Gatorbassman

Mike, That's exactly how you do it. That's how mine are done minus the need for 24V. Just make sure all of your connections are solid. If you are useing the 4ga automotive wires for your series connections that should be fine. 25V is rite on. I can't wait to see the boat.

An ice chest is the only way to go if you only keep fish some of the time. It is a great space saver.

Here is a solar charger and and charge controler. http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=219799

Here's mine.

That should work fine for a little while. I'm sorry but it's still hard for me to believe there are no old boats hiding in a fishing community. It is a good idea to do some footwork and drive around looking for old boats in someone's yard. If you don't want to approach someone just leave a letter at their front door. It may take some work and a few awkward moments, what's the worse thing someone could say when you ask them if you can buy their boat. You will be amazed at how many people just haven't thought about selling that old boat. Show them a little green and it will go a long way. As long as it floats you can't go wrong. Last year I had a budget of 2000 bucks for a boat. It took me about 6 months of asking around till I found a boat that is awesome. It was located more than 100 miles from my house. It is a 14ft jon. It came on a trailer with a brand new 8hp Merc, two transom mount trolling motors and a foot control trolling motor, one depth finder and a bunch of extras. I got it for 1500 bucks. What a steal. But the best thing about it is that the guy I bought it from is now a great fishing partner of mine and he has upgraded to a Ranger Z-20. So I got a great boat and a better friend out of the deal.

No finer words have been spoken.

I fish very clear water and I hardly ever use a bead or rattle. But it does draw attention to your lure. If your sinker comes back with grass on it that is just fine. If your worm gets allot of grass then change something. You might be shaking the grass off the weight and it just moves down the line and hangs on the worm. Shake it one more time to see if you can clean the worm. This is when the straight shank worm hook comes in handy. It doesn't have the offset bend to catch the grass. The lake that I fish is well known for its hydrilla. It is so clear that the grass is found as deep as 15 to 20ft and can grow all the way to the surface. But in the spring the grass is short. My rule of thumb is to fish short leaders in the spring and as it gets warmer my leader gets longer. When I fish wood cover I will use a short 10 to 12inch leader with the 1/4 oz or lighter sinker pegged. This reduces hang-ups and prevents the dreaded wrap around.

If you haven't had the chance to try a Carolina Keeper get some. They are the best things for C-Rigs. They make your C-rig leader fully adjustable and you only have to tie one knot. You pinch them in a pair of pliers and the slit in the middle opens up. Then slide the line through the hole and it takes the place of the swivel. Slide it up and down the line to adjust you leader length. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=23166&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

Here is a fish that Clipper caught a couple of years ago. She had just finished spawning. How much do you think she weighed? only 5lb 2oz

To deal with hydrilla. 1. Lengthen your leader untill it reduces grass pickup. 2. Use a lighter weight so it works the top of the grass without punching through. 3. Use a streight shank worm hook. 4. Use a worm with a pointed nose. (ie. finesse or trick worm) 5. Instead of working your rig with a sideways sweeping motion use a up and down pick up motion. 6. You can also switch to another type of weight. Like a mojo weight or a sharp point bullet weight. MOJO Sinker For rocks use this sinker.

I use Oatmeal for chumming when I Crappie fish.

What if I have two batteries wired in parallel. Can I use one charger for them?

I shouldn't be a problem. It will be a little less stable but that is to be expected. Here is my 14ft Jon.

That's awsome RR. Congrats. Now look out fishies.

You mean it stops? The best time for me is when I get to the water. Welcome to the forum man. You are going to love this place.

I would like to thank dabluz for starting this discussion and thank ouachitabassangler and dabluz for your detailed insite. Wow, I learned alot. This is why I like this site so much. We debate like adults and everyone comes out on top. That's awsome.

First of all thanks for your knowledge and incite. I enjoyed reading it. I am by no means an expert in the field of fisheries biology so this is just what I know to be true at the lakes where I fish. It may be true in your part of the world that a massive amount of bed fishing can cause a significant decline in the bass population. But here in Georgia most of the lakes I fish have only been stocked once with Largemouth bass, and that was two to three years before they were opened to the public. I asked the biologist here at Clarks Hill lake (71,000 acres) what species of fish they have stocked in the last 25 years and they have only stocked Striper and Hybrid bass due to there inability to reproduce. This is a lake that gets heavy pressure from tournaments five to seven days a week. These Largemouth aren't small either. It takes a 20+lb stringer to place in a tournament any day of the year. Just watch the Bassmasters Tournament that will be held in May and you will see some great stringers. Lake Varner here in Georgia is a prime example of excellent lake management. It was built about 15 years ago and stocked with largemouth only once. It is 900+ acres and gets heavy pressure every day. The average size bass shocked out of Varner last year was 3.45lbs. You can ask Randall who guides there and he will probably tell you that you have a better chance of catching an 8lb+ bass out of Varner on any given day than almost any lake in Georgia. A man caught five fish in one day last year on Varner that weighed a total of 48 pounds. I fish team tournaments with one of our regions fisheries biologists and he tells me that the bass in Georgia have never been more healthy and better taken care of then they are right now. So what may be a problem in Canada is not a problem down here in Georgia. Bass are at the top of the food chain in our lakes. We are their predators. We have laws that protect our rights to fish and we have teams of biologist that protect the fish we catch. So to judge people who bed fish somewhere else, based on what is going on in your area doesn't sound fair to me. It may be all about money, but here where I live I see it as money well spent. The great thing about all of the public lakes that I fish is although the fishing regulations are the same all over the state. Each lake is goverened by different governments. Varner is a county lake, my favorite Public Fishing Area is State run, and Clarks Hill is a federal lake. Each controling agency has the authority to change the limits and slot size of each lake according to servays. This has proven to be a great tool in growing a large and strong fish population.

dabluz, I shouldn't even entertain your oppinion but where are you getting your information from. ouachitabassangler is about to retire from a lifetime of work with fisheries management under his belt. His information holds alot of weight because it is based more on facts that he is an expert on. If you have any facts that back your oppion I am interested in hearing them.

I have a Grumman.

Wow that looks great. I can't wait to see the paint job.

Oh the Doghouse. Home Sweet Home. I was supposed to be home at noon today. I showed up at 8:30pm. But man the fish were biting and I was out of cell phone range.

Welcome Jim it looks like you will be a welcome peice to the puzzle around hear. I look forward to your input.

I started testing these theories five years ago and this is what I think according to my observations and records. I have seen fish spawn in water temps as cold as 60 and as warm as 75. This has been a rare occurance though. I have seen them start spawning on the full moon and the new moon. So from what I have observed is that water temp and stability are the number one key that they will start spawning. How intence the spawn is depends on the moon. When the water temps reach their ideal at the same time as the fool moon the spawn will be short but very strong with beds all over the place. But when the when the water temps reach ideal on a new or low light moon the spawn will be speratic and last longer.

OH man have you come to the right place. Many of us fish trolling motor only lakes. Randall is a guide on several of them. Triton Mike just finished the mack-daddy of all electric boats. www.tritonmike.com/boat.html Me, senko77, roper400, buzzbaitfool12, just to name a few. Check out some of the threads in this section of the forum. We have been talking alot about it lately. It is a fun project and worth every penny. I have my boat rigged so I can easily take my electric motors off and replace them with a 8hp Merc. Where do you live? What lakes do you fish?

Welcome to BR. Yet another Georgia Boy in the house. We're just a big bunch of friends and family here. Jump in and don't worry about getting your feet wet. PS I take it that's not the best picture you have of yourself. It's 2:30am, I'm at work and half asleep. It scared the crap out of me. LOL