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If you want a non-bendable shaft the answer is MK hands down. I've banged into plenty of stuff over the years with my MK motors. A power drive, All Terrain and now Maxxum. One encounter nearly ripped the TM off the deck. The shaft never bent nor broke. I have no recent experience running MG motors, what I can say about MK is this. You've mentioned your TM purchase is budgeted. If you're going with a standard cable drive foot control (my recommendation) there's really only one thing that sticks out. The variable speed motor would be my first choice but those are available on the higher priced units. Typical 5 speed MK TM's run like this. Speed settings 1 and 2 are relatively slow. You'll probably use these the most unless the wind is blowing. Speed setting 3 jumps up quite a bit from 2, I use this most of the time if the wind is really blowing. Speed 4 is an even bigger jump from 3 and 5 is really honking it. In other words, the speed setting increases aren't linear. Otherwise, the 2 MK motors I've used over the past 20 years have been very reliable (except for the power drive), only a couple minor problems and parts were very reasonable. I purchased a "rebuilt" Maxxum 24 volt motor last season. Other than the shoddy rebuild job done by the guy I bought it from, the motor has been solid.

I purchased a regular spool of 15lb. Didn't have any left in the clearance. Also got a 1/8 oz spool of clear, 20lb for my swimbait rod. 8-)

Weather permitting, I'm hitting a new lake for me next weekend. It's down in the bootheel area with big bass potential. Washington County tournaments on March the 15th and the 29th. KY lake for the BassResource.com get together. I really like my odds on a new PB this year. The lake I'm going to has the potential for a 10lb fish.

Should have both boats done by the end of next week. I've got 2 tourneys between now and the KY trip. It's crunch time.

Only if the eggs were green and with a side of ham, Sam I am.

I just did a quick trip check from Raystown to mid lake Truman. 87 miles. You must be kidding. That would be a joy to be able to reach a quality bass fishery like that in only an hour and a half. A major doable 1 day trip. I consider LOZ a 1 dayer for me and it's 165 miles one way from my house. Be glad you don't live in St Louis.

I've got a 4th soft plastic rod I couldn't decide what line to put on it for this season. I haven't bee real happy with Flouro and then I started thinking about your posts on the Yozuri hybrid. I've decided to go with that and am looking forward to experimenting with it this year. 8-)

I have a hunch you did good. At $500 bucks purchase price you've got lots of room for fix up expenditures before you even begin to touch what the boat will be worth after all the repairs. Good buy IMO and yes, I've bought a boat w/o a on the water test before. Another deal like yours where the buyer was very motivated to sell and lots of people in line to purchase.

A couple things. 1. AS stated, go fast boats aren't always the best to fish out of. 2. Go fast boat builders don't build in high enough volume to justify spending $$$ to sponsor pro's to help sell their boats. Those boats are appealing to a rather small minority of anglers and those anglers already know about those brands. Advertising and sponsorship deals with pro's would gain them little.

Same here. It just got too confusing. I couldn't keep up if I missed an episode. It's good to know that they are wrapping it up. Maybe I will go back and rewatch the previous seasons and then the new ones so everything is fresh in my mind. The first hour is the past weeks show with the little popup explanations at the bottom of the screen to fill you in on what the heck they're talking about if you haven't stayed up with it. Very helpful IMO.

I was a strolling mime for the longest time but suffered from job burnout. I took up a gig as a juggler at a carnival but had a run in with the bearded lady and moved onto my current job, appraising Obama memorial coins and selling cheap, knockoff shamwow's on Ebay.

I have a bigger boat... In fact I'm in the middle of a resto on it and that's where most of my money is going.

Interesting. I've bought some of the material for mine. I'm using 1/4" aluminum bar stock. I'm not 100% sure how this will go. What are you making those outrigger pontoons out of?

First of all, a boat only 8 years old probably doesn't need to be completely rewired. Not unless the Merc - Johnson changeover was done by a complete hack. In fact, the first place I'd be looking is anything they might have messed with. Both the throttle box harnesses along with where they integrate with the rest of the wires coming from the back of the boat. Make sure no jury rigged wiring was done nor any temporary splicing into wiring that feeds other parts of the boat like lights or the main 12volt line going to the dash from the battery. Check for any chaffed or cut wires. Poke around under the dash. If there was a change over of gauges or a rewiring that would be another place to look for loose wires potentially grounding out and creating a short.

