NBR

I've heard good things about Cabella's Guide Wear!

I don't like battling the same fish for long periods of time. It almost assures that the fish will die if released. I saw this first hand a few year ago when my buddy boated a 16# northern on 8# with no leader. The fish was so exhausted it took well over 15 minutes for it to recover the first time and a while later I looked back and it was floating belly up. The second time we must have spent 30 minutes or more before it swam away. I am not convinced it made it. Long periods of stress builds up lactic(sp) acid which is supposed to be harmfull. Maybe someone more informed than I could comment.

I sank mine last year the same way. As soon as I got pumped out every thing started to work again and has continued to perform normally.

You haven't told us what type of water you fish. An aluminum flat bottom will be just fine for smaller waters but they beat you to death in waves of any size. Given more detail and I'm sure you will get plenty of information. Going with used is a good idea since you can get a feel for what you want when you decide on a new boat.

I watch them since hey are better than most of the drivel on TV. I do get up set when the keep the fish out of the water while they pontificate about the technique, the bait, how skilled they are , their mother's apple pie and on and on. Catch it, glance at it and get it back in the water. I firmly believe many stress fish swim off to die later.

If you are going to palm the reel during retrieve you will probably be better off casting and retrieving with the same hand.

I have a "Leading Edge" foil on my boat to help with the hole shot. My experience is that a foil does not help with porpoising. When my boat porpoises I need to give it more power or trim it under just a bit. I find porpoising very annoying so when it starts I either give a little more throttle or if I don't wanr more speed I tuck the motor under just a bit. If you are getting a good hole shot I wouldn'y bother with any kind of a foil!

Gun Lake and the Thornapple River.

I get set up as follows: Tuck the motor all the way under and give it full throttle. As it comes up on plane I back the throtle off a bit and trim out slowly until I don't have any steer torque. My rig has a sound at this point that I just call sweet for lack of a better description.I might go faster or maybe a bit slower with out change. If the boat starts to porpoise then I must give it a bit more power or tuck the motor under a bit. If you are throwing a big rooster tail you are trimmed out to far(common). If you have a GPS and a tach you can get a feel for best performance in rpm's, trim and speed. A speedometer will also do this but the GPS is better. My boat is a 19' glass with a pad hull and a 150 so you will find some or many differences. I fooled around with they way I got going for a long time until I came up with the above. I was looking for a stable ride, no steer torque, a comfortable trip on the lake and not for top end speed. I do run a stainless prop.

Big wind at the ramp this week and a gust caught my boat as I was backing out of the launch. Before I could react my MinnKota 65# top part swung into a dock piling and pretty much shattered the top plastic housing. No question that I will need to order a new housing.I I haven't had a chance to start pulling it apart but I wonder how much of a job this is going to be. Any one with experience please comment. Thanks

Pay heed to Way2slow and Ann Marie. Their posts are not what my second cousin's older brother's neighbor heard at the dock.

Muiddy, my first TM had a foot controlled power with a manual steer. I wanted Sharkbite to be sure he was talking what he wanted. TM's cost too much to make a mistake.

Sharkbite, Smaller thrust motors don't use less power. You might run the bigger thrust motor at a lower setting but the power used is the same. Reference one of your posts, how does a foot controlled motor not have a foot pedal?

Robby Z, I have used several different kinds of batteries and on a cost per year the wally world deep cycle marine batteries work as well as any. For a charger I'd get an onboard. Saves a lot of time so you keep your batteries fully charged for longer life, sealed so water is not a problem and over time cost effective.

I bought my first performance bass boat used and the guy had both a butt seat and a regular sit down seat with a back. The butt seat was installed so my first time out with the boat I used the but seat. When I got back I installed the sit down seat and went fishing the next day. As soon as I got back from fishing I reinstalled the butt seat and I'd have nothing else on the front deck unless I had a physical condition that required a sit down seat.

Although I have heard you can tell one fish species from another I am very dubious. I have heard that crappies stack up in a pine tree shape and white fish stack vertical but I am not sure. I think that fish identity is more are they in the right spot for say a largemout so you assume they are largies. Similar with other species. There are walleyes in the lake, the location is right for walleye so it must be a walleve. It also might be a suspended bottle. Bait is different since you see a blob of something. Then if you see an arch near the blob you can be pretty sure it is some preditor fis feeding on the bait.

I have some of most of the above including the BPS reels and I'm very satisfied with them all.

The chunk out of the prop blade most likely has nothing to do with the hard steer but it sets up vibration that might not be felt but rest assured the lower unit bearings and seals feel them. I'd get that prop fixed now. He might want to consider a spare. I carried an aluminum spare for years just in case I broke a prop. I don't know your experience level with a performance boat so I'll start from the beginer level. Tuck the motor all the way under to start. When you get on plane trim out slowly until the boat goes with out steer torque. With my boat I back the throttle off to about 3/4 throttle as I get on plane then trim out until the engine noise gets to a level I can't describe but I call sweet. When I hit the sweet spot my boat will run without steer torque. It also won't porpoise unless I slow to much. If it starts to porpose either give it a little speed or tuck the motor under a bit. I don't think the tranny (a lower unit gear box on an outboard) or the fin are a problem. I don't think you have the boat trimmed properly. Many over trim so don't be guilty of that. A rooster tail much higher than the engine cowling is too high. I repeat I'd get that prop fixed or replaced pronto.

I've used Vanish Transition in 12# for several years with no problems.

She probably did get a bit of skack line but some get off and some stay hooked. Another rerason it is called fishing not catching.

If cash flow was no issue I'd look in the "OB&C's" closet and if there was more than one jacket or coat or more than one of shoes per season I'd negotiate a better deal.

I put the hook completely through the worm then back it inside to make the rig weedless or I leave the hook through the worm and just skin hook the point. Regardless your words, "then pull" flashed a red light. I drop the rod tip towards the fish to about horizontal, put the rod butt in my big fat belly button and snap the rod to vertical while reeling. You want to get the tip and therefore the line and hook moving fast except with circle hooks.

I'm with Catt and others. Set the hook it might be a fish or the yanking the lure loose might trigger a reaction strike. This topic reminds me of fishing with a good friend who was a good fisherman in an area with scattered cabbage. I asked him if he had a fish on when he answer, "No just some weeds". Just then I answered him, "Your weed just jumped out of the water dragging a bass". We laughed for years at his expense over that issue.

Maybe! Recent information indicates that the hook will not rust out.. In-Fisherman has a mehtod of removiing deeply inbedded hooks that you can find on their web page or do a seaqrch for it here. Using hooks without a barb or the barb bent down makes it easier on both you and the fish to remove deep hooks. There is also a gadget called a "Barb-It" that cuts the hook and a magnet retrieves the pieces.

If I recall correctly the weight was on a certified scale(a grocery store if my memory hasn't slipped with most every thing else), witnessed by a Georgia game warden during the open season and entered into Field and Stream magazines annual contest. At the time Field and Stream was the most credible source of fish weights. Despite the doubting Thomas' and other naysayers George Perry's large mouth bass stands as the worlds record. So live with it or catch and document a larger one!