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I'm glad you saved the hawk! Somebody caught an owl; I think they had put a coat or a towel over him, put gloves on, so they could free him.

Those of you that have a boat of any kind, what have you found that you need to have onboard? Any tools or gadgets that you feel are necessary? I just bought a used boat, need to equip it for some gadgets to help with whatever but also, you never know when you need to repair something. What tools? I recently fished with a buddy a few times and two things come to mind. A troll motor shear pin and also a fresh troll motor rope, the one you let your troll motor down off the front of the boat. He broke both. I keep forgetting to buy a lure retriever telescoping pole. Needed one last fishing trip. I also needed a wrench to fit the nuts on my main motor battery. Gadgets such as clippers, scissors, etc. I also recently bought a long hook remover to remove hook from fish's mouth. I also lost an anchor recently; the rope broke. Should have replaced that rope.

In what ways? Thanks.

chasenfish, nice rig there. What's under the carpet? Can you unload your boat by backing that trailer into the water like a boat trailer, is there a way to "waterproof" the hubs or whatever?

I have a 6940 for bass fishing and it seems fine. What else would the 6940 be for? I don't find it too heavy. To the OP... I bought my Berkley Lightning Rod Shock spinning rod at Walmart. They were $40 there and $50 at BPS. I bought it at Walmart for the $3 extended warranty. If you can get the President (or any reel) there with such a cheap extended warranty, that would be good. My rod is a 7' medium and I like the combo I have. I fish a lot of soft plastics and it works well. Supposedly the Shock series rods were designed for Superline and that is what I have on mine.

Good gracious, do you feel scared going 80mph in a bassboat, lol? On a practical note, would a 300hp motor burn less fuel going 50mph versus, say, a 150hp? Man, going that fast, better have everything tied down, lol.

I don't know how fast a boat with a 250hp motor would go, but I'm not sure I want to go that fast on the water, lol. And I used to race motorcycles.

I was not aware of Power Pro's Super Slick. Sounds good, I wonder why anyone would use the original PP. I like to see my line... hi vis is good. Any disadvantages?

A bassboat with 115hp motor will go, what, 45mph? Is that fast enough? If you favor a big motor, say, something over that, why? It gives more speed but drinks more gas, costs more to buy, is heavier. Do you like a big motor? Do you just want to go faster, lol? I may be getting a larger bassboat sometime in the future. I bought a 1997 Bass Tracker with 40hp motor and it fishes, lol. Just wanting to learn more as I shop for the dream boat. Not sure about these huge motors.

What's your favorite braid and why? I think my next purchase will be a high visibility line. I fish mostly soft plastics. I guess 40 lb. is strong enough. I let the Bass Pro guy talk me into 65 lb. braid awhile back. I don't remember what he said, lol, but I bought it. Maybe I'm wrong, it just looks like fish could see the line. But the water I fish is certainly not clear, it's stained. I am also going to try a leader.

I hope some of you can share your knowledge of how a foot-controlled trolling motor helps you enjoy fishing more. Wondering what the state of the art can do. I have seen the video of the Minn Kota where you can launch your boat and then have it drive itself back to the dock with the trolling motor. That's cool. I note that some of these have GPS and you can fish an area and have it remember the track and later, I guess you can just have it go on the same track and you don't have to do anything? I think I read where you can also have it track a certain depth contour if it is synced to a lake map? How can a modern trolling motor help you enjoy fishing more? I know one thing. My buddy bought a new Minn Kota for his old boat and it's awesome. It is so quiet and the 80 lbs thrust will move his boat quickly when you want to go, and there is zero slop when you activate it, it's smooth and quiet. Mine has too much slop.

I am the OP... how can I tell if this unit is working? When I plug it in, nothing happens. Should I see a light or should I hear it "running?" When I plug in my Black n Decker charger, I can hear it. Plus, it has lights. Should my onboard charger make a noise?

Hmmm... my #1 wish... hookup after a bite. Those Trokar hooks are so sharp! Anything that is more apt to get it out of the plastic, into the fish's mouth, I'm interested. I'd like to see a pic of a snelled hook rigged Texas style.

You said "snell," does that mean snell knot? Is that a knot around the hook? If so, why? I think I used that hook with Texas rig Fluke and had good hookups. I just used Palomar knot.

Can you recommend a 2-bank one with that?

Really, I thought that was the tail!

Why, I'm curious.

I would like to know the answer, too. Hookups are my #1 concern; whatever is best for that is what I would favor unless it is a major pain to fish.

Here is some info for OP...

Curious... how can you tell where to whack him. And with what, a small hammer?

I want to thank you, I found it! This is by Charging Systems International and the label is red/black and it says "5 Amp Pro Charger." There are two black wires coming out of the bottom and one is a standard 3-prong male connector that would go into my extension chord. I assume that the other wire goes to the troll motor battery, a one bank? It's cramped back there, I will have to dig around and see. Can you recommend a way to figure out if this charger is working? What is best strategy for recharging, immediately upon return from lake or what? Should I run the battery down to a certain point and not go below that? I'd have to have some kind of gauge to tell, if so. Is it bad to run a troll motor battery down a long way? This is a one-battery 12-volt setup. (Plus one for the big motor.) Weird, we had a big thunderstorm, over an inch of rain and my boat was uncovered (had the cover drying out!) and got water in it. I went to check my boat and the troll motor was just a spinning! Could extra water have caused a short to kick it on or how could that happen? I had to unplug it to get it go off. Then, I pulled the drain plug on the boat. I couldn't see it but there was quite a bit of water that drained out, drained for about 3 minutes. Lastly... if this onboard charger will work, it requires me to connect my long extension chord from the outside electrical outlet at my house. But if it doesn't work, there isn't much difference in dragging the same extension chord and connecting my very small Black & Decker 6 amp charger to the battery. What am I missing? Is there another advantage to the onboard charger?

What does "internal jig" mean? What is "stupid style?" Thanks.

Talking about a "rod," what does this mean?

I bought a 1997 Bass Tracker, 40hp Tracker/Mercury motor and troll motor is a Minn Kota or Motor Guide Model 30 with 37 lb thrust. The boat has an onboard charger but the seller said it doesn't work. For the life of me, I canNOT find the plug where I'd plug in the extension cord. I have looked all over that boat. I think it says 5 something on the charger. If I replace it, with what? And what is the best strategy for recharging the troll motor battery?

I love Zoom flukes. But I want to try a Berkley because it has Powerbait. What jerk bait is most like a Zoom fluke in action? What is your favorite Berkley soft plastic?