Osprey39

On a recent trip to Texas I caught what appeared to be a metal grill like what would go inside a microwave. I also hooked a turtle that was sunning himself on shore on an errant cast with a Rat-L-Trap. When I used to live in Florida, I caught an octopus once. That was pretty crazy. I learned that day that octopus tentacles make great bait for grouper and snapper.

Thanks for the replies guys. I will definitely be using the Stop Chart function. I can't see buying an HDS right now and the ethernet equipment right now. I am saving up for a bigger motor! I will keep the idea in mind. I'm curious why the x47 (or whatever the junk unit that came with the boat was) didn't interfere with the 522. I suppose it may have had a different frequency but I did some looking on both Lowrance and Humminbird's websites and 200kHz seems to be a pretty standard frequency for sonar units.

You have to live in a state that doesn't suck which counts me out. ;D

I'd pretty much agree 100% with this post but would add that the most important thing in backing up a trailer is DO NOT OVERCORRECT (bolded for emphasis, lol.) I see so many people that are new to backing trailers start to get a little offline and then they crank the wheel too far and end up jack-knifing it the other direction. I've never paid really close attention to it but I would guess once I start backing down the ramp I don't turn the wheel more than 10 degrees in either direction. The next most important thing I would say is take your time. It's not a race. I know that at a busy ramp when you have 15 vehicles lined up waiting behind you, that can be intimidating. Just try to ignore it and take it slow. They are going to have to wait longer if you jack-knife 10 times and have to pull forward.

I have a Lowrance LMS-522c on the driver's console of my boat. The boat came with the typical child's toy Lowrance model (the model number escapes me) that ships with Tracker boats and I moved that one to the front with the transducer mounted on the trolling motor. When my budget allowed, I replaced that piece of junk with a Lowrance X125. Both of these units work great and I'm very pleased with them especially the value I got for my money. My problem with them is this: When I operate them both at the same time, they interfere with one another. I get vertical lines on both units. The display is still readable but it's far from desirable. I'm fairly certain this is caused because both units transmit at 200kHz. The workaround I have been using is turning the rear unit off when I'm on the trolling motor. The problem with that though is if I want to save a GPS waypoint, I have to wait for the unit to go through it's start up routine and I'm not on the spot I want to place the waypoint at anymore. My buddy also complains about not knowing the depth and water temp but he's a whiner ;D Is there any solution to this problem short of buying another sonar with a different transmit frequency for the bow? I really don't want to have to resort to that. Any help is appreciated.

Stratos, to be honest, the sustained winds yesterday were probably more in the 25 mph area. It was definitely gusting over 30 though. It's a pretty small lake and there are some big islands in it that keep the waves from building too much so it never really got what I would call rough but I spent most of the day in a high walled canyon that the river channel runs through and I was somewhat sheltered from the wind. I can tell you this much though, I have a Tracker 190TX and it has a 24v 71lb thrust trolling motor on it. Under normal circumstances, that trolling motor is way more power than I need but hey, it came on the boat when I bought it. It has 5 speeds and I normally leave it on 1, maybe 2 if I'm in a hurry. Yesterday though, I had to put it on 4 just to be able to move the boat forward directly into the wind. On 3 it was pretty much a stalemate and 2 or 1 I was moving backwards. I agree, those are lousy conditions to try to fish under but the big downside to living where I do is believe it or not, that is the closest lake to me with no motor restrictions. Since I drove the 100 miles to get there, I didn't want to just pack up and go home without trying. I'm hoping that the wind isn't like that when the tournament rolls around but that is the 3rd time I've been to that lake and every time I've been there it has gotten windy at some point albeit not as bad as it was yesterday. Usually whenever I'm thinking about going there and I check the weather, it always says at least 15mph winds. I talked to some of my co-workers this morning and they told me it wasn't that windy here in Albuquerque at all so I think that lake may just be one of those places that windy = normal and I'm preparing accordingly.

So there is a little club tournament coming up on a small lake nearby (if you call 100 miles away nearby. That's New Mexico for you.) I went out yesterday to scout out the lake a bit and about 30 minutes after I got on the water the wind started to blow hard (30+ mph) and it never stopped. Boat positioning became more than a chore and I had to pay more attention to that than actually fishing. Normally when the wind comes up like that I find some coves I can fish that are somewhat sheltered but this lake is small and mostly round. There really are no coves on it. I stuck it out for a few hours but then I packed up and made the long drive home. My question to you all is this: Assuming you have to be out in conditions like that (fishing a tourney, drove too far to just say 'screw it' and go home), how do you approach it? Do you battle with the wind and try to use the trolling motor? Do you just find a promising spot and anchor for awhile, rinse and repeat? I'm trying to figure out what my best bet is in case the conditions are like that during the tournament.

Bien! but that's about the extent of my Spanish knowledge. 100% gringo here. I'm currently battling with my trailer lights trying to get the boat ready for a planned trip tomorrow. Waterproof lights? Not so much.

Hello everyone. I stumbled across this board the other day when I was looking for information on barometric pressure effects on bass. I found a thread discussing it here and even though it was nearly 2 years old, I was impressed with what I read and decided I needed to become a member here. I just recently got back into bass fishing last year after several years out of the sport (finally bought my own boat.) I'm trying to get back up to speed and learn all about the techniques and baits that are new since I last fished seriously. Prior to that time away from the sport, I had pretty much fished my whole life. I grew up in Florida, learned how to fish from my dad. He wasn't into bass fishing though so I never really started fishing for bass until we moved to New Mexico. I'm looking forward to learning some things from this site.