BigAngus752

Me too. Got the "lifetime powertrain" for mine and I follow the rules to the letter.

That's fantastic that you take such great care of your vehicles, but I have to suggest that you stop with the 3400 mile oil changes. The quality of oil has changed immensely since I started taking care of my vehicles in 1985. The quality of the oil, the design of the engines, the fact that the engines recirculate everything including air...it all adds up to much longer mileage between oil changes. The fact that you are using a blend of dinosaur and synthetic gets you even more miles. I bought my first brand new truck in 2020. I go strictly by the computer's percentage as it monitors the quality of my oil. I change it when it gets below 20%. The LEAST miles I've gone is 7500. The Mercedes dealer won't change the oil in my wife's car until it has 10,000 on it. They won't let us waste the money. You shouldn't even look at that drain plug until you have 5000 miles on your oil. It's going to run forever for you because you take care of it.

^^^This is me constantly when I'm up on plane. Constantly.^^^ I never have my front seat mounted in place, I keep my trim set so I can see as much in front of me as possible, I pay total attention and STILL have have had a couple of scares. ANY kind of rough water and we struggle to see you guys regardless of color, flags, etc. I'm not a kayaker. I would hope that anyone who IS a kayaker is also an experienced boater so they know what they look like on the water. I got my first real motorcycle when I was 9 years old (I had a minibike before that) and I started racing at 12yrs. My mom used to tell people that I came out on two wheels. I tell people that EVERYONE should be REQUIRED to ride a motorcycle on the road before they are allowed to have a car or truck. It's the best way to become a safe, defensive driver. That mentality should apply here. Any kayaker should have the you-know-what scared out of them as they are up on plane in a bass boat and a kayak appears "out of nowhere". Maybe the accident is my fault but you're still dead. Same as a motorcycle. I get mad at a lot of car/truck drivers but I know that I'm a pile of gristle at the end of it, no matter whose fault it is. Funny thing, most semi drivers are awesome. It's been extremely rare to have an issue with a semi. It's the Prius or the minivan that's going to do me in.

Just what was the bass going to do with that? LOL

During spawn and when the males are guarding fry the standard Speed Worm is my only lure on one of the lakes I fish. I fish it as weightless as I possibly can (based on wind) and I gently shake it down through shallow laydowns and brush. The males on fry just hammer it. It's a sure thing.

Well, that was interesting. The fishing was tough. I caught 7 but it was a grind. Much tougher on "eclipse day" than two days prior. One thing that was a bit freaky was the animals losing their minds when the eclipse was happening. About 30 minutes before a owl started going nuts and then during the eclipse a rooster was crowing and a bunch of deer went crashing through the woods on the bank for no apparent reason. Very strange. No awesome eclipse-bite though.

Gorgeous! Is that a kingsnake?

Another vote for a white Rooster Tail. When my son was little that was the only thing I ever tied on for him because it catching every thing that swims.

At my closest lake, which is chock full of big crawfish, the raccoons come out at night and dig in the rocks in the shallows. The next morning what you found is all over the bank.

Funny that you ask this because I just dealt with this yesterday. We had more than seven days in a row of full clouds, massive temp drop that had us below freezing at night, and over 2 inches of rain with constant wind every single day. Yesterday was the only day I could get to the lake. It was blue bird skies, almost no wind, and what little wind there was came from the north. I launched and found the water was high, muddy, and the water temp had dropped from 55.5 degrees to 47.5 degrees. Worst possible conditions, right? I almost just loaded the boat back on the trailer but it was a beautiful day and I'd rather be outside so I stayed. Caught a small bass on the first cast. I knew where the bass had been so I moved from where they were before back toward the main points and I fished in 4-8ft of water instead of 1-2ft of water. I started my day in the deeper end of the lake and, just as I thought, it was two degrees warmer than the shallow end. In two and a half hours I caught 9 bass including one right at 4-0 pounds. I started catching on a finesse craw but got tired of doing that and started throwing two different crankbaits and caught all of my biggest bass on the crankbaits. Turns out the bass care more about the calendar than the conditions. They know when to eat. Also PSA: My nose got sunburned. Use sunscreen!

