WIGuide

If you go with the St. Croix you might even consider the ML/XF depending on what you throw the most. Look at the recommended weights on both and figure out what suits the technique you'll be throwing the most.

Don't worry about what people say if they say anything. If they do they're a pretty crappy person to begin with and you can shut them up quick by going out and bringing in a bigger bag than them. Be sure to start out small at a local level. You can join a bass club that's affiliated with B.A.S.S. or FLW that might not be that big, or just some local guys getting together. Once you know that tournament fishing is for sure what you want to do, then start working your way up.

I'm slightly on the fence as to if they should move it again or not. On one hand the Classic was originally put together to be "the test of the best" obviously what they've been through the last few years has been a test. The lake, no matter the conditions still provides the same challenges for everyone so it doesn't matter if it's sunny and 75 or if it's so cold that the lake is icing over in spots. On the other hand, it'd be nice to see the Classic in a few more locations around the US where they're limited by climate now. Although, I'm not sure what the attendance number would be. The 2000 Classic was a fall tournament held in Chicago and there were very few spectators. The weigh in at Soldier Field had a pathetic turn out. Not that it'd be like that every time but it was the first time they had it this far north and it was a flop. I guess either way though it's still fishing so there's going to be an interesting aspect to it, at least there is for me.

You also have to realize the strategy that plays into the Classic is different than the average tournament. Throughout the year these guys fish to make a check to pay the bills and a lot of times that means fishing conservatively. In the Classic, all the bills have been paid and the pros all go out with a hero or zero type mentality. They're all fishing to win because nobody remembers second place at the Classic. The downfall with that approach is that if you make the wrong gambles you will end up down the list so you see a lot more big names towards the bottom than normal.

Sorry for your loss. Prayers are going out to you and your family.

The Pro Qualifier should be easily palmable and is on sale for $80 at BPS right now.

$795 hopefully that'll be bumped up this year, but I just started fishing tournaments a few years ago and I'm looking to start fishing a few bigger ones other than just with my local club and the few opens I've been in in the past.

Pretty straight forward to replace. Just note how the old one runs and put on a new one. Any on the market should fit, even the cheap ones at Walmart. When it warms up enough that I can work out in the garage I'll be putting a cable one on my MotorGuide.

I haven't used either of those, but I do use the Rod Gloves. Haven't had an issue with them or their reel covers.

I definitely could say a lot more about it but I didn't think anyone here would want to read my rant about it haha. For sure! Hopefully you didn't freeze to death taking that garbage out!

This X2

Basically what you can conclude from the replies thus far is try one and if it works for you then stick with it. If not then try something different.

XL Armor Coated has a more abrasion resistant coating on it than regular XL. I tried it a little last year just to see what it was like and I'm mixed on how I feel about it. I didn't like the color and it seemed a little stiff. I'm not sure about the memory issue with it either as I haven't seen if it's all jacked up from sitting on the spool for a few months. With my limited experience with it take what I say with a grain of salt, but from what I've seen I liked the regular XL better.

X2 tie them on there so you don't open up your jig box to find that a bunch of rubber bands broke and now you have a bunch of naked jigs

On that size boat you should be fine with the 80 lb thrust. You could go with the 112, but I'm guessing you're fairly confined on how much room you have for batteries and the extra weight in that boat would probably be a bigger con than the pro of more power.

Like these guys said, as long as you can keep a limit alive in it and it meets the hp and/or length requirements you should be fine. It's not the boat that catches the fish anyway!

Welcome to the forums

The weather took a downfall here too, just cold though. I believe it was 22* below zero and with wind chill they were saying real feel was more like 30 to 35 below. That's enough to keep me off the water too haha

This year was better than last year. At least it was up here.

I organize all my hard baits and terminal tackle in boxes of various different sizes keeping baits categorized by type.Within those boxes i try to organize the baits by color with the left side holing the muddier water colors, the middle the stained, and the right side will be the clear water colors. My plastics get stored in gallon ziplocks sorting the original bags by type of bait. For those plastics that I use on a more frequent basis, I have more boxes specifically for that bait. When I fish out of someone else's boat, I have a tackle bag that will hold 5 or 6 3700 boxes and I have spare empty trays that I'll load with baits based on location. I also have a speed bag that I'll fill with various plastics that I'll use for the day. My spinnerbaits get stored in an older BPS spinnerbait binder which works well and extra skirts get packed in a small worm binder. Lastly I have a big open box that I keep my spare new baits in. It gets stored in the back of my Jeep during the year so if I lose something I can just run back to the ramp and grab another one.

Flambeau makes the Zera-rust Tabs and Plano has one too but I don't remember what it's called. I'm sure you can find it on their website though.

Used nothing but cheap ones until I splurged on a pair of Costas that I ran across on the bay for less than half price. Although I haven't got to use them on water yet, they definitely seem to be worth the investment.

I really like the rubber coated nylon one I've got. Not perfectly snagless like the straight rubber netting, but it pulls through the water without the added resistance of rubber and doesn't give the fish a chance to bounce out like rubber seems to.

I've got a box full of Spro's, Live Targets, and Booyahs. I've tried the Strike King Sexy Frog and didn't care for it all that much. I've also got a few others to try this year when frog season comes around. Of those though the Booyah Pad Crasher is my favorite. It walks just as good if not better than the others, it's soft so you get great hookups, the hooks are nice and sharp, and they're cheaper than the others too. I think they're the best bang for your buck when it comes to frogs. Between the Muskies and Northers that live around me, you're luck to get back a shredded frog. So many times when you set the hook all you see is the line flying back at you like this guy was between you and the fish...

^^ This is the way to go. The spooling stations come with them (or at least they did) I've used one for years. I think it's faster than a drill.