Tpayneful

Revo = $169.99 PQ = $99.99 Revo 10 bearings PQ 7 bearings Revo Magnetic brakes PQ Centrifigal and Magnetic brakes Revo = 1 out of 3 PQ = 2 out of 3 If it was me I would pay the extra $20 get the Johnny Morris Signature Series Reel with 10 bearings. JM beats the Revo 3 out of 3.

I have mine mounted on the console. I have a two transducers, the original round puck that was epoxied into place by Stratos and the Side Imaging transducer on the transom. I have a Humminbird transducer switch to change between Side Imaging at slow speeds 0-5MPH and the regular puck when I am moving from place to place. Anyone can learn how to use Side Imaging in a few minutes. Of course I sat down with a pot of coffee and read the owners manual but it really isn't needed to get started. Just select the SI view, move in a straight line at some speed less than 5MPH and the bottom will scroll on the screen. You can press the arrow pad at anytime and it will stop the screen from scrolling. You can move your pointer to any location on the stopped screen and mark waypoints, zoom in on objects and save pictures of what you found. I bought my boat on October 23rd and only went out a few times before it got too cold. I have not been back out since November. The only SI settings that I change is the distance to scan out from the boat. It normally does 150 feet on each side but I will shrink it down to 50 - 80 feet so the objects are bigger. Sometimes I will scan only to the right or only to the left to cover the whole screen with an area of interest. I found these blugill beds on my first trip and brushpiles in a channel on my second trip with the unit.

Goose, I am aware of the Kayak trolling motors and am surpised that it took them this long to come out with one. Personally I would buy an appropriate Minnkota motor and cut the shaft. You can cut the shaft to any length you want, drill a mounting hole in the top, shorten the power wires and you have a Kayak trolling motor! Use a tube cutter or hacksaw. be careful to not nick the wire. I did it on my bow mounted Minnkota Power Drive on my old boat.

My buddy started putting stickers on his new boat and I started ribbing him about it. Then he made the suggestion that I should put some stickers on my new boat. I told him I will put stickers on my boat when they pay me! I am certain that any sponsor would get their money's worth from me!!!!

My previous business location had a water retention pond out back that had the same algea problem. I fished that pond before work, during lunch and afterwork twelve months out of the year for three years. At first I couldn't catch anything in because of the algea. Eventually I learned techniques for catching them year round. I ended up catching so many of the fish repeatedly that I would give them names. They also learned my techniques and made it more difficult to continually catch them. Winter time: Chatterbait Let it fall to the bottom. Dead stick it for 30 seconds then rip the lure off the bottom. Let it fall back to the bottom. You will get hit on the fall. Ripping it will keep most of the weeds off. Husky jerk will catch them but you will peal algea off if you have alot of it close to shore. Weightless Senko. Let it fall to the bottom, count to 30 and then lift it up to the surface. Let it fall to the bottom and repeat. Wacky rig is preferable but go to Texas style if it is catching too much algea. Spring and Fall: Weightless Senko. Texas Rigged worm. Coat the worm in anise oil based scent to help it slide through the algea better. Swim Senko, Texas Rigged with a 3/16 oz bullet weight. Cast and reel it back. Pause occaionally. Summer: The algea on this pond would form large floating mats. That is when I started using Zoom Horny Toads! The topwater bite is fantastic. Unfortunately the lease expired and the owner wanted that section of the building back so we had to move our production facilities. We have our own bigger building but no retention pond >

My best largemouth was 7lbs, 12oz. I caught it last March on the Farm 13 side of Stick Marsh. As a bass pro would say: I caught that monster in a stump field in about 2 feet of water. The water temperature was 72 degrees, no wind and a bright sunny day at about 3PM. I was able to get that bucketmouth to the boat because I was using my Johnny Morris Sigature Series left handed reel with a 6.4 to 1 gear ratio. Though intense the battle was short due to the 7' Medium Heavy action Bass Pro Shops Extreme rod that I was using. I was not worried about the XPS 14lb test line breaking on the hookset or through abraision on the stumps because experience has taught me that this line is pound for pound the toughest yet easiest to cast fluorocarbon line on the market! Though the fish was an acrobat the Gamakatzu 4/0 EWG worm hook never came unbuttoned! This huge fish just couldn't turn down a tantalizing treat like the Zoom Baby Brush Hog in Junebug! Junebug is a fantastic color for those tanic colored Florida lakes! I was able to imediately tell that the fish had eaten the bait due to the density of the 3/16oz Tru Tunsten bullet weight that I was using with this Texas Rig. With Tru Tungsten I never miss a bite! Woo Hoo.....NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!!!

Cody, I have had the same problem as you. My rain gear keeps me dry but my feet get wet in the rain. I am not a happy camper with cold wet feet. My wife got me these Superior Boots from Sears and other than being butt ugly they are light, comfortable, warm and dry. I have worn them in the snow so far but they are not a heavy clunky boot. I think they will work perfectly to keep my feet dry in the boat, http://www.amazon.com/Superior-Boot-Co-5-Eye-Waterproof/dp/B0007TL4O0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=shoes&qid=1264853548&sr=1-1

My buddy bought a new Skeeter last spring and it came with a Lowrance at the bow and an Eagle at the console. We fished the Potomac in the rain. Both units failed due to water leakage. He had to send both units back. Turns out a lot of people are having the same problems. He can bearly catch fish on my boat because he is constantly looking at the 798c SI on the console! It is nice that Humminbird continues to offer support and upgrades to their products. I am really happy with my units.

