Woody B

Guy Eaker made a living with the combination of chartreuse spinner baits, pin point casting and strike detection skills.

Three 12 volt 50 AH's will run the trolling motor longer and faster than 3 lead acid 27's. Some outboards don't "support" lithium batteries, including mine but I've been using a 125 ah Ionic for cranking/electronics for over a year. I can't speak for other brands, but I've been happy with my Ionics. (two 50's for my 24 volt trolling motor, and 125 cranking)

I've sprayed it with various stuff. It works 1 time after I spray is....most of the time. I suppose I need to quit being a cheapskate and get a decent rain jacket. I broke down a few weeks ago and got some gore tex bibs. My legs were dry, except for what wicked down from up above.

I made my first March trip today. I took lunch and was planning on fishing all day. It was raining pretty hard. I usually do really well in the rain. I caught a White Perch on my first cast. 25 minutes later I caught a 16 inch Spot and decided to call it a day. My rain coat gave up. I was soaked basically to the bone. I came home and took a shower to get warm. I'm going to The Great Outdoors (a big local outdoor, tackle, gun boat store) and see what they recommend for a rain coat.

I read somewhere a while back that Tyson had "demons" and training for a fight helped keep him out of trouble. If this is the case kudos to him for figuring out something to keep his time and mind occupied. I wonder what they're getting paid. I used to box. I'd fight either one of them for......a million bucks. I've had my butt whooped for free it would be nice to get paid to take a beating.

I think there's a bunch of factors at play, most which aren't suitable for this forum, but you're correct. I make around twice the hourly numbers listed, but it's only a couple dollars more than I was making 20 years ago. There is or there's going to be a shortage of skilled labor. It just depends on what field for when it's going to happen. Right now the automotive repair industry is overpaying entry level techs trying to develop future skilled workers. What I'm seeing though it these kids are content changing oil, and doing other easier jobs while making $75 to $85K a year instead of developing real diagnostic and repair skills to make $25 to $35K more. Obviously the actual dollar amounts will vary by region. My Son in Law is a building contractor. One of my Grandsons is following in his footsteps. My other Grandson wants to be an Auto Tech like me. I've made a decent living for over 40 years. The industry has it problems but I'm not going to discourage him.

I haven't watched a single Randy B video of hardly any videos from anyone else. It's my belief that most or maybe even all of it is attention seeking behavior. The more views one gets the more money they make. (That is how it works isn't it?) To me it's like professional wrestling. The quite reserved person who's a good wrestler isn't going to get anywhere. If Randy (or anyone else) makes a really good video named .........How to catch post frontal Bass (or something useful like that) even if it's full of really good information it will only get a few views. He makes on ranting about technology that 1/2 the people hate and 1/2 the people love it's going to get a BUNCH of views.

Another thing that works around docks at some times. Burn a buzz bait or spinner bait around the dock, then follow up with something slower. I think burning the first baits wake the bass up.

After 40 + years as an auto tech I hate autos and trucks.

From April until September or so docks get hammered around here. You've got to get something under them if you want to catch anything decent. When I fish docks I usually skip a wacky, a jig or a lipless crank bait way up under the dock.

Great topic. My Father and Grandfather were building contractors. I guess I was supposed to follow in their footsteps, but I hated construction. I always like messing with mechanical stuff. I went to work at a new car dealership shortly after graduating High School. I've worked on autos and trucks since then, as well as drag racing for a couple decades. I've been an ASE Certified Master Tech for almost 40 years. I was a GM Certified World Class Tech up until I left the Chevy dealership I was working at 8 years ago. I'm a retail Automotive Technician for the largest used car retailer in the US for the last 8 years. I plan on retired from there, but haven't decided on the timing for that yet. (I turn 60 later this month)

Most of the time I don't use it as much as I should...... or could, or at least the way others do. I usually just glance around for active fish, and start casting. 2 times come to mind when I used it more like others do. First time I was on a stumpy point, with a channel swing on one side. I picked out the stump with the biggest fish next, made a cast and caught a 6 pounder. This spooked the other fish, or at least they were gone after I caught and released the 6 pounder. I suspect just blindly casting would have resulted in a fish, but not necessarily the 6 pounder. The other time I was fishing a deep channel swing near the dam. I had caught a couple decent spots on the ledge. I was ~50 feet from the bank on top of the ledge. I turned my transducer around and looked under a couple docks. There was a fish hugging a dock post ~5 feet from the bank in 4 feet of water. I skipped a jig under the dock right to the post it was at. That was my first 5 pounder of 2024. I've been struggling some lately but I've always struggled when the water is under 55 or so. When Bass are hugging the bottom I have a hard time seeing them. (same with 2d sonar or down imaging). I think sometimes I should be casting and searching, instead of searching on a screen. I believe people who are savy with electronics have the potential to find, and catch just as many bass with standard 2D sonar, down imaging, and side imaging. However, targeting the individual, bigger fish isn't going to happen without scoping.

It amazes me how hot of a topic this continues to be. Many of the complaints are about how boring it is to watch people fish. I've always thought it was boring to watch other people fish. Interesting things happen on "the screen". My units have the capability to record sonar. I need to figure out which buttons to hit, and post some videos. @king fisher I'm not coming to Mexico, and I'm certainly not a "scoping" expert. If you end up in the Carolinas you're welcome to stare at at a screen in my boat. This invitation goes to everyone.

If you're looking for a tough aluminum boat I'd say either Gator Trax or Sea Ark.

