TommyBass

I had a mid 90s Rick Clunn edition 17ft and I liked it quite a bit. Rode very smooth and never had any of the small problems. Had more problems with the Force engine it had on it than anything. I can say though that there was considerable foggy / cloudiness to the upper most part of the fiber glass (railing) that I could not get out, but that was after around 8 years or so of use. The rest of the paint and clearcoat were fine though.

Its funny how everyone gets real defensive when it comes to keeping a fish. Sure the joy is in the hunt or outsmarting the fish, everyone knows that, but keeping and eating a fish isnt a sin. What most of you don't realize is by looking at a lake in terms of only "bass" is mostly ignorant. Its ok for the bluegill or crappie or catfish or walleye fisherman to go out and catch / keep as long as they leave the bass alone? The bass fisherman is too proud to do such a thing. But you'll never stop all species from being harvested, its natural. In turn this creates a human influenced population of the other species in the lake which creates an inbalance in fisheries where bass are not harvested. Have not you ever fished somewhere with stunted bass growth and wonder why? In all due reality you are hurting the bass population in most places by throwing them all back, unless its your own privately owned and monitored lake / pond. Some argument could be made for throwing at least the larger breeding females back, but little evidence exists that it matters all that much. I personally do not eat bass on most occaisions, but not due to conservation as much as I generally do not keep fish of any species, I just dont want to clean them. But if I did I would not keep the 14lber, just like a 7 yr old buck... tastes like crap compared to their younger siblings. So go ahead and scowl at those bass keeping mongrels but keep in mind, most likely they are more of a conservationist than you are.

Very detailed and easy to navigate. Much more professional looking then the previous. Great job!

Fish will still use dead grass just as they do live grass but the water temperature will be the biggest determination on how long. When the water temperatures get down into the 40s and below I would say you'll start to see fish move out of that area and venture to deeper areas. They will move out to the deeper areas on any cover or structure you can find. If there is no cover or structure they will most likely suspend at say 10ft in the 12ft area if that is the deepest. If you have a good day or two of warmer weather with sunshine you could possibly get some fish out of that old grass on the Northern side of your lake. Although dying grass does not produce oxygen it seems like I do just as well in these areas as when the grass is alive (when the conditions warrent). Late fall and early spring can be good dead grass times.

Yes I would not plan on fishing any vegetation except for bad casts onto the shore. Maybe some mossy scum here or there but nothing major like it used to be. There are still several good areas of standing / lay down timber though. I also forgot to mention that you should stray away from fishing this lake on windy days, especially in anything < 14ft long. Strong north or south winds combined with the relative shallowness in the majority of the lake can combine for some mean waves. Many boats have been swamped in that lake due to carelessness.

Last time I fished that lake was in May of 07. Me and a buddy won a tournament there. Out of probably 20 boats we were the only one to turn in a fish. As I said the limit is 20 inches, ours was around 20.3 inches and was 5lbs. Some of the other boats caught some 18 and 19 inchers but ours was the only 20. I dont have a kicker on my boat so I had to use the TM and stay on the south end and fish deep. Most everyone else went up North closer to where the plants hot water dumps in. Its a different experience and worth a try. Talk to the guards before you go in and get the down low on current conditions and catches. Everyyear there is usually several 8 or 9 lbers to come out and I would guarentee there are much larger ones in there. If that lake would have stayed on course it would have destroyed the state record probably.

Major monster bass still lurk in Turtle Creek but its not even 1/10th what it used to be. That lake used to have vegetation in the form of weeds and lilly pads for as far as the eye can see. Now there is none. Most think the plant killed it off intentionally which would make sense for their cooling purposes. Not sure whether it was intentional or not but I believe it had a major part in it. Anyways since the vegetation died the bass fishing went from catching 20 or more 5lb+ fish a day to being lucky to get 1. The limit is 1 fish 20 inches. The lake is hard to learn, mostly a flooded creek and cornfields and alot of the lake is only 2-3-4ft deep outside the channel so be careful and get a good map. South end provides alot of deep almost normal lake fishing but early season you should head to the north end where its warmer. There are still good fish to be caught, even crappie and catfish. You just have to put alot of time in for a couple of good fish. I believe the HP limit is actually 9.9 so unless you have one that size or a kicker you'll only be fishing the south end. Lake is around 1500 acres with the ramp on the very south end near dam.

