Tpayneful

6X, I would repeat the test except put the red lead on the Positive terminal and the black lead on the Negative terminal on each battery. You may actually find that one of your negative lines is shorted to the hull somewhere. If the positve voltage in your livewell pump touches the water in your system it would complete the circuit, electricuting the fish. The combination of a short to ground and a faulty pump may do it. Once you verify a current path or short that is unacceptable, start removing devices until the short/voltage goes away. A short or low resistance load can be caused by switches, connectors, depth finders, lights, pumps, radios, etc. Also, aluminum boats have a lot of jagged metal inside the boat. Plenty of people have cut themselves badly adding another wire or cable in the boat. I would inspect your cables and pass-throughs. The pass-throughs should have grommets on them to ensure that the wiring doesn't get nicked or shorted. You have a very strange problem.

Use the owner 5/0 with the screw in thingy that is similar to the Zoom Horny toad hook. The Horny toad hook is 5/0 as well but I believe the owner hook is A LOT sharper. I bought a 5 pack at Gander Mountain for $4.99. Horny toad hooks are $1.99 for a two pack so they are basically the same price. I have been really impressed by the hook penetration on the owner hook.

Here is what it looked like closed.

I used 3M Contact cement for my livewell cover. It is a steel door. It worked great. On wood, I used outdoor carpet adhesive from Lowes. You can wrap edges really well with 3M contact cement.

The Humminbird has a voltage alarm setting. My voltage alarm would ring when I turned on the livewell pump. The alarm was set to 12.5V. I bumped it down to 11.5V and it never has gone off since. The livewell pump was on its last legs and has since been replaced as well. I have everything on my cranking battey (lights, bilge, livewell, radio, depthfinders) and only the trolling motor on the trolling motor battery.

Sam, So far in my research I have talked to two guys Jim and Carl that live in my neighborhood that have won a few tournaments at Lake Anna. One likes the North Anna River way in the back and the other likes parts of North Anna and parts of Pamunkey. Teddy Carr's book covers the whole lake but he likes the Pamunkey best. My partner and I are planning on concentrating on each section from the splits up. My partner caught two yesterday and broke off on a third. Hopefully we will figure something out. The tournament will launch out of Christopher Run. JC, thanks for the suggestions, I will keep that spot in mind as well. I will let you know what we figure out.

I fished from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM last Wednesday and caught one fish. It was 2lbs 2oz. When we left he looked at me and said "one fish Anna". I have read Teddy Carr's book and have a map with a bunch of spots marked up from a fisherman that has success on Anna. I am not proficient with deep diving (10' to 20') crankbaits or carolina rigs. My partner doesn't like to fish anything deeper than 10'. So I have to figure something out between now and then. The next three weeks I will be fishing only at Lake Anna.

We fished Aquia Creek on the Potomac in our club tournament. My partner loves the place but I find it a tough place to fish. Late into the day my partner had put all five small keepers in the livewell and I felt like I was watching "The Chris Show". At the end of the day we went back to our favorite spot to hit it at the lowest tide of the day and another boat was leaving. They left a huge mud trail as they left. While my partner continued throwing his tandem spinner bait in sporadic grass, I retied everything. I picked up the white chatterbait, made a cast, turned the handle three times and WAM! I got bit! I told my partner to get the net because it was a good one. The fish was 19.5" and my only contribution to the total weight. At weigh in the fish was only 4lbs and beat out by 4 other fish. The big fish was 5lbs and added to a total bag of 12lbs, 14oz. The next two places were taken by 8lb, 14oz and 8lb, 11oz. We were last to weigh in and our total was 8lb, 9oz. We were 2oz out of the money...DARN! Well now I have a first, second, third and fourth in four club tournaments. The only consolation was that we jumped from second to first in the Team of the Year standings by 5 oz. We have one tournament left on Lake Anna on September 22nd. Between now and then we have to figure out a way to catch a decent limit. Practice, practice and more practice!

My best overall crankbait this year has been the Bandit Footloose. It runs 12 inches or less. The best color has been pearl with a black back. I killed them on my lake and the Potomac in the spring. The grass has been too thick to really throw it this summer on the Potomac or at least the areas that I like to fish. I think it outperforms the Mann's -1 series by a mile but it is no skin off my back if they don't throw the Footloose. I catch a few here and there on other crankbaits but I just have't been throwing them much this summer.

I have a Garmin Etrex, it has 8MB of RAM for maps and the screen is black and white. I use it for marking waypoints so I can find my spots again. It either is in my truck or my tackle bag. I bring it with me every time I fish. My partner doesn't have a GPS so it comes in handy when I fish out of his boat. I think I get about 10 hours out of my batteries. I usually turn it on when I need it. I have the road maps CD and download new maps to it when I go on vacation. It works for me and is around $150. If I ever got motivated, I could buy the cable and connect it to my Humminbird Matrix 17 but I don't know what that would get me.