I struggle this time of year. For the past couple years I thought I found or had mechanical/equipment reasons that were keeping me from catching big numbers. I fixed these problems and started catching Bass again. This year I've finally realized I struggle this time of year because of me, not because of some equipment problem. I took a break this weekend. We had torrential rains Friday so I figured this weekend would be tough too. I got caught up on some stuff I have been needing to do around the house and done some family stuff. I've caught 3 this year 5 pounds and over, but I doubt I've caught 25 total Bass. When the water temp gets above 55 I started back catching decent number the past couple years. That should be soon......but I'm considering off setting the temperature reading on my graphs. That way I'll think it's already over 55.

First, I think there's way too many screens and transducers. Don't want to put out the wrong impression there. Is it greater skill, or just different skill. Skills needed for pretty much anything change due to "progress". I'm an automotive technician. Decades ago I made a bunch of money rebuilding carburetors, replacing points, rebuilding brake calipers, master cylinders and wheel cylinders. There hasn't been a carburetor or points on a new automobile is decades. Brake calipers master cylinders ect are no longer rebuilt, they're just replaced. Now everything on an automobile is computer controlled....and not there isn't a magic machine that will diagnose a broken wire or faulty circuit board. To make a living I had to develop a different set of skills. Many of the tools still in my tool box are now obsolete too. Regarding other sports. (I also have a background in auto racing) Jeff Gordon would have never won a single Nascar race without the addition of power steering and radial tires. Before these additions drivers had to be big to handle the cars. There's many more examples in drag racing, and other motorsports.

Great job. I hope someone like you is around if I ever need help. Way too many people are just spectators in todays World.

Around here E free gas runs ~50 cents a gallon or so more than regular e-10 87 octane. However as you get closer to a lake the price goes up. E10- 87 here is $2.79 to $3.09 depending on location. E-Free run from $3.30ish to as much as $6 per gallon near the lake. Several of the QT's around here have E-Free for a good price. Even if you run ethanol free, if you boat sits quite a bit I still recommend Sta-bil. I run E-10, but I fish/burn gas ever week, and my engine is compatible. Some engines, and some situations require ethanol free gas. There is no one size fits all gas formula and it's certainly nothing to argue about. There's also no harm in using ethanol free even if your engine doesn't require it.

FFS offsets the players abilities???????? FFS is useless if you can't find the fish. Perhaps you should take a trip in a boat that has FFS. You don't simply ride around wide open with a $25,000 outboard and $75,000 boat until an alarm goes of saying there's Bass there. You can ride around slowly with FFS to find Bass but you can also do the same thing with older technologies.

But if someone who's been using the same knot for decades isn't having knot failures there is nothing to gain. The most important part of any knot is tying it correctly. A sloppy knot is no good, even if it has a fancy name.

I've never been ice fishing, and never will be. (I don't like the cold, and I'm not walking or driving out on a frozen lake) I've got a dumb ice fishing question that could be considered related to FFS. How do you know where to drill the hole? Is there sonar that can look through the ice? Back to the original subject. So some of the professionals sonar equipment retails for as much as, or even more than their 250 horsepower outboards? I'd be willing to bet every boat there had an outboard that retailed for at least $20K. Some of them probably had less than $20 worth of sonar equipment. Limit horsepower to 90. That takes $10K or more off the cost of each boat. It also makes things safer. Limit rods and reels. Say, 5 rods and reels per angler. That would cut costs a BUNCH. I don't watch professional fishing. I'm not very serious about my suggestions. I suspect the sanctioning bodies will either limit the number of screens or the number of transducers next year. It doesn't matter to me. FWIW, I've got 3 screens (Two 9 inch, and one 7 inch) and 2 transducers. (One Active Target, and *** in1) None of the screens or transducers will take me to the fish. They only reveal the fish when they're there.

I fish when I get a chance....don't plan trips around the wind. I've found that Bass are more spooky when it's dead calm. I've also found that wind blown banks can be productive most of the year....but I've left windy areas because I was cold and caught Bass in protected areas. Basically I'm got more questions about wind than answers. How deep is the current caused by the wind? Does the wind affect Bass or baitfish that are 20 feet deep? A (power company) lake that runs from the North to the South is going to have current from the North, as long as "they" are moving water. What if the wind is blowing from the South. A couple weeks ago I was fishing(and struggling) in that situation. I didn't think about this until I had left, but are there eddies in certain areas where the natural river flow current is opposite of the wind blown current. The next time I'm in a situation where the natural current is opposite of the wind current I'm going to seek out "mixing pools"

I just looked through my old electricity bills from Duke Energy. According to them the average temperature in February 2023 was 52 degrees. The average in February this year (so far) is 45. I wonder if the warm days have been warmer, but there's been less of them. I caught Bass on buzz baits in both January and February this year.

I don't know if it's the rain, or if it's been colder this Winter. The water temp is 6 degrees cooler than it was this time last year. 52 Sunday, 57 last year, last week of February. Edit: I noticed my bad math. I'm not going to change it. That way I'm not the only one laughing.

In some situations I don't think that approach is wrong. I always struggled to catch fish (not just Bass) in water clear enough for me to see them. When I got live sonar I started to struggle to catch the Bass I could see live on sonar. Same as in clear water I'd try to pause my lure right in front of them like I was saying "here fishy fishy". These Bass would usually either ignore, or run away from my lure. I've had more luck, when watching the Bass, and lure live to try to help the lure "get away" from the Bass. Pause a lipless, they just look at it. Rip it away from them and they attack more times than not.