hootersdoug

learn how to use my baitcaster. I have a curado which I can throw better that when I first got it, but still have to work on accuracy and length of casts. I suck with it currently and cannot figure out why other fishermen say that they are way better than spinning rigs. Maybe I will find out????

Just left a message with the USO at Great Lakes to see what we can do up here. I will keep y'all posted.

Yes, Thanks to all who have served. Prayers to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Now, here is an idea where we all may be able to help. How could several groups of us who are regionally close to a base find out how we could maybe organize a "Take a Vet Fishing" day??? Who would we contact, how could we get names of those who would be interested and would they be able to leave the base for a day of fishing??? I would think this would be something a lot of us would be willing to do, wouldn't it??? Mods, could we get a thread started at the top of each of the forums, similar to what you have for the road trip? I think it would be an awesome day for those of us who did not serve to give a day of fishing to those who are far from home, or maybe have never fished a day in thier lives. Any feedback on this idea???

I will third the opinions of the previous guys. I bought a Dodge 1500 work truck with a 318 and a 5 speed. What they mentioned about the braking didn't pop into my head when I mentioned that the 4.3L has the torque to do the job. I have had numerous times when a light has turned red or some jackalope has cut me off while towing my boat and have been VERY happy I had the weight and braking capacity of the full sized truck. Being able to downshift into 4th or 3rd gear helps also. That being said, yep, go with the full sized truck.

I have a 95 zx150 which I love. It dosen't run in waves as good as a ranger, but on light chop I had to keep the throttle @80% to keep from running up on the backside of a guy with a ranger and the same motor as mine when we prefished a tourney. Tow vehicle is up to you.....does the s10 have the 4.3??? That should be powerful enough. If not, you might have to upgrade. Hope you enjoy the newer boat.

I would think it is great to be able to win money for my school by fishing. Hell, if we needed to start a women's team also, so be it. I would be very fired up if I was going to a U now, if they didn't have a team, I sure as heck would be in the AD's office making them get sick of me until we had one.

I just bought my second President. Anyone else impressed by the performance for the price of these reels??? I also noticed that I get fewer line fouls with the one I bought a year and a half ago than with the other spinning reels I own. Is that because of something to do with the reel?? My friend who fishes with me and uses the same baits gets a lot more tangles also. I change the line on all of my reels about the same time, so I doubt it has to do with that.

How many members on BR would have been on, or hopefully earned a scholarship if bass fishing was one of the sports offered by their Alma Mater??? I went to school in the Florida panhandle (Pensacola) and would definately had to at least try to make the team if it had been offered at that time. When you look at fishing as a sport, not only do you have to have the physical abililty to make the casts accurately, you also have to be able to choose the correct bait, area and cover or structure to make it all play out. Then you have to "make" the fish cooperate on top of that. How many of you would have been the BMOC for thier school???

Hot d**n Birddog......if I had the internet when I was in high school with contacts like you I would have had even better grades. I think it is awesome that you would help out like that. Good luck with the "essay".

I would agree with others already posted here. Had I taken someone out with me the first time I ran my bass boat (ran my Dad's v-hull many times), I would have had someone to telll me that full down trim to launch is a lot different. I probably spent 45 minutes running around Lake Geneva with my bow pointed to the sun before I called someone who told me that launch trim is a lot "deeper" than what I was used to. Ask somone who you know that already owns a boat to go fishing with you. They can teach you how to corner, trim it out properly, ride through rough water, launch with other boats wakes getting in the way, and how to operate as othes have already pointed out, safely. Good luck and have fun!! PS: This advice will probably save you some embarassment also!!!!

Congrats!!! Now go get some fish slime on her!!

Just be careful the first time you get hung up with braid. I nearly cut my pinkey off tugging on a stump. The sensitivity is awesome.

I get really red in the face and my blood pressure spikes when someone can't back their boat down a ramp????

Ill have to give that a try. Just letting them on the floor of the locker dosent look nice and organized like yalls.

Yup, got the name wrong. I will try it and see. I did notice that the Quicksilver does smoke quite a bit. Man, when I started it up in front of my house last spring the mosquitoes were running for their lives Nothing like the sound of a Black Max out of the water!!!!

If anyone is interested from WI or IL, let me know. I have off of work, but wouldn't be able to swing all of the gas expense. Drop me a line if interested.

Are those some kind of clips that hold the butt end?

I just stopped in at BPS and bought 2 gallons of Pennzoil XLT blended oil. It was only $13.97 a gallon. What are your opinions on the brand of oil you use in your outboard? I noticed that this oil seems a lot thinner that the Quicksilver I had been using.

I love my skeeter. It's paid for, fits in my garage, fishes 2 comfortably, holds all of my gear and looks good. Bigger would be nice, but wouldnt fit in the garage.

Thanks for the input. I would like to see some more opinions.

I vote for #2. Maybe just change the Bass' color to your schools blue???

I was talking to a guy at work about our motors. We both have '95 Merc 150 Black Max's. He mentioned that he never trusted an oil injection system, so he adds oil to the gas when he fills up. Have any of you had a problem with a similar system? I have owned the boat/motor for 7 years with no problems. I make sure to winterize it before storage each year, have changed the fuel filter twice, and am having a new impeller put in this year. Just looking for anyone's opinion on the oil issue. Also, this motor has always idled kind of rough, but my mechanic and others have told me that that is how the Black Max is? It does sing like a fat chick when running and starts up great.

I would side with most that financing anything more than 10 years is not in your best interest. I bought my first boat (Made the last payment last year) through my parents who made a deal with me. They took out the $10K with a home equity loan, I got the 6% interest rate and my folks got to write off the interst on their taxes....win win situation. If I had to do it over, I would probably have started with a cheaper aluminum boat, then upgraded a few times over the same amount of time, but the deal I got on my 95 Skeeter was worth it to me. I had someone offer me $8k last year for a boat I paid $10K for. That makes the cost only $2K for 7 years of use.....pretty good. Also, don't forget that you need something to pull your boat, and with gas getting near $4 a gallon, driving a truck every day would stink. I wouldn't sell my boat for 2 main reasons. One, it has been good to me. No repair costs except for maint. Two, it is paid for. Costs me nothing to own. I will keep putting $$ away for any unexpected repairs. I would try making at least a years worth of payments to a savings account before taking the leap. That way you know that you can swing it. There are always a bunch of people willing to take others out as back of boaters. Just check in with the local clubs. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Usually "auto" means that there is a timer that runs the pump at intervals. Keep them on "manual" to fill them, then switch to auto to keep the fish alive. May be different on a Tracker.

Try checking out any local tourney websites. The people who fish in these normally take good care of their boats, are looking to get a new member to fish on thieir circut, probably know the boats they will reccomend, and may be willing to sell you their boat on a payment plan???? I got my boat this way and have had a solid 95 boat for the last 7 years with no major problems!