GitInMuhBoat

Mercury manual says to put it in neutral and remove all spark plug leads when working on the prop.

Hit up a couple of spots on Pemaquid in Maine today, first outing of the year. Looking for Brookies, hoping for an incidental Bass. Both locations I was using an yellow/red inline spinner and white senko dragging very slow. First was a private location with a cove that was still surrounded by ice. No deeper than 5ft. Result to be expected given the depth, skunk. Second spot was the public boat launch which, for the first day this year, was completely ice-free. About 10-15ft at casting distance from the shore. Same result. Saw 4 baldies hanging out on remaining ice bergs and 3 Canadian geese buzzing the tower, so I'm not calling it a total wash but it was skunk town.

Grew up in Southern California and it was year-round for me. Now I live in Maine and as soon as my eyelets freeze over I hang it up until they don't. Right about now, I have an itch I'm dying to scratch. I don't do the ice thing.

@Bazoo Basically, I do the same thing you do. In the summer I'll go out and hit a bank during the lunch hour. At some point that morning while taking a "coffee break" I'll pick what I want to throw and tie those lures on to a couple of rods. I usually take a couple to save time switching lures. If those aren't producing, sometimes I can fit a re-tie in but won't have long to work it. I have two bodies of water just up the road from me so 15m for load up and travel leaves about 45m to fish.

Drove down to the ramp at my home lake Saturday only to see a shack about 20 feet out. 😒, maybe next week we'll see a hole open up 🤞, at this point I'll settle for open water brookies. Did I just blaspheme?

I am in the same situation and was looking into this last night. From what I found, Vessel View was indeed replaced by Smartcraft Connect and is supposed to add more support? From the product description (SmartCraft Connect Mobile Module) on one of the mercury sites:

Using a local body of water, Damariscotta Lake, and Maine state ice out reports for the last 22 years as a gauge. If this an average winter, I'd put my first bass of the year at late April. I'm going to guess 4/26.