flechero

A google follow up to my post and I found this: In another section it stated that before 1972 it was not mandatory and some manufacturers did not supply a capacity plate.

I bet it had one when it was new. Many of those older models had mounted to the transom board... when the transoms are replaced the plates don't always go back on. Mine was a 71' and I helped restore several 60's model Lone Stars all of which had a plate on the transom also. All of them that we remembered where we put the plate during restoration, got put on the new transom... 2 didn't. ...lol

Nice work! I don't make lures but it's neat to read/see the process. Thanks for posting it.

I don't know if there is a difference in marine grade carpet and bunk carpet... but bass pro and cabelas have rolls they sell already cut down to bunk widths. It may be regular carpet that has just been cut down... I don't know. Either way, it's not too expensive. The carpeted boards a boat sits on. The side boards or rails are normally called guides or bunk guides.

My 15' modified V was rated for 25hp. Every boat will have a coast guard plate mounted inside with max HP, persons and weight.

If you have that small of a leak, I wouldn't worry about it... my boat's cooler drains straight into the hull so even though my boat doesn't leak, anytime I have ice with me, I get some water in the hull. You have a working bilge pump, right? Here's one other possibility... (I had this happen 2 years ago) buy a couple new drain plugs. I had one that was just dried out enough to let some water by. I though I had a seeping leak but when I lost that plug and bought a new one, over 2 years ago, I haven't had my supposed seepage since... unless I carry iced down drinks. ...lol If the new plug fails to stop it and you are 100% sure the herculiner coating is good and not leaking, that leaves the bunk areas and fittings. You can go back and coat those areas. You can jack the boat up from beneath with a floor jack and a padded block of wood at the transom. If you have seepage at a TH fitting, you should be able to either replace the fittings or seal them. Good luck, I hope it's just a dried out plug. (even though it would be frustrating to know a $2 part fixed it)

So that means you pour the bodies and glue or melt the skirts on? (shows you that I've never poured ...lol) I'll look at the skirts and see if there is anything I like to compliment it. I'll shoot you a PM if I find something that I like. Thanks for the follow up. -Keith

I use the "EZ Keeper" on my saltwater fly rods since none of them had hook keepers either... they work great. I have always hooked lures on my reels or reel handles even when the rod had a hook keeper since they allow lures and worm weights to bang up the rod. Now that I have some nice reels, I'm hesitant to do that anymore, so I'm going to put the fuji ez keepers in the split grip area so anything banging around will hit cork.

I'll go any night the wife gives me a pass! But this year, more so than any other, has been moon aided or moon hindered it seems. We have constant action on any baits while the moon is high and the bites are like pulling teeth to get after is goes down. I have been night fishing the same lake all year so I do not know if it's a "this year" or "this lake" kind of thing.

Gene, I know 1 for sure but I think there are 2 or 3 in the area. Cen-tex bass club (I think or it's Cen-tex bass hunters) I don't know anything about them and don't know any of the members. They have good turnouts for tourneys... they usually use temple lake park... and I always seem to be there on the same days. ...lol

reelnmn, Those look perfect!! Great work!! If you decide to sell them and the weight/action is close to the original, let me know the cost per and colors you can pour. If you can match the "Backwater Blue" of the sweet beavers or the "Sapphire blue" from Zoom, I know 3 people that would place an order right now.

What a great thing and a proper way to honor someone who obviously loved the sport. LBH, Do you have a 4th place? Thinking along the lines of my PM to you last week.

As I read your post I was thinking cedar was going to make a light body. Seems my head is still in archery and furniture. In my shop, cedar is a lightweight wood. ...lol

So your looking for rods in the $50 or less range? If it were me, I'd look at the All Star classic line (Academy sells for under $50) The berkley lightening rods, and maybe some others. I know that Daiwa and Shimano have rods in that price range but I haven't used them. Hopefully others can help with specific models of other brands. The bass pro and cabela's house brands are usually on sale and lots of people here love them. Length is your preference, 6'6'' or 7' (I wouldn't go longer or shorter than that for now) I'd get a MH for worms/jigs/spinnerbaits and a M for the crank rod, but stick with a fast action, it will be fine in a M and you can also use it for senkos, flukes, topwater and much more. When you get it narrowed down to a couple rods specifically, you might want to post again for specific model to model comparisons... someone here has whatever you will be looking at!

Help us a little bit... got a ball park price range? Tell us what you want to spend, not what you "could" spend.... there are good selections in almost every price range... the higher the price normally the better the selection. ...lol Anyway, we need an Idea of where to start.

ttt - a great cause.

99.99% of the time I would agree 100% But I have fished this lake a lot (my home lake) for the past 3 years and I have yet to find a single blade of grass or ANY native vegatation. Only on a good and lucky day can you even get a teeny bit of the algae that grows on submerged timber to stick to a t or c-rig. ...lol Yes, and you have no idea how badly every fisherman within 50 miles WISHES we could be invaded!! What we fish in is a 12,000 acre bathtub with some timber and a few old car bodies. ...lol I certainly understand your position and respect it... however, Belton is an extremely rare case.

