cart7t

Great tips Ronnie! 8-)

Right off the bat the rust/brown stains running down the transom pretty much indicate you've got a soft transom. Not a big problem if all you're going to hang on it is a 35hp motor. Will this get on plane with a 35hp motor? Only if you have someone in a bigger boat pulling you at the same time. ;D Nope, you'll merely plow along but who cares, you'll have a far superior fishing platform to fish off of and for $699 (I'd wouldn't give more than $500) you've got room to add stuff like better electronics. BTW, never heard of Sterling. I'm sure it was a one-hit wonder bass boat builder that came and went quickly.

yep, crazy elvis or these guys http://www.iguanagrafix.com/

The Commanche and R series boats are considered entry level Rangers. Fewer options, color choices but the starting prices are less. All the rest are merely their topline boats with differences in hull design and layout. Boat model numbers or line names, regardless of brand, has never been an absolute where anything really meant anything in particular.

QC on the hole punching is an iffy thing in my experience. As Alpster said, I've had a few jars that apparently never got punched. Sometimes the hole is right at the very front of the bait and is clearly visible and other times it's back a little bit and harder to find. In any case, you can just push (force) the hook through the hide and it'll work fine. Getting it back off the hook will be a chore though. They actually make a tool for removing hard to remove hooks from pork chunks.

Good deal! IIRC, that reel was in outstanding condition and would've been a "reel" find for any collector. 8-)

I've fished with a couple Presidents. If my hands weren't so messed up I could handle the taller profile of that reel and I'd probably be fishing with all Presidents right now. I really like the reel and the price is right. Nothing against the Citica other than it's a heavy reel unless you get the 100 version which holds less line than either version of the Presidents.

I put HD's outdoor carpet, that grey stuff in my boat one time and then a friends. My experience wasn't good. The backing on that stuff wasn't very good. After applying the adhesive, putting down the carpet and then pressure rolling the stuff down I was finding places where the adhesive was bleeding through the carpet. I was using the smallest notch trowel I could find and still was putting too much down for that carpet backing to handle. Because of the tight weave on that stuff, it is a hook grabbing magnet. Once a hook got imbedded it involved the use of a needle nose pliers and a lot of work to get it out. In the end, a runner usually resulted....uggghhhh.. I initially bought the HD stuff because it was substantially cheaper than standard boat carpet. We were doing a lot of family camping at the time with the kids and muck, sand and dirt was always getting into the boat. I didn't want to put down high dollar carpet only to have it ruined and stained. Unfortunately, the HD stuff just didn't hold up. After the end of the second season it was looking shabby, bleaching out and the stuff was just matting right down. In reality, it actually looked like it needed replacement after just the first season! Oh and with such pathetic backing and little fluff to the actual weave, there is little cushion under your feet. It's sorta like glueing burlap down over the deck. No bounce, no cushion at all for your feet if you stand to fish all day. It is cheap though. I've heard the Lowes version is better. There are several places selling marine carpeting (that's really what you want). BPS, Cabela's to name a few. I've purchased from Cabela's several times for projects and have always been happy with their stuff. Good quality, long lasting and easy to install.

I've been bitten. It was nasty and I was lucky, I received a small dose of venom. I've seen some pretty gnarley photos showing massive flesh destruction. I had a hole in my leg eaten up around the size of a half dollar. 5 years later and the effects are still quite visible.

;D Clearly you've never dealt with pork frogs before. Most all Pork style baits are on the hook the way they are due to the pre-punched hole that was cut into the bait from the factory. Try "threading" a pork chunk onto a hook, go ahead.... now try and get if off the bait.

Hate is not really the word I'd use for my distaste of those motors. I actually believe that the PD type motor is the future of TM motors but the problem is Minn Kota has really failed to develop that design into something useful for bass fishermen. They've expended all their development into Auto pilot, higher lb motors, built-in tranducers, remote control, modified foot pedals and various removable mounts. They fail to Address the problems preventing a large number of bass fishermen from ever even considering putting one of those on the front of their boat. ie: head turning speeds, stow and deploy, reliable foot controls, transducer cable placement. I got my first PD in the early 90's and in all those years MK has never addressed the slow head turning speeds, Just recently finally made the stow and deploy system a little easier and could only address the transducer issue by creating built-in tranducers which merely locks a customer into a specific brand of depthfinder for the life of the Trolling motor. Minn Kota created the next generation TM when they came up with the Genesis. A fully automatic stow, deploy system that was literally hands off operation. Stop the boat, hit a button on the dash and the TM is in the water by the time you're on the front deck with a rod in your hand. The problem was the motor mechanics required precise alignments and a few trips across a 2ft chop lake would rattle the thing apart. The PD head turning speeds were still a problem but still a design that if worked with and refined would be the ideal TM of the future. I can even see the day of voice controlled TM's using the PD style design. Again, until MK or MG decides to start designing the problems of these motors out of the end product those motors are not IMO a suitable motor for bass fishing unless you fish in specific enviroments. In your case, you've found one of those enviroments that those motors work in.

