SHaugh

That bait is my go to for anything swimming:

this is the area south of the launch: This is the area east of the launch:

I'm going to be fishing next weekend and camping at Cowford Campground near Decatur on Wheeler Lake. I thought it might be fun to see how other people prepare for fishing a new area based on these excellent maps. Here's a link to Navionics web app: https://webapp.navionics.com/#@12&key=cmurEh_mrO Campground is the 2 boat ramps in this view. I never seem to have much success when I fish the big river. I'd really appreciate for somebody to look at the area map on Navionics and tell me where the best locations near that launch would be. I'm definitely going to fish those docks, but if you look around that area you'll see there's lot of humps and other structure to choose from... Where would you go first ? I'll post some other screen shots..

For something as small as jig heads just get a decent ladle and heat it up with a propane torch outside. You don't need to spend money to have fun with a simple hobby like that. But you do need to wash your hands before lunch...

The type of boat doesn't matter as much as the relative condition and quality of the boats available at the right price... skimmed craigslist in your area and found this one.... looks like a sweet deal for only $1300.... https://vermont.craigslist.org/boa/5482035850.html My point is that age, condition, maintenance, and price are much more important than design issues or what it's made out of. My advice is to be most concerned with finding a well maintained good quality boat.

My advice would be to invest in a fish locator so you can better understand the lake. You should be trying to spot the underwater structure that could be holding larger fish.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/uploads/gallery/album_1558/tn_gallery_50357_1558_56816.png Red and black should tell you if the motor is burnt out or not.

It's unlikely that any kind of adhesive is going to stick to that trunk liner type of looped fabric. Did you try to stick a piece of Velcro hook directly to it? That fabric is made just like the fuzzy side of Velcro. That usually works great and will hold a lot of weight.

That looks like a good one.. wish I lived closer to it.

I could very well be a top heavy old dork, but my advice would be to not assume that any kayak is stable enough to stand on until you've tried it yourself in wind and maybe a slight chop. Don't spend $1000 on something till you're absolutely sure it does what you think it's going to.

take it apart till you can jump right to the 2 wires going direct to the motor. that should tell you if the motor works.

Standing in a Kayak is a learned skill. It will take practice to become good at it. There is no magic version of one that is rock stable. A lot of people don't do it simply because it's uncomfortable to constantly be maintaining your balance like that... this video is a good example. If you don't think you'd like standing for extended periods on that board you probably should consider a more stable type of boat or remain sitting imo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkGICEaMPe8

I've been looking for campgrounds in the mid south where you can beach your boat right near your campsite and leave it there for days. It's really nice to get up pre dawn and walk right down to your boat to begin fishing. It's also nice to be able to go out for a couple hours at night without having to launch a boat. My favorite place so far is Piney Grove campground on Bay Springs Lake, MS. http://www.recreation.gov/camping/piney-grove/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=71356 Beautiful campground with sites all along the shoreline. I really love Bay Spring Lake too. it has wild, sandy shoreline all the way around it. It has excellent spotted bass fishing and incredible crappies.. see the photo below... Does anyone else have favorite spot where you can camp and fish like that ?

Test your loop fabric on the lids with a piece of Velcro hook. Most loop type materials holds Velcro very well. Just stick the adhesive Velcro hook to the back of the drywall edging. You will be able to take them off and move them around if my guess is correct.

This is actually the best idea. If you can figure out how to live without a gasoline motor it's the best possible solution. 2 cycle outboard motors are notoriously finicky and poorly designed machines. with the advent of modern electric motors they really are almost obsolete. Unless you can afford a brand new 4 stroke or maybe a propane motor, ask yourself if you really need it or not ?..... couldn't you just spend a few more minutes travelling and use an electric ? I fish a lot of lakes that are electric only. Quiet... peaceful... reliable..... non polluting.... I never bring an outboard unless I absolutely need it.

If construction is not your thing there have been plenty of ideas of combining a used pontoon boat and a mini camper... Buy one of these for about $3000: and find a used pontoon boat.... hire somebody to cut the trailer off and weld the box to the pontoon frame. You'll still have plenty of deck fore and aft to make into a decent bass boat layout. This is the ideal IMO.. The Aqua Casa. http://www.berkeley-engineering.com/AquaCasaHouseboat.html

Why not consider making your own ? There's lots of interest in micro campers and tiny houses going on these days... a tiny houseboat would be pretty cool imo.... Check out this guys campers... something like that built on the deck of an 18 foot pontoon would be easy to do... http://casualturtlecampers.com/

Nice fish... makes me wish I never moved away from Minnesota. That's what I miss the most and can't replicate down here in TN.... There's nothing like that extra adrenaline of knowing there are monsters down there...... I see people complaining about them and can't understand it.... come on down south and fish without em for a while... you'll see what I mean.

