Tennessee Boy

I'm afraid his haters might have killed him because of his gear. People have become so passionate about fishing tackle these day. 😆

I varies a lot from day to day and season to season but in general I'm not as slow as @TnRiver46 but I'm close at 0.53. If you prefer a music analogy I'm the Cowboy Junkies. 😊

There's a fine line between sharing a friendly fishing tip and sharing classified information. This thread has crossed that line in a few areas. 😆

I can’t tell you how much your time is worth. That’s important to consider. I’m retired so my time is not worth much. If it was me, I’d get in the truck and go get the boat. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Well you could have a wreck, total the truck, total the boat, and you could die. Life is risky. The chances of something major happening on a 800 mile trip are low but they are not zero. If something happens you deal with it the best you can. It would be a major pain if you lost a bearing on the way home. If it happens you get it fixed somewhere or hire a flatbed to haul it home and be glad you survived the trip. 🙂

I purchased a Battleborn 75ah a few years ago, and I think it was around $700. Battleborn was considered the premium American brand at the time. It has worked great, but if I were buying today, I would buy a cheap one off Amazon. If you look at Amazon reviews, a $200 Li Time battery has about the same review ratings as a $750 Battleborn. Some people think warranty and service are important. I say a warranty is only as good as the company behind it. When I bought the Battleborn, I felt good about the warranty from a strong company. Now Battleborn is struggling to compete with the cheap Chinese batteries, and if they go out of business, my warranty goes out with them. I don't think you can be sure any of these companies will be around in 5 years. Personally, I would buy cheap and take my chances. The biggest risk you take is if you get a bad battery, it can be very expensive to send it back. Some buy local for that reason so you don't have to ship it back. This topic generates a lot of discussion on this forum. These batteries are actually pretty simple. They consist of LiFePo4 cells, a BMS, a case, and wires. The cells are all made in China by large companies, and their primary use is in electric vehicles. A trolling motor is a very low-intensity use compared to a Tesla. To answer your questions: Is leakage a common problem? I've never heard of a LiFePo4 leaking. I've heard of the cells expanding from heat but not leaking. Bluetooth? Bluetooth allows you to monitor the charge level from your phone. You can decide if this is worth the extra cost. I'll also mention that you will probably want to get a charger designed for LiPo4 batteries if you don't already have one.

This would be especially effective if the Northern Illinois coach is allergic to nuts. 😆 I'm sure that Notre Dame has fixed whatever they were doing. I remember many years ago a team figured out that the other team's quarterback would not put his mouth piece in on running plays. I don't remember the team. Stuff like that will get beat in a hurry.

There was an interesting piece on the news after Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois. The Northern Illinois coach called the Notre Dame coach to tell him how they beat them. The details were not revealed obviously but basically the North Illinois coaching staff found something on film that gave them a huge edge.

I'm planning to spend more time on smallmouth waters this year so I'll be fishing more smallmouth lures. Which smallmouth lures will be determined by the fish.

We're expecting 4 inches in the morning. This could be the end.

Before I answer the question let me tell you why I don't like the question. For me fishing is not a search for the right lure. Lures are tools. @Craig P wrote, "Find a technique or two you like and roll with it, the fish will come." Finding a technique is very different from finding a lure. I have no use for a hollow body frog unless I'm fishing froggy water. It's a tool for very specific situations. Now that I've got that rant off my chest I'll answer the question. In 2024, I caught 80% of my fish on 7 lures if I don't differentiate between different colors and different weights. 4 of those 7 were soft plastics.

People will judge you by the tackle you use. Some will hate you because they're jealous of your high end rod. Others will look down on you if you use a spin casting reel. Women will follow you around screaming like you're a rock start if you use a JDM reel. It just part of fishing. 😊

How do you prove that a bait is a gimmick? How many hours on how many different days on how many different bodies of water does it take?

I've told this story several times. Back when there were mom and pop tackle stores everywhere I would stop by one several times a week after lunch. I would see if they had anything that looked interesting but before I would leave I would check out the rods. I would take one of the high end rods and drag the tip across the floor to feel the vibration. I was always amazed at how much more sensitive the expensive rods were. One day a coworker was with me and ask what I was doing. I explained that I was testing the sensitivity of the rods. He laughed at me and said I was crazy. After some discussion we devised a blind test so that I could show him that I could identify the expensive rods with my eyes closed just by feel. I closed my eyes and he handed me various rods. I failed the test miserably. That experienced changed me. I realized the power of the placebo effect. I stopped being a tackle fan boy and became a tackle skeptic.

Humminbird usually has a major update every year and sometimes minor updates in between. I'm sure there are many people that never update theirs.

My oldest is 7 years old. They usually become obsolete before they stop working. In 35 years of using them I've only had two fail. Today's units are more complicated so I could see them being a little more fragile.

I would use it for lures between 1/4 oz and 3/4 oz and line between 10 lbs and 17 lbs. No need to define the rod. Give it the freedom to be any rod it wants to be. 😁

Ray Scott held some light line tournaments after he sold B.A.S.S. Nothing preventing others from doing the same or holding a no drag tournament. ( assuming you can still find a reel with no drag) Personally, I don't view fishing as a fish fighting contest. If I did I'd switch to a harder fighting species. For me it's more about figuring them out and trying to out smart them but to each his own.

Be aware of all the changes happening right now with Humminbird. The larger Helix are being dropped and will not be network compatible with newer Humminbirds. A new Helix will work for you but will they continue to update it and support it?

I can’t think of a single public figure for whom I have more respect. He was truly an honorable and humble man. Five years ago, my wife and I went to his church in Plains, Georgia, to hear him teach Sunday School. It’s a very small, rural Baptist church where members used to take turns mowing the church yard. Jimmy and Rosalynn took their turn like everyone else. He would be mowing, she would be trimming the hedges, and the Secret Service agents would be keeping watch.

Know the rules and follow them and you should be ok. I think anything that a shore fisherman can transport could also be transported by a bird. They never follow the rules.

If your current units are Helix G4N models then you can add the current Humminbird MEGA Live transducer. If they are older models they will not be compatible. You will also need to connect it using Ethernet. If your current units are networked together then you will need to add an Ethernet switch so everything can be networked. If your current units are connected then you can just connect the Live transducer to the Ethernet port on one of the units. Humminbird has announced MEGA Live 2 that will be available in January. It is not compatible with Helix units.

Most of the time I can find bait in 30 seconds or less. In the fall there is often bait literally everywhere. So it’s more complicated than just finding the bait. Now I do pay very close attention to the depth of the bait.

If the goal is to maximize the life of the transducer then leave it in the box in a closet and try to keep the temperature around 70 degrees. If the goal is to catch fish then mount it to the trolling motor.

I’m 62 years old and I’ve never owned a car that wouldn’t get me where I wanted to go and I’ve never owned a fishing reel that wouldn’t cast a lure and reel it back in. What has not changed and probably never will change is that people love to obsess over the fine details of these products and the hype around new innovations. As long as anglers are looking for the next innovative fishing reel, the marketing people at Shimano, Diawa and others will find a way to sell it to them. It doesn’t matter if it improves their fishing or not.

I fishing out of an aluminum bass boat. I've fished out of just about everything at some point in my life. As far as small craft that can be launched anywhere I would rate them in this order in terms of fishability. Bass Raider Canoe Small John Boat Kayak There are real advantage to being higher up. You can see fish easier and other boats can see you. Paddling clearly has its advantages and going places where bass boats cannot is appealing. I'm just stuck in my ways. I think kayaks are cool and if I was younger I could see myself getting into the kayak craze because of the coolness not because of the fishability.