This was up near the Monroe/West Monroe area. Somewhere north of the bridge but don't recall the exact spot. I was just trolling along side scanning for structure and saw that big tree out in the middle so I stopped to take a look. It's funny, I have fished the Tensas River and the Ouachita River and you're fishing right where the two of those meet! I bet that is a great spot to pick up some big fish!

Hey thanks for watching my fishing video! I don't have an exact angle and it changes a bit every time I go out due to my portable mount setup, but I try to get it where the upper beam is parallel with the water. That seems to give the best picture for me, but it probably varies +- 10 degrees on every trip out for me. One thing I did while initially getting my picture clear and adjusting settings is pulled up to a few stumps/trees and adjusted everything. I moved a few times to get the trees at various distances to make sure the picture was solid and after I was happy locked it in and took a picture of my settings so I wouldn't forget. Good luck out there!

Thank you!

Hey, thanks for watching! My pontoon boat is a Ranger 200F and it is a 22ft boat with about 20ft of deck space.

Thank you for watching and taking time to leave a comment! Heading out to a different lake this weekend and hopefully able to find a few fish out there!

Thank you so much for the kind words. I have considered getting into guiding or electronics teaching and such, but I'm like you where my available time is just almost zero. Two small kids and a demanding job soak up most of my time and it is tough to find more than a day or two each month to hit the water. Now that said, I have a camera and can record my livescope screen so if you have any questions that I might could answer or take a quick video for you to help I'm more than happy to try to help. Toughest thing for me when I first got started was keeping my jig in the beam - which is still very tough on windy days!

@@HighQualityFishingVideos I def understand that and yes that’s one of my problems to but if you do ever decide to give on the water lessons I want your first booking!

@@scrap3223 I will do it! I fully expect my retirement job to be guided fishing trips one day, but it's a long way off yet. *If you do have any specific questions or issues though please hit me up and I'm happy to help if I can

Thanks for watching! No problem at all, I'm using the LVS34 and the GPSMap1022.

Thank you! It's definitely worth a drive up. I have friends/family that drive past several other lakes to come to Darbonne in the fall/winter time.

Hey thanks for watching my fishing video! So, before this boat I had a 1984 bass tracker that I worked on a lot to keep it floating and the motor running. I loved that boat and caught a ton of crappie out of it. But now that I have the pontoon, I don't think I'll ever go back to a bass boat again. Putting aside the fact that I have small children and friends/family that are in wheelchairs - the boat is just a dream to fish out of. My concerns before I got the boat were mainly towing it, launching/loading it solo, and maneuverability around the timber I fish often. After more than a year I can say none of those have been issues even once. I actually think I bang into the submerged trees on Darbonne less now than when I had my smaller boat lol! Good luck with whatever you decide, either one will catch plenty of fish!!

Thanks so much! I'm working with an engineering firm and manufacturer now, hope to have the first batch ready for sale towards the end of the summer or early fall!

No, the gates only swing open inward towards the interior of the boat

Thanks so much! Claiborne in the summer time is some of the toughest crappie fishing in the area. The fish that are on the brush piles or in the timber get super-pressured and it's tough to get a bite. I do love Claiborne for the stripers though, man do they fight hard! They get shallower this time of year and I usually just look across the lake for the birds and start looking for the stripers wherever the birds are. Darbonne is outstanding year round though and once you learn the general areas they migrate around across the seasons you'll be able to catch dinner any time you want. Good luck out there!

So I've been wanting a pontoon boat for 20+ years, but even still I had a ton of fear that I'd miss my smaller boat. Now over a year in I don't think I'll ever be able to go back. It just spoils you every time you get in with all the open space and stability. I've never done any trolling in mine, but I imagine the multiple spots for seats in the rear would work really well for that. Good luck with whichever model you wind up choosing!

Haha, I think I have crappie jigs bigger than the little one for sure! Definitely a fun day out there

It is wild watching those things come out of there! They've made me jump out of my seat a few times just because of the suddenness that they slam into a lure rushing it from the brush!

Hahaha! Thank you for the first comment on the video!

I enjoy watching your videos. Your videos are the highest quality videos I’ve seen. Thanks for posting…

@@danayo8852 Thanks so much! I appreciate you taking time to leave the kind words!

Another great video. Thanks for sharing.

So my summer time info might be a little skewed because I generally night fish in the summer to beat the heat and boat traffic. But I mostly stick to flats near the deep channels - or hit the mid-to-deep water docks. Brush piles can be productive too, but it's hit or miss on finding good ones. I usually start out close to the main channel and work my way in until I figure out where they're holding or suspending. Good luck out there!

This time of year you can put in at just about any of the boat ramps (I favor stowe creek and the main ramp in farmerville). Then you can just roam around trying spots just off of the channels until you figure out where they're holding. I honestly don't have a go-to spot in the summer since the fish tend to scatter all over this time of year. Deeper docks or brush piles can sometimes be good, but the flats near the channel are where I generally start. Good luck out there! If you have trouble reach back out or stop off at K+M and they'll give you some good food and pointers!

You build some amazing fish-catching machines. I get a smile on my face every time I step onto the deck!

@@HighQualityFishingVideos maybe one day I'll have one and test it out.

