cart7t

Still hoping for a 5.1 gear ratio Revo similar to the Advantage 150P.

I've used those on my extreme rods and took them off. Balanced the rod alright but Just too heavy.

"Fix the floor and you have a nice, solid older boat." Yep, that's all you'll have to do to make that solid.... : If the floor is rotted and the bilge area is rotted out you've got some issues. The biggest one will be how much longer the motor will continue to hang onto the back of that probably rotted transom. The second issue will be when you're replacing the rotted floor and realize all you've got to attach the new floor to is rotted stringers. That's just an old sponsoned Vhull bass boat, nothing great and not worth the work involved in making it "solid" again. BTW, that music sucked!

I saw a guy who had his spot in line on auction for a $600 buy it now. ;D All that for a phone! ;D

It's best to use a custom fit if you're trailering. Try Triton or a local cover maker. Be prepared, they're not cheap.

Almost the same situation here, two car garage long enough for the boat to fit except for the garage door opening. Sits with a boat cover and tarp on it in the driveway.

I think you'll run into this more with clubs affiliated with Tourney organizations. I once belonged to a club that was affiliated, those not caring to affiliate broke away from the tourney boys (they kept the name since the founders were not for any further affiliation), the club ran great for several years. Then a new group started infilitrating the club. They wanted the club to run our tournies as pre-fish events for a regional buddy bass series. They had enough members to make vote "their" lakes in. Friction between members started. The club kinda fell apart, I quit, the founding members also quit. A group tried to restart the club as a fish for fun deal a year or so later but it only lasted a year or so. The club disolved after being around for around 11 - 12 years. Sad. If you can find them, fish for fun clubs are the way to go. Far less politics than the affiliateds.

Here's to Bass Resource.com the mods And the ability to delete yourself if you feel like it! 8-)

Most rods I've ever broken, excluding closing doors on them or stepping on them, were due to overstressing the rod when snagged. I own a Titanium, TAS and several Classics. I love Allstars and have never had a problem. In fact, I plan on adding more.

No carpet is snag proof. It's the degree of "snagability" I'm talking about. With marine, a hook that snags beyond the barb can actually be worked out. Not so with that Lowes stuff, you're either cutting the pile or tearing the hook out which leads to runners.

One of the biggest differences in the pile for marine carpet that's sold for boats, especially bassboats, is it's ability to be snagproof. With the Lowes/HD outdoor carpet, the weave was such that a hook just looks at that stuff and it's snagged, and pretty good. Getting it out often wound up tearing the pile and would start a runner. Have that happen a few times a trip x how many trips a year x a couple years = shot carpet within 2-3 years. Now add UV rays, dragging sand or mud into the boat along with water that invariably gets in on any trip and that stuff just deteriorates too fast. When you consider you can buy 16oz marine carpet for around $6 a foot, 6 foot wide, the cost difference doesn't justify it.

Pulling a boat around in the bed of your truck makes the question kinda moot. Ramp steepness or composition isn't an issue since you aren't actually launching a boat. There are dolly type devices that will allow you to off load your aluminum on level ground and move it to the water. I'd go for best gas mileage.

I live in the St Louis area. Within 1 hours drive are quite a few hp limited lakes, all of which have my 150hp idled or silent. Within 2 - 2 1/2 hours are lakes where I can utilize the OB. I'm finding it less and less economical to keep using the Champion and am seriously thinking of picking up a cheap tin boat. It's looking like high gas prices are here to stay. If I want to be able fish as often as possible, a 2nd smaller boat is looking to be the way to go. Until I move to someplace (I'm seriously looking towards Nashville) that has water very close by this is what I'm up against. It's not that I don't want to fish out of my Champ, it's the gas issue towing the thing that's snarling things. I'd prefer to fish out of a fiberglass, more comfortable and more storage.

97-98 20' Ranger or Tritons for $7500-8000? I'm from Missouri, show me.

There are tools out there that make putting the ring on an easy task.

It's an amazing bait with amazing action. Just started using it this year and it's easily outfished all my other jerk baits. I've found it doesn't work as well using softer action rods like I use for other jerkbaits, a faster tip action seems to be the ticket to getting that bait to dance.

