MFD_Firefighter661

Bullrun I have a boat very similar to yours and I am in the middle of restoring it too. I actually work in Nashville so I am not to far from you either. It is very possible to restore your boat to make a decent fishing boat, just take your time and make sure you really think through the changes you make on the boat before you actually do them. Also Tpayneful, do you have any pics of the rear deck.

I am going to be flying out to see my kids next week and was really hoping to be able to go fishing with them when I get there. I will be staying somewhere around the Lorton Va area and am looking for a good place to fish. I looked online and found a place called Lake Burke Park. But their website didn't say anything about if they had bass in the lake. Also they do rent small jon boats for a decent price so that really got me interested in this place too. Can anyone shine some more light on this area for me or if they know a better place to go fishing in the area. I have never been to virginia before and any help at all will be greatly appreciated. Also if there is no bass what is the most abundant to fish for and if you have any tackle or lure suggestions that would be great.

sent you a pm

Me personally I would love to go fishing for peacocks its just getting the others to put up the funds to go too.

MFD... Manchester Fire Department Firefighter..... my job 661....My ID number I signed up to the forum one day at work and that is what I picked. I now have since signed up on other forums with the same. :-?

anybody hear any reviews on the spinnerbait kid?

Thats good Jeff is actually one of the guides that we have looked at online. Ill give him a call then and see what we can come up with. As far as traveling we don't mind to go as far as a full days drive away so Florida would be about the farthest we would go. Not sure how far Lake Fork is from here.

Me and a buddy are thinking about the BR roadtrip, but for this occasion I would like to get a guide since this may be my grandfathers last big outing. I called Fred and he doesn't do any largemouth and is exclusively on Dale Hollow, which is a lake that we have fished a few times and since it is considered a local lake, not really what I am looking for.

Me and my uncle want to take my grandfather out on one last big outing. We live in middle Tennessee and are all very big fans of topwater bass fishing. We were thinking about taking him to Guntersville this coming spring but are very open to other lakes if someone can suggest something better. Since none of us has ever used a guide service, we have no idea what to look for in one. Since this may be the last big outing my grandfather is able to do we want to do everything top of the line, the best guide service out there. If any of you have any recommendations for guide services that would be great or if you think that we may have a better time fishing topwaters on a different lake please let us know. Thanks in advance and tight lines to all.

here are the pics as I bought it (minus) the trailer jack I just put on. as you can see it needs work but for the price we cant beat it. The motor that came with the boat is just a parts motor if we decide to go gas and someone donated a "running" motor to us that is identical

Well we are ready to start working on this thing. We finally got the boat to my house tonight unfortunatly with it getting dark at 5 now there is no time to work. I did get one picture of it before dark so as soon as I can figure out how to post it I will have it up.

it looks like a late 70's early 80's tri=hull runabout

I just bought a vintage conolon rod for my grandfather. Its a rod he has been looking for for many years. I got a pretty good deal on the rod and I am happy with it but I would like to put new updated guides on it and Im not sure how I would go about doing this or who I can take it to to do it.

Tennessee.......well maybe not but since I am from Tennessee I am gonna vote for it ;D

Just wondering if anyone knew anything about National Boats. Looked at one today I just have never heard of this brand. Any info would help

Well, here is the update. We are gonna go ahead and take this boat down to a local marine shop and have him check out the hull and make sure that it is in good enough condition for us to work with. I am very mechanically inclined and familiar with construction. Just haven't tried it on a boat yet. Whichever boat we bought we were going to plan on stripping it down to the hull and building it from there. We do agree with most of you and know that the pontoon would be the ultimate way to go however we are not able to find anything close to what we are looking for at this time. Right now we are only planning to take one person out with us at a time and with a full deck this should be plenty of room right. We have talked to several people in our area that are wheelchair bound, and have discussed with them the problems they think they will have getting in and out of the boat. So yes the tri-hull may not be as good as a pontoon, but we will also be there to help them in any way possible. One question I would like to know is from people that do already own a tri-hull how stable is the boat for them when standing on the edge, and about how much they weigh. I would definatly like to volunteer and help out with C.A.S.T. , and LBH maybe you could help me here, but I am not sure that there are any events in Tennessee or around here. We have started to try and raise money for this build. One of the things we need is to get registered as a non-profit and we are kind of having a hard time finding out what needs to be done and if this is neccessary in order for us accept donations from people that want to give us products or money. The last thing I want is to get into any legal trouble over trying to help someone. (The sad part is that it does happen). Once again guys we appreciate the input, and thank you all very much.

