mudcatwilly

Well I've been bass fishing for about three years now and I've finally been having some success, much of which was due to the help of the members of this forum early on. So now, I feel that I'm in a new learning stage beyond the basics and need some help with technique. I've gotten pretty good at casting and flipping accurately, but I still cannot consistently get the bait into the water without a splash, especially when casting at a distance. Can somebody break down the technique in making a quiet entry?

Ouch! Well I'd like to help out with the powerhead, but all I have to give ya is a slightly used lower unit with shredded gears. At $0.00, it's the best deal in town. I'm taking mine out on the water in the next few days. Wish me luck.

Yeah, I think what I took away from this whole L/U experience is that the smallest deviation can throw off the linkage. There are just so many darn moving parts in an outboard motor, it's amazing they don't break down all the time. I suppose that's why they're so expensive. Oh, by the way, a big thumbs up to a guy who goes by the handle of HPBB on this forum. He sold me the lower unit at a very fair price, shipped it when he said he would, and answered a lot of my questions. He could have chose to stick it to me on the price because there's not that many L/U's like mine out there, but he didn't. There's still good people out there. Thanks Jim.

Reliable motor, stability in rough water, stronger than needed trolling motor, lots of horsepower, and at least a standard tournament setup. The other stuff's negotiable.

Yeah, it's been suggested to me that the vibration from the motor running was just enough to get the shift rod lined up properly. I think because the replacement L/U was sitting for awhile, things inside the gearcase got a little stiff. The oil that came with the replacement L/U looked good, but I changed it anyway. Maybe it just took the motor a little bit of time to loosen things up in there, kinda like it takes a pitcher a few warmup tosses before he goes into pitch. I don't know, but as hard as it's been to deal with this thing, maybe I was just do for a lucky break. Anywho, my boat is finally up and running after 3 months and I can't wait to get out on the water.

Get something with a V8. Spend a little extra on the truck so you don't have to worry about it.

I would throw a jig with a rattle, a timber tiger crank, a T-rig with brass and glass, or a spinner with a big colorado blade. You want something that displaces a lot of water or something that makes a racket. Some scent wouldn't hurt either.

I'm on the water before sunrise. This time of year, that's 5:30 am for me.

I posted recently about having a problem with my shift linkage after changing out my lower unit. With the motor off, I could get forward and neutral only, but the shifter wouldn't budge into reverse. With the motor running, I could get reverse. Then when I shut the motor off...no reverse again. Well, today I came back to look at the motor and figure out what to do and I tried the shifter with the motor off just for the heck of it. It now shifts fine in forward and reverse. I didn't do anything to it and now it works all of a sudden. Can someone explain how this is possible?

OK, so I did some more messing around with it. I fired it up in the driveway and with the motor running, I can get it into reverse, although the shifter feels a little stiff. Prop engages in forward and reverse and is not spinning in neutral. When I went from forward to reverse with the prop still spinning a bit, it did grind louder than what seems normal. When I shut the motor off, I got it into reverse once, then back to forward and when I shifted back to reverse, it wouldn't budge again. What's the deal? How can I get reverse with the motor running but not get it when the motor's off? Please help.

I did notice that before I put the replacment lower unit on, the shift rod took a lot more effort to move up and down than the rod on my old lower unit. It was especially hard to pull the shift rod up. I believe that "up" is reverse. Does that help?

It's a 1990 Suzuki DT85.

I just changed out my lower unit and when I got everything hooked back up, I noticed that it won't shift into reverse. I get forward and neutral just fine. It was shifting fine before I changed the lower unit. For some reason, I was able to shift it into reverse a couple of times, but then when I shifted forward again, it wouldn't go back into reverse. The shifter won't budge into reverse once it gets past neutral. I didn't change anything except the lower unit. Any ideas?

