Yankee_Bassman

Sorry it isn't working out, it certainly looked sharp. I know it's frustrating to do that much prep and finish and have it not stand up to normal use. Sounds like you don't think it would have made much difference if you were loading/unloading off a trailer...... I saw the Bass Tech show, and wondered about the weight. My friend has a Line-X liner in his pick-up which seems to be the same as Rhino, only not quite as abrasive, and it's pretty thick.

One problem is some regs specify "IMMEDIATELY release".....

If you use pressure treated plywood, plan on carpeting it....if not, sooner or later you'll get a splinter, and that's a guaranteed infection.....been there, done that, got the scars to prove it....I'd go with A/C, and coat both sides and all edges with polyester resin, until they're saturated...once dry, put down "A" side up, lightly scuff the surface with 220 grit sandpaper, and paint with epoxy or exterior deck paint, and throw some sand or other additive grit made for traction on the wet paint, to help avoid slippage. You can make stringers or lay an interlocking grid system for support. Make sure all seams are supported. Make templates out of cardboard, keep tweaking until you're satisfied you have the curves right, cut out the plywood, and go. I'd use galvanized screws in the wood, where they won't touch the aluminum. Bed the screws in silicone sealant. No glue. You need to be able to disassemble if you need to get at the hull under the floor for repair, without tearing the whole floor system apart. Make sure water can channel to the rear of the boat to drain, and think about a conduit for wiring, fuel line etc. I've done some stuff like this, and have one last piece of advice.....think hard about selling what you have, and buying what you want...... doing it ain't as easy or cheap as you think. You will get a great deal of satisfaction if you do it right; you'll be really frustrated and disappointed if it gets screwed up. Good luck, and let us know how it comes out.

Three things: (hard to decide which is tops, so here are all three) One: Learned from listening to Rick Clunn on TV, and realizing how often he was right....STAY IN THE MOMENT...I have to constantly remind myself to do this....how many times have you missed a hookset, because when nothing happened right away, you were looking around, plotting your next cast, when WHAM, WHAT? Missed!!! Two: (Said above, slightly different) Work various lure types in what should be a productive area before moving on....my boat looks like a porcupine from all the rods rigged various ways.... Three: Understand that while bass exhibit many of the same characteristics everywhere, what works on Lake Fork or Rayburn won't necessarily translate to your average depth 20 foot dirt bottomed weed choked New England lake....just because Iaconelli was killing them down south on an April post spawn pattern don't mean you can go out this afternoon in Maine or Minnesota and use the same technique with the same success; they're still wearing fur coats and mittens up there then, if the water isn't still hard...

Unless you're on a lake with a size restriction, that 9.9 is way too small. I've got a 9.9 on a 12' aluminum v-bottom gamefisher, and with one son and me, (total around 400 lbs., plus 3 gal tank plus battery for running lights and accessories, that puppy is a pig.....It plows rather than planes, and in any kind of heavy water (wind, boat wakes) it can get hairy. Alone, it's fine for a 12' boat.....A 40 is probably about right for a 17' aluminum V bottom. The bare minimum I'd go is 25, and I really think that's too small.....

Fishing in the downpours last Sunday in New Hampshire;fish were hitting chartreuse spinnerbait in/around pockets in the newly flooded shoreline brush. I caught two when I threw the spinnerbait onto shore adjacent to some flooded blueberry bushes, dragged it into the water, and got instant hits in 4-6" depth. First time I've had a consistent spinnerbait bite this fall, although everyone is telling me they're killing them on SB's......

Lowe has an excellent reputation. The boat should be fine, as long as you don't expect it to exceed its' capabilities. I wouldn't want to take it on a really large lake/reservoir with open water and long runs to fishing locations, or on a river with fast current. On a sheltered lake or slow lazy river, assuming you don't take the defensive front four of the Miami Hurricanes out with you, it will prove stable. A person capacity of 685 lbs. will allow you and a buddy to fish with capacity to spare. I wouldn't try to fish three people from it from a "too many trebles flying through the air in too small a space" perspective. Bottom line, if you know the boat will be safe to operate on your home waters, and you like the package and the deal, I'd go for it. No matter what you buy, someone will always point out there is something better, for a few dollars more, to infinity. Good luck.

