And here's why it will be great in the future and kick out bigger and bigger fish, people will be letting the "donkeys" go rather than keeping limits...just sayin

I do like hearing guys catching and keeping only what they want for a meal or two, and releasing the rest...they are a blast to catch and the stupidly excessive limits on Crappie are changing the dynamics of great Crappie lakes.

Near here Berryessa has been a fantastic Crappie lake that kicked out limits of really big fish...hundreds of guys hammering limits of spawning fish is already altering the numbers and size of the fish.

Sort of like a three foot high stack of comic books I got from my grandparents neighbor, Superman and other Marvels from #1 up through a few years. When I got out of the military I was going to sell them for thousands (the #1 Superman was worth major money). I asked where my comic books were and my mom said your dad threw them away. She said she tried to stop him but he said his dad threw all his stuff away and he was going to too.

Been there Jack
I broke down and spent $4500 on a water softener, zero hard water deposits, we used to have to do toilets every few days and scrub off a hard water line, now I just use a brush every day or two and it's good for weeks.

Well Robert, I'm just gonna say you have never used an $800 Japanese Shimano Stella (not to be confused with our domestic Shimano)...because if you had you would know there is a difference. I'm a fan of serious quality bearings and drags, but not a snob, when I find affordable things that feel like their pricier competitors I'm all over them. There is a catch to the phrase "good reel for the money", spend the money and there may be differences, it's just whether they are worth it to you.

That said, I found a reel last year while I was checking out Daiwa's Stella equivalent that's about $400, that I cannot tell the difference in smoothness from a Stella for under $100...Cadence Primo at $95 or so, or a Lux at about $10 less. They are insanely smooth and have a crazy high drag level on even the smaller 1000/2000 reels.

Just sayin...Lol

I'll save you some heartache that can happen using multiple 12v batteries in series for 24v or 36v...there's nothing wrong with using them in series, but they like to be charged as separate batteries not connected. They will charge together, but what happens is that one battery can/will charge faster than the others, and the BMS will tell the charger the batteries are full even though two of them are not. Then as you are using these mismatched batteries, the one with the lowest charge will shut everything down based on the fact that one battery is depleted early. After many charges they start to charge really fast based on the full battery, and die really quickly based on the one that's depleted most. That crap screwed up an entire fishing season for me on a new boat. Now I use a disconnect switch and use two chargers, and then connect the batteries turning a heavy duty switch to get 24v....works like a charm.

I fished Rayburn in 73 and 74 when I lived in Shreveport...man, the guys that knew the tricks on spawning "berthas" were insanely close lipped about messing with the fat girl's at spawning time...fact being that guys that hammer dozens of them while they are at that vulnerable time can completely screw up the balance of a lake. I finally got someone to show me their tricks for monsters on the promise they would be carefully handled and released

Very nice fish, my wife and I will be out Sunday, I've got a broken back Rapala that was the favorite lure of my friend who died, he had left it on one of my trolling poles from a week before he died, and I am going to try to catch him a fish on his lure...I dug some of the big triple and quadriple Rapalas I have that I'm going to give a shot, they like to be trolled fast, I figure what the heck.

Thanks!

A few guides swear by Cripplures and Humdingers in pinks and watermelons...I've got quite a few hundred dollars worth of those and other pink, purple, and watermelon patterns based on guides using them in Berryessa.

I was going to try to get out Thursday, and my wife and I are planning a day over the weekend as well, I was figuring on seeing if you could make Thursday though as soon as I figured out if it will fly....guess I'll have to see if another friend can go.

Thanks, interesting difference from the faster trolled spoons and optimizer type things guys are doing lately.

So this sounds like pink things like Humdingers and Cripplures huh?

Again, thanks for the intel

Are you doing the higher speed troll like 2.8 to 3.4 or so, and with the spoons and speedy shiner type things?

I'm looking at trying to get out there Thursday if it isn't raining, perhaps hook up with another Stager

Nice fish...all I can say is I hope you release responsibly, otherwise you are catching lake altering numbers of big fish Lol

I took my uncle and my cousins son (his granddad) out, the kid (25) came all geared to still or shore fish, I told him I didn't buy a $45k boat to get to good shore spots, we were trolling...possibly jigging in certain circumstances.

Get your wife/fishing partner to hook em with the other half when they do their own with half a crawler...

"Hey, can I get you to put the other half on my hook while your hands are messed up" works well.