SnowBass23

After 2 weeks on the trailer, I am certain it is leaking air (albeit at a VERY slow rate). I will see if I can get it to a better shop and have it patched from the inside (it took a screw through the very center of the tread). I've been looking around for a spare tire as it didn't come with one. I am still in the break-in period for the motor so I haven't gone far from home (the lake I fish mostly is less than 5 minutes and 5 miles from the drive-way!). But, I certainly won't take it far without a spare. The tires on it now are ST185/80D13 w/5 lugs. I just want a plain-Jane tire to have as a spare. When I went into Wally and BPS the other day, all of the tires they had were marked differently and I couldn't find an employee with a clue what I was talking about. Thanks again for all the info!

I'll speak from the LOW end of the 'you get what you pay for' arguement. I have bought two pairs of 'fishing glasses' as I call them that are just cheap polarized sunglasses from Wally that sell for about $20 in the fishing department. I thought the ones I bought were great (I can't live without sunglasses on my eyes during daytime) and even the amount of glare they reduce I thought was awesome. Then I started hearing other guys talk about glasses over $100 so if these feel good to me, I really want to find out how a pair of the nice glasses work! I do agree, you get what you pay for.

I like Roadwarrior's tactic! Although, this weekend on my very first cast I nailed one, and I felt that I was watching in slow motion as he raised his head, shook his mouth, and I watched the worm come flying out. But, yeah, I generally just keep the fight on even when they jump.

Wow,...those are two big ones. Both stories show complete unpreparedness (is that a word?). It seems everybody thinks you just hook any thing to a hitch and you're good to go. And then people get to the ramp and don't bother to do the 'prep off to the side somewhere' that we have all learned. I wondered when I started reading up on boating why EVERY single piece of info I read about launching a boat said you should find an out of the way place to prep so you don't crowd the ramp. And then I found out why! It is funny also, that IME it has never bee na fisherman clogging things up. It is always some guy with a biiig ski boat, a bunch of friends (or kids) and coolers that seems to not have any clue to launch a boat. Stupidity is unforgiveable in my book. I am just learning myself, so I won't give anyone a hard time when it is just a matter of experience. I certainly learned the hard way all the little things it might take to put a boat back on the trailer or to launch. So if I see someone that is taking time because they are having trouble (in other words, it comes from inexperience and not being a big tool!) I will gladly help them out. Those few people that saw me struggling at the ramp the first few times were a big help and really helped me learn, so I'm happy to return the favor.

Hi all. The week before Memorial Day I took my boat out and the trailer picked up a nail, completely flattening the tire. I took it to a local tire shop and had them plug it. For a few days it seemed fine. Now, over the last 2 weeks I can tell it is slowly losing air. What is the best long term fix for the tire? The guy at the tire shop claimed the plug would fix it indefinately. I'll take it back to the tire shop today but wondered if there is something else I can do. Thanks for any info.

Is there a chance your motor is too much hp for the length? I just checked a couple of boats in the 16ft range that were limited to 50 hp max. Since I know nothing of the actual formula to calculate max hp that might be part of the issue. When you aren't running full throttle does it still go bow down on you, or only when you have it wide open? Good luck!

Hot during the day!? You're telling me! Down here by Dothan we've been going either super early (530am to 8am) or Late in the day. We really like to go to the launch at 6pm, when a lot of the pleasure boaters are coming back. Then right as the sun goes down, but before it is dark the bite is phenomenal on plastics for a while. To the point where my wife will have one on, then by the time she takes it off I have one, and vice versa. Then at dark the bite seems to stop altogether (and the bugs are bad!). I've read on here that the bite starts really well around midnight, so I might try that soon. Anyway, welcome! You've come to the right place and check out all the great and helpful articles available.

When the water is spraying over, does it tend to stay on one side of the boat, or over the entire front deck? I've seen boats that when pushed to the max water starts spraying over the right front, and I have been told that has to do with the propr running at max torque, causing the boat to yaw slightly to the right which in turn creates drag and causes the spray to come over on that side. I would expect that you might get a bit closer to 40mph if all the stars lined up just right, but I don't know how easily attainable it would be.

I agree with that. Usually if they are all small, then that means the numbers of bream have grown so fast that they are ALL eating any available food. Hence there is just barely enough food to keep a ton of little guys alive, instead of letting some of them get bigger. In this situation it usually means that there aren't big bass available (if they were, they would certainly be eating the smaller guys, and reducing their numbers!). However, if you do know that there are bass in the pond, I would go with the big bait/big fish theory. If you use a larger worm t-rigged you might have bream pick at it, but for the most part if will be too big for them to really eat. Good luck and have fun.

