Scott F

Mount the side imaging transducer to the transom now and if you get an outboard, you won’t have to remount it. 14 ft boats are never going to be the most stable platform especially with added casting decks. You might consider just adding a floor to the front, ahead of the seat but not as high as the bench. Easier and cheaper to start. See how that works first. You can always add the bigger casting deck later and you won’t be out a lot of money if you don’t like it. I can see that this 14 footer is not going to be your boat of the future. Don’t spend a lot of time and money on a boat you won’t be keeping very long. Use your time to be out fishing, not working on projects.

My new Minn Kota Precision charger operator manual says "Minn Kota has not worked directly with any Lithium battery suppliers to determine if our chargers are compatible with their batteries. Most of the Lithium Battery manufactures post required charge stage information on their web sites."

I can see from your post you don't fish for smallmouth. I'm not sure how the fish would know how stiff your fishing rod is or how your drag is set. A jumping bass is trying to shake the hook that is in his mouth. If he wants to jump to get rid of it, you can't stop him unless he is very close to the boat and there isn't much line out. I had someone else here say you could keep a bass from jumping but with a smallmouth caught in a shallow stream or river at a long distance, they often don't have any other place to go but up. If you can keep the line tight even in the jump, they may not be able to shake the lure loose. If they throw your bait, smile, and go back and catch another one.

I've been using a foot controlled trolling motor for 30 years and I've never had a pedal secured to the floor. I like to be able to position them depending on what direction I'm facing. I find it awkward to fish being restricted into one position. With my electric steer, I can operate it from anywhere on the boat. Handy if I put someone else up front who isn't comfortable operating the trolling motor so I can do it from the back if I want.

Bass will eat anything that looks like food. Doesn't matter if they've ever seen one before. As has been said here many times in the past, one of the most productive lures of all time is the worm and worms are not commonly found in lakes.

I have a bad back and standing for more than a few minutes becomes uncomfortable. I sit and use my foot pedal most of the time. I don't like the stupidly tall foot pedals that come with cable steer trolling motors so I use a Minn Kota Terrova that has a very low profile pedal that is more comfortable to use while standing or sitting.

I tried tying and throwing big flies like this for big pike up in Canada. Even using heavy duty 10-11 weight rods, those are very difficult to throw. Once they land, they pick up a lot of water and they are very wind resistant. It can be like trying to throw a kite.

The only thing about the clip, or a snap, is that when you snag your jig and curly tail, you will lose the clip as well as the jig and plastic when you have to break it off.

Pliers work well but I always have to search for them on the floor of the boat when I need them. I use locking hemostats, Dr. Slick scissor clamps to be exact. I clamp them to my shirt after use and they are always right where I need them.

I seldom use my depth finder as a fish finder. As others have said, I use it for the thermometer, depth and to show me weeds or rocks. Mapping has been very important to me since I got a unit that has accurate maps. The older maps that did not have good information, were not very useful. If I only fished the same small lake over and over, a small unit that did not have advanced features would suit me just fine.

Boat, trailer and motor are all new. Batteries are one year old, and the charger and TM are all less than 3 years old. There was a $200 Fluke multi-meter sitting on my work bench that is normally in the tool box I bring on most trips. I figured, why bring a bunch of tools that will just sit in the truck? Murphy bit me in the rear end. I’m usually the most prepared person on earth but I screwed up.

The problem was, I did not have a volt meter with me to help diagnose what the problem was. I did have a separate 3 amp charger with me but had no idea if one or both batteries were low or if one or both banks on my charger was bad. The issue was grass that was chopped up and loose flowing downstream. That’s one reason we used topwaters where we could hold the line out of the water. Line laying on top or in the water column would catch the loose grass.

Pressured fish is one of the reasons I often travel long distances to fish. If I catch a bunch of fish in an area, and I go back and fish the same spots again soon after, I never catch as many as I did earlier. Every time I go back in the next few days, I get less than the time before. So I often fish lakes and rivers that see very little angling pressure from bass fishermen. I’ve been on lakes where by 9 am, 5 boats have already hit the same places I intend to fish. I seldom do well in situations like that. I’m lucky I have the ability to choose places that give me the opportunity to fish for fish that haven’t seen a lot of lures or have been caught recently.

This has happened to me a few times. Where I live, they release some rainbow trout in the spring for some put-and-take fishing. I get to an open spot on the bank next to 2 couples who have apparently been there for a while. They tell me they haven’t caught a thing yet. These hatchery raised trout have a habit of swimming in a big school and circle the small lake. You can tell where they are because you can see where people are catching them. As I set up, I can see they are half way around the lake. That gives me time to bait up. I was using Berkley Trout Power bait which always gets them. A little ball on a hook below a float is all you need. When I see the school getting close, I toss out the bait and within a minute, I have my first one on. The people next to me were amazed. They again got nothing. By the time I got the fish in and unhooked, the school had passed. I didn’t even put my line back in the water as I knew it would be a few minutes before I’d get another bite. I again see the school coming, toss out the bait and within seconds, I had the second fish on. Now these people think I’m some sort of magician. I give them a big hunk of Power Bait and the next time around, we all get bit. I don’t want the fish I caught so I give them the ones I got and the rest of the jar of trout bait and head home.

It doesn't matter. Any size you have lying around will work. Heavier line will require a smaller amount than thinner line.

