Eternal Angler

Yeah definitely try searching this thread, some of the photos have been dehosted since this thread was started so that kind of sucks, but honestly I wouldn't try using any screws and drilling holes into the boat. I've been using clamps of all sort to attach my GoPro to my Crestliner boat, I assume they could be used for fish finders as well. You could just drill out a whole on the clamp, then screw the fish finder to the clamp, then attach the clamp to a part of the boat securely. I know some would worry about knocking it lose, but some of these clamps are pretty darn strong and secure these days. Just a thought....

Hahahah, lol, just talked to Pelican, they want $120 for a single seat bracket directly from their company, nothing else included. I guess I'll be buying a seat bracket from Bass Hunter if it fits or from Pelicanpaddleboat.com. That's brutal, lol...

I see Bass Hunter company has seat base for $35 each and $65 for the seat, swivel, and base kit. What a rip off Pelicanpaddleboat.com is charging. Hopefully the Bass Hunter and Pelican uses the same measurements for the base bracket. Anyone know? Going to call Pelican again, see what they charge directly...

Anywhere I can purchase 2 seat brackets for decent price. I bought used a Pelican Bass Raider 10E for cheap price, guy who sold it to me didn't have the seats for whatever reason. Pelicanpaddleboat.com wants $130 for two seat brackets, not even including swivel or the seats, lol. What a rip off, price gouging. Academy has'em for $40, but not sold online... I guess I could think about fabricating some up.... Swivels are cheap, like $6 each at Meijer, found seats for like $30... Still gotta purchase a trolling motor, plan on going with Minn Kota 40 lb. I missed my old Bass Raider, gonna use this for ponds and small inland lakes, while still use my Crestliner Super Hawk for St. Clair... Any tips, let me know, far as I know Dunhams, Gander, Field Stream, do no carry these seat brackets at their stores. Pelican site says call their phone number, it was entirely in french or something. I guess I could just talk to someone that works at one of these stores, see if they can order them up through Pelican.

Thanks everyone for their input, yeah I think I have my eye on that Stradic ST6000FJ. Not sure what a all-white reel is going to look like an all-black rod, but oh well. I will look at Quantums as well... I don't think Bass Pro shops has much of a selection, but I'll bring these names to the store and go from there. I might have to order one online, I just hate taking guesses at the size of the reel I need. "Keeper" all take your word for it, as well as your friend's on Penns. I mean I'm sure they still make decent reels in other models, but that closing bail is another dealbreaker for me.

Ah what the hell, had to pick up some more lures anyways. Definitely requesting some sort of gift card or coupon from Bass Pro! As for the reel I'm going to buy, well, might have to take a trip out to Cabelas. Bass Pro really doesn't have much of a selection for musky/pike heavy duty spinning reels and rods.

Thanks for your input SirSnookalot, it's amazing Bass Pro Shops gave it to me after they spooled it up with braided line. I didn't use it till a few days ago on the boat and noticed this clicking noise at slow paced retrieve. I definitely dont remember the one I tested in Bass Pro doing this, it was the display piece. This is going to be third time going back to Bass Pro Shops for defective stuff. I just had my spring mechanism on my gas can break on me for my boat as well, the can was only a month old. Returned it to West Marine! The phrase "they don't make'em like they used to comes to mind." Or everythings been outsourced to China for slave labor... Sad thing is, this was my first Penn and it's probably going to be my last. I spent $110 on this reel at Bass Pro, I buy fishing reels in store because I want to check it out first. This shows that whole method can fail too. And come to find out the reel is $20 less on Amazon, doesn't really matter since I'm going to have to shell out another $20 in gas to get to Bass Pro Shops to return it. I guess I'll have to leave a nice review about Penn on YouTube. The bail closing when casting is pretty annoying too, anyone planning to buy this model, I would say stay away from it at all cost!

Found this customer review on Amazon, guess I'll be going back to Bass Pro tomorrow.... "Reel worked well for a month... for no apparent reason (I take great care of my reels) it started making clicking noises - something internal was rubbing and proceeded to get worse. Don't waste your money.. buy shimano instead. The most frustrating part was dealing with Penn's "customer service"."

Found this post on Cabelas... "I bought this reel (4000) a few months back. I have done about 8-10 trips with it throwing metal from the surf and jetty. Only after a few hundred casts I have noticed that the main gear is starting to grind loudly. I tried to lubricate it but it is still doing it. I still gave the reel 4 stars as I have not heard of a single complaint about this reel and with Penn's warranty and repair I know the problem will be solved."

Is this normal? Kind of annoying, only hear it on slow retrieve, never had a reel do this before. Just purchased this setup from Bass Pro, upgrade from my bass rod and reel, this new setup is for pike and muskie fishing.... Recently had to return two Strike King Pro Series crankbaits for being defective, hope this is normal for the Penn... Checked the manual, didn't see anything about this... Did a search on the Google Search engine as well, nothing... Also noticed on some casts, the bail closes due to casting motion. I'm using braided line so no harm done, but I heard other fishermen with mono losing lures because of this....

