Koofy Smacker

I bought mine straight through Bluewater. They were some of the nicest and most helpful guys I have dealt with

Im planning on getting the security locks. But it spends it's time in the drive way under a cover so the tilt bracket doesn't do me any good. None of the lakes I fish even have bridges that are less than 100' above the water anyway. Now if we finally get a garage or pole barn Ill make sure it clears it!

Its about time. Have had this thing sitting in the living room waiting to be mounted for the past two months when I got it on the 20% off TW sale. Set up the motor lifts at my buddies shop and got it on with no issues whatsoever. 2 hours all said and done between pulling the motor, mounting the bracket, reattaching the motor a wiring/ installing the talon on the bracket.

Structure can really be anything that changes. Some guys will put it in very strict terms of trees or brush piles but I really look at it much broader than that because it gives you a better understanding as to what to look for and why. It doesn't necessarily have to be a tree or brush pile but it could be anything down to a half a foot dip in a flat that the fish are sitting in. In general terms: Hard structure - trees, brushpiles, rock, man made structures (anything intentionally sunk), old house foundations or bridges Weed beds - pretty self explanatory. Can be found in large patches or in strips. Flats - (can be very small or very very large and have very little to no difference in depth over it's entirety. Usually relatively shallow Ledge - a generally very shallow sloping bank which drops off steeply a distance out into the water (usually only found with sonars) Points - Can be visual on the bank or not. Several points occur on relatively flat shorelines but are entirely underwater Bluff - steep (can even be completely vertical) dropoffs which usually end up being very very deep even a few yards off the bank. Channels - A deeper spot (can be half a foot to quite a bit deeper) which snakes it's way through a generally flat area bottom contour I know I missed a few but it nailed most of the majors. Once you can visualize what each of these are you can start to put together where the fish are, what exactly they are relating too and then begin to understand the big question which is why? Bass love to relate to something even if it is very small. Rarely will you find a largemouth in the middle of nowhere yet smallmouth are a different story. Being able to identify it and understand it is what we all strive for. There are generalities which one can place on a certain lake or region but most of it comes just from experience. For instance I know that in several of the local lakes the females like to stage up a few feet deeper off the sides of mid lake ridges in the middle of the summer waiting to ambush the bait pods which hand out on top of them. Other lakes they do not do that but will stay right on trees or even the exact opposite, very deep off bluffs. Reading articles can be one thing but really take them all with a grain of salt. Nothing, and I mean nothing can be as important as your personal experience on a given body of water. On a lake such as Guntersville you can get a ton of quality info because of the amount of attention it gets, but broaden everything, try it and you will probably come across your own little secret.

Pull everything from the boat and fill it with water and look physically for leaks. Tilt the front jack down so the water doesnt pool in the back. That said, if your in Michigan this time of year is definitely not the best time to do that.. Could very well be in the livewell system or around one of the through hull fittings though. Not a bad idea to pull them all and reseal them and wait till the spring and see

Wow ^^ thats the longest profile I have seen. And the wheel weights alone are too hard and can cause problems after using them solely as other allows can slowly build up and clog stuff and it can get really messy and dangerous with melted lead around. It is alright to use one or two per batch but not pure.

Lithium

your supposed to have everything in the boat hooked to the cranking battery except the trolling motor. And yes if you can find out that the battery is in fact good then it is a drainage problem. Did you have any problems before you went with the Dekas?

My guess is that either the battery was bad straight from the get go or the capacity of the battery needs to be bumped up to accommodate the draw of a motor that big with the HDS 10 running all day. I remember reading that the HDS units draw more than a typical unit. Could be wrong on that though

I actually got the boat in Harrisburg at Lakeside Marine. JC and Tom are both great guys to work with and really know their stuff. I got a prop because I really dont fish rivers. Most of the time I am on lakes or down on the Susquehanna flats with a few bigger further lakes thrown in. I wont run in less than 2 feet just because of how much the transom leans back when getting on or getting off plane. If your looking to do rivers at all I wouldnt think twice about going jet. Thats really the only way to go in the river category. To be honest all of my local dealers are all Merc certified and Harrisburg was the closest that is Yamaha and I still went that route. Havent had a single hiccup with her at all and I have done most of the minor maintenance stuff myself like the impeller, oil, spark plugs etc. In terms of the boat I have yet to see one with a better fit and finish than a G3 in a tin boat.

