WIGuide

@Justbass11 your trolling motor should be hooked to a separate battery from your starting battery. Since you've had it plugged in for a while and you know the trolling motor has power, try disconnecting the power wires from your outboard to the battery and put them on the trolling motor battery temporarily. Since you know for sure that battery is charged you'll know if you're looking at a motor issue or a battery/charger issue.

I've been pretty late to the chatterbait game. Tried then when they first came out and didn't have success so they sat on the back burner until the past couple of years when I decided to give them another try. I've had some killer days with them for sure, and some of the best have been when the water's in the upper 40's to low 50's. This past season the first fish I caught and last fish I caught were on chatterbaits the first one being in water cold enough to still have ice on it. Although I haven't personally tried the big blade version, I wouldn't hesitate to try one as long as you're moving it slow. I know there's a few other baits I throw in cool to cold water that produce in a big way while putting off a lot of vibration while moving very slow. If you're not getting bit on a slow retrieve, you might want to try Aj's method of fishing one like a jig.

GFI's can go bad so maybe that's the issue. Does the motor turn over? As others have stated, check the other switches to see if those work and see if it's not working completely. If it moves in one direction, but not the other, it's usually caused by one of the relays going out. You can swap them to confirm which is the good one. If it's not moving in either direction from any switch, check the fuses on the motor. If it's not one of those simple things, you'll have to start tracing wires.

They're straight up fish catchers. One of the baits I have tied up in some iteration 24/7 365. There are a ton of possibilities out there on how to fish them. Probably my favorite way to fish them is with a belly weighted swimbait hook. Retrieve will vary based on the fish activity it could be anything from a slow crawl to a pretty fast retrieve occasionally popping or killing it. I like throwing them on a Buckeye J-Will swimbait head around sparse cover or early in the year before there's much grass. In addition, they make great swim jig and spinnerbait trailers too.

I keep mine pretty tight, but it's not locked down. The Tatula would have plenty of drag power for froggin'.

Yes, food is more important. We had a great example of that a year or two ago in the fall. Air temps dropped earlier than normal and cooled the water off early. Places I was finding fish was about where I would have been looking if the water was 10* warmer. It was pretty consistent that way throughout the entire fall and if you fished based on water temp alone there was a whole lot of dead water.

Yep Garmin has one as well. I've only seen one in the wild once (there was a guy in our bass club that had one) but he only had it on his new boat for about a month before he went back to an Ultrex. I wouldn't take that as a rip on the Garmin though as he's a bit of an "interesting" guy haha. The Ultrex's response rate is pretty dang close to as fast of a response as a normal cable steer as well.

I used to think this was true and then I bought a Ghost. Not only is it just as quick as a cable steer I think it might actually be a tad quicker in response. In regards to the OP, personally I feel in most cases the foot pedal is better as it leaves hands free for fishing more. I got the remote with my trolling motor and I've only used it a few times. One of the times it was actually nice to use was when I was guiding some guys and they were fishing docks. Instead of standing on the front running the trolling motor and making it harder for the guy up front to cast I could sit at the console and run the boat. The foot pedal covers pretty much anything I need: anchor lock, heading lock, and course lock. If I want to go to a waypoint, I can do that from my locator screen.

I'd say either mild soap and water (Ivory or Dawn Original dishwashing soap), Vinyl Finish Vinyl Cleaner, Fantastik, or 303 Cleaner Protectant would be your best options.

I'd like a set of augmented reality sunglasses that basically lets you look at the lake bed as if there was no water in the lake.

I love Daiwa reels, but this one is going to be something I definitely pass on. Charging my reels does not need to be included in my pre tournament tackle prep.

Two different animals there. The D-bomb has more of a glide on the fall and although the legs kick, it's more of a subtle kick. If you're looking for a direct replacement, you might want to look at the Missile Chunky-D instead.

I'm lucky to live in an area with a lot of different bodies of water. With the exception of the lockdown years, during the week most of the lakes only have a few boats on them at most. On the weekend the bigger lakes get busier and some turn into zoo's, but there are plenty that still have no traffic. If I need to just enjoy nature, I'm never very far from one of those little lakes where I can get away from people. I'm also very fortunate in the fact that the lake I live on stays pretty quiet. There are quite a few tournaments over the summer on the weekends because it's a good bass fishery, but due to it's shallow, weedy, stumpy nature, it keeps most recreational traffic away which helps to keep the peace. It keeps my quiet place and my happy place just steps from my front door.

