fishnkamp

webertime you are right the Phoenix 721 is awesome and but even if he can find one slightly used it probably will be outside his budget, if so a new 618 is going for $35 000 so it would leave him some room for upgrades. Either way I am amazed how well they make their boats. You can tell that true competitive anglers are behind the designs. Things that are important are where they should be and extras are added as well.

You are better off taking to a place that does boat upholstery. Are you in need of the third seat, I am sure you have read on other postings I remove my middle seat in most of my boats. I only fish 2 people and hate walking on the seats. I prefer to have a carpeted step or even making a storage box/ step.

Zeeter I am curios, could your budget expand from the Pro Guide V16 to the Pro Guide Pro V 175? If so the difference in price is roughly $4525.00, but it means your boat size increases from a 16 foot boat with a 70 inch bottom and a 90 hp max limit to a 16' 11" boat with a 82 inch bottom and a 115 hp limit. I do not care about the bigger engine or how fast it can go I am thinking of the safety the bigger boat , 1 foot longer and 1 foot wider means stability in BIG water situations. Otherwise I understand the budget rules. I am sure that the V16 will work for you fine. There are a tons of Tracker dealers including our Bass Pro, here in Baltimore, selling them. Make sure to pick up a few options like the have them move the Hook 3 depth finder to the front deck. Install a trolling motor transducer. Next have them install a Lowrance Elite TI in its place at the console. You will only be doing it the first time you get the boat out trust me. I would order the versa trac fishing rod holder option, great for cat fishing, stripers etcetera. Also get a cover. Good Luck. We still need to get out whenever I get clearance from the Doctors.

Consider launching at Leesylvania State Park, drop your trolling motor and fish it. You certainly can run into Neabsco creek, Powells Creek or run over to Mattawoman Creek on a good day. Next consider launching in the Occoquan River, fish the marina, down wood as you go up river then the bridges as well as the Belmont Bay grass beds, and there are several creeks leading into Belmont Bay. Try launching at Occoquan Regional Park in Lorton.

I would also be prepared to fish some jerkbaits if you find some schooling fish.

Okay first understand this about the lake there are like 4 rivers that feed into the lake and two enter over waterfalls. Also he main river enters the lake from the south and leaves out the north through a dam. So you go south to go up river. It took me a bit to get used to it. That s okay the fish in my avatar is a 7 pound Kentucky from Center Hill Lake. God I love that lake. I am not sure where on the lake you are camping but locate the Hurricane Bridge on route 56. Just before you cross that bridge, driving south from route 40, you will find the Corp of Engineers has a public launch. If you boat up to that area or launch there look directly across from that ramp. There is a terrific bluff wall fish that section. I will load a couple of pictures . The bluff is a stair step wall. Also fish the bridge abutments, sides, front and back current breaks. The Kentuckies love vertical structures and will set up quite a bit in front and all around behind the pilings. Use rattle traps, reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers with swimbait jig heads in 1/4, 3/8, or 1/2 ounce. They liked the Houdini and White Trash. Also the baits like Berkley Powerbait Swim shads in 7/16 ounce. Go check out Taylor Creek. Fancher Falls is an 80 foot waterfall, now you may not be able to baot all the way up to it but that waterfall should add oxygen so the fish may be more active there. That would also go for Burgess Falls, which is located on the Falling Water River. That waterfall is a series of falls dropping down 250 feet so again that part of the river may provide better water temps and oxygen levels. One last note fish tight to any red clay banks you see. During the summer crayfish spawn on red clay banks so in the evenings I would be throwing a jig/craw around those banks. One area to try would be between the mouth of Mine Lick Creek go through the s bends, try the shore opposite Mine Lick right where the hook is just before you get to Camp Relax. I would also go on down to the Narrows, down toward Eagle Creek and all around Davies island. Man good Luck I love that lake. Make sure you throw shakey head worms, swimbaits tx rigged worms, and add Ned Rigs from ZMan. I got introduced to those critters this spring on Dale Hollow and those do nothing looking rigs caught more big 5 to 7 pounders during that week. They were the most incredible finesse bait for finicky fish. Check out some pics from that bluff by the bridge.

Also add the Ned Rig from ZMan, the heads are called ShroomZ and the bodies are called TRD ( the real deal). They are a true finesse style bait. We used them in Kentucky. on Dale Hollow Lake, right after spawn this April.The big smallies were extremely finicky and they ate these up while ignoring other baits. Another real good bait is a Reaction Innovation Skinny Dipper with a 1/8 or 3/16 belly weighted swimbait hook. Both of these baits require very little action to be added jut let then seductively fall and shake or hp, maybe lift again and let fall. This is best done on a 6'6" or 7 foot medium light spinning rod. My guide put us on the Ned Rig deal and I was amazed how many 6 pound smallies I caught that week on them. We fished them with 1/10 ounce heads even in grass in 10 to 20 feet of water.