Humminbird added downscan in a software upgrade this month. As an Electrical Engineer I was taught that patents for electronics were hard to litigate. Someone can copy your design change a small aspect and the patent can't be enforced because they are technically different. I don't have enought time or desire to research and figure out if HB has a winnable case ;D I believe Lowrance invented the depth finder in 1956. If they were given a patent it would be good for 20 years. It would have long since expired.

917c External 16 Channel GPS antenna 7" screen 480x800 resolution 2000 waypoints Unimap Navionics Premium Capable 957c 8" screen 480x800 resolution 3000 waypoints Unimap Navionics Premium Capable or Navionics Platnum Capable Looks like a bigger screen, more waypoints and can run Navionics Premium. If it was me, I would spend the cash on a 798c SI or 898c SI instead. I have a 798c SI and Side Imaging is THE BOMB!

You really don't want to fish with more that 2 people in a 16' boat. Without knowing anything about the condition of the boat, motor accesories the price range could be from $1,500 to $2,000. The price will go up this spring. I sold my old boat last spring for $2,500. It was a 1980 (15' 6") Skeeter SS-1 Fisherman with a 1977 70 HP Evinrude. 40lb Powerdrive trolling motor, two Humminbird depthfinders.....etc. Everything on my boat was in tip top operating condition so I got what I wanted. Hopefully this gives you an idea as to what that boat is worth.

989 has a faster processor and an ethernet port. The slower processor might not be an issue now but could limit software upgrades at some point. Older 997's had a 16 channel GPS but last years 997 came with a 50 channel GPS.

Under $100 get a Pro Qualifier. I spend the $19 extra bucks and get the Johnny Morris Signature Series reel everytime. It is THE BOMB! It looks like Pflueger and BPS reels are the same. They have the exact same backlash controls just that the BPS reels are WAY cheeper. You can keep your Shimanos and Diawas.

My friend fishes the skinny dipper in money shot with a 3/16 bullet weight. He schooled me on the potomac one day with them and loves them. I prefer the Swim Senko with the 3/16 bullet weight. In Florida I only fish junebug. On the Potomac I fish junebug when it is overcast and white when it is sunny. Swim them over grassbeds and along grass lines. Fish them in stump fields. You usually catch a fish when you bump a stump. They are a weedless alternative to a spinnerbait.

Here it is:

The 798c SI is THE BOMB. Get one! Can you find the sunken boat in this screen shot?

A Stratos 294XL or XL EVO with 200HO Etec, Jackplate set with prop to pad 2.75" with a 27 Tempest Plus does 76 - 78 GPS. C & O Marine it TN sets them up in this configuration and the boat will go that fast. The only problem is having enough seat time to learn how to stop the chine walk.

I just did a lookup to compare the number of Virginia lakes in the Humminbird Navionics Value Bundle (NVB) vs the Hot Maps Premium East card that I have and there is a big difference. The NVB has 10 Virginia lakes while the Hot Maps card has 44 Virginia lakes. On my card Anna is listed as an HD map while it is not an HD map on the NVB. This is just from their website I have not compared the two on the water yet. The accuracy of the HD may not actually be as good as 1' contours can provide. I have a friend in Florida that has the the 797c. He gave me advice to not buy the bundle. He suggested that I could get an east and south card for the $200 I saved and get more lakes. I not only took his advice but I ended up buying almost the exact same boat as well! Since this thread is orginially about SI here is another screen shot of bluegill beds:

Wayne, I have the 788ci on the front right now. I figure that my next move will be to add an 898c or 998c to the console and move my 798c to the bow. When I make that move I will have to mount a GPS antenna in the bow. That isn't a big deal for me:o) Steve, My understanding is that the contour lines on the Navionics bundle are at 5 feet intervals but the HOTMaps Premium East 2009 has smaller intervals Like 1' or 2' for some lakes. I think Lake Anna is one of those lakes. Other guys on here may know the complete details.

I have a 2009 294XL Evo which has a 200HO Etec, my jackplate is set for my prop to be 2.75" below pad and it has a 3 blade 27 pitch tempest plus prop. That is the best prop for my rig. The boat will run 75 -78mph. You might want to try that prop over the 26 pitch raker. I have been driving boats for 20 years and was not prepared for how fast this boat goes. I have gotten to 70 MPH but need a ton of seat time to figure out how to drive it properly.

I just purchased a new boat in October and I got it rigged with a 798c SI at the console and my external GPS antenna is on the back deck. It is interlinked to a 788ci. Having used both I would state that I should have purchased TWO 798c SI units! The side imaging is worth the money and I would recommend purchasing an SI unit! I did not purchase the Navionics bundle but I just got a Hot Maps Premium 2009 East card. It has more detail than I would have gotten with the bundle in my area. Once you have decided you want SI you have to decide what size you can afford. I wanted either the new 898 or the 989 but they were not available when I bought my boat. The bigger screen would be helpful if you want more detail over a smaller area or if you scan in 20+ feet water. The blank area in the middle gets wider the deeper you are. You can mitigate that effect by scanning to one side. Here is an example of what you can see, this is a creek channel bend with downed trees in the outside bend:

Dan, Cold scale: 1 = Coldest 114 = Warmest December 2009 http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/get-file.php?report=nationalℑ=Statewidetrank&year=2009&month=12&ext=gif Virginia 38th Coldest December 2008 http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/research/2008/dec/12Statewidetrank_pg.gif Virginia 94th Coldest It seems like it is colder in my part of the country this year as opposed to last year.

As a native of the area Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania are NOT part of Northern Virginia! I personally don't concider Stafford part of NoVA but others would argue the point.

Here is a Potomac question......Did the extreme cold weather kill any snakehead?

I thought Stickmarsh didn't have any bass anymore because the grass was gone ;D