SissySticks

Actually was looking at this rod at Academy today, and while I was there I picked up the 7' MH Falcon HD series casting rod. It was a really nice rod for $70! I was really surprised. Felt better to me than the Original series-- more balanced and with a nice true fast action. I think I'm going to get one for these techniques. I'll let you know how it goes.

What do you guys like about the XF action? Seems like it might be good for jigs but limit the use of the rod in some other areas... This will be one of 5 rods I tournament fish with (co-angler) so it needs to be versatile as well. I'll primarily throw jigs and t-rigged paca craws on it, but it may do spinnerbait duty, buzzbait duty, etc. on some occasions. In the past I've always liked fast actions over XF for versatility, but I"ve got a Bass Pro 10 minutes away so I may have to go look at the Carbonlites X2 It's available in a 7' too.

Sorry. Baitcasting. Really want at least 7'. I think those inches count, in casting distance and in deep water hooksetting. If they didn't, we'd all still be fishing 5'6" rods.

I fish primarily the 5/16 oz Eakins jig and the 3/8 oz. Eakins finesse football jig. I am looking for a 7' rod to throw them on but I absolutely WILL NOT spend more than $100. Trying to get outside the box here-- I don't care for the action of the Falcon Bucoo finesse jig rod, for example.

Looking at getting a shimano compre 6'6" Medium XF casting rod to throw 3/16 and 1/4 oz. jigs to shallow water (down to about 12 feet). It will also do duty on light texas rigs and spinnerbaiting. Anyone used this rod or one of shimano's MXF rods? Is it a good choice for this technique? I have a heavier rod for bigger jigs, texas rigs, and spinnerbaits which are the only techniques I use casting tackle for, but need something with a lighter tip for these light baits. Looking to spend less than $100.

I've edited my original post. I spend 20 minutes looking for the thread (on another board) where several guys had said they broke an XF st. croix, but now I cannot find it. It was quite a while ago when I was looking to upgrade my arsenal, so the thread may be gone from the engines. Nevertheless, since I can't find the evidence, I retract my statement about St. Croix. All the ones I've used have been nice rods. I just like the warranty and reel seat of Powell's better. I should have been more careful with my words. Enough said.

I agree completely. The grub is still my absolute #1 favorite bait for fishing submerged coontail in summer. For me (I don't throw spinnerbaits or crankbaits much anymore) they're like the difference between a fat and flat crank, sometimes fish like the subtle action of the swimbait, and it does come through grass really well. Other times, the waters stained or whatever, and the thumping tail on the grub is the ticket. Horses for courses. I still throw a tube more than either one.

I agree completely. The grub is still my absolute #1 favorite bait for fishing submerged coontail in summer. For me (I don't throw spinnerbaits or crankbaits much anymore) they're like the difference between a fat and flat crank, sometimes fish like the subtle action of the swimbait, and it does come through grass really well. Other times, the waters stained or whatever, and the thumping tail on the grub is the ticket. Horses for courses.

St. Croix makes nice rods. St. Croix's tend to run plenty fast and a little on the heavy side in my opinion, so the fast should be fine for you. I went with the Powell rods because for $140, which is less than the high end St. Croixs, I get a lifetime warranty and some really nice actions. Also I don't care for St. Croix's spinning reel seats. Hope you enjoy your new rod and catch some big bronzies with it!

I use both the YUM muy grub and the Berkley 3.5" t-tail minnow for smallies. Generally, if I'm fishing a situation that calls for a horizontal finesse retrieve, I'll have both tied on and just see what they want. The muy grub is a fat lure with a big tail (lots of vibration) and the t-tail is more subtle/longer in length. Both work well, but I never see the muy grub disappearing from my box.

Yes, XF= extra fast tip. Only way to fly in my opinion. I fish for both large and smallmouth and some spots too, and in all honesty, I carry 5 spinning sticks and only 2 casting rods, but 3 of my spinning rods and both my casting rods are XF. The only thing I don't really like them for is grub/small swimbait fishing and topwater, because I like the slightly more parabolic flex of a fast or mf taper for those techniques, but for jig and plastic fishing, I think XF is far superior.

