Brett's_daddy

Anybody with experience regarding these particular reels?

Okay, what is a Falcon Bucoo trapcaster rod used for? I found one at my local Wal-Mart and it used to sell for $130 but it has been marked down to $25. It has microguides and is a 7ft. Meduim action rod. The price is really appealing but i just wanted to make sure it's a decent rod.

I just wondered what everyone thought about the new Shimano Caenan 150 casting reel? It looks like they totally redesigned it and it can be had new for about $80. Any first hand experienced users want to chime in on it? Is it the best $80 reel you can buy for the money? How about the new Daiwa Fuego 100 which is also in this price range...that is all aluminum and has 12 bearings...how would they compare (I know it isn't always about the number of bearings but the quality of the bearings that really matters)?

I just wondered what peoples views are on 2-piece rods? I have always avoided them as I just can't help but fear losing a big one if I got into it and having the rod come apart. Maybe this is being too paranoid but wondered what other people thought? I'm going to Cabelas soon and have always wanted to be able to fish using swim baits but most rods in my price range (around $100) only go up to 1oz. (Fenwick HMG, HMX) and most 6" swim baits are 1.25oz. to 1.5oz. so the rod wouldn't work the bait as efficiently but I do see that Cabelas has a Fish Eagle 50 heavy spinning rod that says it handles lures from 1/2oz. to 1-1/2oz. but it's a 2-piece rod. To me if you're getting a heavy rod to use swim baits with wouldn't you want the security of it being a 1 piece and not have the potential to come apart on you in the middle of landing a big ol' lunker? Also, on a side note...would you use a size 35 or 40 spinning reel for the 6" swim baits?

I guess i just mean you know how you shop at the grocery store and get the store brand versus the name brand and sometimes it's just as good while other times it's just not the same as the name brand. That's what I'm talking about here with the Cabelas rods. What I'm looking for is a medium-light rod about 7ft. that would be good for trout as well as bass although i do have a medium action rod that I will be using exclusively for bass once the season opens. Not trying to insult anyone...just trying to gather information.

Are Cabelas "house" rods good though?

I see that the Fenwick Silverhawk is on sale for $59 and the Fenwick Fish Eagle is the same price...are either of these rods any good or are they the cheaper knock-offs of the nicer Fenwick's made just for the big chain stores?

What is in your opinion the best swimbait under 1oz.? I love those Savage Gear 3D line through baits but the smallest is 1.25oz. and my rod says it's good for lures up to 5/8oz. so those lures would be too heavy to function efficiently.

Hi all, I am visiting my Dad in Pennsylvania this week and we will of course be hitting up the Cabelas flagship store in Hamburg. I just wondered what's the best bang for your buck multi-species spinning combo for $100?

What chartreuse dip are you talking about?

I saw these in Wal-Mart so I picked up a few packs to try. How do they work?

Nobody has either of these units on their boat and would like to chime in?

Okay, so I'm going to install power trim/tilt on my boat...which of these units is better? The motor it will be lifting is a 40hp Johnson 2-stroke that weighs about 200lbs. They're both within about $50 of each other (Panther is less expensive), the CMC handles up to a 135hp motor while the Panther can handle up to a 55hp motor but honestly I will certainly never put bigger than a 50hp on this boat so that's pretty much a moot point.

The boat I ended up with is a 1990 Sea Nymph 16ft. v-hull side console with a 40hp Johnson outboard and a 50lb thrust MinnKota All Terrain bow mount foot controlled trolling motor. Yes, it's old but the guy I bought off is local and he bought the boat brand new in 1990 and has taken immaculate care of it...the boat has never seen rain! Always greased everything each year in the motor...you can take off the cowl and the motor looks brand new, no rust anywhere, no cracked fuel lines...everything looks immaculate. All of the carpet and decking/floors in the boat is solid and all original...no soft spots anywhere, all gauges work too. It's a really nice boat and it's obvious that this guy babied this thing and really took good care of it (both the batteries and the fish finders always came inside for the winter), when it wasn't in a heated garage it has a full custom cover and the motor even has it's own cover and he never let snow pile on top of it, would go out and brush all the snow off and snow blow all around the trailer every time it snowed. The trailer also looks new, no rust anywhere, new bunk carpets...he also fabricated a Fulton trailer jack with a pneumatic wheel which makes it much easier to move around in the yard. The only thing I'm thinking now of doing is adding a CMC power trim/tilt unit (Bass Pro Shops has a 6 pay plan where you can purchase something over $125 and pay however much you want up front and pay the remaining balance off in 5 months at zero % interest) and just stick with the current fish finders until next year when I have more money .

Okay, so I'm guessing that the fish finders that come with maps pre-loaded onto them will properly show you where the shallows are so you'll have plenty of time to account for them and adjust your trim accordingly? Right now my boat has 2 fish finders...they're just older black and white models and I'd like to upgrade to a color unit with maps and Chirp technology. BTW, obviously you can't go too fast with your trolling motor submerged but how fast would too fast be before you should lift it up?

Okay, say you can only afford 1 fish finder, hypothetically speaking I prefer to have it mounted on the side console so that I could pay attention to the maps of the pond/lake I'm on and avoid shallows and/or hidden obstacles...could I run the transducer cord from my console to my bow mounted trolling motor and attach with a trolling motor mount so that I could see the obstacles/shallows before my outboard gets to them instead of after as with a transom mount transducer?

How about the Garmin Echo 551dv for up front on the bow and maybe a Garmin Striker 4dv for the console? I will have to sell the older Humminbirds first, will have to Google them to see how much they are going for now.

I chatted with Humminbird and they said any of the Helix Sonar models would work by just replacing the head units but if i wanted a DI unit I would need to replace the current transducers with a DI transducer.

Well, I know I would like color and down imaging but other than that I don't think I need a chartplotter or anything . Sticking with Humminbird depends on if I can re-use the transducers...if not then I'll just got with whatever is the best bang for your buck unit with color and DI whichever brand that may be.

Okay, I just bought a used boat and it has 2 Humminbird fish finders on it with one transom mount transducer and one bow mount trolling motor transducer. If I wanted to upgrade these to color models would I have to change out the transducers or could I just swap out the head units? Also, is GPS really necessary on the fish finders if you're just sticking to smaller lakes/ponds and not venturing out onto the ocean or one of the Great Lakes (seems like it usually adds about $100 - $150 to the cost of the unit)?

I don't plan on trolling too much, mostly just sitting/standing and casting.

I think I would enjoy a console more too, I just didn't know if a tiller was so simple to operate that it wouldn't make a difference. How about power trim/tilt...is this a luxury or a must have? I know of a nice boat local but it's a manual trim/tilt which gives me pause. How much of a pain in the rear would it be to always have to reach over the back of the boat to unlatch the motor, lift it up and push the latch back down again each time we come to some shallows?

Point taken, reaffirms my suspicions. Thanks gents!!!

I just don't want to limit myself to smaller lakes/ponds...sure I will be there mostly on ponds 75 - 300 acres but would like to have the ability to go on larger water if we felt like it. This is an example of a tiller steer I've found that looks good...other than the fact it's a tiller steer :). http://albany.craigslist.org/boa/5527808817.html

I've heard before to stay away from buying a boat that has been in saltwater as the saltwater is so corrosive to boat and motor components but should that only apply to a boat that has spent it's entire life in saltwater? What about a boat that has been in both freshwater and saltwater and the owner says that the boat was rinsed with freshwater after every saltwater trip and the motor flushed...would that be okay or should I just stay away from a boat completely if it's ever been in saltwater?