TheRodFather

Ha! I caught a nice 3-4lb Largemouth at the pond on an X-rap. Take that old man winter! In other news, it was bitter cold, 34 degrees with a 20mph wind. The farm pond had waves on it I tell you.

Ugg, this weather! It's 29 degrees today. My landscape pond was open water yesterday and now frozen solid this morning. I'm off the weekend and I just can't get motivated to go out fishing. I guess I need to get better at cold weather fishing, because as of now I am confident I wouldn't be catching much of anything, hence the lack of enthusiasm. I picked up some jerkbaits last night and have been reading up on cold water presentations, so maybe I'll head out for some casting practice :/

I have been out the last few days on some of my spots on the Conestoga for Smallmouth and some farm ponds for Largemouth. Water temp in the Stoga is at 52 degrees and the ponds are 54 degrees. So far only one Smallmouth, it was a very good one for the Stoga though. Great start to the season for the first fish! Almost time for the smallies to turn on, it will be a bit yet for the LMB I think though. I hear guys are tearing up the Walleye in the evening on the Susqy.

Nice! That was some crazy weather for sure. Shorts and windows open on Friday, I detailed my car, pulled seats to get the carpets real well, batten down the hatches for a tornado warning on Saturday. Sunday it snowed. PA weather, go figure.

DD is great stuff, I'm sure they would hold up fine. But like the post above me, I don't like all the stuff going on in my sight picture. I run the Troy front and rear fold downs and like them a lot.

I'm in the same boat. I had a bona fide honey hole in the spring through early fall, then the bite just literally stopped. I went there a few weeks ago, and again two days ago and nothing going on yet even though it's warming up fast. I know the river pretty well, more of a creek really, and I am having a hard time with where they could have gone, everything is fairly shallow for a mile or so above and below the spot. And the river it feeds into is a looooong way down, hard to imagine they moved that far, if they even could with the water level in some places. I guess I really should just get a kayak and start searching.

Are you backlashing? Barring some other mechanical issue, if the spool is moving side to side the tension knob is too loose. Tighten the spool tension knob a bunch, hold the rod parallel to the ground with the lure hanging down a foot or so from the tip of the rod. Release the spool with the button on the back of the reel, the lure should hold position. Then slowly loosen the tension knob till the lure starts to drop to the ground and when the lure stops, the spool stops as well, not over running. That is a safe starting point for that particular lure, loosen or tighten to suit your style/desire to cast further, beware that less spool tension raises the likelihood of a backlash. TRF

There is just to many variables to try to set things up the way you are inferring. The friction of the line in the guides, amount of line on the spool, etc etc, all contribute to the amount of drawing force the lure has on the spool. Just go out and cast with it a bunch, you will get the feel for things. I recommend starting like everyone recommends and that is tightening spool tension until the lure drops slow and doesn't overrun when it hits the ground. This will be the "safe zone". Start with 2 shoes and brake dial high, 5 or 6, I forget which is highest. Make casts, and start backing down the spool tension and the dial. Keep casting, and keep an eye on the spool during the cast, after changing a setting. If you see the line puff up on the spool at the beginning of the cast then adjust the brakes tighter, or don't whip the rod as hard. If the line puffs up towards the end of the cast, adjust spool tension tighter. If you are as low as you can go on the dial, then your next step is go to one shoe and max out dial and continue downward. After a bit, you will do this on the fly, and instead of trying to set up the reel for a different bait that you just tied on, you might just release the spool and make sure spool tension is in the ballpark, and you will make a cast and make adjustments on the fly as you are fishing, after a few casts you have your settings dialed and you can feel free to swing away. That's how I do it anyway. My .02

Ok, great, thank you! TRF

I searched, I couldn't find. Like the title states, Can any reel be purchased at a discount by trading in an old reel. The flyer states that the spring classic is Feb 17 to Mar 5, but on a different page the reel/rod trade in is on "select reels and rods" on Feb 23 to Mar 5, but also seems to indicate that discount is based on where the price point of the reel is, regardless of maker? For instance, an Abu Black max traded in for a Curado I series?

