gulfcaptain

Time is money and no pre-fishing to locate areas. So with that said, if I didn't know a lake and needed to cover water I wouldn't fish the Ned Rig due to the amount of time it takes to fish it. I'm looking for active fish and need to cover water. Now if you found them schooled up and wanting to bite then yes they could throw that bait. But it's not a good search bait.

What prop are you running now? What are your rpms on plane, top speed with the set up you have? Have to know what you're already working with to give you a suggestion.

Kietech's 3.5 Swing Impacts and the 4" Live Impact are both great dropshot baits. Use a #2 hook most of the time but have dropped down to a 4 before if needed.

The amount of mono you're using isn't going to affect the sensitivity honestly. There isn't much stretch in a 6-8ft piece of mono. A little but not a huge difference like if you were using it as a main line and had a 30-40yard cast. Then you're going to loose sinsitivity since you have stretch. Short leaders you shouldn't have any issues and I use the swiveled dropshot hooks as well just to help keep the bait straight out and can attach different sinker depths if needed with a smaller size line as so if i'm hung up I can break off the weight and not loose the hook. If it's really clear water, then there is the only reason I'd really stay with FC over mono.

Are you just pulling it out to clean it or replacing it? Try the end of a small paintbrush handle that's plastic or wood. Then you won't have the metal to metal you were worried about with the paperclip.

Congrats on your new boat. Congrats on your new boat.

You can link both Elite 5's together, but like mentioned you won't have any picture on that console unit unless you're using the trolling motor if you want to use the same transducer otherwise you can hook up another Elite 5 and have it run off a stern transducer and then he can see what's under him.

South of I-10....lol

First off, welcome to the forums. Next, take the time and read some of the advice given in other topics on here of members buying or looking to buy their first boat. As for your post, look over the boat, the trailer, and the motor. Ask for maint. records, how many hrs, when was the last time it was in, where was it serviced, can I contact them to see the history of the motor? Boat, ask to test drive the boat. If the seller won't let you test it, find another boat to look at and walk away. If they do, then run it, move around in it. See how stable it is. What extras? Is the trailer single or tandem? Look at the deck hardware and lockers. As you can see there are a lot of things to look at. If possible take somene that is familiar with boats with you to look it over as well and see what he says. You may be excited to purchase the boat and have blinders on and not see something.

If you're making it removable, take the extra time to glass the wood from below. Your sealer is a start. But you are going to end up doing it often. Use a good resin and seal it. Tape the seams. Make it a solid deck and the work you put into it will last a lot longer and won't have to worry about it. You waterproof sealer will wear off and if there are any spots in the wood you missed (like between the joints) the water will find its way in. Wrap fiberglass tape around the ends of the plywood (use thin tap) and then sand smooth. This will insure your hard work lasts. And screw hardware for your hatches, use 3M's 4200 adhesive. Use stainless hardware or brass if you can as well instead of galvanized.

Yes I know....and they refer to themselves as well coon-blanks(rhymes with bass) as well. Good people though.

Did you buy that new or used?

Doesn't everyone who lives in Louisiana live on the water?....lol Working down there, I've even heard there's a School Boat!!! Now that's living on the water. I think you just have that cajun intuition going on from living on the bayou for so long....lol Just busting your chops,

Are you talking about your trolling motor batteries? Your dual charger is there to charge your batteries when you're done fishing. You may have an alternator on your outboard that may help keep the charge on your cranking battery, but that charger is a plug and charge when you're at home prior or after, not out on the water.

I like your idea, but you should have used a marine grade plywood, used fiberglass resin as well as some cloth to seal the wood and all joints. You used treated wood which is good, but you need to do something to protect the plywood casting deck otherwise your hard work is going to warp and delaminate under that carpet as well as mildew and rot from the inside since it's aluminum and a big cavity underneath. Just observations from working in the marine industry and doing a bit of reconstruction on wood/fiberglass boats. Overall, not bad. Not sure about treated lumber(2x4's), we just used regular wood but always marine grade plywood and always sealed the seams with a marine adhesive (4200 on screws and 5200 on seams) and then glassed over to prevent water from getting to the wood. Also may have mocked up your deck and then taken it to the lake and seen how it balanced incase you have too much weight up top causing it to be tippy. Remember these are just observations and not knocking your work.

