Kris2016

Morning Snipe Hunter and thanks for the reply. If you would send me a PM with an email I can have Don contact you if he is interested. Thank you for the interest in helping this fellow get going in a great sport.

Thanks Logan, I will pass it on. Do you guys have a website or Facebook page he can look at?

I met a person on another Forum looking for a bass club in Howard, Carroll or Frederick Counties in Maryland. He is 46 and fishes farm ponds with his 10 year old daughter. I belong to an old guys bass club but not sure he would meet the age and we are a little short on boaters at the moment. If anyone knows of a club needing a non-boater in the areas above, please let me know.

Hello all, I just started coming here semi-regularly a short while ago. I live in Carroll County, MD and fish some local reservoirs around here and Lower PA. I fish Piney Run, Little Seneca (Black Hills) in MD and Long Arm, Redman and Marburg in PA. I think I might try Conewago Lake at Pinchot Park near Dillsburg, PA this year. I retired early this year, work part-time and enjoy time with my Family. I belong to an old guys bass club locally. Youngest Member in our Club is in his 60s, oldest in his 70s, and we are a little short on boaters at this time. I have met person on another Forum that wants to join a bass club. He lives in Woodbine, presently a non-boater and takes his daughter fishing from shore at a couple of farm ponds now. Anybody know of a bass club in search of a non-boater for 2017 In Howard, Carroll or Frederick Counties?

I run a 1973 Ouachita flat bottom, 16 foot in local reservoirs here in Maryland and Pennsylvania. I am running Minn Kota at both ends and couldn't be happier at this point. On the stern I run an MK Traxxis 70, 24 volt transom mount. On the bow is a Minn Kota Edge, foot control, 12 volt, 55 lb thrust. I use the transom mount to move from place to place and the bow mount to move around the place. Battery power provided by Trojan SCS-225 batteries. Hoping this year to change things around on the stern and maybe run two Traxxis 70s. The bow mount now runs on two Trojans in parallel so it has the 12 volts and a lot of staying power. I have not had a complaint with this setup since I completed it in the Spring of 2016. If you are going to be fishing in tidal water, always windy or someplace with a lot of current to deal with. go as big as you can afford. I that case I would say a minimum of a 24 volt TM.

Since I have only been back into bass fishing for four Seasons I have a short list so far. This way I can focus on only a couple of things at a time. 1. Shave down my rod collection and set up the remainder for specialties 2. Get better with my new electronics 2. Pay better attention to conditions

Actually, this year was an improvement in time fishing because I retired in January. Around June of this year I was speaking with a customer where I work part-time and he mentioned a bass club. This club is small and all the Members are over 55 and oldest is early to mid-Seventies. Turned out that four of the Members are guys I fished tournaments and clubs back in the day. Twenty to twenty-five years ago. We do two club tournaments a month from April through October and I got some practice days in on reservoirs I have never fished before. So I would say I got 25 days in fishing this year. Sure beats the time I used to spend on the road for a company. Hoping this year will be an improvement over last. Looking forward to making all of the club tournaments and many trips away with my wife. Something will have to give and it will probably be work.

The off Season for me is maintenance. Changing out treble hooks that have rust, making more name tags for Plano boxes, preparing reels for service by a local tackle store, cleaning fishing rods and reels that aren't going out for service this year, restocking of favorite soft plastics and buying new I want to try and changing out three Season old line. Since now using a lot of braid makes the last one pretty quick. I also determine what rod and reel additions, deletions I want to make and get the stuff ready for a local Fishermans Flea Market in March. This year I am trimming the arsenal down and getting rid of seven bass rods. Two Dobyns Fury models will replace them. a 734C and a 705CB. I am retired and belong to an old guys bass club that does two club tournaments a month usually. Without a doubt looking forward to next Season. Also, I take my batteries out each Winter from my reservoir boat. They are stored inside, tested, recharged periodically and retested before re-installation. My present batteries in my reservoir electric motored boat are seven years old I believe. They were bought used from a fishing Buddy and I have had them for four Seasons. These are Trojan SCS-225, 12v batteries That run my MK Traxxis 70 and my MK Edge 55 btw. I also make sure that all my electronics are clean and safely stored, Lowrance Elite 5 HDI and a Raymarine Dragonfly 4DV that is not installed yet, for the Winter. I also accumulate all the upgrades I want to make my reservoir rig better. As you can see I can stay pretty busy here.

I will be posting four of these, I think, that mount to the inside below the gunwales. They came on my recent project and I do not need them. They will be available for postage. There are no rod holders, just the mounts themselves.

Gander Mountain also has the Lowrance Elite 5 HDI for $249.98. That gets you a bigger screen, GPS, down imaging, trackback and a cover. It will also take a Navionics chip or other that will increase your GPS capabilities later if you wish. I bought one for my aluminum boat redo.

