BigAngus752

These guys are spot on. Let me say this. I teach combat marksmanship. There is a place in that training for standing in a row at a firing line on a sunny day slowly punching holes in cardboard...but not much of a place for that. Soldiers and police officers need to practice in the worst possible, and most realistic, conditions. You must think of your personal safety in all circumstances in such a manner. You are a good swimmer? That could be helpful. How long can you tread water, though? Minutes? Hours? You can stay calm, think clearly, and enact a plan that you formulated months or years ago after your boat ejects you, fully clothed, into cold, dirty water where you broke a couple bones upon landing? If you can do that you have a better chance of surviving, even if you can't swim, than an Olympic swimmer who freaks out and doesn't have a plan.

Oh yes. She had to see it as soon as it came out. I just haven't bought it for her yet. So my wife loves to fish, loves to watch football, loves to shoot (I'm a firearms instructor) and she loves the John Wick movies. My life isn't too bad... Spectacular movie. Just for the scenery if nothing else!

Just finished watching John Wick for the eleventy-millionth time. It's one of my wife's favorite current movies.

I'd love to have a 36V but that would be tough to get in my boat. I'm not looking to fish anything that large on just the TM. But glad you had that as a backup! That's impressive.

I'm fortunate that the Ranger already has a 3 bank charger and wiring for a 24V. I was thinking that if we choose that route we should get the best batteries available. The 12V is on an Interstate but I'll look at a couple of the Cabelas or maybe Optimas? You're right, I would love a 36V but that would be quite a project in this boat. Thanks for the help.

Need some advice, please. Last year we bought an 18ft Ranger aluminum. Great boat and we love it but we've found two drawbacks. First, it has a 12V trolling motor. Not awesome when it's windy but works fine the rest of the time. Second, with the 115 Merc on it we are banned from some nearby lakes that we would love to fish with a boat. We have considered getting a 9.9 kicker so we can fish the restricted lakes but I'm wondering if we can't just kill two birds with one stone and get a new 24V Terrova? The restricted lakes range from 800 acre to 2000 acre. Assuming it's not a terribly windy day couldn't we expect to get a lot of fishing in if we weren't actually trolling but just moving from spot to spot with the 24V? We already know we can load and unload with the big motor at these lakes. We are just wondering how much risk we are taking of paddling back to the ramp if we rely only on the 24V TM. Any advice is appreciated.

This is Angus. Angus takes care of my wife and son when I'm gone all night or working for 48-72hrs straight. He is extremely protective. He has been my son's best friend since my son was 3 yrs old. Best family dog ever. He's a great dog and I owe him a lot. I hope he's around forever but that gray beard grows more every day.

New Tatula CT for $90 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Daiwa-Tatula-CT-Baitcast-Fishing-Reel-100HSL-LEFT-hand-7-3-1-TACT100HSL/142120774489?hash=item21170eeb59:g:S6QAAOSw8FtZf~3P New Tatula SV for $133 https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Daiwa-Tatula-SV-TW-103HS-7-3-1-Baitcast-Fishing-Reel-RIGHT-hand-TASV103HS/142450524598?hash=item212ab681b6:g:8A0AAOSwuFpZb4Qn I have purchased from this seller with no issues. I also own both reels. If you throw light stuff get the SV. If not just get the CT. It is a fantastic, easy-to-use reel.

This is 40lb Sufix 832 that I fished all summer and fall in our terrible, stained, silt-laden Illinois waters. Although the pic is blurry you can see that it hasn't changed colors or held onto any of the dirt/silt at all. I suspect I'll get numerous seasons out of it.

So I'm not much of a social media guy, but I do love Instagram. I ran across an account awhile back dedicated (allegedly) to bass fishing. After following it for several weeks I discovered that it is a couple of teenagers that like to fish. Every once in awhile they post pics of themselves holding lunkers...but it's ALWAYS the SAME pics! All of the other posts are of gear or memes and the majority of the posts are "answer this with a yes or no" or they'll post a pic of a popper and say "post the word POP and double tap!". The account has very little to do with actually FISHING, but it has 250,000 followers. Everyone is watching videos and participating in social media but fewer people are actually FISHING. Just check out Glenn's videos and compare them to the other YouTube videos! Almost all the other accounts are just for watching the highlight reel of someone else fishing. Few people are engaging the viewer and passing on knowledge like Glenn does. I'm afraid we are turning into a society of WATCHERS. I come from a long line of DO-ERS and I just don't fit in anymore. The only hope I have is what I see in my teenage son. He is a huge watcher...but he's a do-er also.

