Fishing Doug

Redline, very nice. what rods are you putting them on? I held a Steez bc on the Steez 7ft 1in rod and it was like a work of art......made my TD-Z and GLX feel heavy! >

terrible news...well, good thing I belong to the Shimano AND Daiwa posse! ;D RW, did the mgr give any reason why? Of course I am not in marketing/sales for Shimano but this seems like a crazy move. I know BassResource.com is a small sample size but there are already numerous posts saying people will get the Zillion, Revo, etc instead. I may be wrong, but I would think Shimano is losing a fair amt of biz on this-short term and long term. A lot of us are loyal to one manufacturer but saving $50 on a $250 reel could be enough to 'try' another brand... Sure they have a reason..and would love to hear it.... FD

big fan of the Symetre. Have the 750 version on an ultra light setup. tough reel for the bucks.

Gabriel, I was going to suggest Brad but he beat me to it. I have made purchases from Brad, Reaction Innovations and other items, and confirm that he gives top notch service. FD

Agreed. Reel Mech makes it happen. Just got back 3 TD-Z's, 1 Chronarch 50mg and one Curado........haven't spooled them up yet but they feel smooth as butter. 1 of the TD-Z's was not as smooth as the others when I purchased it-Reel Mech took care of that. best investment of the year for me. FD

ww2Farmer, the DMV we went to did not have the book, but you are right, that would likely tell me what I need to know. We, a co-worker and myself, went with this boat and the 25 hp 4 stroke on the back primarily due to the fact that the 2 'home lakes' we will be fishing are restricted to 25 hp and between 1,000 and 2,000 acres. We did not go with the power trim but may end up adding it later.... Would have opted for a larger motor w/power trim but did not want to limit ourselves on lakes that we could fish. We also just ordered the custom cover to fit this exact boat, price on this is about $350. Well worth it in my mind. I don't have much faith in the 'one size fits all'. Went with a Hummingbird 585C on the front. Seems like a decent color unit with a decent screen size for the $$$. Didn't go GPS but will likely do that next year and move the color 585C to the console and scrap the Lowrance already there. Also went with a dual bank 5 amp on board charger.No real need for a 2 bank at this point but something tells me I will have the trolling motor on high when I am fishing the front so we may add a second battery at some point.If not, no biggie, I think the dual bank was only 20 or 30 bucks more than the single bank. Still pretty cold here too, but our 2 primarily lakes are power plant lakes so it won't be long before we get it on the water!

<----------one of them. Yep, Fishing Doug has commitment issues. ain't that a shame. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Fella's, Need your input. Recently purchased a Tracker 170 TX and am in the process of putting the id #'s on the side. I had originally thought that I needed to put the #'s on the black decal across the top of the side of the boat in order to be most visiable (photo from the Tracker website attached). However, after looking further, I wonder if the numbers will be visible enough if they are put below the black decal. Any of you have any issues with water patrol by not putting the #'s as close to the top as possible? thanks in advance FD

Congrats on the new boat....looks like a great winter project. Where do you plan on putting it on the water? I grew up north of Sedalia MO but am drawing a blank on small bodies of water in that area.

Long Mike, I have one that I bought from another board member. It is a 6'9" MH baitcaster. Great rod for the bucks, IMO. I would say the sensitive is close to my Loomis IMX rods. I bought it primarily to see how I would like the no foregrip/split rear grip without dropping big bucks for a Kistler, Steez, etc. The only drawback I see it that they only have a 1 year warranty.

Dink, congrats on your excellent fishing day. Can you give a few more details on the lipless cranks (brand, color, speed of retreive, etc). Hoping to try out the new boat on Baldwin or Coffeen very soon. thanks in advance, FD

Can you purchase products from the Gander Mtn website or in stores only? I took a look at the website and didn't see any method of serching for products....

Happened to me once. called 1-888-4-ONSTAR and it was unlocked in about 2 minutes. gotta love technology. 8-)

has anyone received an add for this yet? I just checked the website for the STL store and didn't see anything.......am I overlooking it?

Randall, Good info....and I certainly agree with the logic, however, on the complete opposite end of this, many anglers would say that the jig (which imitates a crawdad or similar creture) is one of their big bass baits....... what are you thoughts on this? One would think that consuming a crawdad would take a significantly higher amt of energy and potentially be a smaller 'meal'. FD

Redline, what are you expecting for top speed with your new rig? North of 80 mph with the 300 hp on the back?

RW, is the fall rate much slower than the IKA? just wondering if the arms displace enough water to make a difference. Some fishing days it seems like the slower, the better. FD

Fellas, What do you all use for quality scales? Need to make this purchase and want to go high quality. more specifically, does anyone have experience with this specific set of scales? http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=50327&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults Thanks in advance FD

Sounds like I better add these to the tackle bag........ FD

Any of you guys tried these? I was looking at them online and they basically look like a Fat Ika with added arms. Would you rig these backwards like an IKA or would the smaller size (compared to other creature baits like the brush hog) make this a good bait for a Spot Remover? I have had success with other creature baits so I thought I would give these a try. any thoughts? FD

Glenn, Just let me know how you would like for me to send my 'contribution'. Unfortunately, I don't have the knowledge to contribute as most other members, so I would be more than happy to make up for that with a monitary contribution..... FD

I have a GBlanks and like it. IMO, the sensitivity is not as good as the GLX (yes, I own and use both) but it is in fact very sensitive-closer to the IMX (again, IMO). Lighter than the GLX-most likely due to the split year grip/no foregrip. Someone may correct me here but I would assume that the increased sensitivity is also due to the grip design. I think they are a decent value for the $$$, but not a GLX. sidenote: can't go wrong with the Loomis warranty. Unless you are looking for a low price way to get into the lighter grip design, I think you would be just as well served with an IMX from Fat Fish Farmer. FD

Chris-peg the weight or let it slide free? FD

not trying to take this off the subject..but how about jerkbaits? I was going through my tackle the other day and noticed that a lot of my stickbaits do not have split rings to take off. So, my question is, can you use a snap (Norman Speed Clip, Berkley Cross Lock, etc) on jerkbaits or will it effect the action too much? My new boat doesn't have as much rod storage as I anticipated so I may have to double up my crankbait rod as my jerkbait rod. > FD

Any place for lipless crankbaits in deep waters? I have very little experience with deep bass (12 + feet) however, I plan on targeting deep structure this year. Will a lipless cranks in the 3/4 oz range stay deep enough or is a fat lip necessary to keep it deep to bounce off the bottom? FD