redboat

yeah, that could be tig welded real easy. Be sure the guy who deos it knows to put it in water with the skag stickign out; otherwise the heat might melt your seals. Another option - JB Weld. It really DOES work; once you sand it down nd paint it you wont be able to tell. Not as strong as welded but you can do it yourself easily.

SUPPOSED facts. I can only relate my experience with it. And John Galt is a character in the Ayn Rand book, "Atlas Shrugged". I assume this indicates you can read, or at least have read one book. I will admit I am surprised. (/more sarcasm, just poking fun)

No, it was started by someone who thinks the Alabama rig is worthless (read the first post in the thread).

So to put this in context, since whatever someone posts there will always be somebody else who replies, "Naw, it works FINE for me": My fishing buddy I.M. HaungUp and I fished Rayburn last weekend, two days, Saturday (12 hours) and Sunday (about 7 hours). We each had Alabama rigs; mine the "original", his a knockoff that actually looked better and included some cool looking swim baits. We caught a total of 18 bass, using Senkos, T-rigged Grande Bass Rattlesnakes, square billed crank baits, and rattletraps. Got a couple of spinner bait hits, but missed the hook sets. Got a couple jerkbait hits. So we alternated throwing A-rig for a couple of hours each day. He stuck with the original swim baits; I began with Flukes and switched to paddle tail swim baits. Total haul was ZERO, nada, zilch, unless you count some of the hydrilla we dredged up from time to time. He threw his in the lake Sunday around noon. I waited until I got home to throw mine in the trash can. Here are the problems I see with this rig: (1) We've been trying for years to come up with line the fish can't see. Floro, green mono, whatever. Now you have this big ol' basket looking thing with black piano wire. What fish is gonna bit on THAT? A suicide bass mabye? (2) The dang thing weighs ten pounds (exaggerated); its like swinging a baseball bat with a weight on it. Five or six casts and you're ready to go lay down for a while. I can't imagine throwing that thing all day, you'd need forearms like Popeye! (3) It makes a splash sorta like a big gator jumping in. Or maybe two or three. Useful if you think the bass are asleep but otherwise I assume they'd be scared off. (4) You use up a boatload of baits and at around $1 a pop these days this is gonna get expensive. (5) No bites, no hits, nothing all day. So: Worthless. Of course if you hooked up a fence shocker to it...hmmmm...

Worthless.

10 years, coincides with the date I bought my first bass boat. Before that they were called 'catfish boats'.

I used the website upgrade on my 898C. It was pretty painless, download to an SD card, plug the card into the unit, fan the smoke...er I mean, restart after the upgrade...

Good advice from the Caffiene Kid. Of course he didn't win the Classic this year, due to lack of burning Rattle-Traps in clear water no doubt:: http://www.bassresou...-speed-kvd.html

I snagged my thumb. Normally that would not be a big deal; I've had hooks in my fingers before, but this was the first time I'd done it with the fish also on the hook flipping around, and at night to boot. Plus my fishing buddy was laughing so hard he was no help.

I had trouble learning the three basic rules of crankbaits: 1) If it's not bumping something - structure, cover, the bottom, weeds - you won't catch anything; 2) No matter how slow I retrieve it - THATS TOO FAST; 3) The best place to throw a crankbait with rattles is the trash can.

Its true! Another thing most people don't know: Bass actually migrate to Mexico in winter then return in spring; that's why you can never catch one in a month that ends in "er" or "ary"...

Here's a picture of a 10-6 my wife caught a couple years ago on 6 lb PLine flouro, a six foot rod, and a minature spinning reel. I've used PLine exclusively ever since. http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g200/pscarbor/JoysBass.jpg

Few people know that crawdads when fully grown have wings. They fly over bodies of water and drop their eggs; that is how they get into so many detached ponds.

My fishing buddy I.M. HaungUp does two things that aggrivate me, one minor, one major: Minor: He is the only person I know who can get hung up on the exact same stump or rock ten or more times in a row; Major: He calls his girlfriend every two or three minutes on his cell phone, "Hi baby, I LOOOOVVVVEEEE you, kiss kiss, yeah, I cast my bait out but didn't catch anything yet but I haven't reeled it in yet either, kiss, kiss, I LOOOOOVVVVEEEEE you baby, i MIIIISSSSS you SOOOO much, well, I'll call you back as soon as I reel this bait in..."

