rb56

which is what i bought for my canoe and have had it plugged into my trolling motor battery. i'm installing a dash on the canoe and i emailed hummingbird asking what all would the finder run on, they said 8 AA batteries, 2 6 volt lantern batteries, lawnmower...anything i can get 12v from. i got two of the 6v and a dash mount cigarette plug that was in my pickup. i connect the batteries and the light on the unit comes on. i haven't got as far as plugging the finder in yet. has anyone ever used 2 6v and how long will they last? i saw somewhere online they last about 3 full days of fishing. i'm trying to avoid the cost and save space and weight of another battery. anyone?

kinda like this? one thing...you can't pick what fish will bite your bait! kinda like you can't help who you're kin to. my other was my parents bought a ouachita bass boat back in the 70's. my best friend and i met them at the lake to try it out. when they returned my friend and i took it out. it was the two seater front streering. we crossed open water to the river channel and i pulled off into the stumps to try out the foot pedal on the motor guide. we began casting around and he tells me alright i'm hung use that motor and get me over there. as i teased him about being hung up he says whoa that's no stump, and realizes he has a fish and after a couple of minutes...7.13 lb. bass in the net. my friend was a big guy, he let's out a big yell and said d**n i gotta smoke. he lights a cig and said something about i had cast right there as he cast into the same spot and then says...ok now i'm hung up. i look at him and he looks at me and says oh d**n...he starts reeling and same song, second verse. 6.7 lb. bass. now we had a problem. normally we used an ice chest for fish and since we were basically checking out the new boat we didn't have one. no stringer. the 7 pounder i had just put in the front storage under the deck. now...open door and flip 6 pounder in with it and take off to the marina to get a stringer. we pulled up and the guy comes out asking can he help...yeah we need a stringer. he says a stringer? i said yeah as i opened the storage and pulled out the two nice bass. he cracked up laughing. an added note, it was late evening, he was using a black bushwacker spinnerbait with gold leaf spinners. later at home the barometric pressure was on the rise as a storm was coming in that night.

when i go and catch 2 or more that are 2 lbs.+ i will keep some to take home. it's usually a meal alone, i have two sons living with me but they usually eat out due to work and school. that leaves me and dylan...80 lbs. of hound. i fish for more than just the fight with a fish. i spend several dollars on gear, travel wear and tear, fuel, so when i catch enough, for me to get a meal from it is fine with me. not to mention i love bass.

thanks everyone...it's the caddo river below lake degray in arkansas. the river area is called lower lake. thespillway runs turbines and that discharge runs underground to a second dam downstream. that gives the water cooling time or it would kill everything. the river i'm on is the actual river channel and has very little current. it runs about 75-100 yards wide and depths up to about 25 ft. different cover and islands. very clean green water. in 8-10 ft depths you usually see the bottom. a lot of dead falls on the banks, grassy and rocky areas of bank. water temp has been running mid-low 80's but lately in the 70's. as for baits i have thrown it all at them. topwater, jigs, spinners, cranks, a lot of plastics, lizards, crawdads, worms, frogs, cordell spots. what i've had luck with is green speckled and chartrouse jigs 3/8 and 1/4 oz. weedless head, medium and deep cranks, lucky 13 frog back. i usually fish an area an hour or longer and maybe the entire time. i've been catching about 4-6 each trip but they all look the same. their are a lot of baitfish for food for the bass. a lot of bream, minnows, shad. most of the baits i've used are bigger baits, lucky 13 and torpedo. worms are fliptail 6 in. i'm going tonight and isaac's tail storms have dwindle out to nothing here now. probably be fishing at 3 am and had thoughts of black jitterbug. any good night time baits come to mind? kinda anxious to see if the dark of night wont reveal some bucket mouths. hopefully i'll post good results tomorrow. thanks for the input folx! i even get it from these! as soon as that crank hit the water...he was all over it! he must have been thinking take out for the whole family.

i don't know if you have an academy sports near you, mostly in texas i think. they have a website though and i went with their pelican 15.5 canoe after looking at kayaks. both were new to me having had fishing boats, bass boats, i was looking for something to just paddle along the shore with to fish. i saw the pelican and at $279 when i bought it, it's the best price on the net compared at some sites for $600 +. i went with the canoe because of others with me at times. i've added a trolling motor, a depthfinder, anchor locks and i know there are better boats out there but for the money, this does what i want. http://www.academy.c..._-1?N=670789616

one of my best friends growing up and i would go fishing with his dad who taught me about all i know. he caught more big everything, bass, cat, than anyone i know. my friend had more pics of him holding a 7 lb. bass than you can shake a stick at...he once told me if you see a log in the water...more than likely you're looking at a bass.

lately for me when it hits the water BAM! they grab it, or when i start working it. problem is they're all small bass.

