Dirtyeggroll

I have listened to probably hundreds of hours of medical school lectures while fishing. ?

White, black, earth tones, red in the spring. I don’t do a lot of chartreuse in clear water, but I also don’t have the opportunity to fish a lot of clear water.

Spro Rat

Put an outboard on it. You really don’t need much in the way of modifications for that boat. It comes as a pretty complete setup. I had a Basshound 10.2 which a similar smaller version of that boat and put a casting deck and outboard on it and fished it all over the place. Since yours already has the casting platforms, the outboard is all you need.

The Ranger “R” series is a great hull that can be found in that price range.

In general I find that heavier baits are easier to control. Spool tension does need to be somewhat loose. A trick to keep backlash down can be to pitch a heavy bait as far as you can, then pull a little more line off of the spool, then place some electrical tape on the spool to keep the rest of the line under control. Good luck.

I like braid. I want the line to float (typically braid or mono) and I need something that I can go up on the strength because I am usually throwing a toad into or around the nasty stuff.

I actually wasn't referring to the monetary price of the GY Senko. I was referring to the trade off of lack of durability for the type of action the bait produces. Albeit, in comparison to similar looking stick baits, they demand more money.

How many fish are you catching? Are talking true Gary Yamamoto Senkos or some other more durable version? I am happy if a GY Senko lasts more than 1 fish. They are brittle and its a price that is paid for the action they have.

Aee you certain there are fish in the areas you are using your swimbaits? Are they high percentage areas?

Can you identify where all of the wires at the fuse box go?

Was on a guide trip in San Diego on Canyon Lake. The guide was a cool guy and I had told him my primary goal was to catch a big fish. We had fished all day and the biggest we had caught was just over 3. He kept saying throughout the day that the best chance to catch a big one was to go night fishing. Being such a standup guy, he offered to keep the trip going after a dinner break. The strategy was to chuck weightless black senkos at the "seawall" of the lake near the docks. Its very dark so its difficult to see where the bait is going. It had been about an hour and we had caught one fish about 2.5 lbs doing this. I make a cast and as I start to drag the senko, I feel a subtle tug back. I set the hook and start feeling the head shakes. BIG STRONG HEADSHAKES. I start getting really excited as I start to fight this behemoth, telling the guide that we did it, saying "this is the one". I'm fighting this thing for a solid 2 minutes slowly making progress, when suddenly then boat bumps into the edge of the dock. It spooked me so I released the tension on my line and the line goes slack. At first I was devastated because I thought the fish had come unhooked. I reel up the slack to find that something is still on the other end. It still feels like it pulls back, but is definitely not swimming... turned out to be a dock cable and my progress was me slowing pulling the boat toward he. The guide and I had a good laugh about it. Never ended up finding one over 4lbs in CA.

A 2 HP isn’t gonna give much more up and go. Might save your battery for your trolling motor but probably not going to gain much at all for speed. I’d look into at least 5 HP. The old Evinrude Fisherman 5.5 and 10 HP motors go for pretty cheap and are solid as a rock as long as you know you to clean and maintain a carb.

I have never caught a fish on a fluke and can count the number of times on one hand that I have tossed one out. That being said, I commonly rip a weightless senko around like a fluke and have good success.

I use the Z-man power finesse heads with a wire weed guard. Never had a fish come off, but then again I havent caught mroe than a couple dozen fish on a ned rig. Also, I think the purists would argue that the power finesse heads are too heavy.

I fish most of the time without a leader using 10-lb hi-vis yellow braid on my spinning setups. I have caught a lot of fish on senkos, a ring fry, neko rigs, finesse jigs and dropshots using this setup. One problem I have encountered is that if I get snagged, the line doesn't tend to break at the knot by the hook but somewhere high up the line leaving a long tail of braid in the water. I never use a leader on a casting setup.

Find out where the wood exists on the boat. As previously stated those are the areas to be most susceptible to time. Transom, deck floor, stringers are generally the biggest offenders. Also, any areas where the gel coat is missing and the fiberglass matting is showing. Otherwise, a well taken care of hull should last a long time. The motor and fuel delivery system are the parts of the boat that are likely least resistant to time.

Cover water and distance on high percentage areas with the frog then move in with the punching rig.

Loving the detailed posts lately! Thanks for a great description and commentary!

Does your power to your graph run on the same side of your boat as the power to your TM?

If you have not already, run dedicated power directly from the cranking battery to be Graph. ideally, there should be no reason why there is any connection between your trolling motor power system and your graph power system. Thats where I would start. Ferrite rings and chokes are really just masks. If the charger is connected to both the trolling and cranking batteries then disconnect the charger it while out on the water to see if it changes the interference. Let us know how it goes. Good lucks.

3/8 oz Siebert Outdoors Dredge Dock Rocker. There is not a more versatile jig.

Cool. Didnt seem like your lure fouling rate changed that much. It’d be interesting to see if anything was different in grass or slop.

Stop. All the extra gear is doubtedly going to help you catch more fish. Its just going to pile up in your garage or whatever space in your house. You definitely don’t need it and a package everyday absurd. How much time everyday are you wasting browsing stuff to buy? Its really a trap. Buying fishing gear when you can’t actually go fishing is a poor substitute to make you feel closer to the sport. Save the money for a fishing trip say to Mexico or one of the big fish dream lakes. No judgment, just my thoughts.

Monday was my 30th birthday. For my birthday I asked my wife to come along on the boat for a couple hours. She begrudgingly supports my fishing habit and she’s never been along with me or even caught a bass. I wanted to see if I could get her on some fish. Low and behold she caught one within the first minute of fishing! After netting the fish, her immediate response was “I can see how this could be addicting.” We went to a lake that is chalk full of 3-4 lbers and I had her setup on a medium light spinning rod really hoping she would hook into one and it would feel like Moby dick. Unfortunately, our little outing ended shortly after the first fish due to the steering cable on my Ultrex breaking (what a great birthday gift from the fishing gods), and we didn’t get to catch any more fish. Neither of us plan for her to go again (I wouldn’t want her out fishing me), but nonetheless, both of us had a good time!