Triton_Mike

Nick, Don't mind Marc. I can't even spell Steelacoon?? LOL T Mike

JT, It's only 60 degrees here ~ LOL. I was in shorts yesterday he he. MOVE SOWF . Glad to see your coming back out with your column! T Mike

This article might help you... www.tritonmike.com/flattail.html Mike

My biggest advice is to get the widest jon boat you can afford. That is where your stability comes in after you put in all of your modifications ie front deck etc etc. Since wide jon boat is the first and single most important criteria the second would be to get the longest you can afford as well. Both of these will give you more room and stability and not to mention safeness. I have heard of several boats that have sunk in our bigger electric only lakes due to nasty weather/waves. Here is a picture of my boat from start to not quite finished www.tritonmike.com/boat.html T Mike

This is a no brainer for me. Motor Guide Tour editions which are cable. But if your a striper guy the remote has uses. Mike

As a guide myself I normally ask the client first about me fishing. Most prefer that I do fish. But when I do fish I'm always talking and I am leaving the sweet spots for the client. Also when things get tough sometimes the clients skill level is not up to par and I will have to catch a few to show them that the fish are there and teach them what they might be doing wrong in their presentation. Sometimes showing them that the fish are there gives them that added confidence to catch them themselves and pay more attention to details. T Mike

An easier way to get the impurities out of lead once it is melted. Stick a wax candle in the hot molten lead for just a second and remove. Most of the impurities come floating to the top. Scoop up impurities and go back to casting Mike

My two favorites are Yamamoto's Inside Line and Bass West. T Mike

Peter F, I listed some supplies in this post that I posted a while back. Read down the posts for the list another site Will, The reason for 2 trolling motors on the back and one on the front is for speed. These lakes I am going to fish are roughly a thousand acres or so. They are big enough for an outboard but they only allow electric only. You can't even have an outboard on the back of your boat. I am going to rig the 2 82's in the back with a big foot that I can operate and turn them on from the front of the boat. I am going to steer with the foot control 82lb thrust on the front. Gonna have 246lbs of thrust ~~ Some guys have over 300lbs of thrust on their electric boats. :'( Hope this answers your questions.. T Mike

Guys, I'm not sponsored by Strike King but I do know Allan Ransom (President) and Chris Brown. You won't find any better than these 2 guys and their dedication to customer service. I just don't know how to give a higher reccomendation of world class guys than Allan and Chris. T Mike

Low Budget, I don't have a clue how much weight it added but I need all the weight I can get to help keep me from blowing around like a cork. I am going to add 2 82lb thrust t motors on the back and a 82lb foot on the front. GOing to have 6 batteries and a Charger that charges all 6 batteries in a series. Also going to make my Humminbird 987 portable from my Tr-20 Triton . Going to add a livewell and pump as well as a pump out bilge. When I finish with this bad boy it's gonna be a hi teck redneck boat. I saw your boat wow thats a very nice before and after improvement!!! Nice job. T mike

Low Budget, I know Chris Brown and he is a stand up guy. Let me see what I can do to remedy your inconvenience. T Mike

How about a jon that is rigged mo betta than the bass tech jon boat www.tritonmike.com/boat.html Tee Mike ;D

Ditto on the site moving slow!!! I was about to post something about it myself to see if I needed to clean up my puter. T Mike

Several pieces of literature I can reccomend. Best 2 magazines for advanced anglers by far are Inside LIne and Bass West Best books that I have read were Kevin Van Dam's book as well as Bill Siemantel's BIG BASS book. Both of those are great reads. T Mike

I like Reel Mech's thinking. Design is very important. SiC's are overkill for bass fishing IMHO. They are pretty and nice and expensive!! having said that Fuji's are very popular with custom and factory built rods and with good reason. They are the lightest (splittin hairs here) and also the most durable ie less inserts popping out. Get the Fuji Alconites as your best bang for the buck. You will have ZERO problems with Alconite with braid. T Mike

Yeah don't use pine for structure. If you do let me know where you put them out at so I don't fish near them : I probably catch more fish off of a pine laydown than an oak one . Try it before you believe it. T Mike

I have a 2001 Tr-20 225 EFI, GREAT BOAT!! Your not going to have any hull problems that should be the least of your worries... I am tinkering with selling mine CHEAP!! There is not much difference between the 2001 and 2002 models. 2003 is when they went to the Xboat design (wider decks) T Mike

In my opinion Color is probably the MOST over rated aspect of bass fishing. I break my colors down into 3 categories. Dark, Lights and WILD. Darks being your blacks/blues, LIghts being your natural colors, greens, green pumpkins, pumpkinseed etc. Wild being Chartreuse, White, Bubblegum, Neons etc. I don't worry about green fleck, black fleck etc etc. I lump all of my colors into those 3 spectrums. If they don't hit darks I go to Lights, No lights I go to wild. I normally use darks and wilds in muddy water. I use lights and wilds in clear water. Lets be realistic you cant' own every color available or can we? I would concentrate my efforts more on finding active fish and putting that bait in the strike zone than color. Finding the Strike zone is 90% of the game. T Mike Bucca

Gee you guys are doing things the hard way!! Go to Hobby Lobby and buy some 1/4 inch Balsa thin strips. I think they come 2 ft long and a 1/4 inch thick. Cut the shape of the crank you want TWICE. Build a harness out of copper wire and add a ballast weight (Bullet sinker will work). Sandwich the harness between the 2 patterns and glue it together. Then cut out the bill shape and sand the edges smooth. Instant flat crank. Might take you 20 minutes to make a crank and requires NO carving. The trick is getting the harness right and cutting the bill slot at the right angle. Rest is simple. T Mike

My biggest smallie was also out of Erie 6lbs. Caught on a Staysee 90 Jerkbait. Our group caught over 200 smallies out of one boat and so many pushing 4-5lbs we lost count. T Mike

This is one of the toughest pics I have had to decipher. So many things point towards a Spot but it also has some characteristics of a Largemouth. The tooth patch is NOT ALWAYS a indicator on it being a spot but if there are very little spots in the area and it had a patch I'd have to call it a spot but with some hesitation. But for the record I'm saying it's a hybrid between the two and a very good picture of one. The bronze coloring on the back , the smaller mouth and the diamond checkering on the belly say spot. The tail, body shape and side coloration of the fish say largemouth. If the doral fins were lifted up I would probably be able to say 100% what species the fish is. THis is coming from someone who guides for spots LOL. But if you had to make me pick spot or largemouth I'd have to go spot on this one. T Mike

I will have to disagree with Ben a tad here. A 1442 boat will probably go just as fast if not faster than a 1436 boat. Reason being is because it is wider therefore not sinking under the water as much as a 1436 (Narrower beam) boat. I would get the widest boat you can afford. We have alot of electric only lakes here and several bass clubs that do electric only and they have proven this theory time and time again. T Mike

JT, May I suggest you move south???? ~~ Good to see you poking around again . T Mike

Like my roadwarrior friend I have been a senko fan for quite a while. I like to Texas Rig them and when they tear on one end I'll Texas rig the other end. WHen they are torn on both ends I'll stab it in the middle and Wacky it. . T Mike