Bankc

In my experience, live bait isn't usually any better for bass. Sure you can catch bass with live bait, but bass seem to be ambush predators, and most (though not all) live bait techniques involved placing a bait somewhere and letting it soak. I haven't tried it, but maybe using live bait with something like a drop shot would work well, in situations where drop shots would work well with artificial baits. But it's no substitute for a spinnerbait, crankbait, etc. where you cover water and pass a bait near a hiding bass to draw them out. Now for other species, like crappie, catfish, etc., live bait can be a huge advantage. They tend to roam around more looking for easy meals, versus holding up in one spot waiting for a meal to pass through. And they seem to rely more on their sense of smell than the motion of the bait, as opposed to bass.

1. Have fun. 2. Come home safe. As long as I meet those two requirements, it was a successful fishing trip.

They're less popular than they once were, but lots of people still use them. Though, probably not enough to justify counter space at some smaller tackle shops and stores with limited space.

Yeah, anchors work more by shape than by weight. Finding the right type of anchor for the bottom you're trying to anchor to is more important than finding the right weight of anchor. But the weight is important too. And the weight of the anchor you need will depend a lot on what type of anchor your using, as well as a bunch of other factors like current, wind, your boat's drag, depth, and bottom composition. Also, don't forget the rode. You need enough rode that the anchor can angle over to do its job. Otherwise, it just skirts over the bottom and doesn't hold. And different anchors seem to need different lengths of rode. And some do better with a chain at the end.

The best way to improve on a given technique is to just do that one technique until you figure it out. However, as Osummerer23 pointed out, don't get so singularly focused on getting better that you take the fun out of it. That's the path to burn out and then you ruin something you used to love, because you lost sight of why you fell in love with it in the first place. The most important part of fishing is the enjoyment of fishing. Don't forget that. Also, it's not important to get good at every technique. Most pros have one or two things they're really good at, maybe a dozen other things they're comfortable with, and everything else they rarely go to. Typically, if the bass will bite one lure, they'll bite a few other lures as well. And, if you do ever find yourself in a situation where they will only bite that one lure, what are the odds that you'll get around to trying that lure on that day? With thousands of types of lures out there, you'll never pattern the bass if you attempt to try them all every time you go out.

I haven't tried it, but I've got to be terrible at it. I'm terrible at guessing the weight of the fish I catch. I'm not even good at reading digital scales. Is that 2.15 lbs., or 2 lbs., 15 oz.? Because it looks like a solid 6lbs. to me.

Casts by Fly is right. 30 Ah is a good size. That should give you more than you need. As for a charger, I'd get a Noco Genius. Probably a Genius 5 for your needs. That would fully recharge your battery within 6 hours. They're durable, high quality, versatile, and relatively cheap chargers. They have settings for lithium, lead acid, and AGM, so you can use them for other things as well. I use mine to charge my wife's car battery once a month (if I remember), because she never drives. And then use it to charge my lithium trolling motor battery and AGM battery for my fish finder on my kayak.

It's just tradition. There's really no good reason beyond that. Whatever you're comfortable with should work fine. I usually cast right-handed and use right-handed reels which means I switch during the cast, before the bait hits the water. But I pitch left-handed so I don't have to switch. And if I can get a better angle by casting with my left hand, I'll do it. I typically use RH casting and spinning reels, so I switch reeling hands depending on what kind of reel I'm using. But I can just as easily flip them around. Fishing isn't a sport that requires extreme levels of coordination or strength, for the most part. And I believe that most people can learn to do it both ways if they put in the time and practice. The reason why most of us prefer one way over the other is usually more because that's just the way we've always done it, versus some kind of mechanical advantage created by using our dominant hand.

If the water is usually pretty clear, but suddenly got muddy, it can be hard to catch fish. Loud baits help. But so do accurate casts. If you can draw the bait right next to the fish, almost thumping it on the head, you've got a good chance at getting a bite. Water that's muddy all of the time, or often and for long periods of time, doesn't play by the same rules. The fish adapt and you can fish it like fairly clear water. Ultra finesse presentations where you're asking the bass to travel long distances on sight alone probably won't work. Stuff like drop shots or jerkbaits can be tough. But a silent crankbait, jig, T-rig worm all will do fine, so long as you can get it close enough. I only fish in heavily stained to muddy waters. It's all we have around here. 12" of visibility is rare. 4" isn't unheard of. 6-10" is about average. But I do alright. Conventional wisdom says you won't catch bass in deep water when it's that stained, but I catch them in deep water all of the time. I believe the fish adapt and their eyesight gets better in the dark if that's all they're exposed to. I know their colors get muted in dirty water, due to the lack of sun. I see these deeply colored bass being caught all of the time on TV, but all of the bass I catch seem to be really pale.

