martintheduck

White rage craws, 4 inch lizards, beavers.

Secret bait? ROBOWORM PITCHIN' CRAW. They discontinued them a few years ago and somehow I dug around the deep internet and found like 40 bags of em'. If you ever find any in the Chartreuse/White pattern, BUY ALL OF THEM

DEEP: For cranking points, humps, and rocks, my go to is Norman DD22. Sexy Shad, White/black splatter back. For dirty water a chartreuse/blue back. If I'm cranking deep trees, tops, or brush I'll go with a Strike King 6xd because the bill is wider and deflects WAY better. Same colors as the norman. MID CRANKS: Pretty much the same setupas deep... Norman Deep Little N for sparse cover and SK 5xd, Series 4 or 5. I've also started throwing Arashi 10's if I need to burn the bait quickly. SHALLOW: Lucky Crafts if you want to pay a premium. Strike King for something more affordable. H20 Xpresses are fine too

Living in Monroe. From New Orleans. The river fishing should be recent post spawn. I'd find lake fishing situations along the river and flipping beavers into 4 fow.

I'd just put a 101lb thrust trolling motor on there and 3 nice batteries.

Well that's a plus. So, no cracks nor leaks in the battery. Check the fuses on your charger? Are the lights on the charger lighting up normally... any strange indicator lights going off? The recommendation for getting a volt meter and checking the charge on each battery is a solid choice, in addition you can check the banks on your charger with the volt meter. You can check the banks on your charger first and make sure they are sneding proper current to your batteries. It's kind of a pain to find out where the breakdown in the chain is (whether its the battery or charger). Honestly, if I'm you, I'd go to homedepot and get a single bank charger for like $25. Charge both Optimas full. See if you are getting a proper charge now. If the batteries are still not receiving a proper charge, you know it's the batteries. If the batteries work fine, you know it's the charger. I've tried the route of volt-metering batteries and chargers before and at times it has just been inconclusive. Other good news is the 3 bank charger you have appears to have a 3 year limited warranty and the batteries have some type of warranty I'm sure.

Flukes aren't a swimbait. Theyre a jerkbait. Flukes are definitely one of my confidence baits during many times of the year.

Any bad smells coming from the trolling batteries? (like rotten eggs or something?) Are they getting hot when you charge?

I have been spending the past 2 seasons gaining confidence in the baits I am least confident in... so far it has been successful. NOW - I have reached the dreaded soft plastic swimbait. All I really know is how to rig one up on a hook. What time of year do I fish it? How do I work it? Bounce off the bottom? Drag through grass? What are some good starting points for a guy who has no clue how to use one? Cheers!

I'll throw a white or chartreuse if they're interested in eating shad, but boy bass are munching on bluegill, I swear by a Terminator Sunfish pattern (gold/green/purple w/ gold blades). They hammer that sucker. So to answer your question ---- I only add trailers if they are slapping the bait funny. I throw white or chartreuse if they want shad. I throw sunfish color if they feed on bluegill. I throw firetiger in staind or muddy water.

Find clean water or throw something bright and loud

Fellow Louisiana resident and boat owner checking in... I'd recommend taking a drive to your local LDWF office and ask to speak with someone in person. They will give you all the needed paper work and it's kind of a headache to get everything perfect. I filled all the paperwork out and didn't get my #'s for like 2 months and FINALLY got a letter saying I owed them like $15.36 before they'd give me numbers. ANYHOW - Got to LWDF and they will be able to get you squared away. You are correct --- you'll register the trailer at the DMV and register the boat/motor with LDWF As far as what I remember from my purchase ---- Get a bill of sale on one piece of paper that states "I bought boat XYZ for $5,000, bought motor YamahaXYZ for $2,000, bought trailer XYZ for $1,000." Get it notarized. Not sure what you'll need the bill of sale for when buying out of state. I bought in state and need a bill of sale for the DMV. Buying locally, you are only required to pay sales taxes on the trailer to the DMV. I declared the value of my trailer at $100 and paid like $10 in taxes (as per the recommendation of the guy working at the DMV). You'll also need to fill out the "sales" portion of the title to the boat. Get the title notarized too. You'll need to fill out some paper work you can get at LDWF office or online and mail them in a check for like $50. I'm not 100% sure how out of state purchases go, but I do know you will be subjected to paying full taxes in Arkansas. I believe you'll need submit proof to LDWF that you paid the Arkansas taxes. So ultimately, you'll need a notarized itemized bill of sale, a notarized title, and some kind of proof you paid taxes in Arkansas. Go to LDWF in person and get all the proper paper work and have someone break down exactly what to do. Last thing you want is to miss an important detail.

They were all over facebook earlier this year. Saw ummm, Dean Rojas, Edwin Evers, Josh Bertrand, and I think Justin Lucas. At least 3 more too, but I can't remember who. Just "like" all their facebook pages and they post them in the off season. Good prices. I don't know if I'd exactly want one because they dog them pretty good, but then again - I kind of want one since they keep them in tip-top shape. Hell, I was watching a Gerald Swindle video yesterday where he claims "I change my lower unit oil after every tournament!" Essh!

I'm not sure I've been using them exactly "right" all those years. I've tried on all different types of days throughout the year and I was usually moving them pretty fast. After this thread, I started slowing down the past couple of days and focusing on DEFLECTING it off cover. Someone mentioned "if you're not hitting it off cover, the bass won't bite it." That clicked it for me a bit today. I slowed down and focused on where to throw and how the biat would move across the object and deflect ---- today I got 4 BITES ON A SQUAREBILL! I'm so happy! Today was a huge confidence booster. Now if I could just find the right rod to throw them with... this medium heavy Crucial is FAR too stiff and made it really tough to be accurate with my casts.