i feel like i'm catching the same fish every week. all i've been catching lately are 10-12 inch bass. i go early in the morning and am on the water before light or right at it. i have thrown everything in all depths. there is little fishing where i fish, maybe 3 boats each time i go and it's a fairly large river with depth to about 25 feet. i've tried all depths, cover, you name it. yet all i get are these babies. what's up with mom and pop? they seem to be as finicky as cats or well hid. any ideas? the water on the caddo is always clear, i try all colors, different lures, depths yet all i find are hungry children.

more than what is tackle. tp, tic tacs, xtra cigs and lighter, multi tool, binoculars, flashlight, (3 kinds, a red, green and white glow stick type...hey even canoes have to have running lights at night), knife, first aid, numerous fix it nuts and bolts, shear pins, trash bag, bungie cords, zip ties, velcro ties, a frogg togg cloth. the later is at walmart in the camping section. i bought one as it claimed to stay cool when wet. it was 107 that day when i took groceries home in the bed of my truck, when home i took it out and it felt like it had come from the fridge.

see post above. what made me love fishing was my grandmother and grandad fished. they were bridge builders...good thing our last name is bridges! they usually were camped right at the water and a lot of times caught supper. my dad, also started as a bridge builder fished. it's in my genes, not to mention it provides the best solitude and companionship one can find in life.

sorry to hear about this. i've been lucky and gone off and left my rods and reels lying in the bed of my truck, plus my trolling motor battery. i know better since someone came in my drive way and stole the storage box (big as a tool box) from my truck and now i do take my stuff out. even in my driveway stuff isn't safe. i remember when we use to dock out boat, the only thing we got out was our stringer. we'd leave stuff in the boat in plain view and the next morning it'd all be there. imo there's nothing lower than some sorry sob that thinks he can put his hands on my belongings and walk away with them. good luck although i'd say your chances are slim.

it's not always the stringer or the big one is it? it's a feeling like my profile pic gave me when i saw that.

wow...that reminds me of deer hunting once and my gun misfired on a huge buck right under me. i jumped down knife in hand on his back...no...no pics, sorry. there's fishin...and there's catchin fish. this is both!

for bass it was back in the 70's on millwood lake. bass were schooling and a friend and i started about 8:30 one morning after sleeping in and when we finished about 10:30 i had caught and kept 15 bass that were 2 lbs. plus and had released about 10 smaller fish. my friend did about the same and we both were using cordell spot baits and at some point each of us caught two fish at the same time. my spot was silver and the paint was almost gone from the scratch marks. that night my left thumb was literally raw from lipping bass.

i have come across a question someone can maybe answer. i mounted a minnkota on my canoe and started with a temporary mount by bolting a 2x4 on it's side to the rear handle which is about 10 inches from the end of the boat. it was temporary until i devised a better mount for it, plus it turned out to be way too far away. i devised a transom from a 2x4 and mounted it right behind my seat. hopefully my picture will post showing it, if not there's a pic in my album. since moving it forward, turning the canoe has a drastic change to it. if i cut it sharp it doesn't want to turn at all. it just seems to push the canoe sideways. normal steering, straight ahead and turning normally work ok. it's when i need to make a hard cut that bothers me. i can see where the motor would push the boat to the side as it is further forward on the boat. did i move it too far? should i back it off maybe 8-12 inches? any help is a big thanks.

a long time ago i owned a 72 f-150 swb and owned a 14 ft. sears flat bottom and the trailer was just plum worn out. i'd load it by myself and unload which was usually at a landing. i'd back down far enough that with the over hang, the bow almost touched the water. i got to where i untied the boat on the landing and tied a rope to the boat so that i backed down and would stop quickly and the boat slid out. then i'd pull up till the boat was at the bank and free it from the truck. i know there's a lot that can go wrong there. i use a rack now for my canoe which is different being much lighter. trailering is the way it's done, but to use the bed can be done.

for me there's nothing better except maybe farm raised corn fed catfish cooked by someone else. fillet, dip in meal, salt, pepper, deep fry and lemon juice and watch me slap my momma.

since the fish aren't biting i will...Lordy...ouch! just two weeks ago i was fishing for tree bass on the banks of the caddo river and was about 30 yards maybe from the bank. i was using a black weedless jig head with a green speckled spilt tail grub and my cast is high and over a limb over hanging the water. i gave a quick tug and uh oh...gonna cut this one. i gave one more quick forceful tug and oops! duck! so i did and WHAM! 3/8 oz. lead right in the top left forehead. i tell ya, pain went all through my head and it sounded like a gunshot. i grabbed my head and first noticed i didn't feel a hook which gave relief, i used my phone to take a pic since i had no mirror and sure enough a nice little half in split and blood. i was just glad it wasn't 3 inches lower and an inch right. tree bass 1 ol rb 0. now i cut the line.

