Javelin_Venom

Thanks all, it was definitely a good day. I don't usually have a whole lot of faith with a spinnerbait even though I know it can be a killer search bait and more, but I tend to stay away from it. Lately however, I've been using it a little more around grass and weeds and can't argue with the results. I might have to start throwing it more often.

How do you think Smallies would do in a small pond/lake? I know smallmouth like current but technicially, could they live and be healthy in a small pond? There is a 4-acre lake I help stock with lots of cover and about 15-20 feet of depth in the deepest part and we have always wondered how smallies would do in it. Here's the thing though, it's not just an idle lake, it does have springs underneath it that keep it full and I guess probably refresh the water a little too. How do you think they'd do here? *DISCLAIMER* this is just a thought, idea, or whatever, not actually going to happen so if someone is opposed or appauled by the idea, it's just that...an idea. don't flip out.

You'll have to excuse the length of this post but I'm still pumped! Had a day off yesterday so I made arrangements to fish Patoka Lake (an almost 9,000 acre lake in southern Indiana) with my uncle after he got off work in his new (to him) Pro Craft. So while I had the whole day to myself I took my boat out to a little city lake and started chucking. I immediately found beds that were empty and water temp. was 72 so I figured they were spawned out. I checked some deeper water and caught a nice 3 lber just outside the weedline off a spinner bait. Got to a shallow corner of the lake that was covered with seaweed and decided to try out my new buzz frogs. I've never used a frog rigged on a hook like that...I usually use the pre-rigged scumfrog, but on about my 3rd cast I get hit by a short fish and land him on the frog. I continue fishing the frog until I get to some deeper water close to some beds and switch to a t-rigged lizard. I figured the big females that were spawned out might have moved deeper so I fished slow and on my 2nd cast with the lizard I nailed a 4 pounder...she sucked up the lizard and I never felt her...my line just started drifting. Caught her in about 10 feet of water. I keep throwing the lizard and in about 10 minutes I land 2 more short fish. By this time I've got 2 nice keepers in the boat and 3 short bass and I've been on the water only 45 minutes but the clouds are rolling in and it's thundering all around so I decide better safe than sorry and get off the lake (only to later watch it sprinkle and clear up with no sign of a storm). So since I put the boat away and it was almost time to head to Patoka I just waited it out and got my rods ready. We get to Patoka and the water temp. was 66 and it was a full moon yesterday so I figured they'd be spawning if they hadn't yet. We check on some pockets and immediately find beds and fish roaming around them. We threw some fast moving things only to scare them so we slowed down with t-rigged lizards and could really only get them to peck at it and move it out of the way. My uncle ended up catching 2 short fish and a huge catfish that just drilled the lizard on the fall...we thought it was a state record largemouth. So with about an hour left in the day and I'm getting skunked I start chucking the spinner around some weeds again and get absolutely nailed by a big fish and work her to the boat. My uncle nets her and she weighs a nice 4 pounds (fish on the right in the pic). She looked to be spawned out. 30 minutes later I'm throwing the spinner around more weeds and see something odd in the water. I couldn't tell what it was but it looked different than everything else so I casted past it and reeled past and WHAM, I get nailed again and land a 5.5 pounder on the spinner (fish on the left in the pic). She looks like she hadn't spawned yet. What a day, what a day!! A 3, two 4's, and a 5.5 not to mention some shorts. I haven't had a day like that in a long time. Spring is alive and well in Indiana!! Sorry about the quality of the pic, it was dark and rainy but you get the picture.

Apparently nothing's wrong with KVD, he brought in over 25 lbs. on the final day at Guntersville today and blew by the competition.

