Long Mike

Please do not think I am being presumtuous, but is the BR Lake Fork trip reserved only for the multi-star posters to this site? Lake fork is only about a five hour drive from Tulsa, and I would love to participate if I could hitch a ride with one of you seasoned fishermen. Naturally, I am more than willing to pay my own way, including chipping in for gas and sundries. I am sixty, work for myself in a specialist trade, smoke, and am quite willing to have a beer or ten when I get off the water. The reason I am asking is that I would very much like to learn the art of bass fishing from those of you who have been there, done that. Mike

Probably because the Bottomline company is more noted more for its FishinBuddy locators (the highly portable devices powered by AA and D batteries) I feel that many folks overlook their Tounament 480 Max. It has specs and features normally available on units costing at least twice as much. Please refer to my Bottomline 480 posting on this forum. Be assured that I am in no way affiliated with ANY company who wishes to promote their wares on this site. Like most contributors, I work for a living (unfortunately) I fish from an inflatable, so my internet research brought me to the conclusion that I needed one of the FishinBuddy models. Well, when I starting researching their products, I found that their 480 Max was, hands down, so much better, and so much cheaper than their FishinBuddies that I decided to go for the 480 Max. Having made that decision, I started researching other products meeting the sme specs in my price range. I couldn't find any other than the 480 Max. At a hundred bucks,I think it's one of the best deals around. Mike

nboucher, sorry to disappoint you, nut the Long in my Screen Name refers to my height. I'm 6'4." Unfortunately, at the ripe old age of 60 I have very little need for raincoats. :(

Way2Slow, Please don't take this the wrong way, but you may want to consider using prophylactics placed on your fingers over woolen gloves, and then maybe some other set of gloves over the prophylactics. This will, at the very least, keep your fingers dry. Since you are unable to find latex gloves to fit your hands, this may be a viable, but very weird, solution. If it works, you will then have to explain to your wife why you are buying so many "raincoats." Mike

If you are in the market for a great depth/fish finder at a VERY reasonable price, I suggest you take a look at the Bottom Line 480. It has 480 x 480 resolution and 3200 watts of power (600 rms.) If you are a fresh-water fisherman, I doubt that you can find another locator with these features at the price it is selling for. Wally-World lists it for $129.99. I walked in to BPS this morning and bought it for $99.99. The BPS salesman told me they are selling them as fast as they can stock them. Mike

Rob, you know the old sayings, "Real Men Never Ask for Directions" and "Real Men Never Read the Directions." In both cases they left out the word "Stupid." Thanks Again, Mike

As a newbie I have been like a sponge, reading all of the beginner infomation provided at this site, plus every book I can get my hands on. With this education, it took me no time at all to realize there is no BEST anything when it comes to bass fishing. I suppose that's why BPS and Cabelas do so well. The most important tackle related thing I have learned is that the quality of the rod makes a huge difference in sensitivity. When I first became a member, I asked a question about my newly purchased Ugly Stick. The responses were unanimous - throw/give it away. Being a newbie I reaaly didn't know the meaning of rod sesitivity. One of the senior members recommended a $300 GLoomis for the finesse plastic worm fishing that I plan on using for the first year or so of my bassing debut. Because neither my budget nor my ego would allow me to believe that there is any significant difference in rod sensitivity, I opted for a $100 St. Croix. What a difference a rod makes!

dizzy5868, you were absolutly right (you too PutPut.) I was running the motor too deep. I took the boat out today and ran the prop about six inches under water. I took Avid's advice and read the manual and this was the suggested setting. The vibration completely disappeared. Had I read the manual to begin with, I never would have started this thread. Apoligies to all for taking up your time. :-[ :-[ Avid, as I mentioned in a reply to dizzy, I am a boat newbie. Rather than return the motor, I thought it best to seek advice from those more experienced than I. As it turns out, the information provided to me by the members put me on the right track. If you think I was being sarcastic to the member who simply responded "return it," you are correct. I don't mind being told to return it, but without any input as to WHY I should return it, the information is totally useles to me or to anyone else. Mike

Dizzy5868, I think you just diagnosed my problem. As a boat newbie, I've been running the motor at least a foot beneath the keel - maybe even more. I'm going fishing on Friday. I'll raise the motor until the prop is just an inch or so below the water. I'll keep you advised.

Go to the "Bast Wisdom by Homer Circle" thread. Lots of info there.

SFC_AL, I bought my copy of Homer's book on e-bay. I was used, but still in very good condition. BTW, it's not for sale. ;D

Here are the photosa I promised. The wheel axel and pivot are made from 1/2" all-thread. The pivot rod is secured to the motor-mout board with two u-bolts. The boards mounted on either side of the pivot rod serve no purpose other than to ease the mounting of the trolling motor. To use this device the motor must be raised all the way. You then pin the wheels down and roll the boat into the water. After launching, un-pin the wheels and raise the to the stowed position. Only then can you lower the motor. I hope this helps.