Hey fellow Hoosiers! Rand- I have also did quite a bit of fishing at Greene-Sullivan as well as Minnehaha strip pits. Lake Sullivan is also a fairly good spot to go and they host several tourneys. Once in awhile I'll head out to Turtle Creek, but it has severely deteriorated since its prime. Once in awhile Ill venture out a little ways up to Raccoon or even Patoka. If I get a crazy hair I'll even go over to the wabash and do a little catfishing. Never really fished any of those northern lakes you all talk of. Im from Sullivan county by the way. Im a boater, did have a 03 Triton TR175 but I just traded that off for a 08 G3 1860CCT. Less worry about knicking my fiberglass and more fishing. Just as big and good for bass fishing plus I can do a little river fishing if the urge hits. I did fish Midwest Bass club thursday nighters at Sullivan Lake but work has severely cut down on that for me.

I did not have that boat in particular but I did have the TR175 with a 90 hp on it. From what I can tell its very similar and I loved that boat. Handled well and would go around 47mph, plenty fast enough for most lakes. Took waves fairly well, although if a large runabout goes by and your standing with your foot on the trolling motor you might wanna hang on to your seat. Storage on it was pretty good too. I ended up trading it off for a boat that could go on some shallower rivers and was aluminum so I didnt have to worry about knicking up my gel coat. I would say you would get what you need out of that boat.

Regardless of what your unit may tell you, the best accuracy you are likely to receive with a civilian gps is 3 ft. And really I wouldn't expect anything better than 10 ft in many scenarios. Nearby trees and high shores will create short commings in these areas. Granted, a 10 ft accuracy (lets say you put the gps right in the middle of your boat) on a 20ft bass boat would mean the sought after area is still within bow to stern of your boat. Having something with 1 ft accuracy is all but useless unless using some sort of military equipment / satellites. Whats this mean? Basically if the map is giving you 1 ft contours those contours may or may not be correct, depending on the suppliers gps equipment. But other then giving you a visual reference, your not likely to use their exact gps points to find them within anything smaller then 3ft. Just so you know

Don't they make a "bushing" of sorts now for these props that take the beating when you hit something. I think it basically just strips it out when you hit something hard, then you just have to buy a new insert instead of a prop. All I know is Ive already hit a little rocky sand with the aluminum and put several dings in it with only a few hrs of run time.

If your fishing a school like you mentioned and prefer plastics I would use something like a Zoom Fluke in the color of the type of shad you mentioned. Top water something like a spook is good. Rattle traps work good as well since you can easily control them to whatever depth you need. If you want to get real crazy through a hard jerk bait, but Ive never liked those for some reason.

The method posted by Quinn / Glen is the most effective by far. I figured this out several years ago and have not lost a fish since doing it this way. Just be very careful of the gills, they like to sneak into your pliars before you close them. But if you still have trouble, trying to pinch the barb and or cutting the hook itself are good options. Cutting the line should be last resort.

Not trying to step on your toes LBH, but I dont think it would be quite the same. On my 10 foot version you can stand with two people on the side and not have a problem, of course this would need to be done carefully without much movement. Much harder in a 10 ft jon. They are definately quieter if you drop something or are being stealthy in shallow pond waters. There is also the aspect of the plastic boats that you basically cannot sink them. The hull is air filled so even if you completely fill the inards youll float no problem. One downfall to the plastic is though that in really cool temps it could be more brittle and crack if you really hit something hard. I did get some water into my hull onetime (through the plug i forgot to close, not a crack) and the boat still did not sink, although you would have been wetter than you wanted to be. I believe they are also lighter then jons for packing by hand. Jons do possibly have more uses, although I have even used the plastic one for duck hunts on small "ramp-less" holes. I beleieve mine is rated for a 5 hp motor also, but youd have to check the 8ft to see on it. Just my opinion though

I have the ten foot model of the boat you are talking about. It has being nothing short of great for small pond fishing. VERY sturdy for the size and has held up well. Only thing to break on mine is the handle attached to the front to pull with, which was my fault because I tried to pull it out of the pond when it was full of water with my 4 wheeler. They arnt the lightest thing around but two guys can carry it rather easily and 1 person could man handle it around for probably 50yds or so. Definately reccomend.

Sorry, I failed to mention it was a prop drive. I do have a jack plate installed, but just the manual type, not hydraulic. The boat is a G3 1860CCT. I do not currenlty have a water pressure guage, would that be worth my effort and what do I look for for a "good" reading? Also, would you all recommend a stainless prop for if I do hit something rather then the tin foil aluminum one it came with? O, and I about forgot, it does seem that the two pods in the back do add quite a bit of extra floatation for stability and resisting rear end sink on whole shot. Thanks for the responses so far!

