HPBB

I Have been fishing tournaments for about 8 years now, and sometimes go as a rider, most as an owner. When I am an owner I try to make sure the rider has and good opportunity to fish and do not front end them. In fact sometimes my rider outfishes me. Also I always get the net. Now as a rider, I have had owners that were great, and others that sucked. On the good side I once had an owner that stood there with the net, while I caught fish after fish off of a rock pile. I told him to start fishing and he said he was having fun watching me. I have had more better owners that bad ones. One bad one will put a bad taste in your mouth. I had an owner in a state federation championship that would not fish a spot I knew had fish. After the first day I was in the middle of the pack, the guy I rode with the first day was great. We fished his spots and caught fish. told him of a spot I found in pre-fishng. we hit it and culled out are fish. He told me he would not fish it the second day. He didn't, neither did I. The guys I rode with the second day was just infront of me in weight for the tournament. We hit his spots and he didn't catch anything. I got 2, and lost 2 because he would not get the net. we sat on one of his spots for 4 hours and didn't have a bite. He just kept saying" they will move in." They never did. I told him about a spot I had, but he would run there. with about an hour left he decide that we would try "my spot" as we got to it I caught a keeper fast, and a non keeper as we spead by with the TM on high. We past that spot and kept on moving. I kept saying there are fish here, lets stop. he just acted like he never heard me and kept moving. That experience put me back a little and I didn't fish a tournament from the back of a boat for a few years. After that I had some really good owners. last one a fished as a rider, bad owner again (not really bad owner, but to much boat for someone that was inexperienced)

do you trim your outboard out of the water? You should leave some of it in the water so it act like a rutter to stabilize the boat. Also, when you are using your TM is your power setting in the higher range?( I don't mean the power of the motor, but what speed your running it at) why I ask, is my father-inlaw has trouble controling his Tracker PTX 175. Then I watched him run it. He keeps his TM on high and when we moves the boat, it moves to far and when he goes to corect it, he over powers the corections . I ran the boat and had no problem with controling the boat and keeping it stable. Its alot with learning how to use your TM corectly. try running your TM at slower speeds. And if there is some wind and you are in need of control. put your tm on constant power at a very low speed setting. This way you will always be moving, which will keep the boat in control, and slowly moveing along. and always work into the wind and/or current, this will help contrtol the boat better.

I used to spend several hours the week or few days before a tournament getting ready. Rigging up rods, makeing sure the right lures are packed for this tournament, and going over the boat/trailer. like I said it would take several hours, maybe all day if I had alot to do. That was when I was single, now with wife, kid on the way, dog, house, more work, I might get an hour or so the night before a tournament, sometime I don't. and ussialy on the way to the touranemt I cranks some of my favorate tunes and try to relax and get everything about life out of my head, and think about one thing, catching bass. I haven't been able to relax and get everything off of mymind lately, and it has shown. i am having the worse year I have ever had in my club, number of tournaments are down. so last tournament I sat down and tried to relax and think "fishing". It worked, came in second( my rider came in first) got on the fish really good. Hopefully I can keep this up and get back in the top guys in my club. a little late, but hopefully not to late this year. I have a saying on my wall in my garage. I should read it more often. It says "Failure to prepare, is prepaireng to fail"

I'm going to try the rivers this sat. Not sure where yet. Either the Mon & Yough at McKeesport, or the 3 rivers in Pittsburgh out of the south side. I'll let you know how it is.

Big "O" in smokey Joe, Fire tiger,silver

not really sure, but I was going to ask a similar question. I am borrowing my brothers boat, and it runs a 125hp Merc I will check out what RPM's it is running at idle this weekend. The motor was just rebuilt last year. My question is what is max RPM? Right now its turning 6000rpm at WOT with a 21 pitch prop, I think that is a little high. I think a 23 or even a 25 pitch might be the better prop. The boat has a wicked hole shot and tops out at 48-49 MPH.

