BassChump

Hey, I live on the Oregon coast. Florence to be exact. If you look on a map, put a dot directly in the middle of the state on the coast, that's Florence. Between Coos Bay and Newport. We don't have any charters from Florence but there are some good charters in Newport. The best offshore fishing is usually out of Newport. Great halibut fishing. If you are looking for salmon fishing, that can be had almost anywhere along the coast and later in the summer, excellent salmon fishing on the inland waters. The Columbia produces some great salmon runs but almost any large river along the coast will have good salmon fishing when they are coming in. Also, Florence and lakes close by have excellent bass fishing and then we have an awesome smallmouth river called the Umpqua. Incredible smallmouth fishing. Oregon is fishing heaven but the weather usually is pretty bad except for about 3 months during the summers. Anyway, if you have any questions, just let me know. I'd be happy to help. Good luck.

I don't have any problem keeping my girlfriend interested. Frankly, I have a hard time getting any work done. She wants to fish every second she has off work. She only works 3 days a week so I try and figure my work schedule around hers so we can go fishing. And it's bass fishing for her. If I could find a topwater bite, she would be in heaven. lol. I pack the camper, hook up the boat and away we go. We fish 4 days a week. As a matter of fact, I would have my bass boat if it wasn't for her. She found it, had me look at it and I was hooked. Luckily, we have a gozillion lakes to fish around here so it's never the same waters. I do try and keep her involved in tackle buying and stuff. We were getting some plastics a few weeks ago and she took an interest in a pink fishing rod and reel so without question, I bought it for her. It even had "Ladyfisher" printed on it. What a sales ploy but it worked on us and she loves the setup. I'm a lucky guy. She is the best fishing partner I've ever had. With the exception of dealing with a guy hooked fish, I don't have to do anything for her. And yes, she outfishes me on a regular basis and it's a great thing to see her gloating about it. She cracks me up. Gotta love a woman that likes camping and fishing as much as I do. She is ready to go at a moments notice. Good fishing, a nice campsite, roaring campfire, a little Captain Morgans and guess what, she's happy so I'm happy. Good luck to you guys with ladies that don't like fishing. I can't imagine fishing without her.

Hey Bass_Fanatic, I had the same problem last summer on my system. I too thought it was the electric motor at the time but before I spent that kind of money, I checked all the connections, switches and wiring. My system had no relays and my switch on the console was getting hot. I was going thru switches every few trips or so. I ended up installing an old style Ford starter relay so I wouldn't have so much current going directly thru the switch. Problem solved. I'd check your relays first. Those Force and Mariner electrical motors were almost bullet proof as long as no moisture got in there. One of the few things they did right. If the motor is still functioning correctly and the only problem is hot wires, I'd look at the connectitons and relays before you spend money on something that might not have a problem. Let us know what you find......

Would you mind sending that information my way as well? I'd appreciate it very much. Thanks.

I bought a comp prop last year and frankly it outperfomed my stock prop. My stock prop was a 3 blade aluminum but the comp prop was a 4 blade. It was smoother and I gained 6 mph with it. I have an 85 horse engine on a 17 foot Bayliner Trophy. I really liked the comp prop. It is advertised as an added safety feature that the flukes will break off if you hit something solid so it won't take out your lower end. I loaned my brother my boat and he backed into a log. Took off a couple of flukes. It did do what it advertised I suppose. I did like it. I bought it from Cabela's. I'm going to get another one. Let us know if you get one, which brand you get and how you liked it. Good luck.

Here is a source for your trim/tilt motor. http://www.maxrules.com/fixforcetrim.html

I know this subject has probably been beat to death but I'll ask anyway. I have a 40 lb thrust trolling motor and when I go fishing, I fish hard and long. Sometimes two lakes in one day. Dawn to dusk sometimes. I have 2 wet cell, deep cycle marine batteries. 160 reserve capacity. They are one year old matching batteries bought at the same time. I have hooked them together but still 12 volt. I have a 10 amp charger but I've never seen it charge more than 7 amps when severely discharged. My problem is that it takes more than 1 day to charge both batteries fully. I normally leave them hooked together when charging. Is that bad? So here's my question. Should I just get another battery charger and charge each battery seperately or should I get two spare batteries and switch them out when I fish on consecutive days? I know I shouldn't charge a deep cell battery quickly like a starting battery. What can I do to charge the batteries faster? Thanks in advance for you thoughts......

I'm on the Oregon coast and it's the beginning of July and we just now had our spawn last week. The weather has been very cold until the last week or so. Anyway, I have been fishing for both smallmouth and largemouth. I've been catching both but almost all are very small. 6 or 8 inches or so and they aren't in places that I've found them in years past. I did catch a 5.7 last week but that's the only one of size so far this year. Caught her in the grass and it was a foot or two deep but that was a week ago. My question is where are the bigger fish? I've fished grass and reeds on the bank, around docks in 8 to 15 feet of water, I've fished submerged timber and also drop shotted main lake points in deeper water and I just can't find 'em. Both smallies and LM. The water temps around here have risen dramatically in the last 10 days. 10 to 12 degrees in most cases. The weather has been in the low 50's and at night it's been in the low 40's until last week. Current weather is warming with highs coming into the high 80's and low 90's later this week so I'm sure the waters will warm dramatically again this week. I don't know how much difference that makes but I'm throwing it out there anyway. Is our crazy weather this year just giving them lockjaw or am I doing something wrong? Our weather the last month or two has been cool and sunny one day and then a low pressure front comes in for a day or two and then sunshine again. We didn't see a 70 degree day until a week or so ago but now it's warming up quick. Thanks in advance for any help.