I absolutely destroyed the smallmouth in the small-ish river that I wade in for a quick fix, with the Gulp 3in Hellgies. So much so that I bought out all the local tackle places. Once I was running low on Gulps, I ordered a few packs of the Case Hellgies, and while they looked 10 times more realistic than the Berkleys, they didn't produce near as much all things being equal. I experimented with scent a little during the end of the fall, so I am interested to try the Case Hellgies again this season with some scent. The Case plastic is certainly a more durable bait. I had the most action rigging them on a Trout magnet jighead 1/64oz, and just casting up, or to the side and letting it drift with the current.

That is nice! If i can't get the Tracker down in price a good bit, that might be the one.

Thank you for the clarification! I'm not so sure I am going to want to get into a glass boat though. I would be using this boat on the Susquehanna, obviously staying away from the shallow areas. I would certainly be exploring other lakes, but the Susqy is literally only a mile from my house. Was this outboard available on this model year? Meaning, could this be a re-power with a newer motor than the hull?

Ok, I haven't seen mention in any of the adds I have seen where the motor title is mentioned, I will check that out, thanks.

Looks like the ELPTO is carbeurated VS the Optimax is DFI?

Ok, I will check those things, the add states brand new batteries as of this week. You lost me on the ELPTO, can you elaborate on that series of motor? Things to check so far: Tires for dryrot/treadlife Compression Batteries Transom Soft deck spots Fuel lines for cracks

Ok, well I will certainly give that a shot, the 175s are going for 9500 around here.

Interesting, the NADA puts it at 9100 for "good" condition, what would you recommend paying for it?

Hey fellas, as the title states, I'm going to check out what may be my first boat tomorrow. It is an 06 Bass Tracker Pro Team 190TX with a 90 Mercury Optimax. Guy says its never been in salt, and that the motor has low run hours because they beat the bank with it most of the time. I'm not a fool, but I do get a good feeling about this guy. Retired husband and wife, garage kept it's whole life, boat is pristine looking. Was looking for suggestions of things to look for. From the look of the pictures it is in excellent shape. I don't own a compression tester, but I could pick one up if it's absolutely necessary. http://chambersburg.craigslist.org/boa/5981177650.html

BarryDingleOutdoors.

6'9" -ish rod (I can walk better with the tip down, long rods are slapping the water/boat. M or M/H power with fast action, for me, I feel the bait and the slack line a little better when working it back. Baitcaster, 6.3:1 is what I use, but it's all about getting the cadence down, so any ratio could work, with practice. I'd say pick a ratio that doesn't limit the other baits/techniques that can be thrown with that rod/line/reel combo. (I personally am not all that interested in having a ton of combos, but thats me :)). 15lb mono (you want it to float, and a little stretch helps absorb the shock of the MH rod on hookset).

My wife used to be a clothing department manager at Dicks sporting goods. Many a joke was made about her "working for Dicks".

I dislike the palomar knot for most situations because I end up having to clip/cut off so much tag line (I'm sure it's an issue with my technique, but never the less). I also find it a pain to loop the end around anything with trebles or a "long" bait. That said, the drop shot requires a long tag end and the hook to "stand up", so I will tie it for that.

Yes, I saw the same thing with the waterproof Plano boxes. I bought a few of them thinking they would be great for the wading I do for smallmouth in case I dropped it in the water. But the reality is that they hold all the moisture from a bait/hook and rust everything in the case. The regular old non waterproof of any size has worked fine for me as far as keeping rust away. Like ethan-333 asked, are you trying for a way to store all that when you walk the bank, in the boat, etc? Right now I have about 7 or 8 3700 series, each with a different type of bait in them, squarebills, deep divers, topwaters, jerkbaits, jigs, and so on. Those 3700 boxes stay in the car in a duffel bag, and I pick out what I think I might use and put it in 3 smaller boxes (they are spiderwire "medium") that fit in my shoulder bag that is easy to wade or walk the bank with. Same system with soft plastics, the bulk of what I have stays in the car. The places that I fish, I know pretty well what soft plastics work, so I pull a bag of this or that out of the car and put them in the shoulder bag as well. Once I have a boat, I'm sure I will carry all of it though.

I admittedly don't know much about boats, I figured I should be looking at something with a flat, or mod v hull. Yours looks like a fairly deep v, and your saying it works out well so I will expand my search, thanks!