cart7t

This is the best time of the year to find deals on used equipment. Lots of sponsored tourney guys get new equipment and purge last years stuff. Great bargains on year old rods and reels.

Don't know about the purple reels. The Rockets were high speed versions of the 5600 series. Something like 6.3:1. BTW, if you want to see some pretty Ambassadeurs in colors go here http://www.iovino.com/reels.html

I've got at least a half a dozen responses to this one right off the top of my head, not a single one acceptable to post here. ;D

I'm sure reel mech or someone will come along with the technicals but for the most part those ratings are merely a very loose guide for comparing rods. For example, there are a lot of companies making IM6 rods out there today, but the feel of those rods and overall weight will vary greatly depending on how the blank is designed and how the graphite is layered. All IM6 or IM8 or whatever you're using to compare are not the same.

Could make a good pool cue though I wouldn't want to break with it. ;D As Ronnie said, retip it and you've got one muscular short rod.

That price seems a little high. Spend some time on the net looking around at used boat prices to get an idea what the average ProCraft of that vintage should be selling for. As for the boat itself, I really have no idea about ProCraft since Tracker Marine took them over several years ago.

Thanks Skillet. It's hard to believe I could ever catch a fish way back 25-30 years ago fishing with those pool cue Lew's Speed Sticks or gasp, those old Eagle Claw glass worm rods I had.. Geezz, Hell, the early Graphite rods that came out used to snap way too easy but we put up with them because of the unbelievable sensitivity. Apparently I wasn't feeling anything! ;D Obviously I need to load up on GLX's just so I can tell the difference between a rock on the bottom and a fish fart.

This photo is from Brads Ebay store. Hope it's oK. I was going to go with the tubes rod holders as well. Then someone suggested these, FiveBass offered some for sale and I haven't looked back.

Many guys that have those rod storage tubes are pulling them out and going with the rod covers. Those tube type rod organizers not only limit the number of rods you can put in your box but have been known to cause guide damage when removing the rods. The rod covers like the ones FiveBassLimit sells as well as the ones at Brads store allow you to cram as many rods in the box as you can and then just reach down and pull the one out you need with absolutely no tangling at all. I used them last year and I'm a believer now.

You gotta a picture of that motor? I'd love to see that setup.

The prop pitch and diameter should be stamped on the hub someplace. Get those numbers and go from there but like you said, a 15hp motor pushing a full size bassboat has it's limitations performance wise.

I haven't seen the new Lightning rods. All I can say is my wife still uses a pair or old early/mid 80's LR rods I gave her way back when. The ones with the old EVA foam pistol grips. I can pick those up today and it's still amazing how light those rods are and extremely sensitive. They were way ahead of their time when they first came out.

Just so you know, crappie are very difficult to successfully keep in a small pond. They generally prefer deeper, cooler water with cover than is available in most ponds for them to survive, the oxygen level at that depth must also be sufficient for their needs. Most ponds don't offer that, though the fact you've got a spring feeding the pond certainly doesn't hurt.

They're hard to beat when they're on sale.

Have you thought about having the rod holders angled away from you similar to the saltwater outrigger setups used on offshore boats?

Any rods I would have on the deck trailering would have the rod and reel covers on them.

Here's the link http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1170347237

You got the right idea I'll third that idea. Unless you know something about the correct stock amounts per acrea of surface water you'll wind up with a pond completely out of balance in no time. In fact, it sounds like it probably already is. Your best choice is to drain the thing killing all the fish, specifically those large bluegills and crappie and start from scratch.

How low cost?

Tritons and Rangers are fine. Others are great. All have strong points and weak. Ride and decide.

The last cheating scandal in OW was the Honda/Toyota spacergate incident that happened in 01/02. Before that might be Roger Penske's infamous 209 pushrod V8's he brought to Indy in 1994 and wound up sweeping the top 3 starting positions and winning the race. The engine technically wasn't cheating as there were no rules against it, he and Mercedes merely found a loophole in the existing tech regulations that didn't make it againtst the rules. OW hasn't had that many cheating allegations over the years primarily because OW, whether CART or the IRL or Formula 1 have always had pretty loose technological rulebooks. It's not uncommon for say a team like Ferrari in F1 to spend $1 million to redesign a wing plate or barge board just to win a single race. The IRL's spec's are a little tighter but you just don't see the cheating going on there like you do in Nascar. Not that it doesn't happen though. BTW, Open wheel racing died in this country when Tony George formed the Indy Racing League and split the OW racing fanbase in half. It hasn't been the same since.

I've fished in ridiculous downpours and freezing cold. I won't do either anymore.

I sent you a PM Timmy.

I'm making no comment about Nascar's popularity. They certainly pack them in though it would appear that the sport has pretty much reached the limit as you're seeing more and more empty seats at Nascar events around the country. It would seem though, that the fans aren't all that concerned about the integrity of the sport and are watching for the show, that's great. My comment was made as far as taking Nascar as a serious sport, I don't think you can when the rules are broken or modified whenever it's deemed in the best interest of a team, a driver or even a race. I was at Gateway for a truck race a couple years ago. The end of the thing turned into a crashfest. It was the first year of the Green/white/checkers finish. The race was actually extended 2 laps just so they could end under a green! (As the trucks circled under yellow, they actually stopped counting laps!) If you're going to compromise a race length just so the fans can have a better show to watch, I don't really see how you can count the racing series as a real sport. I'm making no comment on Nascar's popularity nor growth (though it's TV ratings have begun to sag the past year or so). I don't think the series is setting a good example to today's younger fans who watch by sitting back and dishing out such weak and uneven punishment to cheaters. I'm hoping Montoya does well on Sunday BTW. I watched him when he came over from Williams and drove for Ganassi in CART. I didn't like the guy at first, seemed like a quiet, snotty, F1 elitist. Then I saw him driving on his in-car camera during his first oval race ever. He's got some of the fastest hands on the wheel and reaction time I've ever seen. He's more than capable of beating anyone on that circuit now.

Heck, I've got an idea. We'll give the insurgents Shimano reels! They'll be so busy cooing over them and spending so much time hyping them in internet forums they won't have time to shoot anyone! We'll be able to sneak right up on them. ;D