Zeeter

Not really. My son wanted to go out at 6:30 or so, but I didn't want to hold up the launch ramp for tournament fishermen. These guys are fishing with a purpose and don't need to be held up by some yahoo trying to launch his boat at a 35 degree angle. The d!cks were later when I was retrieving. It was around 5:00 or so. They didn't say anything, but they weren't happy. After the delay I looked at them, smiled, and said sorry - I'm kind of new at this. They didn't even look at me but their faces more or less said, "f-you." Now I don't mind holding them up so much.

Hmm...never thought of that. Also need to check one of my trailer tires. It could be a little low, which may be a reason for some drifting when I think I'm going straight.

Yep - that's why we launched at 10:00 rather than earlier. Didn't want to hold up the more serious anglers. I'm sure it will come as second nature eventually. I'm just wondering if this is something we call go through or if it's just me. My first boat, about 12 years ago, I had no real trouble with after the first time. I could launch it by myself in about a minute or so. I'm really starting to think that it's because I'm relying too much on my mirrors and not turning around to see the boat.

When I launched at 10:00 everyone was nice and chuckled when I messed up after telling them I'm new at this. When I was retrieving these two guys would have none of that. They were kind of d!cks.

I know "how" to maneuver the trailer and can back up perfectly into a boat width sized parking space at WalMart. Yet when I get to the ramp it's just chaos! I over compensate, under compensate and all sorts of things. Of course, at Walmart I don't have 12 other boaters waiting for me to park so that they can do the same things. Alas, this is just a rant. I understand the principles of backing up. Could be the physics of going down a ramp as opposed to a flat parking spot as I'm always straight until I hit the angle of the ramp. Could be nerves. I use my side mirrors and also my backup camera, but it generally takes me 4 times to get lined up in a way that I can launch, and even then I'm still way crooked. Maybe I could try pulling up the tonneau cover and opening the tailgate so I can turn and see it better. Retrieving the boat only takes me two times - I think I have the boat lined up straight and then something pushes me off - again, probably me overcompensating. Did everyone go through this when they first started or am I just a bad trailer-backer-upper? On a more serious note, I have a two inch drop on my tow receiver. Is that pretty standard or do some folks have straight receivers? The trailer dips in the front. It's not a safety factor, but I'm wondering if having a trailer that is not level is giving me some trouble. It just feels like I am not in control sometimes when backing up.

Back in around 1995 when the commercial Internet was still in its infancy some people did this. They would post on bulletin boards saying, "If you send me one dollar I will put you in my prayers." People, not knowing that there are a few less than honorable people in the world, nor the power of the Internet to reach millions of people, send the scammers a dollar.

I went with the Noco. One of the guys in my club has had his for 5 years and likes it a lot. Good price, and finally finding a first hand account of someone's experience with it put it over the top.

I was looking at that and like it. If the Noco doesn't work out I may upgrade to it.

On the subject of 3-bank chargers, I have a dual-pro that run to my trolling batteries in the front and my starter in the back. There's an extension cable going back there that I believe runs through the bilge. Not sure. My dual-pro seems to have crapped the bed. I think it got too wet over the winter. Anyone who is up to speed on my battery situation knows what happened. And waterproof is only waterproof for so long. Banks 1 and 2 are no good. It shows a charge up to 3 or four lights and stays there. I put a trickle charger on there and it indicated that the batteries were fully charged, so I have an unreliable unit. I messaged Dual Pro and am awaiting their response. Ideally they will give me a new unit at a discount. If not, I was thinking of getting another dual pro, but I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Noco 30 amp charger. It gets rave reviews online and it could be that the only thing keeping it from getting rave reviews on message boards is that they haven't been around long enough. Does anyone have any experience with these? There's been a few bad reviews, but they seemed to be isolated incidents. I've seen bad customer reviews of Dual Pro, too.

I don't want to start a new thread for this: I'm looking at battery chargers, now. I'm also learning that when getting a used boat it may be wise to verify the age and functionality of all the power units as I went through this back in 2003 with my first boat. I have a dual-pro 3-Bank Pro charger. This seems to be the most popular charger out there as it is also what I had in my first boat. Thing is, two of the banks will not charge to completion. I put a portable trickle charger on one of the batteries and it showed complete, yet the dual-pro was still showing 3-red lights on one and 4 on the other. Bank 3 appears to be the only one that works. Due to late rain yesterday I wasn't able to move the cables around to test the different banks on different batteries. Assuming the charger has two bad banks, I may be in the market for a new one. First option, of course, is a replacement of the same make and updated model. In my last boat they gave me a replacement on a 12 year old dual-pro for less than half the new price. If I can get that then great. However, I have been hearing a lot of good things about the NOCO Genius Gen 3. This one is a 30 amp charger as opposed to the 45 amp Dual-Pro and Minn Kota 345. Yet at the same time all of the reviews I've read indicate that it charges at least twice as fast as the higher amp chargers. Dual Pro has the best reputation from what I've seen on this and other forums. NOCO doesn't seem like they've been around as long. Yet other than a couple of bad experiences the reviews have been mostly positive. So, looking beyond "I've been using Dual Pro for decades and blah, blah, blah..." what can anyone recommend?

I wound up getting three group 31 batteries.

I'll be looking at starter batteries today. Right now I have a group 24 in there. Is there any reason I should want to increase the size? The starter runs everything on the boat other than the trolling motor. What kinds of ratings am I looking for?

I'm the same way. If I'm going to suck at fishing it's not going to be due to my equipment. G. Loomis and Shimano all the way. I'm even going up to the Chronarchs, now, because they're getting rid of the previous model at great prices.