Save some money on the Z-man stuff. Instead of buying the TRD (their finesse bait) just buy bags of the Zinker-Z. Fish them whole as 5in worms or cut them in half for your shaky head. I really like the Elaztech stuff. Very durable.

I'm with @PECo We have a lake in our area that tends to drop 10ft or more over the course of a dry summer. A couple of the ramps are steep and they have a massive coating of algae/slime on them that get's exposed by the end of summer. You literally cannot stand on them. You have to hold on to the side of your truck and slide down to the trailer to unhook the winch. We tow our 18ft Ranger aluminum with a Grand Cherokee. It is the front wheels (and only the front wheels) that have pulled us out of the water and up the ramp on several occasions. Oh, and we back down the ramp very, very slowly. I keep waiting to have to rescue a 2wd truck off that ramp.

@Way2slow and @gimruis are right on track. Sitting too long trashed your battery. Also, a marine battery with 100% charge will resist freezing up to 75 degrees below, but the same battery with 50% charge can freeze above zero. Constant current to your battery will destroy your battery even faster than leaving it sitting for months with no charge. All of my batteries spend the winter on a shelf inside my garage on the shared wall with the house (warmest part of the unheated garage). I plug the chargers in ONLY on the weekend. All batteries sit with no charger during the week. My Harley battery and my garden tractor battery are charged with a 1.5 amp charger with a "draw-down" feature. It charges the battery to 100% and then begins to slowly drain it to 85% and then charges back up again. Most guys get 1 or 2 years out of their Harley batteries. My last two Harley batteries lasted 5 years and 6 years respectively. My trolling battery and cranking battery are both charged with a smartcharger that has a float stage as well as automatic temperature compensation and a Desulphation mode for long-term storage. The smartcharger I would not hesitate to leave on a trolling battery or cranking battery 24-7. I disconnect during the week out of habit more than anything else.

LOL! I hate it when I get suckered into one of these! I'm gonna go back and try to find a thread about VCR repair...

If stupidity, immaturity, hate, pain, infidelity, distrust, or violence finds you suddenly and without warning and you are forced to react to it then you will undoubtedly question how it occurred and, justifiably, try to find the reason why and struggle to figure out how it could have been avoided and how you can avoid it in the future. If you go looking for it then you only need to look in the mirror to find the source of your trouble. How do I know this? Years ago while lamenting some serious personal issues day after day to a very good friend he finally had enough and said something that helped me change a lot of what I need to change. He said, "Hey man, grab a mirror". Good friend right there.

D**n! Way to stick with it! I would probably have made it through retrieving the wallet, maybe the fog, definitely not the batteries. I wouldn't have gone back. You deserve that fish.

Yup the fish will decide how fast you need to do your fishing. You don't get to decide. Another possible suggestion...this summer my wife and I started fishing a new lake that tends to be cloudy/silty. We were having no luck at all until we started religiously washing our hands descenting soap before handling any lures and using a paste scent on the lures and lines. Then all the sudden we started catching bass. Coincidence?

Are you certain that there are fish in there? Many subdivision water retention ponds in Champaign/Urbana were initially stocked but are now devoid of all life except geese. You can choose to throw anything as long as it's big and you work it very slowly. Don't let our recent daytime temps fool you, it has been chilly at night. Those water retention ponds are shallow and they will already be cold. Keep a big lure in front of the fish for a long time and you could have luck. I have bad news for you, though, if you aren't here already. But slow fishing lures from the bank gives you plenty of time to stand around and think about how cold the wind is...so that's pretty relaxing.... If you are here long enough to take a road trip just go to one of the power plant cooling lakes. The warm side of Clinton or Sangchris will get you good fish. And Newton is a world class bass lake but I don't know how much shore fishing you can do on the warm side. I've not tried that.

