martintheduck

I assume you mean for a kayak? Why do you want a cooler instead of a crate to hold gear? I use a 70qt cooler only when I'm saltwater fishing, bream, or perch.... I use put it in the front of my NuCanoe and keep my crate with all my gear in the rear.

Finally, someone who gets me!

I'm a habitual "lure changer" of sorts. I'll find an enticing spot, cover it with one setup, then cover it with another setup etc... Once I lose my confidence that a spot is indeed holding fish and those fish will bite (without dropshotting them to death) I'll move and try all over again.

Try some jj's? I've heard, too, of throwing soft plastic's in a ziplock with minced garlic (although I've never tried it). Call me crazy, but I'll drag a c-rig through grass on medium braid with a 3 ft. 10/12 lb fluro leader with a 2/0 or 3/0 worm hook.... I've really gotten big on these Roboworms here recently - every time I've used one, bass give it a full hit and hold that sucker. Well moral of my story is: I've had good luck with following flukes with c-rig worms "swimming" through that grass.

Tossed a frog over a tree limb and just as it hit the water, a 2 lb'er gulped it. I set the hook over the limb and reeled him into mid air COVERED in hydrilla. Wind was blowing 20ish that day and it was a pain to get the boat up on him without smashing every tree around. Really was thinking "uhhh. what just happened?"

White or black (depending on cloud cover) Stanley Floating Ribbits. Best conditions have been stale air, warming temperatures, and sunshine for a couple of days, thrown in the afternoon sometime after 3 o'clock. As of now, the topwater/frog bite has turned COMPLETELY OFF for me.

Abu Gracia Black Max is a great reel, as many have said. I still use mine along side some $200+ reels. Also HIGHLY recommend Quantum Code. As far as rods, my 2 cents is that it isn't important at the start. I had a piece of junk rod with a Black Max reel and it did me just fine to learn on. I only started buying nicer rods and reels when I began expanding my arsenal for technique specific applications. I learned flukes, frogs, c-rig, cranks, spinners, jigs, etc... all on one rod.

Too bad y'all live 20+ hour drive from me

So essentially, as far as handling and ride of an aluminum boat, Xpress is the best option...? I've got two options lined up, one being am 01' 17.5 Express w/ 90 Mercury in d**n good shape for $7000 (could probably get him to 65), and the other an 07' Tracker 175 w/ a 50 merc for $6500 (in mint shape).

Call me ignorant, but is there really that big of a difference in the hull's of a tracker-vs-xpress-vs-triton? Does the xpress handle that chop pretty well? I would love to be able to try out these various boats, but I just don't feel comfortable asking for multiple test runs in all these boats (with the idea of "let me see how this one rides -vs- that one").

Thank you. You size weights are you using on rocky bottoms and brush? Throwing lead or what?

Appreciate it fellas! Riding in 1-2' "swells" in this 94' Tracker is probably and identical ride to the early-mid 2000's model aluminum boats. I'll just bank on that for now

I just went through the headache of shopping for a solid all around rod - night fishing as copilot on a smaller boat and not really wanting to deal with a bunch of rods on the deck. I finally decided: "Okay, okay, okay, I'll spluge a little more than I really want to." I pulled the trigger on a 7'2 MH x-fast Cumara. FANTASTIC rod... I mean FRIGGIN' FANTASTIC. From what I was told, you won't find one rod that does everything, yet I'll say this rod has handled everything I've used it for just fine. Bulk of the time I fish jigs, worms, c-rig, flukes, swimbaits, and poppers. It handles spinner's and all the shallow crankbaits I've put on. Granted, some situations the rod strength and taper aren't ideal (which is where I believe this "one rod won't do it all" business comes from.) Having said that, I also fish a 7'2 MH fast Crucial. IMO, they are really similar, but the Cumara is noticeably lighter and more sensitive. Something I really like about them, too, is how they have a large opening under the reel so I can get 3 fingers on the blank, making it WAY more comfortable to palm all day. Anyhow, I'll swear by my Cumara and Crucial... Cumara being $250ish and Crucial being $150ish.

Being in the market for a used boat, I've come across a couple 17.5-18ft aluminum boats running a 90 hp outboard (one being an express the other a triton). My question, what kind of ride would I be experiencing pushing into 40 mph? I guess what I mean is, how will these aluminum boats handle some sporty waters when going that quick? Thank y'all ahead of time!

Wow...this looks awesome. Will be trying this soon.

Definitely re-assess your gear. Before a trip, decide what you NEED-vs-WANT. I always change my bags based on what I'm fishing. On one lake here, bright cranks baits and and bright soft's just don't catch fish, so I leave them at home. Craw-type lures don't do well on another lake, so I leave them at home. etc etc etc.... I've got it down to one bag filled with: one large plano for hard plastics and jig's, one small plano for hooks, one small for c-rigging/drop-shot/weights, and a binder-bag for soft-plastics. Have some tools in other compartments, spare line, emergency rain poncho, and a flashlight. I carry 3-5 rods too, a cpl water bottles, and some snacks.

psssh.... they were with the garbage....

$10!!! what a rip off!

As someone who is still waiting for the right used boat to come up for sale, I'm trying to get all my knowledge in order. So this leads to: What's the deal with winterizing your boat? Is it a MUST or just recommended? I know it entails stabalizing gas, fogging the engine.... blah blah and thats about all.

Nice. Would you mind me asking, how much did you pay and what are the specs on it? (motor size, what all it came with). I'm currently looking for my right boat to pull the trigger on.

Milk crate is to hold planos and other random crap (bags of soft plastics mostly in my case). Attached a pvc rod holder to it as well, so I have a nice place to hold 3 rods (doesn't work too well when fishing trees though). I use a rubber bungee to strap it down to my yak. My yak has some little plastic loops to attach it to. No one here would just up and give me one... believe me... i asked. I ended seeing some by the dumpster of mini-mart and grabbed one.

So I'm sure I'm not the only one who has heard it time and time again... Costa's are the best glasses. Well, I use a pair of $30 Crossfire Infinity's and they have done me well for awhile. Eventually, I'd like to spluge on a pair of Costa's, but dangit they have so many options I don't know where to begin! What's just a good all around pair of Costa's?

Just did it in a 1994 Mercury 60.

Changing impeller is easy. After doing this a few weeks ago with a buddy of mine, we found out a key piece of information.... When pulling the lower unit off, the motor should be in gear because if you pull off unit when in neutral, it's spring loaded and will pop into gear and blah blah blah something to that effect. Moral is, changing impeller was simple.

I've always used Shimano for spinning gear and AG for baitcast gear. I've never had problems with either, so I stick to it. Plus, I hear horrible things about shimano downgrading the quality of their baitcasters.