cart7t

Within a mile of Beaver lake? I could be there in 5 minutes. If you have the ability to keep your gear stored on-board, it's a matter of hitchin the boat and driving to the lake.

I just fished yesterday and the wind was a definite factor in how, what and where I fished. The lake was murky and only 49 degrees. There was a strong wind, 20mph sustained, 30+ gusts. I was going to fish for a jerkbait bite on rocky banks with wind blowin in but the wind made that difficult. My second and third strategies were to slow roll a spinnerbait and flip laydowns. Casting accuracy was out the door and backlashes were the rule of the day. The spinnerbait and jig were easier to present but there seemed to be no bite on those. I caught 3 fish, one keeper. Terrible fishing conditions. Was the wind the first thing I thought of? Not so much as far as where I thought the fish were, I caught them right were I thought they'd be, but it certainly played a determining factor in my presentation. It was the water temp, coupled with the forage the bass would probably be feeding on and seasonal location which were the things I thought of first, the wind was primarily a nuisance.

What kind of boat is it? At that age, I'd be pretty surprised if there wasn't some rot somewhere on it.

Hopefully he has the TM mount style transducer. Those attach to the bottom of the TM prop head unit.

I consider a buzzbait bite a pattern itself. I've probably caught as many fish buzzin outside the listed "traditional" hours as I have within.

There are no set answers to your question. First there's the question of the amount of lift that's designed into the boat hull. On a standard old semi-V that's not much. There's also the question of prop pitch of the motor. A lower pitch prop shoots you out of the hole faster but will lag for top end speed. A higher pitch prop, vise versa. Neither the 9 or 18hp motor can get your boat on plane so they're reduced to pushing it through the water vs. keeping on top. Even at that, the 18 will make the boat go faster than the 9 but you still won't get on plane. Basically, with the 18 you'll be plowing water faster than with the 9.9. When you're boat reaches plane it because the motor was able to lift the front of the boat up out of the water while propelling it forward. Considering the weight factor with the setup you're talking about, you'll need all the power you can get to overcome the weight and drag.

For 13-14k you can get a pretty nice used bass boat. I've never owned an aluminum bassboat but I've fished out of quite a few and I would never make the switch unless I was going to spending all my time on smaller waters.

Like I said, I've been fishing over 30 years and I can count the number of fish I've foul hooked using a single hook lure on one hand. I don't know how you're fishing but most of those scenarios wind up with me reeling back in half a worm or none at all. As for this fish, it was snagged up by the dorsal fin. I'm still trying to figure the physics out on the chance of snagging a fish that high up on the body with any lure. The line was clearly over the top of the fish if it was snagged that high. If I pull on the line the jig will ride up the side of the fish with the hook point in a position not possible to hook into the side of the fish. The only way I could see a jig snagging a fish in the location where this fish was, is if it wasn't a single hook jig but had a treble hook. If the jig had a treble hook, which I have heard initial reports that it did have, then I'm more suspicious of the intent of these guys. If your pitching a treble hooked jig into a bed and proceeding to blindly set the hook, like this guy did on numerous occasions, then I'd say he's intentionally trying to snag the fish and as far as I'm concerned this guy has no intergrity with me at all. Cheap fishing.

Thanks for your input reelmech. We could have used you in a couple other threads, your thoughts probably would have shortened them a bit.

If the boats rated for a 75 you'll be fine.

Even if she's not dead already, which is possible due to stress, I still don't think she'll fall again.

LOL so true lots of this . Thats where I learned, bad thing is when the scarabs run up and down and left and right the waves go every which way and its like driving my little 17.5" boat through a hurricane. Exactly. After a weekend driving that lake you'll think cutting through 2-3 foot rollers, all spaced out nice n parallel with one another is a breeze. ;D

A Champion? You'll have no problem handling 2-3 footers with that boat. Probably the best rough water boat running. Just quarter the waves and throttle through. Keep your finger on the trim. Best thing to do is practice. I'd suggest a summer weekend on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. After one summer weekend running that lake you'll be prepared to handle just about anything. ;D

Here's another place http://www.xpressmats.com/workplace_mats.asp?gclid=CK7xhenj_4MCFUQxIgodKkFZfQ It was suggested I look under restaraunt supply.

Sorry this is so late. I was fishing Perry county lake in Perryville Mo. You must have been at Washington county lake. That was a great big bass lake at one time. I had a PB, easy 9-10lbs at the boat when it came unglued from the crankbait. Used to catch 4-6lbers over there pretty regularily and then the bottom just sorta dropped out a few years ago.

Thanks for posting that Chris, I was going to dig to see if I still had that issue but couldn't find it. So, Perry's partner and obviously a postal worker were present to witness the weight on a postal scale (which for the time was very accurate). Seems to me the case is closed. Unless someone can produce a witness that disputes the catch, saw him snag the fish, saw him illegally net or otherwise take the fish from the water with a method other than pole and line I'd suggest this WR question on the Perry fish is closed. I'm sorry these guys didn't catch the record. Technically, had they followed Cali state law, they would've released the fish immediately rather than drag it back to the dock to weigh it later. Then we'd have never known what that fish weighed.

Well, that makes 3 of us looking for that stuff. I've been looking for a diamond plate type pattern in the rubber. No luck yet. I'll keep my eyes out and let you know if I find anything.

With a jig even. Again, I haven't seen the bait but I can count the number of fish I've foul hooked on a single hook lure on around 1 or 2 fingers.

: That fish is no 6lber. The mouth alone is big enough for 1 1/2 of his fists to fit in. Just leave it be.

Congrats on one of the 2 happiest days of a boat owners life! ;D

That looks a lot safer than the previous. Besides, that thing can be deflated and stored in the event down the road, after you've moved and maybe stepped up to bigger boat, you'd want to use it again. On the other hand, after you're done with the wood boat you'd wind up having to have some place to store it. Good luck.

I'm afraid you're not going to get there with a 15 hp. A 25hp would probably due the trick.

It would seem Evinrude has hit a homer with the Etec. I'm a Yamaha guy but I'd look into one if buying new. I'd also prefer the power of a 2 stroke over a 4 stroke anyday.

DO NOT USE THOSE TM ISOLATOR BOLTS! I've testimonial after testimonial of those things either shearing off or pulling completely out if you hit something. I nearly lost my MinnKota TM last fall when I hit a stump and 2 of the six bolts sheared off and 2 more pulled completely out. You have been warned.

That depends on how much weight you're talking about. If you're talking about 2 guys, their gear, a trolling motor, TM battery, 6 gallon gas tank and a cooler you're talking quite a bit of weight. You also need to be more clear as to getting the boat on plane. I think a 15hp will push you're boat around quite adequately but if you're talking about getting all you can out of that boat speedwise you need to put a motor on it that reaches the maximum horsepower recommended for the boat.