We have thought about getting a toon, however we have yet to find one with a decent price tag on it that we can afford. Also we will not secure the person to the boat with the wheel chair we would just like to be able to secure the chair to the boat to prevent accidental rolling. Also we would like to keep people in regular seats if it is possible for them to do it.

Hey all, I am in need of some help and opinions. Me and a buddy of mine were thinking about buying a boat and making this a handicapped accessible boat to take disabled children and elderly fishing in that would not normally be able to go by themselves. We have found a fiberglass boat, motor and trailer for two hundred dollars that we are thinking of buying and using for the build. We are not sure of the model but it is an older bass boat with the tri-hull design (would this be stabe enough?). The motor was said to be running when it was parked and that was 3 years ago. The prop is missing on it and we are not sure we would want to toss a bunch of money at a hopeless motor. We have thought about making this an electric powered boat in order to give us more space on the fishing decks. And since it will be with disabled people we are not too worried on going fast. We would like to deck the entire boat and have it laid out similar to the "birth of and electric boat" that was done on here. As far as making it accessible we would like to put some type of ramp that could fold out of the way when fishing, and we need a way to be able to remove the rear fishing seat in order to put in wheelchairs for kids that would need to stay in them. Also we are looking for a way to be able to secure the chair to the boat for safety reasons. Since me and my buddy are both EMT's and Firefighters are income is very limited and since we are going to need to refinish most of the boat (carpet, trolling motors, wiring, paint, seats) we need to try to keep all of the costs to a minimum to be able to afford this. Any suggestions you guys may have would be a great help to us both since this will be both of our first builds. Thank you in advance.

I thank my grandpa for taking me out fishing early in my life and introducing me to such a great sport. He was the one who gave me the bug and taught me the basics of fishing. I have also learned alot from watching Bill Dance and I try to learn something from every person I go fishing with.

I have tried the ebay way and in the last month I have only found one possibility which I am bidding on now just for a chance it being the right one. Anyone know anyone that may have one of these for sale or some one that can build one like it for me? Thank you all for the input.

To make a long story short. My grandpa lost his favorite rod and reel in the Cumberland River several years ago. He has yet to find a replacement for the rod due to it being discontinued. This year for Christmas I am trying to find him one. I have located the reel but no luck on the rod. I am looking for a Conolon 2218-a casting rod 6' med action/fast taper with the short handle. Does anyone know where I can find one or does anyone know where I can have someone custom build one to spec as close as possible to this rod. any help appreciated and thanks in advance.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. This site has already made me more addicted. I have been lurking around in the weedbeds for awhile but have just finally made the jump to sign up. I look forward to learning more from you all in time to come. Just a little about myself I am from Tennessee and have been fishing with my grandpa almost since I could walk. I cant ever remember not going fishing with him. If I had a choice I would fish topwater all the time but since I am addicted to catching as much as I am fishing, I have expanded my arsenal these past couple years to soft plastics, jigs and spinnerbaits. I dont do crank baits much mostly since the place I fish the most is a river that has been flooded over what used to be a real dense forest, that is real shallow, and gets crankbaits hung up too easy. I have fished a few lakes but stay at my little secret hole 90% of the time. I am fire fighter/EMT here in Manchester so I have the luxory of being able to go fishing sometimes in mid-week mornings and lucky enough to be the only one out there. P.S. The boy in my avatar is my 4 year old from when he won big fish at a father son fishing tourney. I think he may be addicted even more than me.

HI, My name is Josh, and I am an addict. ;D

What gets me is when you have a 3 lb bass somehow break your line but you see a kid catch one in the neighborhood of five pounds on an ultra-light.