Kevinator1

RM to the rescue again. Your help is appreciated by all who ask.

Hey Ghoti, You are as sick as I am with the Techno-Geek thing. I have a chemistry background and also have been experimenting with about every lubricant known to man. Hopefully I will be producing my own reel oils and greases in the near future. I really enjoyed you sharing your experiments and I will also share mine when I have completed the final product.

Guys, here's a brand no one has mentioned, and trust me these are awesome, so easy to open the split rings: Brand is Xuron. They make alot of high end tools. Not cheap but the best.

Got mine on Tuesday. Woo hooo. I've already worn it out.

oh man, deep cranking is my favorite topic. Here in Indiana my 2 biggest bass came off of deep cranks. Bomber FF Shad and a Bandit 700 series. I have just about every brand and color of deep cranks. Way too many to ever use them all. I guess we all love the bait monkey.

Wow, I've just read through all of the posts on this subject and man J is getting a little edgy on this. That's not necessary. We all have opinions and experience so giving your opinion is fine but no need to get angry about it. Let's all remember that even Einstein was wrong occasionally. I clean reels for tournament guys in my area and a couple of them only want me to use Hot Sauce on their reels. I personally use a different lube but I haven't seen any major issues with Hot Sauce. Just my two cents worth.

My wifes' face....Gods honest truth. Not a good day for the Kevinator after that. But, a few years later she did buy me a new boat for fathers day so I guess I made up for it.

Im stuck on the Excalibur series. They are great.

Yeah I got one too. Mine was an Al Lindner production. I would like it best if it were a B.A.S.S. original with their own pros.

I always throw my dead plastics in my cup holder. I also never throw line in the water. Best practice is not to throw anything in the lake except maybe a nagging wife!

I always use the Trilene knot. I've never had any trouble with it.

whatever you do, don't use whatever Rapala uses for the DT series crankbaits. The material is so thin and I've broken so many of those lips banging the rocks that I quit buying them. Went back to Bombers and Normans. You can't break the Normans unless you run over them with a dump truck. That is if the dump truck is full.

Yeah, it does worry me about the quality aspect when they put a picture of a rod that isn't put together correctly. I do like a limber crankbait rod but I can't let go of my 4 older model BPS crankin sticks. Very forgiving to let the fish take the crankbait and they have never failed me yet.

I've got a 2005 Bass Tracker Pro 17 with a 50 horse mercury and absolutely love it. I bought it new and it still looks and runs great. I did upgrade the trolling motor to a Minn Kota 55lb thrust. Since Tracker came up with the revolution hull, it makes the aluminums run a lot smoother.

I love deep water cranking. I've caught my 2 personal bests on crankbaits. 8lbs 2oz. and 7lbs 10oz. I like the Bomber Fat Free Shads and the Norman DD22's. Also I have had luck on the Bandit 700 series of deep divers.

I know some of you guys probably have the same issue that I have found myself with recently. After hitting a Bass Pro Shops, I realized that I really didn't need anything. That is the first realization that I have enough lures to last 5 lifetimes. I thought this could never happen but it has!!! That sucks. But wait, at least I have seen the new stuff coming out of ICAST and yes!!!! There is some new stuff that I will have to buy!!! Wooo hoooo! The bait monkey never dies!!!! Kevin

Boca, You don't have to use Shimano grease. There are a lot of others that work just as well. I use Cals on my Shimano reels and have no problem. By the way, what did the shop tell you to use? Kevin

Hey Kelley, I was thinking about trying an Everstart. Price is right, my old one was an interstate which came with the boat. I'm sure the Everstarts are probably made by the same big companies as the others. Thanks, Kevin

thanks slone, thats what I was needing. I just wasn't sure about the voltage reading. I probably have gotten my moneys worth out of a 5 year old battery anyway. Thanks, Kevin

Zell, West Boggs is located in the southwest part of the state, near French Lick. Probably about 45 minutes southwest of Monroe Reservoir. The bass feed on an abundance of shad and believe me, they are probably the fattest fish in Indiana. Absolute brutes. Size of the lake is somewhere around 660 acres I believe.

All you need to do is put one or two split shot ahead of the worm about 12 inches to get it down and then just reel it in slowly. You want to stay just outside the weeds and they will hammer it.

Hey guys, this is the 2nd year in a row that I have caught a nice bass out of this bass factory. 21.75 inches and fat. Deep Crankin and she blasted it. I'll put of some pics once I figure on how to reduce the picture size! It won't let me load it. Last year I caught a 22.0 inch fish that weighed in at 8lbs 2oz. That is good for Indiana. Kevin

Yep. I put Berkley Gulp spray in the bags and let them soak for a few days.

I'm still using the original (blue color) BPS crankin sticks that I paid about 40 bucks for. I know that there are better rods out there but I don't think I will change because I've had such good luck with the crankin sticks. They are very slow loading so the fish gets a good bite on the bait. I can cast the bait a long ways also. I have 4 and I might buy one of the new ones. Kevin

Hey guys, I know I can count on you. I have a 2005 50 horse mercury on a bass tracker 175 pro. This past weekend when I started it, it started to have that oh no sounds like the battery is going dead sound. The starter slowed down and then it fired. Then the next time I tried to start it...it barely wanted to turn over. Then nothing. I pulled the battery out(which is 5 years old) but when I put the battery tester on it it read 12.7 volts. Do you think it is possible that it still could be the battery or do you think solenoid/starter issue? Just wandering what you think. Thanks for any help. Kevin