lmoore

Not really a close call, but a story one of my fishing buddies reminds me about every now and then. We were in high school and went one weekend to fish a small resevoir near home out of my dads jon boat. The ramp was only about 100' from the dam and we were loading the boat to leave. I backed the truck in while my buddy was holding the boat on a rope. We got her all lined up and I was cranking her down when I saw it wasn't on the trailer straight. I saw he was still holding the rope so, without really thinking about it, I shoved the boat back off the trailer. He either wasn't paying attention or was worried about the dam, becaus he held on the rope all the way until it drug him off the bank and into about 3-4 FOW. He let me hear about it on the ride home.

This time of year, the fish will move as much or more than any other time of the year, at least from my experience. When the conditions change, you almost need to look at the tournament as another prefishing day. Start where the fish were and, if you don't find them still there, start moving a bit to where you think they might have gone. In the spring, warming trends move them shallower and cooler trends move them deeper. That's very generalized and not always the case, but it's a good way to start locating them. Quite possible they either pulled out to or near deeper water, like to the first major break or point coming out of those creeks. If the water hadn't changed at all yet, they probably didn't go far but just gave themselves the option of doing so if things went south.

If you count the Mississippi River pools as a lake (like they did in the 100 best bass lakes ranking), they're tough to beat. Otherwise the IGL (Okiboji, Spirit) are really underutilized as far as bass fishing goes. Monster smallies come out of there every year.

I agree with being technique specific, but it has nothing to do with whatever a company reccomends their rods be used for. I have certain actions in mind for each technique and look for a rod with those qualities. Some campanies are very in line with their reccomendations vs. my desires, some are not.

I haven't had the Pro Series out on the water yet, but I really like the feel. Without having them on the water, it feels very similar in balance/weight to the Helium 3, and it's only half the cost. I have never used a Denali, so it'd be hard for me to give a good comparison there, but I can say with certainty you wouldn't be disappointed by the Pro Series.

IMO, don't even consider buying unless you can get it on the water and put it through the paces. That includes running WOT, ideling around, and trying all functions (aerators, lights, pumps). If they have any reservations or of you notice an issue they never told you about, walk away.

Probably 75% of the time when I'm flipping and pitching to cover (whether it be grass, bushes, laydowns, etc) I use a beaver style bait. Great all-around pitching/flipping bait.

I don't know much about props that small to know what your options are, but decreasing prop diameter will also increase rpm without dropping pitch.

Most of the late 90s Johnson's were designed to run with lower compression than most other outboards due to concerns at that point with fuel quality. Long story but basically it just means that quite a few of them will be "cold blooded." I know they DoD that with 150 on up, not sure on the 115. Overall the late 90s motors are pretty solid and there are plenty of them still running around.

The only reason I put it to where I did was to cover up the "scars" from the previous installation. In all honesty I'm not overly concerned with on-plane readings as I spend most of my time on the Mississippi River and don't really need readings running the main channel. I just like to get the most out of the equipment I have so I wanted to get it set up correctly. Do you know where on the Champion hull is the most optimal mounting location?

So why didn't I come ask the question before running myself in circles last week? haha, thanks for the quick help.

I didn't find a similiar problem, so I apologize if I missed. My transducer is the XHS 9 HDSI 180 T and I have it hooked to a 997si unit mnounted on my 97 Champion 191. All of last year I dealt without readings when on plane and assumed I didn't have the unit low enough below the hull. I lowered it late last season and started having issues with it breaking away when I ran full speed, as well as still not giving on plane readings. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? I have the transducer mounted on a transom saver which is on the far right of the transom. Can't get pictures right now because I have it in the shop getting a new control handle.

We do yearly hearing checks at work to make sure these don't happen.

^ Interesting point. I have noticed even along the river there are some spots that are much worse for people using you as a fish finder than others. Some places you catch fish after fish and people respect your area, some places you put one in the boat and can't make another cast because you're surrounded.

Actually the airbrush is just a cheap one I got off Ebay a while back, don't even remember the kind. It performs pretty well as long as it gets properly maintained. Most of the early paint issues I had were based on the artist more-so than the airbrush!

That reminds me of another one from a few years ago. I was up in Wabasha for a family vacation staying at a place along the river. The first night, my brother and I wanted to go out and do some fishing and my sister wanted to come along. We got out along where a backwater slough entered the main channel through a cut between 2 rock points and we were fishing where the rock met the shoreline. We stayed out until nearly dark when the critter started moving. The rocky points must be some kind of highway because we saw mother mink and 4 little ones and a mother raccoon with 2 little ones. My brother and I spend a lot of time out doors so it wasn't too big a deal, but my sister loved it. The raccoons were fairly calm around us and let us get in pretty close for some cool pictures.

We see bald eagles quite often here along the Mississippi in Iowa. There are a few spots of open water right now where you could go and see a couple of dozen sitting along the edge. You southerners are welcome to take a few. Probably the coolest thing I have seen wasn't that rare but it was interesting. I quite often go back up in the creeks in the fall and one of them last year held a very curious beaver. I see quite of few of them up here but this one seemed especially interested. I scared him off the bank when I came into the creek and he proceeded to move along with me as I fished. He'd swim about 20 yards in front then pop up and wait until I got close. Did that for 20 minutes or so before I turned around to fish out and he followed me for most of the way back out before he finally disappeared. Not sure if it was a mother with some little ones around or what but she sure didn't seem to scared of me.

Just watching the championship round. Following the live blog last weekend, I was expecting EE to really blow up at the spectators. Disappointingly, I thought he handled it pretty well given the circumstance and what he's got on the line.

2 very different things and unrelated. Also, fish (and many other less developed animals) don't "learn" so much as just associate. They will instinctively avoid situations which have previously caused stress. The ability to "remember" those situations also varies between fish species.

Thanks guys, really appreciate it. Not even sure I could replicate that perchish pattern, started out going for yellow perch with both of them and kind of just ended up playing. The green is a mix of green and gold...mostly.

First ones from the airbrush, 3 cranks and a couple jerkbaits. I guess I shouldn't say first round...just the first ones I haven't ruined and thrown away! Thanks everyone for the tips on here. Sorry for a little glare on the table.

I'll second (fourth?) The mechanic suggestion. Good reminder to everyone too, when possible, always test drive a boat and really put it through the rounds before buying. The OP very well could could have and this just so happened to come up after he bought it, you can sometimes catch these things and day no thanks. When I bought a boat last spring, I told him I wouldn't buy unless I could personally drive it first.

loc r bar e="slonezp" post="1460872" timestamp="1393279788"] Fishes in trees, I've heard the stories about the winch strap are untrue. I don't know one way or another.

What the spectators are doing is, and always should be, perfectly legal. If we ever get to the point where I need to check a schedule to see if the local waters are "open" on a day I want to go fishing, it will be a very troubling day for everyone. I certaintly don't ever want to schedule a "tee time" for fishing. I also sincerely hope that the few idiots running around don't cause enough of an issue with the pros to ruin certain things for the vast majority of other spectators at events across the country. The unfortunate thing people always seem to forget: just because you can, doesn't mean you should.