No, this line was Power Pro Superslick 8 that was brown to start but has lost most of its color, as braid does, and is now very pale. I fish for smallmouth most of time, always in very rocky, lakes, rivers and streams and don’t have problems with abrasions. My lures will get snagged in the rocks, but I seldom find that my line gets dragged over rocks where it will get damaged.

I HATE when that happens.

I use nothing but 10 lb braid with no leader on all my spinning gear. I’m not using broomsticks for rods and I don’t own a moderate action rods either. Shock absorption has NEVER been an issue. Not with crankbaits, plastics or any other lures. I don’t rip hooks from a fishes mouth either. Today, I fished super clear water with line that was nearly white and very visible. None of the 20 plus smallies I caught seemed to care if my line was visable or not.

On Monday, I got a call from a friend of mine Pete, who knew I wanted to try out my new boat on the Menominee river, and suggested we take a trip. Tuesday morning Pete showed up at my house and we took off. We wanted to let city traffic die down a bit before we left, so we hit the road about 9 for what was supposed to be a 4.5 hour drive. Constant road construction, detours, and trouble finding a restaurant, turned that into a 6.75 hour drive. After finally arriving, I think we boated about 27 smallies in 4 hours with an average size of 15-16 inches. Only 2 were under 14 and the biggest was 18. The only bait that really worked was a #90 Whopper Plopper. The amount of floating grass got to be pretty annoying, but the amount of action and the great average size of the bass, made picking off pieces of grass tolerable. We might have got more on plastics, but with the top water baits working so well, why change? On the morning of day 2, we got out early and at 6:30 I was preparing my boat to launch. Pete, eager to get started, made a cast standing on the boat ramp. His first cast nailed a 19 inch smallmouth, while I was still messing with the boat. That was to be one of the few highlights of the day. We'd gotten back to the hotel kind of late the night before and I'd hooked up my battery charger but apparently the charger did not get my trolling motor batteries fully charged by the next morning. We started with the batteries about half way charged and they didn't last the morning. Running the jet on plane while motoring upstream, I could avoid the shallowest water. Drifting back downstream, trying to dodge the rocks is more of a challenge and a strong trolling motor makes it easier to zig-zag around the rocks. If you aren't paying attention, winding up stuck on a rock is a very real possibility. Without a good motor, avoiding the rocks wasn't possible. Avoiding those shallowest areas kept us from the best fishing water and our results showed. For the rest of the day, Pete only had two more bass, although one went 19.5". I had 7 for the day with 6 of the 7 between 16-17 inches. We were pretty tired and storms were on the way so we were done by 5. Got up on Thursday morning and checked the trolling motor which showed no battery power. with no trolling motor, we decided to call it a trip. After I got home, I tested the batteries. One showed full power and one was dead. I tested the charger, and one of the two banks was not working. The bad charger pretty much wrecked what promised to be a great trip. I'm glad I found out about this now and not in a few weeks when I am returning for a full week fishing trip. Needing a new charger, I did some research of previous BR forum topics on on-board chargers. It looked like it was between the Dual Pro or Minn Kota chargers. The space that I have in my boat ruled out the Dual Pro so I went with the Minn Kota Precision. It should be here in a couple of days. It's been a while since I have been able to get on my favorite river and tie into these powerful river bronzebacks. Getting to these fish is a challenge and negotiating shallow, rocky rivers increases the difficulty, but the fight, and heart stopping jumps put up by these bass is the big reward. Me with one of the average smallies Pete with a late afternoon bass Pete's 19 inch fish caught off the boat ramp on his first cast of the day. Pete's second 19 incher of the day

I seldom bring a lot of tackle with me and often use a Plano 3600 style box that has dividers that allow me to store spinner baits. Here is a box that I had with me yesterday.

Really? It didn't happen with me. After I moved out, I was able to eat what I wanted with nobody trying to force me to eat what I didn't want. I was a picky eater as a child, not as picky as some of the kids posted above, but 50 years later, I still won't eat the same things I wouldn't eat when I was a kid.

There are very few people who make a living by fishing. There are the professional touring pros. That’s a tough road to get to the point where you could support a family doing it. And, if you don’t catch enough, you actually lose money. Catching fish in front of a camera is one way to do it. There are a few guys who get on TV and are paid to catch fish. Guides are not really paid to fish. They get paid by helping other people catch fish while they sit and watch. People in the fishing industry don’t get paid to fish. They get their money selling or making fishing tackle. Some people get paid to stand in front of other people and talk about fishing. But again, they aren’t getting paid to fish, they get paid to talk. Fishing for a hobby is fun. A lot of the fun, for me anyway, was doing something entertaining while I wasn’t working to pay my bills. If you work to get paid for fishing, you’ll have to find a different hobby.

Fishing topwaters around pike is the craziest thing you'll ever see. Small pike can be really bad at hitting them. I've seen them miss the bait by so much, they miss the leader and cut the line while they jump clear out of the water and do a cartwheel in midair. Those small pike will do all the damage to you and your gear. They are the ones that will cut your line. Have jaw spreaders and long handle pliers. Keep your fingers away from their teeth. Always use your pliers to get hooks out. Carry lots of band aids if you would prefer not to use pliers.

14 -50lb mono/FC/hybrid lines will not hold up to a pikes teeth. If you have to use a mono or FC, you better upsize to 80lb minimum. I prefer “old fashioned” steel leaders. Much thinner and more reliable, as long as the hardware is of good quality. Cheap snaps won’t up any better than mono line will.

I was talking about the internal connection on the battery. If there was a problem with the TM, it probably would have melted wires/connections inside the TM.