Further North

I select by advertised diameter, then do a little figurin' about leaders...then work from there, based on how it works on the water. PDCA.

Lots of boats don't have those... Not defensive. Just trying to lay out some objectivity regarding these comments: Seemed sorta like there was some pretty harsh criticism going on there...wanted to provide an alternate view... My first comment stands.... @Steak91 should indeed buy what he likes best, but should see both sides before they make the decision.

My Terrova was a 60" shaft, as is my Ulterra. Tighter as a tick, and I don't use a stabilizer. Gets towed at least once a week during the season, about 20 miles each way on average, plus three or four long trips. All the Terrova's my friends have are 60" shaft models as well. A couple have stabilizers, most don't. I don't see any difference.

That's what I've heard. I went to an Ulterra instead, for the power trim. Much more important to me. After 7 seasons with Terrovas and an Ulterra, and having a bunch of friends with them, none of which get babied, I'm wondering what anyone is doing that the mount needs to be more robust for? That's preference. I prefer the wider, much lower Ultera/Terrova pedal. I don't care for the "Pirate stance" required for most cable steer trolling motors. I guess I get this, but "responsive" isn't something I need, the way I fish. There are just as many reasons to pick an Ulterra or a Terrova as an Ultrex...depends on what you do, all three are great.

I hate lifting our canoe up on top of our SUV...trailer here...a Farm and Barn special with a rack at about waist height, room on the deck for other "stuff". ...and old cooler attached to the deck makes a great storage box without a lot of fabrication work.

I'm with @ScottF on this with regard to going to heavier aluminum...I'd also have some kind of sides boxed in on whatever I fabricated...that set-up looks like it could flex forward and back a bit, and might not hold up if significant weight hit it from above. Dude needs a new phone, too....

An Ultrex would be fine on your boat. Not sure how a Terrova would be smaller, other than the foot pedal being thinner.

I have a hard time getting used to the idea that motors made in 1968 are 50 years old... I can't accept that these: ...are that old. Call it denial if you want...but be gentle...

@slonezp has it. ...and "user friendly means different things to different people. Try 'em ,see which menu systems makes the most sense to you, go with that. ...all the cool, whizbang features in the world don't do us any good if we can't get to them on our fish finders,

That's what I'd do: get out there and see what you like. So far, you've collected a bunch of opinions, and like belly buttons, everyone's got one. I'll encourage you to try TyGer Leader once more, because it doesn't seem to be on your list. http://www.tygerleader.com/ https://www.bassresource.com/fishing_lures/tyger.html Interesting...I'd never experienced that...but Saturday, doing my pre-season check, I grabbed the rod I've got set up for a #5 Mepps...it had a 12" or so hunk of Knot-2-Kinky on it...and I gave it a hard tug...and POP!...it broke about an inch above the terminal knot. That leader was on there since last June, on Lake of the Woods, and it had accounted for several muskies and bunches of pike...and more than a few smallies... I'll be checking it more often now.

Always the case, every time. Also almost always the case that they want to blame a problem on something else. "I done been taking 50 panfish a day outta that there lake since I was a teenager...then them darn (insert species here) ate 'em all up. We need to kill 'em all!"

I start my tied in leaders long for a couple of reasons, one being that there are a fair amount of those 40" plus critters in our water. The other is that If I manage to beat up the terminal end a bit...or Ethel Esox does it for me, I can cut the leader back a couple few inches, tie the terminal clip/swivel back on and be ready to go without having to tie in the whole thing. This is another one of those things I learned from fly fishing...way easier to cut a tippet back than tie in a new one, and since overall length is unimportant with gear, it works even better. This is just me, but I dislike having a foot of leader hanging from the end of my rod when I cast...when I'm throwing a 7' 9" rod, by the time I've Ive allowed a couple inches of line, a foot long leader and a 7" bait, I've increased the swing radius an easy 20" and there are times when that's going to be closer to the back of the boat than I like. Most people have no issue with this, it's just something that I dislike to do...and I don't like how it casts, either...I can't describe why, just don't care for it. One thing about commercially tied leaders: You're going to have hardware at the line end...typically a ring and a swivel...and for me, that means that sooner or later, I'm going to run that into my rod tip guide....this is one of the reasons why I like to tie them in and put all the hardware on the business end. I find that it's easy to see the lure approaching the tip of the rod, even when I've got it in the water...sometimes I miss the top end of the leader (I find dark colors the worst) and...crash...

Heck, I've no use for braid under 20#, and 30# is a more practical limit for me. If I need less visibility than 8# fluoro diameter...I'll go to...fluoro, hybrid, or mono as a leader. Braid is not durable, it'll break with even slight abrasion, and unless your hands are calloused like crazy, you can't tie the stuff without digging out a pair of gloves...

