ww2farmer

Perch and Sungill (along with boring old green pumpkin) are my go-to Keitech colors....good choice there. I am a big fan of Mizmo "slim jim" tubes for smallmouth in "work of art" and green pumpkin copper. Never liked "fat" bodied, or double dipped tubes personally See what heads work best for you, but for me..I am much fonder of the LESS COMMON straight eye, 90 degree bend heads than the flat, angled line tie heads. I usually go with 1/8 oz. (less than 10 FOW) 3/16 (casting in lite wind for 10-20 FOW) or 5/16 oz heads (drift and drag in 10-20 fow, or casting in windy conditions), but there is a time and place for heavy heads up to 3/4 oz.

On bare (I.E.NOT used as a swim jig or other skirted head trailer)...I use on the 3.8" Revenge Swim Bait heads, for open water applications, and a mix of Gamkatsu EWG weighted Superline spring-lock's or Owner weigted Beast hooks for weedless presentations. I will be trying the Dobyns heads next year as well.

FWIW eye color will NOT be consistent from bait to bait with SK. I have gotten new baits from them in the same shipment, in the same color/size, from the same vendor, with different eyes. I have even gotten baits that were supposed to be the same color, with totally different paint jobs. It doesn't matter to the fish, they are still very productive baits. But I have gone away from using SK products because of this. What else are they NOT paying attention to? I don't seem to recall such wide swings in QC with Spro, Lucky Craft, etc....but they are also a few more $$$. Even Booyah products, which are a little more in the SK price range, seem better built and have better QC.

For future reference: I have found Pflueger 25 ~ Daiwa/Shimano 1000 Pflueger 30 ~ Daiwa/Shimano 2000 Pflueger 35 ~ Daiwa/Shimano 2500 Pflueger 40 ~ Daiwa/Shimano 3000 And to further confuse things: Abu 10 ~ Pflueger 25 ~ Daiwa/Shimano 1000 Abu 20 ~ Pflueger 30 ~ Daiwa/Shimano 2000 Abu 30 ~ Pflueger 35 ~ Daiwa/Shimano 2500 Abu 40 ~ Pflueger 40 ~ Daiwa/Shimano 3000 Of course those are all "close".....in reality, I find, for example, the Pflueger 30 size to be almost "in-between" a Daiwa/Shimano 2000-2500, and the Pflueger 35 sized reels to be slightly larger than Daiwa/Shimano 2500's

I have not bought any fishing tackle this year on Black Friday...even the TW sale couldn't motivate me. I did buy a new pair of Muck Boots for $22 with free shipping, and a bunch of stuff from some outfit in South Carolina with the initials P.S.A. , even though they didn't have any thing really great deal wise.

Out of curiosity, why are you worrying about what 87 rods Jordan Lee has in his boat and the back of his truck for fishing all across the country? Don't you think you might be better off worrying/asking about what YOU need to catch bass where you live? That 7'11" deep cranking rod KVD has 10 of isn't going to do you much good if your home bodies of water are 5' deep weed choked backwaters.

Gosh...I live in a cave. Terrible news. We're semi-local to each other, friends on FB, and have always made plans to fish with each other that never seem to work out time-wise I hope he's going to be OK.

When I had a lot of St Croix rods, I felt the step up from SCII to SCIII was greater and VERY noticeable in terms of weight/action/power/sensitivity than the step up from SCIII to SCIV. Never had any SCV rods.

FWIW....flat eye jigs have always come through wood, rock, brush, and dock/boat hoist's better for me than vertical line tie jigs. Vertical line tie jigs have a place for me though, and that's in grass. I build my wood/dock/rock jigs with Boss heads. Finesse flip heads for shallow wood, brush, lay downs, and dock work, and their football, and regular ball heads for rock work. For grass I use their "Invader" heavy grass heads, and their swim jig heads. I not only use the swim jig heads for ...well, making swim jigs, but for also making lighter grass flipping jigs, they work excellent for both.

