ernel

In order for them to run seperate of one another, then you would need to hook them to seperate timers, or be creatinve in your wiring. I have two freshwater pumps, but only one livewell in the back of the boat. So both pumps running at the same time is ideal for me. There is another option if you want to run one at a time. When I bought my boat, there was a problem with the wiring that ran the freshwater intakes. So I had to run new wire to the pumps because the old had shorted out and melted. I put in a small fuse block in the back of the boat that protects both freshwater pumps, both areator pumps, and the bilge pumps. I split the positive feed before the fuse block so that each pump would have its own fuse. If you split your power feed and put in a fuse block then you could just pull a fuse on days that you are fishing alone. Then only one pump would operated. Just put the fuse back in when you want both to run.

If you are using a Lowrance or Eagle product, you do not need to buy the adaptor. You can go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a hose clamp for a dryer hose. They are around 3 bucks. Most are made from stainless steel. Just turn the supplied mount for the transome the correct way and as you tighten the screw, it will cause the mount to curve with the t/m base. You may be able to do this with other MFG as well, but can not speak from personal experience. I do know that the steel clamps hold better than the plastic ones.

This is the reason I have not bought an underwater camera. Knowing what is there would make for more frustration. It is much easier to just say, "they aren't here" LOL Let's move somewhere else.

In the fall and winter months, I will always be fishing near bait schools. Simple fact being that the bass are there. In the fall the bass are trying to build there body fat for the coming winter, so they are hot on their heels . And in the winter because the bass are holding close to the baitfish waiting for the time that they are in the feeding mode. The bass are using as little energy as possible due to there lowerd metabolism, so they will not eat as often, and will not want to move great distances to find food either. During summer months, I am more interested in knowing at what depth the baitfish are holding as opposed to exactly where they are. Once I find this depth, I am more interested in finding structure that intersects this depth. Then once I have found this I will look for the baitfish again on that piece of structure.

I didn't drill holes in my boat. I just placed the timer in the battery compartment and attatach it with a few zip ties. All you have to do is hook up a positive in from the battery or from the original areator sitch, and a negative to complete the circut for the timer portion. Then hook up the positive and negative feeds to the pumps. I used the exsisting ground that was already on the pump. That left me only running 3 wires that were less than 3-4 feet long. I used the main power feed from the original areator pump now that I think about it. I have the timer running both of the fresh water intake pumps. Do not use a fuse larger than the combined draw of the two pumps. It can cause you areators to melt if they have a short. Most pumps have a draw of 2-3 amps, just depending on the size of the pump. You can do it in less than 1/2 hour.

A timer is not a must, but it is easy to forget to turn it off or on. When the timer went bad on my old boat, I bought this one from BPS. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=896&hvarDept=200&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=3&hvarSubCode=5&hvarTarget=browse

The way that I normally fill my livewells, is to start off with the drain closed before putting the boat in the water. Reason being is that I don't like to put the water from the ramp into the livewell due to the oil in the water from where the motors are warming up. After I have reached my first spot I will normally flip the aereator switch to begin filling the livewell. It will fill up for 30 seconds then shut off. I will not fill the livewell any more untill I have a fish to put in. No need in carrying extra weight around. I do not open the drain untill I am taking the fish out of the livewell at weigh in. Most livewells have an overfill drain that will allow water to flow out as new is pumped in. I have a timer that will run my main fresh water intakes. I use these whenever I am fishing. I also have a recirculator pump that I will run whenever I am making long runs on the lake with fish in the livewell. All this pump does is re use the water that is in the livewell. Hope this helps.

I can't say as far as another product, but I will agree with the 125 and 135. I have the 125 on the bow, and a LMS-480 at the helm. The 480 is basically a 135 with GPS, so I can say that I like both graphs a great deal. I have had no problems out of either of the two products. I have had the 125 for 2 years, and the 480 for a little over a year. Edited for grammer. Ernel

Cypress trees are an awsome spot to find bass at almost any given time not just post frontal. The root balls are often hollowed underneath the water line from years of current moving around them. Whether as in the form of a river channel or in the form of wind generated current. They will also have other knobs sticking up around the the tree as well. The bass will use both froms of this cover as both a "resting" spot and a place to ambush prey. I would start with the cypresas trees that are on the outter edge first. I would also look for cypress trees that have some other form of cover near by that would make it different fom the rest of the group. One that is close to the bank but still has water on sidde could pay off as well. Thanks for the compliment.

