NBR

I suspect there is something in your equipment, you are not setting the hook in time or you are not recognizing a pick up. With a boat full of crank baits, spinner baits and so on I now probably use soft plastics 90% of the time. I fish them from the surface to 60' or more. Fast, slow and in between.

I live in the north country and winter is my time for getting tackle ready for ice out. I would buy line now except I have plenty. I spool new line on when needed for casting distance or once a year at most. Fluoro longer but part of the time is learning about its shelf life and its cost. If you keep mono out of the sunshine and extremes of temperature it has incredibly long shelf life. I have a spool or so that must be 15 years old and outside of a little bloom on the outside I find nothing wrong with the line. It fishes just fine. In my opinion line failure has more to do with poor knots, no spit before tightening, knicks from cover in the water and sometimes bad guides. I watch my line very carefully when tieing a knot and check it often for knicks and abrasions. If it is suspect I retie. I can't recall the last time broke off on a fish but I fish water that has little cover except for rocks. Rarely any wood, no dense weed beds and few if any reeds or lillies. It does have a memory from the line spool but when you put it on a reel it conforms to the reels spool and begins a new memory. I spool by hand on my spinning outfits and use the manual Berkley Spooling Station. The only reason for the spooling station is I don't have to wait for my wife to hold the spool.

Erie and Champlain both are great but if it blows both can be uncomfortable and dangerous.

I had had a Prolite finesse rod and reel for two years and they have become favorites.

Check the GVW of your vehicule and as long as boat, motor, trailer, load in boat and vehicule is under you are very safe. While it is correct that the triailer load does shift some weight from the front wheels to the rear making some ramps tough the big issue is transmission overheating with excessive loads. A transmission cooler is not a bad idea. Don't tow in overdrive.

Mine is mounted right in the side to side center of the boat and just forward of the transom so it shoots through the pad. I get good readings at speed up to about 60 mph and over 100 feet deep.

Similar to real estates location, location, location in depth sounders it's pixels, pixels, pixels. When you get enough pixels you will have more other bells and whistles than you will need or use.

There is a grease port on the Prolite Finesse that is easy to put grease in and unless you used the reel very hard this summer a professional service job is probably not needed. A little oil for the bearings might be needed. I think only the BPS service people work on their reels.

I carry 2 in my boat. One is an extendable pole used in shallow water, off the bank and out of bushes. The other is on a heavy line that I drop down to the lure and pull it free. I use the pole more often but it isn't effective much over 8 or 10 feet deep. Both are over 20 years old. The pole came from BPS I can't recall where I got the other one.

Hair dryer then use a plastic scraper like those for teflon pots and pans. Follow up with GooGone.I've used for years with no problem.

I asked the same question 2 or 3 years ago and the answer then was yes same pattern.

Have you checked the prop shat for weeds, mono etc/

Jig Man is right on. I can't remember who it was but at a seminar I heard it explained: Tap 1 Bass taking the bait Tap 2 Bass spitting out the bait Tap 3 God tapping stupid on the shoulder for not setting the hook on tap1.

I can't remember the maker but it was about 4.5 feet long, hexagonal cross section steel and heavy. I can't recall the reel make either but there was only the cast control knob and your thumb for backlash control. No star drag. Pressure on the fish was accomplished with your thumb as was casting with out backlash. My next reel was a Langley Streamlite, followed in a few years by a Pflueger Surpreme, as I recall the Surpreme cost me about a week and a halfs summer job paycheck. Oh, still no improved cast control or star drag. Wow! I must be aging but the nice thing is I fish most any day I want to go.

Assuming you have a stepped hull mount the transducer in the back close to the transom and centered in the boat. Make sure you leave drain plug clearance if you use or ever might use an inboard fastening plug. Mine has been in that spot for over 15 years and works fine up to about 50mph and 130 feet of depth.

Before I bought a TM with a built in transducer I tried the brackets but had the most success with a large hose clamp around the TM and through the transducer mounting lugs. They make a transducer that is curved to fit a TM just for this purpose. I have had good luck over the years with Eagle's. If I was buying a new one I would strongly consider a color unit. The more vertical pixels the better.

You need the instructions for the unit although general sounder instuctions will help. You are not alone. When I bought my first sounder (paper graph) that was not a flasher it was perfect the first time out and the second time nothing. This repeated the second time then I discovered I had changed some settings. I am not familiar with your particular unit but generally speaking set the gain at about 85% and grey line at 50%. Turn the automatic feature off. If you are deeper than the depth setting you won't get a bottom reading. See what happens. You could look up Humingbird on the net and call their tech support for help. Also ask the guy where you bought the boat.

I'd be cautious about removing the transducer. They are usually epoxied in securely and if it not damaged you are likely to damage it during removal.

I don't remove mine anymore. Its not a hard job and getting the old outer races out of the hub is the most difficult part of the task. Now about every 5 years I have my auto mechanic remove and replace them and I lube 2 or 3 times a year through the Bearing Buddies.

Since I don't know your experience level with sounders your problem might be as simple as poor adjustment. The through hull transducer in my boat has been serving me just fine since about 1990 or 1991. I have replaced several TM mounted transducers I suspect from banging into rocks and the like.

Check the tow vehicules GVW rating. Add up all of the boat, motor, tackle and trailer weight and weight in the tow vehicule if it is below the GVW you are okay. Heat is the enemy of transmissions and especially the seals. So, it is better to have a transmission cooler. Unless you are grossly over GVW you won't cause instant failure but you will shorten drive train life. Never, never, never tow in O.D. I did on occassion like Olebiker and I can't remember my repair bill but it was over $800 after a very few years of my abuse.

Although it has been many years since I fished Dale Hollow I would suggest getting a guide for the first day. It is a big lake, gin clear and deep, finding the fish can be a time consuming issue and with limited time there it makes the next days easier.

AJ's experience and mine are much different. I was in Canada this summer for two weeks and after the initial fill gave me 42 gallons of fuel I filled up once and had plenty left over after the two weeks. If you are going tubing you burn lots of fuel probably into the $75 a day range. My TM batteries last in the 3 to 5 year range depending on the care I have given them. I do routine winterizing my self and have the engine tuned every 2 or 3 years at about $200 a pop. You say you want to get on some of the bigger lakes. How big? When I think basic Tracker I think flat bottom and they will beat you to death in rough water.

Save your money for your next boat or next motor. Any increase you get will be small and costly.

I bend the barbs down on everything and have for over 30 years. I loose a few fish but then I lost a few fish before I started bending barbs down. Barbs down equals easier on the fish, easier on me and faster release.