I've noticed that the red hooks are a gold color under the red paint; are they an alloy? If so, 'm guessing that they won't rust at all, and unless the scar tissue thing works, they aren't coming out. I caught two bass this summer with old hooks in them. One had two hooks, both in the lower left corner of the jaw. One was rusted, the other wasn't. The fish with one hook was hooked on the side of the roof of the mouth, well back. It wasn't rusted, but had a slime coat of algae or some marine plant life built up, which tells me it had been there a while. That hook eye was paper thin, but the hook itself was still very much intact. Didn't seem to bother the bass, though.....

I've got a Nitro 185 F/S; like anything else made to do two things, it does each OK, neither extremely well. Ben is right on; the front deck is small, the rear deck is small, no rod storage, small livewells. The windshield I don't find as a problem. You can't lay rods down on the front deck, they're hanging over and in the way. I bought it because it was a good deal as a used boat from a neighbor. I'm happy with it, but when I upgrade in a few years, it will be to a dedicated bass boat.

If you buy a long distance from home, what about service? Around here, in season, the first question asked by marine repair shops is, "did you buy the boat here?". If the answer is "no", you're looking at an even more riduculous wait than normal, and normal can be 4-6 weeks, at peak season, which isn't that long to begin with. I solve part of that problem by learning how to do many of my own repairs, but that wouldn't help me with a boat under warranty. Is quick service turnaround less of a problem in the states with longer boating seasons?

LOL....my kid sister just came back from a training seminar in South Carolina...she said between the huge snake in the road, the 'gator in the front yard of the hotel, thousands of land crabs running everywhere, and the Gecko that ran over her hand on a stair bannister, she thought she was on some kind of Animal Planet candid camera show. I only spent a little time in Charleston, but I could live there.....not much shoveling to be done in winter, for sure....

Once you figure it out, you'll wonder why you missed out all those years...there is nothing better than smallies from rivers. When I lived in Virginia for a few years, I spent 95% of my time river fishing. Up here in new England, most of the rivers are considered prime trout water, and the peak season coincides with the black fly season, and I just can't deal with those little.....anyway, I miss river smallies, so I'll just have to chase them in lakes. Let us know where you are in Michigan...I'm sure some of these guys are from or know your area, and will hook you up with info, and maybe even a trip......

The most important advice is to not let it sit up for long periods of time. Fish year round... or your motor will not like you!!

nofolkinway: what's your secret for keeping it to only half with a squeeze tube?????? Personally, I find the pumps that attach to the bottles the greatest thing since sliced bread.....

Since I'm not familiar with your boat's design, I don't know if it will work, but here's a link to a post where I described how I made a portable livewell for an old skiff I once had. http://bassresource.com/cgi-bin/bass_fish/YaBB.pl?board=boating_ID;action=display;num=1126798538

I've never hired a guide, although I have been tempted to for salt water striper fishing off the Mass. coast. BUT, if I did, I wouldn't care if he fished, as long as he didn't fish ahead of me, all day. I also suspect where you're hiring the guide makes a difference. If I hired a guide locally, I'd not only want him to put me on fish that day, I'd want to know why we were going where we went at that time of year, for conditions that day, with that bait, in that color, etc. I'd like to watch him fish a particular technique, to see if I'm doing it right, or just to improve my own styles. If I'm making that trip that I hope to make some day to Quebec, for a one time experience, I frankly don't give a d**n why he chose the spot, and I don't care if his buddy is under water in scuba gear putting them on my hook, as long as I don't know it. (well, OK, no buddy in scuba gear, but you get the idea....) If a guide is used to fishing with his clients, and you tell him he can't, I'm not sure he's going to like you very much, and he just might see to it that you caught, but not as well as you might have otherwise. I'll bet some of the guides on this board have some pretty entertaining stories they tell each other at secret guide get-togethers about clowns they've had a day on the water with.