Mine wouldn't. I had a 1991 Cherokee with the 4.0L straight six, and I went through three motors in that thing. The first blew towing a boat. Cracked the block suddenly, without warning. Luckily, it was still under warranty when that happened. Then about 5 years later, the new motor disintegrated when it overheated towing an empty 5x8 U Haul trailer. So I replaced it with a motor I pulled from a wrecked Jeep at a scrap yard. And then that one overheated towing nothing about two years later, so I sold it for scrap and moved on. That pile was the worst vehicle I ever owned. Now everyone else I've talked to claims those motors are bulletproof and speak of them in almost reverent tones. But I didn't have any luck with them. The one thing it had going for it was it was easy to work on. And that's probably the only thing I miss about it.

It all depends, of course. But if you're fishing from the bank on a quiet day that doesn't see a lot of human activity, the fish are usually going to be easily spooked. Sometimes so much, that I'll cast from 10 feet back from the bank and try to hide in the reeds so they don't see or hear me. Now, sometimes the sound of a splashdown can attract the bass. Sometimes it can scare them away. Sometimes it's a good idea to cast it out, and then let it sit for a minute or more before reeling it in. Give it enough time for the fish to forget about the splash. I do this a lot with top waters, especially poppers. And sometimes it's good to pitch your bait, or side arm it low to the water and kill it just before it hits the water to minimize the splash. There are lots of ways to play it, and it depends on a lot of things, like the angle of the sun, the wind, normal human activity, and the normal ambient noises. So if they're acting like they spook easily, I'll try not to overfish an area, and I'll move around a lot. I feel like if you're not making too much of a ruckus, you can double back over your spots in about 15-20 minutes, and the fish will have forgotten you were there earlier. But if it's windy and the water is pretty stained, I may hit the same area over and over for 15 minutes straight.

The difference between a starting battery and a deep cycle battery is that a starting battery has lots of thin plates. Because the plates are thinner, they can pack more of them into the same space. And because there are more of them, there's more surface area, which means they can draw more electrons out of the acid at once. So you get more cranking amps, since amps. A deep cycle has thicker plates. And since it has thicker plates, you can't put as many of them into the same space, which means less available electrons and amps. What you get in return are the thicker plates that are more durable and won't be damaged with light corrosion. And when you drain a battery, you basically corrode it. The way a battery works is there are two different types of metals and an acid between them, and the acid causes one metal to corrode and stick to the other, bringing with it, electrons. And then when you charge it, you basically reverse the corrosion. That's over simplified, but you get the basic idea. So thicker plates can go through the process more often before they become damaged beyond repair. A starting/cranking, dual purpose battery basically splits the difference with the plate thickness. They won't hand deep discharges as well as a true deep cycle. And they won't provide as many amps as a true starting battery. But if you don't need all of those amps at once to start your engine, and you don't need all of that capacity in between chargings, then they're a good choice. You did fine with the standard lead acid battery for the starting battery. Starting batteries aren't put under the same stress as trolling motor batteries, so they should last about as long and work about as well as an AGM. They just require a bit of maintenance (occasionally checking water levels) and can't but put on their sides like AGM.

I guess this time of year, weeds and stuff shouldn't be much of a problem. So that's nice. That's usually the biggest problem I have fishing small ponds. Getting what you throw out there to come back clean. But if it's got a bunch of large bass in it, and no one ever fishes it, I'd imagine you could get bit off of most anything. The key will be staying silent and not alerting the bass to the presence of a predator.

The Redodo has a max, short term burst current rating of 300 amps versus the Impulse of 200 amps. Both have a low temperature cutoff, continuous current of 100 amps, 20 amp recommended charge current (the Impulse is rated at 50 amps max). So, for the most part they rate pretty similar, outside of the Redodo having a bit higher maximum short term discharge current. The Redodo also claims to be compatible with up to 16 batteries in a serious/parallel connection at up to 48 volts, while the Impulse just states 4 batteries in either series or parallel. The Redodo is also listed at 24.85 pounds versus 30 for the Impulse. Impulse also offers a "platinum series" that has a bluetooth app that can monitor the health of the battery on your phone, which the Redodo does not. However, the Impulse has a 10-year, non-prorated warranty and the Redodo just says 5 years. They don't list if it's prorated or not and it might be more difficult to claim a warranty through given what I'm seeing here. My guess is the Redodo either has a beefier BMS, or the company is less cautious about the ratings of their BMS. The Impulse probably has better cells, but they could be the same. I'm just basing that off price. You'd have to find a teardown video of each to know for sure. The Impulse most likely has better customer support and will be more likely to stand behind their product. Judging from their two websites, I don't get the impression that Redodo has native English speakers working for them.

Sounds easier than the Red River and Lake Texoma's rules. On Lake Texoma, you needed an Oklahoma license to fish the "Oklahoma side" and a Texas license to fish the "Texas side". You also need a map and good navigation skills (or GPS) to figure out which "side" you are on, because the official border is all squiggly between the two and doesn't run halfway down the lake like one might think. In fact, there are banks on the Texas side that belong to Oklahoma and banks on the Oklahoma side that belong to Texas. So, to make it easier, both states passed laws awhile back so you can now purchase a separate Lake Texoma fishing license to fish the whole lake, and only that lake, instead of buying two separate state fishing licenses. However, leave the lake and enter the Red River that feeds it, and you're back to fishing one side or another or buying two state fishing licenses again. Also, the boating and fishing regulations change depending on which side of the lake/river you're on, regardless of having a Texoma fishing license. Though, for Lake Texoma proper, the fishing regulations are specific to that lake and apply to the whole lake. And I'm not sure how the boating regulations differ between the two states. But I think they're pretty close, so it's usually not a problem. Anyway... Why is it so convoluted? Because the Longhorns and Sooners play football against each other. And no. I'm not kidding. But here's a map to laugh at:

