Ski213

A hook will set the same whether or not it has a barb. It's the likelihood that will back out that crimping a barb changes. The extent that it makes a difference depends alot on the lure the hook(s) are attached to though. For example a rattle bait or a big topwater, I think the barbs are more critical to keeping the fish hooked given that a head shaking fish can use the lure to leverage the hooks out. With a plastic worm and the like I don't think the barb makes as much of a difference. Just my personal opinion. As far as degrading hooks, that's totally dependent on what grade of steel the hook is made of. Cheap hooks are generally going to dissolve faster. That doesn't necessarily mean fast. Snapping turtles are tough. He/she will prob be just fine. It's cool that you're giving it thought. Probably speaks to your character.

Way2slow, you're probably right. I didn't think about converting the trailer. Was looking at mine and it sure would be a piece of cake to do. It was a mess. Story hasn't ended yet. The marina closest to the ramp where he launched gave him one free night in an uncovered slip. As far as I know its still in the water. He did manage to get the factory cover on it. I told him to run it down the lake to get it pulled and put in dry storage but I don't think he has yet. If I remember right the replacement cost is $6500. I thought insurance would cover it. He said he thought they weren't going to but I'm pretty sure he misunderstood his agent. He did find a trailer that can get it out of the water but he only gets the trailer for a week. There again I told him he could take it to dry storage. I'm not sure what he has done. Haven't talked to him in a week or two. It's a huge pain. I can't stand a thief.

Not seeing your conditions so I'm not sure if this is applicable. Years ago on a relatively small lake we fished all the time the weeds went nuts. There would be these pockets on the surface where the weeds didn't go all the way to the surface. Maybe 1 to 3 foot wide pockets. You could toss a t rigged trick worm across those pockets and hammer them. If you have pockets like that Id give that a shot. That lake had alot of water clarity when it had the weeds. If yours doesn't id imagine it wouldn't be as effective. We were using relatively light line so you pretty much had to go to the fish. That was my most productive pattern ever though in any conditions. It held for pretty much an entire summer.

I would call or email. I'd imagine there is a way it could be exchanged through the mail. A little of a pain but better than dealing with a malfunctioning reel.

Great video. Planned on skimming through it, ended up watching it start to finish. Thanks for sharing.

Is this a new or used reel? You said the guy that sold it to you but is that a salesperson or a private seller?

Ha! Got the d*** carb out of the way though! I've been known to use a BFH from time to time. The most it ever cost me in one swing was $571. Centrifugal clutch. Ive fixed alot of stuff with hammers too though. My meter is pegged, has been for a little while. I'm going to go ahead and move all striking tools at least 200' away from the boat now that I'm thinking about it. I'll have to walk away from it for a day or two if i dont get it this afternoon. Sometimes when something has got me tore up that helps.

I will try moving the wheel back and forth a little. I've done it with and without opening the short side bleeder. If I turn hard over and kick the motor from the side it's turned toward. Hard. It burps a big bubble at the helm. Turn the other way and same thing. A little smaller bubble. Turn it back and can't get anymore until I let it sit for a few. Then I can kick it and get another bubble. over and over. I can also get it to burp if I turn hard over and then give it a short tug past the stopping point. Not as big as when I kick it. Id say you're right and there is air trapped cause as much as I can force out I'm getting no air at the cylinder.

I appreciate the reply and the suggestions. I have one of those vac pumps. I used to use it on dirt bike and 4wheeler brakes. It was awesome for that. I didn't have as much luck when I had to replace the brake lines on my 2500hd. I think cause of the ABS module. I had better luck just doing it the old school way on that for some reason. Technically it was supposed to be bled with a GM scanner. Im thinking it was because your have the valves and such in the module so unless you actuate those you're not bleeding from everywhere. It's hard to say. Usually the weak link in the chain is me rather than the tool or the machine I'm working on. I've got only a pretty basic knowledge of how this system works so I'm unsure if the vac pump would help. I can't imagine it would hurt though. Only issues I can see would be the amount of fluid you're trying to cycle and that I don't know exactly how the helm pump works so I'm not sure if it would work on this system. I always meant to get some of those bleeders when is was messing with the MX stuff all the time. My is actually due for a brake job. I guess that'll be project 21. There any specific brand you like? I ended up pulling the bolt and just holding the outboard. This thing bleeds textbook from everything I've been told. Up till you get the the fluid coming out of the cylinder air free. From the start with helm filled but lines and cylinder empty the wheel does nothing till the fluid makes it to the back. Then its real jerky at the wheel with all the air still trapped. Pushed about a pint and change through both sides and disposed of that. On about the third cycle I stopped getting air at the cylinder. I could always get the helm to burp though. I even took alot of care to make sure that what I was filling with didn't have small bubbles in it from transferring it to the fill container before I would cycle it through. This really has the feel of I'm introducing a little air as I'm bleeding. Way2slow I'm pretty certain I read somewhere once a post you made about the fill method you used. It wasn't the sea star kit. The seastar kit is what I'm using so its a plastic or I guess nylon fitting that is threaded to barb then the hose to the barb on the seastar bottle. If that system had an air leak it would have the same effect as if I had a bad helm seal wouldn't it? Every time I turned the wheel I'd be pulling a little air with the fluid?

