Wormy

I guess Cali has the south beat on the big fish...

Robby is right on target....

Try your local Interstate Battery dealer. They are good batteries and the three (2 trollin and 1 crankin) have lasted for nearly 4 years. I keep them on a float charges year round so that helps. You will spend around 100-125 per but compared to Optima's thats a bargain.

How about a bowfin (grinnel is what we call them in the south)? I bust them in the head with a paddle when I catch one, not because I hate them or there not fun to catch because they are. But mostly because they demolish whatever you catch them on.

Me too... I just went to *** and saw that the Curados were $119. Just paid $149 for mine after rebate (which I haven't gotten back yet from Shimano). I don't feel to terribly bad, now the wife won't have a fit when I buy another one. ;D

I have probably a half dozen War Eagles and they are good baits. As I break or lose my terminators, I may start replacing them with the War Eagles.

Has anyone else noticed that over the last couple of years the quality of these have declined. Maybe it's just me or something but I have slung two willow blades off of new ones and managed to break one the other day just below the bend you tie to towards the blades. At $7 a piece I am starting to get a little upset. I use these almost exclusively but lately I am getting frustrated.

Can you really tell someone that a $24 crank bait will catch more fish than an $8 crank bait. I'm sorry I just don't see the difference and I really don't want anyone to convince me otherwise, not sure if I could afford them.

Thanks everybody... Sounds to me like a new set of batteries will cure the problem. XcoM274, I was being very generous when I said half power. It was probably more like 1/4 power. I'm just glad it got us around the lake that day even though it was extremely slow. The good one will make a nice addition to my pond hopper 2 man bass rig instead of using an automotive 12 volt. I will have to take a buddy along to tote the thing for me though. ;D

Have an onboard charger and keep it hooked up all the time. Just wanted another opinion before I bought new batteries...

Went fishing this weekend and my MinnKota Maxxum 80# would only run at half power. It was variable speed but nothin like it should have been. My batteries are 3 years old (Interstate trolling batteries) and I think I have a bad one. Checked the voltage today and one was putting out 12.45 and the other was running around 10.20. Does this mean I have a bad battery????? Don't know if the trolling motor is having issues or if it is a battery issue.

I use it in every tank. Never know when I can't go fishing....

Bassnajr, It took me almost two years to make a decision on what type of bass rig I wanted and finally made the decision between aluminum and glass. That is when the second decision kicked in on which type of aluminum boat to get. I prefered a performance type rig like the Xpress and started looking. I went as far as driving to the Xpress factory to see them being built in Hot Springs, AR which is about an hour and a half from home. Even got a ride in an X-17 and thought I had found my match. Waited until the fall boat show (factory discounts are better then) and was ready to make the deal but saw a G3 HP170 sitting right next to it. Looked the both of them over THOUROUGHLY and found that the G3 IMO was built just as good and G3 also had a lot better finished product, again just my opinion. So, met one of the salesman, who is now a good friend and he had his own HP170 with a 4 stroke F115 Yamaha attached. Offered up a ride and I obviously took him up on his offer. Bottom line, I bought the G3 HP170 with a F115 4 Stroke at the rear. The decision for me came down to service after the sale. So I don't upset any Xpress owners on here, do your own research by talking to some dealers who are in the boat business and get their opinions. If I had it to do over again, I might have gone with the HP180 and a Yamaha 150 two stroke. Four stroke motors are heavy but the upside is they are extremely quite and easy to maintain. I wish you luck in your decision but look at them all and consider a dealer who is close in case something needs to be looked at. There have been a lot of improvements in aluminum boats over the past 4 years and so keep your options open. Price: I bought mine at the beginning of 2005 and have right under 20K in it but upgraded to an 80# MinnKota Maxxum tm and two Garmin Fishfinders (one bow / one console), got a full size spare with aluminum rim, Promariner Tournament onboard battery charger, and cover. Got a really good deal according my buddy Fred who actually sold me the boat. My best advice is whatever you buy, have a place to keep it out of the weather, even if it's one of those metal carports you can buy. If you want to keep your boat from being destroyed, keep it out of the weather.

I own the telescopic type and it works well on days that aren't too windy, keeping the boat positioned is important. I fish mostly shallow waters so this one works best in my situation. And yes, it will get your buddies out of the snake infested trees.

A friend of mine has a 05' 185 Tracker with a 90 Merc on it and we were discussing the other day on how to trim out your boat to get top speed. He mentioned his didn't come with a trim gauge and I told him that I used mine to find that optimum spot. Not to mention to make sure your motor was down enough taking off. I guess my question is, is this something that we could easily do or would you recommend the dealer add it.

One thing I have realized after reading all these excellent comments is I am way behind the power curve on this and need to start this myself. I use a lot of worms during the year and why not pour your own and save the money my wife see's me spending at Wal-Mart or tackle shop...

I'm with landinlunkers, two speeds, fast and faster!!! Now in the cold months I will slow down only to get the bait deeper.

I prefer a little ripple at least... A smooth surface for me is Lucky 13 time...

You know those things just almost don't even look real. I really can't imagine what I would do if I had something like that attached to the end of my line.

Bobo... I tried the Angling Tech website and it looked pretty cool at first but never could get the underwater contours to display. If you know how I can get it to work let me know.

I think I am going to sign up to get one so I can play with it at home, take the noise makers out of it and put in a camera. Don't you know that a remote control fish would be expensive and COOL!!! Why not let those idiots pay for my toys. As far as one of them showing up with one while I'm fishing, they better have a really good bilge pump becuase there boat would be taking on water about the time I am slamming in my second magazine.

I vote occassionally because here in the south, especially the shallower lakes, the water tends to warm a little quicker and most fish have been seeing subsurface baits for a couple of months. This will usually land a couple early in the mornings and sometimes they are much bigger than what the rest of the day produces...

I agree with Rattlinrogue, if you don't get and outboard you will spend the best part of the day getting to different spots. Not to include what happens if a summer thunderstorm pops up and your in the middle of it. GET THE OUTBOARD!!!

Howdy neighbor... Welcome aboard to the best online Bass Forum known to man... As far as buying a boat is concerned, my first advice is start with one big enough for the size water you will be on. Beaver is a pretty good size lake and I wouldn't want to be caught in a plastic two man out there during rough water. You could of course but it would be risky and might scare the little one into not wanting to fish any more. A cheap aluminum will last a life time if you take care of it. I have my dads aluminum boat that is over 30 years old and it is still in good shape. The fun will be accessorizing it later together with your son. As he gets older you won't be out a lot of money when he want's to take it out on his own. Start with some of the dealers in your area or the newspaper. Good luck to both of you on your search.

I have been looking into these things myself and have found that some of the handhelds are actually compatible with some of the current graphs out there. The bigger ones are very expensiven and if I spend another dime on my rig I will be living in it... A little research has taken me a long way from just buying an expensive unit outright...