Fished an 800 acre lake in Illinois that I had never fished before on Friday. Water temp. was anywhere from 57-66 degrees and water was stained to muddy. First thing when we got there it wasn't quite light yet so we just put the trolling motor down and started fishing close to the ramp since we were in unfamiliar water. Once it got light we decided to cruise down the lake and see what it looked like. Turned the key and the motor started to turn but slowly quit, then nothing. Graphs were still on and trim would work but no turn over for the outboard. Trolled back to the dock and pulled the boat out, had the charger with us so we decided to give it a charge real quick on 10 amps, just long enough to get us through the day. While we were looking for an outlet we met a local pulling in to launch and asked him about the lake and how things were going. He told us we were in for a real treat and that they'd be catching 3-4 pounder left and right for the past few weeks on almost anything. He said once we got everything squared away to find him, he'd be close to the ramp and he'd show us a thing or two. So we thought alright, we might have just lucked out on a new body of water. So we tried charging the battery but the charger gave us a bad cell error. This battery came with the boat so I figured it probably was bad. We ran back to Wal-mart, which was only about 10 minutes away and got a new one, re-launched and sure enough, outboard fired right up. We met up with the guy, he told us he'd be catchin em up spinnerbaits, plastics and chatterbaits real shallow and to kinda follow him. We did for about 2 hours without a single bite, he caught 1 or 2 small ones in this time. Then he met up with another guy and showed us some other spots before he zoomed off, and told us to throw the chatterbait at these banks and we should cash in. My dad threw the chatterbait and I decided to ditch that and start throwing a t-rigged lizard because of the amount of grass in this lake. Every cast would cover your lure. My dad caught 1 small one then I followed it up with a nice 2.5 lber out of a laydown tree. I caught another 1.5 a few casts later on a rip-rap bank. We then moved to some main lake points and rip-rap banks where I kept throwing the lizard and caught a nice fat 4 pounder. We thought it was more like a 5 with the gut it had but the scale said 4.03. It had the tail of a shad or gill still hanging out it's throat and still felt the need to take a stab at my junebug lizard. My dad switched to lizards after that and managed 2 more small ones. Seemed like after noon or so the bite shut off and we never caught another fish. Talked to the local guy a bit later and he said he was having a tough day and hadn't caught any keepers all day. All in all I was pleased having found quality fish on a lake I've never seen before. I've got pics of the 4 on a disposable camera, when I get them developed I'll add them to the post.

50 amp is what you need as well. I have a 50lb thrust and it will blow a 40 every now and then, was told by manufacturer that 50 is what should be used.

I'm starting to feel dumb with all the questions, but when you say drill a hole in the side of the livewell, does this mean you can do it from the inside of the livewell or will I have to have access to the outside of the livewell, via taking the top half of my boat off?? Or how else would I have access to the outside of a livewell wall?

AC/DC - Thunderstruck...the begginning guitar riff of that song always get's me pumped.

Aren't there some types of submersible pumps you can put inside your livewell and just drill a hole for the electric to go to your timer or whatever? Is this one not submersible? If that's the case then I might take it back because I don't want to take the top off my boat and a mechanic would charge me an arm and a leg for something that shouldn't be that difficult. Is there any kits out there that are submersible? Anyone have a link if so?

20-15 is a nice bag of fish anywhere man. That's awesome. Kentucky Lake has been bringing in some huge winning weights so far this year. That's the second time I've heard of a winning weight close to 30 lbs. Sounds like it's going to be a great year down there. Congrats on the good day. I'll be down in less than 3 weeks, can't wait.

Took the boat out for the first fishing trip of '07 on Tuesday. Most of the lakes around here had ice on them 3 weeks ago. Re-lined all my reels and organized some tackle while I waited for my dad to get off work so we could head to the lake. It was 80 degrees and sunny almost all day. Went to a small city lake, about 30 acres are so. Once we got on the water the clouds moved in, the wind really picked up and it started sprinkling. Found water as warm as 59 degrees in the cove on the windblown side. Other side was 52 or so. Crazy that there is 7 degrees difference in a lake this small. We ended up catching 15 or so largemouth. No big ones but all fun to catch. Caught 11 or so in the 59 degree cove where the wind was blown. Caught 2 more off a point right outside the cove, suprised there weren't more on the point. They were mainly caught in 2-4 feet of water. I caught all of mine off a small floating rapala jerkbait after I had no luck with a jig and spinnerbait. Never really fished the jerkbait before but have always heard it's a good pre-spawn bait. I'm convinced now. Used a jerk, jerk, pause kind of method but couldn't pause too long since it was a floating lure. Almost all of my strikes came on the pause. My dad caught his off of a spinnerbait and a couple off a t-rigged worm in crawdad color thrown in the shallows out of the wind. Like I said, didn't catch any big ones but at least got out and put the boat in the water for the first time this year and also tested my new console graph. Works excellent so I'm happy about that. Cold front came through 2 days ago, dropping temps back into the 40's for highs > but next week is looking good again.

