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From One Angler To Another

When Should You Change Baits?

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change baits, Sarasota Quality Products, Bass Fishing, fishing lures

 

Entering a multi-day bass fishing tournament can be exhilarating and stressful, especially if the fish are initially biting, and then suddenly, they stop. Many are tempted to pull up anchor and try somewhere else. While this may be a useful measure, there might be something that works better: changing lures.

Here are great tips about what has worked for others, including pro angler Mike Iaconelli from his interview in Bass Angler Magazine.

 

DO Prepare.

Iaconnelli uses his downtime to study the information about his next tournament’s topography. He studies maps, weather, and any bass fishing reports he can get his hands on for that area. He reviews past weather and water conditions during that time of year.

He also cleans out his boat, inside and out. Organizing his rods, tackle, and lures saves much time when he’s on the water.

DON’T Bring All Your Lures.

Lures come in a multitude of types, colors, and sizes.

Most fishers have over one hundred different types of lures, but it’s ineffective to bring them all with you. First, you won’t have space. Second, you’ll waste time sifting through them. Third, with too many choices, you could spend valuable time vacillating about which one is the best.

Instead, decide on a set number of lures you will bring and stick to that number. Make sure they’re easily accessible from the hatch.

DO Buy “Clean” Lures.

Iaconnelli recommends using lures you know will not snag or require multiple casts to get into tight spots as this is also a time burner.

DON’T Fish Too Long with the Same Lure.

Before the tournament starts, make an agreement with yourself how long you will continue to fish with the same lure. You will need to keep track of the time you reeled in each keeper. If it’s been (x minutes or hours) since your last one, it’s time to change lures.

DO Make Subtle Changes.

Perhaps you change the color or add a rattle if you are staying in the same spot, and the weather hasn’t changed.

 

DO Remember Fishing Patterns Change as the Weather Changes.

Did it rain hard last night? If so, the water levels may be high, and bass are sensitive to these changes. Wind, heat, sun, and clouds all affect your fishing chances. You’ll need to have a variety of baits on your boat, including jigs, soft plastics, and spinnerbaits.

 

Sarasota Quality Products Has Many Products to Enhance Your Fishing Experience

We have an online catalog that’s available to you 24/7. We offer excellent service, satisfaction guaranteed, secure checkout, and privacy protection with every order. Don’t see what you want? Please feel free to contact us directly at 440-899-9820 between 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday.

How High Lake Water Levels Affect Bass Fishing

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high lake water levels, bass fishing, Sarasota Quality Products

The waters of the Great Lakes, and many other waterways, are at an all-time high. Forecasters state they may continue to rise, due to storms, large amounts of precipitation, and the fact that few lakes froze over this year.

For the Great Lakes Region, Lake Erie will receive the most significant water increase. It’s an overflow basin from Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. The Great Lakes themselves represent 84 percent of North America’s surface freshwater, which ultimately impacts the water levels of all-natural, inland lakes in North America.

In what ways will this affect the upcoming fishing season? It turns out bass are particularly sensitive to water level changes. They tend to disperse and congregate in grassy, shallower areas when the waters rise. As water levels continue to increase, they move closer to the water’s edge, making it more challenging for anglers to catch them.

Challenging, but not impossible, as long as you keep in mind the following tips when you go out on your excursions!

 

Five High Lake Water Tactics You Can Use

 

As the saying goes, it’s best to make lemonade out of lemons. You can still fish, but the approach may be radically different from past tactics. Bass fishing experts agree on the following:

 

  1. Read your local fishing report or contact a local fishing expert to garner the best advice before you head out on your trip.
  2. Consider fishing from or near the banks.
    Rising water also increases the water’s current, which pushes bass straight to the bank. Since bass is not tall fish, they will migrate to the shallowest cover available.
  3. Find an eddy.
    Bass aren’t built to fight a current all day long, which will get stronger as river waters rise. Eddies usually have no or little current, yet they are close enough to the river’s aqua system to capture any baitfish that washes toward them.
  4. Stay clear of muddy water.
    With high waters, storms, and precipitation, most lake water will remain murky for a period. Under these conditions, bass will migrate to clearer waters, even if it’s in the deepest part of the lake.
  5. Use spinnerbaits.
    Colorful vibrating jigs, bulky plastics, and loud rattling cranks always work best in high waters, where bass can more clearly see them.

