Downeaster2010

I take all my batteries inside, and store in the garage, and hook up a 3 batt charger made by Minnkota. You don't need the fast charge when storing batts. As for my seats, I bring them inside and store above my garage. I have in the past left my life jackets in the boat only to find that mice had ruined them come spring. I add moth balls in my compartments to ward off mice, and hang perfumed dryer sheets to keep mice out to no avail. My electronics store in the cellar until spring. I hook up the batt charger, like you would in a boat, and it just maintains them all winter long. I also picked it up on sale and love it for this purpose.

I have the 70 hp Yamaha 4 stroke and it is fantastic. It starts in microseconds, and runs flawlessly. I have it on a G3 Angler 172 aluminum boat. My top end is only about 38 mph, but you wouldn't expect much more than that on a boat like this. The boat itself is 1500 lbs, far more than most bass boats. The yamaha is a perfect match. My only complaint is it doesn't use enough fuel. I start out with a half tank and hope to get it down to less than 1/8 of a tank by fall. I fish a lot being retired, and my onboard tank is 32 gallons. It is rediculous how miserly this engine is and how quiet. My buddy has a Honda, and can't get over how quiet mine is than his.

I have a v2 powerdrive unit, with the built in transducer. You can match them up to what ever unit you have. I matched mine up to a Garmin Digital unit on the bow. Works perfect. Mine is the 24v 70 lb class. After 30 years of using the foot controlled up and down, it took me 2 years of continuous use to adapt myself to the new version. I am now use to it, and find it kind of an advantage. In tournaments, the rider in the back gives me back the bow of the boat in less than 30 minutes, after he tries to adapt, and gets frustrated. All the while I am just fishing away. My advice if you have the electronic foot control, keep the speed low, and make only short burst of power. After a day of fishing, the batteries are still at the 3/4 state. I like it now.

Kosher salt is the best salt for anything. For fishing this is the salt that is impregnated into the worms, but it is ground finer to what is called Flour salt. In other words it is the consistency of flour. I add some to my baits after grinding Kosher salt into Flour salt with an older coffee grinder. (common method) However on my worms in the bags, I sprinkle in 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of Kosher unground. Salt impregnated tends to make the worms stiffer, so that is a learning curve to be able to do. However, putting it in the bag does nothing, but make the fish hold on to the worm longer. GY worms tend to sink a little faster than others because of the salts weight.

Aquaholic is dead on when fishing rivers. Never fish a river for smallmouths with a Mepps inline spinner in Yellow.

The Senko fishing system isn't new, as I and a lot of others have been using it for 30 years. Only we have been doing it with normal worms that you could Texas rig. We would just put the hook through the belly and back out like we do the Senkos. The only thing GY did was successfully impregnate the entire Senko with salt. This just causes the bass to hold on longer giving you time to set the hook. I have many brands of the Senko, and then some I mold myself. I after making Senko style worms bag 25 or so, then pour a table spoon of Kosher salt on them, and some worm oil. They all work great, and you don't need to spend $6.50 for a bag of GY's. If you get a bag of lets say Yum Senko style worms. Add a half a tablespoon of Kosher to the bag. You'll see.

Slump in my area, is one that starts every year after the bass spawn out. They go deep for a few weeks to recouperate, and then they will start to hit again. I'm in that stage now in Maine. Some lakes the fish come out of the spawn earlier than others. When it is happening you can't even see a fish. I will just save my money and wait for them to come back to reality.

I believe that here in Maine, pitching would be an advantage to anyone. A lot of ponds have floating islands, large boulders, weed, and lily pads. I am see the accuracy of pitching already, and even with a 6' rod I can be pretty accurate out to 30 feet. I care less about flipping, but pitching would be very beneficial. If you were to flip here in Maine, the fish would already be spooked by your presence. In pitching I seem to be making more cast at a higher frequency, and more accurate than my underhand or overhand cast. I will looke into all the rods mentioned, starting right now.

I finally got through to Sarah, so alls good.

I took all my old spinner baits, and scraped off the old paint, removed the skirts. Then I powder dipped them in the colors I wanted, the tied on new skirts. I previously purchased a bunch of skirts from Cabelas The rubber ring that holds the skirts in place was down in the bend of the hook in a couple of cast. One one cast I was the skirt fly off. I boated in to see if I could recover it, only to find a 3 lb largemouth had swallowed it. So I brought everything inside and retied them. I won't lose any more skirts. All the spinner baits look new again.

Actually here in Maine our cover is generally rock ledges, boat docks and a lot of downed trees. I am not concerned about the ledges as I will drop shot them, but the trees, and lily pads are my maine objective. I anticipate a 7' to 7.5 foot rod, but have no clue anymore as to what is a good rod vs mediocre. The last bass rock I purchased must be at least 20 years ago, and they are fine for most fishing, but I can see a lot of accuracy and power with pitching.

