gulfcaptain

Every reel I own now has braid and I either fish a FC topshot or Mono depending on what I'm doing and using. As far as loosing more fish on braid.....that would be due to "user error". If you don't have the stretch in braid, you have to back off your drag and look into fishing slightly softer rods as so the hooks don't pull. Have to have a bit of "shock absorbsion" between you and the fish. If it isn't the stretch of mono, then you must reduce the drag as well as possibly using a softer rod. Great thing about baitcasters, increasing the drag is as simple as some thumb pressure on the spool. The softer drag wil help eliminate pulling fish off the hook if it's set right.

So who's up to buying a new deep cycle battery and leaving it on the concrete during the winter and see if it's good next spring? Then we can get to this mystery and see if it's true.

I like the layout of the 175txw and option but considering I would want to fish in saltwater to this isn't an option for me as I have two younger boys to look out for too. But looks solid. Can also look on Craigs List, may find some used boats for half of what you're wanting to spend and get more boat as well.

That water temp, I would probably pass on the lilies and look or deeper water and structure. You may find a fish in there if you have a few days in the 70's with lots of sun since the lilies will absorb some of the heat and the fish can pull up under them in the afternoon, but the bass are probably gonna be looking for the warmest water they can find and odds are its deeper then the lilies are growing.

Well I know if I store the batteries on the vessel I work on on the Aluminum deckplates they seem to loose their charge. Same go's for the concrete. If you store them on the concrete they seem to loose their charge and the cells go dead. Don't know why, been told by mechanic's that if you store them on concrete you will kill the battery. I have no reason to argue or ruin a perfectly good battery to find out if they were lying to me or not. Much easier to play it safe and stick a piece of plywood or some 2x4's under it.

#1 what was the water temp? #2 What was the water depth of the lily pads?

Keep them off concrete, store them on a board. The boat I work on we have to keep extra batteries for emergency reasons(bad to loose 24v offshore 100+miles ). Have them stored in a wooden create/pallet and put them on a trickle charge once a week for 2hrs. Keeps the extra battery charged and ready if needed. If you store them on the concrete without a piece of wood or the battery box, you may be buying a new battery next spring.

you are going to want atleast a 7'6" for sure. I use a BPS Crankin Stick MH for mine. It has a soft enough tip to keep the fish from pulling the hook but yet has enough backbone to turn bigger fish and make long enough casts. Have it matched with a carbonlite 5.4:1 reel since I like using the bladed rigs and makes fishing them easier with the lower gears when you throw them all day. When I decide to fish them and "hop" them off the bottom I go to an older 7'6" BPS Bionic Blade MH which lets me get hook sets on fish when they hit it on the drop. To be honest, it took me about 4mo of constant fishing to get a good idea of what I can do with them around where I live and what works and doesn't. It works better in some places then others.

Have to agree with the above post, you have to make sure you like the feel of the rod and balance. If you have the reel you're going to use, I would suggest taking that with you when you go rod shopping and put it on different rods to see how it's going to feel. Once you know what feels good to you then the rest is simple. That price range it's hard to go wrong. I'd stay between 7' and 7'3"MH fast action.

If you had caught it's cousin from Asia, the Golden Arowana, they are pretty pricey and highly valued in the far east culture and are considered to be good luck and bring prosperity.

First off, what size rig are you looking to throw? The smaller casting rigs (flash mob jr size 5 1/2" arms) or the larger full sized rigs? The smaller rigs I fish on a 7'6"MH crankbait rod and basiclly fish it like a large spinnerbait with a 5.4:1 reel and 30lb pp with 20lb mono topshot. 3-4" swing impacts on 1/8oz lead heads. If you're looking at the bigger rigs, I would suggest something that can handle up to 2oz with a moderate fast action and probably 40-50lb pp and 25lb mono topshot.

That is a silver arowana. Probably an aquarium pet released because it was getting too big. And they are topwater feeders and visual predators. Use their good eyesight to launch out of the water and eat insects and small animals that live in the branches above the water in the Amazon.....cool catch.

I got a whole bag of ones he cleaned off his bench that had flaws. His flawed jigs look better then some I've bought from BPS and Gander Moutain. I thought about triming some of the weed (brush) guard, but after reading this think I'm going to leave them as is.

That's not really a finesse jig. When I think finesse jig, I'm thinking smaller jig, hook size in the 2/0 range and 1/4 to 3/8oz. Small and compact. Guess to me it's more of a scaled down jig. What are you throwing the jigs on, FC, Mono, Braid? What pound test? I would probably fish the smaller jigs on 20-30lb braid staight, but if needed 15lb FC topshot. You could also go with one of the SK structure swing heads and rig a creature/craw behind it. Give you a weedless option as well as a bait you can drag and keep bottom contact with.

Do your deckwork construction first and secure it. Once you get all that done then you can do the protech matting and carpet.

