cart7t

A topwater bite isn't a given on any lake. I will start with a topwater right around the time the water hits in the lower to mid 60's. I'll throw it on and off while I'm fishing in the morning, if I get interest I'll concentrate on fishing it. If I get nothing I move along to subsurface baits. The big thing with topwater is to vary your retrieve until you find what draws the best strike. Another thing you could try is changing topwater baits if they're following. If you're throwing a spitting type bait and they're following or rolling on the bait without taking it regardless of your retrieve you might want to switch up to a prop type bait like a devils horse or heddon torpedo. Another bait I really like is the Strike King Spit n Image. It's a walker bait with a loud rattle built in. If you get a swirl or strike on a topwater, whatever you do, don't give up on it. Change baits or retrieve speeds or action you impart into the bait. I had a 5 1/2lber blow up on a bait about 3 seconds after it had touched down on the water. It looked like a great white coming 3/4 of the way out of the water to engulf the bait. I had just got my reel clicked in. Also, if you miss a fish, it's not a bad idea to toss a senko or other soft plastic right back in to where the fish last hit. Sometimes the fish will turn around and hit the soft plastic thinking it's the injured object it just struck at.

I took up golf for awhile. ;D

In Missouri? 5 - 6 1/2lbs is a nice run of the mill big bass. A fish from 6 1/2 to 8 is a braggin size bass and anything over 8 is mountable.

What a shame Mr. Weakley broke the laws of the state of California and drug the fish in to be weighed vs. releasing it, immediately, when he realized he foul hooked it. Had he done so we wouldn't have people whining incessantly about this "new" : world record bass.

I've heard the same regarding SW MK's vs MG's. Don't bother buying a MG trolling motor for SW, it'll be nothing but headaches. Or so I've read on several saltwater boards.

Here's an idea of the kind of boat you might be looking at. It's for sale in the flea market forum http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1149534012

The trailers, which are tubular steel design, rust from the inside out due to trapped moisture never drying out. I believe Tracker/Nitro is going with a channel frame trailer now.

I've got a Minn Kota not a motorguide. Mine has a slight gap as well which is a good thing. There's usually a sheer pin on the shaft the the prop fits into. It's often bent which causes the prop to bind on the shaft making it difficult to slide the prop off when you've removed the wing nut. I took a couple of large flat blade screw drivers and put the blades into that gap on opposite sides of the prop and was able to pop the prop loose.

The nice part about crappie fishing is it's vastly cheaper to do than bass fishing. A nice ultra light to light weight spinning rod. 4-6lb test line and a bunch of varied colored tube jigs in sizes 1/32 - 1/8 oz work for me. Sometimes a simple minnow on a gold eagle claw hook, a pinch on lead weight under a slip float works wonders.

I have no problem with people keeping some fish to eat. I only wish Bass tasted as good as crappie.

I frequent a Florida fishing forum and there are quite a few there that use kayaks to freshwater fish and have no problems with gators. I wouldn't worry about it.

That 22 is a little too much prop for that 115 to get that big a boat on plane. Is this a bassboat or a fish and ski? I'm guessing a 21p may work better, a 19 even better.

I'm sure the number of opinions of which is the best bass boat will vary as much as the number of fishermen. Each boat is designed to do something a little different that the others. Some aim for speed, others rough ride handling and others stability at rest when fishing. Most of those listed in the poll are well made bass boats that will give you many years of good service.

I ordered a 3 foot roll of boat carpet, 6 feet wide from Cabelas. When it came I realized it was the wrong color. I ordered the correct color they just sent the wrong one. Cabela's CS asked me to mail it back. Because it was 6 foot long it went on the bulky charge rate at UPS. The cost to ship cost more than the carpet. I called Cabelas. She nicely OK'd me to just keep the carpet and sent me the correct replacement color. Top notch service.

I've never seen much use for those compprop's myself. I guess if you wanted a light weight spare they might make sense but you can pick up a used aluminum for the same price and actually use that thing if you had to, I'm not so sure you could do that with that composite prop. Ya know, you could scrounge around on Ebay, bass fishing homepage or bass boat forums and come up with a decent, used, back up stainless for what you'll spend on that composite.

As long as you have a place to store it, I'd go with the johnboat as well. They're just more durable and fishable than the other options you mentioned plus you can modify them to your hearts content. Easy to launch to with your PU truck. Make sure you get a trailer with it. Oh, if you have the choice, go welded.

What a woman!! Oh, and a top notch resume too.

What? No pictures?? As I recall, besides being a heck of a Mom raising those youngins for awhile by herself, a career and now a fisherwoman, she's also a hottie too!!

Did you just get this boat or have you had it awhile and it just started acting up like this? The prop shouldn't be the problem. That 200 should have no problem turning that 25. Have you tried plugs, fuel filter and especially the primer bulb? Remember, that engines under a lot more load when you're trying to push the nose over vs running WOT up on plane.

One of the best lakes for night fishing in this country is Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It has one of the most reliable patterns out there. 10-12" plastic worms fished either on main lake points or my favorite, around deep brush that's been sunk around the hundreds of boat docks on the lake. I have about 3 rods rigged, all with pegged T-rigged plastic worms in either black/neon or Junebug. While some guys fish all night, I find the bite around an hour or two before dusk till an hour or so after along with an hour or 2 before and after dawn as the most productive. Otherwise I'll tie off to a dock and catch a little shuteye.

Yep, that port side stringer top is exposed. You can see the rot. The transom is gone too I'm sure.

Ben nailed it. That thing isn't worth the work. Chop the thing up with a chainsaw. The trailer might fetch you a couple hundred on Ebay. Try and salvage the motor and put it on a boat that isn't ready for a scapyard like that one is. I started adding it up. Stringers, floor and transom repair, wood or seacast. $1000 Steering helm and cable $100-130 Throttle box and or cables $90-200 Fuel tank $100 Motor (this price could vary upwards) minimum. $200 Carpet $80-100 Seats & pedestals $200-300 1 graph $100 and up. TM (does it work) ??????? TM battery and engine battery $120- up Trailer hubs $90 Trailer bunks (new wood and carpet) $50-70 Winch and strap $40 Trailer wiring and new fixtures (the old ones will be corroded) $50-100 That's just off the top of my head. $2600 bucks and it could be more and that's doing it yourself.

Probably because the current record is shrouded in such mystery. No carcass, no pictures, merely eyewitness accounts of those there at the time. In todays day and age I'd expect a little more. I'll chime in this, for a few guys who are basically chasing the world record plus all the implications that come with that record (yes, I mean monetary) they weren't very astute at knowing the game and fish rules, IFGA rules or even knowing the location of the closest legitimate scales to where they were fishing. Seems odd that guys fishing for the world record bass seem so ignorant about everything involved in certifying it as a world record. Or maybe they did know and were merely trying to pull a fast one. Interesting how he "waited to see the public response" to his catch and when it was only 50-50 in popularity did he decide not to file with the IGFA.

Since the beginning of the year? In real dollars I would've spent somewhere around $1500 - 2000 in new lures, line, rods, reels, accesories. In actual dollars, about $500-600. I've worked deals, trades, bought lures in lots and sold off the stuff I didn't need, bought rods and reels in lots and kept what i wanted selling the rest. It's been satisfying. Otherwise, I don't spend that much anymore.

I've caught a couple that went 5ish. Both on Senko's. Been a really slow year for large fish here. Craziest weather I've seen in my parts this spring in awhile.