Blue Fox Vibrax Double Spin #5 5/8 oz is a super hot lure for largemouth bass, haven't tried it yet on smallmouth bass. I got lazy at the end and grabbed the line, big no-no!!! My line snapped, so I have to pick up another one. I think both of vibration and the double gold blades on this inline spinner is what makes it so enticing for bass. I was actually hoping to catch a northern pike with it, but the bass were going crazy over it. Over the years I've always but Blue Fox spinnerbaits, but I never really bought one of their inline spinners. Here's proof this lure works really good on bass, enjoy! By the way, this was fishing in the boat docks on Lake St. Clair.

Man oh man, I can't find a 1/4 oz or 3/8 oz round jig head that has a good hook. I prefer unpainted round jig heads, but I will go with black painted jig heads. The main thing, a good barb!!!! I do not like Gamakatsu hooks, this passed week I've lossed 3 big fish. Pike and largemouth!!! The fish just shake their head loose because there barbs aren't very good! Gamakatsu hooks are strong and super sharp, which I love, but the barb thing is disappointing. You can read this article to, I'm not the only one http://neangling.com/faq/mustad-vs-gamakats/ If anyone can point me to a retailer that has round jig heads with good strong hooks and a decent car, please do so, I would greatly appreciate it. Now I gotta take these Gamakatsu hooks back to Bass Pro Shops. I picked up some John Peterson's jig heads with Matzuo hooks that have good barbs, but they are lacking strength. These Matzuo hooks easily been, I just can't win!

Sure, but I just think about the big fish I've caught in the past and the records that are still out there, makes me just fish even harder next time I'm out. What I mean by fishing harder is trying different lures, techniques, and constant casting: no breaks!

Beautiful shots, looks like a really fun creek to fish in.

Nice catch, man I love to catch another largemouth like that. Hope you keep catching'em!

That's pretty sweet! Good to know, can't wait to to try the full size spook next time I'm out, still haven't tried it. The lure just looks like it catches big fish. Yeah man, just give it a few seconds after twitching the bait. You can do breaks after you cast it, midway, or even near the boat or land where ever you're fishing from. Just change it up, because you never know where they're going to hit. The one smallmouth hit the Zara right after I casted it near the break wall.

Going out today wish me luck

Lol, I can't help it neither, words just start popping out my mouth. Probably from watching them southerners fish all these years: Bill dance, Orlando Wilson, Roland Martin etc... Well there's definitely different types a way to fish the Zara Spook. The key that day was to let the Zara Spook sit there for a 10-20 seconds after walking the dog, doing this every so often worked great. As you can see in the video one smallie came up from the depths to hit it. Sometimes bass fishermen are excessively twitching too much and not letting it sit for a little bit. I went back that same week and tried two different juniors, only got one or two hits on it. It's possible that the bass might like the "Puppy" version more. I mean I had 8-9 hits on it that day, compared to one or two hits on the junior. Maybe because it looks small like bait fish, sometimes bass like smaller versions. Plus the old "Puppy" version I was using didn't have any rattle in it. It's assumed that fish always want a rattle, I'm not sure that's always occasion. The junior and full-size are definitely pretty big. I think the full-size is more for Pike and Muskie, but that's just what I think. Each Lake is probably different, the full-size Zara Spook might work great on the Florida strain bass lakes like Lake Okeechobee. So remember after casting, have breaking points where you let the Zara Spook sit for 10-30 seconds. I'm on Lake St. Clair, a big lake that most fishermen will say you can't catch bass on topwater at this lake. If it works here, it will work everywhere in the right conditions. Anyways thanks for the comments and checking out my video, this is what it's all about. Enjoying the Great Outdoors

Berkley Frenzy Flicker Shad 7cm kicks ass The crankbait is reasonably priced and Berkley has a long list of colors to choose from. I like Purple Tiger and the rainbow colors

Mepps spinners are good in rivers. So is topwater baits and weightless soft plastics.

Maybe you need to try different type of bait that is fished in a different way! Some people just keep throwing the same old fishing lures and expect fish to bite. Have you tried topwater hard baits? Have you tried the combination of flashy spinners with soft plastics. Such as the beetle spin or mepps spinner? Have you tried different body soft baits? I hear a lot of people have success with weightless Yamamoto Senkos. Try different retrieves, such as stop and go with crankbaits and other lures. Sometimes it's not the spot, but how you fish it. But like one member said fishing does gets slow in the middle summer. You might even want to try popping bugs with a bubble. Even though it's a small little bait, you'd be surprised how big of big bass you can catch with such a small little fly.

give white a try, like the beetle spin

Fishing's been a bit slow with crankbaits, so I tried the ol' Zara Spook. Had a good day with it, picked up a nice size largemouth and smallmouth bass. I mean you can't beat that right? Catching both species in a decent size. The smallmouth bass definitely got my adrenaline going, it smacked the Zara Spook so hard. A lot of bass fisherman think Zara Spook is only good for smaller inland lakes and ponds, video goes to show you can catch decent size fish on Zara Spook at larger lakes like Lake St. Clair. Definitely give the lure a try if you never used it, recommend the "Puppy" version. Recently tried next size up, the junior didn't have much luck other than one or two hits. I bought the full-size version for Muskie and Pike too. PS: watch out for seagulls

I get motion sickness just about every time I go out Lake St. Clair, sucks but I deal with it. But not throwing up and stuff... I stay on Dramamine and it helps big time..

Berkley Flicker Shad, awesome crankbait for smallmouth bass! Berkley has a good assortment of sizes and colors for all occasions and depths.