Goose52

Nice fish ! And the reel is nice too...

How would you secure the seat to the boat? I'm not sure I would want a loose chair sliding around in the bottom of the boat. I am probably biased since I've lived with my design/rigging for so long, but your original drawing, with the modification of having the outriggers, motor, and anchor all on the same crossbar behind you, seems like the best bet. You drive the boat "backwards", sitting on what was the "front seat". You can get a number of clamp-on/strap-on seats to put on that bench seat. You run extension cables from the trolling motor to the other end of the boat and have your battery mounted as far forward as possible and the boat should trim nicely. If you ever want to use the boat for two people again, you haven't made any permanent mods that would limit the boat to solo use... If you are concerned about drilling holes in the top of the gunwales to mount your crossbars, there are a number of ways to clamp stuff to the boat and not have to drill holes. Look at the photo of my crossbar and note the "U"-type bolt and aluminum angle that forms the clamping mechanism - that's one way. (my outrigger set-up is store-bought by the way...).

Actually, the short handle lengths on early Abus were somewhat of necessity. Most early Record reels, and some of the Ambassadeurs of the series of the reel in the photo, were direct drive "knucklebusters" where the handle spun on the cast and was part of the overall rotating mass. The shorter/lighter the handle, the less mass, resulting in longer casting distance. The reel in the photo is an interesting hybrid. It's direct drive and has no drag system or anti-reverse...BUT, it has a mechanism that disengages the handle during the cast (everything else is turning though - the spool, line guide, gears). So, handle mass doesn't affect the casting distance and thus allows the luxury of upgrading the handle. Ah, the good old days !

Good deal ! That dashboard will prove to be very handy... Now, what the heck is that big honkin' perch-colored crankbait ??? Looks enormous in this image!

Early Abu handle sizes were based on the length of the handle, not center-to-center on the knobs as we measure today. So, the original handle is about 65mm, and the longer handle is the "power handle" size at 90mm. Measured "modern-method" (center-to-center), the early handle is about 56mm, the longer handle is a whopping 81mm !

I guess it's mandatory to add a custom handle to post in this thread: And before the custom handle: And of course, my rule is that you have to catch a fish. It's not a very big bass...but it's a genuine largemouth bass... (The reel still had a stock handle in this photo - imagine that - you don't NEED the custom handle to catch fish... Of course, now that I have the custom handle, I'll probably catch bigger bass... )

Nope - never tried the outriggers ahead of me - for the reasons I stated in my earlier post - they would be in the way up there for both fishing and for paddling. And, no need to compare different positions for variance in stability. The boat cannot roll with the outriggers to the rear - it would still not roll in any other position. I stand in the boat nearly the entire time I'm on the water and there are no stability issues other than a little roll in primary stability. I have the floats adjusted to they are a couple inches off the water when the boat is trimmed laterally, so there is no drag from the floats when motoring. When standing, I lean a bit to one side or the other until the boat rolls a few degrees and one float contacts the water and then it's rock-solid after that. I've been on the water in this boat, with this rigging, for about 1,800 hours so far and the outrigger position seems to work...

A good design indeed ! When you get done, your boat will look something like this EXCEPT I purposely kept the outriggers behind me. Having the outriggers behind you does two things: 1) it keeps everything that might foul your line behind you, leaving about a 200+ degree arc in front of you clear for casting, retrieving, and landing fish and 2) gives you the option to paddle...although the end of the paddle stroke is somewhat limited by the outriggers. As a result of this design, out of nearly 4,000 fish I've caught out of this boat, only two ended up fouled on anything, in both cases I was achored and they wrapped around the anchor line. AND, WELCOME to BR !

$150 bucks on the St. Croix web site. Close out Legend Inshore rods. I got the LGCC66XLM - "extra-light" power. Lure rating from 1/32 to 1/8 oz. These are moderate action rods so this is more for "cranking" kinda BFS. not so much single hook...although I did stick a bass with this rod using a little Beetle Spin. They also have light and medium-light powers still in stock. I don't know the lure ratings on those but you could probably Google the model numbers and come up with the specs.

