BigTerp

If your comfortable with DIY, I would think you can install both of these with tinned marine wire, tinned heat shrink posts for the battery, in-line fuse holders and quality switches for around $150-$200. Most of that cost would be the ram mounts. 2 lighted switches would be around $30 bucks, in-line fuse holder $7 for a pack of 5, 25' of 16 AWG tinned marine wire (if you even need this) $5 and 3/8" heat shrink ring terminals $6 for a pack of 3.

I have a 2-bank 20 amp on board Noco Genius. Love it. The 20 amp is overkill and I should have went with the mini at 8 amps to save some money since I rarely fish back to back days. Plug my boat in when I get home and it takes care of the rest until I'm back out again. It's not just a "standard" battery charger but a "smart" charger. Does a lot more for your battery then just a standard charger does.

Thanks for the tips. Looks like my thread was combined with the OP's. Didn't mean to hijack, but appreciate the information.

Heading to Lake Anna to fish the hot side at the end of March for a few days. Wanted to see if any of you guys had some tips/suggestions for fishing the hot side. This will be my second trip to Anna. Last year we fished the hot side around the same time of year and did OK. Mostly on fluke type baits and various plastics around cover and spinnerbaits and cranks around the riprap. No real method or pattern to our fishing last year, but now that I'm more familiar with the hot side of Anna I'd like to target some more specific areas and have at least a little bit of a game plan. I'm sure we overlooked some areas last year, but it was my first time fishing a large lake like Anna and it was a bit overwhelming. I had pretty good luck with a Keitech Swing Impact FAT this past year on my local river chasing smallmouth. Going to give the larger size (3.8" & 4.3") a go this year on Anna. How is the topwater bite on the hot side that time of year? Any tips/hints on fishing the hot side you guys are willing to share? Thanks in advance!!!

FINALLY got back out Sunday to take advantage of the uptick in river level. Finally enough water to float my boat. Fished the Upper Potomac for only 3 or so hours and only managed 2 smallmouth. River was FULL of floating grass from the recent water level rise making fishing tough. 14" on a 2.75" Mizmo tube and an 18" 2#13oz on a Whopper Plopper 90. The bigger of the two made the trip worth it.

Thanks for the feedback. I think another advantage to a smaller rear hook is that it might keep the hook out of the gills. I have seen where a lot of guys say they catch them on the front hook and the rear hook ends up in the gills. Same happened with the only one I caught on mine. She was caught on the front hook. The rear hook didn't get into the gills, but only because it hooked up on the fishes side right below the gill plate. I can see how easily that rear hook gets into the gills of larger fish.

Thanks. I'll check those hooks out. I only got a few casts in with mine before I messed up the back hook. But I did notice it took a little while to get it up on top of the water. I had to reel it to get it started with my rod tip way up in the air. I also added a ball bearing swivel to mine before I ever tied it on. Read about the line twist issues and figured I'd go ahead with the swivel. I have some Owner Stinger 36's in #6 laying around from when I swapped out the hooks on a few poppers I had. Think they would do OK as the back hook? I also have some Owner Tournament trailers in #6. Not sure I want feathers on the back of that bait though.

Picked up a 90 size last week and caught a nice 18" smallmouth on it over the weekend. A few casts later I hooked my boat seat, DOH!!! Ended up straightening the rear treble on the lure. Only got about 10 casts out of it before I fouled up the rear hook. So I'm looking for a recommended replacement hook for it. I see it's a #4, but what hook would you all recommend?

Gotcha. I threw a swimbait for a little while, but couldn't get bit. Have used the TRD's on a ned head a few times with pretty good luck. I like how tough that ElaZtec stuff is.

What were you having luck on? All of ours were on tubes. Copper color seemed to do the best.

We ended up doing OK. Fishing was tough but we managed 10 in the boat. Caught them everywhere from eddies behind riffles to up against the bank. All were somewhere close to faster moving water. The bite seemed to pickup when a few showers rolled through. Ended up catching a few decent ones in the same spot right after a downpour. We got SOAKED, but it was worth it. Biggest went just shy of 18"...

