jasone

That's not bad. The copper for the line tie was a good choice. It will go in and out of tune and that will impart erratic action to the lure. Your diving bill is a little thick. You probably got the plastic at a hardware store. It may not matter, but I tried it once and I got the infamous swirling motion. You can get some good circuit board bills from Lurehardware.com. Like I said though, it may not matter. Nice looking lure so far. J

Thanks BeanCounter! J

If you have a switch that sets the 12 or 24 volt and it is flipped the wrong way that will happen. I almost burned my boat to ash the first time I took my wife out. J

Sorry... Fiberglass. I may be able to get access to inside once I remove my battery pan. J

Hey guys. I have a small hole (about pinky size in diameter) in the hull of my boat. Is bondo the best way to patch the hole? I am getting some conflicting advice. Thanks J

I often hear about guys using searching baits and just fan casting. The way I look at it is, if you don't think or really believe that the cast is putting the lure in front of a fish, why make it? I do see the advantage in having the lure out there and covering as much water as possible. That is fine. But I think that you really have to believe every cast is the cast that catches the fish. J

I drew up a chart of the possible water and weather conditions and linked the conditions to the best possible lures. Therefore, I have extreme confidence in the lure I chose. I realize that this is quite a bit of wishful thinking but if I know it works at least half of the time, that's not bad odds. The chart is also a living document. As I figure things out, I add to it. But impatience plays a big role in how long I stick with a lure. J

Thanks and no problem. If you get stuck or need help, just shoot me an email if you want. J

Oh, I forgot. There is regular foil, you can buy a roll of aluminum duct tape (used for repairing and sealing heating/air ducts. You can find it at any home improvement store. It is pretty expensive though. Just trace the lure pattern onto it, cut with scissors and attach to the lure. You can use a ratchet handle or any other embossing tool to create a scale pattern. You will still need to seal it though or the tape may come off. J

I don't have photos of a step by step but here are some pictures of what can be done. Step 1. Find the image, use Microsoft Publisher to resize. Publisher has a handy scale in inches that you can use to exact size. You can also copy and flip the image to get both sides. Step 2. Glue (gluestick) a piece of tissue paper to a piece of printer paper. Only glue the top and bottom edges. Step 3. Load the modified paper, print the photos. Step 4. Cut the tissue paper off of the printer paper. Leave some room around the photos. Step 5. Use spray adhesive to glue the tissue photos to regular household aluminum foil. The thicker the better. Step 6. After it is dry, cut out the photo and foil to the exact size. Step 7. Use the spray adhesive again and glue the photo and foil (foil side to lure of course) to the lure body. Use a sharpie marker to roll the aluminum foil wrinkles out. Be careful, the wet tissue paper is extremely delicate. Step 8. Seal the lure. The sealer will eat the tissue paper away, leaving printer ink and foil. Step 9. Catch some fish! Hope that helps. J

Thanks guys. I mulled over getting a meter just to check (now and later). The batteries are less than three months old. I did arc my trolling motor battery during install. I shouldn't think that would damage it badly. The charger has also been working up until now. The batteries have never been drained or dead. I don't quite understand it. Thanks again. J

Hello all. I am looking for a little help from anyone knowledgeable about or owning any of the BPS onboard chargers. My charger is a 5/5 2 bank 10amp total charger. Up until about a week ago, it worked ok (it isn't new, I bought it with the boat). The last few times I hooked it up, the green led just flashed steadily and I heard a clicking noise from the charger. I checked my connections and the fuses at each wire and all looked ok. I have taken the boat out since and everything ran fine. I have ran the boat again since then and again, everything was fine. I used the trolling motor pretty hard and it should need charge by now but nothing. Is it possible it is fully charged still? The batteries are pretty new. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I am afraid to take it out again for fear of the batteries dieing on me. Please help. Thanks J

Other Janns Netcraft www.jannsnetcraft.com is about the best place to get that stuff. I never order one side. The split rings cost about a buck for 25 of any size, so I order a couple of sizes. You will need some good stainless wire (about .031") for hangers and the lips come in many sizes, just choose what you need. Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me via my site in my sig. J

Other, Hey man, I would recommend taking a trip to Michaels or some other hobby store. Buy a good Excel carving knife. Get a good block of balsa there. That stuff is made to carve for models and such. You should have no problems with the wood. Your bill there shouldn't top 20 bucks if you are conservative like me. Second, you are going to have bumps, lumps and such. It is inevitable when working with balsa. The key is to get the rough shape. Once you have that, sand for smoothness. Use a low grit and then work your way down using finer paper. Then come back and we will talk about getting the weights, ties and lips in... J

I agree with Raul. The soft plastics are all great choices. If you put it in the context of competing, then the spinner may help you cover more water, therefore increasing chances of bite. J

Yeah, but you're in Texas with those big Florida Strains!

Thanks K_Mac. Tired of lurking. I guess the lesson here is that we need to take up a bad habit like smoking to distract us just long enough. J

Regardless of what has been caught so far... IMHO opinion, before the next WR is caught, the IGFA needs to divide the category into Florida and Northern strain records. They are recognized sub-species and it needs to be done before the next record so people don't cry foul.

Same here.