desmobob

My old Berkley Cherrywood rod (in the Down-East rod holder) would be bouncing up and down like crazy as the Rebel tried to hammer its way though the bottom of the lake! ? The boat was a Glastron V-156 tri-hull with a three-cylinder, twin-carb Mercury 65HP two-stroke. I can still picture that Merc shuddering, jerking and belching as I trolled for hours with it at idle. Those funky center electrode spark plugs never fouled... for the life of the engine! Trolling is a great way to cover a lot of ground to locate active fish.

When I was younger, trolling to locate smallmouths was what I did almost every time out. My local smallmouth lake has rocky shores, rocky islands and rocky shoals. I used to wear half the bills off Rebel Deep Wee-R crawfish pattern crank baits trolling them! I think my favorite way to fish when I stopped was with a Mister Twister curly tail grub under an overhead spinner, Beetle Spin style, on light or ultralight spinning gear.

I'm trying to be sure to always use my kill switch lanyard, despite a lifetime of not having or using one. Mine has a plastic clip on the end and I usually find something on my clothing to attach it to. But I always seem to forget it's attached, move away from the helm, and unplug the switch. How do you folks get in the habit of using it, and what are the most convenient ways to make it part of everyday use?

Sad to hear about the Tatula's apparent QC problems. I bought a Tatula several years ago as something to try as a bargain offering that was different than the Lew's Tournament Pros I had always used. I was really impressed with the performance and value and immediately bought a second one. Both impressed me and I thought they offered tremendous value.

A squirrel swimming across the lake...

I don't have a good tackle store near my rural location. I've bought almost all my terminal tackle from Tacklewarehouse and FishUSA so I'm confident I'm getting the real McCoy when it comes to brands. I lost what would have certainly been my personal best largemouth when the big, heavy, wide-gap hook in my 5" Pit Boss bait broke during the fight. I don't remember the brand... it was very likely either a Gamakatsu or an Owner. I put all my hooks in a Bass Mafia hook box by type/size so the brands sometimes get mixed. Anyway, I was certainly bummed, but it didn't seem all that odd to me. There's not much diameter to a hook wire and all it takes is one little impurity, defect, of a heat treat glitch to weaken it. It's the only hook that I ever remember breaking on me and, honestly, I'm surprised it doesn't happen every once in a while...

For sure. I put my Garmin Striker Plus into a split-screen mode so I can fish and graph. I try to graph even on familiar water. The published maps for a lake can have a lot of big errors in the bathymetry. I was using on-line lake maps as references for ice fishing and when I noticed my Marcum flasher was showing much different depths than I was expecting, I bought the 5" Striker Plus with mapping capability. It is sized right to put on my kick boat and float tube as well as for bringing out on the ice in the winter.

I tried an inexpensive Plusinno brand telescopic, folding, floating net I found on Amazon to use in my kick boat. I got the middle size, which is what I'd call "trout" size, but with a bit of a telescoping extension on the handle. The larger one has a longer telescoping section as well as a larger hoop. I've netted a couple of oversized (for the net) fish with it and it seem like it's going to last a while. I really like it.

I've caught a couple of big clams in a similar manner. Worse was one of those almost baseball-sized saltwater snails. It pulled its door closed over my fly's hook and I was barely able to wrench it out with a pair of fishing pliers! I caught a good-sized rock once when the hook point caught a barnacle just right. Caught a crab on a crab fly, too... but that was a legitimate take, not a snag! He wasn't hooked in the mouth, but he had grabbed the fly in his pincer and wouldn't let go.

I think I've posted this in the past... I had a young seagull swim out to my boat, hop up onto the stern and then walk up the gunwale, past me, and stood on the bow like he owned it. My boat is a Tracker PRO170... I could have pushed him off the bow with my foot, he was so close. I went back to the seat to get my camera and he didn't even flinch. After ten minutes or so, he hopped down into the water and swam off.

I write it on a small piece of masking tape and stick it on the bottom of the reel foot.

There are lots of other inflatable options available. Check out Dave Scadden, Outcast, Sea Eagle, Classic Accessories Colorado, etc. You might want a two-man pontoon instead of a kayak...

Agreed, but that might be exactly why I think it's fun to try BFS vs. the spinning gear... it's "new" and different.

I think most guys don't realize how incredibly tasty pike are. At least on par with Walleye, in my opinion, and many say they're better. My favorite bass fishing area has a lot of big pike (and they've eaten a small fortune in bass baits). Big ones will wreck a plastic fish gripper. I eventually bit the bullet and bought a BogaGrip.

