Dirtyeggroll

I really want to catch a 3-lb smallmouth in the KC are up to 1.5 hours away. So far I have only caught a handful of smallmouth and all around a pound. Mostly by accident but have started trying to target them more specifically. Who’s had luck with smallmouth in the area that kind give me some tips?

Bank or boat? How far can you travel?

just a couple thoughts 1) Here’s a little secret… they don’t repair them, they send you a brand-spanking new one if the current model is out of production (and the G3 units have been for about a year) and the turnaround time is usually about 3-5 days from the the time it leaves your door to the time it comes back… I know, I know that doesn’t help you now… really more just a nod to Humminbird customer service and to keep in mind for future reference. 2) Those G4 units are very greedy from a power consumption compared to their predecessors of the same model and size. At least double the power consumption. You don’t have a the new standard of 4-5 graphs and countless other handy-offy blinky things so battery consumption probably won’t be an issue for you, but just something to keep in mind. 3) It’s inspiring to see your very practical upgrade, not seemingly swayed so much by the industry push in tech. You certainly could have gotten in to an FFS setup for the same or less cost. Or changed to a spot lock trolling motor (without graph updates/changes) for a similar cost. Independent of whatever rationale you have for your decision, to me it’s a nice counter-influence to the “you need the newest tech” song that gets played on repeat in my head. Nice setup - thanks for sharing.

MOST people don’t have issues with interference. You see it all over the place because content people don’t make noise. I’d rig it up and see what your images look like then consider adding any interference mitigation if you end up having any

Thanks So far have been to Bass Pro and Scheels. Somehow neither of them had a suitable vest. He's right at 35 lbs and the 30-50 lb vests are WAAAYYY too big and the smaller ones way too small. Im sure he wont stay his size for long. Hes probably a little too young for the boat anyhow at this point. But I want to start putting a vest on him and having him run around the yard playing in the sprinkler and hose so he'll become accustomed to wearing it without a fit.

Thanks guys. I am very aware of the needs for a heads up design for optimal safety for a toddler/infant. The issue now is the one we have, he absolutely hates. I’ve been trying to condition him to it, but frankly it looks terribly uncomfortable and doesn’t seem to fit too well. I’ve gotta find some options for one he will actually wear.

What life jackets have you had success with a toddler (1-2yo) keeping on?

For bass fishing? You certainly have to put the time in to know how to use it. What you’re looking at, how to line it up and the situations where it’s useful. It’s a tool that requires skill for it to be effective. Time that not every “weekend” angler needs to put in to satisfactorily catch fish. Once the skill is met, honestly, 360 becomes obsolete as it’s easy enough to scan around and make a mental picture of the bottom and a mental picture of what 360 offers. 360 really only tells you exactly where cover is if your boat is not moving. The skill needed for 360 is less than that of a live imaging system and is still highly useful for one that hasn’t developed the skill to use live imaging. For panfish (schooling crappie, bluegill, etc), it really is as easy as troll around and find the school, point live at it and change your presentation until they start to react. The skill is much much less for this and the added benefit to the naive user for schooling panfish really is huge. Summary: the effectiveness of live imaging systems to really benefit bass fishing requires time to develop skill. I’ve spent about 18 months with a live imaging system and about 3 years with Mega 360. If I could only keep one, it’d be a hard decision, but it’d probably be live. 6 months ago I would have said 360, but since I’ve become more familiar with live and the hand-eye skill to quickly scan around, I think I could now create the same mental image 360 produces. This is coming from a guy that fishes on average twice per month.

Well not quite. That was from me trying to get the hook out and my pliers slipped and penetrated straight through. Hopefully it’ll recover.

The fishing style in the Kansas City area is quite different than that which worked for me up in Omaha. I think I’m getting the hang of it though.

Thanks for sharing A-Jay. I’ve been wooed to the snow dog way having had two huskies for the last 7 years up until a couple months ago when one crossed the rainbow bridge unexpectedly and now down to one. I enjoyed all of your pictures of Sasha and glad to see she made it to a new furever home. Our female doesn’t tend to get along with other females and she’s starting to get used to being the only child (dog anyway) again. Losing one really makes me question what I want to do in the future. Reading this post sure makes fostering seem like a good option, though I’m sure we’d fail the fostering with the first one.

I’d consider looking for a Ranger R-series 1995-1999. The R70 series is a 17’, R80 is an 18’ and R90 an 19/20’ model. They are very solid hulls. A great condition R70 can be head for as little as $5k pretty readily with about a 20% increase in price per foot.

According to Knowing Bass by Keith Jones, Largemouth Bass prefer up to 90 degree water temp.

What are the details? I’m a little disappointed. I have spent thousands with them and signed up for their mailing list and never been included in these emails.

Man with a couple of the XRs in a pond you could set them up and surveillance the whole pond all the time.

Fished Monday through Thursday last week. We are anywhere from 12-18 degrees warmer water temperature than this time last year. I think I missed the real pre-spawn munch and finally ended my 5 year streak of a 6+ lber for the first part of April (no more fishing for me until the end of May). I did manage one that was real close and 5.81 as a kicker for a 19 lb bag at a “new-to-me” lake. Fish were all in <2 ft of water and water temp was 68 at the lake I wash fishing last Thursday.

The Duracell 31 AGM is a dual purpose battery. It works fantastic for starting, trolling motor and electronics.

that is not correct. Deep cycle batteries are designed for low amp continuous use. RV’s, car stereos etc are other common uses in addition to boat electronics. That being said, I wouldn’t recommend pulling your electronics power from the same battery that powers your trolling motor.

Why? What source of information tells you that? I think you have bad information. A deep cycle battery is designed to handle relatively low current (amps) over a sustained period of time. Electronics draw are relatively low <100 amps continuous generally and are constantly on. A trolling motor also has a relatively low current draw. Whereas a starting battery is designed to have a high short current draw (750-1500 amps).

Did you ask about squarebills in cool water? I like them best in the cooler water… the big bass seem to as well.

I don’t have a dedicated electronics battery - most of the time I would never have run my starter/electronics battery down. I basically kept the emergency start on board in lieu of a small dedicated starter battery. IF it were charged I could probably get 15-20 starts out of it. 99% of the time, I could probably use it as my sole starting source… just gotta make sure it’s charged.

*Edit* - after reviewing the instructions and trying again later at home, the emergency jump pack DID have enough charge. I just had to override the safety features because the battery was too low to detect.** About 2 years ago I bought a NOCO GB50 emergency starter. Most of the time I’ve got enough electronics/starting battery to last me a minimum of two hard days of fishing. Well… recently did some electronics upgrades and haven’t taken the old stuff off so got about twice as much juice being pulled. Fished yesterday for about 6 hours and forgot to plug the charger in when I got home. Been on vacation so got to go out again today. It crossed my mind more than once that I might get low on starting battery. Really didn’t bother me since I was going to a small lake where there is no wake. Sure enough I ran that battery dry, not even a click turning the key. It was a windy day and I wanted to get to the other side of the lake a bit quicker, so I pulled out the GB50 - low battery. Fortunately I just trolled around. It was a bit tricky to load the boat without the big motor on a steep ramp in the wind, but got it figured out. Turns out those emergency starters need to be charged about every 18 months. I’ll probably make it part of my spring and late fall routine to charge.

Bac-rac https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Bac_Rac_Rod_Rac_Version_2/descpage-BCRCV2.html

The electronics and bells and whistles can certainly be a distraction.

Did you end up adding any toys to it?