I have purchased a recirculation kit for my livewell and am needing to know some things about installing it. I bought this one from bass pro: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_9247_200003005_200000000_200003000_200-3-5 Basically all I have now is the pump to bring water into the livewell, but if i let this run continuously, it overflows. I am wanting to put the recirculation kit in to help keep the water aerated and keep fish alive. What all does this entail. Do you have to be able to get under the livewell to put this in, and if so how do you do this? I am hoping there is someway to install this working from inside the livewell. Is this possible, any ideas? I'm totally clueless. I've also bought a timer/switch for my aerator: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_896?cmCat=CROSSSELL&cmid=PP_P0_2. Say I install this, but not my recirculation kit, and have it run every 30 seconds - minute or so and leave my valve for my livewell open (except for when on plane or out of water), meaning it will be as full as the water level my boat is sitting in, would this work to keep fresh water coming in but not overflow my well? Any ideas with all of these things would be greatly appreciated. I am fishing several tournaments this year and don't want to lose any fish. Thanks in advance.

Yeah, I read the hand held thread, but didn't want to start asking questions on his thread. A hand held would be fine with me as long as I can mark spots on the water to come back to later. Is this possible with most hand helds. I'm wanting to be able to see features of the lake, such as channels and stuff and have a map of the lake I'm on, on my GPS...is this something you have to purchase additionally to the GPS or do some of the units come with certain lakes' maps already on them? How does that usually work? I am pretty much a complete newby when it comes to GPS and I'm not looking for a fish finder/GPS because I have a new finder on the dash and don't want to replace it.

Is the weigh-in on the web like it was for the classic? If so, what's the website? If not, what are the current standings or where can I find them?

I didn't want to hijack the other GPS thread so I started this one. I am in the process of looking for a GPS unit I can use on the water. I already have 2 graphs on the boat, but neither have GPS capability. I am wanting to be able to pull up on a spot and if it's productive, mark it on my GPS. Also wanting to be able to find channels and such. I don't know much about GPS at all, just wanting to be able to mark spots on the water and find them easily later on. I doubt I would use this anywhere but on the water. Any units like this $200 or less? What are some of the better ones? How accurate are they when marking spots and trying to find later? Thanks for the info.

I have always wondered why more people don't fish the Frenzies. I love them. It is my go to crankbait when the water color is right. I agree with fivebass, the color leaves something to be desired, but not because of the paint job. I just don't think they have a very wide variety. Firetiger is my personal favorite. You can't beat the price either. As for as the biggest sleeper in bass fishing, who knows. I always pick up a couple Frenzies when I am in need of a crankbait, but wish they'd have a few more colors.

ESPN2 BROADCAST SCHEDULE: Saturday (Feb. 24) 7-8:30 a.m., Bassmaster Classic Day 1; 8:30-10 a.m., Live from Birmingham; 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m., Bassmaster Classic Day 2; Sunday (Feb. 25) 6:30-8:30 a.m., Bassmaster Classic Day 2; 8:30-10 a.m., Live from Birmingham; 10 p.m.-12 a.m., Bassmaster Classic Day 3 Don't know if that's central or eastern.

