RandySBreth

Cool. I thought I recognized the blue color and the way the scrim shows through the blank in the light.

The ceramics are the way to go on fly rods. I get a lot of guys talking about new lines, rods, leader material, but if you show them ceramic single foots on your rod they freak out, like in the flyfishing bible all rods must have snake guides. Who would put old stainless ring guides on their custom Loomis spinning rod? Anyway, what blank did you use?

My favorite is Table Rock, because it's right down the road, and it's Table Rock! Mastered it? Uh, no.

"There's just something about the AC69MLXF Avid that seems miraculous" The rod my in-law was using is a custom I made on the 7' med/light/fast Avid spinning blank. They are awesome for the money.

I mentioned in another post I see guys using light casting tackle for dropshot a lot. They still seem allergic to superline/leader though. For me, it's never the weight of the rig I'm using, it's the way I have to hold it. Palming a casting reel for more than a few hours is more tiring than letting the weight of a spinning reel hang under with ol' gravity helping, at least for me. I do like the braid/flouro leader. Sensitivity beyond belief. I let my brother-in-law borrow a rod when fishing on Beaver Lake last year. He's a "flourocarbon cures cancer, etc." type. He starts using my 7' med/light spinning rod with 4/10 Fireline with 8 ft. Orvis 3X leader.(about 9.5.lb. test.) and start jerking it about evey ten seconds. When I ask what he's doing, he says he's getting taps but keeps missing them. I cast over near his finesse worm and realize he's feeling cobble rocks on the edge of a gravel flat. He never felt anything like that before. Sounds like you've got a winning set-up.

Ignorant folks at the boat ramp is my #1, but #2 is when I use a fly rod for bass, and someone (who probably thinks they are helping me) yells "Hey, I don't think there are any trout in here." Yeah, I'm casting a frog popper the size of a bird for trout. Dumba@#%@!

I learned to cast a fly rod for bass in Kansas. Just imagine I hate when they don't update the weather like that. Like RW said, I hate wind the worst when it blows upstream, then about when you think you got the boat right the wind stops, then when you try to reposition without the wind, it blows hard again. Aaauuurrrrggg! "Let's double anchor." "In this current?" "Oh yeah. Let's go home."

That river is a little east of my home range and I have never fished it, but I do fish Ozark smallmouth rivers year-round. During the mid/late summer always have a topwater handy, even in mid-day. Buzzbaits, walkers, poppers,and torpedos all work great. Soft jerkbaits like flukes and sticks like senkos ripped and twitched across the surface fast will get you jaw dropping strikes, sometimes 3, 4, or half a dozen smallmouth will charge out at a fast paced topwater. Compact spinnerbaits are great, too. Shallow diving cranks like the Rebel crawfish, the Norman Tiny N, and similar baits are another fun way to cover water and catch lots of fish. If you stick with soft plastics tubes are good, but I never use them this time of year. I try to cover water fast and find bigger fish. If I don't connect with the faster lures in a hole I think has a bigger smallie I will drift a beaver bait texas rigged with just enough weight to tick bottom- usually 1/16th or 1/8th--sometimes up to 1/4 or 5/16 in faster water. Another sleeper is a 4 inch finesse worm texas rigged and worked the same way as the beaver bait. Or I'll let a Fluke drift in the current with a few twitches. Cast at any cover that has deeper water near it, but deeper water in an Ozark river can mean 2-3 foot. To work a soft plastic in the deeper section of a pool try to get on the shallow side and cast upstream at about a 45 degree angle, let the lure drift back in the current and reel in slack as you go, trying to keep in touch with the lure as it swings past you downstream. When it gets more than 45 degrees downstream reel it up and go again. More impotant than even line size is to stay stealthy on the river. If you are in a canoe or jon don't bang tackle around or drop stuff in the bottom. When wading don't splash around and step slowly(gravel crunches and can be heard a long way away). I catch good smallmouth in sections of float streams that other folks report as not having much numbers or size. It's not because I'm some master fisherman, but I am quiet. For more river smallie info than you can stand: http://riversmallies.com/

Although not my main method, I have a couple of tube-like watercaft-one is a kickboat. Fun to use on smaller water. I use a solo canoe more these days, but I also fish Ozark streams more than ponds, and although I have seen guys use 'toons on the river, I paddle a canoe better and can carry more tackle than the 'toon can. I think someone is very limited if they only have a "bass boat", unless they live on the lake. There is as much pond, stream, and horsepower restricted water around me as big Reserviors. I want one of the "stand up " models, too. That would be a fun boat.

There is a lot of opinion going on here but hopefully we can help when folks are really researching a boat.

I flyfish some weedy little lakes and ponds, and bass will eat the "insect helicopters" whenever they are active. I use normal poppers, not dragonfly imitations. On regular tackle, small poppers (like the small Pop-R) w/dressed rear trebles work well. Work with very small constant twitches to make little "rings" like it is stunned, but still trying to move instead of popping it. The usual bank sitters get a good show between me using the fly rod, flippin stick and frog rod, probably looks like I can't make up my mind. I can't. ;D

But that's the real reason I really want the 115 on my boat- to catch more air jumping wakes, eyeballs bouncing and all. It's what summer on Table Rock is for.. No, seriously, I was in a 21 ft Skeeter w. 225 Vmax on it this spring, and well, we couldn't keep a$#es to seat being boat #118 in a 200 boat tournament, we hit a wake coming out near Kimberling City so hard my boater would have pulled the kill switch--- if he had remembered to put in on! Served as a good reminder. His speedo was broke, maybe we were going faster than 70?