I'd take off the windshield, cut the bow open, and build a fishing deck. I restored an old Lund trihull earlier this year and did a similar thing. You'll probably (definitely) spend more on parts, paint, etc than the boat is worth. I spent about $1,200 to fix mine up and I didn't have to do anything to the motor.

I have a 1990 Suzuki DT85 and I'm trying to get the lower unit off. I've taken out all the bolts that connect the lower unit to the middle section and I can get the lower unit to drop about 6 or 8 inches. The clutch rod is still attached at the shift mechanism up in the motor and I know I have to get that off the get the lower unit off, but it doesn't want to come off. I have the shop manual and it says to remove the cover at the front of the clutch rod pin and then pull a cotter pin and then pull out the pin connecting the clutch rod. Well, as far as I can tell, there is no cover in front of the clutch rod and there is no cotter pin. I can see where the top of the clutch rod fits around a pin, but the pin looks like it's part of the shifting mechanism and it doesn't simply slide out. What's worse is that the connection between the clutch rod and the shifting mechanism is in an impossible place to get to directly under the lowest carburator. I can push the clutch rod with a flat screwdriver a little bit so that it slides on the pin, but then the rod hits the side of the motor housing and it won't slide all the way off the pin. How in the heck do I get that clutch rod off that pin without taking the motor apart?

I have fished 4 or 5 times with a guy I met in this forum who goes by the handle "Abelfisher." We first met last August after I answered a post of his about northern California bass lakes. He graciuosly took me out on his boat a few times and we became fast friends. After a few times out on the water learning from each other, we decided, hey let's fish a tournament and see how we do. Well, we opted for the Future Pro Tour circuit and fished our first tournament on the world famous Clearlake. This was the first tournament for both of us and neither of us had ever fished Clearlake. Well the tournament experience was real exciting for both of us as we blasted off with 140 or so boats and tried our luck with a section of that huge lake that we agreed to fish a few days before the tournament. We caught a couple of 2 pounders early in the day, but the post frontal conditions and strong winds made us decide to seek relative shelter in a creek arm and try our luck there. When we started to figure out a pattern, we stared nailing 3 and 4 pounders, culling fish by 11:00 am. Both of us were having career days, pulling big bass out of little pockets of shade in some heavy cover. At the end of it all, we ended up weighing in just over 18 pounds. Not bad for our first tournament and in a lake neither of us had ever fished. It just so happened that the record for that circuit was destroyed that day. The winning team weighed in at 38 plus pounds. The second place team was at 27 pounds. Our 18 pounds got us 40th place! Still, out of 140 boats, 40th place seemed like a victory for us, not to mention, we had an absolute blast. If you are considering a trip out to California, you must fish Clearlake! That is by far the most awesome lake that I have ever fished. The bass there are just bigger and you can find them everywhere. We are going to fish another tournament this year on the California Delta, another big bass factory. I can't wait! Thanks so much Greg (Abelfisher) for being a gracious boater and letting me, the backseater, have a shot at some good water. Big props to the Future Pro Tour. They put on a great tounament.

I did a whole paint job on a fiberglass boat about 2 months ago. Here's what I did: 1. Take off old decals using a combination of acetone, a heat gun, and elbow grease. I had to remove two 8-inch wide decals that ran the length of the boat. The heat gun was the only thing that would take those things off. Acetone helped get some of the old glue off and sanding took the rest off. 2. Once the decals are gone, buy a random orbital sander. It's worth it's weight in gold just for this project. 3. I took off the "shine" of the gelcoat using 60 grit paper on the sander. The hard to reach areas were sanded by hand. Be careful not to sand all the way down to the fiberglass. You just want to dull the finish. 4. I then filled all the little cracks, gouges, screw holes, etc. with 3M marine filler. It's basically a 2-part epoxy. Use a little bit at a time and work fast. It sets up quick. 5. Sand down the epoxied areas with the 60 grit and do any touch up with the epoxy if needed, then sand the patch again. 6. Sand the whole boat down once with 120 grit, then sand it down again with 180 grit (or finer if you like). For me, I'm not such a great painter that you could tell the difference between a 180 or 320 grit paper. 7. Wipe the boat down thoroughly with a tack cloth and then go over it with a clean rag soaked in acetone. Repeat if necessary. You don't want any dust on the boat. 8. I used 3 coats of interlux brightside paint. This is topside paint that I used on the topside and bottom of the boat. You can use the topside paint on the bottom as long as you don't store your boat in the water.