I also tend to carry rods with several different lures already tied on. I typically plan out from the beggining what I think might be working and have a selection preloaded. Then, when I get to the water, I have several options available. For example, I always use soft plastics. So one rig is loaded with whatever my 'standard' rig might be (some kind of t-rigged worm). Then I might have a spinnerbait loaded in a color I think will work, and a crank. But if I seem to not be making any progress with the worm, I might take another rod and rig a worm, but differently...a different color, style, maybe a heavier weight. As far as when to decide to change? Well, I think you just go with the gut feeling and when ti feels time then it is time! If you are fishing as a hobby (or lifestyle, but not profession like myself) then do it when and how you want!

I can understand why people do both things. Now, on here I will happily tell people what I am catching them on. However, on a small 600 acre local lake I fish several times a week, I won't always divulge those secrets to every Tom, Dick, and Harry I meet. I won't be dishonest, but I will be vague. As we have all discussed it does take work to beat out your competition in the quest for bass. So as soon as you tell someone what is working, their natural reaction is to switch to that bait. So now instead of one person using a different bait, it spreads like fire, and suddenly your unique approach is shared by everyone else. As far as not sharing details on locations, or outright hiding locations... The reason is simple for me. I go to a lot of trouble, a lot of work to eliminate unproductive areas. After I have found a honey hole that continually produces fish I don't want everyone to know. If you know I caught a 10 lb hawg out of a particular lake, I don't mind you going to that lake to find your own. But if you tell people exactly where, again, the natural reaction for a lot of people (and I don't think they are doing this with the intention of 'catching your fish') is to go right to that spot and try for themselves. Pretty soon, that little honey hole you discovered, is now covered with fishermen. When you find a good spot only to have everyone else start swarming it, it takes away some of the magic. I will happily give people advice on where to go on local waters, but I always keep some of those secrets for myself. As far as attacking people that do keep their catch, that I feel is just plain wrong. Personally, I HATE to keep LMB for food. That is just me. It isn't that I don't like meat. Heck, I love me a good steak or piece of veal! But to me, it takes a decent sized bass a significant amount of time to grow. I'd rather throw her back so she can get bigger and get caught again. Then I'll run down to McD's for a cheeseburger! But that is just my opinion. For the most part, when I see pics of fish people have kept I assume they have a valid state license. if that is the case then they have every right to keep fish within the slot/creel limits. I would hope they don't keep many game fish, so that there are more of them. But, they bought the license, and it isn't my place to get on them for it. These are all good questions you've brought up. And just like anything else, everyone has their own opinions (and they all stink like ****! ;D ) I'd like to add that when it comes to giving people info about locations, I will give pointers when it is someone fishing with kids or special circumstances like that. I've spent enough skunky days that I hate to see kids going out to get it.

Well, I certainly don't have a ton of experience, especially in regards to the motor, but as a whole the big thing when checking out a used boat is just like a used car. You can go to NADA and get the book value prices just like blue book for cars. As far as the boat itself, check it out thoroughly. Make sure everything works as it is supposed to before you drive off with it. Make sure the motor cranks, trolling motor/electrical systems work. Check out the condition of the console and dials, see what condition the upholstrey and carpet is in. You can also check out the decks, and the hinges to any storage areas to make sure everything feels nice and sturdy. If it is fiberglass you'd probably want to look over the hull really well for any kind of damage. Everything from cracking gelcoat on the paint job to more serious issues like big chips or cracks in the hull. I think the big thing would just be making sure everything works. I've had a couple friends that very foolishly just assumed the trolling motor and other items worked, only to get out on the lake and find that the motor needed some work, or the trolling motor wiring was bad or shorted out. As far as new/used it is all in your tastes and what you are trying to get out of it. I bought my boat brand new for the price you quoted. But, my boat is an aluminum and isn't anything fancy. So it is all about what you want and what you can afford. I now know that I could have been a bit smarter and gone with something gently used and loved it every bit as much as the new boat I ended up with. Just shop around, gather opinions, and see what feels right for you.

I prefer using topwater baits like frogs in the early morning or late afternoon/early evening. Especially right before dakr it really gets crazy around here. If the water is 83 degrees, I would personally expect the bass to be out in deeper haunts, or in shaded areas where they can avoid that intense heat. In my experience though, they usually seem to come back in to hunt there in the mornings and evenings.

Nice one! It looks like you have an anxious fishing partner already.

Thanks for all the replies. Today I tried it with just about 1/4 of the bunks in the water. I also sat in the middle seat, which whether it affected the actual loading or not, it is clearly obvious how much the boat leans to one side when I am in the driver's seat. Anyway, I pulled up straight on the trailer and centered (mostly). I didn't power load it all the way to the winch stand but it went much better than before. Thanks again for all the info.

