WIGuide

If you're having problems with how things are going, maybe you should look for a different club. The club I fish with still has boaters and non-boaters, but it's a team format. You fish for a 5 fish limit and you keep the same partner throughout the year, although there have been times we've swapped due to schedules. Keeping the limit at 5 allows anglers to fish alone if they want, or if their partner cannot make it to an event. It takes away all the issues you're experiencing because any fish caught counts for the team. There's no reason to front end you because if you haul a hog out of a piece of cover it benefits both of us. The other type of club you might want to consider joining, is one that has two separate divisions; one for the co and one for the boater. Again, this will help to alleviate some of the issues because you don't have a direct competitor in your boat.

That's a major bummer

Given your situation with being a first time boat owner and never having fished a tournament before, I'd also suggest fishing the first year as a co-angler. There are things you need to learn about running your boat and being in control of it before you jump onto the tournament scene as a boater. Things like learning how it handles and responds in adverse conditions, boat wakes, even just boat control while fishing. You can practice all of that while you prefish for the tourneys. The other thing I would suggest as well, is maybe when a different club has a tournament, go out and start fishing the same lake they do and fish until weigh in. Keep your best 5 in the livewell, and either ask to weigh them after the tourney, or use your own scale and compare how you did against the other boaters. This will allow you to see how you hang with the boaters and let you gauge if you want to make that jump to being a boater without having to drop some coin and potentially get your rear end handed to you to find out. Lastly, when it comes to the actual tournament, it's important to remember that you aren't competing against other anglers, you're competing against the fish. So many people have a tendency to constantly be thinking how other anglers are doing, or see one catch a fish and second guess if you're making the right decision. You can't get caught up in that game as it never ends well, just have confidence that you're making the right decision for yourself, and at the end of the day you'll find out if you unlocked the bass's secrets better than others did. If you didn't use it as a learning experience and figure out where you went wrong, along the way.

If you know them well and have a good memory, you'd probably be fine without. The problem for me was I'd forget to transfer them all the time, so I'd find something idling out of an area and mark it so I could fish it next time or vise versa and then those waypoints never seemed to be on the unit i was in front of next time I was in the area so I'd forget all about them.

You can do that, but remember every time you make a new waypoint you're going to have to go through the transfer process. It doesn't sound that bad, but it gets to be kind of a pain after a while, especially if you fish multiple bodies of water often. Personally I'd go with the networking models for the convenience factor plus the fact that you can share map card info.

It's hard to tell from the pictures you posted but, it looks like you may have mounted the transducer right behind a strake. This will cause turbulence and make for poor readings.

I pull my units off their bracket before I leave the ramp. I leave the empty bracket and ram mount on the boat, so when I put the units back on they're right where I left them. After they come off they boat they go into a padded case for travel.

$500 to have them installed?? Wow that's steep for how easy it is to do yourself. Personally I wouldn't be paying to have it done, it's pretty simple to install just take your time, do your research and it'll be a piece of cake.

I use the Ardent cull balls. The clips are big enough that you can run them through the gill plate and out the mouth so you don't have to pierce the fish. I wish more people would use them that way instead of leaving a gigantic hole in their fish.

I'd add a Cluprit color called Fire'n Ice too but I don't want to give away all my secrets haha

I stopped in at Dicks on the way to visit my gf last weekend and noticed those too as well as their regular frog which uses the same body as the Live Target frogs but I think it was only $3. I couldn't resist, I bought one frog and since I'd been toying with buying the LT Sunfish I pulled the trigger on the knock off. I was impressed with the softness of the bodies, but man do I wish they came with Trokar's. The hook in the Sunfish I got is terrible, both hook points are rolled and you can't just swap it because it's integrated into the weight on the sunfish. The hook in the frog isn't a whole lot better. The points aren't rolled, but they aren't exactly sharp. I'll be swapping that out with a Trokar replacement and the sunfish I'll be filing away to get an actual point on the hooks. Maybe by the time I'm done the ice will have melted and I'll get a chance to use them!

If you're talking about tanic water, a few of my favorties are red shad, grape shad, electric blue, and black.

