tournament season starting. Time for some internet scouting.

they are all very good units. They are getting more and more expensive because they are packing more and more features in them.. (wireless, video inputs, etc).

Just depends on your fishing area and style. IMO Humminbird side imaging in shallow water was much better than lowrance. 2d sonar on both were pretty similiar and that usually depends on how well the install of the transducer is. I really had no issues with hummindbird for the couple years I owned one. I just choose lowrance because of more mapping options for satellite overlay for the marshes and bayous of South LA. Humminbird does have satellite overlay maps but those cards at that time were 300 compared to 200 that I paid for the lowrance card. I have seen problems with lowrance though getting water in them and power issues (unit randomly restarting). However lowrance did me good on the return of that unit. Another thing about lowrance the 'hook' series seems like a great value, but the original series struggles to run some of these maps cards and navigating around had some slight delays.

Always include the price of the mapping cards onto the unit price and that may help your decision. Either one you choose they are all good. Just make sure the install is spot on for the transducer. Especially if you do the in hull for the 2d sonar.

Tracks and waypoints are initially saved to your unit and not to the card. You can export them to a card to save space. You can also set it not to record every trip track as eventually it will start causing the unit to slow down in general.

Make sure that you are setting tracks to record and that they are set to display = on if you want to see them.

You won't be able to add additional storage space with a card. You can only export off your graph to the card. Also be sure to only use 1 card for the map only. Use a separate card for saving your waypoints and tracks.

crabs are not thick, but you definitely can catch enough to feed a large group. We didn't have much success in the cages left overnight, but caught well on lines. 5 dozen last Saturday.

spec fishing has been hit and miss all summer long.

moon,
use the same setup in grand pass. Use your depth finder to find the shelf. big reds and drum.

not sure of a specific option to browse by area, but just seach in reports for 'Dulac' or 'Cocodrie'

crabs are best in august. specs in the surf is now, but conditions have to be right.

head down to grand isle, kayaks everywhere.

the difference is 'Water' vs 'Land'.

best artificial bait for reds hands down is a gold spoon.

but you can catch aggressive reds on anything if you dont spook them. For some unreal action try a buzzbait,

deer tamales

believe its a highfin goby

Pond fish sometimes do not follow normal rules of other natural areas, but they could be locked on beds which makes them tough to catch. Also they could be done spawning and a little worn out and just not in the mood to eat yet. Lots of people say post spawn is easy fishing cause they are trying to replenish from the spawn, but for me April (mostly post spawn ) in my area is usually tough.

you say leave the bed fish alone but you got an ice chest of fish. Does it matter if one person gets 10 bass off beds in an ice chest or another person has 10 bass in an ice chest from blind fishing? I don't really see the difference.

There is also I good possibility that the fish you do catch during the spawn blind fishing could have been caught on a bed or protecting a bed.

since you have a lowrance there are guys that make the satellite overlay maps. if they are very familiar with the process (it is a time consuming pain in the butt) they can get that done for you. You would just need to give them the approximate date in time and what area.
I'll see if I can connect you to someone that was making them and you can speak with him. Probably 100 bucks give or take i would think.

what part of the state you in

nice catches.

but definitely get you a scale.

toledo bend's loss of grass has had a more profound affect on the bass than fisherman. Some of the same situations that are occurring locally. The grass is disappearing and the fish are adapting to other forms of cover. Making catching them difficult if you dont adjust.

But with that being said the fishing pressure is pretty intense. We dont have those huge 150+ boat tournaments anymore but there are 15-40 boat tournaments 4-5x a week.

swoll.

Nice catch. can only imagine.

most of the issues you guys/gals are describing are just the internet in general. You can't visit a public site now a days without getting ad blasted. Popups are not always connected to a site. If you are having popup issues your pc may already be infected. People always want to blame porn sites but in all honesty news sites are about the worse.

I'd advise to install an additional ad blocker depending on the browser you are running, run malware bytes and spybot on your pc to clean it up a little. Its good to clear out cookies every now and then.