stratos 375

gene pool depletion exponential increase in fishing pressure habitat degradation such as silt, agricultural run off, waterfront developement it's a combination of factors, it can kind of be compared to big buck depletion. short answer, yes.

I'm sure some of the older Ranger guys can tell you what a 360 is. From the pic it looks to be every bit of 18'. It could be worth the price if it was garage kept & not showing signs of rot or major stress cracks. Looks like the passenger seat is a cheap aftermarket replacement. The shape of the trailer would be as much of a concern as the boat. As for insurance, I dunno, do you feel lucky? You run over someone you'll wish you had some. If trailerin your boat & your trailer has a major malfunction & goes into the other lane & kills someone, again, you'll wish you had some. Find someone nearby that has bass boat experience & take 'em with you to look at the boat.

speaking of bass in tanks, I used to have a 120 gal. in the living room with about a 10" smallie in it. Had a kickin party one night, next day he was belly up. One of them little cocktail umbrellas wedged in his gullet. Me & that fish sure had some good times together. They make great pets. Gone but not forgotten. I've got a tank in my bedroom now that's had the same fish in there for 18 years. Nice panfish, great pic. Does he have a personality?

you think you're on a tight budget now? wait till you go messin around with an older glass boat & a used outboard. Get a tin boat that's structurally sound, find a good late model outboard & put it on. You may spend a little more money up front, but you'll save loads down the road. Try a dealer for a used outboard, there's a (small) chance they may give you a limited warranty, maybe 30 days? At least you'll have some type of protection, rather than gettin boned on ebay. If you go this route,the only problem you'll likely encounter is 'glass boat ***. Although painful, I hear it's curable.

convective heating, the earth tempeature,warm water neutralizing cold water, disolved oxygen? please don't take offense, but it sounds like a lot of regurgitated research to me. I'm starting to get a migraine, I think I need to start wearing my tin foil hat again. It really isn't near as complicated as all that, the're either bitin deep or they aint. Reams of research can probably be dubunked with a 3 dollar jiggin spoon. What's next, the coriolis effect, sunspot interference or maybe the latest shuttle launch? The trouble with research is that it's usually done by a researcher, not a bass fisherman. again, please don't take any offense as I respect everyone's opinion and truly enjoy reading other's points of view. Especially from guys in the old geezer group, myself included.

Mr. WRB not to be a disagreeable, but your statement puzzles me. You said"during the winter the warmest water may be deep" The only way that's possible if if there is a deepwater spring pushin out water. Otherwise, that defies modern physics as I know it. cold water is more dense, it'll naturally be the deepest. If you have warm water below cold water, it will turn over

Mr. Catt answered your questions, so I won't comment any further. I did however look at the *** link provided by another. I think some of the things Mr. *** said need proving. He claims that bass in cold water lose thier balance & may have trouble propping themselves up on the bottom? I think not. I've pulled way too many bass thru a foot of ice to believe that. He also goes on to say that some young of the year can become completely frozen & come springtime just swim away? I think not. Very few species on the planet can survive that kind of devastation on the celluar level. Although it has been documented with some amphibians & some forms of life that dwell in the polar reigons, but bass fry? no way.

I've seen many spots similar to the ones you mentioned, they just look like they should really hold a fish or two, but for some reason they don't. Usually silted in bays are just that, silt. Great for carp, not so great for bass. But by all means, think out of the box & beat that bay to a froth, I would. Three words I live by, establish or eliminate. I don't have much experience with bass in the far north, but down here in the mid lattitudes, a spot like that would be very seasonal at best. a foot of water will get cold very fast, and heat up in the summer just as fast. Some of these back bays can reach 90 degree temps in the summer ( unless it's tidal) and even in tidewater they can rise above most bass's comfort level. Try spring & fall, and within a cast or two of deeper water. By all rights, the transition edge between shallow & deep is where I would concentrate my efforts. The title of your thread made me look twice, I thought someone was starting a thread about Back Bay Va. What a bass factory that place used to be!

bassman, it would seem that we may be on the same page as far as this topic is concerned, however I will respectfully disagree with your last statement." if you can catch bass in deep water, you can catch them anywhere on the lake" When a guy who spends the majority of his time in deep water heads in to the realm of 2-4' deep, he won't be as sucessful as the guy who fishes shallow all the time. Conversely, when a dedicated shallow water fisherman heads out to a 30' deep channel ledge, he won't be as sucessful as a guy who spends most of his time out there. That said, the deep water fishing takes more time to learn, as it relies heavily on electronics, and is definately the harder of the two techniques to learn. True shallow water fishin requires a skill set all it's own. You can drop a jar of pork rind on the deck in 30' of water & still catch fish. Drop something on your deck, or scrape your tr. motor on the bottom a few times in shallow water, & for the most part, you are done Also for any newer anglers who think you just have to master deep water fishin to be sucessful, take a historical look at the B.A.S.S classics and invitationals. How many were won by guys out in the middle of the lake workin marker bouys? How many were won within a cast's length of the bank, and in water less than 8' deep?

