Ken Browning

All of these fish in the same waters? I want to move there!!!!

I like it.........nice!!

Welcome......what part of NC do you live? I live in Western NC.

I purchased my first boat last fall. I bought a 91 Pro16 Bass Tracker because like you, I always wanted a Bass Tracker. I didn't really know why I wanted a Bass tracker per se, but now that you mentioned it, I use to watch Bill Dance every chance I got. He was the only pro I was really familiar with. At any rate, There were things that I had to consider when purchasing a boat. It had to be light weight as I have to pull it with a 97 Ford Ranger with a four cylinder. I also wanted something reasonably priced and gas efficient. My Tracker meets all requirements. I couldn't be happier. My boat was owned by a guy who took good care of the boat and kept all maintenance records and kept it in a garage when not in use. My tracker has a 25 hp motor and while I'm not going to win any hole shots, it does move two people down the lake at about 21 mph. I can run it all over the lake all day long on 3 gallons of gas. My expenses are minimal with respect to my boat. I have to mix my oil and I will only run ethanol free gasoline which is about 40 cents more per gallon. The biggest expenses I have is all the gear and tackle I've "had" to purchase since purchasing my boat!. One more note......I've caught more fish than ever before since I have my own boat.......and I hooked and fought (but lost) the biggest fish I have ever hooked into last weekend. I really like my Bass Tracker.

I agree....Hang in there. My first three trips out this year were met with absolutely not so much as a hit. Big goose eggs. Then yesterday, I laid them out on a lake I had never fished. I finally found something they would hit. Funny thing is, they probably wouldn't hit that same lure today. Try not to get to discouraged. They'll come around eventually.

Thanks. I guess I should have known that but I wasn't sure.

I'm left handed and prefer a RH retrieve. My rod stays in my left hand. Cast left, retrieve right. Is that a LH or a RH Bait casting reel?

I was told that it was better to put to much in than not enough........of course, that means that its a little more than what is required. I just read on a bottle of Stable that to much of that won't hurt anything either.

Went to Lake Hiwassee near Murphy NC yesterday. Temps in the low 80's and water temps between 55 and 60. I caught 1 very small Small Mouth and my wife caught 1 1lb. Largemouth. I'm a little disappointed. With the temps like they were, I feel we should have laid them out. That was my first time on Hiwassee. I have a heck of a learning curve.

I release pretty much everything I catch. while I'm aware that there are some lakes with those types of warnings, by and large, most lakes in NC would supply safe fish for the table. I know that Crappie are good to eat and a few of my friends encourage me to keep spots when caught although I haven't caught any yet. Some salt and pepper cat fish sure sounds good!!

Thanks for the correction on the Veritas rod warranty. I'll pass that on. I fished with one of his Veritas rods and really liked it but when he told me there was not warranty, I decided not to buy one. I really like the Abu Garcia gear that I've purchased and used so far. Good stuff in my opinion. I plan on adding another silver max combo to my arsenal.

I've purchased the Silver Max combo which comes with a Vengeance rod and never had any problems what so ever. In fact, I liked it well enough to buy another one. As far as saving up for a better rod and reel, I think that's good advice but you're not going to avoid rod breakage at any price. I have a friend who had a Carrot stick break on him and another friend of mine had a Varatas (excuse my spelling please) break on him. I don't think either had any kind of warranty replacement.

you can mount it to your trolling motor. You'll need to buy the mounting gear (I just bought an Elete 4 and it didn't come with the trolling motor mounting). Pretty easy to do. Get some wire ties also......you'll see where you'll need them when you follow the mounting instructions. The only question I have now is "How do two transducers perform mounted next to each other?"

Abu Garcia Silver Max

Very pretty fish. Been out three times this year and came back with goose eggs all three times. I have yet to learn how to fish in cold water, cold weather or stiff wind. I do like to fish wacky with a green pumpkin stick bait. Tight lines!

I was there also but I left just about the time the presentations began. The crowd was just to much for me. My first time to a BPS. It was a really neat place. I liked the big fish tank.