RHuff

Well here goes.. Planned to travel to fish a lake in Virginia that is located about 2 hrs from my house.. Left at 7 and planned on getting to the water around 9am to fish til dark on Sat evening.. Was about 30 min away from the lake and the dreaded stomach makes the sound.. No big deal so I pull off at the next exit.. The only thing around is a McDonald so I tell myself RR break and breakfast no big deal.. I get there and it’s doors locked/drive thru only.. So I say ok I’ll just go at the ramp.. Get to the ramp and there are 100 trailers there.. Sat morning tourny.. Great... I prep the boat for launch and walk over and the bathrooms are locked up.. Great.. Trip to the woods.. So I launch.. Been on the water without a sniff of a bite.. going thru my checklist and BAM.. There pops the Game Wardens.. LUCKILY everything was good.. They check my license and safety equipment and all checks out... Have a good day sir.. Fish 2 more hours.. No bites.. Fish the next 4 hours.. No bites.. Pull up on a small boat with a dude and his girl early 20s in a small john boat.. The girl catches 2 fish right as I pass by.. I change lures to what she throws.. Nothing for 30 minutes.. Here is where it gets ugly.. I crank up to ride down the lake and the motor won’t turn over.. Dead Cranking Battery.. I open my bilge to try to jump start from my trolling battery and both batteries are halfway under water.. What the crap.. I start pumping gallon after gallon of water out...After an hour’s troll I make it back to another ramp that is halfway up the lake away from where I launched... I had to tie my boat off and bum a 20 min ride from some kid to the other ramp to get my truck to drive back to load my boat up.. I left the pump on to keep the water out while I’m gone so I have to troll the nose up to the trailer and get out in the water in my clothes to load my boat up.. When I get the boat loaded and pull the plug I noticed a big crack in the hull in the seem of the weld on the right side of the transom.. I say F this day and make the 2 hour drive home... Finally get the boat parked and as I walk around to plug my charger in to recharge my dead batteries I notice my stupid trailer license plate apparently blew off somewhere along the way home... What a freaking day.. all for not a single bite..

Have you had one? What went wrong? How bad was it? Was it as bad as it gets? Could it have been worse? Let’s hear it.. Mine was officially yesterday and when I get my temper cooled I’ll share what happened to me...

There is a way that you can look at maps on google earth and then put a mark on there to identify the longitude and latitude coordinates of it. Then you can save it to your hard drive and convert the file to the type of file that can be read in chartplotters. You think upload it to your chip and then upload the chip into the chartplotter to upload the files. I have done it before with my Garmins. I saved like a dozen waypoints once time by viewing things I wanted to fish. I can't remember the steps on how I did it but I'll tell you where you can find it. Look up "Fish The Moment" on YouTube. He posted a video on how to do it a couple of years back. It may be titled Google Earth Hacks or something along those lines....

Not a bass topic...but man in WV snags in a 67lb grass carp on 2lb line with light tackle.... http://wvmetronews.com/2020/03/14/warden-lake-produces-yet-another-record-breaking-carp/

I tend to categorize topwater lures into 5 basic categories.... others may do it different but it's what I do... 1. Buzzbaits/Whopper Plopper/Jitterbugs 2. Poppers 3. Walkers 4. Wake Baits 5. Frogs Each can catch bass effectively if used under the right circumstance.... If I could narrow it down to which one has produced the most and biggest fish for me it would have to be #3 Walkers...

You can also put the throttle arm into neutral by pushing in the mercury button below the arm and pumping it forward a couple of times to give it a little extra gas if it’s having a hard time starting...

Been looking for a year and a half now about trading in my current boat. I had been down to Anglers Choice in Martinsville VA and looked at a few. I really liked the Ranger rt198p. They had several of them rigged up and they are asking $39,500 for the 2020 models which is just too much for my budget. I had my mind pretty much made up to settle for a rt188p with the 115 ProXS. They wanted $31,500 for one that I liked. Last night I casually visited a Bass Pro with the family and as I made a quick pass through their showroom I noticed they had a rt198p in the corner. I went over and looked at it and low and behold, it is a 2018 leftover. They had it on clearance marked down to $28,500. It has a Garmin Echomap 73sv flush mounted at the console, a Minn Kota Fortrex trolling motor, and a Mercury 150 Pro XS Optimax. It is a matte white with a charcoal fiberglass console and center storage box. This boat is exactly what I have been looking for. I don't mind one bit that it's a 2018 leftover and that it has the 2-stroke Mercury on it. Also, the single axle trailer would be better for me because it would be easier to move it around in the garage I store it in during the winter. I scheduled an appointment for Monday to take my boat in to let them look at it and offer me a trade in value. If I get the offer I expect to get I am planning on dropping about $3,000 on top of it to get the price of the new boat to around $20,000 which would in turn be almost half the price of the 2020 for a 2 year old, brand new boat that has never left the show room floor. I feel like this deal might have dropped into my lap and that it's just too good to pass up.

That's where I found those areas from reading that I was planning on visiting Palatka this spring and fishing for a few days until I realized that Trout Creek is a lot closer to my relatives than Palatka is. I posted looking for some input from locals.

My family has a few farm ponds right on the GA/FL line that I will bank fish some too. Heck if I can get my boat in there I may launch and troll around some, but I really have my heart set on some St. John's giants this spring LOL

Thanks Mike.. My Mom is from Jax and still have family in the area.. Gonna be spending 3 weeks down there in Brunswick GA for work so looking to hit that area up on the weekends..

Anyone familiar fishing it near St. Augustine near Trout Creek and Six Mile Creek? Planning on going down there this spring looking at putting in at Trout Creek and fishing that area for a couple of days.....

Old thread..BUT.. Any luck fishing North of Palatka near Trout Creek or Six Mile Creek?

I usually flip right in the heart of the cover first and then in front of it, behind it, to the left of it, then to the right of it lol

Garmin Vibe

Thanks A-Jay!!

Phantom Brown or Phantom Green?

DSG hasn't been the same since they fired the PGA Pros that were staffed at each store without cause and no notice a few years ago.....

I'm thinking of going with the Ultrex 80/45 US2 and the Echomap 73cv with Maps at the bow... I just need help figuring out how to mount the transducer and run the wiring so that it doesn't get messed up....

This is the same setup I run at my console.. Are you happy with the xi5? How did you mount your transducer? I have been told that an external transducer can’t work because if the xi5 or ultrex spins it will wrap/break the transducer chord.

Should I mount the external transducer to the base of the ultrex instead of using the universal 2D that is built in??

Most definitely

On what trolling motor/fish finder set up to install.. I own a 2007 Triton Aluminum VT17 and I currently run a motorguide 12 volt Trolling Motor with a single trolling battery. I’m not sure if my boat is prewired for a 12 or 24 volt system. It seems there is an extra hookup for a batter that I don’t use (I only use my cranking battery and single trolling battery). Anyways the wife agreed on a budget of $3500 for me to upgrade my trolling motor and to add a fish finder to my bow. I run a Garmin Echomap 73sv on my console with no graph up front. I was hoping someone more knowledgeable can give me some ideas on what trolling motor/graph to install up front. I have maps, 2D, clearvu, and sidevu on my console and I have gotten pretty good with using them but I’d really like to have maps, 2D, and clearvu/downview at the bow as well... Also, what would I need to do in order to upgrade to 24 volt (if in fact my boat is only wired for 12 volt)?

Anyone got the scoop on the dates for 2020?

Being from WV and as an avid WVU fan I love it, man. You guys do a great job representing. They need to get you guys recognized at a football game this year.....

How do you guys fish them? Just drag it along the bottom?