Tpayneful

Has anyone tried a Terrova motor yet? They have have a different stow and deploy mechinism and different foot pedal design. Is the head turning speed faster than a power drive? I have Humminbird electronics so I could use the built in transducer on a Minnkota. I am the complete oddball all around Go figure!

Links, That Footloose is the second one that I have had the paint knocked off this year. I broke the other one trying to flip it back over a dock on a bad cast. Ended up cracking the lure. I probably caught 100 bass on those two Footloose baits this year. I caught 30 in one day on the Potomac last June. Heck, I even caught a double on it!

Bassboy....Do you have a transom mount trolling motor in the back to act as a keel on your boat? If you don't have something in the back of the boat in the water, the boat will spin with any trolling motor. My 12' V-Hull did the same thing. I put the cheapest transom mount trolling motor that I could find on that back and the problem was solved. I saw the same topic with a slightly different solution in Bassmaster 15 years ago. Bassmaster's tip was to mount a small wooden keel on the back of the boat. Many people hate the Power Drive motors but I am probably the only one that likes mine. I have had it for three years and I like the fact that I don't have to have my foot propped up on a 45 degree peddle all day. I point my motor, set a speed and take my foot off the pad. I don't have a ton of obsticles to avoid so turning speed doesn't mean much to me. The transducer cable issue is a valid problem so get a built in transducer if you decide to get one.

I use a 3/0 EWG Gammy for a Baby Brush Hog. A 2/0 is too small and a 4/0 seems too big but a 3/0 seems just right....For me that is. I buy them in the 25 pack. I need to step it up and add more Owner hooks to my box too. The Owner frog hooks that I bought impressed the heck out of me!

I fish the Footloose a lot and it performs way better than a Mann's -1. I also had success yesterday on a 100 and 200. They all hit the red front hook. I swapped all of my front hooks to red this year. I fish a pearl / black back in clear water and aqua / chartruse in stained water. I prefer a ML rod when casting them because they are light. If Bandit replaces baits that are chipped then I will send them a few pictures of mine! My good ones all have paint chipped off!

I tracked prices closely at BPS last year online and you will not see CrAzY deals until after December 1st and they will get better until they run out of stock after Christmas. I bought an Extreme Reel for $47.99. I bought Tourney Special Rods for $29.99. I think I got a Rick Clunn reel for $59.99. I should have purchased the Johnny Morris reel for $99.99. I think all of these prices hit around the 15th of December. I watched things go out of stock right before Christmas and miraculously be back in stock a week after Christmas. Those prices will usually stick if a new model comes out. I am going to pick up a least one expensive rod and reel this time.

These two reels work well for me: BPS Rick Clunn Baitcast reel cost $59.99 right after Christmas on sale. BPS Extreme Baitcast reel cost $47.99 right after Christmas on sale. Both reels perform almost identically. The only two differences are the color and the spool size. The spool diameter is smaller on the Rick Clunn which holds more line, which doesn't make a difference at all. So I only like the Rick Clunn better because I like the blue reel better than a green colored reel! I hope Santa believes that I have been a good boy this year and will bring me a Johnny Morris reel on a Pro Qualifier Rod

Tunsten weights Owner Hooks PLine Flourcarbon line I don't have any high dollar rods or reels yet, maybe I will get them for Christmas.

I get off easy. I have a 15.5' boat, 70 HP outboard and the boat ramp is .5 miles from the house. The lake is 211 acres and 2 miles long. I really don't spend much on gas towing or on the water. Heck, I don't even have to pay a launch fee! I spend most of my money on lures and tackle. The price of gas has affected my next boat purchase. I will buy an 18' boat and a 150HP ETEC or Optimax.

Many baits can have a plastic smell but they will taste like salt if they are salt impregnanted. Just give it a lick and you will see

I caught this double June 1st out of Occoquan Creek on the Potomac River. They both hit a Bandit footloose in about 3 foot of water. It was about 20' off a lily pad line in sparse grass on an outgoing tide. I got the bite and at first I thought it was big and then I mentioned to my partner that it just felt strange. They were actually twirling back to the boat. It happened during a little pot luck tournament that we had between 6 guys in our office. I killed em that day. I caught over 30 largemouth but only 4 broke the 15" minimum limit. I think the four bass weighed 9lbs, 12oz. It was the best day that I have had fishing and my partner swears it was the best day that he has seen anyone have fishing.

I have a net in my boat at all times. I net almost all fish in a tournament. Money is on the line and I don't want to lose anything. When I am fishing for fun I only use the net if the fish is of good size or if I am using a treble hook bait. I fish by myself 80% of the time and don't want to pull a hook out of my finger. I didn't use a net until 3 years ago when my partner kept bugging me. I have used the net quite a bit this year so that is a good thing.