If you look hard enough you can find a deal on a Diawa Tatula right around that price. The other Diawa to look for is an Exceller. An Exceller cast virtually the same as a Tatule and it is just as tough. It normally retails for $100 but I have picked up 2 this spring for $60. So far this spring I sold some BPS Extremes and replaced them with 4 Tatulas ( two were type Rs) and 2 Excellers. I do not see a big difference in the Tats and the Exceller.

Good idea and maybe he had a brain fart and forgot the plug or has a cracked hose possibly feeding the livewell.

what area do you live in, just the general area. I know a few guys that might be able to hook up and show you how to run it.

Pure fishing must be the parent company I guess.

This is standard operating procedure. Your new boat is going to stick its nose up in the air a bit and then climb up on top of the water , we call it coming out of the hole. If you start to trim up ( and how much is part of the learning curve) as the boat climbs up the boat will level off and as the speed increases it may need a little more trim up. If at that point you trim back down (I mean a bit ) you will see the bow start coming down to much and plow water and the steering wheel will be hard to turn. As you slowly trim up you will feel the boat lift up and at a certain point the boat will get light on the wheel. With that boat it will take a little experience just playing with it to learn its habits. One thing is after you figure out how the boat likes to run you will also know how to handle it when you need to come off plane quickly ( I usually give it a touch of trim down) and I want to gain a little extra control. Looking at mt Lowe Stinger 170 with a 75 hp 2 stroke Merc I have a top end of 35 mph. Now I have purposely given up about 4 to 5 mph by adding a hydrofoil and then choosing a prop that concentrates on a great level holeshot and running rough water. I run on tidal water that is most often got waves that I have to deal with. Anyway, my boat setup will allow me to punch it out of the hole using full trim down then quickly trim up about 1/8 of the gauge to 1/4 depending on how fast I am going. So I need less up trim to keep going at say 12 mph ,which happens to be the minimum speed I can stay up on plane, then if I am going at say 25 mph. The engine is running about 3700 to 4000 to run at 25 mph which is a really nice speed in rough choppy water. The trim will be a bit below 1/4 up from the all down position on the gauge. If I push to full 5200 rpm I need to add a little more up trim to just above the 1/4 up position on the gauge.At this point I will be doing around 33 to 35. Too much trim will do to things, it can cause the engine to loose water pressur ewhich can cause engine damage and it will result in loss of speed so the trick is to find a balance. I believe you need to drive with a tachometer, and water pressure gauge, and it helps to have a gps fish finder to accurately judge speed.

Were you dealing with Abu garcia with your Villain rod or FFO.The difference may be FFO policy not Abu's policy. BY the way I fish an original Veritas 7 ft MH for m y frogs and it works great. I know they have a specific frog rod now in the Veritas 2 rod series but they did not have it back then. i got it when the new series was coming out and Dicks decided to clear them out for $30 bucks but I also caught them on a 20 percent off store manager special day so I paid about $25. Man it paid me to stop in tha day.

What did you spool it on? Is it a baitcaster of spinning reel? I automatically assumed a baitcaster. What are the specks on the rod? Medium, MH, H what is the taper Moderate. Fast, extra fast? Knowing this maybe we can give you an idea what will work best with that combo.

First I always spool up the reel 1/2 the way with 14 pound mono which makes it cheaper to spool but also makes sure the braid does not spin on the spool. That causes the reel to act like the drag is not working. Braid and fluoro is not cheap to just waste, so some things like spinnerbaits, carolina rigs and jigs I tie directly but really using a good leader made of say P Line CXX moss green in 10 pound test helps add abrasion resistance and the addition of a quality Fluoro can help make the line disappear in clearer water. Remember each time you cut a lure off and retie you are using up expensive braid instead of cheaper mono or copoly line. When I use fluoro line for a leader I am using up the remainder of a spool after spooling say two reels.

First i looked at the ST Croix Mojo Jerkbait rod. That rod should throw jerkbaits well, but also small crankbaits like a KVD 1.5, most of your wake baits, rattle traps and shallow square bills. Even like a Rapale that digs down to say 3 to 5 feet. Next i think you should look at a 7 foot MH rod that covers a lot of ground. Take a serious look at several rods. Look at a Dobyns 703C or 704C.The 703 is a workhorse taking care of a lot of bottom contact baits, some spinnerbaits even chatterbaits and hollow bodied swimbaits like Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers. The 704 will handle some of those same baits but also bigger football head jigs on deep ledges, heavier carolina rigs etc. Next look at Irod Genesis II IRG744C. It is a 7'4" MH 1/4 to 3/4. It is as versatile as they come. I own several Irods Genesis II rods both spinning and baitcasting and they are really light have, nice balance and good components. If the 7'4 is too long look at a slightly heavier 7 footer the IRG704C. It is a great rod as well, I have a fried that loves that rod. Next I recommend you call Powell..I had purchased a Powell Max 683CEF rod. Now this was done after reading the TackleTour review of it. They said it was one of the most versatile rod they ever tested it, and I agree it is as versatile rod as I have ever owned. They discontinued it when they changed to the Max3D series, but the owner has reintroduced the rod in the 3D series because of customer requests. You need to call and ask because it has not even been put on their website yet. That rod would cover lots of techniques. I have never fished a Max3D rod but I fish 2 Dobyns,several Irods, and a Powell 683CEF. I love all of them and can recommend all of them. I would buy a rod from any of these companies again.