Cool Motor. Didn't Johnson make a V-8 outboard 305Hp or 315Hp back in the 80's?

the MG Tm that favebasslimit is talking about is an older style MG, not a digital. Like I said the new MG digital motors are light years ahead of the older style MG. the digital doesn't have numbered setting for speed the digital is a veriable speed setting.. I have had my MG tour serie digital for 3 years and not one problem, not one.

You can run a Power drive from anywhere in the boat so sitting down is not a problem. If you are going to run 2 batteries, then i would go with a 24 volt TM. A 24volt will run longer on the same two batteries as a 12volt tm on the same batteries. Also a 24volt will run faster

I try to keep my trailers riding level. I have two boats, and two SUV's that I tow with One of my boat trailers sits higher than the other, and one of my SUV's sits higher. so depending on what SUV and what trailer is being towed. I have two draw bars one has the ball low and one has the ball high and use what ever combo lets the trailer sit level

40# on a 14 footer is ok, but if its your only motor there are afew questioin I would answere first. On my 14 footer i have a 55# MK power drive, and lake that are TM only. I wish I had more power. I end up taking my big boat to the TM only lake cause it has a bigger TM. Like was said in another post about TM's, buy the biggest one you can afford. just cause you have more power doesn't mean you need to use it all the time, but its nice to have. questions? 1. Do you stay out long each trip? 2. do you use your TM alot ? 3. Lake being fished, are they big? do they get very windy? Are they very weedy? 4. are you going to run more than one battery? 5. will you run long distances? If you answered yes to any of these question. I would look into getting a 24 volt TM. for the extra money you will get alot more motor that will run longer, faster, and be able to control the boat better. and if your going to carry more than one battery, then why not run a 24volt. A 36volt TMwould be the best, but its overkill. I have put my 36volt TM on my 14 footer and it is a blast. And a 36 is a lot of $$. I think a good 24 Volt maybe 65# or 80# would be the better choice for you.

This like the Ford VS Chevy question. Its about preferance. see what one lookes and feels better to you. look at the foot petal and make sure you like how it works. That is the part you will be intouch with. I go with MG. I have had both. I will say the older Mg were not that great, but these new Digital motor are the best. I think that 71 is a digital? Do you fish lakes with big waves? if so get the 50" shaft. Like I said I have a MG Tour 109# and its the best I have used. Infact the guys in my Bass club are so impressed with it that the last 3 guys to buy new Tm's, went for the tour series MG's

Bass Fisherman, Up at Erie draging a tube is how it works some times. That is how we caught all our fish in my boat.We "Erie dragged" tubes all day. About a 200-300 yard drift over a spot. every drift put atleast one keeper in the boat, some drifts put 2 and 3 fish in the boat. I made that drif so much that day my GPS plotter looked almost black, you couldn't see the individual routs anymore

My self I would go bigger. I always say " go as big as you can afford" If you have room for 2 batteries and can afford It I would move up to a 24volt tm.a 70# or 82# A 24volt will give you more power and more run time. Just cause you have more power doesn't always mean you have to use it all the time. I used to have a 55# 12 volt Minkota on my 17'6" Sea Nymph GLS 175 ( Deep V) It was ok, but In heavy current or wind it just didn't cut it. and in a touranment the 12 volt didn't last long enough for my style of fishing. I moved up to a bigger motor. Remember my saying. I ended up getting a MotorGuide Tour Digital series 109# 36volt. Yes, its overkill. But it is nice to have the extra power when I need it, but just because it has all that power dosen't mean it can't run slow. I can run it where the prop is bearly spinning to its spinning at full power. I am glad I went that big and wouldn't have it any other way. But I would go for a 24volt if you can swing the extra $$ and room for two batteries.