Garcia's 4000 or 5000 series in C4 or C5 Used Record reels RCN40 on Ebay. A little heavy but silky smooth. The Cardiff is supposed to be a great reel. Used Calcutta's can be found in very good condition on Ebay for $110 - $130.

You can still find NIB 1003LP's on ebay. Not sure if you'll find anyone that can give a direct comparison since that Black max reel is so new. The 2 1003 reels I had were very solid. Had them for a year or so before upgrading.

Here http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1194145124 This thread is very recent and has many tips on handling and dealing with Uncle Josh pork frogs.

Looking forward to the night vision video Robert!! ;D

Might want to check the X-ducer cable as well for kinks or cuts in the line.

I got turned onto Realine right about the time they went out of business. Great stuff. Fortunately I stocked up.

Dunno. My Dad was no handy man. He'd try, sometimes screw things up. My 2 brothers are equally un-adept at home or mechanical abilities. I, on the other hand, have done just about anything. Tearing cars down, major home remodeling projects, often without any prior experience other than seeing it done on TV or in a book. I just have that kind of knack. It's that knack to figure out how to do something that's what's really lacking. Because everyone is drilling college into kids heads these days. Why waste a high school credit on shop class when you're preparing for a white collar career with a salary hopefully big enough to pay someone to do it for you? For a while, our local high school mandated that boys take a cooking class in high school. Shop was optional. Now that's not right. Sounds like a good thing for the mechanics, electricians and plumbers.

As already stated, for that price it's probably a Morrum. Check Ebay thoroughly, there are several incarnations of the Morrums and some are worth that $200 and some much less.

I also have an SX. Great reel.

I use a Pro Control Tray by Polyfab. It's a heavy plastic with a recessed area at the rear for drainage. Theres a small through hull type fitting in there that the drain tube attaches to on the backside for drainage down into the hull. I suppose a piece of soft plastic or trash could get down in there and block it. I guess it's just a deal where anyone that owns a recessed tray needs to check that drain after each trip to make sure it's not plugged up.

As a former owner of one I'll add the following. There is no good way to mount a transducer onto the TM and then secure the transducer wire to the shaft so it's secure and out of the way. due to the design of those dig. PD type TM's, the shaft of the TM has to slide through the drive/turning head to deploy. You can't secure the transducer cable up against the TM shaft because of that so you're forced to leave slack to allow for the movement. This slack either gets itself cut in the stow or deploy process or snags underwater on limbs, etc when you're actually using the motor. 2nd, head turning speed is directly proportional to what speed the TM is currently running on. If you're running the TM on higher speeds the head turning speed dimishes greatly. In other words, if you're about to strike an underwater object and crank the TM on high to avoid it and then begin the turning process, the head turns so slowly that you'll probably hit the object unless you reach down and manually grab ahold of the TM and crank it manually. Besides the fact that the manufacturer recommends that you Don't do that it really takes away from the experience and as someone who owned one, this happens quite a lot if you're fishing up shallow or in areas of thick cover. If you fish a lot of open water situations those PD type motors are fine. If you fish electric only lakes I'd also suggest the PD motors as well. If you're running inbetween spots on a electric only lake you can basically set the TM on high and walk away. Sit in back, organize tackle, eat and if TM course corrections need to be made, merely point the remote at it or use the foot pedal which has the long cable. No need to sit with your foot on the foot pedal like on a cable drive TM. Otherwise, for most fishing applications a cable drive is still the best option out there.

Trackforum.com OffCamber.net Techlore.com (I'm a moderator there) Mikescomputersllc.com Clusterheadaches.com (Thanks Russ)

Home Depot carpet alert! You can spot that stuff a mile away. have fun.

I've fished with 1003LP's before. Pretty solid reel for the money.