Worst advice I ever GAVE, to my wife, "Quit working that Senko so fast, you'll never get a bite!" Given less than 10 seconds before she hooked a 10-6 largemouth on that wacky rigged Senko she was buring across the surface. http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g200/pscarbor/JoysBass.jpg

With apologies to my long time fishing buddy I.M. HaungUp, I need to find another partner for tournaments. I.M is a good buddy but is in the service and has Guard duty the first weekend of every month. I have the utmost respect for that, but it does limit our tournament fishing drastically as he doesn't have the time to commit to fishing. I have a good bass boat, six year old Triton with a 200 Optimax that I keep in good shape. I have a Humminbird 898 side view unit, Navionics chip in the GPS and the PC software to go with it. A boatload of rods reels and baits. I.M. and I have fished a few tournaments in Texas with some limited success. Our best finish was 20th in a 200 boat tournament, ahead of all 3 pro teams who entered. We used to fish one of the local "working man" tourneys but figured out it was semi-rigged and dropped out. I don't want to present myself as a pro or very experienced angler; I still have a lot to learn. I like Toledo Bend, Rayburn, Ray Roberts, and lakes in North and East Texas. I'd like to pair up with someone who (1) Doesn't have their own boat; (2) is willing to pre fish; and (3) wants to enter some of the TB, Rayburn, or other tournaments. I'd like to spend this year prefishing or "shadowing" tournaments, fishing the same times but not actually entering, then if things go well enter some next season. This person would live in the DFW area or nearby. If anyone is interested PM me.

Would be great if it would run on my smartphone (I have a Droid).

I assumed he was referring to Humminbird specifically based on the name of the thread. Interesting that they'd make a DI that isn't also SI. Wonder what the rational for that is? Easier to mount? Less expensive?

I thought DI was a function of a SI unit? Didn't think 'bird made a unit that had DI that didn't also have SI.

I may not be fully understanding you: Are you saying your SI isn't effective in shallow water? Mine works out to the side pretty well on low frequency (455 Khz as I recall); on the higher 800 Khz frequency it's not as effective in shallow water. Here's one I shot in 3 feet of water at 455 Khz:

I had decided when I went out to restrict myself to jigs mainly. I could have tried a chrome rattletrap dropped under the bait fish, then pulled through them, or a spinner. Or even a spoon; any of those may have worked better than the jig. The jig didn't work in that area, though. I should also mention, that particular lake has had a hard year. Due to drought it is down four feet and a record hot summer produced several fish kills. Then there's the intense fishing pressure of an urban lake in the South; in the spring the banks are lined and a couple hundred bass boats run all up and down it. There were ten or twelve other boats fishing the same general area; as far as I could tell nobody caught anything. Given all that I was satisfied catching anything.

Not meaning to insult anyone; I think this is an awesome forum - but at some point forums, magazines, DVDs, whatever, break down and you have to get out with somebody who knows how to do it and can show you. In my case I plan to book another couple of trips with a guide I know. My buddy and I went out with him summer before last; I can't tell you how much I learned just watching that guy! Also helps to have face to face critique. I've been fishing for many years; Marc (the guide) immediately spotted one little thing I was doing incorrectly (working lures too fast). That one tip alone was worth the price of the trip. So get a guide, go out, let him show you. Best way to learn!

Thanks, Imore. I've used sonar for many years, but until I got my SV last Spring I found them to be of limited use. The SV is awesome! One clarification I should have made: I cast around the baitfish in the shot but came up blank. The one fish I caught came from about 100 feet away, where neither baitfish nor fish were showing up. Go figure. There were about 10 other boats in the area; as far as I coould tell I was the only one who caught anything. I'm considering sutting the brush guards off or way down on some of my jigs.

Just a guess but did you perhaps had to put in more time studying to get your MD than is required to optain a fishing license?

Big-O, I have a question about Rage Tail baits; hopefully it's oko to post here. I bought two packs Friday, craws and shad. I used one of the craws as a jig trailer; they also look like they'd be excellent carolina rig baits. Anyway, my question is about the scent. I usually add a little bit of spike-it to the tail of ring worms (Grande Bass) but since the RT is already coffee scented I didn't add more scent to it. After the first use would it be beneficial to add scent? Or is there some other way to maintain the coffee scent? The craws have super action; I managed to catch a 2 pounder on the jig. Thanks in advance for any tips you can offer.