As a pro staff member myself I can possibly shed some light on what is in these baits and any details which any of you guys would be interested in knowing. First off there are two separate "styles" of baits. 8 second sound cycle with LED eyes Dive Master 14 Dive Master 20 Pro Sizzle Pro Wake 12 second sound cycle with no LED eyes Dive Master Jr. Pro Sizzle Jr. Pro Ripper Stick Master Wet your fingers and touch both hook hangers simultaneously and you will hear the bait emit the baitfish chirping sound. It is fairly faint, but if you have a fish tank put it in there. First time I tried it every fish attacked the bait on the first chirp and it was very audible from outside the water. In terms of the shelf life on the baits it is actually 5 years if the bait is not being fished. It has the ability to emit sounds for 2 years. That means if it gets snagged on a tree underwater it will keep going for 2 years. The battery is actually a typical watch battery and is not replaceable but it draws less current than your watch does. Personally the best part of these lures is that it keeps working when you stop the bait dead. While they swim very true out of the package, have great color schemes and have very good hardware the electronic sounds trump them all. The electronic sound it produces has drawn strikes from inactive fish while sitting still which I have rarely seen. Think of it as having a hydrowave in each bait, but instead giving the fish an exact location of where the noise is coming from. All 8 baits are $11.99 across the board with no need to replace split rings or hooks out of the package.

Most popular one up on some of the upper reaches of the susquehanna are the G3 jet boats. Thats mainly the reason I went with a G3 prop was because the dealer was the best I had ever dealt with (plus I adore that boat). I have seen a lot of them and everyone loves them. They will come with Yamahas since Yamaha owns G3 but they are a great motor. If I were you I would look at the console steer versions however because it gives you a lot more visibility in front of the boat to look for obstacles which in a river are everywhere. I would take a look at all the closer dealers and see what they have to offer

First I would look at the big brands, Minn Kota or Motorguide. Most likely they will have the parts if you ever need them. The older ones from companies that no longer make trolling motors your out of luck if you ever break something. That said the main things I would look for is any play in the shaft itself, and the obvious. Ie, if it looks beat up or brittle dont go for it. On the newer ones look at the prop itself. If it is chewed up that usually means it was run pretty hard. Ask if you can pull the prop off which usually only requires an adjustable wrench to get the bolt off. Look for fishing line around the shaft which can indicate that the shaft seal may be shot. If I were you I would look at one of the new Minn Kota Enduras or the Motorguide trolling motors. Usually you can get a decent 55 lb thrust for around $200. Much less hassle going new and if anything goes wrong you have the company to back you up.

Couldnt pull start it? lol One thing that always gets me, especially in tournaments is when I stop catching I have a tendency to start fishing a different way than I did to catch the others. And by that I mean I speed up, which is nearly never a good thing in most of the lakes I fish at. When I can stay calm and fish the way I know how too fish usually end up in the boat. On the other hand, one tournament with 10 minutes left I decided to scrap my plan and drag a drop shot down a structureless bank and ended up landing a 4 lb smallie which bumped me up into 2nd. Made it back to the weigh in with 15 seconds left by the time I got it in the livewell So scrapping a plan can and does work. Ahh its all mind games.