Rattletrap, you could be opening a huge messy can of worms on this one. You can get many different opinions as to barometer effects on bass and the chances of the bite before after a pressure change. There are a few things that will help to understand what is actually happening if you keep a few things in mind. First thing is that the barometer is changing constantly. Small increnmental changes are happening every minute of every day, even when the barometer is so called steady. It is not the small changes that are having a positive or negative effect on the fish, it is the major changes. There are two types of frontal systems that can effect your next fishing trip. A cold front is by far the most dreaded by a fisherman. Not because of the approaching frontal system, but due to the effect after a cold front has passed. Most cold fronts are accompanied a drastic drop in the barometric pressure as the front approaches. Then a short lived low steady pressure. Then a fast drastic rise in pressure. Sometimes even higher than before the front moved through your area. As the low gives way to high pressure, the winds change direction and funnel cooler or even down right cold air from the N-NE. The high will also bring higher winds. The stronger the high pressure system on the back side of the low/cold front, the higher the wind speeds will be. This occurs more in the late fall through the early spring. A cold front does not always produce percipitation, but if there is enough moisture in the air, it will. This is only my opinin here, but I feel the greatest effect on the fishing is actually caused at a much smaller level. By this I mean on the zooplankton. Zooplankton are effected becuase they have less tolerance to the drastic change in the temperature that comes with the frontal passage. The bait fish that eat the zooplankton, are effected by not haveing as much of a buffet to choose from for a few days. The baitfish are also effected by the increased light penetraton. These two thing will cause them to become less liklely to be out and about moveing around. First because there diets have become restricted, and because they are now even more visible when in open water. I said all of that to say this. Fishing can be some of the best of your life just before and as a cold front passes into your area. But it can be the hardest after a cold front passes. Not only because of the increase in the B/P, but due to the increased sunlight. Sunlight does not hurt a basses eyes. If it did, then they would have eye lids so they could close them. It does however it make it harder for them to conceal themselves from their inteded prey. Bass will hide in cover just as much for security as they also do to conserve energy. If catching their prey is hard to do, then they are not going to be actively chasing shad that can see them coming from a greater distance. This would be a waste of energy. Bass have learned over time that their chances for finding food will increase in a few days and they just need to conserve for a few days. So with the after effect of the frontal system still effecting their physical aspect, and the addition of increased light l/m bass are going to be moving to one of two places. Some bass are going to be pulling back out to deeper water. Some are going to be buried in or even leaning on cover. Grass mats, submerged hydrilla, brush piles, and non-floatin or floating boat docks with vertical posts are good places to start. Floating docks without the post don't seem to be as productive for me. The ones seeking cover are of course the ones that remained shallow, and are going to be more spooked. Flipping and pitching jigs and texas rigged worms tight to cover can be, and normally are the most productive for me. Key word here is tight. The thicker and nastier the cover looks the better chance that it will hold a bass. The more isolated the cover is, the more chances that it will hold multiple bass as well. A quiet approach is a must in this situation. Not only in the lures entry into the water, but in the amount of noise that is made in the boat. Sometimes it is the repeated action of casting to the same spot over and over again, and others it is the continued presence of a shaking lure that is staying too long in the bass' home that will draw the strike. Mostly I start out looking for a reaction bite first and for most. A heavy lure that will punch through a grass mat works wonders for drawing reaction strikes. It just quietly appears from above and the bass has the choice to run from it or remove it from it's home. Most bass are not gong to run from a something invading it's home. Now for the ones that have moved out to deeper water. This will vary how far and deep they move as to what type of lake your are fishing. A genereal rule of thumb, is they will pull back to the first break line from where they were before the front passes. A break line can be as small as a 2 foot change on some lakes and as much as 50 or more on others. It could nothing more than the creek channel that is winding through a flat. For the ones that have made the drastic move to deeper water, I will more than likely be using the dreaded vertical approach of the drop-shot. Sometimes this is the only thing that will draw a strike. Other times it may be the even more dreaded jigging spoon. If the depth change is not as drastic, as in just sliding futher down a sharp point, then I will use a carolina rigged finnesse worm as well. I am just looking for something that will stay in their faces as long as possible without alot of movement. The fish are not wanting to move much, so they are not going to want a bait that is acting all kinds of active and crazy. The bait should act as if it was effected by the frontal passing also. Now for the second type of frontal system. A warm front. These is one that can be more detremental to you than the fish. It is mostly associated with the coming of spring and summer. It can bring the onslaught of severe thunderstorms and other severe weather as winter fully looses it's grip and gives way to the coming summer. Sorry for the long post, but there is alot of thenings that an be said for frontal passages and the effect on fishing. I however will leave it at this.