I'm similar in that I cannot cast as accurately with a spinning reel. Not nearly as accurately really. Im not good with using that index finger either for that. I guess cause i cant feather the line against the rod like i can feather the spool on a baitcaster. I have some spinning set ups but I've got alot more baitcasting just where I'm better with it. Not saying anything bad about spinning outfits. I know a couple people who are awesome with a spinning reel. I don't even know how they do what they do with one of them. It's funny when we fish together and get to an area where we have to be super accurate or super finesse with the casts and I'm scrambling for a baitcaster and they're going for a spinning reel. When they're fishing a baitcaster they're cutting out backlashes, when I'm fishing a spinning reel I'm cutting out these giant wind knots that they don't seem to get.

Alright scratch that idea then. I was going to clamp it with a small pair of vice grips padded with a 1/4" thick peice of rubber. Figured that would keep from scratching it but I didn't realize it was soft so I could still dent it. I guess I can remove that bolt thing that limits travel on the engine. That way I know the cylinder is going all the way to both sides and I can still use the outboard to hold. Glad I jumped on here before I went to town on it.

It's cool to hear all these different ways of casting and reeling, and what's comfortable to different people. I actually got out tonight for a couple hours to fish. I kind of experimented a little. Tried to pay attention to the switch that I do when I cast with just my right hand a lot of times. My switch is pretty seamless, I've been practicing it for a long time and as has been said several times here, what's comfortable is good to stick with. That being said and I think very true, I like experimenting. Even after 25+ yrs of bass fishing I find times that I'm in an awkward spot and need to make a good cast from it. My experimenting tonight actually showed me that even after all that time I can learn to cast different ways. It also showed me that there ain't no way I will ever be able to reel with my left hand. Thanks for all the replies!

I ended up getting most of the old fluid out this evening before I met up with a buddy to do a couple hours of fishing. Luckily I read your post first and went real easy on the air. Really just enough to give the fluid a push. Worked good. I was feeling ambitious so I ended up taking the hoses loose and the cylinder and the helm both of and drained as best I could. Then blew the hoses out with a less gentle air pressure. Made a h*** of a mess in the driveway. Tomorrow I will hopefully have time to flush new fluid through and get it filled back up and start bleeding again. I'm going to try to do it with the cylinder off. I looked at the whole deal again and I think maybe the cylinder actually does have a little more travel to one side. Like the rod doesn't go quite as far in on one side as the other. It's not much if its any but I guess it wouldn't take much to allow a fair amount of air to be trapped in the cylinder. I'm not sure what the right terminology is but the piece that the seastar bracket attaches to on the motor where you go from seastar parts to the motor, maybe the tiller?, has a bolt that limits motor travel. Seems like that might be stopping it a touch early one way. Gotta look closer at that tomorrow. I checked that once before but I've missed stuff on the first pass before. I'm gonna check out the lubriplate stuff. Its funny you mention the ring seating thing. I learned that lesson the hard way several years ago before I learned the concept of ring seating. In fact it taught me what the point of seating the rings was. My play is definitely at the cylinder, or I should say in the seastar system. I can kick the outboard and see movement between the rod and the cylinder. Not a ton but not what I would call zero. I could have play elsewhere, I know you had told me that sometimes you had to go to solid mounts, but I can't tell with the cylinder play. Thanks once again!

Way2slow and A-jay I really appreciate the advice. I'm pretty certain that the fluid that I had in it is correct but I guess its past its service life. I used a new quart of the seastar stuff when I changed the seals but best case I've got I'm at a 1:1 ratio of new to old fluid. I almost just went to the closest marine place and grabbed the seastar fluid but figured I'd give the airport a shot. 1 gallon of the milspec was ten bucks more than 1 quart of the seastar stuff. Well worth having to buzz through a couple security doors to pick up. The cylinder rod is good. The rod doesn't bury completely into the cylinder when turned to the stop. I noticed that before, and although I couldn't see any interference,I took the cylinder completely off to make sure that's as far as it would go. It was the same with it off the brackets. I wanted to purge it tonight but I don't have a water separator on my compressor so I was concerned about blowing moisture into the system but I will remedy that tomorrow. Going to abandon cycling the fluid the way I was cause if I am getting micro bubbles then I'm just putting them right back in. Having a gallon of the fluid gives you a little wiggle room. Agian I really appreciate y'all's time.

