action of most bass baits. You other option would be to simply learn how they fight. Most of the time you can tell as pike don't shake as much and just take off in a specific direction. If you feel that, DO NOT horse them. Play them very lightly until you can get a hold of the fish, or get it in the net. Also, get used to the fact that you will lose some baits. There's a reason I don't buy many high dollar baits unless I get them on some sort of super sale.

Awesome job man!

this x2

The SCIII is an improvement over the SCII. It's the same material that the Avid blanks are made out of.

I'll use whatever looks good, but I'd say my goto's are YUM and Big Bite Baits.

It must really depend on the size of your hands and how you hold the rod, because I have no problems with it either. I actually really like it.

I have a 97 Ranger Sport R70 with the same system as you, so I'm very familiar with it. First off, When in empty mode, your valves are open. I don't believe the older models like ours have a check valve in them to prevent water from entering the livewell like the new ones, and if they do, they are simply worn with almost 18 years of wear on them. With the valves we have there will be a minimal amount of water in the livewell with them in the empty mode. They won't however be completely full, and if you check after a little run down the lake they will be emptied out until the boat settles back in the water. Once you flip the valve to fill, a flap is slid into place over the drain hole in the valve. It allows water to flow in when the pump turns on, and when the pump turns off, the pressure from the water in the system presses the valve back against the valve body sealing the system. Once full the system slowly pulls in fresh water while recirculating the water currently in the livewell and the extra flows out via the over flow hole. As for the one livewell not draining, there are a few possible culprits. Either the drain is plugged, or there's a valve issue. If the drain is plugged, I've found the best solution to be to take off the screens on both in the livewell (if you have them...if not you should) and under the step. Take a garden hose with preferably one with multiple spray patterns and put it on the jet setting and spray from both ends. Take your time and go back and forth with it and usually that'll clean them out. It could be the valve itself as well. If the arm broke, or the insides no longer move that could cause the same issue. It's also possible that the cable that runs from the controls under the throttle to the valve could be stretched or broken. The only way to check that is by getting to your valves. They're located under in the rear compartment under the false floor in the middle. You may have something over the false floor such as an oil tank, or battery, but if you move that you'll see there's 4 screws that hold it in place. Take them out and the pumps and valves will be out in the open. If you need more information, or visualization of the system, much more info can be found at https://flow-rite.com/marine Our Rangers run the system #2. All parts are still available, and should be direct replacements if you need to replace anything. Also the valves can usually be rebuilt as well if that needs to be done. Hopefully this helps, if you need anything else, just let me know.

Your other option would be go buy yourself some JB Weld and try fixing it first. It's not assured it'll work, but that stuff can be pretty amazing at what it'll do. My dad had an 1983 Ranger that had a push pull control for the livewell valves. One snapped shortly after he bought it in the early 90's. He has since sold it and got a different one, but I just saw the boat last weekend and it's still working as it should.

Yeah, I hear ya. I was just being "that guy" lol. The only advantage I see to the 350 would be the fact that it's a V8. You don't gain all that much in horsepower, but I would imagine it'd have more torque to it making it noticeably more responsive. But I'm just speculating since I've never drove a boat that big or with either of the motors mentioned.

Heck, if you're gonna spend that much you might as well go big or go home! Go for that 350!

Have a friend who caught a musky the cast after he put a candy dot on one of his trailer hooks as a trailer haha. Most likely coincidence, but ya never know!

I read an article somewhere about how in a lot of lakes, fish with small populations in the lake can grow some giants. They have less competition with their own species over food where they live and they aren't a targeted forage because there aren't enough of them. I wouldn't doubt if there's some more of them in there though. He might want to wait until a little later. It's possible the water is still hard or freshly softened that time of year, not to mention their fishing season isn't open yet.

Bill, take a look at this, it should clear things up. http://stcroixrods.com/why-st-croix/power-action/

I've done it twice on a square bill. Almost a 3rd time the weekend before last. Had a smallie try to take it away from another right by the boat. Unfortunately the one I had on had one hook in the mouth and one was tucked up under it's gill plate otherwise I would have got the second one too.

Good luck! Haven't fished Spider before, but I've been on quite a few of the lakes up there and there's good fishing to be had just about everywhere!

Mine did that, but would then slow to a grinding halt when my trim motor was going out. Yours doesn't sound like the same problem. It could be a stubborn air bubble stuck in there. I'd say as long as it's not too bad I wouldn't worry about it. Most are a little choppy on the tilt ram when lowering under power anyway.

The green mirror on glass isn't super intense. There are certain lights you can see through them, but in most light it's intense enough that you can't. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205254275308885&l=f20d5cf0fe

I'm kind of lucky since I'm done at 3:30 Monday through Thursday and done at 12:30 on Friday. Now that the days are getting shorter it's tougher to get out after work but I'm usually on the water on average of 4 days a week. During the summer, week nights will be about 4 1/2 to 5 hours and weekends will be 10 or so. In my mind, I still don't fish enough or as much as I want. If I could fish that much though I'd be out there almost every day all day.

I think that's probably a little high, especially this time of year. A lot of it depends on the condition of the boat itself.

Agreed, definitely not fine! It looks like it can be repaired, or you can buy another new one.

If I could do it all over again, I would have bought higher end stuff sooner.