BigBassGuy

Make sure those 3/0 or 4/0 hooks are EXTRA wide gap.

You might want to consider adding trim tabs

On one of the lakes I fish there are a ton of catails, and the Red Wing Blackbirds love to perch on them. The Largemouth have become aware of this and will bump the catails when they see one sitting on it. Sometimes it startles the blackbird enough that it will fall into the water and the bass will ambush it. Its quite fun to watch.

There really isn't alot of action to them. The flaps on the sides will flare a bit and the tail will swim slightly. To impart a little more action into them you can split the tail in the middle. You've done right T-Rigging them, you can also Carolina rig, slide them on a jig or any other way you see fit to rig them. Maybe even try wacky rigging 'em, never tried it before but hey, it might have some sweet action that bass can't resist.

Remember, they are called 'LARGEmouth' for a reason Size 7 is 2 3/4" long ---> Perfect for both largemouth and smallmouth Though if you were surprised at the size of these, I'm guessing you probably aren't setup to throw them. You may want to go out and pick up a 6 1/2' or so medium/medium-heavy fast action rod with matching reel, if you haven't got one already. Good Luck!!!

I would trim it up mainly to keep the algea from building up on the motor and inside the water pump. Also if you are on a lake thats infested with Zebra mussels or some other nuisance that has the potential to get inside and cause problems I would rather prevent the possibility of them getting in as much as possible.

http://www.wunderground.com/ Weather Underground - I would suggest signing up (its free and you can then save cities and searches and the only way you can see detailed history of the location) They give you the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly history of your location. You can also customize that history for a specific date range. Its pretty awesome, comes with graphs and everything. That history area will also let you search back to any date (all the way back to 1945 if you wish) and will tell you everything you need to know about what the weather did that day from hour to hour. They give you an hourly graph of wind speed and direction, temp, barometric pressure, conditions, etc. It can be extremely useful if you know how to interpret everything.

I've had good luck with their 'Oxbow' color (Chartreuse w/ blue back) on muddy water such as the Mississippi.

A pop of the palm works great. If its inside the mouth the best way I have found is to take your middle and index finger bend them like a hook and use them to clamp into a corner of the fishes mouth. Then use the pad of your thumb and place it onto the top of hook eye and push down with the thumb and pull up with your other fingers. It will keep alot of the pressure off the jaw and help prevent the damage you could cause if your just holding onto the bottom of the jaw and pushing down on the hook.

Gotta say the Twins!!!!

It is impossible to get water that high. (unless its under pressure) 212 deg F (100 Celcius) is the highest you can get pure water, after that its steam. Heat Gun will work, also a hair dryer works in a pinch. Heat it slowly and evenly until its soft all the way through, you don't want to get it too hot otherwise it results in what you have.

HAHA!!! Love it!!! Is that what they mean by 'Ghetto'? BTW - Please take the price tags off, its making the zebco look cheap. ;D

Sorry Rubba, got busy and forgot to reply. I'll get some pics posted for you in the next day or two. As far as the label decoration, the only thing that I was unable to match exactly was the thread size, I believe the green and gold is size C or D and I used A since that is what the store I bought everything from had, only noticable if you look VERY closely. As far as the split grip, I love the looks of them, and have built a couple for myself, but I prefer to fish with the regular grip, just more comfortable for me.

Thanks!! Being very careful with an Xacto knife I sliced the length of the grip in a couple spots staying away from the blank. Then just take a pair of pliers and rip away the cork. Next, carefully scrap and chisel away the leftover glue and cork with the knife and some acetone. Clean it up with a 320 grit sanding pad. Wrap and finish however you like. I have a thread in the Tacklemaking forum on everything I did to this particular rod. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1241480819 I will make up a how-to thread with pictures during the next rod I do this to. Stay Tuned!!

How much is chewed off? If its just chunks removed you could grind up some cork and mix it with epoxy, using it as a filler. Then file/sand off the excess. Or you could remove the foregrip permanently like I have done here...

I'm betting the previous owner drained the oil and replaced it with grease, since thats what he says is in there.

I use Super Glue

Since condoms??? I thought they were condoms?!?! :-X

You can, but I think that reel is a little slow for a lipless, I like 7:1 when using lipless CB's and sometimes thats not fast enough.

Bring 'er out to the lake a cruise around a bit, getting the motor up to operating temperature and the RPM's up will help clear all the crap thats accumulated in it. You may also want to throw a can of seafoam in the gas.

Two things I have done. Cigarette lighter to the two pieces of plastic and lightly melt the ends and place together. This also works great for making your own custom lures out of two different lures. Super glue works great on tears and for holding the head of lure on the hook just a little longer

Sounds normal to me!! On most motors the main exhaust comes out the center of the prop to reduce noise, a little will come out the exhaust ports running down the back of the shaft, its normal for water to come out those ports also.. The smoke is from the oil you mixed with the gas burning off, it will collect in the cylinders when sitting and burn off when first started. Also choking the motor means cutting off the carbuerator from a steady supply of air, when you do this it will suck more gas which means it also gets more oil, resulting in more smoke. The oil slick may look huge, but it was probably just 1 or 2 drops that didn't burn off and exited out of the exhaust as long as it wasn't thick and just a light film I wouldn't be overly concerned. And just an FYI so you aren't too alarmed next time you walk out to the boat on the trailer and see a small puddle of black oil underneath the motor. As long as it has a gassy/burned smell to it it's pretty normal. It comes from the unburnt oil in the gas coating the exhaust and when it sits it will drain out the exhaust in the prop. Since you are a newbie to outboards, there is a small outlet on the underside of the motor that we affectionatly call the 'pee hole' it is a telltale stream that tells you the motors impeller is working properly and getting cooling water to the motor head. Was there a nice steady stream coming from it? If not I would get the impeller replaced before you use it next. Good luck with the new motor!!!

Spro Bronzeye Frogs ---> $7.99 http://www.***.com/descpageSPROBAITS-SPBF.html

Short answer, for the normal consumer, no it is not possible to melt tungsten and pour your own weights. The melting temperature of 5200+[ch8201]°F is the highest of all metals. Bismuth is a good alternative if your looking for a lead substitute.

If they have a weight limit for lure size then you better limit the size fish you catch!!! Sounds pretty stupid doesn't it??? : ;D ;D