And there is nothing wrong with a 2 stroke carb motor. Those V4's are great motors they have been around for years and years. Infact I am looking at maybe replacing my motor with one of those V4's. Just make sure that the waters you plan of fish have no restriction on style of motors being used. around here in Pa, there are no restriction and you can use what ever you want, but in some states, or lakes you can only use a 4 stroke or newer Clean 2 stroke ( like a opti, or Fincht, Etech). Just check your local boating laws.

The shoots by the Coast Gaurd put up big numbers of LM. I caught my SM out in the lake by Walnut Creek. If you go out in the lake start around 28-30 feet of water , 4 inch dark green tubes, with 1/4 or 3/8 jig heads worked in both places. If it rains put some rain gear on. It rained bad sunday and the fishing was great. now if the wind is blowing bad, that is a different story

I think that is just a regular 2 stroke motor. a V 4 115 HP

The walleye style boats Glass and Metal are great multi use boats. I run a 17'6" Sea nymph GLS 175 V hull. Its metal. an older boat. the new model are set up really nice for tournament fishing and family fun. Mine is a great fishing boat, front/rear decks, 2 live wells, good TM. deeper hull great in bigger water, and great family boat. can seat up to 6 people. I don't anymore, but used to use it for skiing and tubeing.

Fishing erie in the waves can be good, but alittle scray. Was up there this weekend Out of Erie Pa. Sat the waves were bad 6-8 with some bigger. Ask Fishingpunk, her first time out there and its was bad. Standing in the bow of a Alumacraft 17 foot Deep V when we went down in the wave I was looking eye to eye and sometimes up at the next wave. We were the only boat that went out. Talked to a guy in a 21 foot Ranger Walleye boat and he would go out in it. Though we were nuts. We might have been. Only fished the lake a short time. It was to bad. Hit the bay and put alot of fish in the boat Sun. the waves were 0-2 and the fishing was hot. My 3 fish limit was 12lb with a 4-14 lunker. caught about 10 fish in the 3-3 1/2 pound range. drops shots didn't work. Only caught Sheep heads with them. Tubes ( Green Tubes) on 3/8 jigs heads worked. that is what all keeper fish came on. Had a slow drift and "Erie Drifted" them in 28-30 foot of water. Had a small hump that every time I drifted over I would pick up a fish. Tried to sit on the spot and work a tube. No takers, the Erie drift worked the best

Haven't gotten any SM on the Ohio this year. Its been all Spots and LM. SM have come from the Allegheny and Yough. The Mon has been a mixed bag

I don't understand. One guy has a difference of opion and you delete your post? every river is different. And he said "respecfully" in his first post. Its just a differance of styles no need to " take your fishing rod and go home" everybody has different styles. We are all freinds here. I have fished both rivers and they as different as they are the same. Different styles work better at certain times of the year.

Erie was great. Had a 3 fish limit ( that is what it is in Pa on erie for tournaments) for 12 lbs. with a lunker of 4lb 14 oz. caught a lot of keeper( 15 inch) Sm out there on green flippin tubes fishingpunk, sorry we coudln't go west sat. Jimmy said you caught a bunch in the shoots, just like like sat, just no keepers. Wish you could have gotten that 5lb you had on sat. BASS fisherman. How did you do? You left so fast I didn't get to talk to you. you get anything out in the lake?

I have a 88Merc 15HP . Mine has done just what your has. 1. is you vent cap open on your tank? 2. replace the plugs? even if they look good change them After some time of trying many different brands of plugs. I have found out that NKG work best on mine. With Champion next. Autolite, AC delco seem to foul out fast, and split fires were a no go. Ran really bad. 3. get some fuel conditioner. I like OMC 4+2 (or 2+4, can't remember) the best. Its a fuel stabilizer/conditioner. put that in you tank with some fresh high test gas and it might help clean it out some.

That is how we used to get in My boat when we would water ski or tube. I have hydros on the motor so it made it easy to step there

Well, was going to hit the Yough again this sat, but with all this rain, there is noway I will be getting on the river :'(. Have to wait till Erie next week. I am having a hard time waiting :-[