Hot Rod

After 30 some years of safe fishing I had the unfortunate need to try out this hook removal technique tonight. Always wondered if it would work like it is supposed to. :-[ I was reorganizing some tackle in the boat when I mistakenly pulled my hand quickly past a jerkbait that was hanking from a compartment lid to dry. Buried one of the bait's #4 trebles down to the bend around the first knuckle in my index finger. I was amazed how painless it was to pop out with the line pull trick. Though I hope I don't have to do that again anytime soon, at least I'll know what to do if it does. The worst part was getting my wife to hold down on the hook's shaft while I popped the line. I thought she was going to pass out. :

;D Funny ad! I like the part in the ad that describes how "our stool is made of 1 inch metal tubing". Passin' that has gotta hurt!

I wonder how it differs from Vanish (other than the Trilene namesake)?

Try a Spot Remover jig head but replace the typical shacky head worm with a 4" lizard. The extra action helps in the low light but you can still fish it stationary like a typical shakey head worm.

The best time to throw them is when bass are holding beneath overhead cover. My fav conditions are bluebird skies at high Noon. Throw the frog into the nastiest floating slop you can find and work it across the top. I like a pulsing type retrieve so it resembles a reel frog swimming. Rig it on a MH 7' rod with a high ratio reel with 30 - 50lb braid. You can add a bead (like for a C rig) in front to help keep the veggies off of your frog. As with any topwater, don't set the hook until you feel the fish pull to help your hook up ratio.

I like to fish the super fluke fairly fast with a "walk the dog" action and ocationally pause it. On a 7' medium baitcaster with 12 lbs floro. If the bite is really tough, I down size to a Fluke on a spinning rod and 8 lbs Magnathin and fish it as slow as I can stand to fish it.

Bomber Model A Rapala DT series

Skirt: White or clear/glimmer Blades: Silver double willow or quad willow

I used to pull the same size boat with a 4 cyl Nissan up and down the mountains of PA. So the F150 should be more than sufficient. I agree with cart7, get a Reese type hitch instead of using the bumper. It'll tow better, be safer and be easier to manuver when backing.

I like the Yo Zuri Hybrid for cranking too. It has everything I want in a line for cranking in most situations. (THough one of my "crankin" rods is always spooled with mono for top water.)

I have three BPS Crankin' Sticks 6' ML for throwing smaller cranks around shallow cover 6'6" M I use mostly for top water or medium sized cranks 7' M I use for larger deep diving cranks. I am satisified with all of them for the price. If you are throwing larger top waters like spooks go with the 6'6" if you are thowing lighter topwaters like poppers go for the 6' ML. I have my 7' strung with 15# Yo Zuri hybrid. It is quite impressive in all aspects for deep crankin' and it will be a mainstay in my arsenal for sure. I like mono on my topwater rod though since it floats better and has a little more stretch.

Before my last fishing trip I bought one of the retreivers on the string. It paid for itself in saved lures that first trip. I can't beleive I didn't get one 20 years ago!

Did you try your boat dealer? I'm pretty sure the last time I was at the dealer (Stratos) they had locking gas caps on the shelf.

I can't imagine bass fishing with artificial lures without using a TM. look for something in the 30 to 45lbs thrust range. I have a 14ft al with a 34 lbs thrust. It works great. If i had to choose between getting a gas outboard and a TM, which I did have to do, I 'd go with the Tm again. Of course I was fishing smaller lakes. It takes longer to get to your spot with the TM but it is easier to fish once you get there. Don't forget to get a good automatic deep cycle charger to go along with the TM and deep cycle battery. Have fun!!!

SS give you more power/speed because it is more rigid than Al. When a prop turns the blades flex from the force against the water. SS flexes less so more of the energy is used to push the boat forward instead of flexing the blades. The down side to SS is when you hit something solid the blades flex less than Al. So you have a higher probablilty to do more damage to your lower unit components if you hit something with a SS vs. Al everything else being equal. On a 9.9 the performance gain you get from going to SS is probably not worth the extra risk, probably what the dealer was talking about. On larger engines you could add 10+ MPH to your top end by going from Al to SS from my experience. So if speed is important, like in tournaments, or for long runs on big lakes SS would have an advantage.

I really like the way the gel applies and works. But It seems to dry up in a couple of weeks. As a back up I buy the generic brand of super glue at wally world in the hardware section. You get 5 tubes for $1! So if you only get one day of fishing out of a tube of it before it hardens you don't have a lot of money in it.