I am 54 years old and until two years ago I had never worried about my arbor knots or being spooled. Then I moved near the Chesapeake Bay and started fishing its tidal rivers. I mainly bass fish but come September the bay starts to cool down and tons of alewifes ( a 3 inch minnow ) come into the shallower and warmer rivers. The stripers are on the tails and stay here for 3 months or so. A 5/8, 3/4, and 1 ounce rattle trap mimics these baitfish perfectly so we throw Redeye Shads, Excaliburs, and Bill Lewis Rattle Traps. This is when the big cat come roamin in too. I have hooked two cats that weighed 18 and 18.5 and each of them took me past the uni knot and almost to the arbor knot. When you can see it through the remaining knot you get nervous. In each case I was fishing along side an island (there are 2) and the fish hit next to the island and shot out 25 feet and directly under the boat. By the time my partner got the trolling motor up and I worked the line out from under the boat I had lost most of the line. Those cats fight incredibly hard even after I got the line straightened out. They also taste pretty good my friend says. So I understand your concern on your salt water reels.

First there are different types of braid and I use them for different situations. My wife and I had tried a lot of different brands of mono on spinning reels and even though we always close the bail by hand there were times we dealt with line coils which take time to fix. Finally we tried Berkley Fireline Original and Berkley Fused line ( basically the same line). They play a lot different than any other mono or braid and I can not remember the last time I fixed a coils problem, I use 14 pound test on all of the spinning reels and tie on a 3 to 6 foot leader of 8 or 10 pound P Line CXX moss green line. That stuff is tough. On baitcasting reels I use several braids for different techniques. For texas rigs, carolina rigs, jigs etc I would use either Power Pro Spectra, Suffix 832, or Spiderwire Stealth braid in 20 or 30 pound test. For frogs I use 65 pound test Power Pro Spectra. I have a 6 foot rod I use for spinnerbaits and another 6 footer I use for throwing light weight hollow body swimbaits like Skinny Dippers and both of them have 10 pound 832 on them. I tie direct with those using no leaders. All of these setups work great for me. Anytime I spool a ree,l I fill 1/2 the spool with mono like Stren or Berkley Trilene. It ties tight to the spool eliminating the braid from spinning on the spool. It also makes the cost of using braid affordable. Most baitcasters hold about 150 yards of line. So 75 yards of mono is less than $2.00 and most braid averages about $8. This also reduces the cost of Fluorocarbon even more dramatically. Just learn to tie the Arbor knot to attach the mono to the spool tight and the uni to uni knot to attach the mono to braid and braid to leader material.

The handle is not the issue. I think it is an internal problem. I had suggested getting someone else to play with it as an option before contacting the manufacturer or the dealer you purchased it from. If you have owned it too long to get warranty on it, I would see if you can talk to a local tackle shop. They often know people or employ people that repair reels. That is unfortunately the direction you will need to go.

Consider this if you are worried about having enough line then spool 1/2 of the spool with mono and then your braid. You will probably get much closer to the correct amount of line on the reel and you will save a bunch of money since the mono cost about 1/10 of the braid. All of my reels are spooled that way. I fish for bass and stripers but often I catch big blue cats. The cats are the only fish i have ever hooked that have taken over half a spool of line out, oh but that was fun!!

I recommend getting yourself a photo tach. I am pretty sure Harbor Freight still has them on sale for like $40. Anyway take the engine cowling off and run the engine on a garden hose and ear muffs.Test the engines rpm and then compare it to your boats tach. Your boats tach may be going bad. I would do it first if the photo tach reads correctly then replace the tach yourself. It is cheaper than the marine mechanic. If it reads the same then take her to the mechanic.

It is beautiful out there BUT as an East Coast guy I could never live in that traffic around the greater LA area. One neat thing we did out there during our vacation was to take a boat out to Catalina Island. Wow.

Something is wrong with the reel. From reading your post I am guessing you just recently bought the reel new. I would talk to the place you bought it or take it to a nearby tackle store and ask someone there to play with it for you. There should be someone familiar with a baitcaster so they could tie on a heavy weight, toss it and reel it back in under pressure. I am not sure since you are new to a baitcasting reel but did you tighten down the drag correctly and adjust the spool tension correctly. If this is a brand new reel and you have just purchased it, then I would contact the dealer first.

You could simply find a local repair shop near you. Otherwise Delaware Valley could fix it for you.

Bass pro will exchange it instantly. Where did they put a Bass Pro in that town? I had a friend from Baltimore MD. move there and about 7 years ago we visited her. Kinda a cool town. Did they put it near that huge outside mall they built? As for traffic it is ALWAYS bad lol. Those mountains are beautiful in the background though. She lived about 6 block away from the airport there.