Rods that I currently have and use for drop shot, split shot, ned rig, and other light line, light wire exposed hook techniques are: Dobyns Fury 702 Fenwick HMX 7' ML Daiwa Aird X 7' M Each rod is excellent. The Dobyn's is the best built, best balanced but is about $20 outside your quoted price range. The current gen. Fenwick HMX is a real sleeper series that doesn't get much love, for $79 I like it better than the last couple gen's. of HMX rods, and WAY better than other pure fishing offerings in that price range (Abu Vendetta). The Aird X, while a M power rod, fishes more like a ML, and the entire Aird X line has replaced the Berkley Lightning Rod Shock's in my arsenal as the "best bang for the buck" budget rods. FWIW, I am liking the Fury series SOO much that IMHO it's worth the extra couple bucks. Next season, the Fury's (and my custom built rods) will be what's in my boat all the time and everything else will be regulated to back up/loaner duty, or just sold off to buy more Fury's.

Cold water for me is less than 50. Which usually means the first few weeks (depending on the year, but usually from early to mid/late April ) of my fishing after ice-out in the spring, and the few weeks of open water fishing before I put the boat away (again, year dependent, but usually very late Oct-mid. Nov.) My cut off in the fall is sub 40 degree water or terrible weather...which ever comes first, this year it was weather. In the spring, I used to be rip-roaring to go after a long lull due to winter, and would fish for a week or two in sub 40 degree water before it warmed to over 40, it was always terribly slow, so the last few years I have been less willing to get right out there until the ice has been gone a good week or so. With that out of the way, I have several go-to baits and techniques for cold water fishing. Some are tailored for targeting smallmouth, some for largemouth, and some for both at the same time. Smallmouth specific: #1 by a wide margin is a 1/2 vibrating silver buddy style blade bait. Largemouth specific: #1 is a 3/8 oz chatterbait worked as slow as I can keep it vibrating in shallow water. Stuff that works equally well for both depending on location is: Suspending Jerkbaits Lipless crankbaits Compact heavy finesse football jigs with small craw trailers, without a lot of action Ned Rig Neko Rig Tubes fished old school with internal tube jig heads Small action-less plastics like Roboworm zipper grubs, R.I. Smallie Beavers, Poor Boys Erie darters fished on football jig heads with just enough weight for bottom contact for the depth/wind I am faced with that day. When they do seem to want action out of plastics in cold water, I find that more subtle "flowing" and swimming type actions like that offered by Hula grubs, double tail grubs, single tail grubs, and small swimbaits fished on various jig heads to be more productive than hard kicking high action baits like Paca Craws, Rage tail stuff, etc...

I use a Dobyn's Fury 702 and a Daiwa Revros 2000 spooled with 10lb Power Pro, and use Seaguar Red Label FC for leader in 6lb test for 2.75" TRD's, 1/10th, 1/15th, 1/20th oz Finesse Shroomz heads. It handles big fish just fine with a 6-6, 5-7, and TONS of 4+ lbers caught on this combo this season. When I step up to the 4" Big TRD and the Power Finesse Shroomz heads, I go with my Fury 703 and Revros 2500 combo. Also spooled with 10lb Power Pro, and I use 8lb FC leaders with those.

My gut says he's full of it. Tracker sells PT175's with 60HP 4 strokes as the standard motor, and it's rated for up to a 75. Look at the CG plate on your boat for max HP ratings and motor weight ratings, then look up the specs on the motor you want, if it falls below the ratings on the plate you"should" be GTG. If that dealer only wants to sell you boat and is stubborn about selling you a motor upgrade, look for another dealer. Lots of Mercury dealers around.

Yes, health has changed the way I fish..............for the better. From the time I dropped the boat in the water in April of this year to now, I have LOST 25 lbs. It made a big difference in my concentration, stamina, and all but eliminated knee/back/foot pain after those 10-12 hour marathon days I have fun fishing. Last year before the weight-loss I struggled to stay focused for 8 hour tournaments, and would often throw in the towel if things were not going well because of aches/pains, and general discomfort. All I have done to drop the lbs is 100% quit soda, and any drik with sugar in it. Plus I am now working a more physical job 12 months a year. The weight-loss has kinda leveled off the last few weeks. I am going to join a gym this winter, and start paying better attention to my diet this winter as well. I hope to feel this good if not better next season.