I use an inflatable kick boat. There are lots of excellent inflatables that are highly portable, very stable (many can handle whitewater rivers) extremely lightweight, and designed for fishing. I have a Dave Scadden Raptor Lite Speed X. It's about 9' long and I can partially deflate it and easily stuff it in the back of my Subaru Forester. https://www.davescaddenpaddlesports.com/product-page/dave-scadden-s-2022-raptor-lite-speed-x It has a very practical hard motor mount. This type requires wearing waders in cold water, but there are plenty of other more traditional models that have floors made of the new inflatable drop-stitch material that is rigid and you can stand on like wood.

They say everyone has a twin somewhere... One year when I was fishing at Cape Cod, I was mistaken for a noted Cape Cod guide twice in one day. I was ready to mess with someone and have some fun if it happened again, but it didn't. ? One summer here in NY, someone approached me in the supermarket and asked me if I was Armenian. "No..." The guy told me he know someone back in the old country who looked exactly like me. About a year later, down in Maryland, another guy asked me the same thing! And one time I pulled into a local park for a friend's birthday party and a bunch of buddies told me someone had just pulled up in a car and looked so much like me that they went over and started talking to him. They didn't realize it wasn't me until he said something. I wonder if he was Armenian? ?

I bought a Tracker Pro170 very much like your new boat back in 2014. It's been a pleasure to own. I use it on Lake Champlain, "the sixth Great Lake," between NY and VT. The lake is 120 miles long and the south end, where I'm at, is shallow with a mucky clay bottom and full of weeds. In going on seven years, I've never been stuck in the weeds or mud and have never seen anyone else stuck in the weeds or mud (other than a sailboat with a deep keel who drifted out of a channel in one spot, but it wouldn't have happened with a modified V-hull). It might ease your mind to carry a push pole, but the trolling motor will get you out of any shallow situation you could to get into. You just may have to lift it a bit as mentioned by Way2slow. And if it's shallow enough to get stuck on the bottom or in the weeds, remember, as a last resort, you can always get out and push! Take Jaderose's advice and spend a day or two on the water with an experienced boater to get some extra confidence. Then, get out, catch some bass and have fun with your family!

I had a similar decision to make, except I was looking at the Striker Plus 5cv to go along with my ECHOmap 93sv and to also serve as my float tube and ice fishing portable. I saved the bucks and bought the original vs. the "vivid" version as I could find no listed difference other than the colors. It might be too small for me to see at the bow though. Maybe I'll mount it at the helm and put the older 93sv up front. Time will tell.

You're welcome. I'm betting you'll never have a problem. ?

I live at the very southern tip of Lake Champlain and I'm 11 miles from the middle of Lake George. My dad had a summer camp on L. George and I spent all my summers (and more) there growing up. There is great fishing of all kinds all around me, even in the winter, through the ice. ?

It's a beautiful body of water: 32 miles of clean, cold water full of rocky islands, ledges, and shoals. Lake George, NY, "The Emerald Queen of American Lakes."

I keep one in my 93sv so I can easily transfer screenshots I've taken on the water to my computer.

When I was a kid, I had a selection of various sizes and colors of Daredevle spoons. I sure caught a lot of fish on the standard red-and-white striped ones. All the Heddon baits were big favorites too. And Mepps spinners... My first rubber worm was by Creme, I think. Orange, with a prop spinner and a few beads on the front and rigged with three gold-colored weedless hooks along the length. I caught my first big bass on one of those. Growing up, my magic baits were the.. Eppinger Daredvle Mepps in-line spinner Rapala floating minnow Heddon Tiny Torpedo Heddon Sonic Creme rubber worm

I really enjoy fishing from a float tube in the spring. I have a boat, but this lake requires purchasing a user sticker, a boat wash/inspection, pay to launch, pay to park, etc. If I can find a place to walk to the water, I can float tube (in this case, a public beach that isn't open yet). I added a larger craft to my float tube fleet this spring. It's a Dave Scadden Raptor Lite Speed X. It's a lot roomier than the Outcast FatCat I usually use, plus it can be rowed. I can cover a lot more water with it. I just need to find success patching my waders. I've had cold wet feet every time out this spring! ? A tube of Aquaseal is en route...

I have a Montefeltro 12ga. I also have semi-autos from Beretta (AL390, AL391, A300) and Franchi (48 AL). I bought the camo synthetic Montefeltro for duck hunting and only got out for a few hours with it this fall -- never fired a shot in anger. ? I have shot several rounds of skeet with it to get familiar with it and "break it in." I really like it! The only potential issue is the infamous "Benelli click" which can happen if the bolt isn't fully in battery: you pull the trigger and hear a click but no bang. This can happen if you try to very quietly ease the bolt forward vs. letting it go home unrestrained or if you somehow bang the gun down on its butt in the boat or duck blind hard enough to jar the bolt back a bit. Most guys who have been shooting Benellis for a long time say this issue is really a non-issue if you're aware of it and operate and handle the gun properly. Enjoy your new shotgun!