Only good thing about winter is being able to have the time to clean your gear and perfect everything for next season. My boat has been gone through top to bottom. Oh and every cold day means the bass will be that much hungrier come spring

Be careful with the USGS stuff though. As a geologist I deal with them all the time with stream flows, lake levels, suspended particle levels etc. "nearby" is never the same. I have a few lakes around me which have nearby gauges on the outflow rivers and streams and they are always colder in the winters, and warmer in the summers from being shallower. Only one of the lakes I fish has one actually on the dam itself which measures lake height and water temp and this is pretty accurate although it doesnt fluctuate nearly as much as one would think. Only major storms really affect it. Top surface temps which we as fisherman deal with can change a lot more than the usgs gauges. If you need a hand in finding the best one in your area just shoot me a message and ill help you out

I personally pour my own cylinder weights, but one of my tournament partners did this exact thing. Turned out neither of us liked it. The steel is much bigger and actually falls slower because of it. Also in the time to make them I can pour 5 times as many. Given I have all the equipment but I prefer lead much more. Tungsten is far and away better in drop shot weights but with the amount that I lose them I would need to be Bill Gates to keep a stock of them. I tend to pour 2-300 in a sitting in 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 which covers all my bases unless I am super deep where I have a small bit of 1/2 which gets down there in a hurry. To the OP, I prefer cylinder because they get hung up so much less than the balls.

Not unless your lake has a usgs gauge on it that can tell you temps. Even those can be off by quite a bit depending if it is on a dam reading water which was pulled from down deep. Other than that not really

I love team tournaments. Never any conflict of interest since you are doing everything you can to help eachother. Ive retied many baits for my coangler as hes putting his fish in the livewell. To the OP, it happens, and you can get a pretty good understanding of how the guy will be if you talk to him before the tournament begins. Be as cordial as you can and when it gets back the only thing you can do without making yourself look bad is to have a conversation with the TD

Its more than being paranoid. When a lot of money is on the line I dont want weakened line. That being said, I have two rods with braid, my flipping and my drop shot rod (which I use about 15ft of 6 lb fluoro leader on). Two rods with mono, a jerkbait rod (so the line doesnt sink and mess with my suspending baits) and crankbait rod (because extra stretch here is good) The rest of my rods I am running fluoro on. The reason it all gets changed is because every lake or river system I fish is chock full of structure and my line gets abused whether im dragging it through rocks or dropping down in trees repeatedly. You can run your fingers along the line after an hour of fishing and it feels like sandpaper. Ill cut off the bad section and retie at this point. When my line gets too low on my reels it messes with my retrieve speeds and casting abilities and I will retie. I spend so much time out there doing this that I dont think I have actually had a time when I had to respool because of sun degradation. When I didnt have a boat and I would leave rods in my car for a few weeks in the summer then I would run into that problem.

Sometimes the floating baits are the ticket, sometimes they won touch them if they are hugging the bottom. When the fish are 2 -3 ft off the bottom Id prefer a drop shot to keep my bait horizontal in the water, not straight up and down with the nose sticking down. But they can both work

I respool atleast once a month on each of my reels, especially those with mono. Just being in the light is enough to break it down to the point you can have several unexpected breaks all of the sudden.

Try it try it try it try it. You can study every single book, magazine article or online forum that you want but in fishing everything directly relates to the waterway that YOU are on. You can fish 10 different lakes that appear to be EXACTLY the same and each one can be a world apart from each other underneath. The lure could be exactly the same color as the water. It could be completely opposite. Could be the same color as the forage. Or completely opposite. Youll never truly know until you try it. And one of those times it will work wonders. When it does, write it down, with every condition such as weather, including both past present and future weather, water temp, clarity, and time of year. It's when you find little things out like that which can pay huge dividends in the future

And fwiw the section between Havre de Grace and the dam, while considered the Susquehanna, is not held to the same restrictions which you are referring to which is mainly for areas much further west out towards the main problem areas around Harrisburg and on the other branch as well. The only restrictions held in place on the flats are a change in size limits for the spring to 15" over all other times of the year when it is 12". Not trying to bust your balls just telling it how it is. BTW if you ever wanna go down and fish for a day but shoot me a message. I literally live at Anchor Marine over the summer.

No offense but Id stop ranting. You do realize in order to get into PA from the flats that you have to figure out a way to get over that MASSIVE concrete thing called the Conowingo Dam right? Im down there 3 times a week during the summer and run up the susky all the time. No way would I ever say that the fishing between Havre de Grace and the dam has ever outproduced my spots from the Northeast down to the proving grounds whether it be on the flats themselves of other special spots I got.