I can understand your thinking, but if you're fishing shallower water (less then 10ft) using a trolling motor that has spot lock or something similar will eat up your battery. If you're fishing really shallow (less then 5ft) then you're turning up the area you're trying to be stealthy in. If you're fishing on a windy bank or in current, well your motor is going to work its butt off trying and you're going to call it a day early since you won't have any battery left. I've fished where we have 4 knots of current.....trolling motor isn't gonna cut it in that situation.

As for some on here, I fish a lot of the Falcon Bucco's. Have 9 of them. No issues with any of them and at that price you're getting a great deal on a rod. As for the Micro's, all 9 are micros and zero issues. Been fishing some of these rods going on 4 years without any issue except the little rubber ring on the back of the foam grip. But the rods are quality, some just don't like how small the guides are on them. I'm not one of them.

I went all Lowrance on mine. Bought my boat used, added a Lowrance 7" Elite/Chirp/Gps on front with trolling motor transducer, have a 7"HDS Gen 2 next to the console with a 5" HDS GPS only unit in the dash (free of charge from dealer). All three linked with a Lowarnce 1-GPS unit as so my waypoints on all three will be from the same imput. But I went in knowing what I wanted to have for a fishing platform ahead of time as well as the extras such as the 12' Talon. All together my extras added up to almost $3500 installed. I don't have any side/downscan imaging from the console but I can buy the transducer and unit to add later to plug into the HDS 7. But that was in my decision making for a later date (another $750). You can find some nice electronics. Look for something with GPS/Chirp/DSI features to start. If you want sidescan you may be able to find something from Garmin at a resonable price but remember to have 2-3 screens on at the same time is really going to make the pictures small so keep that in mind. As small as I would go would be 7" displays. The 5" I have is just GPS so there isn't any split screen needed there to shrink my display. If you already have a black and white unit and is DSI, then you can eliminate that feature from the other one you put by the console. I'd also recomend taking a boating class (Coast Guard approved) since you're new to boating in this stage.

You can upgrade to a 24v trolling motor which will give you longer days with less power use since you can dial the motor back, but will need a 3 bank battery charger and another battery. Or you can run 2 batteries to give yourself more amps with your current 12v. Fish finders, I would look into atleast a 7" unit, but honestly I would put 2 7" units on the boat of the same manufacture and link them as so you can share waypoints between them. And would make sure you buy a chartplotter/fishfinder. Shallow water anchor I would go with a Talon. It's electronic and requires no hydro's just a wire connected to the cranking battery. May need to get a mounting bracket depending on if it can be attached straight to the stern. Unfortunately these items and upgrades are going to be costly and sometimes it's easier to have the dealer add when purchasing the boat. The order I would do this if I were you would be fishfinders first. And then figure out which you want more, the shallow water anchor or the upgraded trolling motor. Either way, you just bought a boat and now understand that a boat is simply Bust out another thousand.

Sounds like a great place to throw a 10" Triple Trout or Glide Bait with a 18" 40lb singlestrand wire leader or a Savage Gear Line Thru with a bottle of Mend-It on hand for quick repairs.

jerkbaits.......1 fish in 4 years. Yet I still have a half dozen of them in my box.....why???? just incase.

May be able to get a reaction bite at Pyramid just up from Castaic. Offers both green and brown bass as well as the ones with stripes.

Don't be afraid of the 8" Hudd. They choke it and are more apt to eat the 8" then the 6".

You can try it for $25. If not you have a new flipping/pitching rod.

Here is the thing you have to understand about pond bass and trout. The stocking schedule. If you fish a few days after the stock you're too late. Those big fish feed the day of the stock and then sit. Fish 8" Hudd's the week before the stock. So after that stock give it a week and then fish the swimbait. Fish your Hudds up against the bank or just off of it. The bass use the banks to pin the trout and keep them from getting away. Remember most stocked trout down't venture very far from shore and ALL of my swimbait fish from ponds have been within 10 yards of the bank. Watch for followers (both trout and bass). But the biggest tip is the schedule. Either need to fish the day of (within a few hrs after they stocked) or wait a week. Also may try fishing for them in the dark as well since trout are easy picking when the sun goes down as they aren't as active during those hours as big bass can be and a sleeping trout is an easy meal for a big fish.