 

Sarasota Quality Products Wishes All Fishermen the Best this Season

We produce high-quality marine hardware and accessories standing behind our products with excellent customer service. Please give us a call at 440-899-9820 or check out our catalog online to see all our quality marine products!

How to Secure Your Bass Boat in 8 Easy Steps

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Whether you’re headed to a tournament, vacation, or even a day trip of fishing, it’s essential to keep your boat and equipment always secure. It’s especially true if you’re carrying hundreds, if not thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment on board.

While working with professional anglers in the past, along with our own experience, we garnered eight great ideas about keeping your bass boat safe at all times – here they are.

 

An Eight Point Secure Your Bass Boat Checklist

Before Your Trip

 

  1. Make sure your boat insurance is up to date.
    Your insurance should cover not only the boat but also all the contents on the vessel and the trailer. If you have recently purchased a new boat and new equipment, send an email or stop by your agent’s office to share with them the changes.
  2. Inventory all your equipment.
    Put together an Excel spreadsheet of all your equipment, including its make, model, and the date you purchased it. Take a photo of the more expensive stuff (that will be covered under insurance). Send the spreadsheet and photos to your agent and keep a copy on the cloud.
  3. While inventorying, label your gear.
    Write your name and phone number on every piece of tackle and electronic gear in waterproof ink. Throw away broken equipment: sell or giveaway your duplicate gear. Check our list about the top 10 things you should have on your boat to ensure you aren’t missing critical equipment.
  4. Inspect your boat and trailer.
    A day or so before your trip, check the trailer lights, turn signals, and tire pressure. Please make sure they are all in the best working order. Once the boat is on the trailer, ensure it’s snug against the jack stand roller. Inspect, and potentially replace the transom-tie down straps if they are too worn.
  5. When booking your hotel or motel, make sure they have adequate parking for your truck and trailer.
    You’ll also want to check on lighting and onsite security. The last thing you’ll want after a long day on the water to come back to the venue to find you need to park your boat in a remote, unlit part of the parking lot. Also, get recommendations from other fishers who have stayed or are staying in your area.

When on The Water

You finally arrived and launched your boat in the water. It’s still important to be vigilant about security. Here are more tips by bass anglers.

  1. If you must leave your boat for a short time, ask someone to watch it.
    It doesn’t matter if you have to use the restroom, return an urgent call, or get something out of your car; leaving your boat for 10-15 minutes is enough time for a thief to steal your equipment. Find a friend and establish a buddy system, so you can trade off watching each other’s boats when you need it.
  2. Get in the habit of locking up your compartments.
    With The Key Captain, you can remotely lock and unlock all compartments from 50-100 feet away with your waterproof key fob. With our flushed locking system, you won’t trip on the locks as you’re fish on the deck of the boat.

Before Heading to the Hotel or Motel

  1. Cover your boat with a tight-fitting tarp.
    Adding one more layer for potential thieves to get through can be a real deterrent to stopping them.

 

Sarasota Quality Products Can Help Secure Your Bass Boat

With the press of a button, our time saving remote control system can lock and unlock compartment latches, turn on and off deck and cabin lights, and trim up and down your boat engine while trailering. Call us today at 440-899-9820 to learn more about our Key Captain and catalog of products.

Top 10 Bass Boat Accessories for the 2020 Season

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bass boat accessories Sarasota Quality Products Key Captain

If you are still trying to top off your holiday shopping list for bass boat accessories, here are ten items you may wish to consider asking for from your loved ones. This list is not in order of importance, but rather from lowest to highest price point.