The worm and jig rod you were looking at will make a great all around rod. I've got the 6'8" MH/F worm and jig rod and even though that's what they designed it for, you are not limited to those techniques. Personally I'd stick with a fast action for all around.

I wouldn't worry about mounting it. Given your boats layout I'd consider sticking it behind the seats at the helm. That way it's right by your livewell, so if you catch one you want to bump, you can drop the fish in the livewell while you take the time to wet the board like you should not only to cool it down, but to make sure it doesn't remove the slime coat on the fish.

Sorry for the bittersweet month Catt, I'll keep you in my prayers.

As has been stated, the Mojo is going to be more sensitive due to it's blank construction. I've got the 6'8" MH/F "worm-n-jig" rod and can vouch that it's a very nice rod and you wouldn't go wrong with it. I mainly fish 3/8 oz jigs on it and love it!

Like others have said, it should make for a great all around finesse setup. I've got a couple 6'6" M/F Xtreme casting rods that I use for stick worms, finesse jigs, small swimbaits, small spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and topwaters. They make pretty good all around rods.

I like your style..."should I buy this one, or that one? Screw it, I'm gettin' both!" I've been guilty of this a time or two lol

Interesting stuff! Makes me wish my boat would have been made just a hair wider to accommodate a bit more motor even though I may have found a "legal" loophole to do so haha. It's interesting their rating formula doesn't accommodate for engine weight.

I think @ww2farmer hit the nail on the head. I've got a St. Croix LTB 6'8" M/XF and a 6'10" ML/XF the M/XF will cover all the techniques you're looking to hit. It's great to have both, but if I had to pick one to cover all of them I'd go with the M/XF. The Mojo's will do a very good job in your price range and leave you a few $$ left over for some more finesse baits

I think I'm going to get a St. Croix Bass X or Mojo Bass MH/F to do some work ripping lipless crankbaits through grass. I'm probably going to pair it up with a Pro Qualifier or PQ2 unless my buddy wants to let go of one of his Lew's cheap. I never really know though, because a trip to the St. Croix factory could land me a second of something different at a price I can't pass up haha.

@Peter Eikenberry Just here to pick your brain, what is the formula they use to come up with a horsepower rating? I know weight has a lot to do with the rating, but with the way outboards are made these days using the same blocks for multiple motors it seems like there must be more too it. Say a boat is rated for a 200, but the 225 and the 250's tip the scales at the same weight, so what warrants one over the other?

A few of the dealerships around me are absolutely insane on their prices. It's not just big box stores that they're higher than either. Given where I live though (lots of vacation homes) I think they keep them higher given that people come in and want something fixed right away so it doesn't ruin their vacation and they don't really even think about the price.

You shouldn't have to worry too much about them inflating in the rain as they're designed to keep moisture out. Make sure the ones you put in your storage stay dry though and if they do get wet be sure to hang them up to dry. Personally, I chose one of the HIT models from Mustang to avoid that issue fully since they have to be submerged to go off. All the inflatable vests will have blow up tubes for extended wear in the water. They are much more comfortable to wear and fish out of than the regular foam vests and you will grow to appreciate that. You definitely don't want to wear them under any clothing as it could prevent them from fully inflating which defeats the purpose of wearing them. If you haven't seen them inflate before, it's impressive how quickly they fill and just how big they get.

Personally I'm a Motorguide guy. I've had and seen too many issues with Minnkota over the years. I'm sure they make their share of great products that people have no issues with, but I've seen my fair share of issues. For example, in one tournament I fished in a few years ago on the Mississippi, the water level was just under flood stage, and in that day of fishing 4 trolling motors burnt up... all of which were Minnkota. This past season, a club member bought a new boat with a Fortrex and almost had the trolling motor come off and fall in the water because one screw on the bracket was loose and that holds everything together. After he found that out he saved a few others from the same issue by tightening their screws as well. I've heard a lot of people having to change circuit boards in their Minnkotas. My dad buys and sells boats as a hobby so he sees more tm's than the average person, and has had many of their power drive motors that have had issues with them aside from the horrible design of the footpad. That being said, the Motorguide Lazer (electric steer) trolling motors were garbage as well, and you could not pay me to take one off your hands. I've also got to use the new Motorguide X5 and was not exactly thrilled with it.