No. I typically carry 6-8 casting rods on the boat, and 4 spinning. This year, just because of circumstances, spinning gear got used A LOT.

I'll play.... April (short April as ice out here wasn't until 4/22) LM: Lipless crank SM:Suspending jerkbait May: LM: Home assembled finesse flipping jig w/ GYCB fat baby craw trailer SM: Wobble head with 4" GYCB double tail grub June: LM: Neko rigged 5" Senko SM: 2.75" TRD on a 1/15th oz Shroomz head July: LM: Neko rigged 5" Senko SM: Neko rigged 4" Senko Aug: LM: Home assembled 3/4oz. football jig w/ R.I. Twerk trailer SM: 4" Big TRD on 1/10th oz "power finesse" Shroomz head Sept: LM: T-rigged 4" Jackall Sasuteki Craw SM: Wobble head with R.I. Smallie Beaver Oct: LM: 4" Neko rigged Senko SM : 2.75" TRD on 1/15th Shroomz head Nov: LM: 2.75" TRD on 1/15th oz Shroomz head SM: 3" Keitech Swing Impact on 3/16 Keitech tungsten ball head Lot's of Ned and Neko rigging went on this year....I didn't plan it that way, it was just working, so I rolled with it. Other things that produced well this year were: Chatterbaits, frogs, senkos and finesse worms on wacky jigs, t-rigged craws/beavers/creatures, and spinner baits Things that usually produce very well for me but were total bust's this year were: cranking of ANY kind, swim jigs, drop shotting in general (but especially power shotting), t-rigged, and shakey head rigged worms, and shallow jig fishing beyond early in the year.

"Runner Up" I hold the worlds' record for 2nd place finishes in local tournaments the last 10+ years. 162 tournaments under my belt. 14 wins. 49 2nd place finishes !!!! Another 15 money finishes, be it 3rd, 4th, lunker or something. I rarely get beat by the same person twice, and more times than not, it has taken the person (or team) that's beaten me the day of their lives. Rarely do I get blown out either, it's usually a squeaker. Oddly...most of my wins have been either in grinds when no one else caught much, or in total blowout fashion where 2nd wasn't even close.

Tournament fishing bags: (all largemouth) #1: 22.89 (Conesus lake, team event) #2: 21.50 (Silver lake, team event) #3: 20.86 (Silver lake , solo event) #4: 18.89 (Silver lake, solo event) #5: 18.44 (Conesus lake, solo event) Individual fish: 6-8 (smallmouth ,May 2018 Silver), 6-6 (largemouth, Oct. 2018 Silver), 6-4 (largemouth, Aug 2018 in a tournament Conesus), 6-2 (largemouth, May, 2018 Silver), and another 6-2 (largemouth, June 2018 Silver)

I don't have that rod yet.

I have been told both....either as empty as you can get it, or full, but never somewhere in the middle. I have always done the "empty as you can get it" route and never had an issues either. FWIW..... Oddly enough, the ONE year out of the 12 I have owned this boat that I stored it with a full tank of stabilized fuel, I had problems in the spring from the get go. Nothing short of getting rid of all that gas, refilling it with "fresh" gas and running an extra potent dose of Seafoam through it solved it. Was fine before that, and has been fine ever since on the "store it empty" method. Bad gas that year? Bum batch of stabilizer? Bizzaro weather conditions that winter that led to terrible condensation in the tank?...Who knows. But that's my one and only exp. with storing on a full tank. The only thing I can think of that may have factored into it was, I legit "ran out of gas" on the water (the only time I ever let that happen) one day late in the season the fall before I had the trouble the next spring. But I filled it up, ran it several more times that fall (with stabilized fuel) with no issues. Topped it off and added the required amount of stabilizer, and put it away.

