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Congrats on finding your "it" rod! It makes fishing even better when you find them!

That one looks a little rougher but that's not saying it's bad, but you can tell it wasn't taken care of as well at least cosmetically. As far as the boats go, there are trade offs to both. The 04 is older, not as well taken care of, and at least in my opinion, the layout isn't as good and it's not that much cheaper. The 07 has a smaller Motor, TM, and a cheaper locator. If I had to choose between the two, I know which one I'd be looking at, but it really comes down to which is a better option for you. Also, remember these are not the only two boats out there, and if the deal is not right, the deal is not right. Boat prices should be going down slightly as the summer goes on and will be cheapest in the fall/winter months. If you want to post pictures I think you have to upload them to an image hosting site. I know imgur has a good smart phone app that you can upload them on there and then post the link to the pics on here.

I'd take a look at some rods in the St. Croix lineup. They have a series for about every price range. I'd suggest any of the 6'8" M/XF rods but if you can swing it, I'd look at the Legend Tournament Bass Line. Very nice and sensitive and also very well balanced. The other great thing about it is it's a very versatile stick. It's listed as a wacky rig rod which it excels at, but it's also very good for drop shotting as well as most other finesse techniques.

You could put the bases on and then just throw the seat and post in the car before you put it up there. Nice job on it btw!

If you're on the water it's a good time haha. I'd have to say any time the water gets up above 60ish degress and then into the fall. I caught a few on them when the water was in the low 50's. You won't get as many bites then, but usually the ones that do hit it just annihilate it. They work well from dawn to dusk. In the summer I'd have to say best conditions would be a fairly calm day with clear skies. It pushes a lot of bass up under cover i.e. pads, mats, docks, what have you. It lets you pinpoint where they will be and target the high percentage areas. If there's quite a bit of wind and/ or dingy water a popping frog is a lot of times the better option. Being that a frog doesn't cause a lot of commotion, if there's a lot of wave action I think the bass have a harder time finding it. If you haven't tried walking a frog I highly suggest it! If you're fishing over heavy veggies, it's hard to get it to walk. I don't think it's necessary to do it when it's sitting on tops of the grass, but when you find a hole in the grass or pads throw past it. Slowly bring it towards the hole with short twitches of your rod and when the frog gets really close to the hole start walking it. It stays in their strike zone longer that way and seems to kind of annoy them into biting.

If the water is in the mid 60's the bass should be up shallow spawning or preparing to. I'd be fishing in the 1-5' range in places with a harder bottom composition. If there's any pea gravel flats, that'd be a great place to look first as well as the bass spawning structures they have in. You may not hit it when the females are up there but there should be some males both before and after the spawn. If you're catching males off the beds and no females, move out to the first quick drop and fish that ledge for a while. Baits for bed fishing would be something like a wacky rig, creature bait, or drop shot. If they've yet to start and are still feeding up, a spinnerbait would be hard to beat.

I love Yum Dingers. I've got at least one rigged up all year long. Most of the time I'll have two. I usually fish the 5" Dinger on a weightless Texas rig. If I'm trying to fish them a little deeper I'll throw on a 1/16 oz or 1/8 oz tungsten weight. You can fish them wacky as well and I've had great luck with them that way. Normally I add a 1/16 oz Eco Pro Tungsten Pro Wacky Weight to them to get a little faster sink rate out of them. They also help to make them last longer. My go to choice for a wacky rig though is the 4" Dinger with a 1/32 oz Pro Wacky Weight.

The bit can be so varied that basically anything that feels "different" is worth a set. If your rod has a nice limber tip to it, you can usually pull very lightly and feel the differences between cover and fish. A good rule to live by fishing though is the fact that hooksets are free! I'd rather swing and miss on something that's not a fish than not swing and miss out on catching one of those buggers!

NADA tends to be on the low side of retail, but it never hurts to let him know that number. I'd say somewhere in the mid 7's would be a decent buy.

http://images.craigslist.org/00G0G_4HtrxcGjkdv_600x450.jpg What it is: http://www.basspro.com/StingRay-XRIII-Hydrofoil-Stabilizers-for-Boat-Motors/product/91124/ If you look in the pic see the red and gray thing under the water. That's a fin. It bolts to the cavitation plate to help planing. They do work at helping get the boat up on plane. As far as the rest of the claims, not usually so much. Their marketing makes them out to be a bolt on performance add on that's the best thing since sliced bread, but most people associate them with a boat that is a dog and under powered. You might be able to get him down some. Not sure if it'll be enough but hey, the worst he can say is no so go ahead and check it out. This is a little high on the price too but you might want to check it out. It looks like it's in very good shape. Bargaining points would be under powered TM, lack of electronics, and that it's 7 years old already. http://nashville.craigslist.org/boa/4483029239.html Edited for link issue

I usually just go with a good quality pair of Nike cross training shoes or running shoes. Otherwise, I wear a good pair of athletic flip flops that have the foam injected soles. Either is comfortable, supportive, and prevents me from looking like I decided to throw on an ugly pair of slippers in the morning and forgot to take them off.

Before you go crazy with this, you might want to check into the actual regulations. Most electric only lakes will still allow you to use a boat with a gas engine. Some places allow you to just not run them, while others make you keep them trimmed out of the water. Either way though there's a pretty good chance that you can still use your normal boat.