Just what kind of electrical problems are you having?

"Youth is wasted on all the wrong people" - "It's a Wonderful life" "Bring us a pitcher of beer every seven minutes until somebody passes out. And then bring one every ten minutes." - back to school Professor Terguson: Is she right? 'Cause I know that's the *popular* version of what went on there. And a lot of people like to believe that. I wish I could, but I was *there*. I wasn't here in a class room, hoping I was right, thinking about it. [shouting] Professor Terguson: I was up to my knees in rice paddies, with guns that didn't work! Going in there, looking for Charlie, slugging it out with him; While [shouts] Professor Terguson: girl thingies like you were back here partying, putting headbands on, doing drugs, and [shouts] Professor Terguson: listening to the d**n Beatle albums! Oh! Oh! Oh! Thornton Melon: Hey Professor, take it easy. These kids were in grade school at the time, and as for me... I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover. Professor Terguson: Well thankyou Mr. Helper - Back to School "The football team at my high school, they were tough. After they sacked the quarterback, they went after his family." - Back to school "Oh, and next Friday... is Hawaiian shirt day... so, you know, if you want to you can go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans." - Office space Bobby Kalzone: Dude, she's like 13. Jeff: Finally! - Drowning Mona Ellen: You're supposed to have that thing in your head that says, "BAD ******* IDEA, BOBBY!" Bobby Kalzone: I do have it! It just didn't work! - Drowning Mona Chief Wyatt Rash: Tell me something Cubby, you notice anything odd lately? Cubby: You mean other than the fact that no one seems to care about this woman's death? Chief Wyatt Rash: Along those lines. Cubby: Hell Wyatt, I've seen people more upset over losing change in a candy machine. - Drowning Mona Just a few that came to mind.

;D Sounds like a Kodak moment to me. ;D

I never watched the show till over the off-season. I've been watching the reruns on the internet plus a couple channels have been running them as well. I'm pretty much hooked. Great show and you're right, they're doing a good job of tying things together and helping make sense of a lot of what's gone on the past 4 - 5 seasons.

It's the sleeper reel of the year IMO. I used mine the last couple months of last year and they are incredible casters. Except for the brake side parts on the Pflueger, which are a superior system than the REVO IMO, the crankside gearing and parts are virtually interchangeable.

I owned a power drive MK for 6-7 years. They are clearly designed for guys who spend time off shore fishing structure. The head response turn time is too slow for most bass fishing applications in cover or shallow water. The head turning speed slows if the TM speed is turned up. Unless you get the built in transducer, routing a transducer cable for a graph is a pain and you wind up with excess loose wire around the shaft due to the stow and deploy system. It's bound to snag something, mine did. I have no experience with the autopilot feature but I can't imagine ever having much use for it in my everyday fishing. The flat foot pedals with long cables are nice but they can become quirky after time due to dirt, grit and moisture getting into them. The motors are a great idea. They've been around for quite a few years but unfortunately, MK has never spent much time advancing the motors to make them more appealing to bass fishermen. The most they've done is the auto-pilot feature, finally fixing the poor stow and deploy system those motors used to have and coming up with a built-in transducer along with wireless remote. If you fish TM only lakes there would be big advantages to owning one. The same if you only fish deeper lakes and spend a lot of time structure fishing in open water. OTOH, if you spend time fishing shallow cover you're going to become frustrated with the motors abilities.

matt, at the very least I'd have it patched until later in the season. You don't want bare fiberglass absorbing water. You'll have a real problem then.

BTW, if you were watching the National Geographic special on bass last night you would've noticed the older gal that won the prize for Big Bass on Rayburn in that contest was using a Lews BB-1N reel while she was fishing. There are still quite a few people that still use those reels.

I sold a Lews BB-1NG on Ebay for around $250-260. It was NIB, had all the goodies. I paid a whole whopping $60 for it. That was a LEWS reel, not a Browning Version which usually sell for half of the original Lews reels.

Is that the Skeet Leese model? Seriously, don't you guys have your own board for comparing your woodies?

What's a net? I thumb everything but the smallest. I will swing a smaller fish into the boat but it never hits the carpet unless it comes unbuttoned from the hook. Whether I'm in a tournament or not, I respect the resource to take as good a care of it as possible. Money is not an excuse, IMO, for allowing a fish to go bouncing around the bottom of a boat.