I've seen one. I don't think that this will be so different as to be worth driving 100 miles to see it. Instead I think I'll sneak out of work and onto the boat to see if the bass are interested enough to look up. Weird natural phenomenom sometimes affects animals. Let's see if they want a boat ride.

One of my favorite things about fall fishing is catching striper on crankbaits in a foot of water. Those things are just plain angry. What a blast!

The #1 recommendation I have for you is to begin a very thorough stretching/flexibility routine on a daily basis. Get as flexy as you can up until the day of the tournament. Find some accounts on social media that do flexibility and stability exercises for your specific age range and gender. I'd have to take a foam roller with me and roll my back on the deck a couple times a day starting on day 3, without a doubt. On a lighter note, I'd go the opposite with the alcohol. I'd start drinking now and make sure I was a raging alcoholic before I got there. It's like an ultra-marathon for your liver. You gotta build up the endurance. I might even fly to Denver and get drunk where the air is thinner....train hard.

Slow and small until those water temps go up. Just hang on! It’s coming!

When nothing else is working they still hit the Yama Fat Baby, usually on the fall. It was a 2-15 that did this.

Several years ago I had just replaced a full spool of 50lb 832 on my frog rod. It was a little windy that day but I was casting with the wind so I'm all good, right? Turns out if it's blowing hard enough and you're casting under a small bridge there can be a significant updraft. First cast was fine. Second cast the frog lifted almost straight up and hit the bridge header 15 feet in front of me. I learned two things: 1. Up to that day I had overrun braid many times, but I didn't know you could actually birdsnest braid. 2. If you birdsnest braid, it's 10000000000000 times worse than other line. Cut that expensive line off after two casts.

I'm getting to this one late, but...daaaannnggg that is genius!

No. I will not help you.

2016 Ranger RT188 w/115 Merc 4-stroke and Ultrex @Tennessee Boyand @gimruiscovered it pretty well. Pros: It drafts so shallow I can push-pole my way through almost what a kayak can float through. The deck stability is amazing. I've had Lowe owners and fiberglass owners standing on my front deck and going on and on about how they feel like they are standing on a dock. It's that steady. It's not fast and not built for rough water, so it's a trade off. Once I had a couple mishaps I stopped caring about the scratches. The welded all-aluminum makes for an incredibly tough boat and I will take it into any mess that I need to for finding fish or getting my lures back. Cons: Wind is a battle and I LOVE fishing in the wind. The Ultrex was a God-send but I would prefer two shallow water anchors and there are many days I wish I had a heavy glass boat. The trailer is something a torture expert thought up. @Tennessee Boyisn't kidding about the finding the sweet spot. I've gotten too deep on a new ramp a couple times and had to take the stupid boat back to the dock and go pull my truck up a few inches. I can't get two shallow water anchors on it. It will get traded in five years or so just because of that.

This is the best point so far in this thread. This is a no-brainer. So, if this is the threshold, what "advantage" meets this? Definitely not FFS. Not even close.

I believe that 100%. Funny thing is, I am searching for someone in my area that DOES rely heavily on their electronics just so I can go out with them a few times and get some lessons, but even my tourney-fishing friends don't use it as much as I would expect.

Those already exist at a local level. You won't see any at anything beyond a local level because: 1. It's the creators of the technology (all fishing technology, not just FFS) that are the financial basis for "expert"-level bass tournaments and 2. The vast majority of amateur tournaments are predicated on the idea that participants can be a pro fisherman someday. Even if it's just a small, local tournament the participants want to feel like they are fishing "just like the pros" or there's that little glimmer of hope that they can be a pro someday. It's just basic capitalism and human nature. If a fishing technology gets to the point that it's an unfair advantage you just have to pray that the governing bodies will realize it and remove it from competition...but...that's where the money comes from so.... Just to use your own analogy, how many people pay attention to the natty competitions? Look at the nattys and then look at the Arnold. It's NBA vs WNBA. People want to see pros catch fish.

I love all of these, especially the two weather comments. I just want to add a couple more: -Know the birds! Know what birds eat what critters and follow the right birds to find the bass. -Wind moves the bait and, thus, the bass. You can turn a day into an epic day sometimes if you fish the wind. -If I say "This is the last cast before I move on" then I will snag on something. -If I say "This is the last cast and I'm going home" I am absolutely lying.