Thanks!! We actually just got over an inch of rain in the past 24 hours. The river is on the upswing. Should be up close to a foot higher tomorrow than what it was yesterday morning, but still low. Hoping that helps the bite.

Thanks. Patred, that area looks familiar. I think we are going to fish a little further up river at Snyders. Shouldn't have any trouble finding riffles and rocky/ledge areas with the current water level. Fished behind my house (below dam 5) Sunday afternoon for just 20 minutes or so and caught one small one right below some riffles. That's what I was thinking regarding the faster water. Figured the deeper holes would be cooler and hold them as well. But makes sense that they'd be more apt to hang out where the oxygen level is better.

Plan to fish my local river this weekend. River is low, clear and the water is starting out in the mid to high 80's and climbing into the 90's by the afternoon. Going to head out early and start fishing before sunrise and fish until late morning. Thinking of starting off with topwater and spinner baits hitting the shaded/covered banks then switching to tubes, swimbaits and finese type plastics as the temp rises targeting deeper and faster moving water. How would you guys tackle these conditions?

For those of you who fish the Landers area from the Lock 29 boat ramp what's the lowest it is boatable to? Fished it a week or so ago at 2.5' at Point of Rocks and had no problems running with my jet. Probably going to be closer to 1.5' by the weekend when I plan to get back out.

Thanks for the suggestions.

What plastics do you guys use to trailer your hair jigs? I just started tying my own this year to start trying this summer and fall. Picked up a few of the Uncle Josh #101 spinning frogs, but they are getting harder and harder to come by. I have various plastic craws, creatures, etc. that look that they would work OK behind a small hair jig (1/16oz - 1/4oz), but just curious what you guys use. Should I just be looking for something to give a little action behind the hair with a similar color?

How do the campground tubes compare to the Mizmo? I see they are cheaper, but have never had my hands on them. I like the consistency/feel of the plastic in the Mizmo. Kind of on the hard side compared to most tubes. Seems to make them last longer. I have a bunch of 3-1/2" Mizmo's as well. Haven't thrown any this year though, but thinking they might get some of the bigger fish interested.

I need to give the ned rig a try. I have the jigs and the Z-Man plastics, but have been doing so well on 2.75 Mizmo tubes in Penrod purple and watermelon red that I can't put them down. 18 and 16 smallmouth my last two trips on the Upper Potomac. Averaging about 3-4 fish an hour. All caught on a 2.75" tube. This past weekend the smaller ones were up against the banks with the larger ones being caught out in the main stream in the eddies behind rocks, logs and anything else that was big enough to break up the current. Most in the 10-12" range with the biggest right at 15".

Cool, thanks. Hoping for a decent afternoon tomorrow. I've not had the best of luck below dam 5 the last year or two but it's right behind my house so I need to get it figured out.

Planning on hitting the Dam 5 area (below) tomorrow afternoon. Hoping to get lucky with some smallies. Water temp at Williamsport was 58 this morning. What have you guys been having success with right now on the river? I'm thinking in-line spinners, 2.75" tubes and smaller cranks. I'm guessing I'll find them in typically staging areas, eddies and any type of structure.

Man, the Potomac got to be a mess pretty quickly!! It crested in Hancock yesterday morning. Right now it's like chocolate milk in Williamsport. Hopefully it clears some by the morning.

And when was this? What happened?

HA!! No chance. I have a cousin who recently moved into a development with a private boat ramp on the WV side. It's about a mile down from the 81 bridge. It's a little more fancy than my sub-divisions boat ramp below dam #5. Mine is a mess right now with the river being up and down the last few weeks.

Thanks man. I'm very familiar with dam 5 to Williamsport, but have never fished before below the power plant dam. Wasn't sure what to expect or where to really go down that way. Might give it a try though.