  1. Waterproof smartphone lanyard
    Invest in one you can keep around your neck and still press the buttons through the plastic. You’ll be able to access your fishing apps and snap a picture or two without any difficulty.
    Price range: $8-15
  2. Clamp-on cup holder
    With dual clamping jaws and stiff stainless-steel springs, your refreshments will always be within easy reach. They won’t rust or break and are an absolute must-have gadget!
    Price range: $20-35
  3. Trolling motor propeller protector
    It helps to extend the life of your boat cover with a heavy-duty vinyl protector for your blades.
    Price range: $20-50
  4. Telescopic boat hook
    This gizmo can hook just about anything you can think of from the water. When it’s not in use, you can collapse it down and store it under your seat.
    Price range: $23-45
  5. Onboard marine battery charger
    Most chargers are waterproof, saltwater-tested, and rugged. Fully automatic multistage digital charging includes five sequential stages: analyzing, charging, conditioning, auto maintain (energy-saving mode), and a once-a-month storage reconditioning mode that is safe for short- and long-term storage.
    Price range: $70-200
  6. Anchor winch
    This device makes pulling up the anchor so much easier. Most winches can handle up to 40 pounds in weight. They come in a manual (reel) or electronic forms. The latter allows you to raise and lower your anchor with the press of a button. Most have an anti-reverse internal clutch to prevent free spooling.
    Price range: $80-136
  7. Spare deep cycle marine battery
    It’s designed to support the electrical demands of trolling motors, fish finders, GPS systems, and radios. Having one on board gives you peace of mind if you are miles out away from the shore, and your primary battery dies.
    Price range: $92-300
  8. Keel Protector
    This bass boat accessory will keep your boat from scuff marks and damage that are possible by ramps, rocks, and underwater hazards. These protectors come in different sizes, depending on the length of your boat. They are ready to install straight out of the pack.
    Price range: $120-185
  9. Marine-grade boat cover
    Protect your bass boat from the elements! Find one that is resistant to mildew, mold, and UV rays and will protect your boat when:

    1. in long-term storage
    2. trailered up and traveling, or
    3. moored up at your local lake.
      Price range: $134-300
  1. The Key Captain
    Our state of the art electronic locking system is Ideal For bass boats because you can lock and unlock all your compartments AND turn on and off your boat lighting from 50-100 feet away!One other bonus, with our floating key fob, if you happen to drop your keys in the water during a tense fishing moment, you have the peace of mind they are going to float.
    Price range: $225-880

 

Sarasota Quality Products Has Bass Boat Accessories

We can help you deck out your bass boat! You want to keep it secure. We understand. We’ve been assisting boaters in keeping their boats safe and achieving greater peace of mind for 35+ years.  Let us know how we can help you by calling us at 440-899-9820 today!

The Perfect Holiday Option for the Hard-to-Buy for Fisherman

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Key Captain Key Fobs Sarasota Quality ProductsFisherman, Key Captain wiring by Sarasota Quality Products

The Convenience of a One-Click Boat Security in the Palm of Your Fisherman

The Key Captain is a fishing boat owner’s dream! Our patented remote control Key Fob locks and unlocks a boat’s storage compartments from 50-100 feet away.

It also controls all engine trailer trim up and down with hydraulic control,  boat lighting, and live wells.

 

Three Benefits of the Key Captain for Your Fisherman

  1. Convenience
    The ability to unlock the compartments when your fisherman is on the water and lock them at the end of the day with one touch of the Key Fob saves them valuable time. And once they are out on the water with open compartments, they remain unlocked until your angler hits the fab to lock them up again.
  2. Theft prevention.
    Fishing tackle burglaries do happen. With over ten compartments in most bass or walleye boats, just forgetting to lock one or two can result in losing someone’s winning lures, poles, or reels.
  3. Easy to install.
    Our locks fit into all standard boat lock openings. Please review this brief video from the pro angler, Joe Okada, about the installation process.

If your fisherman is a DIYer, they will find the instructions easy to follow. Not a DIYer, or you’d like to surprise them with an installation on their new boat or retrofitted to their existing one? No problem! Let us know if you’d like to have it installed on a new boat or retrofitted onto your boat through a dealer near you.

The Key Captain Consists of Three Main Components

 

Control Panel: Our unique coding technique protects against unwanted radio interference. It’s permanently sealed and tamperproof.

Key Fob: It’s waterproof, and it floats – making it easy to find if dropped in the water. Two types of remotes are available – a floating Pawl and an automotive-style one.

Electronic Lock Latch: It has a contemporary look with multiple cam choices.

 

Make it a Key Captain Christmas with Our Special Offering

To order The Key Captain electronic locking system for your fisherman’s boat, contact us at 440-899-9820 from 9 am to 5 pm EST, Monday through Friday. Or order online at www.sarasotaqp.com/product-category/keycaptain.

We offer FREE ground shipping for all orders placed before Wednesday, December 18, 2019. Don’t delay, order The Key Captain today for your fisherman!

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