Arty

Head to Saratoga Lake. I was on Saratoga this past weekend. Water was still cold, and bite is slow, but with some warmer weather it'll speed things up real quick.

What do you guys think? I like the fact that it's built for 1/4-3/4 oz lures. Seems versatile for shallow/deep, light/heavy lures. Anyone out there own one and use it for cranking?

Thanks guys, I appreciate the info. I thought she was about 4-5 lbs, but wasn't too sure. I'm happy to say we released her right after this photo, and she swam away strong. My father in law asked me "was that considered a big Smallmouth?". I told him 'I've been fishing now for over 25 years, and I still haven't caught one that big, so yeah, it's considered big'. I think I was more excited than he was...

Well, let me first start by saying this is not my fish, it's my father in law's fish that I took the pic of. I have been teaching him how to fish over the last few weeks. He recently bought a house on a lake, and was anxious to learn fishing, so I happily obliged. We went fishing yesterday, and this is nicest of what we came up with. Needless to say I was astounded when he hooked this pig...I had all I could do to get the net to get this thing in the boat! ;D I was real proud of him... It measured 21.5" and was about as big around as a football. I didn't have my scale, so I'm not sure what she weighed. She was a little banged up from spawning, and already had a little hole in the corner of her mouth where she was hooked up once long ago. We were fishing in about 4' water on a rock flat off of a point. It was caught on watermelon grub attached to a 1/4 oz jig head. Any ideas on how much she weighs?

I've never used the DT Fat 01, but, I can definitely vouch for the DT Fat 3. That sucker has caught me quite a few nice bass...and pickerel. I like the Firetiger and the craw colors. Like they said, you can fish this slow and it will dive about a foot, or really crank it and it will stay at 3 feet. Awesome lure either way. Actually the picture of the Bass in my Avitar was caught on a DT FAT3 Firetiger...she weighed in at a little over 5lbs.

Wow, those are some funny stories ;D I'll be launching my new boat in a few weeks...I hope. Something always funny (bad) seems to happen when my Dad and I go fishing, so, I'm sure I'll have a few "rookie" stories to share as well!

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. The motor is a 2004. It was only used for 2 seasons. It has very little hours on it. We opened the cover and you could practically eat off the inside of the cover! Clean as a whistle. The trailer is also a 2004 with very little use. Just water tested the boat today, and she has not a single leak. We'll begin prepping the boat for paint ASAP. The weather is not cooperating today...it's pretty cold and nasty out. I'll keep you posted as we move along with the project. 8-)

I didn't even think about the trolling motor. I too am planning on a transom mount trolling motor. Do they even make a lock for it?

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm really excited about it. Thanks for the hot tip on the motor lock...I didn't even think of that. It's kept in a garage, so I don't think there will ben an issue, but, I guess it's not bad to have one anyway.

Finally (after some help from the Wife), I'm able to post some pics of my new boat. It's a 12' MirroCraft. I plan on painting it, installing front and rear decks, carpet, lights, trolling motor, and a fish finder. I personally am barely able to fix a faucet leak, so I am getting help from a friend who knows a lot more than I. My boat, and my towing mobile (Wife's Jeep): I'll be posting pics of my progress as we go along. My first step is to get this thing prepped for paint. That should take most of this weekend. I'm open to suggestions/advice. 8-)

Awesome! Thanks Catt. Exactly what I was looking for. ;D

I know there's a similar thread to this, but, I have not been able to find a definitive answer as to whether or not you need Marine paint to coat the outside of an aluminum boat. I'm going to start painting my MirroCraft this weekend, and I think I'm supposed to use a chemcial stripper, then clean/sand, then an "etching primer"?, and I'm stuck on what type of paint to use. All I know is, I want it red! ;D As always, thanks for the help.

Love the look of that red paint on the Triton's. Sweet rig!

SDCOLL, how long is the boat? You did a great (professional) job with that carpet. And, like Delmonte, you too did the carpet on the inside? I'm still wondering whether or not I should paint, or carpet the inside. Looks great. And yeah Del, the weather up here is getting nicer (68 degrees yesterday!), and it's making me pretty anxious. Hopefully I'll get this project started this week. 8-)

Wow, cool boat Delmonte. I love the lights under the seat. I think I'll definitely steal that idea from you. I'm also contemplating doing the carpet like you did on the inside. Have you seen any drawbacks to this? Oh, and by the way, I'm going to try to upload some pics of my rig sometime tomorrow. Thanks for the help.