Lunker City baits makes an 11" "Muscle Worm". It sinks slowly, so I'd guess it could be twitched at or near the top. Check them out at www.lunkercity.com You can get 12-15" plastic eels for salt water fishing, they'd look like a big snake.....not sure if they float, though, and I've only seen them in stores around here, (MASS), don't know of a catalog source. Low Budget Hookers is a Rhode Island guy, he might have a salt water catalog source. Hope this helps.

I've purchased some small items from Northern Tool (come-alongs, winches, etc.) and been very satisfied. My buddy bought a log splitter from them, and it seems rugged and well-constructed. He also bought one of those heavy duty nylon shelters, but I think they just sell them drop shipped from Cover-It. Hope this helps.

If I remember my biology, decaying plants in water eat up oxygen. If a cove is filled with them, I'd think that at some point the oxygen level would drop to a point where the bass won't hang around, as they are very oxygen sensitive. best way to find out, though, is to fish it. I'd try a scum frog or something similar. If the mat is free of the bottom, you could also try a t-rigged worm with a weight heavy enough to punch thru the mat.

OK, Avid, but....how much of a fight did you put up?

I now use a rubber net under several circumstances: The lake I fish almost exclusively has extremely thick weeds on the bottom. I was losing big fish at the boat because I couldn't find their lips under the sod farm they were tangled in. I use a net when I am fishing with finger-attacking lures like Devil Horses and large jerk baits. One trip to the hospital, and one experience extracting a treble with needlenose myself, after getting impaled while lipping were enough, thank you. I also use it when I can see that the fish is poorly hooked. They're also a great help when a pickerel has grabbed your favorite lure, and you want it back with a minimum of pickerel slime on your hands, which invariably wind up being wiped on my pants. I assume the same would hold true for Pike, and in any event, you don't wanna be lipping those suckers, or your friends are gonna call you "Stumpy". As far as damaging fish goes, if you watch trout fishermen, who seem to be positively anal about how they handle fish to be released, they all use nets, and try not to remove the fish from the water. I've gotta believe that these guys have spent entire winters reading research into whether nets are harmful, and have concluded they aren't. As to a recommendation, get a rubber net. I haven't had trebles tangle yet, and that is not the case with regular nylon or other braided type netting. My net has a long handle, and I added an elastic loop for my wrist, with one of those bungie ties that has a plastic ball on it. I get the fish in the net one-handed, lever the net out of the water on the gunwale, put the rod down, and lift in the fish with both hands. Sounds harder than it is.

It ain't (just) about the catching, it's about the fishing.....my choice for tomorrow is go to work, or go to work.....the cold front ain't gonna make people no easier or harder to deal with, neither...

alumacraft has been around since the late 40's. That's more than a fair price for that rig, assuming the motor has compression, and it probably wouldn't be overpriced for just the boat and trailer, if they're both sound. Call, ask him for his rock bottom best price, and if you want the boat, buy it, even if he doesn't come down. In California, you're going to get your money's worth in a years time, and at that price, you've got an excellent chance at getting most or all of it back when you're ready to upgrade. If you're prepared to buy at the asking price, a real lowball offer can insult the seller, and end any chance you have of getting the boat, even at his asking price. I've been there, done that, on both sides of the transaction. Good luck.

Bowjunkie: I use Berryman's B-12 in my first tank of gas every Spring. I've had good luck with it. Available at Wal-Mart. I also use the B-12 spray carb cleaner when I've rebuilt carbs following mechanical failure of the float or float spring. Don't use a plastic measuring device with this stuff, it will eat it almost instantly. I'm also careful to follow the warning on the can that says "Not for internal use....harmful if swallowed"........gotta love lawyers.

Buy a Seloc or Clymer manual for the motor; you'll find winterizing instructions there. If you're at all mechanically inclined, the manuals will take you through all of the necessary maintenance and repair procedures. Not only can you save a ton of money, but you won't lose weeks of the season waiting for a shop to get to your motor when you have a problem. To determine your motor year, call a Merc dealer with the serial and model number. They can tell you in 2 seconds what year it is.