I have been bass fishing for over 40 years, and have never pitched a lure with a rod. I guess that is because most of the Maine waters are very clear, and a lot of fish have to be caught while the boat is a good distance. I realize now that pitching I can actually get the lure out pretty far, and seems more accurate in many cases. Fishing in Maine flipping is almost a waste of time, due to water clarity, but pitching can be a good thing, and I have never met any angler that does it. I have started using some of my heavier bass rods that are about 6 to 6 1/2 foot. They are not really pitching rods. What I want to buy is a pitching rod, not a flipping rod. I don't see good advertisement for them in BPS or Cabelas. For you pitchers, can you give me what you feel is a good rod for the money. Keep it around $100, or under.

I hate to admit it but back in the 70's, when bass fishing was new in Maine, the bass was considered a trash fish. Maine law books and many anglers wanted to rid Maine of bass. So the laws encouraged a no bass limit, and permitted just about a complete removal of bass from many waters. Of course bass were pretty resilent, and survived the early days. I like a lot of anglers at that time, would go home with a load of bass alive in the live well. Being tired and arriving home late, many time I would release the fish in another body of water near my home. what happened is that a lot of waters that were barren of bass, now are good bass fishing. Todays laws discourage any moving of fish from one body of water to another. Maine still favors the brook trout over all other species of fish. Many Mainers like myself would like to see the state stock more ponds and lakes with fish that Maine does not have. EX; Walleyes, Steelhead. It won't happen as long as there is a brook trout swimming in that water. We didn't have pike until about 15 years ago, and now there are many ponds with them, all at inland fisheries displeasure. In a quarry like you are discribing, sure the fish would survive, and probably flourish. Just be discrete about it.

Save yourself some trouble, take it to a tackle shop that does rod and reel repair. It shouldn't cost more that 12 or 15 dollars. If not maybe you or a friend have a broken rod. Look to see if one might match up. It doesn't have to be exact to work just the same. I have done plenty over the years, and I made the repairs for 8 bucks.

I went on a search for O-rings, and in the fishermens supply stores they are very expensive. I did some more searching and found some alternatives. Clear rubber tubing that is in the 3/8 id can be purchase in any hardward store. It can be cut into small O-rings with a sharp knife or razor blade. Another is to cut black shrink wrap to fit over the worm. Another is you can go to a store that sell horse groom supplies. They sell o-rings that are made for grooming horse mane. Its about twice as big as you need, but doubling it over and putting on a worm is easy. I recently purchased 2 thousand for 2 dollars. They work just fine.

That is exactly as I thought. Just needed someone to confirm it... Thanks

Still no answer from basstackle.com... I guess Sarah is out sick, or busy. I purchased two molds from them that were aluminum hand pour, and wanted to know if they can be injected. Anyone got a clue.

I have that mold in hand pour, and am now looking into an injector. You have to get the plastic real hot and not scortch it, then pour very slowly into cavity. There are a lot of duds in hand pour. When they come out whole, they are perfect and you will be happy with them. They catch fish good too.

I gave it another try. We will see what happens.

Anyone know what is happening at basstackle.com, I have sent several emails only to have them undeliverable. Are they still alive and selling their products?

You are 16, so that is a plus. Yes by all means get into pouring, painting, and tying your own. You will begin catching fish immediately once you start to fish your jigs. I started to pour my own over 40 years ago. Real good jigs did not exist at that time like they do now. Get a Do-It catalog, and pick out a jig you want, then buy 25 to 50 hooks for it. Powder paint is the best but a little expensive. That is what I use now. Watch some youtube videos on how to do it, if you want to go this route. I started with just dipping lures in Rustoleum paint, then hanging them to dry. I caught a ton of bass with them. You will need a Fly tyiers vice, and a fly tyiers line holder. If you can buy the biggest line holder, You should make a Bodkin. Google it, and use a pin in a small dowel. Once you have the parts, you are home free for the rest of your life if you still like fishing. Think about getting a different mold every year, and soon you will have just what you need for cheap fishing. I have 6 molds now, and looking for another this winter. I haven't purchased a jig in 30 years, and have a tackle box full of different colors and a jig sizes. Fish some without rubber with a craw lure. Then add rubber and fish it with a trailer of what ever you want. Can't go wrong.

I used to fish a jig and eel all the time, and still do on occasion. Mainly it is a regular jig with skirt, and a rubber worm on the hook. Mainely we used a worm with a curl tail. Using maybe a black jig with a black worm and red, or chartreuse tail. A lot of fish get hung up on them.

I think fishing in the rain is more productive than at any other time. Although we may not like it, the fish seem to. Years ago, following the remants of a hurricane, it was pouring buckets, my fishing partner and I were 40 miles from home. There was some wind, but mostly downpour. He says we are here lets go out. We did, and we caught 30 to 40 bass in 1 hour, on pig and jigs. Most fish were in the 5 lb class. All were largemouth. It was the best fishing day I ever had. You could throw the jig out any direction and have a hook up in a couple of seconds. That day is going to be hard to forget.

I had a lot of black max outboards, and they were all good. If you get a faster boat, you tend to want to travel more and consequently will give it more throttle, using twice as much gas as you do now. It doesn't matter if it is a Merc or some other kind, if it is a larger motor it will use more gas and oil. The exception being the four strokes are down right stingy on fuel.