Congrats! I bought a fixer for my first boat too and I did lots of stuff to it. I don't want to sound square, but really, the first thing you need to get out of the way is all of your safety and rigging equipment (life jacket, air horn, ropes, lights) Then, you can get the fun stuff. Give the motor a thorough check and tune up. Besides your brain, it's the one thing in your boat that you must rely on. I've had one go out on me in the middle of a lake on a weekday with nobody around. It's no fun. Then, I would spend money on a good fishfinder and a good trolling motor. Don't forget to budget for batteries, charger, and wiring. That stuff's not cheap. Then you may want to build a little fishing deck with carpet, chair, etc.

BD, For the trailer, grind off any rust and give it a good sanding to rough up the surface (use a sander where you can or you'll get tennis elbow!) You want to lay down a primer coat and then a good marine paint. Outboard motor paint would work or I believe you can use boat topside paint, but ask someone at Westmarine first about that one. You'll use less paint if you brush it on, but I'd prefer to spray it. I'd probably change out the bunk carpet while the boat was off the trailer too. I did that on mine, it's not too difficult.

Thanks Way2slow. You always answer my dumb motor questions. As you can tell, I am not a mechanic. I am good with my hands though and I want to learn. Here's another dumb question. What is the shift rod and how do I identify it?

I found out from a boat mechanic that I had a bent prop shaft. He told me that I needed to replace the lower unit. I asked him "what would happen if I didn't replace it?" He told me that I could probably go for awhile, but sooner or later the lower unit would quit on me. My motor is a 1990 Suzuki DT85 and not worth the $1,000 it would have cost me to get the lower unit replaced. Therefore, I elected to keep using it until something happened. Well...something happened. I was out on the lake going about 25-30 mph when I started to hear sort of a steady, rythmic, banging sound. It wasn't real noticable at first, it just sounded like my motor was getting louder. Soon after that, I heard (and felt) a very loud series of metallic bangs and the boat slowed to a stop, but the motor was still running. I shut the motor off and limped home on the trolling motor. When I got out of the water, I noticed that I could not turn the prop by hand in either direction. There was no noticable external damage to the motor, but I haven't taken anything apart yet. Here are my questions: 1. What do you think happened? My guess is that the lower unit is shot, but I have no idea how extensive the damage may be. 2. If it is the lower unit, how hard is it to replace it. I can get a fully assembled lower unit on ebay for about $250, but I've never taken one off or put one on. 3. Should I just junk it and buy another motor? My motor ran very strong, was well maintained and is super clean. The damage to the motor was caused by me, not a malfunction of old parts Thanks for any help guys.

Abel, hey man Berryessa is on fire! Get down here. I got the launch fee.

I am learning to fish tidal waters (sloughs, cuts, etc.) and had some questions. My understanding is that bass tend to face into the current. How then should I position my boat? Should I move with the current or against it? I figured that there would be 3 possible scenarios: 1. Boat moving with the current, cast behind the fish 2. Boat moving with the current, cast in front of the fish 3. Boat moving against the current cast in front of the fish These scenarios assume that the bass are facing into the current. Could someone with tidal fishing experience offer some suggestions?

Ironically, I caught my two PB on the Gulp Turtleback worm, but those were the only two bass I caught on them , so I use them only sparingly.

Cheap fix: get some JB Weld to plug the holes then sand it down. For the lining: Herculiner. It's expensive, but it's very tough. Only draw back is that it is very hard and abrasive and will scratch you up if you happen to drag your hand across it.