Further North

...and they let you fish, not spend your time on boat control... I've had both, that was the deciding factor, right there.

It's almost always windy here and I've only owned aluminum boats...but other than an early one with an under powered trolling motor, I don't have this problem. If guess it's because I run 36 volt trolling motors that are GPS enabled (Terrova & Ulysses in my case, but there are others that'll get it done as well.) I think a lot of people go light on trolling motor thrust...but a lot of people think I'm over doing it with 112 lbs. If thrust on an 18' foot aluminum boat...but I don't worry about wind...

Glad you got it figured out.

For me, the trick to the FG was to tie a lot of them. I would guess that...exclusive of getting out the new leader and whatever hardware I am going to tie to the end of the leader...i can do one in about 5 minutes on the boat.

Good point about the size of the micros. I know the ones on my St. Croix spinning rod are ultra-tiny, but could not say they are 2mm. The rod is a Legend Xtreme from about three years back if that helps anyone. It has zero problems with the 30# Suffix 832 and 8# Co-poly. My BFS rig is a new Avid X, whatever size those guides are...again, zero problems with the 30# Suffix 832 and 8# Co-poly. I have the leader tied on with FG knots on both those rods.

I fished all four of my rods with micro guides yesterday, two are currently rigged with 30# Tyger Leader....the other two are 30# Suffix 832 to 8# co-poly. No issues...

The trip to the factory store is worth it...and take a tour while you are there. It's good to know how our rods are made.

I've used My-Wedge now for 5 seasons...much, much better than a regular transom saver, IMO. As with a lot of things, I go belt and suspenders, and use two of them, one on each side.

Lake water temps here today (about 90 miles due east of the Twin Cities) were 57° - 58°. That'll come down as air temps today struggled to get above 50°...but the forecast for the next 10 days is 60s and 70s...with lows only in the 40s...and we've only had two nights with frost so far... No top water bites today for me, but that felt like more of a conditions thing rather than a water temperature thing. It rained all day yesterday, and we started the day with a low barometer that climbed all day. ...still managed one smallie, a pike and another musky.

I use braid with leaders on three different rods that have micro guides, (one spinning, two bait casting) with no problems. Last weekend I had a swivel snap break before my FG knot or leader failed on one that I had Tyger Leader tied to 65# braid on (I was running a #5 Mepps on the rod). If your knots are unraveling, something isn't right with the knots. For the Alberto, make sure it is the co-poly that has the loop and the you are using the braid to do the weave...and make certain the braid passes through the loop from the same side of the co-poly loop at the end. For the FG, make sure you are doing enough wraps (20 wraps really doesn't take any longer than 15, or even 10), make sure you are pulling on both the main line and leader before you finish it off (look for the color change in the knot as the braid bites into the co-poly), and I always add two or three half hitches in the braid to help make sure it doesn't unravel.

NW, WI here...I fish until there's too much ice to launch the boat. Big, toothy fish replace bass as the primary target in there somewhere, depending on what's going on...it might be happening about now, last Sunday was 1 largemouth, 1 smallmouth, 1 pike and 1 musky....

Thanks for the follow up. Good to know.

Sweet rig, enjoy!

12" Helix on a RAM swing arm here. Works great .

Without knowing where in WI, it's kinda hard to help. If you don't want to hotspot it, PM me. Top water was still working up here (Lake is in the New Auburn area) last Sunday with mid 60's water temps about a foot down (both transducers on my boat). I found out inadvertently by chucking a diver out, the wrapping the line around my reel...in the 2 seconds it took to unwrap it, the smallie below inhaled the fly... ...by the 28th, I'd expect surface temps to be 50° ish around here...but this year has been so weird that I can't begin to make that a solid prediction. In my pointy little head, topwater can still work above 50°...below that I tend to focus on low-n-slow.

I like the Ford Edge a lot - we had a 2017 as a rental car for a week and a half earlier this year out in Arizona...put 2,700 miles on it...Had more back seat room than our Escape...and with the same motor (2.0 liter EcoBoost) got not far off in MPG. I just checked...with the factory tow package, it'll handle 3,500 lbs with the 2.0 EcoBoost. That may be a serious contender when my wife's Freestyle gives up the ghost...