Fish Chris that's an awesome aluminum. It's funny, when and if I get the funds to do so, I would love to upgrade my motor to a 115, and paint my rig Advantage Max-4 camo! Glad to see I'm not the only one. I need to shoot a better picture of mine and edit my post w/it in there. .

The dual livewells aren't needed. Look at the one inset picture, the livewells have removable dividers just for that. If you filled both front and back livewells with both holding 23 gallons, that's more than 400 lbs. of water. My '03 has a rear divided livewell just like the new '06 170 and its more than enough for two limits. I can get 50+ mph depending on load and water conditions. Full livewell and partner in the boat right dead on 50- by myself and half tank of fuel about 55 mph. I would figure a 75 on that boat would run 40mph, maybe a touch more.

The 175 just has less rod storage, (that may not matter unless you carry 20 rods like me) and the dual livewells are really for the crappie guys. Oh, and it says "Crappie" on the description. ;)Sorry, couldn't resist. (Just look at the page on the website you have linked.) It still looks like a good layout. I've fished out of a few Trackers, but I think the Lowes just ride and fish better. I'm just sorry the new 170's are only rated for a 75 hp. max. My '03 is rated for a 115 but with the 90 on it runs well. I'd try to get the 75hp for either one you choose, but that's just me.

I see the Lowe is the crappie model, and the Tracker is the bass version. Any reason why you're not interested in the Lowe 170 (bass)? Or is that just what's available? It's not the same boat, but I own a 2003 Lowe 170 W, so if there are any question about how I like it, just ask. http://loweboats.com/2005Web/fishboats/stinger/170W.html

Sharpies rock. I use them on almost every hard bait I own.

Sounds like you're just not getting the hook set. Sometimes a soft plastic bait will ball up no matter what you do.

I hate to say it but ESPN treats the outdoors as what it really is: A niche market to fill. I'm fairly sure the marketing meeting goes something like this: Guys watch field sports.(Football, Baseball etc.)Guys also do what? Hmmmm? Oh yeah, they hunt and fish, too. Lets cover some of that. Won't that push out prime time NBA? No, we will do it on the weekend, weekend mornings. We will even cover the "big" (HAHA) events live, unless a tennis match runs long..........Oh, and we can run it right after some other odd event, like "competitive eating".

I was thinking more about my cruising speed, too. Saves gas, and your @#$, I mean back, also! My "Little Blue" '03 Lowe 170 w/ Evinrude 90 does 51-52 speedo, 54-55 GPS. But at about 35 mph or so that 'Rude is so quiet you can talk w/out yelling, more important it just sips gas. On my break-in weekend on Beaver last year I thought my gas gauge was broke 'til it moved down a notch the second morning!

The Wolak thing WAS from Loudmouth bass last year. I think the reason I liked it was because the silly stuff. They had "hardware" Jason Quinn dressed up like a pirate, then when he beat them he made them "walk the plank". I know, I know, "real" bass fisherman never smile, are too hardcore to laugh and it's combat out there. But they probably canned it because Kumer beat B.A.S.S up for the reasons we do, every week. And that is what I really liked.

Holy moly, talk about markup! The same dealer has the Eagle 185 here w/ 90 2 stroke DI : http://www.csoutboard.com/G3BOATS/G3%20EAGLE%20185.htm For low 20s you could get a HP 180 w/115 4 stroke: http://www.csoutboard.com/G3BOATS/G3%20HP%20180.htm Center City Marine in Springfield, MO is known to mark up pretty high, and I couldn't get a quote, but I was told an Eagle 175 they have in stock w/ a 90 would be "under 18" and the HP 180 w/150 4 stroke would be "low-mid 20s"

What would you expect from the maroons who canceled "Loudmouth Bass"?

I like the G3 boats, you are stuck w/ yamaha as standard but that isn't really a bad thing. I looked at a Eagle 175 before I got a deal on my Lowe. Tried to find a used Xpress-good luck! Anyway....this is with a 50hp. http://www.csoutboard.com/G3BOATS/G3%20EAGLE%20165.htm

I got a good tip from one of the Humminbird reps at the "Fishing Classic" a couple of years ago and skipped the little unit and bought this: http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=67163&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults Great for canoe trips, and I actually use it in my big boat to locate rock piles and brushpiles without motoring over them. Get close w/gps and then cast the unit over the spot to make sure. Pretty high tech. One downside is the base unit runs on AA batteries, and they burn out after 8-10 hours of use in cold weather, but last a couple days in warm. Keep the castable unit dry, it works on a wet switch so if it is wet, it runs. Cost 20 bucks to replace them but they last about as many hours as advertised.