Many small lakes here in KS have both large and smallmouth bass. Its a matter of having habitat to accomodate both of them. The lakes where both species are successful tend to have areas that are mostly rock and areas that are mostly weeds. If there's abundant coontail though, all bets are off. Smallmouth will hunt shad around the edges and largemouth will eat bluegills in the matted stuff. There's one small lake here (~200 acres) where the lake record smallie is 5.8 pounds and the lake record largemouth is 7.6. Both huge fish by Kansas standards. On the other hand, big Milford (which got a bad rap from the Fed tournament but is actually a nice fishery), the habitat is mostly rock and the smallies dominate the largemouth completely there. Its all habitat based.

I suppose that's true, but where I live we often have good size smallmouth (~3-4lb.) and good size largies (~3-6lb.) living in the same lakes. Also, when I'm jig fishing (read, 3/16oz.-3/8oz.) with Eakins Jigs and Bitsy Bugs, I like casting gear. My favorite combo for this type of fishing is the Powell 683ce, which is a MH XF 6'8" casting rod. I use, actually, an old Shimano Citica on it w/ 10-12lb. Big Game and it throws spinnerbaits, weightless plastics, and small jigs really well with the XF tip. I won't throw anything under 3/8oz. on a casting rod unless it has an XF tip though. I still throw weightless plastics on spinning tackle though. Basically I throw jigs/texas rigs/spinnerbaits/frogs on casting gear and thats it.

I have a decision to make about my boat. I just decided to go all electric and purchased a Maxxum 74 t for the back of my boat. Then today, I found out my trusty MK AT33 bow mount trolling motor kicked it. So I need to replace. I'm considering just purchasing one of the new Varimax 55lb. transom motors and running it up front, because I could get digital for $260. How much am I going to miss the actual mounting system used on bow mount motors? Otherwise I have to either spend 2x the money to get a bow mounted digital motor, or settle for a less powerful, 5 speed bow mount like the edge 40/h. What would you do?

They are the Wal Mart Everstart MAXX 29 series batteries. the 74t will be the main propulsion, so I'm just trying to get a feel for my range.

Both motorguide and seasense make a mount for less than $30. On the other hand, a short length of 2x6 and 3 big L-corner braces will do the job cheaper, and you can get that stuff at your local hardware store.

After a very frustrating season last year with a flaky, old 5hp on my converted 16' semi-v, I decided to go all electric (our lakes aren't electric only, but they are fairly small [under 400 acres mostly] and I like the reliability). Two days ago I scored a lightly used Maxxum 74t for the back of the boat for only $138. However, this is my first 24v, so I have a couple questions. 1. What kind of battery life can i expect from 2 29series batteries with the 74t? It has the maximizer technology. 2. When I wire the batteries, I connect the +/- of the batts together and then connect the motor wires to the remaining unused +/- terminals. That I get, but if I want to run a fishfinder from the setup too, do I connect it to the inner +/- terminals that are connected to one another in order to get 12v? Thanks.

I use a 6'4" G-blanks Light/Fast tennessee handle w/ a Cardinal 401 and 6lb. BPS Excel Green. I use it to throw 1/16 oz. tubes, 1/32 oz. finesse worms, etc. I also use a 6'6" Rapala Tournament series MF w/ a Cardinal 252 and 8lb. excel to throw dingers, 1/8 oz. jigs, topwater. I mostly use jighead baits for smallies.

Something I always notice about the bass boat crowd is an obsession with performance. Don't get me wrong, I've been in a BassCat Puma at 80mph and it was awesome. Obsession with performance is fine. However, I think that the performance-crazed bassboat crowd does a disservice to some people when they go on message boards asking about this or that boat and get the response "its under powered" or "you'll never get top end performance out of that." Its a disservice because we don't first ask that person what their usage is. Example: I'm a high school teacher. It's an awesome job for a fisherman, because I get to fish 70+ days a year if I want and still make a living. Frankly, for my profession and age (25), I'm even a well-paid high school teacher. Nevertheless, I pull down less than $40000/year. If you figure that 70+ days of fishing a year and my salary, fuel economy becomes a really important factor for a fisherman like me, but I also like to travel to fish and some lakes around here are big (10-16,000 acres), so I want to have a boat I feel comfortable in. For my budget, I need a boat that can get ~5mpg, but speed doesn't matter, as long as I can fish my 70 days. Stratos fills this niche pretty well. If I went even further with my questions, you might ask a guy if he fishes tournaments, because obviously, that's why all these super-fast boats developed in the first place. If a guy doesn't, then speed really isn't going to matter to him either. I do, but I'm about 90% finesse fishing, so I like to get there after the other guys and fish behind them (they leave so many fish ). So even though I fish tournaments, speed still isn't nearly as important to me as fuel economy. So before everyone starts talking performance, lets talk about needs. Stratos XT boats offer lots of amenities (abundant storage, cool rod organizer, lots of fishing space, divided live wells, etc.) in a boat that gets great fuel economy. The 186xt will be on my list when I replace my boat in a couple years, because it will meet my need for big boat+fuel economy.