even though I've been genetically programmed to fish, and everyone in my family fishes, I'm still a loner. I wouldn't want any of my family members even near my boat, much less in it. I fish alone 99.9% of the time, I prefer it that way. Partners and guests have a habit of running their mouths. When I do break down and take my wife fishing, I never show her my best spots for fear that one day she'll get tired of my crap & leave me. It'd be just my luck that she would hook up with someone that had a boat.

there's always gonna be one in the pack that's different. I'll volunteer for that slot. Eons ago when I fished competitively, many of the circut stops were on lakes that required you to have a decent deep water game. Which I did. The last tournaments I fished were in the mid 80's, since then I only fish where I choose, and for 25 years, I've chosen tidewater about 60% of the time. Deepwater skills not required. The other 40% of the time I'm at my small home lakes where I never have to fish more than 10' deep, and do extremely well. It's weird, I still have the ability & skills to fish deep water, but I just don't care to. Oh yea, I forgot to add, sometimes it can be boring out there among the marker bouys bobbing up & down watchin a LCD screen. I've turned into a shallow water slop fisherman, and it's great! Sidefinders, underwater cameras, color LCD's & marker bouys & GPS. I don't need any of that crap to catch fish. At this point in my life, deep water fishing is just a distraction from my real fishing strengths which are pitchin jigs and throwin jerkbaits. I work weekends so it enables me to fish Monday thru Friday, every day if I want to. If I somehow feel that I won't catch 'em shallow, rather than have to fish deep, I'll just grab the varmit rifle, walk out the backdoor & go kill something. To you guys who ply the deep waters, my hat's off to you. I know that there are some large & sometimes stacked fish out there, but the're all yours.

I've been fishing the river impoundments, Wingo/ Clarke & Aldred since the 80's. They are all equally as worthless. Sure, in the springtime you can catch fish there, and I'm sure some of the local river rats do well there year 'round. But for the average angler, they can be a nightmare, and winning weights are typically less there than down on the flats. They get muddy, they get rough and that river will constantly try to deprive you of your lower unit. It also gets loaded with wood floaters of all sizes. There's other places that will give you more fish per hour than those impoundments. That said, once you get up near Harrisburg, the fishing gets much more improved. You didn't say if you were fishin from a glass boat, a tin boat or a pair of sneakers. Although up there you see guys in tinnies w/ jet drives, sneakers are my preferred method. Go between Duncannon & the mouth of the Juniata. Find river road(?) on the eastern side, try to find a place to park ( might not be easy), and just walk right into the river, in a lot of spots, you can just wade across. Use a Mepps 3, small jerkbait, tubes, 1/4 oz. traps in red or craw. I've had many 50 fish days with a 4 lb kicker or two. We're talkin smallies here not LM's. You'll have an occaisional 'eye , musky , lm and channel cat as well. I've fished above and below the area I mentioned, but that particular stretch of the river seems to be the most consistent. At any time during the year, the entire river can be unfishable due to rains, so call ahead. There's a canoe rental place right near the mouth of the Juniata that'll give you water levels. Their name escapes me now. If'n you do go wading, invest in a pair of Corkers or other spiked footwear, otherwise you're certain to go for a dip or two. Always wear a PFD up there, you walk around out there enough, you'll fall in a deep hole or two. If you really want to get your string stretched, put a canoe in below the 'wingo dam in May/ June or July & fish for stripers. I've had days where I've had 30 or more stripers, all averaging over 10 lbs, and up to 30 lbs. If you're interested in that, PM me & I'll give you more info. I've made a couple hundred trips down there. A few good trips & you'll forget all about them green and brown fish. It's one of my favorite spots on earth.