Yeah I could hook a chain to my truck and get it out that way after digging around it. The previous poster had mentioned putting a wheel on the bottom to make it easier to move. That's what I meant by cutting it from the concrete.

The two rods you mentioned at the end of your post are the ones I was referring to. I had the 904 in my cart, but switched to the IMX worm/jig rod instead, intending to use the mag bass which I currently use for jigs and switch it over to using soft swimbaits. I'm rethinking, because if I eventually do get a swimbait rod then the mag bass will be idle. Though it's an all around rod and so could be used for almost anything. So basically I'm on the fence. If I was to be realistic I'd say I'm in more need of a second worm/jig rod than a swimbait rod. Most of my fishing is done on the bank and I like to switch it up between plastics and jigs. Realistically that rod will get more usage, and the mag bass can handle the light swimbaits I have now. If it's best to have the right tool for the job, then it ought to be the right tool for my most common fishing.

Those two rods go up to 5/8 and 1oz. Apparently they don't make an IMX crankbait rod. Most of my stuff is under 1 oz, but I'd like to have the option to throw up to 2oz. Not planning on treble hooks at this time. I could get another jig and worm rod and use my mag bass rod for swimbaits. It only goes to 3/4 oz but that may be fine.

It's not that I want to throw crankbaits on a swimbait rod. I want to get a swimbait rod and possibly dual purpose it.

I've been giving okumas a lot of thought lately. May be something for me to look into. What reel do you use with that?

I'm in the market for a new rod. Currently when I go out as a rider I bring seven rods. 5 casting and 2 spinning. That's really pushing it for a rider, so if I want to bring another rod I'll either need to leave my 2nd spinning rod or my flipping stick home. Looking at the g.loomis swimbait rod that is on sail right now. That's if you call $26 less than $294 a sale. Problem is that as a rider I can only bring so many rods, while the boater has a whole assortment of rods, pre-rigged, at his disposal. So while we're coming up on a great spot I may need to change my lure. Even in the 30-60 seconds it may take to change out we could be past the spot where I wanted to switch up for. This almost always happens when it comes to retrieval type lures like crankbaits and spinnerbaits. I have two crank-type rods and am looking for a 3rd. Presumably, a swimbait rod will work fine with a crankbait - though maybe not optimally. They seem a little sturdier at 3 oz lure weight compared to 1/2 oz on the spinnerbait rod. So what do you all think? Swimbait rod or another crankbait rod? And what's the retrieval rate? I'm thinking 6.3:1 should be fine.

It's your typical chain link fence, anchored by concrete. I'm not a fence expert, but I'd imagine I need to cut it from the concrete to do something like that. Let me see if there's anything on youtube about it. Honestly, I don't know how people learned stuff before youtube.

It's about 6" by 3". I have most of the pieces; just need to stick them on. I saw a guy do something like what I want to do on YouTube. Heat some extra plastic and use it as glue and filler. If this is the worst thing that happens to me on this boat I'll be fine. Right now I just want to cover it for this weekend. Long term is the heat gun fix. $$$$ for a longer gate. I need to replace the whole fence so I'm not going to buy a new gate for use only until next tax return.

Last year when I was pulling out of my back yard I bumped into the shed. It broke some of the plastic on the side of the pilot console. Nothing harmful to the boat itself as everything works, though there's electric in there and I don't want to get it wet. Initial thoughts are a sheet of plastic and duct tape to get me out on the water. Long term thoughts are a heat gun, some plastic pieces, and the plastic parts that fell off when I hit the shed. It won't look pretty, but it will be much more reliable than the sheet of plastic. Any other ideas? As for the maneuvering, the boat is just a bit wider than my fence, so I need to go in at an angle, get one wheel out, then maneuver it to get the other wheel out. Going in, it's about impossible to back through the fence because the neighbors yard is right across the alley. I have to go in front first and then turn around in the back yard. Pain in the butt! Tried to get one of those wheelie things to pull it by hand but it doesn't work well over grass. Best option I can think of is to dig up the fence post from one side of the gate and pull it out whenever I move the boat.

This is a long thread and I can't read each question and answer. Does anyone else cut the weedguards on their jigs? I typically do, yet I get snagged a lot. I guess the real question is: does anyone see a difference between not trimming the weedguard and trimming it?

As the OP, let me clear a few things up. First, I would want one of these jump starters even if I got new batteries. Recently I read a story about how a guy accidentally left his bilge pump on all day and his starter died. He either had a backup or used the deep cells. Yet it goes to show - things happen. It could be a brand new battery that tests fine, but something can always go wrong. So regardless of the state of my batteries I will be getting one of these devices. Maybe I'll have run down my trolling motor batteries to where there aren't enough starting amps to jump the battery after the starter dies. Who knows? It's just one more measure of safety. I am NOT buying this device to compensate for my batteries' current condition. Second, I will be getting new batteries. I'm not sure if I'll get a new starter battery as that has been charged up nicely, but definitely the trolling motor batteries. My main point about the price is yes - it is a factor in and of itself. However I have not had a good year with batteries. Through faults of my own I probably ruined both of the deep cells, both by not charging them over the winter, keeping them in the boat, and also through keeping the plug in the boat and letting them underwater for I don't know how long. It was stupid. I am not proud of myself and it shows a lack of care for proper maintenance. I'll try to do better. Until I can reliably take care of batteries I will not be spending $250 each on them. I will buy the cheaper ones that typically last two years with good maintenance. If I can get them to two years THEN I will consider myself competent enough to spend some good money on batteries. Yet, if I can't manage to get them through a season then I'm throwing the money away on more expensive batteries.

Northeast is a great place to go. I was there a couple of weeks ago and my friend caught a 4#er. I like Loch Raven, too, but that gets overfished.