My lights are mounted exactly like Zeta has them. I installed the cheepest trailer lights available at Walmart. They are not even watertight. I did do one thing that has ensured that they continue to work....I removed each bulb, sprayed silicone lubricant in each socket and reinstalled each bulb. I did have to replace one bulb in three years. Protecting the electrical connections ensures the reliability of the lights. Marine lights are preferred but I was itching to get out on the water. I do not unplug the lights when I put the trailer in the water.

My partner has a MinnKota Maxim and it has infinite variable speed. Between variable speed, low noise and composite shaft, the MinnKota is a really good choice. I had a couple of motorguide motors through the years and they just were not as nice as the comparable MinnKota. There is a reason that the motor is $30 more. I might be the only person on the planet that is on the original footpad on my powerdrive though.

I have the CMC Power tilt and trim for my 70 HP Evinrude. It works great. I do not have the gauge. I have had it for about 5 years. It had a problem once and they replaced it for me under warranty. You will need a hoist or an engine lift to install the unit. Attach the lift and unbolt the 4 mounting bolts on the outboard. Bolt the tilt and trim to the boat and then bolt the outboard to the tilt and trim. Run the wires to the battery and mount the switch. It was easy, I did it on a Saturday night after the kids went to bed. If you don't have a lift you can rent them at any rental store. I would recommend the CMC unit highly.

Thanks for the support! I have another tournament on Aquia this weekend. It probably will be crowded!

How many of you saw the spectator boat tell Kelly Jordan how to catch fish? I don't know if the boat that they showed made the comment or not but I know the boat! The boat has a 225 Evinrude FINCH motor and the guy fishes in our club. The next week we had a tournament on the Potomac and they didn't win it.

My partner and I won our first club tournament together! The tournament launched out of the Occoquan River on the Potomac. My partner won the spring tournament at this location with his wife. We were able to win it on Saturday. We were catching them in on ribbon tail rubber worms. Our total weight was 14lbs, 10oz. My partner caught the big fish of the tourny 4lbs, 14 oz. It was great to win one finally! If I could just figure out how to beat the guys on my home lake one week!

I fish with LH baitcast reels. I started fishing with spinning reels and found it more comfortable to use a LH when I started using baitcasters. Bass Pro Shops reels have almost all of their reels in both RH and LH but other manufacturers limit the options for LH baitcasters. They have them but not an equal offering of each.

Does anyone know where he has been fishing on the Potomac?

Wow, I think I have done at least a couple of those things to my partner's boats! I hooked a seat and spilled a drink. I STINK! I do pay for gas and help win cash! Of course, I have had partners that have done those things on my boat as well. We are not pro's so we can pick our partners. Pro's get whoever they draw.

I respool mono twice a year but I don't know what I will do with Fluorocarbon. I have two baitcast reels spooled up and don't know when I will respool them. I have heard discussions of unspooling the Fluorocarbon and then rewinding it onto the spool backwards. I might try that before I buy more line. KVD and Ike get line for free so they can respool as often as they want without paying a dime.

Bass Pro owns Browning. If you read the descriptions of the baitcast reels, Bass Pro Shops, Browning and Pflueger all have the same types of backlash controls that Shimano, Diawa and Abu Garcia don't offer. Several guys have suggested that Pflueger is making the reels for Browning and BPS.

After I read the book I went and looked up who caught that 25lb LMB last year and it turned out to be Jed, Mac and Budda. Now I at least have the foggiest idea what is going on and suspect that the record will be caught one of these years. Thank you guys for your views of the guys in the book. I was wondering if the book was completely accurate in the competition betweeen fisherman.

Last week I read Sowbelly, the history of the chase for the world record largemouth bass. It was really interesting to read about the guys in California chasing the record, Texas trying to breed a world record and a guy that was trying to grow a world record! I liked the book but it had a poor ending. Bob Crupi was interesting but bitter, Mike Long seemed like a jerk and Jed Dickerson seemed like a nice guy. The thing that jumped out at me was that a lot of these guys sacrifice everything to chase the record. The obsession seems to be destructive.

My tackle comes out of the boat after each trip. I have limited storage but here is what I have: Sunscreen Bug spray Multi-pack of spare bulbs Rain suit Rejuvinate Lights Safety Equipment (Life vest, throw cusion, whistle, paddle and fire extinguisher) ancor Rope weigh-in bag culling kit

I really like the Rick Clunn reel from BPS but I use it with a M, 7' Tourney special rod. I really like this combo but even at full price it would only top out at $150. I know that Roadwarrior loves Shimano and has a lot of experience with them. I would seriously concider his suggestions if your price range is in the $250 range. You get what you pay for and I am sure that my equipment doesn't perform nearly as good as Roadwarrior's.