NBR

I like chicken legs. They are reasonably good for you and have a built in handle. I buy large quantities in the spring, wrap them individually and freeze. I usually cook them on the grill the night before my trip, wrap them with cling wrap and put in my small cooler along with lots of water and some cheese. If I'm going to be fishing several days in a row I often cook more than a days supply and put them wrapped in the frig.

The wind will push plankton towards shore and the bait fish follow as the gams fish follow in the parade. I fish unless it is dangerous either from just the waves of from being pushed to close to shore, reefs or rocks. It can be very productive but it can also be very tiring so if I get a breather from active fish I am apt to pull into a cove then after a rest I'm back out into the wind. If I find fish where it is quiet I will likely stay there since it's a lot more pleasant and as I've aged I have become a much more comfort oriented fisherman.

I did occasionlly for years. Then as I read and heard more about over tiring the fish I went away from targeting bass on ultralight. A few years ago we were fishing smallies in Canada and my pal hooked a decent northern on 8# mono with no steel leader. The battle took a long time but we eventually landed the fish, took a picture, weighed the 16#'er and let the fish rest for several minutes in my musky cradle. After time the fish swam away apparently not harmed. A while later, probably 15 or 20 minutes, I heard a commotion and saw a sea gull land near a floating fish. We chased the gull away and lo the fish was the just released pike. We got the fish back into the cradle and worked with her for a looog time. She was able to swim away. I have no clue regarding her survival but we did give her a chance. Since that experience I have tried not to over tire any fish.

I am with jj2. Our local Wal-Mart has low end rods, reels and major items. I walk through occasionally to see what might be on special but probably haven't bought anything for at least 4 years maybe longer.

For best battery life you need to recharge after every use,

My boat is 18'11". With trailer ( fixed not folding tongue) and motor tipped up in trailering position I have about 6" space in a 25' garage. Like said before ask him to measure it. If he can't do that he doesn't want to sell it very bad. Over all width can also be an issue. A fixed tongue can be adapted to a folding model but I have no idea as to cost for the conversion.

Thanks to both of you. It has been in my heated walkout boat garage that doesn't even have a window.

When I was a youngster I had a worm gear/pawl failure at a time when one reel and rod was standard. I was out of fishing until we found and received a new one. Beginning then I started putting a drop of very light oil on the worm gear every fishing day and still do. I do a very basic clean and relube job on the reels annually but I don't break them down very much. For me that is a job for the professionals. Depending on how much I fish I will open them up and put a drop of oil in each bearing that supports a rotating shaft during the cast. J Francko's idea of ATF sounds pretty good but I use KVD's line conditioner or Reel Magic depending on what's in the boat.

Road Warrior, A year or so ago I had the opprotunity to buy several 600 yard spools of Yozuri Hybrid at a buck a spool. For a variety of reasons I did not fish at all in 2011 and very little in 2010. I plan to change the fishing time this year and was starting to do my ice in time work on tackle. The line seems stiff to me is that an issue. I'll probably use it on bait casters but maybe on a spinning rig or two. I am more than a little seaoned with BC'ers but I still have never met a reel I couldn't backlash. I use other fluoros. braid and mono. I prefer the softer monos like Berkley XL. I don't have the line right in front of me but my memory says I have some 8, 10 and 12# test. Is this YO-ZURI line going to make me wish I hadn't spooled it up? Thanks

I can't help with that particular sonar. My Eagle has a tutorial that I look at from time to time to learn ther ins and outs of the unit.. I am blessed to have my boat in a heated garage so I can look at the unit at anytime. You could rig yours up to a battery and go through the tutorial if the unit has the feature.

I can't spek for other states but here in NH an inflatable type life jacket must be worn to count as a PFD towards the number of people on board. I don't understand the why behind the law but then there are a lot of laws I don't understand.