If you're looking into getting a new boat, or a newish used boat on loan, I'd forget it and get a cheaper and older used boat. That way you have money for storage fees, maintenance, and repairs. If you were thinking of buying a cheaper and older used boat, then I wouldn't do it. Even cheap boats are pretty expensive. You need to budget a lot more money towards a boat than you'd initially think. You've got registration fees, boat usage fees, repair and maintenance fees, storage fees, and all kinds of other hidden costs. A lot of people buy a boat thinking it's only the cost of the loan and insurance, and wind up financially strapped because of all of these hidden costs. You might look into a small jon boat, older bass boat or something a lot less expensive to give you more financial room to maneuver. Or just keep using your kayak. Bottom line is, if you can't afford to store your boat, then you definitely can't afford a boat.

I'm sure they notice, but I'd bet they're more scared by the shadow your boat casts and the sound of the waves crashing up against it and you moving around inside it. Plus the motor and sonar. So I wouldn't worry about it. I mean, people have been using anchors and catching fish for like, what? A thousand years? If it was a bad combination, we'd have figured that out by now.

It varies, year by year. But if I had to pick and all time, it would have to be a T-rig worm. Though most of the time, I'd rather throw a squarebill or spinnerbait.

I would advise you keep them in Tupperware containers in their original packaging. That will, at the very least, allow you to resale them later at a higher value when you do eventually come to the realization that you're never going to fish this or that. Plus they tend to stack better and are less likely to get tangled. Then keep the ones that you actually use often through in a separate Tupperware container, so you don't waste too much time hunting. Don't get too hung up on organization at home. Keep that for the baits you actually take with you in your tackle box. The problem with organizing random amounts of things is the parameters for organization are always changing. So it's really easy to have a ton of space being taken up by all of your dividers. In this case, you could wind up with 40, mostly empty, Tupperware containers. It's better to just fill a few up with a loose organization system, like jigs in one and crankbaits in another. It's not like when you're on the water and you need to save time. Besides, it invites the possibility of stumbling across something you forgot about and may want to try.

Yeah, I used to have some small parts tray I would stack the parts into as I disassemble the reel to keep the parts in order. That worked. But eventually I switched to just using a large, white towel and lining them all up, from left to right, at the far end of the towel. The knap of the towel keeps them from rolling around and does a good job at catching things that accidentally fall out. And white makes it easy to see. It's not a perfect system, but it works well enough and is quick to set up and tear down. So long as I'm only working on one reel at a time, it's fine.

You don't need to use fluoro if you don't want to. I jumped on the fluorocarbon bandwagon for a while and hated it. I hated the memory most of all. I also hated the cost and how it didn't last that long. I was told to buy better brands of fluoro. So I did and while they were better, they didn't solve my issues with it. I was told to use line conditioner. So I did, and again, it made the problems better, but didn't solve them. Then I realized that fluoro was attempting to solve problems that I hadn't have (visibility and abrasion resistance), while introducing problems that I didn't need. The water around here is stained and there aren't really any clams, mussels, pikes or muskies to speak of. So I went back to braid and haven't regretted it. I will on the rare occasion use a fluorocarbon leader if I feel like I need fluoro. But I rarely do. It's not for everyone, and it's not for me. Now I'm not telling you NOT to use fluoro either. Lots of people love it. I'm just saying that if you don't like it, don't feel pressured into using it.

#1 might make me not want to go. At best it would make me leave early. #2 yes, please! #3 Don't need to know. It's always windy here. If you don't fish in the wind, you don't fish. Today it's listed as SSW 23mph with gusts of 35. It's probably a bit stronger than that in reality. It sure feels like it is anyway. #4 I just assume someone always is.

Backlash is the problem. If your line is dug into the spool and you go to cast and it suddenly stops, midflight, there's always a good chance you'll break your line and lose your lure. I've done that many times. I've done that many times with heavy braid. A lure going from 60mph to zero instantly is going to put the line under a tremendous amount of force. And usually when you cast, the rod is more or less pointed at the lure, so you won't get much benefit from rod flex to cushion the force.

I don't have specialized reel tools. I just use my normal tools, so they're stored in the garage with the other normal tools. I keep my reel parts in an old, hard plastic, Plano tackle box I had when I was a kid in the garage with all of my other fishing gear. The only "tools" I carry with me on the lake are a pocketknife and needle nose pliers. If a reel breaks on the water, I'll mess with it when I get home. There are way too many small parts to be messing around with the inside of a reel in a boat or on the bank. I don't even like removing the side plate to adjust the centrifugal brakes.

He skipped school to go fishing? Poor kid. Now he'll never know who won the Montferrat War of Succession. That's gonna haunt him the rest of his life.