Don't let me stop you from buying another rod and reel but your existing 6'6" Avid M/FST spinning rod combo would probably do the trick just fine.

You're thinking is a little off here. You want those boats running as fast as possible. Any of those large draft boats that are wallowing along at slow cruising speeds or slower are throwing a monsterous wake compared to when they're on plane. LOZ's problems are due to too many large drafted boats running at slower speeds throwing massive wakes in a lake that's not only narrow but also has relatively steep banks. The waves never dissipate when they hit shore but merely rebound back out into the lake crashing into inbound waves coming in. Before you know it you've got this churning hell pit of swells with no direction. Even large boats have to slow down in order to prevent passengers from getting tossed about the cabin. Hence, they throw even bigger waves and then you've got catch22. BTW, the key to running LOZ is NOT run along the shore. This is where some of the worst of the wave crashing is happening at. Stay out about 500 feet or so. This is true and I thought about this after I made the post. The solution for LOZ is to limit the size of the boats allowed on the lake. It's kinda late for that lake. The solution was around 25 years ago and controlled growth, especially in the condominium end of residential lake living. I've fished that lake since the mid 70's and the boat problems really accelerated in the early to mid 80's when the condo's began springing up everywhere which in turn put more and more boats on the water making the lake rougher and rougher on the weekends. People in turn bought bigger and bigger boats in order to make their Sat and Sunday rides smoother. It just snowballed from there. The real indicator is the number of resorts on the lower end of the lake. Many have sold out to the developers because they just don't do enough business anymore. Nobody with a towable boat, 17-22 feet long wants to go down there anymore because the lake is so rough on the weekends. Honestly, if you go down there in the summer during the week it's pretty placid.

You're thinking is a little off here. You want those boats running as fast as possible. Any of those large draft boats that are wallowing along at slow cruising speeds or slower are throwing a monsterous wake compared to when they're on plane. LOZ's problems are due to too many large drafted boats running at slower speeds throwing massive wakes in a lake that's not only narrow but also has relatively steep banks. The waves never dissipate when they hit shore but merely rebound back out into the lake crashing into inbound waves coming in. Before you know it you've got this churning hell pit of swells with no direction. Even large boats have to slow down in order to prevent passengers from getting tossed about the cabin. Hence, they throw even bigger waves and then you've got catch22. BTW, the key to running LOZ is NOT run along the shore. This is where some of the worst of the wave crashing is happening at. Stay out about 500 feet or so.

A good majority of boating accidents are alcohol related. Another bunch is boaters who use poor judgement in the use of their boat, whether in operation, overloading, lack of life vests, etc. . Quite honestly, the group of boaters I feel safest around are bassboaters, regardless of how fast their boat is capable of going. Most bass fishermen are on the water a good part of the year and have gained the experience necessary to operate a watercraft safely. I can't say the same for the large portion of weekend warriors that inhabit most lakes from only May - September. Toss in those that rent boats who haven't had anymore experience than the boat renter showing them the key, how to start it and where the throttle is, those are the ones most likely to injure themselves or someone around them. The PWC operators are in a total class by themselves. That bunch easily has the worst on-the-water habits of any individual boating group. Also the most injuries and fatalities per hundred.

Go to an air conditioned room and think about it.

Denny Brauers old TV show was pretty good. He'd stick anglers on the water by themselves and critiqued them from the studio on everything from location selection, to lure presentation to boat control. Too bad it's no longer on the air.

The 5000 series has had a pair of brakes for years. Originally you got other sizes of brakes, normally one size smaller and one larger. Unscrew the thumbscrews and you could get right to them. In all those years I don't think I ever changed them. Those reels just take a little more thumb edumacation to operate. They're pretty easy reels to throw. If my hands and wrists weren't in such bad shape I'd still be using them.

I've used that outdoor carpet at Home Depot, it looks similar to the stuff at Lowes. It didn't last long and it was a real hook grabber. Do yourself a favor and get some 16oz marine carpet. Both Cabela's and BPS sell it.

I've heard about what goes on in those band camps. ;D