Lard_Bass

I have a Fish Eagle 320 at the front of my boat and a Lowrance x47 at the helm. They are pretty basic units. I have my sensitivity currently set at 70-75% on both.

Guys, Didn't know where to post this but I was curious to what sensitivity level and other settings you have adjusted on your fish finders. I don't like all the auto settings because it seems to pick up a lot of noise.

I will do that. I assume after it hits the water and I have stopped it to slowly let pressure off. I have tried line conditioner before but haven't sprayed it on recently. Thanks for the reminder.

I am. Should I be more forceful on the pressure? Also, whenver I am getting the backlash out, I notice the P-line I am using has a more memory than I am used to.

I have struggled learning jigs. The lake I fish has a bunch of milfoil on it and I am trying to learn how to fish jigs. Currently, my approach is to flip/pitch a jig into some holes close to the weedline in about 10-12 ft of water. Then I'll flip it 5-10 feet from the boat in about 15-20 ft of water right on the outside of the weedline. I pop the jig a couple of times, sometimes shake the rod tip, or sometimes drag it back. No takers yet. Any help on to improving my approach. Thanks.

Ok, I am relearning a baitcaster (Curado 200e). I have no problem tossing crankbaits but struggle at jigs. Whenever I flip/pitch, I get some backlash when the jig hits the water. I have adjusted the cast control and if it's too tight, the jig won't sink and too loose, I seem to get some gnarly backlashes. I have been fine tuning it but can't seem to find a happy medium. Any pointers?

Yeah, definitely put the motor battery at the front of the canoe to balance out the weight. You can get cable extensions at Gander Mt for $14. Also, I just got a regular fish finder and mounted the transducer on the trolling motor with an O-ring. You can hook up the fish finder to the cable extenders going to your deep cycle marine battery. One other thing I forgot to mention, get some outriggers like the ones you see in my photo. Someone suggested that in other forum and they were the best thing I ever bought. I stood up in my canoe really easily to fish. Also, in some harsh weather or dealing with big wakes, I had no issues. I never felt I was going to tip over.

I bought a canoe several years ago and pimped it out. I caught lots of fish on it and really had a blast before I got a boat. I found myself fishing with my back turned to the front of the canoe. I used to adjust the trolling motor (30#) in reverse. That gave me a better feel as if I were fishing from the bow of a boat. I also put a fish finder on my canoe to try to find structure. My only suggestion is you may want to get a bigger trolling motor. I drained my battery quickly on a 30# thrust and I think if you ran a 55# thrust on lower settings you would get more time on the water. Enjoy the canoe.

I put a Fish Eagle 320 that I had on my canoe at the front of my pontoon and couldn't be happier. I have a simple fish finder on the helm but the 320 does the trick when trolling along the weedlines up front. I also have a trolling motor mount so I can quickly take the motor off when entertaining.

Ok I usually fill my reel with the spool on the ground (label face up). Stop reeling after your first 10-15 cranks and if the line is jumping off (turn the spool upside down). Also, don't overfill the spool. I have tendency of doing that. Usually have a couple of tangles, I am good to go for the rest of the year. Tight lines.

Well, I dropshotted last week for the first time and caught a nice pike. I know a lot of guys detest them but I enjoy catching any fish. I also caught a nice muskie last week on a topwater bait. No bass, but I'll take the big fish. I bought some heavy jigs to start throwing into the milfoil. Do you guys just flip them and let them sit?

Try this one too: http://www.pontoonstuff.com/forum/ Very knowledgeable and helpful guys when you have toon questions.

x2

I agree. I don't mind fishing in some light rain or wind. But when I start seeing white caps on the lake, I usually stay home too. Gives me a good excuse to catch up stuff that I neglect when I go fishing. One other great thing about a pontoon is having a changing room. I put one of those luggable loo's (i.e. port a potty) on board. It's nice to take care of business in the middle of the lake and not waste the time and fuel trying to find a public dock.

EastMarkME, I just bought a pontoon after contemplating getting a v-hull or bass boat. I have a family of 5 and a pontoon made the most sense for us. When I went to a boat show, we sat in several v-hulls and bass boats and I realized that the versatility of those boats was limited to fishing and 1/2 a family. I almost pulled the trigger on a boat but, thought it over more, and eventually bought a pontoon. I have a fishing version pontoon and I think the versatility is unmatched. There is a trolling motor and two depth finders installed. Plenty of space for storage and when I am not fishing alone, I can bring my family and friends aboard for a fun time. I can go fishing, tubing, and host more than 10 people comfortably. I cannot think of other boats that can do that. Yes, in wind, fishing on a pontoon is not much fun. So, when the wind is beyond 15 mph, I stay home and don't lose sleep about it. Anything less than that, I don't have much of an issue fishing. Just like Tom Bass said, who cares about other's opinions if you are enjoying your boat. Heck, my boat is rigged up better than some fishing boats I see out there. Just last weekend, I went fishing in the morning with a buddy, went tubing with the family later in the day, and hosted another family of 4 with my family of 5 on my boat to go tubing and grilling on the lake the next day. This was pretty much my expression all weekend

Get the new Stradic 2500FJ. LOL. I knew you would respond that way. I got a gift card recently and was thinking of trying to make the most of it and looking at a lower end reels than the Stradic. I already have a Stradic 2500FI and enjoy it but the Symetre and Saros seem like nice reels too. I was just thinking of something different than what I have. One point of clarification RW. Is there a Stradic FJ now? I thought FI was only out. I know the Symetre is out in FJ version.

I followed this advice 2 years ago and couldn't be happier. The Stradic and Avid are a nice pair. My only complaint is Ultrasoft is getting harder to find. I like the line a lot but tough to find. I actually have 2 Avids(my other one is (MF) and have been debating to get another Stradic or step down to a Saros or Symetre (Roardwarrior, what do you think?). Even thinking about the Pflueger President. I checked the reel the other day and was impressed.

Check out fishingminnesota.com. Lots of guides are posters on the forums.

I actually thought about dropshotting as well. Any luck with jigs so far? I am new to the lake and thinking about tossing some heavy jigs around the weedline.

Okay, I bought a spool of 10 lb for my new Carrot Stix and Curado 200e7 setup. I noticed this has more memory than I am used to. While I was putting it on my baitcaster, I sprayed KVD after every 12 turns. Does the memory eventually go away or is it here to stay? Any tips on using this line on a baitcaster?

Roadwarrior kindly pointed this out to me during the last Reed's clearance of Avids. I bought both. The MXF is good for plastics and jigs. The MF is good for treble hooks. Here's a thread from a while back that landed me two Avids which have been awesome. Those two rods cover a majority of my fishing for the past couple of years. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1194961598

I have gone numerous times into a store to purchase a couple things. I come out of the store with a bunch of other stuff that I did not intend to buy and, in addition, forget the stuff I was supposed to by. I go back to the store next day and repeat the process again. Rinse, repeat. Now I am getting into musky fishing where lures start at $20. You think the bait monkey would take it easy on me. Nope. The bait monkey beats me up like a little baby seal coming to shore.

Seems like CXX would also be perfect for fishing slop and thick weed beds.

I am curious too especially when used on a baitcaster. Just from some of the reviews on Cabelas and BPS, looks like CXX is monster strong.

Another one on the prop, a guy that runs a marina told me he advises keeping the prop down in case another boat trying to dock doesn't accidentally run into it while docking.