I recently "upgraded" my rain wear to the 100 MPH suit, and have been very well pleased so far. It has been well worth the price as far as I am concerned. Last t/x was this past Saturday on Lake Norman in NC. Blast off Temp was around 34 degrees with a 21 mile boat ride at 63 MPH. Stayed warmer than I expected. Return trip was 43 degrees into a driving rain and stayed dry head to toe. The only drawback is the "beard saver". If you have one it will make your chin "itchy" against the fleece fabric after a extended wearing. Small price to pay in my opinion.

A roll cast is nothing more than an underhand cast. Imagine drawing a circle with the rod tip off to your side while making a cast. That is the basic mechanics.

The main purpose of a jack plate, is to aid in the correct set up of the the motor to the boat. You can raise the motor or lower it to get the best performance from the motor. It also moves the motor farther back away from the transom which helps the motor have cleaner water to run in. There is a little less cavitation which helps the prop to "hook up" better. (Less prop Slip)

c/b or crank- crankbait s/b- spinner buzzer- buzzbait t/m- trolling motor t/x- tournament lcd or graph- depth finder ch- chartruse wh-white bk-black bl-blue

Man after looking back at my post from 15 Jan, I can see that I was still on the pain pills from surgery. LOL. What I meant to say was 50 feet at the botom of the the lake, and over 200 feet on the shore. Man those were some good pills. 8)

I was wondering the difference between "dragging" a spinnerbait and "slow rolling" a Spinnerbait, so I did a little research on the topic. According to this sites definition: I never knew there were different terms for these two similar techniques. I thought that they where both one and the same. (Slow rolling)

Fishinfool, I would not say to put the plastics on hold, because you will be using them. It is just I have found that my cranks, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and topwater will be my first choice to find out how active the fish are. As someone else mentioned, and I totally neglected to say anything about swimming a jig threw and under a school will be very productive at times, as will a jigging spoon cast and allowed to free fall through a school. You will be using plastics for the simple fact that even in the fall, the fish are not going to be in feeding mode 24/7. There are still going to be times of in-activity where you will have to coax a bass into the bite. However, if he is hanging with a bunch of his buddies, then his one bite may trigger and activate the whole school. I really don't think I need to explain what that means. Yes baitfish is the key. But not just any "pod", as it was decribed earlier, but certain types of schools of baitfish will be more productive than others. So now you ask which ones. The easiest way to explain it is the ones that are scared. Now how to tell the scared ones apart from the ones who are just out crusing around looking for food. If you use your electronics, you can pick up on the schools that are under attack. This can be a little hard to do from the self disipline aspect at first. Reason being I am about to ask you to put your rod down for a few minutes and observe how a school behaves when it is "grazing". If you find a "grazing" school, you will notice that they are loosley grouped, and spread out over a long and area about the same depth. It may be right near the surface or it may be 10 or more feet deep. There will more than likely not be any arches near this school of baitfish that you can pick up on right off the bat. I assure you though the bass are near by, and more than likely already there. Now take this same school of baitfish and watch them as they come under an all out assault. this once loosely grouped school is now very compact in size. You can also see the school being broken apart as the bass swim through them and herd the school into smaller sectoins. The baitfishes defense is the size of the school. The shear size of the school makes picking out one single target harder for the bass to do. The bass in turn break the schools down into a smaller more managable size in order to pick out an isolated target easier. Then they drive them toward the top or the bank where escape is even more difficult. By the way, if you haven't picked your rod up yet, has your heart stopped or something? Come on get with the program. LOL! You can see all of this on your electronics, and with your own eyes as it starts to happen at the surface level. If you are going to key on bait fish only, the scared schools are going to be the best bet. Just remember though, bass are not feeding 24/7, but they will be active more often or for longer periods. When the L/M bass are not actively feeding, they will be relating to cover mostly and structure some just like any other time of the year. The smallies are more than likely relating to structure, or suspending near structure. IE: rock bluffs, channel bends, long deep points. Cover is more important to a largemouth, and structure to a smallie. Granted they both will use both, if the need arises. This is just a small generalization that I try to go by. I can;t even begin to tell you where to look for spots other than open water near deeper structure. Like under water humps and drop offs. That seems to be the only places I have ever caught spot. Looks like I have rambeled on once again. I wish I could learn to give a more direct and to the point, put it in a nutshell response, but it just doesn't work out that way sometimes. So once again you have my methods and opinions. Give 'em a try if you like.