The rear wheel assembly is attached to the motor mount. I will post pictures and further info tomorrow. I am currently using the supplied foot pump, but it only takes about ten minutes to inflate the boat. Add in the floor boards, motor mount and its support board, and you are looking at twenty minutes. Realistically, from the time you unload the raft from your auto, get it put together, and then load all your fishing and other equipment, plan on thirty minutes. I would strongly advise you to read the assembly instructions in their entirety before your initial assembly. Also I would strongly advise you to assemble the boat two or three times at home, prior to doing it at the water's edge. This will keep you from looking like a real dufus in case anyone is watching. BTW, I will be buying one of those pumps that run off the cigarette lighter. Lastly, I will post photos of the wheel assembly only. I will not provide detailed instructions on how to assemble it. I do not have the time, nor the inclination, to write an assembly manual for such a simple piece of equipment. If you are not pretty good with your hands, and do not have simple tools like a drill, tape measure and hacksaw, then don't bother trying to build it.

Thanks. You are a big help. : :

I have a new MotorGuide 54lb, transom-mount five-speed that works just great until I set it to the hisghest speed. It then then begins to vibrate badly. I can feel it through the handle. Because this model is MotorGuide's cheapest, is this something that should be expected, or should I return it to BPS?

On Aug 31 "Sam" suggested a couple of books for us bassers to read. One was Bass Wisdom by Homer Circle and the other was The Bass Angler's Almanac by John Weiss. Bearing in mind that I am a newbie, I found Bass Wisdom to be a gold mine of information. Probably because I read Homer Circle's book first, I found the Almanac to be less informative. Regardless, both books provide an enormous amount of information. My sincere thanks to Sam for his recommendations. That said, does anyone have recommendations for other books? eg. Doug Hannon's? I am not interested in magazine recommendations, because that subject has been dicussed at length over the last couple of weeks. Mike

I'm 60 yrs old and fish alone from an inflatable with a trolling motor only. I wear a "standard "vest-type" pfd at all times, despite the fact that I was once a strong swimmer and am still very comfortabe in the water. I guess it all boils down to wanting my body to be recovered in the event of a coronary. The vest I wear is OK for this time of year, but I am asking Santa to bring me a set of Auto-Inflate Sospenders for x-mas. It will be much more comfortable come summer. Mike

Dominant and aggressive? Er, I think you are talking about my wife. She's a red-headed Cajun. ;D ;D

I recently purchased a Sea Eagle 9 inflatable raft. Because I couldn't afford to pay Sea Eagle $260 for the wooden flooring and the motor mount support board, I decided to make them myself. In addition, I fabricated a set of wheels that greatly ease the effort of launching and retrieving of the boat by a single individual. With all costs included, the flooring and support board cost me about $40. The retractable rear wheel assembly cost me another $45 or so. I do not want to waste bandwidth by posting photos and other info that very few people woud be interested in. If anyone is interested in pictures or templates, please reply here of PM me. Mike

Many thanks for the input guys. I think I'll take Whitler's advice and put braid on one spool and mono on the other. I have used mono all my fishing life, but have become intrigued with the smaller diameter and zero memory of the braid. Mike

Being an oldster who is just getting into bass fishing, I find this site to be a gold mine of information. For this reason alone I owe all of you regulars and moderators my heartfelt thanks. At this time in my learning curve I am not prepared to use BC equipment, therfore all of my questions relate to open-faced spinning applications. 1. From what I can gather from the postings of Fish Chris, he is as adverse to bait-casters as I am. and for the very same reasons. i.e. He knows his limitations with this equipment, and I know not to even go there - yet. However, I get the distinct impression that Fish Chris uses only braided line on his spinning reels. Am I correct? 2. My on-line research, especially the articles published on this site, indicates very little strong support for braided line, unless it is used on a bait-caster - and even then, there are very negative comments about the line becomming embedded in the spool of line. Are these published articles up to date with current technology or are they several years old? 3. Braided lines have a MUCH smaller cross section than a mono of of equal strength. True or False? 4. On a quality spinning reel, will a braided line have the same embedding problems as a bait-caster? 5. Does a braided line have less "memory" than moo? 6. Finally, I have read that braided line is very abrasive to the line guides. Is this correct/ If so, is this such a long term issue that it is hardly worth bringing up?

Have you tried www.tackletour.com?

The Tulsa Boat, Sport & Travel Show is huge. It covers 460,000 sq. ft. and is attended by over 60,000 people each year. www.tulsaboatshow.com. You might also want to try www.2007boatshows.com.

While working for a past employer, we used rare-earth magnets that were icredably strong for their weight and size - not to mention expensive. I would strongly advise you to keep your credit cards at least three feet away from the magnet.

I am a 60 year old who has recently taken up bass fishin after twenty years of no fishing at all. In my enthusiam to get back on the water, I purchased a 1970's vintage 16' aluminum v-hull and outfitted it with fore and aft trolling motors. It took only two trips to my local 100 acre lake to realize that I had made a terrible mistake. Since I fish alone, I found that launching and retrieving a boat of that size is a gigantic pain in the a** when you are by yourself. Add in the usual 15-30 mph Oklahoma wind, and the tail pain goes way up. To make a long story short, I decided to divest myself of my albatross and started looking for an alternative. Since there are many, many reservoirs in Oklahoma that do not have launching ramps, I decided to opt for an inflatable. I considered the Kayaks, but at my age I would much rather focus on the fish than trying to fish AND not overturning the boat. For these reasons I have purchased the SeaEagle 9. It gives me the best of all personal options. i.e. Unversal Portability, GREAT Stability, and the ability to add a trolling motor and locator - plus I can carry as much additional crap as I want to.