WIGuide

Like @Scott F said, you should be looking for deeper, slacker water in the winter. When it does warm up though and fish start becoming more current oriented, suspending jerkbaits will absolutely not work in current whatsoever! I would not even try to throw them. Like I said....not worth it, wouldn't even bring them with for a river trip.

I don't think you went wrong in your upgrade. Sometimes things happen regardless of how well a boat was cared for. I would try swapping the relays to see if it's just that. Pretty sure they'd be cheaper than the whole wiring harness. If you continue to order parts based on what you think something might be instead of actually figuring out what the cause is, your new investment could get expensive in a hurry.

There's a few more in my neck of the woods. The last few state tournaments I've fished in have had a few women fishing as boaters and non boaters. I've been lucky to find a girl who likes fishing and is always willing to go. I think part of the reason you don't see more is partially due to too many ruined trips when they are young. If dad likes bass fishing, he wants to share that and makes the mistake of taking them bass fishing and spends 12 hours on the water despite the fact that their daughter is bored to death and was ready to give up after an hour. I also believe that the lack of either an all females tour, or professional female anglers plays into it. They used to have Bass'n Gals that was the females equivalent of Bassmasters, and there are some women fishing as co-anglers on the FLW tour, but girls don't have nearly as many women to look up to if they're aspiring to be a professional angler.

Personal pick for the perfect jerkbait rod is the St. Croix Legend Xtreme 6'6" M/F. They double as good topwater rods as well as lighter t-rig rods and small swimbait rods.

I order mine from Eco Pro Tungsten or TW. Unfortunately nowhere around me carries them either then again I live in the middle of nowhere so that's part of it haha.

Lonnie, you might be able to modify a normal one to get it to fit. You can call Ranger as they may be able to help you out when doing so as I know the ladders were an option on the 300 series hulls. If not they make other options if you google motor mount boarding ladders or jack plate boarding ladders you'll find what you need.

I could be mistaken, but I believe that was still in the 2+2 era of 125's. (also included 90's and 115's) What that means is that when your motor rpm's drop below 2000, the motor drops 2 cylinders to save on gas while idling. The problem is on something like a bass boat, that RPM range is right when you're taking off so the problem you're experiencing is because as you hammer down, you're running under half power until the 2 other cylinders kick in somewhere between 2000 and 2500 RPMS. There's really nothing you can do about it other than live with it. As long as you're still planing out quickly enough it's just something to get used to. If not, you could try running a smaller prop, or increasing the size of the ventilation holes just to get your rpm's up over that threshold quicker. Honestly you're probably better off just living with the hesitation.

Lots of people call it that. Everyone always talks about flippin' but about 90% of the time if you watch them they're actually pitchin'. Pitchin' is the same whether you keep the bait in your hand or not it's a pendulum type motion swinging the bait out and away from you.

Scatter rap series is large because it's design incorporates a special bill that makes the bait hunt more it's like a big U instead of flat. They have adapted this design for almost their entire line so there are more models marketed under that. X-raps are slash baits, they have a few different profiles and each profile has multiple diving depths. Skitter series are all topwater baits. The DT series is their crankbait line DT stands for Dives To so a DT6 will dive to about 6 feet. They make a bait for pretty much every category of baits out there. With a little understanding of baits in general you'll be able to figure out what you want. To answer the OP about which Rapala baits are my favorite, I'd have to go with the Shadow Rap series, and the DT series. Shad Raps are legendary for cold water though so it's hard to say no to them.

Are you sure you know the difference? Considering flippin' doesn't use the reel to let out line, I would find it odd to start a post about how well a reel works for the technique.

Personally I'll peg it tight if I'm fishing without a bead. A lot of times though I'll add a small tungsten bead in between the weight and the hook and in this case I won't peg the weight tight so I still get some clicking noise.

Here's a little better look at the lake for anyone else interested

Although I never fished out of that particular model, my first boat was the model just under that. For a boat that small it was very stable. A lot of john boats you see in the 10-12 foot range are far narrower especially when it comes to bottom with. I really liked my shorter model and always wanted the bigger one. They are pretty well built and I think you'd enjoy it if you bought one.

My favorite is the Booyah Pad Crasher. They do everything I ask and work just as well as the Live Target, Spro, and others that cost more.

Welcome to the forums, it's always nice to see other WI anglers find this site.

A lot of my shallow cranks are no longer in production. Of the one's that are, here are my favorites: Bass Pro XPS Squarebill, Luck-E-Strike RCS, Rapala DT Fat3, as well as the Spro Little John

It might seem like it's expensive for what it is, but they really are worth every penny they charge. A lot of the ramps on the lakes around me don't have docks, so I'm constantly forced to pull right up to the bank. It's fine if it's just a sandy shore, but so many of the ramps here are surrounded by gravel. If I didn't have one the V of my hull would look like garbage and would most likely have chips out of the gel coat. Preventing those helps retain the value of my boat, and prevents costly repairs from having to be made. Personally I won't own another glass boat without one.

Although this is true, you have to remember that KVD has put himself in a position to do this. The man is an incredible fisherman and has made a bunch of money off his fishing career. He hasn't had to worry about how much his sponsors are paying him. With his success, he also hasn't had to worry about sponsors wanting to drop him simply because he isn't relevant enough anymore. There are so many of those pro's that may start out with sponsorships they really want to have and believe in, but that company chooses to part ways because said angler is no longer bringing enough of a return. That has happen with a lot of the older guys. When they started they were with a company for most of their career, but then the company decides to replace them with someone up and coming. For tournament anglers something like that is crippling since the price to play is so high. If someone drops you, unless you have a ton of sponsors, you need to fill that gap or else that part of the price to play is coming out of your pocket.

I've got some painted, some raw. I really haven't seen that big of a difference in what color weight I use.

Nice Smallies!

If you like pickled hearing, you'll most likely enjoy pickled pike. It's firmer, less, slimy, and has a sweeter taste to it. It will stink up the house a bit when you make it because of the pickling spice, but it's definitely worth it!

I'm sure they do a good job there too, but being to much of a bother is debatable haha

There will be days where you lose them like that, just like any bait, but then you'll have some baits you'll use a few years before you lose them. It stinks when you lose more expensive baits, but part of that is going to be the cost of fishing unfortunately. That's the reason I don't have a Vision 110 or anything Lucky Craft. If the toothy critters are too thick anyway, it'd be worth trying some of that tie-able wire A-jay told you about. Also, as far as eating the toothy critters, if you like pickled fish there's a great way to cut them up so you don't waste meat and you don't have to deal with the bone. You take the clean strips to fry up and then you pickle the rest when you save enough up.

I don't bank fish that much, but in the past when I have, I'm usually a two rod guy.

Personally i don't use leaders with a jerkbait, I just take my chances and for whatever reason, I actually have pretty good luck not losing them.