I rarely throw live bait for the simple of fact of the challenge. It is harder to catch fish with artificals than live bait. When all else fails you can always pick up a fish or two with live bait. That is why I will fish artificals and have minnows or worms for my kids to fish with. They catch more fish and get the enjoyment of catching without all the challenges.

If the transducers are oth the same frequency, they will interfere with one another. If you are fishing deeper water, they will intfere with one another even one opposite ends of the boat. Not as bad as if they are side by side, but it can happen. Yes some mfg make a switch that will allow you to run two LCDs of of one transducer, and also to two run transducers off of one LCD. I think they run around $90-100 for the switch plus the unit or transducer. Every thing has to be the same mfg and model fro the 2:1 to work.

I'm with Gambler on this one. Set the hook once. Not only does it make the hole bigger, but repeated setting can rip the hook out of the fishes mouth. One queston I will ask, Is if there are any spots in the body of water you were fishing? They are notorious for takeing a lure by the tail. You will no if they are spots, as most of your misses will be minus the tail secton of the lure. You can normally go up to a larger hook size to help catch the short strikers. I have even gone up to a 5/0 on a 6" worm to help eleveate the problem. Still had a few short strikes, but not as many.

IMO the key with the c-rig is to feel for the fish. I normally do this by lifting gently before moving the lure. The remainder of this is from a post I made in another forum. It was easier to cut and paste as opposed to retyping the whole thing again. If there are any spots that seem to be coming from nowhere, that is why: The bite IS different with the c-rig as was stated. That is why I said to feel for the fish. Sometimes you don't feel them at all. Your line will just start moving off. Reel down to get all the slack out and set the hook with a sweeping hook set. (Sweep to the side while reeling in very fast.)Other times it will feel heavy or like you are pulling a tree branch. Set the hook. It is important to know how the lure weight feels. If you move the lure and you don't feel any weight, set the hook. The weight of the sinker actually dampings the feelings that are normally felt thru the line from the hook. This is good, as it also gives the fish a little slack line before he feels the pressure that is applied by the rod and line. This will make him want to hold on to it a little longer. You can tell when there is something alive on the other end of the line most times, but sometimes it is just an educated guess. If you are in doubt, lift up slowly and reel in some slack they will normally let you know they are there. End of cut and paste. Raul also brings up a good point about submerged vegitation. The c-rig is tops for fish that are buried in the weeds that are ignoring faster moving or bulkier presentations.

40-45 feet on Rapala ice jig. Jigging for Wallye, so it was purley an accident.