Just keep in mind that the 682C is indeed a "light power" and as rippin-lips said, it might be rated as "fast" action but if you put the rod under load and look at the curvature of the blank - you're probably closer to moderate than fast action. I went to the 682C after fishing medium-light power rods quite a bit - so, I knew what I was getting into. If you have been fishing medium-heavies mostly, I'm afraid that you might be disappointed in the 682C and will feel that it's a noodle-rod. Give it some thought - you might want to consider a medium-light before dropping down to the "light" 682C.

Nope.

I have seen them on eBay before - never felt the urge to play with one. Too many other interesting small Abus that don't have plastic frames...

I usually don't "like" a post in this thread unless it has a fish in it (or it has a round reel) but this rod is so elegant it deserves a BIG LIKE !

The weight rating on the rod is 1/16 to 3/8 oz. I haven't a clue how it would work at 1/16 as I don't toss anything that light. I have the PX Type R shown in the photo and two stock Pixies and they are not really happy at a true 1/16 oz. so I don't know how the rod works down there. The 3/8 oz is probably accurate as I wouldn't want to go over that on a rod rated as "light power". I mostly toss THIS bait with this rod:

682s work, can haul in fish...

Yup - good start. Have fun !

One stop shopping: Sonar Transducer deployment arm w/transducer Scotty rod holder Tackle trays

SCORE ! OUTSTANDING FISH - CONGRATS JEFF ! ! ! (all caps on purpose ! )

You could also install an app like WPS Office on your phone and open and read the spreadsheet...

Sure - a PFD is mandatory. BUT, in addition to thinking about whether you are wearing the right colors for visibility...has everyone that goes on the water this time of year been thinking about wearing the right cold-weather gear for survival in the event you end up in the water? What was the combined air + water temp? If that number is below 120, you should be giving careful consideration of the type of gear you're wearing and have with you...including a change of clothes in a dry bag. In my lakes I used to see a guy that fished all through the winter. Air temps near freezing, water temp around 40. He would stand in the front of a 12' jon boat wearing a heavy coat and no PFD. I don't see him any more. Hopefully he got smart and quit fishing and didn't take a plunge one winter...

Not a Porta-Bote, but I used the oar locks as the mounting location for the dashboard on my canoe. The dashboard "anchor pins" are just threaded bolts that are a good fit in the oar locks. I just plug those bolts into the oar locks, press down, and the dashboard is mounted. That gives me my sonar unit, the transducer deployment arm w/transducer, a Scotty rod holder, and two tackle trays.

Good idea for braid, not so much for flouro or nylon mono due to the line coiling near the bottom of the spool. For flouro, I don't flip the line but I do add backing as necessary to keep the spool full. I initially fill the spool completely with flouro. After trim-backs, reties, perhaps a backlash, and the spool is getting low, I tape some backing line to the spool and crank it on until the spool is full again. Then, I walk that backing out across the lawn until it's off the spool. Then I walk-off the mainline until that's off the the spool. Then tie the backing to the reel and crank that on, then uni-uni the mainline to the backing and crank all of that back on. Result - filled perfectly to the brim. It doesnt' take as long to do as it sounds. I have a big yard and have "pylons" that I put 100 ft apart to facilitate the process. I use the same system for braid: initially fill the spool, then add backing as necessary to keep the spool full. For mono - strip it and replace it, it's cheap...

I keep all my fishing data, including line data for each reel (brand, type, lb test, when installed), on multiple worksheets in an Excel spreadsheet.

Rigged weedless on a 1/0 EWG - no weight. The file photo below shows the rigging (although it's a Kalin, not a Fat Albert). ALSO, single tail grubs rigged like this will spin like crazy. I use a small ball-bearing swivel at the end of the mainline and about a 24" - 30" flouro leader down to the grub. I normally cast them on a medium-extra fast spinning rod and don't have any problems with distance. When I do need more distance, I switch to a Gander Mountain grub which is heavier than the Fat Albert or Kalin. Another option would be to cast them on a medium-light power rod. For me, this is a surface, or near surface presentation. I rarely fish them more than about 5 feet deep when rigged weightless. I use this when bank beating, in skinny water; dragging it over, around or through slop or cover; or any other time I think the fish are higher in the water column.

All of the above, PLUS, I primarily fish them weightless and weedless on a 1/0 EWG hook. Several thousand (2,061 to be exact) bass caught over the last 6 seasons with Fat Alberts rigged weightless... Largest "Fat Albert " girl...