For the price I like the BPS rods too for casting sticks. I don't like them as spinning rods however. I don't think I'd go out and buy the reels by themselves but when you get them on sale as a package deal with the rods they are so inexpensive they are worth it. For example I got an extreme rod/reel package on sale. It cost around $20 more for the package than for the rod itself at regular price so I couldn't pass it up. The reel performs o.k. but not quite as well as I'd prefer and I'm not sure how long it will last. For tournaments my philosopy is that if you have to choose between quality and quantity for rigs choose somewhere in the middle. Don't get the most expensive because you won't have enough rigs to present baits in a variety of methods efficiently. But don't go with the cheapest either because they won't hold up and might fail during a tournament nor will they perform like they should. I think the BPS Bionic Blades are tough to beat for the money though prefer the Extremes if you can spend a little more. I also recently purchased a BPS Med action 7' finese rod, mostly because it was on sale, to replace another lighter action rod to thow weightless soft plastics and I am very pleased with it. I just wish they offered the same rod in a MH action too. It is even a little nicer than the Extreme BPS. As a co-angler I'd go with two decent spinning outfits and 2 or 3 decent casting outfits. Especially since as a coangler you may not know what kind of fishing conditions/methods to expect until you get to the lake or pre-tourney meeting. (As an aside there are some really good articles on this site and on FLWoutdoors about how to fish as a coangler that I have found very useful.)

I've fished from a 275 pxl and own a 285 pxl. The 275 is a great boat! It has good standard features and is easy to operate. I would go with the 115 over the 90 if you can. You'll be happier with it in the long run.

I bought a new boat last year. The dealer did the pre-sale tour and everything looked great. Then the tech fitted me for the hot foot and screwed the throttle to the floor. While the tech finished up the installation, I went into the sales office and signed the papers then hooked up and drug the boat 150 miles home. When I got home I decied to wash the road grime off of the boat. I about fainted when I found a perfect 1/8" hole in the hull. The tech had drilled right through the hull when he was drilling the pilot holes for the hot foot. The dealer made good on it. He had a driver come and pick it up at my house, fixed it and then paid my gas money for me to pick it up a week later. But he kind of made me feel like he was doing me a big favor after it was his tech's mistake.

I'd say for your first bass boat buy used, unless you get a really good deal on a new boat. I bought my first bass boat last year and after laying down that money I still get a little anxious when I hitch it up and drag it to the lake. Of course part of that is a personality thing. But I think it would have been better to have a used boat as a "starter" so I wouldn't be so worried about banging it up while I was learning all the skills needed to operate and fish from it. That being said I got a great deal on my boat. It was brand new but had been sitting at another small dealer for a couple years who couldn't move it I guess. So he sold it to another larger dealer (who I bought it from). Anyway I paid about $10K less than I would have for a new equally equiped '06 but still got the full waranty on the brand new '04 model. Though I did have to drive 250 mile to pick it up from the dealer. So stay on the look out for good deals. The other thing that helped me was I bought it in the off season (early Febuary). Have fun!

1/2 Oz Chrome Blue Back bleeding series

All FLW, BASS and FOM tournies require liability insurance for the boater entrant. And you are required to show proof of it on request. Which they often do when you check in for the tourney. I'm sure any of your larger organized tourney's are going to require it. On the bright side, it is not too terribly expensive. My liability portion of my annual insurance is only around $20 for $100k/300k liability coverage but thats part of my entire insurance package. It might be more if you just go liability by itself.

I bought one about 8 years ago (a 6'6" MH trigger) for pitching and flipping. Up to that point it was the highest price rod I ever owned. It has served me well and held up well too. For the price I've got no complaints. The tip is a little bit stiffer than I like for pitching though. I also have a 7' M spinning rod Bionic for drop shotting. The action is awesome but the handle is a little cumbersome and really overpowers the action of the rod. I'm a little disapointed with it and replaced that rod in my arsenal with a similar Fenwich GT that I like much better. I also recently purchased a BPS Extreme and a BPS Finess rod (both on sale). Haven't had them on the water (its all hard still where I live) yet but just pitching and flipping in the back yard they seem increadible. For the difference in the money I'd go with the Extreme over the Bionic blade if you can swing it but the blade works well.

I Tried the XPS top waters that look like LC Sammy. I wasn't exactly impressed with them but I think their useful. They don't have as much action as other baits of their type. But the price is right and the colors are decent.

I have found that the key to my boat is two fold: one as mentioned earlier go slow and two don't stop until it is full or you get as many gallons in as you want. Once I start fueling if I stop for whatever reason and try to start again it won't take the fuel nearly as fast as when I first started. I practically have to dribble it in if I restart. Good luck.