hello hooks, i'm in the s.w. corner known as rednexarkana. i have started fishing degray this summer as i have just started fishing again and the caddo river below it. unfortunately i haven't had that much luck but what i have caught has been on split tail jigs or spinner baits and chartreuse. a lake report said zara spook was a big thing but that was the first of the month. zara has always caught fish for a long time.

i may have overlooked it, but depending on what brand of motor and trolling motor, shear pins for both and tools for the job. a must have. i have found a 6 or 8 inch crescent, a pair of channel lock pliers, a regular and phillips head screwdriver and a man can usually get back home. also the combination tools which are the pliers that fold with a knife, screwdriver and all can be very helpful and there are some decent one's that don't break when you open them. just remember this is a tool used to get out of a bind and isn't for anything heavy duty. also a most important tool is a first aid kit.

i leave early all fired up, drive 80 miles and launch my canoe, tie on one of the new baits i bought, check all my gear and after a couple of hours i'm down to just my shorts with my hunting knife strapped on and i'm playing river pirate, early american injun and what not looking for treasure to buy supper with because i sure ain't gonna catch it. anyway it's fun and brings out the kid in me. also when i shoulder my rod and reel it makes one heck of a musket.

nice fishes...so that's what they look like! i might as well look for them in a pile of leaves with a rake. i'm fishing lake degray in south central arkansas which is on the caddo river. now i haven't fished in a long time and just started back and any other excuse will apply. degray is deep and cold down below. i'd always taken my boys swimming there. any fishing i've done the past couple of years was minimal, from the bank and was usually for bream of any size just so the kids could catch them easily. i've been using my canoe and just fishing the coves near the landings. at frst in june i may catch two or three nice bass...keepers at about 2 lbs. being new to a canoe, i basically fought it and the wind my first few times. my old garcia 5000C and lew's ss from the 70's were long long gone. i had bought a cough ahem shakespeare rod and reel cough...combo HACK tooiee..excuse me, i also bought a mitchell reel and finally i got a good one...garcia 4300 which i just got from a friend for $25. i bought spinner baits, cranks, worms, beetle spins, jigs, lucky 13's, torpedos, and rebel minnows and i have thrown it all at them, but it has slowed way down to worse than watching golf. once i brought my line in and a bass followed it and stuck his head out and said "dude...that is so plastic...and look at the hooks, uh you got any shrimp maybe?", and i really shouldn't yell things like that on the lake...sound carries further but...i started fishing the river below the dam. less water, less places to hide right? my humminbird chirps chirps and 2, 3...4 fish go by and i might get a strike from the 8 inch variety and that's it. everyone that passes or i see at the landing say nothing, no luck. the water surface is about 80-85 now and i can find fish but they just don't bite what i throw. what i have caught, official members of the catch and release program has been on chartreuse/glitter split tail grubs on a jig, spinners or cranks. the heat here is horrible. usually about 95+ and the heat index about 105-110 and it affects the bass noticeably. well that wraps up the report for the s.w. corner of the state here, i think i'll change the name from fishing to wishing.

wow, nice fish man...i caught one looked a lot like that the other day and some dude took it from my ice chest. (insert bs smiley here)

ok i'm gonna share just how lazy i am...actually i had shoulder surgery a few years ago on a torn rc that makes my right shoulder moveable but limited, my left shoulder is feeling the pain i had in my right as a result of arthritic bone spur and i don't want to hurry it along to surgery. my trolling motor on my canoe was a simple mount...but a long reach. i simply bolted a 2x4 across the rear handle on the canoe so it stuck out the left side but even with an extension to turn right i can hardly turn all the way. the thing about it is to turn right i have to reach so that i'm almost tilting the boat. i am looking at and have bought a few items to install a stick steering on the trolling motor. it's a simple thing i have a 5 in. pulley to attach a handle to which and run a cable from one side of the pulley through a smaller pulley i will mount on the 2x4 across from the motor. then adapt something to the motor to attach the cable to and the cable then return to the 5 in. pulley and it be attached 180 degrees from where it started. thus turning the 5 in. one way pulls the motor one way and then it works the same going the other way. has anyone ever seen a scheme for doing this? anyone? i'll hang up and listen.

here's a problem i face...1. i have yet to get my cc which i do intend on obtaining one the next class in a couple of months. 2. i grew up on millwood lake but as time went by there has been an increase in alligators. there's a pic of one in my album, they let people carry shotguns duck hunting, but they don't allow firearms on the lake otherwise. it's ok to go fishing and be attacked by a dinosaur, but to defend human life is a crime. i know, it's not a good idea to allow handguns on a lake, but it's a shame that a law abiding fisherman can't carry one for his own protection against nature when it can and does get violent. if they wont let us defend ourselves i wish they'd get the darn things out of the lake! if i had my cc i'd probably take it anyway. being in jail can't be a lot worse than mutilated by an alligator.