So I was just watching major league fishing and Hackney was catching em' on a square bill using this type of method. I will give this a try. I never really thought of bouncing sideways off cover and achieving that with either tuning of the rod tip. Lots of good info in this thread and hopefully I gain some ground these next few months.

So whats the deal with people raving about fishing them around docks... where the bait doesn't hit anything?

I'm going to try to keep this simple. I am 100% confident in deep diving crankbaits and mid-depth crankbaits. I know how to work em', where to work em', and I flat out find & catch fish with them. But SQUAREBILL CRANKBAITS?!?!? I'm missing the boat completely. I've gone through multiple brands, tuned them all perfectly, and have found brands I like because of the weight they have to them --- Xcalibur's for silent and Xcites for rattling. Problem is I'm not catching fish on them, EVER. I crawl them over cover, I pull them around grass, I burn them around grass points, worked them around docks, and I'm not getting anything. I've been trying to figure it out for 2 years and I cannot. I need help. SOMEONE HELP ME!? I'm rigging them on 12lb, 14lb, 17lb Medium-Heavy rods. How do I decided rattle -vs- silent? Do I fish them pre-spawn, spawn, post spawn, fall transition? What does the "book" say about how to work them? Do I reel slow, stop, give it a jerk, reel, stop, reel, jerk and just go all erratic jerkbait action with it? If anyone can give me some in-depth pointers or guide me to an in-depth guide on shallow crankbaits I would be forever grateful! Cheers!

CORBINA frames all day. Went through 3 pairs of Costas before settling on the Corbina frame. Fits great and blocks around the eyes better than the man-owars

I like the powerpoles personally. Powerpoles don't get gunked up and need flushing like talons. When the powerpoles deploy, they deploy away from the boat a bit, so in shallow sight fishing situations, water disturbance is even further away from the front of the boat. The powerpoles can be deployed when in deep situations to be nice and out of the way for a rear fisherman. Powerpoles have the remote and footswitches. You can get sportsman powerpole for a bit cheaper than a talon. Powerpoles also look better IMO (and we all know it only matters that we look cool ). That's my pros/cons in PP vs Talons.

WRB has been playing "worst case scenario" and I can't blame him here. When it comes to "little" things on an outboard it can possibly turn into a much bigger deal than first meets the eye. I run a 150hp Yamaha vmax with a little piece of the skeg chipped off and no problems. Wind blew me off the beach one day and punch the motor into the launch.... just chipped a 1/2 inch chunk off the tip of the skeg. No issues at all... performance is still perfect. I'm sure if one day I sell my boat, I'll have to explain the story to the buyer and try to convince them all is well. oh well. I won't be spending $100 to get a little seemingly cosmetic fix. With this motor you're buying, from the way you're describing it, sounds like it shouldn't be a problem. Down here in Louisiana, I have NEVER seen a small HP outboard (less than a 50hp) without chips, nicks, scrapes, dings in the lower unit... and they all seem to have just a completely jacked up prop too. Still functioning just fine. Sounds like you'll be fine buying that motor. And if it makes you feel better, I believe it would be quite difficult to crack the lower unit of a 25hp motor. You gotta slam that engine PRETTY hard to crack it. Just make sure to test it out before you buy it. And FYI - they say to replace the impeller every couple of years. Lower unit oil should be replaced once per year. It seems like the real benefit to changing the lower unit oil each year is that you get a chance to inspect the oil for water.... potentially catching a HUGE problem (water in the LUO) before it gets too bad. Cheers!

You must have never ridden in an Xpress hyper-lift hull

As a Louisianian who lived in Missouri after hurricane Katrina, I learned a ton about the cold and it's done great things for me hunting... I use the same techniques for fishing now too. Start at the feet.... baby powder on the feet, sock liner(silk I think?), wool sock, at least 400g insulated boot. That'll keep you toasty. I don't usually break out the insulated boots until it's less than 40 degrees on the water. Next legs ---- Columbia and Under Armor is my go to, period. Wicking material that is form fitting. For pants, I just stick to a pair of jeans. Then, I add some Game Winner (Academy sports) insulated bibs. BEST INVESTMENT EVER!!! When it gets ice cold outside, the bibs are clutch, but when it's in the mild 50's/60's, I will wear a pair of jeans with my bibs and be perfect all day. GREAT for mild fall with just a little chill on the water. Next upper body --- Base layer. Columbia or Under Armor. next, it is all about preference.... i prefer to add cotton layers at this point since it's WAY cheaper than all the performance stuff. I add a thin cotton long sleeve shirt. Then a cotton hoodie. Then I bought a $150 performance jacket. Totasty warm for running at 70mph, and perfect on the water... shed layers as day warms up. Head --- Insulated beanie. Check the hunting section for these. I pall a "buff" down around my neck to kind of "seal" everything up. And when running, I toss on a balaclava too. I said all that to say this ---- Yes, I recommend Columbia or Under Armor brands for base layers. I recommend hunting brands such as LaCrosse and Ithaca for boots and hats and stuff. Drake makes a great pair of insulated gloves too. Brose around SierraTradingPost for some great deals ALL the time... and they regularly post 40% off your whole order coupons

Good luck find all the parts for that.

Zip-tied my wires to the shaft... simple and painless. That's my best input

I've owned all humminbird units and hate them. Once I get in a new boat it's going to be lowrance for me. Seen the new helix's at local shop and it's nothing impressive... same technology as the old humminbirds in a different package. Waste.