bassnleo

Man that stinks! Bet it was a long, slow, drive home

Another consideration, what line is your rod rated for? If your using 10 lb braid on a medium heavy or higher power rod you may be placing too much stress on line at hook set. Knot is probably the #1 reason braid breaks. What kind of cover were you fising around? Braid is good in most vegatation situations but put it around rocks and look out, it'll break in an instant. I use 10 lb Power Pro regularly, I can honestly say that I have never broken it setting the hook. I use it on a 6'6" medium action G-Blanks spinning rod.

Man I feel you pain. A couple weekends ago I broke the "indestructible" composite shaft on my Minn Kota trolling motor, then later that evening I broke a brand new onboard charger I was installing in my other boat. Kind if makes ya want to scream, dosen't it?

Thought I'd bring this one back up since there seems to be quite a few tube questions lately, enjoy, there is some great info in this thread.

Check this thread, it should have info for you: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1167358924/0

Sorry, don't have a pic but it's the same as you would T-rig a worm or any plastic bait.

Ya know, i have one of those scales also, I kind of noticed something....... If you weigh in pounds and ounces, the most accurate reading you get will be within 1 ounce, lets say for example 3 lb 8 ounces. I noticed that if you weigh in Kilograms, it will read to the hundreth (sp?) as opposed to only reading to an ounce, for example 3.27 Kilos. In a tournament situation were every single bit counts, and you have 2 fish that show identical pound and ounce readings, wouldn't someone be further ahead by switching to Kilos to see which fish was actually heavier since in Kilo mode the scale reads as I described? Just curious if any of you have tried this?????

Russ, mighty great hooking ability there. Talk about threading a needle

Excellent post. Skin cancer runs in my family. Last year I started using Blue Lizard sunscreen and it has performed well for me. I actually wear long sleeves every time out, no matter how hot. I have found that a long sleeve Under Armor style shirt in white is quite comfortable, even when hot and humid, and it just gives you a little extra protection. The comment that KU made about sunglasses, couldn't agree more. We all want a good pair of glasses to see into the water but are they protecting your eyes from all the UV rays? That really has become a concern for me in recent years and I always make sure that my glasses are blocking out those harmful rays. You young guys out there, heed all this advice, start using sunscreen now, you'll thank us later.

IMHO, you would be better suited to up the power of your rod to medium heavy. Here's why... I too used to fish flukes on a medium rod. I did catch alot of fish with that set up but I also lost a ton of fish. It never failed, I would make a long cast like flukes will do, twitch the bait twice and a fish would blow up on it. I'd have around 40 yards of line out, medium action rod, mono line, 3/0 hook, way too much give in all that and I was not getting the hook home on alot of fish. I experimented with alot of rigs and here's what worked best for me.. I currently use a 7 foot medium heavy Kistler Helium spinning rod, 20 lb Power Pro braided line, 4/0 superline hook. Now when I get a bite at 40 yds I have plenty of backbone and no line strech, my landng percentage went way, way, up with this set up. I use it is stained to very clear water.... Hope this helps.

I'm hooked on Deadliest Catch and now also Ice Road Truckers, good show, I surely wouldn't do it!

Good rods mentioned already, I'll add that if you are looking to spend a little less than some mentioned, Gander Mountain carries a Guide Series E-Glass rod for about 50 bucks. I have one and still use it, it's a good performing rod for the price.

I have a 16 foot Tracker Grizzly, added an extension to the front deck, added a livewell, an 18 hp Tohatsu hangs on the back. I currently have a 40 lb bow mount Minn Kota Edge and quite frankly it was not enough. I do fish the Allegheny River in this boat when the river is high enough to run a prop boat, the current would be just about the speed you mentioned. I am upgrading to a 55 lb Minn Kota. I have owned 3 similar boats and 55's did the trick on them. Oh, and if he wants a 40 lb Edge gimme a yell! It's the same one in which the shaft shattered, you posted a reply to my post in the outings section when I spoke of my Murphy's Law day. I have a new shaft ordered, the rest of the motor is in good shape and only 1 year old, just needs the new shaft put on. It'll be a good deal

There really is no secret to finding sweet spots on structure, it just plain takes time on the water. Learn how to accurately read your electronics, when you see something that interests you while idleing around, stop and fish it. Take a few trips out, take nothing but rods rigged for structure fishing techniques, that will force you to fish structure and not revert to the areas where you may catch a few but not the fish you want. Catching fish on structure will have you smiling like a butchers dog, keep at it and best of luck.

Randall, when I come down to sunny FL to fish I''m looking you up, YOU DA MAN!

The thumb bar engages when you let up on it, no need to turn the handle to engage the thumb bar / spool. If a fish bites immeditely when you flip or pitch you can instantly set the hook w/o having to take time to turn the handle to engage the spool.

The zero's skip like a dream and are one of my favorite dock baits.

Another vote for drop shot...

Definately a sweet ride, have fun!

Some days your the bug and some days your the windshield........Sunday I was the bug......... Story begins last Sunday, I pre-fished a local electric only lake where I had a tournament this past Sunday. All went according to plan and the big fish were on. In 4 short hours I boated 2 fish over 5 lbs and several others. This same lake I had a 20 lb limit last year in a club tournament. This years tournament day rolls around and the fish absolutely do not bite, everyone struggled to catch a 15 inch keeper. In the course of the day I managed to shatter the shaft on my bow mount Minn Kota when I collided with a stump under full power (40 lb in the front and rider running a 36 lb in the rear). The motor still worked but the shaft flexed when I stepped on the pedal, then the wind came up to about 15-20 mph. With 2 people in the boat I couldn't go anywhere so I had my rider switch to another guys boat and I tried to fish to no avail, I just couldn't do anything so I went in early and called it a day. Get home to find that my new XPS 3 bank onboard charger had been delivered Saturday, so I decided to install it in my ProCraft (different boat than I just broke). All goes well mounting it. I hook up the first bank and working on second when it's positive cable end touches negative post on another battery, POP goes the in-line fuse. The in-line fuse holder was fried and the fuse ends were lodged inside the holder. Tried to gingerly get them out, NOPE, they are in there good and now that in-line fuse and holder is junk. I did call a local boat shop today, least I can cut the bad one out and put a new one in. I still want to punch myself in the head repeatedly. There's always tomorrow, wonder what else I can break.....

I hate to say it but out of that group my cash would be on Lefebre.

Yep, what Muddy said! Muddy, been thinking about you while I'm driving around at work. There's a new construction crew / company working on a house just a few blocks up from our station, the name of the company is plastered all over the sides of it's vehicles: MOOK CONSTRUCTION "If we can't fix it it can't be fixed" Every time I see Mook I instantly think of Muddy!

I was talking about the BASS team trail and it was started within the last 2 years. Yes, there has long been 6 man teams that competed at a State Regional level but the team does not move on just individual anglers.

Could be the 6 man team format that BASS federation started last year.

My boat never leaves the dock in summer without DD22's. I may not catch alot but when I do catch em, they are big.