Kietech makes some smaller jigs that you could throw into the thick stuff if it's a smaller jig you're looking for. Little more money since they are tungsten, but they are nice and might be what you're looking for.

Had a friend that worked as a car salesman, here was the advice he gave me. #1 Never buy new. #2 You find a used car you like, look it up on KBB and see what the trade in value is.....this is what the dealership has into the car at the most. You can see how much the mark up is on it from that point. #3 NEVER tell them what you plan on putting down or say you're going to pay in cash, they will use that info against you. Only tell them after you have gotten the price where you like it. #4 If you don't like the price or the deal, get up and walk away. They will call you back and tell you they "talked" to the powers that be and are able to do the deal you want although they didn't do anything. And most times when they walk into their manager's office, it's to BS and done for show. This way you think they are doing something for you even though they aren't. The first car I bought after this advice it ended up being totaled by someone who fell asleep at the wheel as it was parked outside. After the loan was paid off, still got an additional $500 on top of it for the value of the car above the loan amount. I would have gone back, had the contract re-written as well and had them wire the other company the $7400 to insure the loan was paid off and ask for conformation.

Having done lot's of wooden boat repair work (S Cal charterboat for 10+ years), if you're going to seal the wood, look into West Marine's 2 part marine epoxy. You don't want to drill holes the same size as the screw, just a small hole so the plywood doesn't crack apart when the screw gos in. If you read the first one, you want to seal the wood after attaching it to the framing. Since there is a posiblilty of it being damp below, use a wood sealent on the bottom part then resin and cloth all joints and yes the screw's you used to attach the deck. Let the deck cure inside and after it's sealed and solid then carpet. ANY screw's put into the deck after you have attached it to the framing, make sure you use 4200 on the screws to keep out the moisture and seal up the hole. I would use a good adhesive glue to attach your carpeting to the deck. Hinges after the deck following the 4200 guideline of sealing the screws use in attaching th hinges. The SS self taping screws will wok great to go into the framing, but do countersink the plywood. And if you want you could put the 4200 between the new deck and framing to make sure your deck is secured and won't pull up(now you have the screws and 4200 holding the deck to the frame). You can probably find everything you need at West Marine for the epoxy resin's and adhesives. Make sure the glue you use is for outdoor carpeting.

I would bond them together before installing them. Look around, think you can find most of this at Home Depot, or Grainger. Not sure where you're located at, but there is West Marine, as well as Donavan. 5200 comes in a slow cure as well as fast cure. Depending on how quickly you're working on this project. Are you screwing straight into the previous holes? If so if you can find that size screw in SS that will work the best, if not be careful if you go up a size. Screw into the framing BEFORE you attach the deck and back them back out. This way if you happen to snap one of the screws off, you can use vice grips to remove the broken screw. Once it's tapped then by all means go for it. Apply the 4200 into the deck screw hole prior to inserting the screw. This way you get good adhesion to both the deck as well as the frame with with the 4200. Hope this gives you some ideas where to look and help moving forward on your project.

Well if you still have the screws they used I would put them back in with them. If not, I would go with Stainless Steel screws (don't rust) as well as using a bit of 3M's 4200 to keep them secure (if need be the 4200 will let you pull the screws back out in the future if needed. If you use 5200 you might as well cut the aluminum out because they aren't going to come out). Use counter sink holes to attach the deck. Put a bit of wood putty over the screw heads and then use the epoxy and fiberglass cloth to cover seems and screw holes. If you are putting 2 pieces of plywood together, then I would use 3M 5200 fast cure between the two pieces to give them a solid bond. But make sure you don't get any on your scews you're using to attach to the framing.

I would agree, I'd want a warming trend, then fish it in the afternoon on that bright sunny day when the fish have moved up to sun themselves and are a bit more active. But the conditions you listed there probably was better options for sure to catch fish on then the buzzbait.

or "boy it's gonna take a long time to teach her to go get my toys for me."

I would fish the Carbonlite if you can find them on sale for the $99 price. And if you can find the Quantum Kinetic on sale somewhere for $100 I would go with one of those as well. Have 2 of them and they are great work horses as well as the Carbonlites. And both reels come in under 8oz (5.9 carbonlite and 7.5 kinetic). Also can look at the Pinnacle Producer LTE. The reviews on here all seem to be very positive and they are right at $90 and come in at 5.75oz.

I use the 5" Yum Dingers (cut off a small piece of the tail to insert the centerpin) since they are a little more durable as well as an 1/8-3/16 oz tungsten worm weight pegged rigged weedless and seems to work well especially in scattered weeds and use a #3 willow. Think the most expensive part of the rig is the owner twistlock center pins. The swivels, blades, split rings are pretty cheap though. Works really well though with either the senko or dinger.

What are you connecting it to first of all. Ned a bit more info to give you a good answer. Are you rebuilding the entire deck and supports from the hull up or just reduing the deck?