retiredbosn

Yeah you're right, let's see the inland buoy tender I was on had a water blistering speed of 7 knots, good ol' USCGC Blackberry. But not all were that slow, ever stationed in the 7th district?? We had confiscated cigarette boats, but not even our go fasts went that fast tho, but helos. That's the ticket for this, just call in air support. A dolphin sweeping in and hovering in their path usually did the trick. I loved the resources we had there, it was so different from the rest of my career. That was the Reagan/Bush era and the start of the zero tolerance policy that the press coined the war on drugs.

Would have loved meeting that idiot back in the day. Looked like less than 6 inches of freeboard at the stern. That's a death trap. At that speed there would be little to recover after an accident, hitting the water that fast is like hitting concrete, except you'll skip flip break allot of bones, maybe lose limbs.

Thanks, I really appreciate the pictures. I'm sure there is a solution. I have some ideas to give me the depth I want as well. I'll post a picture when I'm done.

Getting a better look at the mounting for the HDSI, I'm not sure that this set up will work with that mount. Need to find an exploded view of the mount.

Pictures from latest temptations

Can't get anything by you, lol. That's the transducer that came with the Helix, the service department at Bass pro installed it trying to do me a favor, on the TM! My TM is a 36 volt, the.rf interference was unbelievable, I purchased a XTM 9 HDSI 180 T for the Helix which at the time was bow mounted. My 899 came in this week and I'm waiting on the mail for the new transducer to get here, did the swap out with Humminbird.

Yes all tiger musky point being, two are definitely green and yellow like Clayton's catch. I go by the color of the head, green head green fish, don't know why lol Guess it's like the zebra black with white stripes or white with black?

Here is a mock up, it's dead center of boat from port to starboard

My boat has a stepped hull, proper place for the HD transducer is below motor mount. I got to thinking I can flip the mount and mount it flush to the step, which will get the puck deeper. I would of course have to reinforce the mounting, probably thru bolts and metal plate.

pm'd u

I have a friend who is a pretty good tournament fisherman, he won his current Skeeter. Anyway he keeps a Zebco 33 on his boat, he uses it to slingshot light baits under docks. He can't use a spinning reel (he says) that's the reason for the Zebco, pretty funny combo a G loomis rod witha zebco 33.

The absolute easiest reel to learn on will have either dual braking system or digital braking. As already stated Digital brakes come on high end reels. Good news tho is u can pick up a Bass proshop's Pro Qualifier for about 50 used and 99 new. This reel has both centrifugal and magnetic brakes, very hard to backlash, butt it can be done.

Out of curiosity, why such a big reel? Just added weight, imo. A 2000 size is more than big enough, they hold more than 100yds of 10lb line. From the lures and techniques stated a 2000 would be ideal.

This week a new Humminbird 899si, 7 foot Shimano Clarus crankbait rod ($40), 4 Spro BBZ1 Shad ($12 ea), pack money minnows ($5), Megastrike jigs ($4.50), 2 packs Zoom Big Dead Ringer, Rapala Skitter Rap, and a 1/2 oz inline Meps spinner. Local mom pop tackle shop retiring. They have a Cumara Rod for $100, retail is close to $200. This could get real bad, took a picture to post somehow deleted it. Post it tomorrow.

Here are a few

Probably an older Jon, had a 14 footer once with a 32 beam at the bottom. Couldn't even stand in it, only used it by myself too unstable to put ppl in. I ended up scrapping it.

The dead fish looks like a hybrid to me, I wouldn't want them in my pond, voracious appetites, think it would be detrimental to largemouth and sunfish.

Not offended at all, you're new here, just pointing out the obvious. This is without a doubt the best bass website anywhere, there are ppl here who know allot (I'm not one of them), what's more they're willing to share that knowledge. However acting like you already know it all and lashing out at the members here is not conducive to your education or other member's enjoyment. This forum is great because there has been allot of hard work by Glenn, Keri and the mods. This is Glenn's forum the rest of us are guests and should behave as such. I'm not dogging you or calling u out, and I wouldn't report you or your tantrum not worth the effort. In case you missed this it's required reading http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/forum-30/announcement-5-read-me-before-posting-this-is-critical/

Depending on your latitude they could be post spawn, my home river doesn't see 60 till summer, bass spawn in the 50's. Although a warm water fish smallies thrive in cooler temps than their cousins. Anyway they should be active, obviously a 4" curly tail smoke 1/8oz ball head, 5" flukes, if they're feeding on chubs or suckers a gold blade spinnerbait, with a brown/gold skirt, motor oil with chartreuse grub for trailer. Pop R's work great, 6" lizard watermelon red flake weightless, and finally a bitsy bug jig 3/16 or 1/4 brown skirt with a little orange and a rage tail chunk. Good luck and let us know how you do.

I posted that for your benefit, all caps means you're yelling. Forum (not just this forum) etiquette frowns on that behavior, but I see from your response yelling is the least of your etiquette problems.

I'm really liking the looks of the fg knot and with an average of 90% knot strength, impressive. What many ppl don't realize is a line to line knot is the weakest knot anglers routinely use. Most have less than 50% knot strength. What I mean by that is, if you're using a 12lb leader the knot is going to fail between 6-8lbs. Few knots ever give you much over 75%, an exceptions is the Palomar knot, which actually yields 100%. The fg knot is the strongest leader knot I've ever heard of, for that reason alone it's worth learning and using.

Nice bronzebacks, congrats

This is something allot of fishermen wonder about, and here is my take on it. I am a buzzbait fanatic, I always have one tied on and ready for action. Here is what I've learned after years of fishing top waters. A huge explosion on a topwater is usually a defensive reaction, as such many times the bass is smacking the bait. It's intent is to stun or drive off the intruder, many times it's a tail slap, sometimes it's hitting it with its head. The key here is it's not taking the bait into its mouth, unlike the almost silent strike when the bait just disappears. Pay attention next time you're catching them on the surface, I'm willing to bet that the silent strike has a much higher hook up ratio compared to the violent explosion type, simply because the bait goes in its mouth. How many times have you caught a fish that's hooked outside its mouth? If you're like most ppl the answer is several. Secondly go to youtube and search for some underwater footage of bass strikes. A bass can inhale a crankbait and spit it out so fast that many times the angler doesn't even feel it. The hooks are useless without a hook set of some type, I was astounded at how fast a bass can strike and spit a mouth full of trebles and come away unscathed. This video shows some being caught and some spitting the lure out. Bass hit lures (underwater shots): http://youtu.be/N3UG-vuSmG8

True, I think he fights allot like Sugar Ray did, by most accounts he is one of the greats.

Lizards are awesome baits for bedding bass. I truly think that bass hate lizards because the raid so many nests. Most every strike on a lizard is just viscous.