Hello All! I was wondering if any of you have any experience in figuring out how shallow is too shallow when running your boat on plane (that is without destroying it ). I recently traded my fiberglass bassboat in for a tunnel hull 18ft john boat with a 4stroke 90hp. Has a jack plate and floatation pods, basically designed for "skinny" water. But I dont know how skinny is skinny and am too afraid to open it up and get on plane in shallow water without having some clue.

Have owned 3 motor guide bow mounts and never once had a problem. Not sure on MK anymore, but all used to have those stupid junk composite shafts that would crack. Motorguide uses steel. Weeds are all in the prop and thrust. Both manufacturers make blades and thrusts that kill weeds. I have only owned 1 MK for a small boat of mine... at 54lb stern mount. And its the only motor ive had to get worked on... $125 to fix a gasket and electrical problem in lower unit. You basically have to buy a brand new shaft because the way they are set up can this problem cant be fixed.

Hello all, I am trading in my 17 ft Triton for a boat that can tackle some shallower river waters for hunting and catfishing. However I am still wanting to fish my normal lakes. Do any of you have expeience with jon boats in larger water? I was wondering what length and beam you would want as a minimum in a larger lake. The boat I am looking into is 18 ft 1 inch with an 80 in beam. 90 hp 4 stroke. Do you think this would suffice for normal bass waters? Thanks in advance!

Smallies do fight harder, but I feel the techniques and styles of fishing for LM are much funner. Smallies are almost "dumb" sometimes and will bite about anyting, much like crappie. I think LM are a harder challenge and can be more rewarding to catch. Pound for pound smalls def fight harder, but the problem is they arnt pound for pound... a 6lb smallie is an absolute giant and 6lb LM just averagely big. You dont really get chances to catch smallies to the sizes that huge LM grow, and I would bet that a large LM is a better fight then a larger SM. Hook both world records up at the same time and lets see who wins : )

really most people would consider a dink to be anything less than the local limit. For instance, you ask a fellow fisherman getting off the lake what he caught. He responds I caught 5 dinks and a couple keepers. I would assume that meant he caught 5 under the local limit of say 12 inches and a couple over, but nothing too spectacular, or he would have gave them specifics such as a 20 incher or 5 lber. really it just depends on where your at or who you talk to, but I would say thats the most prevalent.

Ok I just typed this same message and sent it, but it messed up some how and went to a different post... but anyways... glen posted a link to visual pictures that show the technique im speaking about, if more fisherman used that technique bass would be much better off. Anways... sorry for doubling up on that glen, didnt see it before.

Honestly I dont know how you can let a hook get so far down into a bass' stomach that you can't see it. Its only my opinion but usually thats caused by the fisherman, not the bass. I think we need to focus more on prevention, ie not using certain fishing techniques, rather then thinking of ways to solve the problem after it happens. Ive fished for 15 years and rarely do I use any technique that increases those odds and I rarely have a hook anwhere below the tongue. Techniques I am speaking of include certain carolina rigs, excessively small lures, etc. It is important to not let the fish take the lure too long, Id rather miss the fish then deal with a swallowed bait, waiting too long is selfish and disrespectful the bass. All this aside, being its really another topic, I'll tell you what I do to get them out (if hook is even remotely visible). More then likely the eye of the hook will be facing up. CAREFULLY take a pair of thin and long needle nose pliars and go in between the back gill plate and the last gill NOT THE FRONT. This allows a better point of leverage. Being as careful as possible to not touch the gill, grab the hook as low as possible and turn it 180 degress so that the eye is facing down and the point of the hook points toward the stomach. Then give it a semi stiff jerk out, being careful to not pull too hard. Throat tissue on a bass is fairly tough and after 2 or 3 workings 9 out of 10 times it will come out. I know its risky going by the gills but i swear this technique works really well, and if done right cause much less damage to the fish then going through the mouth and pulling it around in the wrong directions. This almost always works for me, and I can only remember resorting to cutting the line once. If there is excessive amounts of bleeding, especially from the gills, it is almost always better to just keep the bass. Bass as a species are generally weak and dont survive trama / large blood lose readily like other species such as catfish.

Thanks for the replys guys. I did hear yale was down pretty bad with good access limited to only one ramp... figures. And yes I was aware they arnt all connected but I was just planning on hoping around the region. Hopefully Ill be able to get something in the boat either way : )

hey yall! Sorry I havnt posted in awhile but I've continued to read along! Im getting ready to possibly visit some family in a week or two down in central florida and plan to do some fishing near the Ocklawaha chain. Possiblly lake Harris or Yale. Problem is Im from the upper midwest so most lakes are all iced up. What stage are most the fish in this time of year at that location... prespawn, spawn... post spawn? Any help you florida guys could give me would be great, and save me a day or two of searching around fruitlessly. Much thanks in advance!