32251

Sea eagle SE6. I bought an SE8 and as soon as I see a good deal on a used SE6 I am getting one. I did see an angler using one of the "Skeeter" things you listed the link to. It was a cool boat, but the wind was whipping him around like crazy. Also I do not like the fact that there is water under you. You drop something while you are changing lures and such and it is gone!

Yes. I was fishing close in. The longer medium rod just seemed to be too long and too stiff. As I would try to compensate my accuracy just got worse. I was much better with longer casts than shorter ones.

I fished a great old lake this morning. Endless bank cover and great obstacles. My casting accuracy with the spinning set up was awful. 7ft medium action old 60s Garcia Conolan rod and another Ugly Stick worm rod with Pinnacle Extant reels. Fishing from an inflatable boat low on the water. Should I go for a shorter rod with a little more action to it, or should I just keep practicing with what I have. My casts are high and to the left a lot of the time. I just felt like I could never get enough flex in the rod to shoot the lure low and in the direction I wanted it to go. Any advice welcomed.

I don't know why, but I always used my middle finger to hold the line and I never hold the line close to the rod. I hold the rod in front of the reel only. If I need distance I will sling it like a surf fisherman does. If I need a VERY straight cast then I will bring the rod directly overhead and release right straight ahead. Everything else is from the side if I need to keep line low to the water and under limbs or about 2:00 for general casting. I sometimes find myself transfering the rod to my left hand after the cast and pointing it in the direction where the line is going to cut down on line friction through the eye. If I need to make a one handed cast, I always flip from left to right like throwing a frisbee.

I will be a very happy fellow the day I catch a 5 1/2Lb bass!!!

Before I have to spend $50 on a factory made one, does anyone have a simple idea for a little boat dolly I could use on my inflatable. Just need a wheel or two to attach to the motor mount for ease of moving to the lake from the car. LongMike probably has already done this! edit: Gonna try some used bike training wheels bolted to the motor mount board. Looks like it will work.

I C@R in ponds and other water that is not state certified as clean and safe. I checked on the Ga. DNR site and they list many bodies of water that are tested and the fish pass the safe to eat test. I plan on going to one of these and trying to catch just enough to enjoy a good meal like I used to do with my Dad when I was young. I figure about 6 Bream and a couple of small legal bass will be just fine. The limit in the lake I will fish is 15 bream and 6 bass so I am well under that. None of the sites I checked out recommended keeping larger fish to eat at all. Release them. They collect things in their bodies over longer periods of time that are not safe for human consumption.

Going to check out this battery. Looks like what I have been looking for.

Thanks Jigman. I am also thinking that maybe some of the small scooters and wheelchairs might use smaller deep cycle units.

Can anyone recommend a very small 12VDC deep cycle battery. I need one to just drive a small 168 CUDA unit. They want $90 for a battery pack that will take 8 AA batteries!! Surely someone makes a compact 12v that I can use. I have very limited space.

Picked up some white Senko copies. Anyone have any luck with any types of white worms??

Thanks again LongMike!! Very nice of you to share your valuable experience. It was a great day for both of us.

After seeing LongMikes Sea Eagle 9 set up, I decided that the Sea Eagle was the way I wanted to go. Bought a used SE8 with the Fishermans package which has floor boards and a motor mount and a rear seat deck. Took my son out to our local small lake we fish all the time and the boat performed flawlessly. My son is mentally handicapped and loves to go fishing so this was a big step for us to actually get out in a boat. He did a great job of helping get the boat from the car to the lake and also in getting us launched and landed since he was in the front and had to shove off and hop out and pull the front of the boat up on land. Caught a few small bass, but that was not the most important thing. We had a great time our first time out and there will be many more. Next time out I will make sure to bring an anchor. The SE boat scoots through the water so nicely that any breeze will move you. The boat is VERY stable. You can easily stand and fish if you like. I inflated the boat at home and we set it on top of my Ford Explorer and drove to the lake. Two people can move it very easily. IF you choose to inflate at the lake, that only takes about 15 mins. VERY easy. The boat can fit in the trunk of any car folded up and the flat floor boards take up very little space. I am extremely happy with this inflatable! Felt very safe in it.

Mrs. Matstone. Beautiful pics! .....and the fish are nice too.

And it has not. I am just saying that the big business bass pro high dollar side of it is something that I never experienced. My fishing was always for enjoyment and still is.

I have not fished in about 35 years and have really enjoyed getting back into it. The info I have received here and other places on the net has been invaluable. As a result of not having been in the fishing "loop" for so many years, I am shocked by the industry that has grown up around bass fishing and I have to admit that I am baffled and cannot really figure it out. Bass pros dressed up in uniforms that look like race car drivers from Formula One. Bass boats for tens of thousands of dollars. Hundreds of dollars for a rod and hundreds more for a reel. Electronics that locate the fish for you to the point of watching the bait go right to the fish and seeing the fish take it. Tournaments with $100K top prize. Anyone else here just sort of put off by all this?? I remember fishing used to be so simple and less money driven. What happened?!

What are you guys using for an anchor on your inflatable boats. Surely you don't need as heavy an anchor as you would for a jon type boat. Any ideas for an inexpensive anchor? thanks

Good time to make some notes on where things will be when the water levels come back up.

Thanks for the list of books. I went to Half.com and bought most of them. They were real cheap there. The media mail shipping was more than the cost of the books. Look forward to getting them and learning from them.

Read that the Senko worm has a salty taste made into it. Would it be advantageous to add the salt taste to other plastics? Seems like you could take a file brush which has hundreds of tiny metal "needles" used to clean files and just press the worm in just enough to penetrate the surface and then pack the worms in a baggie with some salt water and let it penetrate the openings made in the worm. If the salt is on the surface, it will just dilute when the bait hits the water. Worth doing it or not?

I fish a small lake in my subdivision 3 or 4 times a week. Old lake and the fish have plenty to eat and catching bass is tough. I saw some 4 inch blue Senkos on sale at a tackle shop and bought a pack. Rigged weightless and tossed from the bank right past the pads or into an old tree top, they have produced like no other plastic I have used. I will catch a fish and if the worm is torn, I will just hook it from the other end and catch another and then if both ends are torn, I hook it in the center wacky style. Also these things are great for bank fishing because of the added weight of them helps in getting some casting distance when not using weights. Great plastic. I don't go fishing without them.

Need to add some bass books to the library in the "Reading Room" AKA toilet :-). What would be the must have books to enjoy reading and leaning about bass fishing. Thanks

The Great Wal of China Mart has close outs on all the PFDs. I went there this evening here in the Atllanta area and bought the $100 auto/manual Stearns for $30. These inflate automatically when submerged or you can pull the rip cord to inflate. These are nice as they are just a light weight vest fit that won't get hot if you wear them at all times (like you should!). If you were not conscious or for whatever reason not able to pull the rip cord upon entering the water they automatically inflate. The standard model $30 PFD jackets were $9. Pretty good deals on something so important.

Super nice boat you have restored!

I just bought one on Ebay as a result of fishing with my brother who also uses the Cuda 168. It performed well.