Thanks so much! I find myself looking back at my old videos now to figure out where the fish were at different times of the year on different lakes. So glad you like them!

haha, I asked the dealership the same thing! They said there's a bypass method to detach it from the gears but it's nothing you'd want to do unless stuck at the ramp and needing to get it down to go home as it requires tools and can potentially break things if the motor is run without the top attached. * I did get my bimini fixed finally by a different dealership. Was very VERY unhappy with the original shop but the new shop was great! Time will tell how it goes now as the original shop caved in the railing where the bimini attaches to it by using too much torque.

It's got a 90hp motor that moves it around 20-25mph (or 15mph loaded with people/coolers/dogs)

Thank you! I run my screen and black-box/transducer all off the same lithium 30ah battery which gives me enough juice for around 12 hours on the water.

Thank you!

Bob as soon as I can figure out a few more things and make sure this thing is truly durable I'm sending one to you for free! *For anybody reading Bob was the very first commenter I ever had on my first video - and he's a die-hard fisherman!

Wow! Didn’t realize something like this would ever happen to me! I so appreciate that. Good luck getting it all lined out the way you want it.

Done! As soon as I can get the friction points more durable and a few other minor things I'll be getting a test batch of 10-100 and will reach out! hahaha, I like that name! Everything I'm coming up with so far just takes too long to say!

Thanks so much! I definitely think the bigger fish are generally off to themselves and often at different depth ranges than the smaller crappie. Caught a 15.5 inch fish this year in a spot I didn't even intend to fish just suspended in the middle of nowhere. I was fiddling with camera equipment and the boat drifted way off from my area. Went back and there he was just off in nowhere land. And my biggest ever that I caught in 2023 was all alone at the top of some timber.

Holy cow!!! 83 in a half day is about as fast as you can yank em out of the water! That's a good haul right there! We have been doing good out there the last few trips I've made (except one day where we only got 8). Been hitting the flats near the channel and fish are all over! Thanks for the feedback - I have a ton of work to do on this still and trying to get after it as quick as I can. Hopefully I can figure out the manufacturing side of the equation now that I'm getting the device close to the finish line.

Thanks so much for watching and the kind words! I reeeeally wish I could explain why I've taken a little pause on the videos and hopefully will be able to soon (all good news!). I do have a bunch of footage I need to find time to edit and one video almost ready to go so hopefully will be releasing more within the next two weeks! Went out twice last week and found the majority of crappie suspended or moving around on flat areas near drop-offs. Like the shallow parts of channel edges and such. Probably got footage for another 3 or 4 crappie videos right now and I hope to get another monster catfish next month (or as soon as they drop the river down). Good luck out there!

When I had a bass boat I mounted it on the opposite side from the trolling motor to reduce the chance of interference (and reduce my chance of tangling my line in the trolling motor!). If you've got a bigger boat or not worried about it being close to the trolling motor I would just put it on the side that matches the hand you'll want to turn the transducer with.

Thanks so much! I appreciate you taking time to say hello and for watching! I sure will start talking about the lures and baits. For catfish, I really only use live bluegill when I'm out hunting the big flatheads. Otherwise it's big shiners or gizzard shad when I'm looking for bluecats. For channel cats, cut gizzard shad or nightcrawlers are my go-to baits. For crappie - I really do need to start adding in what I'm using throughout the videos. Most days the jig I start with isn't the one that I'm using mid-day, and it'll change again by the end of the day. Something about the changing light or weather makes them more aggressive for different colors/shapes at different times.

You are welcome! I did change a bit on this setup a few months ago. Instead of mounting the screen directly to the box like this I added a big Ram ball on top of the box then a ram arm to connect the screen to the box. It just gave me an extra bit of height and a little more maneuverability on the screen. Mounting directly to the box definitely still viable though.

Thank you! Still look at it and can't believe its mine some days - been wanting a boat like this for 20 years!

I know that feeling. My wife and I came to Darbonne (from Indiana) a couple years ago and as soon as I launched, my back went out. After a couple days with the chiropractor, I got to fish a couple days. I think we were at Steve’s Fish Camp. Nice lake. Want to do it again sometime. Take care!

Hey Bob! I got a new video on the way now! Needs a few more days of editing and should be ready. It's from a day last week where I went out and managed 37 at Darbonne (and a few bluecats). Was a great but challenging day. Fish were scattered all over so definitely in post-spawn mode now. Caught around 10 in the shallows but all the rest were roaming around deeper water. *Also have not forgotten about you being my first comment. Tying up the legal side of my product stuff now and hopefully able to give you one soon to try out!

Thank you!

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much! The river level is almost back down to where I can go out and chase after another big one like that. Hopefully I'll top that one this year!

Hey Bob! Spring is tough for me with kids sports going on but come May/June I aim to be back on the water a lot more!! I did take some friends out to Darbonne about a week ago and we managed 39 for the day but did not catch many shallow. Almost all were still out around 20ft of water, which was not what I expected with the water above 62 degrees. *I'm still working on getting my little device just right before I try to sell it or show it to folks but still plan on setting one aside for you since you were the very first commenter on the channel! (as soon as I can build one that doesn't break after a few trips!)

Hard to say for sure, but very possible. Sometimes when crappie fishing I've dropped straight over them and felt the line or weight/hook actually hit the fish and that has spooked some fish. I had already spooked two other big catfish on this day so I was trying to be extra cautious with this one!

Thank you! I have switched almost everything over to a fluoro-mono blend line called fluorokote. Have been super pleased with it!

@@HighQualityFishingVideos thank you! What pound test?

@@MattsVarietyChannel 6lb test on the ultralights or 8lb on the casting rods (just in case I hook up with a bass/catfish)