That's nuts...we don't have to register trailers in WI <3,000 lbs. (Including the stuff you haul on it). That utility trailer will never haul that much. BTW, I was wrong - Not Menard's, Farm and Fleet. I've got no idea why I typed Menard's...getting old's not for the faint of heart...

I like the extra vehicle idea, it just doesn't work for us. One question: I hope that's the S-10 and not the girlfriend... What I did for the "hauling stuff around" issue: 4' x 8' utility trailer from Menard's for <$300 Annual maintenance = so close to zero it's not worth worrying about and if it lasts 4 years (it's already 8) I've saved $ on registration. As a bonus, I built and attachment that converts it to a canoe/kayak hauler as needed so I don't have to muscle them up on the roof.

I agree, and for my multi-species fishing, I'd add in the spoons I use for pike and musky. Can't emphasize the quality of the snap swivel enough. Cheap ones are junk and will cost you a quality fish sooner than later. I have been using Mustad Fastach Swivels the past couple years. I tie my pike musky rigs with a main line of braid to about a foot of Tyger Leader (or other tieable leader) with an FG knot, then tying in a snap swivel with a Perfection Loop. Very strong system...Sunday I stuck a Mepps in what think was a sunken tree and wound up breaking the snap itself before the leader or the line broke...I was very surprised...but I had he line wrapped around my hand several times and had to pull really hard to make that happen...I can't believe the hook didn't bend first.

Al, I went one step further than AJ, and pretty much for the same reasons. I have 3 29 series batteries for my 36 volt Ulterra and the cranking battery hooked to a 4 bank Minn Kota charger. I don't think the brand is important other than not going cheap. Three seasons ago, I wound up with a dead cranking battery about 8 miles from camp up on Lake of the Woods. We made it back to camp on the trolling motor...but it was a long, tense ride back. Turned out a short in the cable for charging my Terrova remote was the culprit. When I got home, I put in a 5th battery and a single bank charger to create a completely separate system for my electronics. That battery provides a back-up for the cranking battery should something stupid like a short in a wire causing a problem again. It's a little over the top but, 1) I have room for it, and 2) it feels like reasonably priced insurance for remote lakes and Canada. An unintended side benefit is that I've never had cleaner images on my electronics as there is zero contact with any of the other systems in the boat. Would I advocate this set-up for everyone? Nope...but it works for me. I like A-Jay's jumper battery and I almost went that route. That's plenty for most people. PS: Congrats on deciding to go with a 36 volt trolling motor on your boat. It's a little more expensive, but I'll bet you a dollar you won't be sorry.

Side Imaging works fine on a trolling motor, I ran it that way for years. Yes, it distorts when the motor pivots...but how often do you need to do that at the same time you'd be using SI anyway. ^^^^^This, exactly.^^^^^ As an interesting side bar, more than one person with trolling motor mounted SI used it as a sort of directional "360°" to scan ahead of the boat... 360° mounted to a trolling motor shaft does a much better job, but it wasn't available right way... After running SI on my trolling motor for years...I decided I didn't really need two SI transducers on the same boat and when I re-rigged this spring, I went DI only at the front. I don't miss it at all. For me, SI is for searching for structure, and I'm fine doing that off the back of the boat. When I'm fishing up front I usually already know what structure I'm on and I don't need it. ...in my case, if I decide I need it, I've got 360° to scan all the way around the boat, even if I'm stopped.

Man...that's a bummer that you'll have to charge with a generator. No way to run power to the dock?

Yep. $50 for the RAM Swing arm though...which is heavier duty than the "regular" heavy duty RAM mounts. Again, Dek-It is great stuff...one of the owners lives right down the road from me. Big ol' Procise Outdoors truck parked in his driveway most days...

Cool boat, enjoy it! ...and it's really cool you started a topic about it for other folks.

That makes sense, thanks!