Pl. Name DAY 1 TOTAL # of Fish: Weight 1 Boyd Duckett 5: 19-14 2 Randy Howell 5: 17-15 3 Skeet Reese 5: 17- 8 4 Timmy Horton 5: 17- 5 5 Terry Scroggins 5: 17- 0 6 Tommy Biffle 5: 16-11 7 Terry McWilliams 5: 15- 9 8 Ishama Monroe 5: 15- 0 9 Gerald Swindle 5: 14-10 10 Kevin Wirth 5: 14- 9 11 Jared Lintner 5: 14- 6 12 Mike Wurm 5: 14- 0 13 Matt Reed 5: 13-15 14 Aaron Martens 5: 13-13 14 Russ Lane 5: 13-13 16 Michael Iaconelli 5: 13- 9 17 James Niggemeyer 5: 13- 7 18 Dean Rojas 5: 13- 4 19 Kevin VanDam 5: 13- 1 20 Jeff Kriet 5: 12-10 21 Zell Rowland 5: 12- 9 22 James Charlesworth 5: 12- 7 23 Alton Jones 5: 12- 6 24 Mike McClelland 5: 12- 5 25 Steve Kennedy 5: 12- 2 26 Kevin Waterman 5: 11-4 27 Todd Faircloth 5: 11-12 28 Lee Bailey 5: 11-11 29 Mark Tucker 5: 11-10 30 Gary Klein 5: 11- 6 31 Greg Hackney 5: 11- 2 32 John Crews 5: 11- 0 32 Jason Quinn 5: 11- 0 34 Peter E Thliveros 5: 10-15 35 Jeff Reynolds 5: 10-11 36 Takahiro Omori 5: 10-10 37 John Murray 5: 10- 3 38 Shigeru Tsukiyama 5: 10- 1 39 Royce Dennington 5: 9-15 40 Bill Lowen 5: 9-14 40 Edwin Evers 4: 9-14 42 Tom Hamlin 5: 9- 9 43 Kelly Jordon 5: 9- 8 44 Rick Clunn 5: 9- 6 45 Derek Remitz 5: 9- 4 46 Denny Brauer 5: 8- 3 47 Chris Novack 5: 7- 2 48 Russell Colwell 3: 6- 8 49 Sam Lashlee 2: 4-15 50 Brent Long 2: 4-14

Thanks, I guess they weren't done weighing in yet or something. The leaderboard I saw is nothing like ESPN's.

Does anyone have an up to date leaderboard? Are they done weighing in? I have seen different leaderboards that don't correspond with each other so don't know which one to go by.

Awesome, I just ordered one from BPS. On sale for 45 bucks. Can't beat that. Must be clearing out the 06 models to make room for the new 07s with the extra bearings.

I'm gonna be rooting for Denny Brauer. Came on strong this year, hope he can get his second classic.

how are they?

I have a Zercom flasher in my dash that came with the boat. It's supposed to read depth and surface temperature. The temperature has always worked, but I can't get the depth to work the majority of the time. The guy I bought the boat from said he never really figured it out and I don't have the manual for it. I have tried cleaning the transducer and messing with the sensitivity a little and can get it to work every now and then but usually it just flashes all over the place or not at all. It sure is nice when it is working though. Has anyone had any experience with these units? The only thing I have noticed is the transducer is very small, looks kind of like a the width of an ink pen with a rounded tip on the end...like a pen light a mechanic would use. I wonder if it's not mounted correctly or if the transducer is just not up to par. I mounted a Fishmark 480 on the dash this winter so it's not as big a deal anymore but it drives me nuts to have equipment that doesn't work. Is there any way to run more than one unit from a single transducer, like putting the flasher on the same transducer as the graph? I'm thinking no, as this would intefere with the signal, but it's just a though. Any info you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure off the top of my head what GPH the pumps are. My boat isn't kept with me as I don't have a garage or cover for it so I can't look in it until around Christmas time. I'm pretty sure the pumps in it now are the factory ones though. 1 more question about the recirculation kit though and then I hope to quit bugging everyone. I know it goes down in my livewell and recirculates the water in it, so how often do I need to run my pumps to bring new, fresh water into the livewell and do I run the recirculation pump all the time?