Bucky205

Bassmaster Open started here today, boats everywhere.

A black buzz bait at night is an awesome lure.

When your bait is in contact with the bottom anything that feels different is structure. It may be a tree, ditch, an old tire, a down tree, rocks. Anything that is different from the typical bottom in the reservoir. Same goes for your bait when you're feeling something or bumping into something different its normally structure. It won't take long until you are able to identify what type of structure you are hitting with your bait.

How do you find the water that has high O2, I think that would be huge. They change the water level on Logan Martin winter and summer so the grass doesn't get well established. Not a lot of structure other than docks. Deep docks and working the deep ledges is my primary summertime strategy. It's just really slow right now. The article said to fish shallow, fish deep. Throw larger baits, throw smaller baits. So it pretty much ran the gambit of possibilities. I appreciate all the advice.

Alabama, Logan Martin water temps low 90's. The bite is almost non-existent. Can see them on the electronics deep but can't get them to bite. Tons of shad on the surface with nothing chasing them. Any ideas?

I didn't realize there was a season. We renew our licenses on Aug 1 is the closest definition to a season I guess. We fish year round, there are days that you don't catch anything and others you catch 25+. I would estimate normally I catch 1 or 2 a year that are 5+, 10 that are 3-5, and a whole lot that are 3 and under.

Logan Martin is slow for me right now. Might try your side of the dam.

Which cheap set will cut braid with one hand? I haven't found them. Nail clippers won't cut braid either. Fiskars kids or crafts will cut it. Boomerang at $11 for me cuts braid one handed better than anything. When Boomerangs quit cutting throw them away and get another one.

They are fish grippers. I think I got mine on sale at BP for 5.99, any hook scale hooks easily to the cord. https://www.basspro.com/shop/SearchDisplay?categoryId=&storeId=715838534&catalogId=3074457345616676768&langId=-1&sType=SimpleSearch&resultCatEntryType=2&showResultsPage=true&searchSource=Q&pageView=&beginIndex=0&pageSize=24&searchTerm=Fish+Gripper#facet:&productBeginIndex:0&facetLimit:&orderBy:&pageView:grid&minPrice:&maxPrice:&pageSize:&

It is amazing the difference wetting down makes. I wear the long sleeve performance fishing shirts. When wet and in contact with your skin the evaporation of the water really helps cool you off.

Right now the weather is my deciding factor.

***Shrug*** https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/structure-locating.html

Structure in it's simplest form is some change in the bottom. I would be curious to know if anyone has ever had any success in catching open water bass?

90% of the bass are going to be in 10% of the water. I always try to find what depth they are hanging at and try to fish structure at that depth. You may find structure without bass, but you won't find bass without some type of structure. Structures are any areas where there is a variance in the depth or the contours of the bottom, and these changes can range from subtle to dramatic.

If you don't feel it bouncing along the bottom put on a deeper bait. You would think they would hang up more than they do but they tend to run nose down with the hooks out behind them. You can tune them to make them run better also.

No doubt about sending your credentials. I was standing in the store so I just had to show ID. I use a lot of XD style cranks and I loaded up.

Just wanted to share some info. Academy in stores and online has the H20 Express hard baits on sale 2 for $5. Military can take another 10% off. I picked up about $140 in crankbaits for just under $50. Now if I could just ever figure out how to get my tackle box organized so they will fit.

I have days that I don't catch fish.

I love my plug knocker. At 4.99 it pays for itself several times over every time I fish. Especially with deep crankbaits, there is normaly plenty of water to get over them to get them free.

On the XI5 since it is a graphite shaft other than the power ground there is no ground to the motor. A lot of XI5 users are picking up interference. There was previously an MG tour series there and there was absolutely no interference.

500 would be a pain. Usually, your chart card will have some means of exporting waypoints and tracks. Here is a link to how Navionics does it on a Lowrance. https://www.navionics.com/usa/support/tutorials/lowrance/sonar-log-recording/hds-10-gen2/export-upload

If they wont export and it's a little more trouble but a Lat/Long is a Lat/Long, not that big of a deal to just punch in the numbers. Then you can look at waypoints and positions on anything you choose.

I've always been told not to ground a 24 or 36-volt system to a 12-volt system. Even the XI5 manual says not to do it. I've read elsewhere it is a possible solution, just not sure about it.

Running a Motorguide XI5 with a Humminbird Helix 5 G2 sonar on the bow using the XI5 internal transducer When the TM is running there is an extreme amount of noise coming into the Helix 5. There is enough noise when the TM is running to wipe out the 2D sonar image. I've tried chokes on everything including the TM, transducer, and power cable. Has anyone had any luck getting rid of the interference from an XI5 to a Helix 5? Another possibility is just to change the depth finder, is anyone using a unit that is doing great with their XI5 internal transducer?

Skipping is my goto for docks. Tubes on spinning reels are the easiest to skip. Getting 20' under a dock on 3 or 4 skips is pretty easy even on floating docks.