gamblerOH

I went to bass master university in Cinnicinatti Oh this past winter, I think I learned some stuff or at least learned how to do some things the correct way. The best thing about it for me was the fact that when you enroll you get 20% off at BPS. So after I spent about $1000 i guess I got my 120$ entry fee back with the discounts ;D so I feell like I learned some stuff and saved a few bucks, not to mention getting away for a couple days in the middle of winter

If you have a merc they are famous for having lousy trim systems. If you see any oil film on the water while you are fishing its most likely from the trim seals leaking and the gurgling sound you are hearing is from air getting into the system. Pull the plug and check to be sure its full, if its not its leaking. Remember when you fill it that the motor has to be trimmed all the way up, sounds weird I know but thats how it works.

I know this should be in the flea market section but I have a 1988 merc 115 with controls and hydraulic steering for $900, runs perfect and has no problems. I ahd it on a deep-V lake boat and the boat has finally rotted away so the motor is the best thing about it.

I have fished them on a carolina rig, that still gives it the weightless action but uses weight so I dont know if that qualifies :-/

unless the water is way up in the 50's I would'nt think shallow would be the way to go. You may catch fish there but most likely not enough to win. I have to go with roadwarrior and go with A. The channel has everything the fish needs, good water,baitfish and some changing water levels. If you won on any other than A I would guess E. by the way why isnt there a D ???

If i'm fishing a club tourney i'll get everything ready friday night and head out around 2 am on saturday to drive to the site of the tourney(usually 3 houres or less) and will prefish it saturday till about 2pm and then find a room, tie on some new lures, respool a couple reels and give the boat a good wipedown. In the evening our bass club always has a cookout in the parking lot of the motel so I'll go get some food and listen to guys lie about what they were using all day ;D. If i'm fishin the FLW (non-boater in that one!) my saturday morning routine so far has been driving back home ;Dmade no cuts this year

mostly bankrunners(small) will stay shallow and the bigger fish will move to deeper water. That dont mean they cant be caught shallow, just that the majority of bigger fish will be deep this time of year. A guy in our club always weighs in a good bag of fish and he says if his rod dont touch the bottom its too deep ??? so I guess that proves they can be caught shallow even when its hot and bright.

most bass boats use 24 volt trolling motors and that means ALL of the 12 volt stuff is hooked to the cranking battery. They do this because it is going to get recharged throughout the day by the alt. scbassin is exactly right. This is only a guess but I would say it would take a week for a livewell(on a timer) and fishfinder to run a cranking battery dead.

nick_barr, it shouldnt be hard to find the right time to catch fish in your neck of the woods ;D

Hunger!!

In my case the closest Gambler dealer is 200 miles, but lickily I havent needed any work on the boat. The engine is a different story. I have had a lot of problems with my merc. I may just have gotten a bad one but my next engine will be a Yamaha. I know the rave right now is the e-techs but I dont know if I would buy one the first year out, they have a good warranty but you will most likely still be paying for that boat long after the warranty is gone and I would think they are going to be very expensive to repair.I also dont like the fact that evinrude is pushing the maintenance requirements so far back on the e-techs,with no maintenance it should be breaking about the time the warranty runs out

welcome. I hope to catch a few of those 5 pounders like your holding this weekend. I'll make some money if I can ;D

luckily most of our lakes have small populations of stripers. The river however has a lot of them, they are a blast when you can get on'em. sounds like your brushpiles are in perfect spots for this time of year. Mine are much shallower6-10 ft. I have them for early spring and the first part of post spawn when the fish are just starting to go back out to deeper water. I need some on the deep points, I guess i'll be collecting Christmas trees again ;D

I have brushpiles too ;D Its just so hard to make sure the fish are there and then you have to make them bite. My brushpiles are productive in mid-spring and early fall, I can count on them then but this time of year its almost a waste of time. I will go and give them about 15 min. just to check them and then hit the points. I seem to find feeding fish on the points more often (shaded side in mid-morning) this time of year. No matter what you throw this is a tough time of year.

Are you guys a bunch of brown nosers or what ;D Really though,glenn does a great job!

fivebass, all you need to remember is deep rocky points with steep dropoffs and a carolina rigged sweet beaver or ugly otter, i have found some ugly otters that are made by gambler bait co (not boats ) and they are awesome. I think they may be better than sweet beavers. My fishing partner is having good luck with finesse worms rigged on a jighead in deep water worked very very slow. I dont do this well since a carolina rig is about as slow as I can stand to go.

how many amps is your on-board? It sounds like you may have something on the boat that is drawing current out of your cranking battery. Try to unhook everything from the cranking battery and see if it goes green then. Sometimes a small on board charger cant put out enough to fully charge a battery as long as there is something constantly draining the battery, make sure your fishfinders are off, I've made that mistake more than once while fishing night tourneys,bring it home and plug it in only to find 2 days later I have left my finders on

mine switches over like that but I still dont think its as fast as a regular flasher, since its working from a fishfinder transducer I think it has to be slower. Maybe someone else on here knows the differences that can explain it better than me.

where at in west virginia? I live in ohio but fish a lot in WV. I fish East lynn and summersville a few times each year. I would think to start a club in WV would be hard because the fishing is so bad in most places it would require a lot of travel to get to some decent lakes. Stonewall is a great lake but you cant hold a tourney there since its catch and release only.

alloymiken, where do you live. I'm going south in a couple of weeks and could use some saltwater advice. I want to catch something big(not a shark ;D) preferably with no teeth.

I Have both on my console, I just use the flasher more when driving or idling around looking.Its nice you are looking out for the guy in the back, thats rare. If you are going to save up to buy a fishfinder then buy a good one. Dont go cheap since a cheap one wont be as good as your flasher. I noticed you play golf, did you play in college?

alloymiken, if I could just catch a largemouth about half the size of that striper I would have a world record on my hands, then I will be rating myself right up there with the PROS !! The thing that gets me about pro bass fishing is anybody can do as long as you have a fat checkbook. There is really no set way to qualify to be a pro, just show up with your money(lots of it) and fish.All other pro sports involve a lot of other levels to make it to the top level.There are a lot of PROS out there who cant fish at all but are on the tour because they can afford to be(especially FLW) and one day will get lucky enough to catch some fish and get a sponsor. I really shouldnt complain though cause if I had the cash I would be out there too, and I sure dont rank myself as a pro. ;D

The flasher is the most important piece of equipment on your boat. Not only are they more accurate but work much faster than a fishfinder so when you are running on plane they are still giving accurate info,this is important if you are fishing water that can get shallow fast, by the time a fishfinder shows the correct depth you have already totaled your boat After you learn to read a flasher you wont want a fishfinder on the console(unless you want a GPS) anyway. A flasher will show drop offs and points much better than a fishfinder, you also get a much better idea of the taper of a drop off. Keep the flasher ;D

alloymiken, stripers and sharks dont count. ;D

It sounds like you may have other problems, such as a dirty carb etc. I think a 13 is good for your situation, I wouldnt think you would need to drop more than one or two sizes at most. I would be sure that your engine is running right before doing anything.