Here is are some piicture of my 1973 Ouachita 16 X 48 in process. The white wood you see is Azek, plastic wood, with exterior grade plywood that is coated twice with Thompson's Water Seal and has just one coat of color now. There will be a second coat of color with play sand for traction. This is my third redo on an aluminum boat and I have found that exterior grade plywood does fine if treated correctly first. This boat has been abused in its life and a previous owner used pressure treated plywood which is a HUGE no no with an aluminum boat. I believe it is the copper sulfate in the pressure treating that eats "micro" holes in the aluminum. This boat had so many that the stern and bow pieces have been replaced. The 2 X 4 that you normally see in the stern has been replaced with extruded aluminum box so no rot worries. The bottom of the boat has been cleaned, rivets sealed where needed with 3M 5200 sealer (best sealer I know of) and bottom painted with Rust-O-Leum bedliner paint inside and out. Outside bottom rivets were also cleaned and sealed with the same sealer. It may get another coat later. You probably don't need to go this way unless the boat is a leaker. Inside of the boat will be completed after a Maiden Voyage in a local lake. Boat will be mostly red and black.

Hi, I have actually been in this boat. Two 55 lb thrust motors did fine when going a long run on the lake. Once you get where you want he would run off the bow mount to fish the area. Worked well. I actually bought the batteries and trolling motors from Bob when he sold this boat. I mounted one of them on a 14 ft Grumman that I had to fish local lakes and reservoirs here. It was fine for me and moved it well even with my big butt in the boat. It was a Grumman V jon which was quite steady in the water with 52 inches at the stern floor. I just sold it in July and started redoing another old boat, this time a 16 footer. I just purchased a Minn Kota Traxxis 70, 24 volt from the Minn Kota Outlet on line site for $399.99 if you're interested in something like that. Good luck.

I have purchased a 1987 Ranger 360V for my use in tidal water from a dealer in Harrisburg. PA, Lakeside Marine. They had it on their website for a touch over $3000. I have been dealing with them for several years and got it for less than that. It needs some TLC, replace the carpet and do some work to the seat. I haven't started some of the work that it needs because I am working on finishing my aluminum boat. You said that this person is still using it for tournaments. Being an ex-tournament guy it is a good chance that this boat has been well maintained. I don't know of any self=respecting guy, tournament person or not, that would take the chance on getting stranded out on the water anywhere. The Johnson Fast Strike, Johnson GT 150 (this is on my Ranger) and the Evinrude matching models are solid performers. Mounted on the Ranger 300 Series people used to call them Ranger's Hot Rods. I think that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. You are putting on electronics and will it need other things, probably. It is a 1989, the boat is 27 years old? I know you have been sent an article that has lots of info that you can use to make this decision. Good luck with your choice.

I have been back in bass fishing about 4 years now with a 20+ year hiatus from serious fishing. Let's just say that I have owned a couple of boats during the times I was fishing. My last boat, a 1981 Grumman V-jon, was just sold to finance my next reservoir rig. Nice little boat that I used to call my "Puddle Jumper". My Buddy, Fishnkamp, found this at Lakeside Marine in Harrisburg, PA and it was a perfect fit for my pocket book. I put floors in it, 4 Group 31 batteries, a Motorguide 43 lb TM on the bow, Minn Kota Endura 55 on the stern, a Garmin Echo 150 on the bow and a Garmin Echo 200 on the seat in front of the stern operator. It was a nice little boat for the reservoirs and small lakes around here. Next project boat is a 1973 Ouachita true flat bottom jon from bow to stern. Working on floor supports using Azek "plastic wood" and repairing where previous owners abused and installed pressure treated plywood in the stern. I believe it is the copper sulfate in the pressure treated wood that eats tiny holes in the aluminum. New aluminum in the stern and a new bow panel courtesy of my Brother in Law. Boat will share HB Helix 5s with my Ranger so there is no leaning curve. Boat electronics and trolling motors will be supplied power with from four Group 31 batteries like the old one. Minn Kota Edge 55, 12v,, foot control TM on the bow and a choice of a Minn Kota 24v Traxxis 70 or a Johnson 6 hp tiller on the stern. This will make it usable in Lower Central PA and Maryland. Rebuilt the trailer. All my pictures are too large to upload so I will have resize a couple. I shall return.

Actually, I don't think I was pre-destined to fish. My Father did not fish so when I asked about going fishing my Mother had someone at work teach her. Then she took me to Bird River in MD to have a place. Later I had a friend whose Family took us out on the Chesapeake Bay to fish. Long time with sporadic fishing before I really got into it. Small Montgomery Wards jon boat and a 10 hp Johnson. Next was a 17.5 Ranger and then, my favorite, a 20 foot Gambler. More time with no boat, sporadic fishing and then back into it. A 14 foot Grumman, a 16 foot Ouachita in the works and now an 18 foot Ranger in the works. As one friend says, I don't have enough projects.