Tpayneful

It looks like BPS, Browning, Pleuger ad Pinicle are all made in the same factory. They all have the same options. I don't have a Shimano but I do have a Johnny Morris Signature Baitcasting reel and WOW it is awesome! I can dial the magnetic backlash down to zero, click two centrifigal brakes and not have it backlash! It is by far the best reel that I have ever owned. I am sure that the Shimano cult will weigh in with there thoughts any moment now.....Concidering their devotion to Shimano you couldn't go wrong with the Curado either. Good luck and enjoy whatever reel you choose!

My youngest son got on a scissors kick last fall. He cut his hair, his pajamas, the shoe laces off my boots and the STRAP on my TACKLEBAG! He took my scissors out of my tacklebag to do all of the cutting. Hearing your suggestions, I think I will take a pair of his Fiskars and put them in my tacklebag to cut braid!

Team Dougherty, You should send that tip to Bassmaster or Bassin! You would probably get that one in the magezine!

Carp is right, we have talked about these trolling motors a lot. Just do a search on power drive and I am sure you will get a bunch of hits. I have the MinnKota Power Drive 40lb model and it doesn't torque steer. If you point the motor in a direction and kick on the continuous switch it will go in the direction that you pointed. Then you can take your foot off the pad. You might have to tweek the motor a little left and right but it works great for me. If you get one with Autopilot, it will move in the direction that you selected without you having to touch the pad. I have a 15.5' Skeeter with a 70HP. I would prefer a 55lb but I would recommend a built in transducer. Also Welcome to the Board!

I have not used the two that you asked about but I have used the 6" straight tail worm in Aaron's magic. It is a floating worm and I have caught a lot of fish on them as a shaky head and t-rig. I have seen fish up to 5 pounds caught on this worm. It is a rescue bait for me in tournaments. The only down side that I have encountered with them is that they are really soft and get torn up easily.

SV1000 Welcome to the board! I think your plan will work. Just make sure that you have enough weight to get your condo to sink and stay on the bottom. Last year I caught fish off of all 6 brush piles at one time or another. Six of my brush piles are on a dropoff to 8 - 12 feet of water. Good luck and don't forget that you can do a search on brush piles and find other good threads on this topic.

When You Croak....you are called a Frog

Raise your hand if you ever actually saw a Betamax?

I am the Director of Production for a small Defense Contractor. We design and produce the most advanced "unattended ground sensors" in the world. My job is to make sure that our products are built and tested accurately, efficiently and to high quality standards! I have been with the company almost 20 years. I love my job and am glad that I can do a little something to help our Soldiers and Marines catch the bad guys!

If you are within 50 miles of Richmond Virginia, you HAVE to vote local! Greentops has the best selection of lures, terminal tackle and tackle around. Last fall they opened a Gander Mountain close to Greentops and they are building a BPS just a few miles away. Richmond is going to be in Bait Monkey heaven! My wife could only find one positive thing to say about the new BPS is..."At least I will get time to myself when you and the boys spend all your time shoping at Bass Pro!"

What I have done for each of the last 3 years is take a trip to Florida in February. This year the trip is slipping into March. I leave in 18 days!

I really, really, really want one!

I caught my second fish of the year on Friday on a private pond. The first was on January 12 and it was the same one eyed fish both times! It is unanimous, one eyed bass like the chatterbait fished like a jig! This fish continued the streak to 13 consecutive months with at least one LMB caught!

There is exactly 18" x 18" on the other side where I can hop in the driver's seat and drive! The first location that I have chosen is only 1/2 mile away from the launch ramp. The second spot is about a one mile run.

First off, I would read the users manual and follow the directions. Personally I wouldn't mount a board to my boat. What type of propulsion are you using to move the boat? Outboard? Transom mount trolling motor, bow mount trolling motor? I did the following on my 12' aluminum boat years ago. Mounted a trolling motor mount style transducer on the front trolling motor. I screwed the transom mount into the back right side of the transom. I squired silicone in the holes and on the screws when I screwed them in. I had two Humminbird mounts and moved the depth finder to the front and back depending on where I was sitting. If you are going move about using a bow mounted trolling motor, you might just want to exchange your transducer for a trolling motor mount style and just use that all the time. Humminbird will exchange it for you through the mail.

Here is a picture of the boat loaded up and waiting to go:

I am going to go out and drop some brush to make a couple of brush piles when the wife gets home this afternoon. My lake is clear, has almost no shoreline cover and almost no grass. I have dropped 6 brush piles over the last two years and have caught fish off of each. I collect branches from downed trees, cut and bend them to a length of about 4 feet. I stack them into bundles and tie them tightly with 1/8" nylon cord. I lined my boat with clear plastic and then placed the cinder blocks, bundles and Christmas tree in the boat. I drive the boat out to the spot that I want to drop the pile on. I use the trolling motor and depth finder to find the spot that I want to drop the brush on. I drop an ancor off the back and use the trolling motor to fine tune the position and then I drop an ancor off the front. This keeps the boat in position. I set one or two cinder blocks on a bundle. I carefully toss the bundle over board. Be careful when you do it because you can lose your balance and go overboard. I am going to drop 4 bundles on one spot and two bundles and a Christmas tree on the second. I mark the spot on GPS and write down location notes on the back of my map. Gotta be able to find it after you drop it! I know that people have mentioned not using Christmas trees but I have caught fish off of them. Heck I look at every downed tree, discarded metal shelving unit and shopping cart and wonder if I could make a brush pile out of it! Here is a picture of one of the bundles:

I fished 15lb Pline fluorocarbon all last year and was really impressed with it. I am going to try the 14lb BPS fluorocarbon this spring so that I can compare it to the Pline. I have not tried Vanish but have heard complaints from friends about it.

None of the above. I drink Red Bull on my annual drive from Virginia to Florida to fish. If I am driving through the night, I will down a bunch of those small cans.

Sam, I make sure that the line comes off the spool in the same direction as the spinning reel spins. But you are going to have some line twist based on the fact that you are taking a big curl from one spool and turning it into a small curl on the reel. After I spool up the reel, I connect a snap swivel to the line, connect the snap to something outside and walk until all the line has come off the reel. Then I reel all the line in under pressure as I walk back. The swivel allows the twist to twist out of the line. It works for me.

Your maximum RPMs is dictated by 3 things: 1 Prop - Depending on the propellor it will limit your maximum RPMs or allow you to exceed your motor's recommended maximum depending on the pitch. 2 Engine Electronics many now have rev limiters to ensure that you do not exceed the maximum RPM. 3 Engine blows up because you exceeded the recommended maximum RPMs. Shouldn't happen on newer motors but could happen on older engines. This definitely limits your future RPMs! ;D

I have found that you need to start that magnetic control at 6 or 7 to eliminate backlashes. After you get used to it you can start to bump it down. Lefty Reel.....just like mine....The only kind of thing on the left that I like! ;D

Fuji Finepix cameras are a fantastic value and I am on my third one. Throughout the year they will put one at the $99 pricepoint. Last spring I bought my wife the 6.3MP for Mother's Day for $99. The 8MP shoud be going for $99 any day now. Keep an eye on the best buy flier for the right price.

Beware of Photobucket $10 text messages. I clicked that I didn't want any advertisements and still got more than a few $10 messages. Verizon can't block them either. I got some of them canceled but got a text message from some site in New Zealand last week. Can't wait to see how much that one costs.

I found them here: http://www.burtonsbaitandtackle.com/BaitTackle/zoom.htm