Avalonjohn44

Huge fan of the Live Target Frogs. The detail and durability are great. I have heard complaints about hook sharpness, but have a dozen or so and haven't noticed any dull hooks. Another option is the Live Target Field Mouse. I cover an area with the frog, catch what I can and then throw the mouse. I almost always get a straggler that was hesitant to bite the frog. Both Live Target baits have an action that is unique, a deep bobbing action that looks like an animal frantic to get out of the water if you work it right.

I use the baby brush hog on shaky heads, jika rigs, and t-rigged. I think the jika is my favorite way to fish them. Like others, I have not had great luck on the full size brush hog. The Zoom Super Hog is another great variant of the baby brush hog. I fish them mostly the same way, but sometimes I fish the superhog weightless because it has a neat glide to the bottom. It is a good skipping bait.

I checked out about 8 different used boats before buying new. I was in the market for about a 4k used boat. Every single one I found had an multi-thousand $ issue. Four had cracked transoms, two had motors that needed to be rebuilt, one had no gel coating left and one had a leak the owner hadn't found yet... Not wanting to buy a money pit that I would be forced to hand off to somebody else, my wife and I finally just decided to just use that 4k as a down payment and financed a new boat with a warranty/extended warranty and Zero worries. Food for thought.

Do it old school and get a buddy and a sounding line. Mark One, Quarter One, Half One, Quarter Twain, Mark Twain! http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/marktwain.htm Seriously though, you can find cheap portable or used depth finders on ebay or at yard sales that ought to serve you well.

That is an option, sure. Another equally valid opinion/option is to go bigger and better. Or as the OP mentioned, go really big with the 360 scan capable units.

Wonderfully put!

I don't understand the point you're trying to make. As far as I can tell, the Helix 7 SI is a superior unit all around compared to the Lowrance 3x. The Helix has a larger screen, side imaging + down imaging, GPS and chartplotting. The Lowrance 3x offers down imaging at least half the time it is powered on... So yes, the cost is higher, but you're getting *a bit* more than twice the unit... If you don't like the Helix 7 SI, what do you suggest?

That is a lot better of an idea than my dropping my kayak in at the moody town bridge...

I dunno. You can do what I plan on: Buying a Humminbird Helix 7 SI and chucking that Lowrance 3x into the lake.

Any wife that talks her husband into buying a boat is a woman to hold onto! Mine did the same.

Dang. Oh well, I'll find a way in there somehow...

I have only been there twice now and have not gotten close to exploring the entirety of this huge lake... But now that I know there is a Private/Public side, of course I want to venture into the private side just because it's closed off... I see the power plant has used dikes to section off the cooldown lake from the main lake, but found on the bird's eye view map that there is one bridge where the two sides meet, Moody Town Road... I can't find any great pics on google or bing maps, was wondering if there is enough room under that bridge to get a boat under... I can also see from the aerial views that there seems to be some good current there...

Took the boat out finally got to use that motor. Went to Lake Anna in VA, it was pretty light traffic other than a few jetskis. My break-in procedures were ridiculously simple. For the first hour, keep the motor vertically level trimmed, change speeds every two minutes, don't idle for more than five minutes at a time and keep the speeds between 4000 and 5200 rpms for the majority of that hour. Then the next three hours was changing speed every ten minutes. Spent the day just running up and down the lake scaring the hell out of my wife. I grew up on the Jersey shore and used a variety of motors from 15hp up to 90 back then, but none of them compared to a modern motor in the least. The 115 was quiet, strong and responsive as heck. Even at speed I was able to talk to my wife, albeit loudly... I was able to run 44 according to the speedometer, but my wife was freaking out at that point and requested that I slow down. I thought it wise to comply at that point... Anyhow, thanks for all the advice, both solicited and nuggets of wisdom I found all over these boards. Fishnkamp especially, he had a ton of great advice and local knowledge and most of all patience with me over PM. Thank you sir! Now back to wasting the rest of my week daydreaming about my next 'boat day'...

VA, WV, MD, PA, NC, DC (does it count?) and FL.

It's best if you don't drink milk first. Really hard to see thru those lenses then.

Spit.

Same boat, same unit. Same deal... On the Elite 3x I don't think we have the shutdown menu mentioned in Glenn's video. I hold the power button for 5 seconds to power it down for good.

Sometimes there were tons of them on there, yes.

Awesome, it does look a bit tilted, but I'm in my driveway, will find some level ground and make sure. Thanks Wayne!

Finally got my new boat on a non electric lake. The stock lowrance elite 3 that came with my tracker went nuts whenever I ran my motor at more than 2k rpm. By nuts I mean it was saying we were in 500-2200 feet of water, wild depth fluctuations from, saying I was in 3 feet of water when my first pass marked us at 27 feet, or just not showing any depth reading at all. Sometimes slowing down would get it to give an accurate reading, sometimes I had to power it down to get it to read. When idling or using the trolling motor it works fine. I think the transducer may be too close to the motor, but what else could it be? I checked all cabling and it seems fine, and I fiddled a bit with sensitivity, eventually restoring all defaults to no avail... TIA!

Man, I was just there this weekend, scouting the area out and that ramp looked kinda harrowing. I don't trust my boat skills in the river or my ramp skills on that steep/narrow ramp... There were only two jetskis and a jon boat out on Saturday when I went...

x2. I also find this... As I've gotten older its gotten better though. I also think, for me, it might be due to distractions, I normally fish with my kids and they can be distracting as heck...

I use the Wright & McGill Skeet Reese Senko/Toad rod for both soft plastic frogs and hollow body frogs, and have been very happy with the rod. It has taken a beating and keeps of froggin'. Durable and strong and affordable. If you look around you can probably find one on clearance or marked down for under $80. I got lucky and found one in the clearance section at Walmart for $49.97 last year... It looks like you might be able to get one for that price at Dicks SG online right now: http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4009061&camp=CSE:GooglePLA:4009061:7279538-DSG:TACKLE_FRESHWATER-RODS_SPINCAST%2FBAITCAST-RODS&gclid=Cj0KEQjw0MW9BRDxtYTn2_S699MBEiQAw33y499Edpe_PW-0UWS4AGTgTg8nB-71JiMkJ1TL4MH-RdEaArnJ8P8HAQ

Awesome instructions, got any pics you can share of the stages and the finished product?

Outside of Winchester. I have an ethanol free station a mile from my house.