I live on the Oregon coast. I haven't fished Dorena, Cooper Creek or Lost Creek Lake, but I can tell you about the rest. First of all, don't bother with Siltcoos Lake. It was a great bass lake until a couple of years ago when they had an algea bloom and killed off most of the fish. It's getting better but it's still slow. Crane Prairie is a good lake. A great trout lake and a so-so bass lake but it's on the east side. Might be a bit of a drive for you. There are some big bass in Fall Creek but it's a tough lake at times. One of my favorite lakes is Tenmile. It's a trophy lake so you can't keep anything over 15 inches so it makes for a lot of fun bass. Lots of nice bass in that lake. I've always done well at Tenmile. I also have a few lakes in Florence that I fish 2 or 3 times a week during the summer. Not big lakes at all. Small actually but productive. Mercer Lake and Munsel Lake. I've done well at both and they are just on the edge of Florence which is right on the coast. Now I have one more place to tell you about that isn't on your list. This is secret so don't tell anybody. If you like smallmouth bass and you have a brain in your body, take your boat to the Umpqua River. You won't regret it. I guarantee it. I've lived in Oregon for 22 years now and there is no better fishery than the Umpqua River but most people will tell you that it's a great river with great smallmouth fishing but you can't get your boat in there. Well, you can and the place to launch is in a small town call Scottsburg. Parts are shallow with lots of rocks but the water is clear and easy to navigate. Perfect smallmouth waters. If you come in July, I promise that the Umpqua will have sizzling fishing. I live not far from the Umpqua so I go all the time during the summer and between July and mid September, not once, NOT ONCE have I caught less than 30 smallmouth. 50 to 70 is a typical day for me. 30 is actually a slow day so if you want to get your family into some fish, that's my best recomendation. Not only will the fishing be great, there usually is only one or two other boats. Many times I'm out there alone. It's a magical place for sure. They aren't huge, usually 1.5 to 2 pounders but you catch boatloads of 'em. If you have any questions, just shoot me a PM. I'd be happy to help.

I've only had a bass boat for a little over 2 years now. I never bass fished in my life until I bought this boat but I've owned boats for years for water skiing. My only close call came just last summer. I was fishing a good sized lake on the Oregon coast. I fished the main part of the lake but I didn't catch much so I decided to fish a small cove that I had seen on the way to the main part of the lake. I fired up the engine and ran at near wot. There was only 1 other boat on the water. I ski boat pulling several tubes with kids on them. I let the guy go in front of me so he wouldn't have to slow up and I followed them from a distance into the cove. Since they were tubing, I decided to be cautious and I slowed down a bit but since I slowed down, the bow rose just enough that I lost sight of them for maybe 10 seconds. It was just at that time the ski boat made a hard left to swing the tubers. He was looking backwards and didn't see me coming towards the tubers and since I lost sight of them, they were heading right towards my bow. Luckily, my instincts took over and I stopped because I lost sight of them. Good thing. The kids whizzed by my bow close enough to splash water on my deck. Maybe 10 feet. Scared the hell out of me. I'm not sure who was at fault in this situation (guessing it would be me) but I can say that I NEVER let a boat get out of sight. EVER. Don't ever assume you know where the other guy is going.

I live not far from Tenmile and I fish that lake all the time during the spring and summer. It's a great lake but going in April might be a problem. The weather around here is fickle at best that time of year. If it were up to me, I'd wait a few weeks later if you could. The weather on the coast that time of year will be rain, highs in the low 50's with cold wind off the ocean. Water temps probably in the high 40's give or take a few degrees. I also fish a lot of small lakes in Florence and the water temps don't get into the 50's usually until late May or even June. It stays very cool here even in the summer. Don't let me stop you from fishing in April but just take into account that the weather can be cold, rainy and windy at that time of year although I must say, Tenmile is a great lake and no matter what time of year, you should be able to boat some nice fish. Good luck.

Actually, I did buy a comp prop and I was very happy with it. It was smooth, quiet and my boat was noticably faster although the hole shot was slightly slower. Unfortunately, I let my brother borrow my boat and he busted the new prop. I must admit that the prop did exactly what it was supposed to do. The flukes broke off before any damage was done to the lower end so I'm happy. I am buying another comp prop and using my aluminum as a spare.

Well, it looks like it's almost time to put the cover on the boat for the winter. I've been checking the weather reports and winter is on its way. Rain with gail force winds are predicted for the Oregon coast for at least the next 2 weeks. Usually on the Oregon coast, from October on, it's rain and wind until late May. What am I going to do with myself until then??? lol.