@A-Jay and @Gundog are on the right track. Nothing is more deterrent than a dog. Even small dogs bark. People will not come into my yard because of my black German Shepherd Dog is trained to stay in his yard, no fence, no chain. He just sits there and looks scary. And I'm fine with that. If you don't want to train a dog and take him with you then make your stuff less desirable than other peoples stuff. Remember, if you and I are attacked by a bear, I don't have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you. Gundog's suggestion of something noisy on your boat cover is great. You can buy very cheap alarms that are designed to be hung from doorknobs. They are motion sensitive and very loud. Hang four of them from your boat cover (but not when it's windy). If you are camping at sites with electric get a plug in, motion activated light and make sure it is pointed at both your boat AND where you are sleeping so it wakes you up. Thieves don't like attention. Shower them with attention. Camping at Giant City? Are you going to fish Crab Orchard? I heard great things about Crab Orchard all through 2017. I hope to make it down there in 2018.

Wow, you've got yourself a great project there. This is really going to pay off. That is really going to be worth the effort, but that's a big project to strip it. Have you considered abrasive blasting? You have several options. If you have a large shop compressor you could rent a pressurized blaster. If you have a small compressor you could buy (or possibly rent) a gravity feed blaster. The gravity feeds are slower and require lots of jiggling and stopping, but I once did an entire Jeep body tub with a gravity feed. You should also be able to find someone in your area that does portable abrasive blasting. Yes, that would be expensive but they would blast both your trailer and boat in just one morning using a couple different kinds of media that are appropriate for each of the different surfaces. That would knock weeks off of your project. Using the correct media and the correct technique is imperative to prevent damage of your metal. Nice boat! Looking forward to seeing the results!

Thanks for pointing that out. I have not seen that video. I was confusing strength for abrasion resistance. But I think saying "braid cuts very easily" would be incorrect also. You can damage a tooth if you try to bite it. It's hard as hell to cut, but as you have just pointed out to me it's not abrasion resistant. That's really unique. I haven't had trouble with braid (yet) fraying over rocks but I'm going to be careful of it now. Thank you. For crankbaits I have a Tatula CT with 12lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid. But listen to the more experienced guys on here if they tell you something different. I'm still in the experimental stage with the hybrid. And it's super inexpensive! So I don't cry when I screw it up!

I have these questions all the time and this is the process I go through in my head. Examine what you need the line to do for you and you will find the answer. First, since you want to "try some deeper cranking" it's probably important that you have a "sinking" or "neutrally buoyant" line. Any line that floats will curb your depth. This would suggest fluoro, a co-poly such as Yo-Zuri Hybrid, or a braid like Sufix 832. Mono eventually sinks because it becomes waterlogged. That's not the same as being a sinking or neutrally buoyant line. As a result mono COULD cause your deep crank to run not so deep. I say COULD because there may be some other factors I'm not aware of and because I don't want to be viciously disemboweled by the more experienced guys on here that are die-hard mono guys. Second, you mentioned you might be dragging them through some roughage. Abrasion resistance and strength are paramount. Braid tops that list followed by flouro, hybrid, and finally mono. Third, you will want some east-of-casting/distance. I can only list my own experiences with this as a guy with just one year using baitcasters under my belt. Mono wins this one for me followed closely by Yo-Zuri Hybrid. I have no experience with fluoro so I'm of little use on that topic. Fourth, you may be concerned with "feel". Perhaps you aren't, but that's a huge thing for me. Especially with things I'm not used to fishing and while I've got years of experience with topwaters and jerkbaits, I have little experience with deep cranks. I need to be able to feel that crank moving and the bump of the bite. Especially when I'm knocking the crank off of logs/rocks/bottom. For me that puts braid at the top followed by Yo-Zuri Hybrid. Mono (for me personally/not an expert) is so bad that it's a no-go. I can't feel a darn thing with mono of any kind that I have tried. Not compared to braid and hybrid. Again, no experience with fluoro. If you are so inclined, pick what is important to you from these questions, weigh how important each is, and then pick the line that fits best what you are most concerned with. My deep cranks and lipless cranks run on Yo-Zuri hybrid (and occasionally on Sufix 832). And I'm having success catching good fish with them which encourages me to practice with them more often. This is advice from someone who is learning right along with you. Don't ignore the experts and experienced guys on here. They have improved my fishing tenfold.

You're making it difficult to like you, sir!

I think he knows every fishing guide in Tennessee off the top of his head also.

I have a Tatula CT and a Tatula SV. The SV is more forgiving (my wife uses it a lot) and it is a dream to cast light stuff. I can cast the CT much further and it is my preferred reel by far unless I'm throwing something weightless. Both are excellent, easy to set up reels. Both reels make my more expensive REVO SX seem like a rip off. I can tell you I will buy several more CTs if that means anything.