1. Has anyone used an offset seat post (ala Bill Dance) and what is it like? I'm considering one for my conversion because frankly, I don't stand all that much when fishing and my stand-up seat makes my back hurt if I sit on it too long. With the small front deck, it seems the offset post would give you more room and maneuverability. 2. Will a swivel eze 3/4" post fit in a springfield base?

The 5hp wouldn't plane my boat anyway. The trip was ruined because I was drifting live bait and using the OB to correct, and while we were fishing, it died and would not start. My front trolling motor only had enough power (30 lb. thrust), to troll into the 25mph wind for 1 hour and we had to row back to the ramp. It was awful. I can count on 2 fingers the number of decent lakes around here over 500 acres. I'm mostly concerned about battery life, rather than speed. P.S. you can get a 80lb. 3x motor for less than $350 used, and I have had poor luck find a reliable, newer 5hp for that. Even if I did, I'd want a rear TM because I drift fish and backtroll a lot.

I have a 16', 59" beam v-hull fishing boat that I converted with a flat floor and front deck. I have been powering it this season with a 1950s 5hp Sea King I bought for $80. However, the motor has been unreliable at the best of times and when a month ago it ruined a great smallmouth trip (I caught 10 smallies and a 16" largemouth in 1 hour before the motor died) I just can't take it anymore. It also has an internal tank and leaks fuel slowly, which is both wasteful and scary. Frankly, its not worth the money to get fixed, since I only paid $80 for it and I DO NOT LIKE the internal tank. Unfortunately, the boat is also probably not worth putting a more expensive outboard on. Its a short transom and so the motor wouldn't be able to transfer over to any other boat I'm ever likely to own, and I'll surely take a loss on the motor if I sell it with the boat. I only plan to own the boat 2-3 more seasons before I upgrade to a Lund Pro-V 1700. I've considered getting an 80 lb. thrust Minn Kota Vector to use as primary propulsion. The lakes I fish range from 25-460 acres. Would this be feasible? The Vector could then be moved over to the transom of the Pro-V for backtrolling duties, so it seems to be the most financially smart choice. Having never used a 24v troller for primary propulsion ( I also have a 36lb. all-terrain up front) I'm unsure how worthwhile this would be, or how reliable it will be on the larger waters. The other option is to sell the boat and get a coleman crawdad which I can keep and use even after I get a bigger boat. Thanks.

Honestly, I used resin on my boat and if I do it again (likely) I'll use Thomson's water seal. The resin is messy and not easy to work with. Also, you don't have to use 3/4 in ply unless you're not planning to support the deck properly. 5/8 works fine and is lighter and easier to find in odd-ply, which I also recommend. If you use the Thomson's I also wouldn't say you need treated ply, since you'll be treating it yourself. You should be able to pick up untreated 5/8 5-ply for ~$20/sheet. Also, sometimes the department of roads will give away old Interstate overpass signs, which are a very heavy-grade aluminum and work awesome for boat decking when coupled with aluminum angle supports. Cheers

I only wish I'd used different wood and grey carpet. I think the weird colored carpet looks kindof chincy. It was REALLY cheap though (like $2/ linear foot). It's a great boat to fish out of. I've fished everything from bass to crappie to walleye out of it and its performed well. All electric is so reliable too.

I did a boat a lot like that last spring. I made some mistakes, like using the wrong type of wood, which really cost me some time and mental anguish, but the layout really worked well. Here's a link It's changed some and had some things added, but I run it with a 70lb. MK Vector on the back and a 36lb. MK All-Terrain on the front and it works well for anything under about 500 acres. I would think you could rig it up really nice for about $1000. Figure about $350 for building supplies, $500 for Trolling motors/batts (2), $150 for a fishfinder, and $70 for a Toho livewell, give or take $100 total and you'll be rolling, or, um, floating.