It hasn't been slow here. The river I've fished this summer has been on fire. I typically caught at least 30 sm every time I went. I usually caught 50 or so. It was a magical place. I'd fish for 6 hours and I'd only leave because my right arm was getting tired from pulling up fish. That's why it was so suprising to me that it slowed so much. I went out today and I caught only 3. That's it. And small ones at that. Largest was about 10 inches. I just can't figure it out. I know there are gozillions of sm in this river. In the past, when the wind wasn't blowing and the surface of the water was smooth, you can see them everywhere. Today was glassy all day and I saw 2 fish in the rocks. Weird. I fished deep, shallow, slow, fast and I fished both high tide and low. Plastics, spinnerbaits, etc. Hardly a bite all day. Water temp today was 59 degrees. Air temp was in the mid 60's. Any suggestions???? Is this river done for the year?

I'll let you know what happens. I'm going out in the morning (Saturday) and the weather has been cool but stable. It's been in the mid 40's at night up to the mid 60's during the day.

I was hoping that's the problem. The weather cooled off dramatically here in one day. It went from being sunny and in the high 80's to low 40's at night and mid 60's during the day and it's slowly getting colder. I'm not looking forward to winter here with little to no fishing. I recently got back together with an old girlfriend that I dearly love and she is an avid fisherwoman. Ya can't help but love a woman that not only knows what a crankbait is but knows better than I how to use it. lol. I just want to put her into some good fishing before the weather gets too bad. Thanks for the info.

I"ve been fishing the Umpqua river near the Oregon coast all summer. It's a great river filled to the brim with smallmouth bass. My typical catch rate has been about 40 to 50 fish a day. The last time I fished it was on September 27th. The water temp was about 70 with the air temp about 80. The areas I fish are inland tidal waters. I went fishing on Monday 10-5-09 and the weather has cooled off dramatically. Water temp was down to 57 and the air temps are in the low 40's in the morning to the mid 60's during the day. I figured they would be coming up shallow to feed but apparently I'm wrong. Between 2 people, we caught 3 in 6 hours. I fished shallow and I fished deep although the deepest this river gets is about 20 feet. Any suggestions? Does the drastic temp changes in a week slow things down?

The Bourne Ultimatum What movie is this quote from and who said it? "I crap bigger 'n you!"

Not famous but it always made me laugh. "Usually, one must go to a bowling alley to meet someone of your...............stature!"

I see your point. I didn't realize it but after some research I found that the charging system on my engine is only 16 amps. The lakes I mostly fish in are smaller lakes so I don't have the engine running much more than 4 or 5 minutes at a time so it wouldn't charge the battery much. I haven't ever had the engine battery get discharged but I guess I should charge that battery now and then as well. Thanks for the info

Thanks for the responses. So is my charger ok for this? Are the on-board chargers better or just more conveinient???? Why would I need to recharge my engine battery when the engine charges it while it's running? Sorry if these are stupid questions but I honestly don't know. Thanks again

I have an old bass boat that I fish from several times a week weather permitting. I just bought 2 new batteries for the trolling motor. I've hooked them together so I don't have to change connections when one battery loses power. I'm just wondering what is the best way to charge them. I have an old charger but it has always worked very well. It's a variable amp charger. What I usually do is charge it at about 5 amps and the charger automatically slows the charge as the batteries get charged up. When it gets to below 2 amps of charge rate, I remove the charger. Is this method ok or is there a better way to charge the batteries? My old batteries still worked but they didn't seem to last as long as when they were new. That didn't bother me much on the lakes I fish because there was very little water current to deal with but lately I've been fishing a river for smallmouth and it's tidal waters so I fight the current a lot which taxes the batteries. It was almost like my old batteries developed a memory. The charge time started to be much less and the run times were way down as well. I just want to make these batteries last as long as possible so I want to know the best way to make them last. Thanks.

Actually if you read the ad completely, this can be had for $500.00 if he takes the whole thing. If he wants the motor and controls only, then it's $800.00. For $500.00, I'll buy it sight unseen. lol. I'm kidding of course but honestly, the engine is worth far more than that. I'd say go for it. Fix it, use it. It sounds like it could be a great deal for a guy that's kind of handy. Good luck with it. Let us know what happens.

I have an 16 foot bass boat and I've come across a great smallmouth fishery. It's a river and it's tidal water so if I'm fishing on an incoming or outgoing tide, I'm fighting current most of the time. I have 2 trolling motor batteries. Both are less than a year old but are different sizes. Would I get more time out of them if they are rigged together or seperately??? I don't know what it's called but I currently have the batteries rigged together but staying 12 volt. In other words, positive to positive, negetive to negative. I have a 40 lb Minn Kota and I usually stay out fishing all day if I can or what usually happens is the batteries give out long before I do. Any suggestions???? Anyway, just wondering if I'd be better off running on one battery at a time or both at the same time. Thanks

I'm sure that's sound advice but as far as I can tell, the stainless props aren't even available for my engine. Even getting a new aluminum prop is becoming hard to find and they are getting really expensive. It doesn't look like I even have that option.