WIGuide

Yes I try to get everything organized, cleaned and ready to go for spring. Do my best to get all the tackle work done first since my boat gets stored in my neighbors garage over the winter and there's no electric in it. In the spring when there is more light I'm outside getting it all ready to go.

You can't go wrong with either stick. The LTB is going to be a little bit crisper and slightly more sensitive. What your decision might really come down to is the length and taper you're looking for. Both are great rods.

I don't know how it would affect the fish. Coming from a small speaker probably not at all, but from a bigger system built into the boat I would think might have some adverse affects. I don't think you'll ever catch any music coming out of my boat though. The sounds of being on the lake, the wildlife rustling on the bank, the eagles flying overhead, fish splashing, or bullfrogs croaking. I also think it doesn't let you catch those little things, like the sound of the fish jumping. Fishing without it makes me feel more in tune with what's going on around me. For those who do listen to music, please be considerate and either use headphones or keep it on very low as sound carries a lot farther over water than it does any other place.

I don't know much about the Mercury veriblend system ( I think that's what it's called). I can say that premixing isn't that big of a deal. It's a toss up on if you want to remove it though. On one had it's been going strong since 84 so if it hasn't died yet it'll keep on trucking. On the other side that plastic gear has been going since 84 and there's a chance it could fail. If you do remove it, go to walmart and pick up a marked premix bottle. They are less than $5 and all you do is fill it up with oil to the line of the amount of gallons you are going to add and then dump it in the tank before adding gas. It'll get you close enough and if you need to add more when filling up you can pour the rest in after. Having the oil res is nicer, but it's not nicer when you need to rebuild your motor because of it.

I'd take a look at factory replacements first. They'll match the boat perfectly as well as keeping the resale value higher. As J said if quality compare to oem and they cost less the ones you found could be an option.

I couldn't imagine the look on the peoples faces if they got passed in reverse (unless it was a closed course which I wouldn't doubt). Cool video though!

Nice find. My dad had an 83 Ranger 330. My great uncle still owns it now. I think you'll be happy with it. Consider putting the newer style stickers on it (i believe 85 or after) if it's not too faded. It makes it look considerably more modern. Great classic ride though! They still look great despite being over 30 years old.

I had a 10' 2 man growing up and it was a good starter boat. Fishing two out of it was tight but could be done. It was very stable for a boat that small, but still tippy compared to bigger boats. A 1436 John boat would probably be tippier since it's base is narrower than the 10 footer. Fishing with two people you aren't going to be going anywhere very fast. With just one and an 8 horse I could get mine to plane out and run in the 15-18 mph range. With two it wouldn't plane out and would run maybe 7-10 mph. Overall a great little boat and there's times I wish I still had mine.

I think I'd go with the option of running another harness to the back of your truck. Most of those boxes are made to fit where the trailer "V"'s out which would be behind the bow roller. There's a guy in our bass club that has a small one there and it's beaten to crap because depending on the ramp angle and how far the boat is backed in the bow will sometimes end up hitting that instead of the bow roller when coming on or off the trailer. You could modify it to sit in front, but in order to support a battery you might have to do some reinforcing. Running a few wires from your truck battery seems like less effort, plus you don't have to buy another battery or worry about charging it all the time.

I'm in agreement with the braid guys above. It could be done with mono, but I think your results would be much better with braid.

7 wasn't bad, 8 was terrible. Unfortunately that's what's on my computer at work. My personal laptop had 8 on it when I bought it and I upgraded to 10 a few months ago. It seems like a MUCH better system. Definitely different than XP, but there are more similarities between XP and 10 than XP and 8. You'll have the hang of it in no time!

Big Bite Bait Cane Thumpers work well around here. I haven't tried the smaller sizes, but I think I'm going to order a few packs to try. I don't have any Keitechs at the moment. I've used some when fishing with a friend and they are very good. With as much as people talk about them, they seem to live up to the hype. I'll be having to pick up a few packs of those too.

Like Blue said, the Swinin' Dinger is a great alternative as well a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper. Due to the Cane Thumper design though you won't be cutting it down, but even so you'll still be using it longer than a swimin senko.

Given your situation, I'd go with the kayak or small john boat.

Get yourself a Motorguide Bulldog. It should solve your problem.

It's tough to say for sure since it'll be river fishing, but I'm predicting a jerkbait.

@grizzly1654 It has a titanium deposition finish just like the Johnny Morris "Bass Caster" and the previous JM reels before that (Gold, Elite, & regular signature). I've got 4 of the BPS reels with the same type of finish. The oldest is going into it's 9th season and has VERY minimal boat rash. From my experience, the upper end BPS reels have been workhorses and I haven't had an issue with one yet.

There's some good advice here on pad fishing, don't give up on that frog though. Try to walk it through any open holes. I fish them through pads a lot a do very well with them. From the picture you posted that looks like frog fishing heaven to me.

Definitely try a few pairs on, but personally I'd go with Costa's. I've got the 580G's in green mirror and they work well in a bunch of different conditions. I absolutely love them! The glass lenses are heavier than plastic, but you don't notice that weight when they're on your face.

It can be done, but braid is a much better tool for the job.

For me, if I'm just fun fishing, I don't expect anything. I'm going with or without them so an extra person doesn't change anything. As far as tournaments go, if I'm fishing them with someone else they pay half the entry I pay half and they give me something for gas. If we place in the money we split it and if one of us catch big bass the person who caught it keeps the money for it. Most of the time my tourney partner is my dad though and although we don't have an exact system other than with the payouts, we end up with about a 50/50 split. I'll at times pay the whole entry fee and then he'll pay gas or if we're prefishing whoever pays for gas eats free. It's one of those unwritten systems that just kind of works. On a side note, WOW what some of you guys are paying for launch fees is crazy! I'm glad I am where I am. Within about an hour radius of my house there's close to if not over 100 different lakes. Very few of which there are launch fees for. The ones you do have to pay for it's usually $3 or $5. One of the counties sells a seasonal pass for any of the county ramps there for $20 a year.

I bought a couple of them last year to try. I don't think I used it enough to give it a definitive yay or nay. I did catch a few fish on it, but I wasn't as big of fan of how hard the body was. I feel like I may have missed some fish because of it. It definitely didn't overtake the Pad Crashers I have in my box though.

I'd give it a shot, it's free to try. Like AJay said though, nothing beats tungsten and even after a short use that should be pretty evident.

x2 plus then you're left with a more versatile rod if you want to use it for something else.

As others have said, two different ways to skin a cat. I do know that when they are combined, the centrifugal brakes do a better job at slowing the spool at a higher RPM (aka front part of the cast) and the magnetics do more of the work feathering the second half of the cast.