It is an interesting experiment.... youtube of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzVAnRWfweU My guess is that a pizza bag works kind of like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KwyftaLT-k As long as your attacker isn't wearing an 8" thick bag with 3 pizzas in it, I guess you should be ok with something that does penetrate 4 layers of denim though... https://www.youtube....h?v=97sjv11yesc

Roadwarrior, I'm obviously not an expert. That was my first time using them. We were in near still water at the mouth of Limestone bay for part of the day... the minnows are so strong it amazed us.. just given free line they would swim deep.. I'm sure they were down 15 feet or more... they seemed to want to find the bottom. We talked to the owner of the bait shop and that was his recommendation. No weight .. just hook them between the dorsal and tail... Like I said the experience was so new to me we really didn't have much opportunity to experiment with other techniques. The size he sells is the smaller one.. inshore size....about 3" but very heavy bodied.. very hard bodies and scales.. you actually have to pick off a scale with the hook just to penetrate the body. I'm so used to mushy minnows that was really different as well.. impossible for these things to come off.. even on a long cast when hooked through the body..... The hooks seemed to hardly bother them.. when you put them in the water they just flat out full speed headed for deeper water... and didn't quit.... for easily an hour in some cases...amazing endurance... other techniques didn't come to mind..... you simply felt like you were about to get a bite at any second. They call it free lining I learned later when I googled them: http://www.blacksalty.com/blacksalty.htm Have you used them before ? Was it my imagination ? 00 Mod, Thanks for the invite.. I'm not sure when I'll make it that far west....I hope to some time this winter.. I'll message you when I know something..

Decatur AL is pretty far... right near I 65 south. They're mostly used for catfish, but we caught several nice smallies on them. The bait shop was called Townson bait I think... right over the bridge. He wanted to sell us a pound only but we talked him into half a pound.... $12 I think.... That's why I was hoping to find another shop that would sell them in smaller quantities... We did best just hooking them in the body near the tail and just letting it free swim... seems like it would be the perfect bait for winter monsters...

Yes I saw that you can order online, but way too many for me. There's a bait shop right on the south side of the bridge in Decatur that sells them... expensive but worth it.. 1 minnow can last all day and through several catches... very firm bodies and incredible energy.... just constant motion and action..... If I was going to try to catch a monster I'd have one of those on the hook as a first choice. I was hoping there were other places that sell them up toward Pickwick.. ?

Any of you guys ever tried Black Salty minnows ? Any worries about them being goldfish / non native ? We tried some from a place in Decatur last time we went to Wheeler.. they were extremely impressive performers.. and the perfect size for bigger fish... lasted forever even hooked through the back.. strong swimmers... like no minnow I've ever seen before...

It's really well engineered. And it looks like they've added enough keel weight to keep it stable. I've built a lot of ultra light one man boats: I tried round designs a couple times for the obvious benefits, but I could never overcome that feeling of instability that was constantly there in a round boat. In a conventional boat you have a front to back axis that is reliably stable.. you know that the boat will only rock side to side... not front to back. Your body learns to rely on that stability. When you have a round shape waves can move you in any direction. Whatever direction a wave comes from you are going to rock in that direction. Hard to explain but it takes a lot of getting used .... I stopped trying to build a round boat when I realized that by the time I made it wide enough and deep enough to be stable it was much larger than a rectangular boat would ever need to be. Another way to envision that is to imagine a rectangle with the corners cut off. Those corner are exactly the best part of a boat... that's where your stability comes from.

Bed liner or textured paint is good for traction areas. For other parts there are plenty of people who will tell you that you wasted your time using anything but marine grade epoxies... But I could never understand putting $200 worth of paint on a $500 boat. There are also proponents of just using the cheap stuff... Gloss rustoleum or similar. But there is a middle ground that almost nobody ever mentions... Automotive paints. 2 part urethane paints that are simple to get and use. They go on super easy and get diamond hard.. just like your car.... Cars are the ultimate painted surfaces.. it's surprising how few people have used or understand these paints. Go to NAPA... look at the Crossfire line of paints.... Talk to the people in the store and tell them what you're doing... you can have it mixed to a million different colors.. metallic ... whatever you want.. just pick it out of the car color books. Get an inexpensive HVLP gun or just use a Preval sprayer... you wont be sorry if you try it. Nothing I've found performs like those paints. The coverage is amazing too... you can probably paint a whole boat with a quart or 2.. http://www.martinsenour-autopaint.com/products/system/crossfire-overall-refinish-system