Fall fishing as you have probably heard, can be some of the best fishing of the year. It can also be the hardest season to pattern at the beginning. Bass are definatly going to be trying to stock up on a layer of winter fat, but where will they be. The simpilest way is to go on a reverse track of the post spawn to summer. If the water temps are still between 80-70 degrees, then I will be fishing from the mouths of the creeks to the first third of the tributaries. I will be throwing a lure that will look and act like a shad or some other form of baitfish. Seeing as this is the time of year when this years hatch is getting to be its biggest, I am not planning on downsizing my offerings. Spinnerbaits with #5 and #6 blades, and large cranks will normally fill the bill for me now. I will be fishing weeds that are near a form of structure that is near deeper water. If I dont have weeds in a lake, then I will be fishing the "tops" of laydowns that are near or on points or bluffs. Once the water has dropped to 70-60 degrees I would have to be fishing more in the tributaries. Main concentration would be secondary point and channel bends. Also by now, alot of the weeds and grasses are starting to turn brown. This is where if you can find grass and weeds that are still green, you are more than likely find fish. Green weeds = oxygenated water. Dying weeds are the opposite. They will give off CO2 and cause the bass to find "greener pastures" so to speak. If I can't find any grass or weeds, then I will be targeting isolated wood. Pretty much using the same search baits as before. I have however slowed my retrieve a little in the early morning, and left the size about the same. Throw in a few topwaters when you can find schoolng bait fish. If the "schoolies" will not take a topwater, then a shad replica through and under the school will often draw the bite. 60-50 degree water is when things get interesting. I am going to be spending more time fishing shallow points that are near flats and coves in the backs of the creeks. With regrets, I am now forced to down size my presentation. Smaller cranks that have more wiggle rather than a wobble are key in presentation, as are slow rolled spinnerbaits near logs if there are any still in the water. All of my grass and weeds are dead or gone and wood is going to be my key form of cover. Bass may have started to change thier preference from shad to crawfish. IF a shad like offering is not getting the bite, then I will be throwing plenty of jigs. If I can find wood of any size that is not high and dry, I will throw a jig or t-rig at it. The smallest pieces of wood may hold a bass. Cold fronts are going to be pushing through more frequently now. Lakes are already well into yearly drawn down to winter pool for flood control in the coming spring. Not exactly your best to combinations for finding active fish. If you can find a twig that is still in the water, I suggest you fish it. If you don't get bit come back a little later with a different type of lure and try again. If you are fishing post front, then you may be suprised to find bass still in the shallows. They will sometimes move up the day after the front passes due to the shallows being warmer due to the sun warming the rocks and muds near the shoreline than water that is at the first break. Hence a twig may hold a bass if it is still in the water. Once the water has hit the 50 degree mark, I begin my return track back to the main lake where the bass will make their winter homes in the deep. Of course the there also some bass that will stay in the creeks. Mostly around the secondary points and into the first third. One other thing that is also helpful, is if the fish are not actively chasing shad, then slow down your presentation. Grubs, jigs, and t-rigs worked down rock walls can be very productive. I have found this real helpful when trying to target smallies in the fall. Suspending jerkbaits are also very productive as well. These are only my opinions and methods that have worked well for me. Others may have different techniques that work well for them. Try them all and see what works for you.

I don't mind a good 10-20 mph wind in the late spring thru fall so much. mainly for the reasons previously stated. It is a totally different in winter and prespawn conditions however. During prespawn is probably the worst for me. It normally means that a front has just passed and the bass have pulled back out if the shallows and went back to their staging areas. Not quiet as easy to find the bigguns' then. LOL

What I have found in the t/x I have fished, is that it is better not to have a favorite lure or technique. You will always have a certain form that is more comfortable for you to use, but it may not be the one that needs to be used at that particular moment. If you allow yourself to always fall back on a lure or technique that you are most comfortable with, then you are going to fish it at the wrong time, and just as bad fish with it for too long. It is very wise and very benificial to be well rounded in all aspects of your tackel. Of course that goes without saying. One thing that I feel that is just as important as the skill needed to use a lure, is haveing the knowledge of why is this the right lure for the current fishing situation. You can be the master of every lure ever produced, but if you are using it at the wrong place and time, it will be to no avail. So I guess you can say it is best to be an expert with every lure that you plan to use. It is also safe to say that there will be few styles that will suit your personallity better. Those styles will be the ones that you master.