Ski213

It's real dependent on the age of the boat and the lending institution. Is that interest rate a straight boat loan, any boat you want rate or are their criteria for your purchase to get that rate? I've seen lower for new boats and I've seen alot higher for older used boats.

Signs such as described above. Sometimes a lot of bird activity can give locations away from a distance. Depending on the type of shad they will spawn more than once a year. I may have this backwards but I think gizzard shad is just in the spring while tthreadfin can be two or three times through the warmer months.

I'll give that a shot. Thanks again!

That's a good idea on the commercial cleaner. Im going to look into that. I'm most Iikely trying to get it cleaner than it needs to be. The cover pulls tight enough to shed water but not tight enough for me to scrub it back to new condition. What kind of soap do you have luck with? I'm just using the basic Dawn dish soap, which I've actually had pretty good luck with for cleaning most things. I appreciate the reply.

I think the biggest problem with moving out of your comfort zone is building confidence. It takes time. If you don't know the deeper water techniques then spend some time searching here. There's so much good info. Also see if you can pry some intel out of some locals as to what is hot right now. Set your expectation level low so you don't frustrate yourself and just go out and plan to catch nothing while learning the technique. Just practice I guess. Don't quit doing what you're comfortable with, just start working a little outside your comfort zone. The one tip I would give you is to use your sonar when fishing deep to find baitfish with larger fish close. Fish there. That's certainly not the only way to get on a bite in deep water but when they're both together your odds improve.

I need to get my boat cover cleaned up so I can apply some of that 303 fabric guard. The cover has lost quite a bit of water repellency and I need to restore that since the boat sits outside all spring, summer, and fall. I have the manufacturer recommendations for cleaning solution but was just wondering if any of you guys have any tricks you use to make it a little less painful of a job. Mine will have to be scrubbed. It's been extremely wet here and there is mildew that I think will have to be mechanically cleaned rather than just spray and rinse.

Have you tried Facebook? They're on there but it doesn't look like they've been active for awhile. Sounds like you've got your heart set on their system so it might be worth the pretty minimal effort to figure out who the website registrant is and contact them. That's not necessarily the person that owns the company but they could prob tell you what the status of the company is.

I second fishing after dark. Had similar conditions today as you described and couldn't put much together till the sun went down. Everybody has their own way but I like patchy weeds outside of the main weed line if I can find them at night. If I can find that close to a structure transition it's always been good for me. Daylight I like to be closer to the actual main edges. Whether its structure or weeds. Don't get frustrated. You'll not get a definitive answer. It's fishing so what works for one guy may not work for another. There's just so many variables. You can literally be in the same boat with somebody who is killing it. You're fishing the same lures in the same water and you're hauling water. We've all been there. Just stay after it and you'll put a pattern together.

It would have been $20 well spent for sure. He had the hitch locked in the receiver but the trailer was not locked. I didn't think of the parting out thing. That would make sense. RoLo you're exactly right, if they want it they'll get it. I guess the lock can be the thing that makes the difference between hauling home and renting a slip for awhile though. I like the idea of the less obvious trailer lock. Mine is on the tongue and could easily be cut or broken off. I always keep it locked in the hopes that its enough of a deterrent. Luckily its insured but still there will be costs and major inconvenience.

We don't get quite as hot as what you're describing but when its too hot to swim and I'm fishing during the day I throw t rigged tequila sunrise worms. Over the last alot of years that has produced for me. Never good quantity but big fish when you hook up. Ever since career has gotten in the way I just fish when I can but back in the glory days I would go out about four hrs before dark when it was blazing hot. Throw a buzz bait till dark, take a short break to just enjoy being out on the lake then switch to a black lizard on weed lines.

Yeah you're prob right. Be hard to pass a trailer with glass fenders off as homemade but the folks handing out the title most likely never see the trailer. I don't know all the specifics but here there's not a seperate title for the boat trailer, not any ive ever owned at least. As you said it's based on weight I think. Our commercial trailers are tagged but not recreational ones. It just struck me as an odd thing to steal. Based on what the officer said though I guess not.

Was talking to a friend of mine earlier. The conversation always goes to fishing pretty quick. He says you'll not believe what happened last time out. He went out with a buddy of his this past Sunday. His friend has a newer ranger. Last years model he thinks. They go out like any other day. Had a decent day of fishing. Get back to the ramp. My friend goes to get the truck. He comes back down with the truck, no trailer. Somebody stole the d*** trailer! As they're filing the police report the officer is telling them that this is getting to be pretty common. Its crazy to me. I mean if you're a thief, you're pretty low as far as I'm concerned to begin with, but c'mon taking a boat trailer while the boat is in the water is another level. Not like its just a minor inconvenience. Have y'all heard much of this in your neck of the woods? I just don't get it. I understand that it could be scrapped but it seems like its alot of risk for no more metal than is there. Also this was lake cumberland ky, Jamestown ramp. So if any of you are local to that and see an empty ranger trailer looking out of place feel free to PM me.