the main difference is that flippin is a close range fixed line technique, a throwback to the old jigger poling method. It was pioneered on the west coast in the 70's by guys like Dave Gliebe & Dee Thomas. The technique has changed little since then. Pitchin is basically a type of backhand roll cast, which gained popularity in the mid 80's. You want to see a pitchin machine, watch Tommy Biffle. They both have their applications, I haven't seen anybody flippin in many, many years. ' mos everybody is pitchin nowadays. Although this is not true flippin, A flippin stick can also be deadly in downed trees. Get your boat up close to the tree, tie it off to a branch (silently).Then take the flippin stick with a jig on it , reel the jig all the way up to your rod tip,thread the rod as far back in the gnarly stuff as you can. Hit the freespool & hold on. Repeat as needed. Worry about gettin the fish out of there after you hook it, not before. With a flippin stick & the above techique you'll get your bait in places that (most) pitchers just can't get to.

ain't no joke, they will catch bass wherever they swim. If'n you just want to "play" with the technique, you don't have to throw them quarter pounders. They make some nice sb's in the smaller weights, around 1.5 oz. +/-. You can get away with throwin them on a flippin stick with a decent reel.That way if you don't have any success with the technique, you haven't spent any $ on specialized gear. If'n by chance you snag a toad on it & feel it's something you want to take further, then you can buy dedicated gear. Personally, I use them and have never caught any huge bass on them yet, but I'm statistically due for one . Most of the fish you catch on a sb, you could catch with a jerkbait with the right combination of lure weight (s) & line size. Plus, you can throw the jerkbait all day without it wearin you out. Some will disagree. Part of the sucess of the sb is that as of yet, there a lot of fish in the NE that just haven't seen them before. A lot of guys have probably experimented with them before, but very few put in the time to really learn the lure & where to throw it. I would take the time to really learn it myself, but I'm too busy cathing fish on jerk baits & jigs. I throw sb's on a 7.5' Fenwick fiberglass flippin stick with a Ambassaduer 6001- 15- 20. lb Trilene big game. It's my go to outfit for sb's, Muskys, Stripers & shiner fishin. good luck with them

he was my favorite too, and also a fellow Z06 owner. Red Bull + Cigarettes + coffee + major stress = dead may he R.I.P

my boat's rated for 150 hp, I ran a Mariner 200 with a 150 cowling for 4 or 5 years, before I put a legal engine on it. In retrospect, I will say it wasn't the smartest thing I ever did, but I don't regret it. If you're wanting to fish some "big" tournaments, with 100 hp, you'll probably be one of the slower boats in the field, and won't draw any attentention to yourself as speeding up & down the lake. That's good. One of the problems could potentially be, that if you actually won, and ticked someone off in the process,( who knew you had an illegal engine) all they would have to do is cry "foul" , then you might have your hp rating sticker cross checked against your engine serial number and find yourself DQ'd. All highley unlikely, but remotely possible. Your far greater problem is if that you have a collision, or your rider would somehow become "detached" from his seat, get ejected and run over. If your insurance company found out, they very well might void your policy. It would also leave you wide open to a civil suit, and a very nice citation from the USCG or local fish/boat authority suitable for framing.

you're basically talking March 1st , full moon. You've still got 3 weeks or so of increasing photoperiod. You won't have to worry about the fish "turning back on", short of record back to back blizzard conditions, they'll be turned all by themselves. Although a few late winter warming sessions can't hurt. FORGET ABOUT THE WEATHER, JUST GO FISH

I was fortunate that my Dad & Uncle were really into bass fishing throughout the 40's & 50's. My first dedicated bass fishing trips began in the early 60's. I remember many Zebco's, Mitchell 300's, old red Ambasadors. I spent a lot of time growing up on my uncle's cattle farm in Levy County that had a ultra private pond, it was my personal playground. I fished it anytime of day or nite I wanted. Words can't hardly describe it. Fast forward to the late 70's, got so wrapped up in fishin, I lost a wife, a house, and two jobs and developed a few personal problems. Started a guide service, then developed some more personal problems. Jitterbugs, Johnson's spoons, Snagless Sally's, Bill Plummers bass frog, Burke flex-o-lure, Storm Thin fins, Dying flutters & devils horses & Dalton Specials, Buck Perry spoonplugs & No-Bo line. Caught many large fish on all of them. Herters catalogs, the 50 assorted lures from Sports Liquidators for 19.95 (?) Them big ol' plastic worms that had ridges in them & 2 weedless hooks, looked kinda like a piece of tire tread. That's when fishing was about fishing. Today it's about fishing & money. I see guys on TV roughing up the fish, hootin & hollerin, high fivin & screamin at the fish, The G-man doin a high speed pass on Randy Howell whilst he's fishin! I really don't understand it.To me, it's just all common bufoonery. I been doin it about 5 decades now, three decades at 150-200 trips a year. I'm wore out, my elbows & wrists are wore out, and my boat's wore out. I'm tired of runnin & gunnin. I do however still manage to squeeze in well over a hundred days a year. There's 5 lakes all within 10 minutes of here. yeah, I could probably fit into the old guy category