We got there at 11:15 AM and saw nothing in the parking lot and went inside. We walked all around the store and didn't see any casting area. Then we asked a store employee about it and pointed out the event on the board at the front of the building. It said the event was outside in the parking lot from 10AM to 2 PM. We went outside and walked from one side of the parking lot to the other. We saw gun safes being unloaded and a Police SUV with a german shepard in the back but no casting contest. It was really windy and figured that they cancelled the even based on wind.

If a Father shows up with his 7 year old son to Gander Mountain at 11:15 AM for the casting contest and nobody is there.....Did the contest ever happen???? I guess it was cancelled due to wind.

Gander Mountain will not provide competition for long if the Richmond store is anything like the store in Fredericksburg. The store in Fredericksburg restocks seasonally. If you see something you want, you better buy it right then or you will be out of luck the next time you go. Greentops restocks a lot more often and is more likely to have what you want. Greentops is price competitive as well. Bass Pro will probably affect Greentops more because they have a wider variety of lures. Of course Greentops still sells Roboworms, Matt lures and other things that you just can't get at BPS.

I will have to bring my 7 year old son Andrew. He would probably like to participate but he prefers to use a spining rod

Seventeen years ago when I was on Summer break from college my neice caught an 8 inch LMB. I took it home and put it in my 30 gallon aquarium. I had to put a brick in the center to give him a cover item to relate to. He wouldn't eat fish food pellets. I dumped a half dozen large minnows in the tank and he immediately killed all of the minnows but didn't eat a one. I ultimately ended up hand feeding him a half dozen large minnows at a time 2 to 3 times a week. He would take the wiggling minnow from my fingers. The fish grew quite a bit over that summer. He would rest with his belly on the bottom of the tank. When I came home he would come out from behind the brick and swim up to the front of the tank to see me. I had to clean the tank often but he survived. At the end of the summer I put him back into the private pond that he was caught in. Transplanting game fish into private ponds is not recommended but not illegal in the state of Virginia. I just wanted to publish my experience but I don't plan on doing it again.

The clicking sound is usually the relays between the switch and the tilt motor. I would troubleshoot the relays and I bet the clicking sound is coming from the relays. Measure the voltage on both sides and check connections for corrosion.

That fish is THE BOMB! Congratulations!

Nothing came natural to me. I really haven't picked up a bait and figured out how to work it on the first time without some kind of advice on how to work it first. I had immediate sucess on a Rapala broken back but a friend told me exactly what bait to buy. Gary Klein told me exactly how to work a jerkbait at a Bass seminar. So I bought it and went out to the river with a friend. I told him that I had a magic lure and I was going to give it a try. I took the broken back out of the package, tied it on and cast it right next to a stump. I worked it like a top water just like Klein had suggested. BAM I caught a 2lb LMB. My friend looked at me and asked if I had another one of those magic baits? In the seminar Gary Klein had suggested that he liked to fish a jerkbait like a topwater at first and then jerk it back to the boat. So I applied his technique to a bait that a friend suggested. I applied other people's information and had sucess but it didn't come naturally.

Last year the weather was mild and I fished until about December 15th and really started fishing again on March 15th. In that three months I did the following: 1. Made a long Christmas list with all the rods, reels and tackle that I wanted. 2. Purchased lots of stuff from Bass Pro with Gift Certificates 3. Bought a few things at Bassarama Went to the Ike seminar at Bassarama Took the boys to look at boats at Bassarama I cursed the !@#$%^&*( people that didn't get a bass tank that kids young and old like to see 4. Bought a few things at the Fredericksburg Bass show Took the boys to see boats Watched my oldest compete in casting contest 5. Organized all of my new and old tackle 6. Fished for a week in Central Florida in February 7. Play video games with my two boys 8. Replaced the front deck and carpeting in my boat This year I plan on repeating steps 1 thru 7. Hopefully I can fish into January but at some point the lake may freeze over.

RoadWarrior would be proud of him because he caught it on a Senko!

I use the chatterbait and fish it one of two ways. Steady retrieve or fish it with jerks like a jerkbait. The biggest fish so far has been a 4lber and he hit it after I turned the handle once! It is an agressive bite! I don't fish it a lot but I like to throw it instead of a spinnerbait. I use it above grass or along a grass line.

BR, Below Tidewater the Rappahannock is brackish / salt. You should be able to catch your garden variety of salt water fish like spot, croaker and striper. You need a saltwater license when you fish that area of the river. You might be able to find largemouth if you can find a creek and go all the way to the back. Last year I didn't really give up fishing until December 15th. The water temperature is in the 70s right now and will probably be in the low sixties by then. Good luck fishing!

The rains finally stopped but the water is pouring into the lake. When the water runs into the lake you can catch a ton of fish! I only had two hours so I took my youngest son Jayce with me. He just started using a spinning rod last week and wanted to give it a try. He caught the first fish of the day on his first cast! He is five and this was actually the first largemouth bass that he caught on his own! We caught a total of 15 fish today in two hours. It was a great time!