fishfordollars

Very scary thought there cart7t.

With all the colder water temps down south due to the recent cold spell I though everyone needs to think how they operate an engine. Buddy brought his 2008 Basscat/225 Optimax by the house yesterday with a hole through the side of the block. Never had a problem with it and the only thing we can figure is that it cold seized on him. He failed to warm it up before he punched it up to WOT, ran a 1/2 mile and it came apart. The Optimax/DFI engines with close piston to cylinder wall clearances need to be warmed up (3-4 minutes) and then ease the rpms up to allow the piston and the cylinder wall to build internal temperature equally. Cylinder wall clearance on the 200/225 Optimax runs about .0055. When you fail to warm correctly the cylinder wall will not warm and expand the same as the piston due to the amount of cold water circulating through the block. The piston will expand faster causing it to seize against the cylinder wall. If this happens it will just rip the wrist pin out of the piston and then tear a hole in the side of the block. So make sure your thermostats are working properly and give those engines plenty of warm up time. Jack

I guarantee you Kiffin knows exactly what the penalties will be before he took the job. The NCAA will pulverize the basketball program and basically leave the football program alone. Maybe have to forfeit some of the Bush games, but other than that they will be untouched. He ain't walking into a graveyard.

I must be stupid. I still cannot figure out what you are talking about. You have a console here, up front, and in both places. Will you please explain that to this d**b a*s. I don't have a clue where to begin. Never seen a boat with a movable console. Thank you, Jack

My son in Birmingham just called me and told me. I told him he was lying, guess not though. I thought he had that program ready to really make a move. Sucks to be a Vol fan tonight.

I feel for you. Hopefully this one will give you a little relief. Good luck and let us know how you are doing. Jack

Convincing the wife that the dozen Lucky Craft lures you bought were 3.00 apiece, keeping a straight face, and convincing her that the bank made a mistake when processing your debit card.

Heck a guy yesterday on another forum posted a picture of the cove behind his house with it almost frozen over. Where was it? Lake Conroe, 30 miles north of Houston. If this keeps up I'm going to have to really step up the weight on my jigs.

It was 23* here again this morning. That's five days with a low in the mid to upper teens and low 20s for us since last Thursday. Very unusual for us. I am ready for some 50s and 60s. One more morning coming up with freezing weather and then we should warm up. I feel for all of you that have to deal with this for months on end. I have chunks of ice from my water buckets that have been laying in my backyard for four days. Ya'll can have it.

My Minn-Kota prop does a far better job of running in the hydrilla than any MotorGuide that I ever used. If you look at the position of the blades at the base and how they are mounted you will see that the blade base over laps. there is no gap between the base of the blades and I think this is the reason they will run better.

I ran Humminbird for years. They are quality units that are easy to run. I switched over to Lowrance about five years ago. they require a little more knowledge and fine tuning than the birds, but I found that I could fine tune them to get the results I wanted. Just a personal preference. You cannot go wrong with either. As stated above the birds will come with the SI built in and it must be purchased seperately with the Lowrance. Good luck, Jack

Call me, sending you a pm. Jack

I have used it for the last eight years. I run a business and the wife works for a large company. We have had not one problem with it.

Dang Dave, I thought I was the only one that bought the weights one at a time. That stuff blows my budget fast.

Here you go: Have the motor checked by a certified mechanic. Pay whatever they want. Best money you will ever spend. Water test the rig. I don't mean a five minute ride either. Go out in it and run and fish it like you would for a day on the water. Run the engine several miles up and down the lake through all rpm ranges. Have it checked by a certified mechanic. Ccheck the flooring for weak spots. Check the transom for leakage and weak areas. Any rot, turn it down Demand all paperwork for any and all work done on the boat/motor. Call the person that did the work. Check his references. Check the entire plumbing for leaks and corroded cutoff valves Check the engine wiring harness for rotten wiring Check all electrical items ensuring they run correctly Check the batteries and anything they connect to and run Check the hull for repairs Go over the trailer from bow to stern. Jack it up and check the bearings for wear. Inspect all welds for rot and check the boarding while you have the boat in the water. Check the lower unit for wear and to see if it has water mixing with the oil Weak transom is a 4,000.00 repair mininum Engine is a 5,000.00 repair Lower unit can run from 500 to 1500

Spot on Mike. I was born in Lufkin Texas and raised in Nacogdoches. They are 18 miles apart and 30 minutes from Rayburn, 1 hr. from Toledo. Don't forget Lake Nacogdoches though. Lots of 13+ fish caught out of this 2500 acre lake. Moved to Trussville Alabama and lived there for 8 years at the age of 22. Lots of great fishing on the Coosa chain as well as the other thousand lakes located nearby.

One thing a lot of people fail to consider is their own height. It is one of the most important things to consider when choosing a rod. Some of the longer rods just don't work well for some of the shorter anglers(Like me). I am 5'11" and the rods over 7' are hard for me to handle. Don't get caught up in all the hype about the 7 1/2 or 8' rods. They just are too long to effectively fish in certain scenarios unless you have a little more height. I bought into the longer rod scenario years ago and found that my accuracy suffered. I went back to a shorter rod and fixed the problem. I have no rods in the boat longer than 7' and a couple of my flippin sticks are even a little shorter and it has helped me. JMO. Good luck, Jack

I totally agree with you Glenn. WOT is usually for the run to weighin for me.

10-13 foot waves depending on who you talked to. I was not there, but anything over five foot and I'm looking for a place to hide. Reports of one motor breaking loose from the back of one boat and going to the bottom. Several abonded the boats and swam to shore. Whatever the real story was I'm glad I was not out on the lake.

You're right. I just didn't want to lump myself in with the rest of the idiots.

Well our club voted to fish our January tournament yesterday the 9th on Rayburn. I did not fish, but 17 members and guest hit the water in the 13* weather. Five fish were weighed in by 5 different people. Largest was one that weighed 1.85 lbs. I just could not see myself tormenting myself in all that cold weather. As it turned out I did not fall very far behind for the year.LOL.

Darrin, I figured you would be interested. Remember our conversation about the big water? Sent you a PM

I keep mine in the boat and on charge 24/7. I normally fish during the winter, but have been out very little since October.

He's convinced the networks that his face job has made him god's gift to us all. Cowboys look better tonight than his ugly mug. Kicking tail at the 2 minute mark of the first half.

Try to find the change in bottom composition. That would be the only thing I could think of other than the stuff you have mentioned. Good luck