I run my leader knots through my guides all the time, have for years, no problems. My wire leaders are about a foot and a half long, no way I'm casting with that much line outside my rod rip, and my copoly leaders on my BFS and ML spinning rods are one rod length...it'd be unsafe to cast with that much line outside the rod tip. The FG knot, with small diameter line, makes it a non-issue.

@FishDewdThanks, that was fun!

Looking good! Enjoy the heck out of that rig!

I use chartreuse 30# Suffix 832 to an 8# copoly leader on my BFS rig. Works great.

I'm gonna wander a ways off the reservation here...where I really learned about line to wire leader set-up was with my 8 wt. and up fly rigs that I use for pike and musky. My favorite set up here, is 50# Maxima Big Game Mono to an 18" or so hunk of 30# Tyger Leader, to a heavy duty snap (you don't want to be cutting wire every time you change flies, you'll go broke in a hurry). Here's a source for the Maxima, it's not easy to find: https://www.lundsflyshop.com/MAXIMA_BIG_GAME_LEADER_p/2458.htm I tie that rig together with an Alberto knot, because I'm not worried bout getting it though the guides. My 2nd favorite leader material is Seguar STS Flourocarbon in 50#, 40# or 30#, to the same Tyger leader, but if I'm using 30# STS I'll drop to 15# wire. A really cool is hand tied leader is all STS, tied with 18" to 2 ft. sections, backwards: 30# to 40# to 50#, to flip resistant flies over...I save tohis for really reluctant flies, and I check the rig really closely after every fish.

Like A-Jay, I live this, every time I go out. I use the AFW Surflon, but like Tyger Leader better. I use the FG knot as a first preference, with the Alberto a 2nd choice. The FG is the smallest knot for getting through the guides, the Alberto is close (one more line thickness). Depending on what the rig is for, I may tie in a snap, or a swivel snap at the terminal end, never at the line/leader connection. Knot-2-Kinky is great, but as slippery, single strand wire, can be a pain to get tied to your main line. I use this almost exclusively on a rod I have set up for #5 Mepps and I've only found the Alberto knot to work well here. The terminal end gets a 80# swivel and snap with a perfection loop. I wear gloves and use a screwdriver hank or something else round though the loop when I tighten this bad boy up...but you can run it through a blender and it'll be fine...* Happy to shoot you pictures of the leaders if that'll help. *slight exaggeration here, but I caught bunches of pike and muskies last year on that rig, and only had to re-tie it once when my braid main-line got a little beat up. Great leader material.

Line to line: FG knot or Alberto as a 2nd choice. Line to lure: Palomar, Clinch Knot or Trilene Knot. Loop: Perfection Loop, Surgeon's Loop or Rapala Knot. Perfection leads the way here, but can't always get the terminal tackle through the loop.

Ouch. I'll bet you said something multi-syllabic like, "Gosh-darn-cheese-and-rice-some-of-it-itches!" I would have...

If you were to look in my boat, you'd find 4 nets: Two "trout" nets, short handles, 18" hoops. One front, one back. Those'll handle bass north of 6 lbs. in a pinch, but somewhere around 3 lbs., I try to transition to my... EGO Slider with an "Extra Large" rubber net. 24” bag depth. Hoop size: 23”L x 22”W. That'll handle big bass, pike and musky to up around 3 ft. and walleye to 30". Musky-size Frabil Power Stow. This is for the big girls north of 3 ft. long. It can, and has, handled musky to 50". My preferred method of unhooking big fish is to lean over the side, grab the hook shank with a set of pliers and slide the de-barbed hook out without ever taking the fish out of the water. Oddly, this is harder with small fish than with big ones, so most smaller bass wind up in those "trout" nets for quick de-hooking and release.

Well...good fishing. Catching...not so good...

I stuck myself once, 4/0 hook, tried to lip a too-green bass that drove the point straight into the joint of my left thumb. Hard. I was alone, had to subdue the fish, get it in the water, cut the hook, back it out of the joint, then push it through past the barb to cut the tip off so I could clip that off and back it out. Backing the barb out of the joint darn near made me pass out on the first try...had to lie down, control my breathing, drink some water, and give another shot. Got 'er done, then had to force the point and barb through...more fun. These days, I pinch my barbs, and use a net when possible, or better yet, lean over the side and slip the hook out while the fish is still in the water with a pair of pliers on the hook shank... There is no fish, anywhere on the planet, that I need to put in boat enough to not pinch the barbs...don't care what anyone says, I don't lose 2 fish a year because I don't have barbs...

I've fished with him several times...he knows what bass are, 'specially smallies. He's even been known to catch pike and musky on purpose...maybe not while the cameras are rolling... Good! Glad I could help. The few times I've been out with a guide have been very helpful...just make sure you look for one that is more intersted in teaching than putting fish in the boat, and that you are specific that you are more interested in learning than catching. Mr. Uhrig's off looks pretty good, all the better if it is one-on-one, or a very small "class".