done

Literally, just about anything. However, my latest thing has been vibrax spinners. Not all cats hit them, but so far every cat I have gotten on a spinner just seem to be more aggressive than some of the others. They hit 'em hard and really give me a good fight. I got the same from just about any other bait but it seems the cats that hit these spinners all seem to be the aggressive ones.

If you could I would be curious what the implications were for wear on the motor. Not sure if this is even remotely the same, I remember some dude in school buying all sorts of crap to up the HP on his car's engine. It worked great, except he blew the engine up real quick, the entire system was just not made to run like that... <warning: the above message is NOT from someone who works with these motors on a regular basis....>

Welcome to BR man!!! Glad you're here.

I am so sorry to hear this man. His family and friends will definitely be in my prayers. x2 on the vests guys...I have been wearing mine religiously after hearing about something like this near me about 10 months ago.

Alright, There are 2 or 3 half decent spots in SC for Wylie. Duke Enery's site has some great maps (http://www.duke-energy.com/lakes/facts-and-maps/lake-wylie.asp) Copperhead is a pretty nice area, has a dock to cast into. In NC, there are a number of places. Most boat launches do not officially allow fishing unless they say so but most of them people fish at, just so long as they stay clear of the launches there do not have issues. Allen fishing area is also known as the "Hot Hole". it is a swift river discharge from a power plant, into the lake, it is loaded with Catfish most of the year. Tons of area to fish. From that site there are links to all Catawba river lakes Duke Manages with access points.

Every year I take at least 1 of my buds (sometimes more) to a 5 day excursion to the NC mountains for some serious trout fishing. We hit 4 counties and do 14+ hours of fishing a day. Last year 2 of us caught over 60 fish. May run into davisCW this year, I am totally looking forward to it this year. I love bass fishing guys, but something about wading a mile or 2 back into the middle of nowhere in a swift running stream, and getting trout that nail the crap out of your line, nothing like it.

LOL...nice.

I now of a couple spots on Wylie...you ever get p that far?

This week, my silver (with silver blade), Gold with Gold blade and yellow/Orange Vibrax were getting hit by just about anything (Bass, Cats, especially)

You may have a good store or been lucky with them to date. Historically, I used to love BPS, I still do go there as they have stuff that sometimes I cannot get anywhere else in this area. However, when I can go elsewhere I can almost always get better prices at some other stores, the service though I have had extremely mixed results, I have gotten some absolute "winners" have had to deal with there and after those experiences I was not anywhere near ready to go back. So that being said I can see why a lot of folks have not so favorable opinions of them here.

Got to love April in NC. First of all, the Bass are spawning, and there is great fishing for them, the Cat fish bite is back this month and they can be almost as fun. Then trout season opens up and they are jamming in April. If I could, I would take the entire month off of work and fish every single day.

yeah water temp in these spot is low 60's right now. Last year I started hitting this lake in Summer and was on the road all fall, so I missed this season. LOVE it. Compared to fishing deep, for me, there is nothing like trolling in close to shore, and throwing around logs and docks, and such for that big hit. When they go deep during the summer, of course fishing is always fun, but then the cats go real shallow and they can be just as fun as Bass sometimes, they surprise me how large they get, how hard they hit, and how good some of them will fight.

Absolutely not man, your money, your choice. When I was stuck on the shore, I would have been happy with an inflatable raft and a paddle. You need to get what works for you and your fishing. There are a few guys I see on Wylie who troll around in a Pond Prowler. They catch a lot of fish, especially one dynamic duo I see out there a lot. For your boat, what type of stuff you looking for? I have stuff at West Marine, BPS, Gander Mountain, Cabellas, and other marine stores.

I decked a 1446 Tracker topper, I put the storage under the front deck and built a door into it. I have 2 compartments up front, one first 2 life jackets, anchor, flare kit, and extra line. The other compartment holds the portable live well and some other stuff I needed in there. Of course you can never have to much storage, but it really keeps the decks pretty clear. There are a few great threads on here for folks who did the same.

Nice jon. Does not look all that different from my 1446. I have only had it since August and I have put tons of hours on it. One suggestion I have for it, think about carpeting. Even if you do not deck it. I know down here, when I took mine out first I just had the gas motor, life jackets, and tack in there. In August my grandfather and i went out and scortched the live jehosfefer out of our legs and backsides. That thing got SOO hot. Since I put the decks and more importantly carpeting and seats in, it is real nice.

Actually, the Eagle Cuda 168 is the model I have on my Jon. I have put it to good use.

Sure rub it in...I have been wanting to hit that lake since I got my jon boat...

Ditto to what fishfordollars has. I have been learning my home lake and started from my launch and have worked my way down the shoreline, through the middle areas over the last year. I have not gotten anywhere near what I would consider a good chunk of the lakem it is huge (for this area). However I have found some good holes, a few of which nobody hits.

This time of the year, the coves I am hitting are not the deep coves, they are really more indents on the main lake/river channel. Which we have hundreds of on the lake. Once you find those, you need them to have small beaches, bounded on either side by cliff like dropoffs (5-15 ft high), still dozens of these that I have found on the lake. When you find this. you need to start 50 ft out, should be 25-35 ft deep, 15 ft out 14-20 ft deep, 5 ft out - +5 ft. The bottom signature with the depth has been the tough one to find. The best on I hit has a set of 5 of coves that look identical but they are all diferent. 2 hold Bass, 1 is a rock solid Catfish hold (HUGE catfish in there), and the others not much fish out of either this time of year (20 ft off shore it is already 4 ft deep). The keys to remember on these is the cliffs on either side ensure plenty of sunken logs on the outskirts of the beaches and some that float right up on them or sink just offshore. Also, the cliffs never seem to have Bass but are loaded with tons of little baitfish at all these spots, usually the cliffs have fallen trees and shrubs hanging off them into the water. This time of year the Bass are hanging near the logs. I will throw a spinner, jig right on the beach, and bring it bank into the water past the logs and they hit it hard. If you back off the beaches 10 or 15 ft, you will usually hit scattered structure (piles of sticks, and logs judging what what I brought up when I snagged a couple), and fish will be hanging all over it.

Ditto, even the same color, LOL. They were the first thing I ever took Bass fishing in NC and as suck I have more confidence in them than just about anything.

Paul...you bring up a good questions for me. What is so good about color? I mean what does it show? I really am curious. I have B/W and I have been able to do real good with hear's the bottom,here's the fish, go get 'em.

greetings memphis Mike. If you have not done so already, shoot out an intro in the intro section. As to your lake fishing question, on top of the request you put out there, throw out some questions on the board here. You will find folks are very willing and able to help you out and give you plenty of info. They have certainly done that for me.

LOL!! Alright I was making it more complicated than it was. I was thinking it was some derivation of muchismo that had folks calling late or something.

Yeah but I did get the best of the fight. That fish jumped so high, then fought like crazy. Pulled my jon boat around the cove a bit. It was real fun. I just wish I could get that lure back. LOL

I loathe this woman and the genre she represents. I mean, what ever happened to having an actual new show where you had folks in from both sides. BOTH sides got their chance to talk without being stomped on...and the host was an actual host and not something resembling master-blaster from Mad-Max;s thunderdome. I mean if you run on a NEWS show, tell actual news. She takes half the stuff out of context, exaggerates facts, comes to half baked uninformed conclusions before the story has started. ARG! Yeah...I would say my view on Nancy Grace are unfavorable.