You're right it is a big boat. The hull weight is 1040 lbs, the motor is probably in the upper 3's plus a trailer and all your gear. Figuring on the high side you'd be talking around 3000 to 3500 lbs. The motor will push it around ok I'm sure, but you're going to notice more of a difference when you add weight. If you take a buddy with and add in the weight of a full livewell, gas and extra gear, it might be a dog out of the hole. I see it has a fin which usually means it was a dog to begin with. If I'm not mistaken that Mercury has the 2+2 design. It kicks out 2 cylinders while idling at a low RPM to help save gas and also to make it quieter. They've been known to be a little laggy because they don't kick in instantaneously. Overall though it looks like a pretty good boat, the price just seems high. Worst part is there's not tons of them out there to look around and see what the market value is. If I remember correctly from the ad, it's been advertised for a while, which is a good indicator of a price that's on the high side. Boats that are good deals on CL can vanish in a matter of hours.

I loved the old pistol grips for casting. Between those and the shorter rods make a heck of a setup for accuracy. As far as fighting a fish though, your leverage is zip. That's where a little longer handle is nicer because you get more leverage on it. The handle tucks under your wrist and makes the rod an extension of your arm. Try palming the reel next time you use your rod with the longer handle. I'm guessing if you do you'll like it a lot better.

That's not too bad, but it seems a little high especially given the fact it's a little under powered. Those are rated for a 150 and I found somewhere online that new with a 150 they ran about around $14K. Not quite as important, but something to note...that red carpet will turn pink as it fades so that's something to think about.

Chill out bro, I never said anything about your stock tank. I was trying to help OP out by letting him know that the engine had to be running for the muffs to do anything.

I'm not sure about the hole. I'd keep an eye on the cracks. To echo 00mod, you don't need to worry about the metal. It's normal, and actually more unusual not to have any. The backs of the lower unit bolts usually have tiny magnets on them for that purpose. It catches the shavings so they don't keep going through your gears and lower unit grease.

The older Forces before they were bought out were either Force or Chrysler. Chrysler would have been no newer than about early 80's . In the range it looks like you're looking in they would have been called the Mercury Power Series motors. Some of them do say Force on them. Unfortunately the pics the guy posted on the link you shared didn't show it in great detail. Here's what you don't see in his pics, http://greatlakesskipper.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/0/1047038-2.jpg The Mercury's will look completely different and depending on the year may or may not be called the "Pro Series". The other way you can tell, is by the shape of the motor. Force: http://fishingboatwiring.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/1989-Force-85.jpg http://www.smalloutboards.com/images/f4094xjun11/side2.jpg Mercury: http://blueoceansmarine.com/132-357-thickbox/1999-used-50-hp-mercury-outboard-motor-for-sale.jpg http://media.channelblade.com/boat_graphics/dealers/6631/digi49986100_l.jpg As for financing, you can always look into it and see if they'll do it. If not, you can buy a pretty decent used boat with what you've got saved up.

Sharpening your TM prop blades slightly will help. I've never tried one of those before.

That boat is over priced and it's got a great big old "don't go there" hanging off the back. That motor, although says made by Mercury is still a Force motor. You probably don't know but those are about the worst motors in the history of outboards. There are a very select few that haven't had many problems, but the vast majority do. Before the company was bought out by Mercury the motors would test out severely under the 10% horsepower rating. (new motors are allowed to be within +/- 10% of their rated horsepower). I know their older 150's were only putting out about 85 HP. I've heard a lot about their horrible tolerance on parts as well. You can order a part for the motor you have and it won't fit the same as what was on there. A lot of times when you see boats with them on the back for sale, they have problems selling even at deep discounts since you'd be better off buying one without a motor. As far as NADA goes, it's a little on the low sided. They've been doing some updating lately so it's a little more accurate but if you can find one close to that price it's usually a pretty good deal unless it's all beat up. My friend has an 05 Tracker PT 175. It's a pretty nice boat. It'd be a good starter boat for you, even though there are some things they do with them that just don't make sense but it would do the job for you. I've heard really good things about the Ranger aluminum boats too. Ranger might not be the cheapest, but that's because they're the best.

Another vote for a Yum Dinger.

If you aren't catching them on soft plastics, there's something wrong. It's really hard to tell exactly what it is you're doing wrong without actually watching you fish. Best advice I can give though is slow down, be patient, and be confident!

It could be because the line itself is lighter than both mono and fluoro which also makes your loaded spool lighter. I don't know if it'd affect it that much, but I've also never had this problem.

When I started wacky rig fishing I found myself in the same boat as you. I tried the jigheads and didn't like them all that much. What I did end up finding though was the Eco Pro Tungsten Pro Wacky Weight. Those little suckers are awesome! They're easy to use, they'e compact, and they actually help your worms last longer. Another benefit is if you are using them around grass, it makes a more compact package so there is less to get caught up in the grass. They may look a little pricey, but they are about the same as the wacky jigs and you don't go through as many. I usually use 1/32 oz for the 4' Yum Dingers, and 1/16 oz for the 5". I might move up to the 1/8 oz if i was trying to fish them deeper.

You're probably going to want to get new fenders. Something like this will work well http://www.basspro.com/Taylor-Made-Inflatable-Bass-Boat-and-Freeboard-Fenders/product/994/ otherwise the contoured model of these are good http://www.basspro.com/Taylor-Made-Inflatable-Bass-Boat-and-Freeboard-Fenders/product/994/