Craig P

Hard to deny a Ned, it always catches but I’ll give a close second to a t-rig craw. My favorite thing BFS though is throwing small spinbaits like a pond magic.

In Pa, I can’t say that red has done anything significant for me. I won’t not throw it but I have not found a reason to choose it specifically because of it being red. I will add, there are certain bodies of water I fish where one color does work better than other colors. I guess I just haven’t found the body of water where red is the goto yet.

Wheeler mentioned having done something similar the last time he fished Lake Murray. The announcers also touched on it saying that had Wheeler done better that year, he probably would have won AOY that year. Maybe it's Kryptonite to some? although Wheeler seemed to put it together today.

New parent syndrome I'm thinking. I see it happen in professional sports often. The first year of becoming a parent is a huge adjustment. 2nd year, they're back to normal.

Looks like the fun is about to begin! How long til the boat gets in?

Just depends on the day for me. If it's my first visit in a while, I will spend 30 minutes or so locating and marking bait and fish as areas to focus on when I do start fishing. If I fished it within the last week, I'll watch the screen as I get to the spot(s) that produced the prior outing. There are times I will go exploring. Even though they are "home" lakes, there is always something to learn, and changes happen year to year so seeing where that favorite crappie tree or brush pile shifted to is important as well as new improvements created by the state..... or others.

Columbia, you’re lucky! I’d be fishing the Susky all the time if I were that close. I’m in SE Pa, welcome to the site!

I was just looking at pics from last year. Jan and Feb, catching trout, March, catching Striper and it wasn’t until April 8 that I was catching Bass. Ugh! I can’t wait that long!

Fish mostly just look like dots so you can't get a good idea of their size but if you also look for shadows, you'll see it from a different perspective. Those dots and shadows will also give you an idea of the species you may be seeing with how they are set up. It's not magic or anything but once you start hooking up your brain will recognize the nuances and then you'll be cruising along and say "oh, fish!", cast and hopefully catch.

So worth it. As anglers, we are trying to eliminate water so that we can get to catching quicker. Being able to see out 60-100' at the console when idling tells us quickly we can skip something with confidence or find that solitary structure that doesn't get much attention from other anglers. When at the bow, I stare at sidescan and mapping almost as much as people who use FFS. I can't tell you how many fish I've caught because of it. Sometimes I see the fish, other times, I see that isolated rock or structure that I would not have seen otherwise. Since you are in Pa, you may be familiar with Leaser Lake at 117 acres. It is a small lake with many habitat improvements. Sure, you could aimlessly boat around to find some rock piles but sidescan will get you right on them with little effort and give you a much better understanding of how wide and high a pile is and maybe even see some fish.

HP restrictions are what they are. I went 20hp as Pa has those restrictions on one of my often visited lakes but the 20 does very nice in that boat. It planes and gets to 22-23mph when I am alone, a few less depending on the size of my passenger. We don’t have huge lakes here so even on the unregulated lakes, it is fine at that speed. With that said…. Have you thought about going with an electric outboard? Pricey but you could probably skirt around some regs going electric.

This is exactly how I would rig that rig. MinnKota Ultrex 80 TM Garmin 106v / GT56 at Console Garmin 106sv at Bow Garmin Steadycast Two (2) 60ah Lithium (TM) One (1) 50ah Lithium (Electronics) Noco 5x3 Charger Remote Fuse Box to the front hatch BBT Battery Tray Recessed Foot Pedal Tray I absolutely love this boat. There is nothing it cannot do and the size is perfect for 2 guys. Super manageable hooking up, launching and landing. As you can see, I outfitted it with everything a geeky angler would want. The only thing missing is Livescope......I did have that but I sold it last year after having it for 4 years on 2 different boats. In short, I learned a ton from LS but it ran it's course for me so I moved on. FWIW, the 50ah handled the 2 106sv and GLS10/LVS32 just fine. A full long day could get it down to about 20%. Nothing that ever concerned me. The ONLY change I would have made.....I would not have recessed the finder in the console. The dealer already cut that area out for a 7" finder so I thought why not just make it bigger and recess my 106sv. It worked, it wasn't easy but I did a nice job on it. Hindsight tells me I should have just put a patch piece over the area and used a BBT or similar mount. If I ever change finders, that cut-out now could be an issue if the future finder does not have similar dimensions.

Anyone else looking at these pics and thinking got it, got it, need it, got it, need it……

I am confused. Did you lose your left hand/arm? Cast right, hold right, reel right?

I share the OP's logic but I also understand that handedness varies by task for most people. I use my phone in my left hand even though I am right handed? Curious if others do that? BUT! When I see people switch hands during a cast, even the pros, you're not doing yourself any favors.