old bassman

I use charcoal, nothing tastes better than charcoal grilled stakes with some flavored wood chips!!! My grill takes 3 cold ones to get warmed up along with my favorite blues tunes, then I am ready to go!!!

I have an older BPS Extreme reel which I was told was made by Pfluger and I have had no trouble with it over 6 seasons of fishing. My 2 cents!!!

After having the motor checked out, I would go with the triton. It comes down to how important warranty,gas mileage,speed and what truck to tow and pull it out of boat ramps are to you. Good luck with the purchase!!!

If it wasent for bad luck I would have no luck at all!!! Broken bolts, break out the BEER and re-visit it after the buzz wares off!

In addition to a live well aerator what I do on hot days or anytime for that matter, freeze 8 to 12 bottles of water ( standard size) use them to keep the water in the live well cold. The fish like that!!

Hatty, I fish out of a tracker Avalanche,which is an aluminum boat, with a Merc.XR6 150. This boat is stable and as equipped as any other 18' bass boat. Our club has Rangers,Tritons,Skeeters,Stratos,gambler's etc... I have no issues with my boat vs. there glass one's. Aluminum is fine and also weighs about 200 lbs. less so you get a little more performance!!! Just my 2 cents.

Thank you for the thread to reply. every owner of an older 2 stroke must complain. we are in the most danger of having our motors fail!!!! We must all state our concerns!!!

Beautiful boat!!!! Great Job!!! You will catch many trophy bass in that rig. Good fishing

I agree with Burley Shakelford. I have a truck that can tow 5000 LBS. and I installed a frame mounted hitch. The bumper I feel is not strong enough. Better to be safe that sorry on the road with the boat,motor and trailer weight.

My son and I fish many tournaments. He has been using a PT tour 1170 for over 3 years. He takes it to the local honey hole on his bike, he,like other teenagers, is rough on the gear and uses and abuses this reel almost daily. This reel still operates as well as it did on the first day it came out of the box. I have an 1171 that has performed flawlessly for over 3 years. I have no experience with Revo's but have some Ambassdors that work fine. Let me know how the Revo works over time. Most anglers like them and support the product.

For fishing the shore, I would go with the 7' MBR843. The 844 is very stiff and good for horsing hogs out of weeds. The 843 a more all around rod. I use both for different situations. I also have a 783 which I use for worms and other plastics from the bass boat.

I have a Fish elete 480 at the helm and a Fish mark 320 on the bow. Both work fine and offer good resolution for black and white. If I had the money i would upgrade to color. I would go with the 480 from experience.

For a used boat, if the fiberglass checks out ok and the condition is good keep it on the list but the most important piece as I see it is the motor. You can spend as much on the fix for the motor if it goes bad that the boat. I would consider the aluminum boat due to longevity and ease of use if your hit something ( and we all did as new boaters) its no big deal. Also the aluminum is lighter. Be extra careful with the motor, have it checked out. The rule of thumb is with a 2 stroke is if it starts and idol's for a fair amount of time then you have a good motor.Definitely have the motor checked out by a wrench or bring him with you to see the boat. Also look at NADA to check price.

Since you are so positive about Shimano ( I have a curado 201 that is great) how about selling those blue tour reels. Let me know, I like them also. I am not a complete Shimano convert, my tour's are great and durable.

Glades, you are right. My boat can handle 175HP. That is the most I will put on the transom and be safe without liability. i want to get the most from what I have. That will be possible a mod to 175HP. and a jackplate and possibly a different prop. But I like the way Way2slow thinks and I appreciate his knowledge of modifications. If I had the resources to put into a boat it would be very fast but I use what i have and i am not complaining.

I never saw the 200HP motor but I am a little Leary of the 300lb. weight. How much weight would the 300 mod add to the motor? The boat weight limitation of a 175 hp. motor. 300 might be a little much but it sounds great!!! What I was thinking was to possible turn the 2.5 liter 150 into a 175 or 200 with mods. What do you think about that? Realistically the 300 mod would be way too much for the boat.

You did a great job on those reels!!! I also have 4 old Ambassadors. They are great for slowing down my presentation as I tend to fish faster that I should. They are very reliable and simple to maintain. Good for you to keep alive the old reels with a New Look!!!!

A good friend of mine built me a custom casting rod and surprised me with it out of the blue! WOW that was one of the best gifts I ever received. I am very fond of fishing gear and take very good care of all I have. i still fish Mitchell 300 and Mitchell 408 spinning reels when I am not using the 14 bait-casters. Don't misunderstand it's not the dollar value but the thought and work put in for me. I was very happy. Not to go on, my question is that he rapped the guides so that the first one is in the standard casting position but the next 2 wrap around the blank and the other 8 + tip are on the bottom like a spinning rod. I think this is very cool and different. The rod is fantastic but does the position of the eyes help or hurt the performance of the rod? Just curious. I have seen some like it on web sites but no one I know uses one. Thanks for reading and looking forward to your input.

I fish with that model Loomis imx. I love it. It's matched with a Quantum PT tour 1171. I think the 50MG you have will be great!! You'll never put it down!! My Quantum is a little heavy and your 50MG weighs almost nothing. Good choice in reels. I never used the other rod you mentioned but the IMX is outstanding.

I would suggest an MBR IMX G-Loomis. I held bot the GLX and the IMX and could not tell the difference. I fish with IMX's and they are great. That saves you 100.00 toward another rod . The 7' MH is the 843 model. I also heard (but cannot confirm) that Loomis made the glx's so light that the rod walls were thin and the rods were breaking. That probably was one run and not all the blanks. Just my 2cents.

I have a chance to pick up a stroked 200 with an aluminum fly wheel. The owner claims the motor weighs 300 lbs. My XR6 weighs 416LBS, that would help! There is no replacement for displacement, the bigger the better. My son also drives the boat so I do not want to get too crazy but I would still like to be the fastest to the hole! With your suggestions I can work up to around 65MPH. In my Tracker that's flying! Thanks for the input!!!

I have a 7" IMX that has a slight bend from being in the corner. I hung the rod with a string from the ceiling and it straightened out. The graphite will not retain a permanent bend as per that experience.

So far at WOT its a little loose but still feels stable and it has more to go. Thanks for your help. The jack plate is key for starters. I hate getting beat to the first spot.

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum but have been fishing bass for over 20 years. Mostly fish tournaments with my son. We also do quite a lot of prefishing. Fish mostly central fl. St Johns river ,Johns lake,lake Conway,Lake Toho,Butler chain,Harris chain etc. Look forward to chatting with all of you, I am sure I can learn something and share some stories and local knowledge. My son is a better fisherman than me but I will never let him know it! It's a tournament within a tournament.

Thanks for your input. Now I turn 5600 to 5800 RPM's. Some times it turns about 6000. Never any higher. I think I will start with the jackplate.