Winterizing a boat is not difficult....I do it every year myself for the last 12 years. My system: I run treated/stabilized fuel from Oct. 1st till the end of the season. I never know when mother nature is going to pull the rug out from under me, and it's one less thing to worry about at the last minute. Before it goes into storage for the winter, I do the following: Clean it out Drain the lower unit and refill it with new gear case lube. Put RV Antifreeze in all Bilge and Livewell plumbing. Unhook and remove TM batteries. Take prop off outboard and TM, clean any gunk out that's behind them, lightly lube the prop shaft splines and put it back on. (I do this daily on my TM during the season, and weekly on my OB) Grease wheel bearing hubs. Drive to storage place. Trim motor all the way down, Take each spark plug out, squirt a little bit of fogging oil in each cyl. Turn motor over a couple cranks with kill switch out. Drain any remaining fuel in carb. Remove cranking battery. Liberally distribute moth balls around the boat Cover, and close the door. Some years I Fog the motor through the air intake until it stalls, some I don't. Depends on if my last time out is a planned last time out....this year it was not. And I don't want to dunk the lower unit in the water again to fire it up...my garden hose and muffs are put away already as it's been below freezing at night already. So the spark plug removal method is how I do it in those situations, and it's always been fine. In the spring when I get it out, put batteries back in charge them up, put gear back in, and I run it on the muffs to burn off the fogging oil, warm it up, and get gas back into the system. Change plugs, motor oil/filer (I have a 4 stroke), add gas and seafoam, and go. I change the fuel filter AFTER the first tank of gas in the spring has been run through it. All said and done I have this much $$ into winterizing my boat: $3: Gallon of RV antifreeze $5: Can of fogging oil (which lasts a long time, I have used 3/4 of ONE CAN TOTAL in 12 years) probably $20 worth of fuel stabilizing products used from October - end of the year $10 or so for a quart of 90w lower unit gear oil (my LU takes 1/2 a quart, so a quart lasts me 2 years, and the little hand pump was $5 and I still have the first one I bought 12 years ago) $5 for a box of moth balls $5 for a tube of grease that lasts forever ( a grease gun is $20 and lasts forever) To "summerize" it and get it ready for the next year it costs me: $5 for fuel filter $10 for oil filter $30 for 3 quarts of 10W30 synthetic 4 stroke marine grade motor oil $8 for a can of Seafoam to run in the first tank of gas $8 for new spark plugs. And how ever much gas I want to put in it. ( I store with tank near empty as I can get it)

Having a boat is not bad. Having boat payments (or repair bills) that strain your finances is. My policy is: Save money, pay cash, don't go into debt for a hobby. Probably why I'll always fish out of slow, small tin boats...but so be it. I do alright.

I have seen my home lakes clear enough to see the bottom in 15 feet, it's often in the spring, and often short lived. 3-4 feet of clarity seems to be the norm on one lake, and 8-10 on the other. Algae blooms, and boat traffic are the dirty water makers here, sometimes wind/rain, but not often, the grass does a good job of catching wind/rain caused sediment and filtering it out.

Here in WNY, I'm done. I had a tournament planned for today, but with the snow/cold/wind the last few days I had to cancel it. I don't/didn't want guys having a disaster on an ice/snow covered launch ramp in the dark this morning, and was not going to buy salt/sand out of my pocket just to get one more day in for the select few die-hards that would have shown up. It's not unusual for me to be done around now...but it is a tad earlier than most years, as I usually call it quit's around Thanksgiving. With the terrible,gloomy weather and not great fishing we have had for the last 3-4 weeks, I really didn't need any extra prodding to pull the plug. Being it was a really late start this spring (last weekend of April before we were ice free) it seemed like a short season. Even more so since we seemed to "skip" seasons multiple times this year. In the spring we went from ice out to post spawn in about 3 weeks, all but bypassing the pre-spawn period which seemed to last for about 10 days this spring instead of the usual 6 weeks, and then we went from late summer to winter, and had again about a 10 day window of "fall" fishing. As a bonus though, mid-june through early October was about as good a time period as I could have hoped for. A few short lull's in the action, but most tournaments this year I was catching 16-18lbs without having to grind for it, and slapped three 20lb bags on the scales on the really good days.

Yes....and as a bonus, they are the only fish to have every sent me the the emergency room.............TWICE. But I still don't hate them. They are fun to catch as long as your not donating a lot of $$$ to them.