Gene, I feel your pain... and fish the same water. ...lol We've considered trying to introduce it in some coves but after some more research, we (being nothing more than fisherman) concluded that the waters of the Leon river which feed Belton, have too much of something.. lime or some other natural vegetation preventer. ...lol I know for a fact that many boat trailers with hydrilla hanging off them have backed in, as I have seen and done it myself... always secretly hoping it would fall off in Belton and take! ...lol I've been told by a few people that have lived here a long time that there were some isolated pockets of hydrilla on the north end of the lake, above the 36 bridge in the past and that every couple of years it will pop up for a season and then disappear again. What a fun lake it could be with even a little grass or hydrilla!! So I don't have a confirmed answer but my gut says something in the Leon's water is a natural herbicide.

jomatty, He asked a pretty vague question.... your answer probably covered the waters pretty well... on balance I bet the fishing is "alright" but the bass fishing sounds very good. I don't think you lied. But even if you had been asked specifically about the bass fishing... I bet it's not ALWAYS great, which on balance is in fact, alright. ...lol

Not true. There are lots of lakes that are C & R only and as many or more with limits that allow harvest of fish up to XX" and not above. Then start pondering slot limits... other than the obvious reasons of mature spawning age fish, they are the next wave of trophy fish that are just 1-4 (usually) seasons away from becoming "legal." There are always a generation of them ready for next year. This is a constant source of "good" fish available. Couple that with the FACT that most (greater than 50%) of the large bass are released anyway, at least in Tx. So the truth of the matter is that while a good number of large fish are caught, there are relatively few large fish removed... and in lakes that need those fish, there is a mandatory release on them anyway. I have asked TPWD biologists and fisheries managers on many occasions why they don't go to C&R, or high " slots or short fish limits on more lakes, the answers from all of them are similar... The health of the lakes, balanced populations and forage base and consideration of other game and non-game species. Bass are not the only consideration... and rightly so, as with everything in nature, there is a balance that must be kept. Keeping a good balance is far more important than raising a few extra trophy fish - which may never be caught.

Around here, a change like that would trigger a drastic increase in the fish activity. We'd likely see mass amounts of schooling and very aggresive feeding shallower than before... not neccessarily shallow but shallower than they were. Probably a lot of topwater action also. Each lake will be different. Deep and shallow are relative terms. By the way, where are you located, I'm jealous!!! Our "cool front" this week cooled it down to 99/100. They are saying down to 96-98 by Sunday! ....lol

If he's keeping legal fish there is nothing you can or even should say. If the department of fish and game says ____ is a legal fish, they usually need some removed to keep the balance of fish in the lake in check. Catch and release is a great thing but too much of anything can be bad. (I don't keep fish but I think anyone who wants to eat a few should be able to do so without being hassled as long as they stay withing the rules and laws governing the particular body of water.) You said you "told him to practice C&R" try asking or just educating him in some of the benefits... telling someone to do something normally comes across as abrasive. Maybe you can get him to start letting a few go and only keeping a couple and hope to gradually change or modify his habits.

Ronnie, Good work! I hope she wears em' out on it!!

Very few freshwater reels are capable of 20# of drag, even if you use T-Mike's channel Lock trick. Besides, even if he could do that, he would likely break his rod on the first snag he tried to set hook on, assuming he has a solid hookset. I'd set the drag to a point that you don't damage any equipment and if you need more in the initial stage of the fight, thumb the spool. Remember flippin is close range, combine that with braid and you have a good chance to break something if your drag isn't set. There is no shame in a little drag slippage on a hookset... if you don't set hook super hard, you won't lose any line and if you do, you won't break anything. Focus your worries on detecting the bite and let the reel work as it was designed to, makes for a more enjoyable day.

There is a big difference in a fish becoming conditioned to a particular bait or even area than a fish "warning" others of the lures. Think about it... if a bass could do that, no lake that gets fished would be worth trying. Yet we have places like fork, rayburn, toledo bend, etc., etc., etc. that keep pumping out ridiculous numbers of good size fish... many of which have been caught before and will be caught again. Why? Because a fish is not "intelligent" in the ways we often think. Wary- yes; cautious- yes; instincts- yes; smart- not very. Take this as an opportunity to learn. If you are having trouble catching fish in a small pond, after you catch a few... you are now fishing "pressured water." We all have to contend with that at some time or another... some of us only get to fish pressured water. Try changing your tactics a little... from a simple bait change to even how you approach the pond. Sometimes you need to be stealthy because if a bass sees you, he will normally swim off a ways- that's an instinctual move and most animals/fish won't eat when they are startled. If they actually learned from you, they wouldn't bite the next time you fished the pond and you already said you catch them in the beginning of each trip... which leads me to believe that you are doing something to affect your own results. I grew up on a small pond, and learned to pay close attention to what I was doing.... eventually I figured out that I was causing the problems, not that the fish learning to "look out" for lures. But if you throw the same bait all the time, you will likely see a decline in catch rates. But again, that's you conditioning the fish.