Having at one time been an avid stream trout fisherman I believe that stream trout at times will be highly selective and will refuse flies not cloesly representing the natural feed they are taking. Look at an imitation trout fly. Starting at the rear the tail is obvious as are the body and the wings. But now the hackle which supposed to represent the legs. Most of the May flies trout feed on have 6 or 8 letgs. I can't remember which but that glob of hackle sure doesn't look like 6 or 8 legs. Fishing some highly pressured streams in Michigan some came up with a no hackle dry fly. Tough to keep floating and be upright but very effective at times. Another approach was the paradun with a sparse hackle tied on parrallel to the hook shank. With no science to back it up my opinion is that trout in ponds or lakes are not as selective as their streams brethern. In a stream there is little or no significantly deep water for escape. I believe bass and especially smallies would develop the same cautions and selectivity in a trout stream type of environment. Maybe not as shy since a smallie tends to be more agressive and pugnacious than trout

I agree with McA. What I want to hear are the noises of nature from the lake. Many times I have heard a fish jump or swirl and sooner or later caught that fish or one very close to the noise maker.

Lake Champlain is a wonderful lake but the ice may not even be out on April 1. If I were you looking at an April 1 t0 8 time frame I'd look at Dale Hollow or Pickwick both in Tennessee. Google those two and converse either on the phone or email with resort owners. Another place might be Kentucky Lake which also conects with Lake Barkley. There is a resort there and if I remember correctly it is on 'The Land Between The Lakes". It is on a pennisula seperating Kentucky Dale Hollow, Pickwick and Kentucky/Barkley have large mouth, small mouth and several other fish species. There are other lakes farther south that would also be good but as you get farther south there are no smallies. Shoot me a PM if you want.

I agree highly Crestliner. I have had such good luck with moderately priced bait casters and plain cheap spinning reels that I don't look at high end reels any more. Re to the spinning reels I back reel rather than let the drag slip so drag quality is not a big deal to me. Bait caster drag falls into the same category. I set the drag rather light and if I need more my thumb applies the needed pressure.

Like Jig Man but no weed guard. My lakes have few weeds, even fewer woody areas but a ton of rocks for cover. They are very clear and deep so long casts light line or fluorocarbon.

Most of what I have read indicates the larger fish spawn earlier and deeper than most of us think.

New law in NH. No live Fish may be in your boat except during permitted bass tournaments. Too many unauthorized and unknowing people doing unauthorized. I personally think the law is a knee jerk response. I on occassionally put a bass in the live well to see if it will recover. No chance now they go back. Worse yet on occassion I fish for perch to take home for a meal. If I didn't get enough for a meal and they were healthy I'd pitchem back - no more. As for those who do illeagal stocking I am certain they will go right ahead law or not.

If you are lookingfor something to protect you and your boat from a sudden decrease in depth a sonar won't do it. The response is just slow enough that when you see the depth decrease your motor will have bottomed out. Known to me before I lost a lower unit but I had found a rock that I didn't know about. That rock is now marked in red on my map of the lake.

Call Lowrance. That should have been done as soon as you had trouble. Don't even think about opening the unit up for I am sure that will void the warrantee. Be polite when you call and if you are not satisfied with the answer you get ask for a supervisor.

IMHO The stuff at the top is surface clutter. Pollen, trash air bubbles anything suspended at the surface. If this was on my ususal lakes I'd think the round balls were a pod of bait but I normally don't see bait pods in water that shallow. You can see pods that shallow but seldom where I fish. Normally fish look like arches because the cone angle of the sound pulse causes the initial signal to be a little farther from the transducer then as the object becomes more centered the pulse is not traveloinf as far. At 3+ feet of depth you won't see much since the area of the cone at that depth is so small.. At that depth I woould only look for structure or cover actually I seldom look for fish with my sonar. I like to see structure and cover. Balls of bait are a plus as are arches that I think are fish but the lack of fish doesn't send me roaring off somewhere else. You may have a tutorial on your sonar that would be helpful to watch.

I have used Vanish for several years with absolutely no trouble. I use a Palomar knot for most every thing and have never had a break off at the knot. I have used BPS fluoro recently but that was a cost driven issue not lack of satisfaction.

My boat is now 23 years old it has always been garaged and for the last 14 years the garage has been a heated one with a thermostat controlled heating system. My wife gripes about that with every fuel oil bill. When I lived in an area with lakes that had a lot of silt, sand etc, the water pump impeller was changed every two years with out question. The boat is cleaned and waxed every year some times more than once. At times some of the black vinyl has shown some faded spots but that is quickly reconditioned with "Mother's Back to Black". No one has ever come close to guessing the age. No way unless I was really in tough shape financially or physically would I sell this boat for book value. But for the most part that is what they are worth.

KVD, he sold me a boat before he turned pro!

My boat has an air scoop pointed forward on one side and one pointed aft on the other.