Mr. roadwarrior, duly noted. But if'n you speak of Hayes's 11.15 & Gorman's 10.14, that was a very long time ago, and before the onslaught of millions of man hours from some very good fisherman. I'd still put my money on Pickwick for numbers and size, with the right guide. The world record LM comes from the Ocmulgee river, but it's not really a modern day destination of someone looking for a giant largemouth. ( that I know of anyway). I do however respect your opionion of the Hollow. You're there, I'm not. 8-)

If you really want to satisfy your craving, drive the 2-3 hours more to Pickwick. Not only will you get your fix, you may come back with pics of the biggest brownie of your life.

the fact that he does it in a farm pond means absoloutely nothing to me. From seein how fast the first fish grabbed it, you could have had a piece of cheddar cheese on the hook and still caught it. If you're going to make a video on this wonderful technique, do it on public , pressured water. Then I'll take notice. This is a really neat system, and I have seen it in action. However, it's a little too much like drownin minnys to me. In the conditions that dictate this style, I'm sure I could do just as well on a Bear hair jig & a 101 pork frog w/the fat trimmed down. That's just my silly opinion.

you're worried about "stressing" or "bothering" them with the color of your livewell? I would think that being jerked away from her favorite stump by a facefull of hooks would be more stressful than your livewell color. If'n you want a real example of stress, watch some of them TV pros, they'll ****** 'em overboard about 60 mph, smack 'em on the console, then they'll put their knee on em to keep them from squirmin around, or get them in the Alabama head squeeze. If that's not enough stress, then they'll hold them out of the water for a bit & scream at them, then give them a good toss into the livewell. That's what causes stress. It's what happens when money and fishing merge. My livewells are black, and I've often thought of painting them an off white color. I don't fish competitively anymore, but if I did, and was(hopefully) doing a lot of culling, I'd have them white. If I did paint them, I would use a USDA grade epoxy. It's safe for indirect human food contact, so I'm sure it would be fine for a fish who can live in the outfall of a sewage plant. The epoxy probably comes in any color you want. Hope that helps.

Mr. hjerk, I'm sure the Md. guys who frequent the river can give you a much better answer, but seeing as no one chimed in, I'll give you my take on it. I've fished down there enough to give you a semi-educated answer. Ive fished the Nanjemoy & Port Tobaco areas and done fairly well, but that's still about 50 miles upriver from where you'll be. I've never fished below there but have heard of guys catching them in Allens Fresh. I think to have any reasonable success, you need to be well above the 301 bridge, although i'm sure there could be exceptions. I'm not sure how far down the river you can find vegatation. I've ran down to Popes creek, but that's just to eat. I do know that if the weather turns ugly, it can get very rough down there to say the least. If it was me, I'd leave the boat at home & see if you could hook up with one of the locals from this board for a day or two. Just my worthless opinion.

Hello Fishbone, no matter how good you maintain something, if it's mechanical, it can break. 26 years & 150,000 miles of towing on this trailer, only 2 failures? I can live with that. Probably those cheap NAPA bearings I used. Even a well maintained outboard can crap out on you at any time. When she wants to blow, all the maintenance in the world ain't gonna help you. All it does is decrease the odds. And I did say I "usually" keep my hubs well maintained. Over the decades, I may have missed a greasin or two, and I probably paid for it. But I generally pay lots of attention to them. thank you for your question, was my explanation sufficient?

Mr. Commander, if your hubs are "rough" whilst you are a spinnin em, I'd just replace the bearings, and check out the hub & spindle just to make sure everything is Kosher down there. Compared to some of the equipment we use nowadays, and outboard maintenance, bearings are dirt cheap insurance. The extra hub is a good idea, I been carryin an extra one for three decades, never got to use it yet. I've got somewhere around 150,000 miles on my current trailer and only had 2 bearing failures. Both failures were catastrophic, and the damage was beyond what an extra hub could fix. Putting my baby onto a roll back on the side of the highway at 4:00 a.m. wasn't fun, or cheap. I usually keep my hubs well maintained, and when I get to the lake, out of habbit, I put my hand on each of them just to check the temp. Room temp. to slightly toasty is ok, hot ain't. I don't have any experience with oil bath hubs, but if your average trip is only 50 miles, you'll be just fine if you stick with the set up you have. Oil bath's are relatively new on the scene.( for bass boat trailers anyway) Before oil bath hubs, billions of miles have been run with bearing buddys. I hope it helps, good luck