Same, it'd drive me crazy with it all the way up. There are times in the spring when I'm fishing up in the dirt that I have to run my 47" all the way up and even though it doesn't stick up real high, I feel like it's in the way vs the rest of the year when I run it pretty much all the way down. The only concern I'd have with cutting it down is with the bracket. Looking at trollingmotorparts it looks like the 45" & 52" have different part numbers leading me to believe the 52" would have a longer bracket and cutting it the shaft down to make it a 45" or shorter could make that look a bit out of place. Given the boat layout, the longer bracket may also take away some space to store rods on the deck when in the stowed position if there's not proper clearance.

It is a bit long for the boat, but generally you can work around it. One thing you may run into is having it adjusted all the way up may limit some casting angles when throwing to the sides of the boat depending on which hand you cast with. As far as exactly how far it adjusts, I'm not sure, but since you have it you can measure to see. Since you know your bow to waterline measurement, you can figure out how far under the water the head will be by measuring 13" down from the top of the bulge on the upper shaft.

It really isn't! It works better in a club setting where you actually know the guys your fishing with/against. The first few years I fished the State Tournament it was that format and it was ridiculous. There were a lot of arguments and it was really starting to hurt the participation numbers.

I've been a member for probably 11 or so years now, but it's probably been almost that long since I've read any of the magazines. I'd like to cancel, but do to fishing in BASS affiliated tournaments, I have to carry a Bass Times membership.

I would definitely look elsewhere given some of the stories here. The only thing I've financed through a dealer was a vehicle and they actually use the credit union I'm a member of for the loan. They have zero issues with putting extra down, paying extra for payments, or paying off early and I had worked with them on my other loans as well so I was comfortable using them. Your quote from BPS seems to be ok as far as interest rate depending on the term since interest rates continue to rise. Definitely shop around a see what your options are.

Welcome to BR!

I'd have to disagree with this due to the number of times I've had one on and had multiple others swimming with it trying to get the bait too.

That all depends on the tournament or tournament trail itself. Some have separate divisions for boaters and non boaters so the boaters are only competing against other boaters and same for the non boaters. Some have team tournaments, where the boater and non boater fish for 1 combined limit and are competing against all other teams. There are also some where there's only a single division and everyone is fishing for their own limit and everyone is fishing against one another. It's probably the most problematic format as you're directly competing against the other person in the boat. It really promotes "front ending" and is why I believe we're seeing less and less of those tournaments around.

In that case, I think it'd come down to how much they're going to charge and if that price is worth a year of warranty. I'd be guessing it'll be at least 2 hours labor plus a few dollars in parts, plus your time/gas to drop it off and pick it up.

Easy to do especially given that you already have a Fortrex. They have the same bracket so you wouldn't have to drill any new holes other than for the GPS/Heading puck. Is your dealer offering to warranty it for another year if they do it? I did a quick look at the Minnkota website and didn't notice anything in their Ultrex warranty on dealer vs diy install.

No worries if they were Power Poles you would have been fine

Since the dinosaur has been bumped on this thread, I'll add on....^^^this is great advice, but if you do not feel comfortable doing so PLEASE DON'T. I'd much rather take a few extra minutes to do it myself than have someone unfamiliar back my trailer/boat into a dock or another rig on the ramp. Goes with helping out with anything, if you're not 100% confident in doing it, it's ok to admit it and let the boater work around you. I had a guy fish with me once who was going to hold the boat by the dock while I parked the vehicle/trailer. I come back to find him holding onto my trolling motor shaft that he for some reason had removed from the bracket in one hand and clinging to the dock for dear life with the other. Luckily he didn't drop the TM or fall out of the boat since the current was trying to pull the boat away. Same goes for netting fish (if allowed) Have an honest conversation before the day begins about it and be honest about where you're at with it. Also adding that as a co, you need to keep your gear neat, organized, and stowed the majority of the time. If you pull a tray out to tie on a new bait, put it back when your done. That way when it's time to move, you're not leaving the boater waiting on you. Time management is critical in a tournament and it goes a long way with a boater that when he says it's time to move, your ready to move. I want to add everyone may have a different demeanor on the water and many times how the day is going will dictate the conversation. If it's a tough bite, or the boater is struggling to catch fish there may be very few words said. If this is the case, don't immediately jump to the conclusion that your boater is a jerk and doesn't want you there, but rather is most likely concentrating on what he/she is doing and trying to figure the fish out in their head.