I'd say its due to the fact that a small number of people would abuse that law and intentionally injure under size fish so they could keep them.

I'd start as inexpensive as possible. I've heard nothing bad about kayaks. Basically unlimited access to small water and I've seen yaks on pretty big water as well. You could get off the banks where you're fishing now and see how you like it. Johnboat would be a good choice as well. Either can be built into a pretty solid fishing machine as what you need/want changes. Whatever boat fits your needs I feel a decent sonar unit is a pretty good investment to start as well as a good trolling motor and dependable battery.

Nothing wrong with feeling a little bad about it but don't beat yourself up. I've found those to be the biggest factors in my experience. When its hot I try to get them in the boat and back as fast as possible. I've had fish that would absolutely not do anything but float up for no clear reason that ended up swimming off after I worked with them for a minute or two holding them down and working some water over their gills. Doesn't always work but I'd say I'm batting about .800 with that technique. I think Glenn did an article on how to revive them awhile back on here.

There are alot of good thoughts here. Around here we have had what could be referred to as a rash of RV wipeouts on the interstate this year. In several instances it has been due to overloaded tow vehicles. There was a great article about how to really figure what your vehicle should and shouldn't be towing attached to one of the news articles. Wish I could find it. I'll keep looking. I'd agree that its pretty impressive the HP and torque numbers that technology has brought to smaller engines but those, from a safety standpoint, are the least important numbers. I like having weight on the tow vehicles side. I have a pretty heavy boat and even with a 2500hd you have to be careful in certain situations. Stopping a boat for a stoplight is one thing. Stopping a boat cause some clown just jerked out in front of you is another. Throw in a curve on a wet road and you better not be running at 100% of your vehicles rated capacity. I'm not contradicting anything anybody has said cause I don't disagree with any of it. Just my point of view. As far as smaller tow vehicles I'd have to say that I have seen stuff being pulled by early model grand Cherokees that I would hesitate to hook with my truck and frankly they didn't look like they were struggling too much.

I'm guessing, and only guessing, that it's gonna be on the head close to the thermostat at the top. Best thing would be to go to a parts site and pull up your engine's diagram. I find those pretty helpful for figuring out what is where on mine.

There's certainly a good possibility that you could. A friend of mine caught a 7# several years ago out of a farm pond. He relocated it to a newly built farm pond on the same property. That fish was caught again around two weeks later and then a third time a couple months after that. All on the same lure. Most likely she's already thrown it, especially if she was mouth hooked.

Run jumper wires from the battery direct to something. The horn perhaps. Take everything off the battery and remove the harness wires from the horn. There are most likely splices, connections, and switches between the battery and the accessories, you need to bypass them which the direct jumper does. Make sure you've got good connections on both ends. If the horn works with the jumpers then you've got an issue in those connections or switches that you bypassed. You just have to start isolating it. The starter probably does its thing cause its a more direct connection to the battery versus accessories since it requires a higher amperage draw.

As has been said where and how you fish makes a difference, a big one, but if it were me I'd definitely go with the sonar first and consider the powerpole later. You can get a pretty dang good unit for the cost of the powerpole. I'm not against a power pole by any means though. I'd love to have a pair of them but day in and day out for me the graph is gonna get way more use. Especially one with GPS/Map capability. I'd have never guessed I would have used that as much as I do. You can hold your boat pretty steady on the trolling motor with practice, you cannot see underwater structure, fish, etc. well without a decent sonar unit or scuba gear. Just an opinion. Do a lot of homework on both before you pull the trigger.

Depends on what you want it to do. If you need depth soundings at speed it's gonna have to be low on the hull. A through hull or shoot through hull transducer is best for that. Id contact humminbird. They're probably your best resource on the topic and in my experience very helpful.

I live more central than southeast, eastern Fayette county, but your neck of the woods is more where I actually fish if I intend to catch something. Welcome.

I like it. Have you had the opportunity to use them yet? Does it work well? I can always see my trailer cause it's lit up like a Christmas tree but often I can't see where everything else is in relation to it. That setup would solve that.

Sorry I intended to put what it is part of in the first post. The larger piece in the picture is the bottom portion of a CMC jack plate actuator. One of those that is self contained with the motor, pump, and cylinder all in one assembly. So I guess the lower piece is like the valve body? That makes sense. I never figured out what actuated the valves/pistons for sure. There was a lot I couldn't see without getting further in than I wanted to. Little Allen screws all over the outside of the thing. I assume they give access to the other end of those little valves given their locations. I did hit up the hydraulic shop for the o rings. Six bucks for all of them. I figure there's a 90% chance ill still have to buy a new actuator, but it was worth a shot. It's back together and seems to be working on the bench. I really appreciate y'all's help.

You're 100% right on that man. Unfortunately there's not a service manual, parts diagram, or anything for this thing. The unit as a whole is considered an un-serviceable $400 part by its manufacturer. Although I totally understand a company trying to limit liability it irritates me that they want me to spend a pretty substantial amount of money to replace something that's only problem is a $4 o-ring.