All hail, the Bait-Monkey God! Wow...now I have something to aspire to with my growing tackle collection. Quiet! I can hear my wife coming...... :-X

Aside from the usual answer of 'Practice, practice, practice' which is certainly true, how do you become adept at using these lures? I feel that I am very capable of using a soft plastic. I know when I am throwing them that I WILL get bites and I have confidence in using them. Whenever I fish hard baits, especially cranks, I feel like I'm just randomly throwing them and hoping for a bite. I've read the articles on here, and all about bumping cover and different retreives. But whenever I use them I don't have any kind of 'warm fuzzy' feeling. I know just practicing it will probably eliminate this, but does anyone have any advice? At the moment, I am thinking that I might start taking ONLY the bait I want to learn with me when I go. That way, if I have nothing but different cranks or spinners tied onto the rods on the boat, I have no option to slink back to my vile worm-chuckin' ways! :

Skillet summed it up! I learned that if fish aren't biting soft plastics, then they aren't biting anything! So, yes, I ALWAYS do better on plastics but it is admittedly only because I don't have confidence in anything else. I have randomly hit one here or there on a crankbait (rarely) or a spinnerbait (occasionally) but my skills are better suited to the plastic, to where I know I can throw them and pick up bited fairly frequently. Whereas anything else, I feel like I am passing the fish by because I'm not throwing a worm. Man! I need to fish some cranks and spinners. :'(

I'm convinced the bass have a Psychic Friends network. I agree that it seems most fisherman all follow the same trends (with how many thousands reading our posts here, then turning around and running out to buy Senkos it is no wonder!) so while I was doing great on zoom finesse worms, I learned about them from another guy who probably learned from someone else and so on... So what that means is while I feel I am the only one throwing it, others probably are too. 2 years ago I couldn't keep them off the aforementioned finesse worm. Now, they won't go near it. I used to do great on purple tubes, and now that is slacking off. So I think the Psychic Bass network spreads the word when fish are seeing a certain lure and everybody else knows to stay the heck away from it. Anyway..to the question... Anything topwater! Last year, in the evenings we could throw pop-r's and they just tore it up. Now I can't throw anything top water and get anything more than an occasionaly boil.

Tubes, tubes, tubes! I am the biggest fan of tubes. I rarely catch anything on them in lakes, but on streams they are my go-to. I like the larger flipping, hand poured style of jigs. I'll usually rig them on a 1/16 bullet sinker with a tex-posed 4/0 EWG. I prefer to work my way upstream, throwing above cover and then hopping it back along with the current. All my best strikes come from pulling the bait with the current right around an obstruction. The bass hiding on the downstream side dart out and slam the bait as it moves by.

Micro and Natural are dead on. I also fish from a kayak so I understand the need to be set up just right with your pontoon. I have used the milk crate for a long time on the kayak and I am starting to carry that over to the bass boat. I also own a ton of the plano boxes, and I usually keep one of them loaded with cranks (each slot, not just one crank to a slot, but one slot holds all deep divers, one holds all shallow, etc.). Another box has all of my topwaters. I also use hook bonnets on the trebles to keep everything from tangling, and yet letting me save space for all my junk. I'm really bad about wanting to take some of everything with me, so this method works well. I also keep most of my soft plastics in their original pouches, and just throw them in a plastic bag. That way I can carry the bag into the house at the end of a trip instead of leaving them in the boat to melt and bleed.

I've done pretty well with the boogee baits. I have caught several of my biggest fish on them, usually having a hawg just slam it as I twitch it past heavy cover. I agree that it kinda fits that gimmick area of tackle, in that as soon as Bassmaster did a story about it, suddenly every tackle company had their version and Wally-world immediately had a full section devoted to it because of the rush.

I'm a fan of the 'cut the hook and remove it' line of thinking. Since all my turtles so far have been while bream fishing I have yet to deal with a treble hook. On one of the lakes we frequent the turtles are notorious for grabbing a hook with cricket or worm. After a few of them when I tried to pull the hook out like you would a fish, the hook stayed in and just bent and flerxed around the pliers. So now I cut 'em in half. Feels safer for the turtle and I can eat the cost of a cheap bream hook now and then.

Boy, did I learn that the hard way. The grass may be greener on the other side, but you still have to mow it. And mowing always sucks, even on a big riding mower.

Thanks for that, Micro. I love Zoom Toads but have had serious problems getting a hook in the jaw. The way you did that will work a lot better I think. Good stuff.