Hot Rod

Welcome aboard! If you do a "search" I'm sure you will find some great info posted here. I know this has been covered in depth (no pun intended) before.

IMO I'd go with 2 for that size rig rated for as many amp hours as you can afford. I'm guessing with that size TM if you get in wind/current you are going to be in HIGH and on the motor alot. I have a 65lbs 24V on my 18.5' Strat and I wish I had more for wind/current but with the two batteries pulling 24V I've never ran out of juice on a single day fishing from dark to dark.

I always have two 7' flipping sticks with braid. One with 30# and one with 65#. One of them usually has a toad or a frog tied on the other has a jig or trig tube for pitchin'

I've noticed that when I need to use a suspending jerkbait (i.e. colder water conditions) they tend to float up more than sink. Cold water is denser than warmer water so objects are more bouyant in the colder the water. So I think the sinking property of floro is an advantage for suspending baits in colder water.

I had this problem when I tried to register an old boat in a state I just move too. I had to get a form from the PA Fish&boat Commission. Then complete all the measurements and send it in to them. They sent it back with a plate that hat all the specs on it as far as HP limit and weight restrictions. Check on your state's boat registration web site to see if they offer such a form/service. I think it cost me $10 or less.

What type and size boat?

Nice job! If that were me I probably would still be figuring how to get carpet epoxy off of the living room floor ;D

Very cool. You are going to love that Ram. I have an '04 Ram 1500 Quad cab SLT. Awesome for towing and for toting the family and a whole lotta gear around too. God speed!

It only takes one bad act to spoil it for the rest of us. I was fishing one eveing last summer about the time a weekly local tournament takes off. I was set up over some deep structure then just like clockwork here comes three tourney boats blazing right at me. The first guy went buy so close right across my bow and the spot I was fishing I could have cast and hit the boat! That really upset me as a tournament fishermen. No wonder we all get a bad rap when there's some egghead doing that. I don't mind sharing an area with someone but to run right through a spot where a guy is set up on, come on. He got his pay back though. A little latter he hooked a nice bass. In his attempt to get it into the boat he fell out. Fortunately for him his partner and the two other nearby boats were able to help him back in his boat. I wanted to head back tournament launch site and complain but I didn't think it would do any good, so I didn't. We just have to be careful to respect one another on the water, regardless of how we recreate.

Remove the hooks from your trap and cut off the hook on your spinnerbait that you pre-fish with. Then They won't get sore-mouthed. Another option is if you must catch fish during prefish is to not hook more than one in any given "spot" then move on to cover/search more water. Theorey being that if it is a good spot there will be more than one fish there anyway so you won't hurt that "spot" for the tourney. Good luck!

Yeah, They wanted to make 'em in GULP but the biodegradible thing was too big of an issue. Here's another "not so succesfull product": Marty Stone's Pro Hair Care Products

My favorite sitiuation is during postspawn, twilight conditions or an overcast day casting a Zara Spook. But here's the twist, cast it parellel to a steep drop in deeper water and walk it slowly back. Theres nothing better than having a 4+lbs smalley come torpedoing out of the depths to kill it! 8-)

Berkley's new line of lingerie: Power bait flavored edible underwear YUM! ;D

I was watching the Elite series show this last weekend on ESPN for the Previous weekends event and One of the pros made a remark about reading his new Bassmaster Mag before the tournament then held it up. I was like "what the...? I haven't seen that cover" (its Ken Cook with a giant bass). That issue (which is the April Issue) just arrived in my mailbox yesterday. I think you still get 12 issues if you count the Pro Guide because it is a "bonus issue".

Hey thanks for the insight/info guys. That helps alot. I never thought about the longer run time on the 36V system for tourney's and multi day fishing trips. That would be very helpful if I was camping in an area without electricity (which I plan to do). I think I read somwhere else that the 80lbs+ TMs have a switch that turns the power up slowly at the start instead of going from a dead stop to full throttle in an instant. Is that true for all the bigger TM's or just one brand? I have to be real careful now because if I have the TM on high and it is turned 90 degrees to the boat it gives such a sudden jolt it nearly throw's you out of the bow. Usually I remember to check first but sometimes I don't and...

Swimbaits. Gotta thow 'em enough this year to get em figured out.

If it's 2' visibility I go with a 1/2 oz chart skirt with chart painted double willow blades. not many people throw it so the fish don't see it too much. But if I was only going to carry one for every condition it would be the gold willow, silver colorado, white skirt 3/8 oz

For 4" tubes I like a 3/0 Eagle Claw EWG or a 4/0 Gammy G Lock. I love that G lock hook but if I'm fishing lighter line I go with the 3/0 eagle claw wich is much easier to set with lighter line. When I'm pitchin' a 4" tube to cover I go with the G Lock.

I use a small pair of titanium scissors from wally world. Super sharp, work great on braid or whatever and they don't rust because of the Ti content. I think they cost about $5 or $6. Plus I use the to trim weed guards, jig/spinnerbait skirts, plastic baits, etc.

I'm thinking of upgrading the 65lbs 24V TM on my 18.5' Stratos to a 100 lbs 36V TM since I fish some lakes I can't crank the outboard due to HP restrictions. Would this be overkill on that size boat? (I'm concerned more here about the extra weight of a bigger TM and and extra battery/charger than too much TM power) Would it be better just to upgrade to a 80lbs 24V TM or would the extra 15lbs of thrust not be worth the cash. Any insight/experience in this would be great. Thanks.

I'm no expert but my boat has a a dual charger for a 24v system. The charger has separate leads to each battery and the batteryies are also connected by separate wires in series to get the 24V. I think you'll still have to use wires to connect your batteries post to post. I don't think the charger in of itself will facilitate the running of two batteries in with parralell because they are on separate banks. Otherwise if you had two batteries on for TM and one for starting the big engine and had them on a dual bank charger you could theoretically drain the both by running the TM. That doesn't happen so they must not be connected through the charger. Good luck

I fish some lakes that I can only utilize my bow mount TM on my 18.5 glass boat due to HP restrictions. That, of course, includes unlaoding and loading from the trailer. With some practice you can use the TM to get a run at the trailer so that you only have to winch it about the last quarter of the way on. The trick is to get the trailer in the water to the correct depth depending on your trailer and the depth of the particular ramp. The most difficult part of course is getting the boat lined up and keeping it straight. It helps if you keep the skeg of the big motor in the water part way to act as a keel so the boat won't want to turn as much. So in my opinion I'd don't think I'd carry along the extra TM just for that purpose.

I must agree with ice. I got several spools as a promo from berkley at a tourney. Maybe they were bad or something but I'd think they'd want there promo items to be top shelf for demo reasons. I've used many differnt lines. I would never spend my own money on the sensation. It is one of the few berkley products I have a negative opinion about. Most of my mono is Trilene XL or XT. I prefer Stren magna thin for that application when I want a thinner more sensitive mono. It has better tensile strength, sensitivity, abrasion resistance and knot strength than Sensation IMHO.

I have Progressive that seems to be very competive. It includes road side assistance and the disappearing deductible (your deductible goes down each year you don't have a claim). It is less than $200 for a year on a $20K boat. It inlcudes collission and the liability limits needed to compete in tournies. I've had other companies try to get me a better rate but so far they haven't been able too.

Man I hope and pray that fishing in the good ol' USA never gets so difficult due to presure and limited resources that we have to resort to that combersome technique to catch a fish!