gamblerOH

2001 Gambler 2100 dual console. 225 mercury. minn kota trolling motor. lowrance w/gps on console and lowrance on front.

A jack plate is well worth the money. The biggest gain you will see with a jack plate is going to be top end speed. They will allow you to put your motor at the correct depth for the prop you are running.The bigger jack plates also set your motor back so they are not running in cavitated water. the idea behind a jack plate is to allow your boat to trim out further,which equals more top speed. The hot foot is a must have,without it you cannot keep both hands on the wheel and control throttle at the same time, as flippinfish said they are a must have in rough water.

lunkerguy, you should have definately said something to someone. who cares if you get labeled,i'm sure it would not have hurt your rep. as much as it would have your boaters. thats a horrible way to end a tourney though!

I use navionics.com you can get the memory cards for different regions and the regions are very large so you probally wont have to buy more than one.

I'm with scbassin, i would not use them either.I think the more support you can have for the bottom of the boat while trailering the better.the only benefit I would see to them would be to launch on a shallow ramp,and thats not a good idea anyway.I would just install the new carpet on your old bunks.

wade, you will want to use an epoxy primer after you get it down to bare metal. PPG makes a primer called DP40 and also DP50(just different colors,same primer)this is the primer you want to use for direct to aluminum. DP40 is not sandable so after you spray it on if its not perfectly clean you will have to spay another primer on so you can sand it. A sandable primer is called primer surfacer,usually urethane but I think lacquer based is still available,its a lot cheaper.As far as paint goes use the best you can afford. anything from enamels to urethanes will work but the urethanes will be much more durable.As JT was saying valspar (sikkens) is a huge paint manufacturer and I have used their stuff and its great,in our town PPG has a better retailer so thats what we use. If you use the valspar tell them you want a primer similar to the dp's in PPG's line. I would guess that you are looking at about 300-400$ in materials but dont go the cheap route, youre doing a lot of work and i'm sure you dont want to do it again next year!Let me know if you have anymore questions,i'll do my best to help out

i would try a 4 blade prop. they are better out of the hole and the extra blade will help to lower the rpm's. sounds like you could stay with the same pitch just go to a 4 blade

I mounted mine without a kit. They way I mounted it was drilled a small hole in the bottom fin of my troll. motor and bolted the transducer to it. it has been on there for 2 years now and no problems.

If i'm flippin I usually ask the guy in the back of my boat to come up front and we both flip from the front. Ask your fishing buddy why they call that a flippin deck in his boat and why is it so big???maybe he will get the hint!

I have a dual pro in my boat. Just make sure if you have 3 batteries you get a 3 bank.look at the total amps and divide by 3 and thats will be your amps per batt. The reason that matters is because the more amps the faster your batteries will recover. mine will usually recover in less than 8 hrs.Try to get one with 15 amps per bank.

Go get yourself another Gambler, you deserve it and wont be satisfied until you get one. I have a 2100 with a 225 merc. I did fish in a new ranger last fall and they are very nice, as far as speed and handling nothing comes close to a gambler.

I think theres always a chance any THEORY could be wrong. I personally have had no sucess with burning a bait in less than 60 deg. water. I will try it again soon though because we havent been catching anything the last couple times out---LOL

If this question is for me I think its any body of water that is open for the public to fish.If I stock my pond in the backyard thats a different matter. When the DNR stocks a public lake then we all have a chance to catch those fish.too bad they dont feed our bass in ohio farm raised trout!!!

I'm with dodgeguy, I think if its big its big,we cant do anything about how it got big,just wish we would have caught it rather than someone else.If I go to cali and catch it I dont care what its been eating--LOL

yeah, what cephkiller said!!!

I have to disagree with bassinjack on this one. I find it hard to work my bait on the bottom with a tight line. I almost think its impossible to keep a bait on the bottom with a tight line.as far as hooksets,you have to hit em hard enough to pull the hook through the rubber.

If your fishing rubber you should be watching the line. the fish will suck up the bait and spit it back in just a second. usually if your not watching and going by feel, it will be too late by the time you feel it and the fish will spit the bait out. what most people feel with worm fishing is not the bite but the fish spitting the bait out. You gotta watch that line!!

I've heard of people having the bottoms of jon boat coated with rhino lining----truck spray on bedliner. I'm sure it would work well but will be expensive

I'm with RAUl. I fish Kentucky lake and Barkley so I have caught them, not sure how or why though.It does seem I have caught most of them while fishing for smallies though,maybe they have more in common with a smallie than a largemouth.I tournament fish so if your onto something please let me know, since I dont know of anyone who specializes in spots they may be an untapped resource!!!

I know a few years back a company was making a prop they called a shifter prop. It changed pitches as the rpm's came up. Problem was if prop came out of water at running speeds it would break the blades of the prop and cause serious damage to your engine. I think it was made by a company called land and sea(owned by bruinswick).I think the biggest problem with your idea would be that 2-stroke engines make the majority of their power at higher rpm's. as the rpm's fell the engine could not turn the higher gear. you may be onto something with the newer four strokes though!

MY advice would be to take a roadtrip south about 500-600 miles,that should help.----LOL

I've had really good service from my interstate group 31's

our license fees go up each year too. now they are beginning to charge a fee to launch your boat.$3.00 per day or 50$ for the year. Thats really getting out of hand. I wonder what the license fees pay for.(not boat ramps apparently)

I would look for a good used fiberglass boat. you can find one a few years old with low hours that may have cost 25,000 or more when it was new. I think you would be getting a lot more boat and motor that way.

great articles JT. I hope to use some of these methods soon.how do I subscribe to your e-mailings?