Ok. Maybe I'll purge it and start over. Pretty sure it had the right fluid in it. It was a little dirty. Not visible particles, but a brown tint to it. Maybe it got contaminated when the cylinder was leaking. I'm also not turning the wheel that slow I don't think, so I'll give that a shot. The way I was bleeding that worked the best for me was running clear lines off the bleeders to a t into one line back to the fill container. So I basically was just running a loop. The only thing I had to be careful of was wheni would get air bubbles back to the fill container I had to stop for a minute to let them rise out of the fluid so I wouldn't suck them back in. Do you see any problems with doing it that way?

It's super handy. You can be on the front or back of the boat going any direction and be comfortable casting. Yeah I guess it's what you're used to. That's what you're going to be comfortable with.

In my neck of the woods it depends a lot on what body of water but generally speaking I consider 3# a decent fish. 8# is trophy size. Average is prob right around 15". I just love to catch them. I've had days where I'm tired of catching 50 smaller fish but there have been plenty of days where I'd loved to have caught anything at all.

Sorry. I just realized I put this in the wrong forum. Should have been in rods and reels. my mistake.

I'm just curious if I'm the only person who cranks with my right hand on both spinning and bait casting gear. It just seems like the folks I've been around, who I'm assuming are mostly right handed, have RH baitcasters and spinning reels cranking from the opposite side. Not me. I'm left handed. I bat right, I throw right, I shoot right (but I shoot better even though uncomfortable left), I eat left and write left and I'm left eye dominant. I can cast from either side but I cannot reel comfortably on the left side. I've tried LH baitcasters and it just felt unnatural. Tried switching on spinning reels and it felt awkward as well. Am I alone here?

As is typical with me I have about 20 projects at a time going. One of them is, and has been for awhile, getting my teleflex steering tightened up. The system is about 6 yrs old I'm told. There has never been an issue with it as far as locking or being jerky in operation. There has always been some play though. A little at the wheel and then if you jerk the outboard around there is some in the cylinder. It's not been enough to make any real difference until its up on the pad. Early this year I replaced the seals with the basic seal kit since there was some minor leakage at the gland seals. That took care of the leak but I absolutely cannot get it bled. I can get it only back to where it was to begin with when it had the leak. I've read some places where a little play is normal but I've read others and been told by others who would know that its not. I've bled it the teleflex way, I've bled it my way, I've bled it by myself, with a helper, checked for more leaks, had a mechanic bleed it, no better. The only thing that gets it tight is to turn hard over and jerk it another quarter turn at the wheel. She's tight then, for a couple minutes then back to what it was. This isn't like one of those deals where I'm being impatient either. It has literally been hours of bleeding. Teleflex has been great as far as tech support. I've actually suggested that maybe its a bad helm or something and they say nope. Has air in it. Just has to be bled. I'd agree that it has air for sure. Lets say I bleed it and its cloudy and 80. I get tired of having teleflex oil on me and can't get anymore air so I quit and cap it off, or even leave the filler tube in with fluid in it hoping that air in the helm will make its way out overnight. Next day it's 90 and sunny. If its capped off, when I remove the cap fluid comes out, if the tube is in the level of fluid in the tube is much higher. I'm no expert on anything but that tells me the heat is expanding something. My understanding is that the fluid is pretty stable so its got to be air expanding and pushing the fluid. Sorry for the lengthy post but does anyone here have any suggestions? Has anyone else run into this much problem bleeding one of these?

I'd say that will make fishing a lot more relaxing. Congrats and good luck!

Have you tried to prime it for a shorter period or not at all? If so did it make any difference?

I like the culling system from academy. I have no doubt that its not the best but for the money I've been happy with it. I think its the H2O express or something like that. I like that I can set the dials for the weight and don't have to fool with writing numbers on a little dry erase card. As far as the scale I like just the basic Berkeley digital. I'd love to have the boca but I'm alot less interested in an accurate weight vs this fish is heavier than that one in a tournament situation. Honestly a good culling beam is probably more useful than the scale.

+1 on compression check. Not as desirable as a leak down test but a good starting point to get an idea of the outboard's general mechanical condition. Beyond that you get into fuel, fire, and air. Which can be real simple or real complicated problem. Way2slow would be the one to attack this. He can break these things down like a shotgun.

I took out a loan for mine. Shouldn't have but I've got too many hobbies not to finance one of them. I'm at 9.24 on a 98. That being the case I'd say what they're offering isn't stellar but is pretty in line with my rate. You could always shop around.