clipper

Thanks for posting those two pics. It made my day .

Nice lady, the "large and in charge kind" . I tried another brand of bluegill bait last week at CE and they paid it no more attention than a tube or fluke. I tried swimming it thru the bed and also letting it sit there. They ignored it. That Matt Lures Bluegill must be something else. It's terrible to have to work during the spawn. I'm already getting the urge to go again.

11+ lb Lake Lanier Largemouth on a Big Daddy Fliptail worm split shot rig with weedless hook. We hadn't learned to T-rig in the late sixties when I caught this one. Mitchell 300 spinning reel on a fiberglass 7' rod.

I go deep sea fishing once a year and bring home fish to eat. They are so much better than black bass! I also catch stocked trout and crappie for food. Besides, I hate to clean fish and you can't give them away unless they are cleaned, washed, and frozen.

I thought I was fishing light with 4 lb line but 2 lb blows my mind. Did the 6 pounder come on the 2 lb line? I don't get to fish for smallmouth (there aren't any close to where I live), do you use the light line because the water is clear, for better bait action, or just for the sport of it? Also, what kind of sight fishing were you doing? Smallmouth aren't bedding up there yet are they? I assume you live north of Georgia since you were catching smallies.

I do need to go see the barber and get my summertime haircut. I wasn't sure I could backreel fast enough either but I did, at least on that particular fish.

Congrats on the new boat and the beautiful lakes you have to fish. I didn't see any jet skis on the water, do they not allow them up there?

I guess it took 3 or 4 minutes to get her landed. She made several runs and I backreeled to let her run and then brought her back. I never tried to put too much pressure on her so she wouldn't fight back so hard. I also don't think there is a state record for 4 lb test right now for LMB. I probably won't enter a fish because I don't know how to get one weighed on certified scales without killing it. Especially when you are fishing a quarter of a mile from your truck with no live well! I'll just be happy with a picture to remind me of the experience.

I guess I will forget about posting the picture of Tyson :-[.

My fishing goal last year and this year also is to catch a bass over 5 lbs on 4 lb test certified line. I nearly made it this week but not quite. I don't know if it was reading about the guys at Lake Fork, the perfect weather (low wind, 70+ temps), knowing the bass would be bedding at Charlie Elliot Wildlife Center in middle Georgia, 3 weeks of vacation time accrued, or a combination of all of these; but I took last Thursday and Friday off work, loaded my camping gear, hooked to the boat and went on my personal mini-road trip. It was great in every respect - the weather was perfect, the fish were bedding, and I didn't hear a phone ring, see a TV, or worry about getting anything done but catching fish. I fished 7 different lakes or ponds, found bass that had spawned and were guarding nests (hard to catch), found a few bass spawning (caught some), and found a bunch of males fanning beds. I caught the 4 lb -10 oz. bass in the photo in Upper Raleigh Thursday morning. My son also caught a 4lb bass in Fox Saturday morning and I got to watch him. He caught the male first and then the female in less than 10 minutes of fishing time. His wife lost about a 5 lb bass Friday afternoon in Fox. I'm not sure how many fish I caught (maybe about 10 with several 2-3 lbs in the group) but I could have caught many more had I not spent my time looking for that 5+ pounder. I also probably walked about 10 or 15 miles doing it which was also enjoyable and good for me. The trees also started to leaf out while I was there and the dogwoods bloomed. Very pretty. I learned that I can backreel instead of relying on the drag while playing the 4-10 bass and it works well. I now have the confidence that with my Ray Scott light tackle rod and reel I can land a 5 or 6 lb bass on 4 lb test line provided I am in a clean lake with no logs or trees. Once I top the 5 lb mark I will go for a 7 pounder. In the next photo maybe I will have a decent hair cut and not be squinting, but the camo probably still won't match as it doesn't matter to the fish :-[. Congrats again on a great win.

There is no internet service in their hotel so that could explain the lack of posts from the guys out there. Jeff and his fishing partner caught 4 yesterday and 3 today with the largest being 4 lbs. He also said the strong winds made it hard to find the bedding bass. All in all a rough day of fishing due to what he called 30 mph winds.

Sounds like my deer season last fall. Keep trying and glad the daughter wasn't hurt. That is a bad feeling to be away from home thinking one of your children is in the emergency room.

My dad used a coke bottle full of water turned upside down in a fruit jar and he swore by it. Only trouble is I can't remember if the fish bit best when the water in the bottle was high or low. I bought a Minnkota barometer for about the same price as yours and mine does register changes in the barometric pressure but I don't know if it's calibrated correctly. Anyway, I have started noting the barometric pressure on my fishing logs when I start and end my trips. I just don't get to fish often enough to see a trend .

I use sun screen and wear sun glasses. I've already had skin cancers removed and don't want any more. A good pair of sun glasses will help protect your eyes from UV rays. A wide brimmed hat will stop the UV rays from above but won't stop the ones that reflect off the water.

I have a 70 lb thrust 24 volt minnkota on my 17-9 stratos and it moves it along very well. It also lasts all day on a single charge. If you increase motor size you may need larger wiring and should probably replace the male and female plugs if they are old, as the contacts oxidize over time. If you go from a 12 volt system to a 24 volt system you will also need two batteries instead of one. The extra battery will need a battery tray and strap.

Great looking boat. Hope you spend many happy hours in it.

I was feeling sorry for myself for having to replace 2 batteries, an axle, and 2 tires. After reading about your experience I shouldn't complain. Sorry about your bad, bad day.

Bussbaitfool12, looking at the photo of the Lenco motors, it appears you have to drill 10 holes in your transom for each motor and 7 of them are below the water line. In a fiberglass boat you can fill the holes and spread some gelcoat over them if you take the motors off. Unless you are real good with gelcoat it will look like a patch. I assume you are putting them on an aluminum boat so you should consider how you will patch the lower holes if you ever change your setup. I guess you could use a machine screw and rubber washer but it will still look bad.

You mentioned repairing stress cracks. My old Orlando Clipper has stress cracks in the bottom. What did you do to yours?

You really did the old girl proud. She will take good care of you too. Did you keep track of the man hours you put in the project?

Buy you a cheap digital voltmeter that will read at least 24 volts DC and make sure you are getting voltage at the connections in the top of the motor. If not, start tracing backwards until you find the bad connection. It could be in your plug, your battery connections, or the foot control. It could even be a broken wire but that is not likely. Since it sat uncovered all winter, I would suspect the connections in the foot control, the male, or the female plug. Since it will come on momentarily, it sounds like a loose or bad wiring connection. You could just try wiggling things and you may find it that way. Good luck and let us know what you find.

I have heard some pros confess to using live bait prefishing to find fish.

If you could find a small piece of 1/8" aluminum sheet at the scrap yard and screw it down it would answer your question without forking out the money for a whole sheet. I bet it comes in 4'x8' sheets new.

Those big smiles tell the story. Hope you have a lot more days like this one.

Words of wisdom!